Hmm, I sill haven't got anything.

I agree with prometheum, a good exit out of a messy situation. Some wont be satisfied but as far as I see there is a yay mayority.

@martijnp

I also think you should step aside and leave it this way. After this desaster the most important thing is, to find a solution that the community can agree about. None of them is fair for all. As it seems there is no way to undo comitted errors. The best we can do is learn from this experience and move on.

What are all those QRK worth without a strong community? We wont have that without conciliation.

@barrysoetoro

Don't you think that there is a difference between cheating to steal the money and cheating to blast a flawed contest? I think you should also take FlipPros offer and leave it this way.

If that's how you think about me then I have nothing to say to you anymore!

You clearly define me as a cheater! Shame on you!

You can donate my share to the foundation!

I FOUGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE!

Winning Quarks is very nice, but exposing cheaters is priceless!

I'd tend to agree with this. Except for martijnp of course. It wouldn't be right for an admitted cheater to receive anything out of this.

Barry, if there is something fishy going on, how can a distribution between the frontrunners be a fair option?

I know for all of us, especially for the contributors, it has been a tough time and all of you were waiting for ages for this poll. But can a start over really be worse than ending this flawed contest with a change of share? Good contributors like leigrecc hae already left the contest early and as far as I understand martijnp from his posts on forum.qrk-board he is also considering to leave the contest without coming back. We should use the opportunity to turn the mess into something positive for the community.

I already made a proposal and I´ll try to elaborate

Prizes:

The distribution of the prizes is changed from winner-takes-it-all to 4 different position so that competitors will identify with the result even if they don´t win the 1st place.

1st final round: 50.000 QRK
2st final round: 25.000 QRK
3rd final round: 10.000 QRK
Community prize final round: 5000 QRK (most votes in the public poll)

Additionally, the winner can dedicate 30.000 to a community project that currently needs of funding @ http://www.quarkfoundation.cc/projects/

Procedure:
 
1. All contestants are asked to hand in a logo for standard formats (horizontal, squared, "quark accepted") in three scaled sizes >> this way the proposals become comparable.

2. All entries are presented in a gallery >> this way the voter can actually look through it.

3. Every contributor has a max. of 5 sentences to explain the design in the gallery >> this way community members can see the "bigger picture".

4. Before the 1st public vote starts there is a vote between the contestants (3 days). The result are managed secretly (each participant sends a mail to an address kept by a neutral person) until the public poll is closed (after 7 days). The results are revealed after the poll closed and counted 50:50.

5. All contestants that reached the mark of e.g. 5% take part in a second round

6. In the 2nd round the gallery is reduced to the lasting contributors. This time everyone can present whatever else they want to present (mobile devices, webpages, metal coins etc.).

7. There is a final vote between the contestants (3 days) and after that again a public poll (7 days) like in point 4.

This whole procedure would cost us between 20 and 30 days and I believe the result will be accepted in a much broader way than a settlement between the current frontrunners. It will also ensure that this voting won´t be portrayed as a bizarre and unfair event.

FlipPro, in all honesty I don"t think you can allow the madness to continue at this point.

If you do allow this to continue, and I win (and I likely won't) feel free to only send me 20% of the prize, and give the other 80% to the Quark foundation.

And feel free to send me nothing if I try to change my mind later.

I challenge all the leaders in this contest to meet or beat this offer. Can't we all agree at this point that 120,000 quark is far too big a prize for a logo contest. As a couple people have pointed out previously, you can get a damn good logo from someone on fiverr for $5.00

I think martijnp should win if I'm honest. I shouldn't be so kind since he turned against me at some point and accused me of questionable things, but i am fairly certain (at least hoping in my heart) that he is not responsible for the currently absurd state of the vote, even though his votes have skyrocketed from 20 yesterday. Despite that, I don't think he is guilty. I have my own suspicions about who is really responsible but I'm going to keep it to myself, since no one will believe me anyway.

Has anyone stopped to think about where we are, and how it might be playing a role in this? Are we not on a "Bitcoin" website where the presence of other altcoins is merely tolerated because of the extra attention they bring to BTC?

Is it not entirely possible that certain BTC shills have conspired to embarrass Quark by voting for an inferior logo, and then making a mockery of the voting process itself by pumping it full of bullshit fake votes?

Anyway, I think this should be officially ended by FlipPro now. If it isn't, I can only hope the other leaders will individually or collectively make the same pledge I have made, to accept a prize of 20% whilst giving the rest to QF.

If you want to know one of the real reasons I asked the leaders the other day, to sacrifice our leads in favor of bringing other worthy candidates to equal standing with us, it was because I suspected cheating even then, and I would rather sacrifice my own position if necessary than see a cheater win.

It is clear to me now that I should have made a truly stunning logo, as the truly good ones are seemingly above reproach and would have no reason to cheat, right?

I have tried on numerous occasions during this ordeal to be a voice of reason. But evidently my genuine and sound advice is only acceptable if my logo is worth 120,000 QRK. I wonder how the public would react to an altcoin community putting a disabled contest entrant through the wringer and cheating him out of a win to serve the "community" with no regard for the actual people within it.

Only time will tell.

Ultimist, any plans in donating to the Quark Foundation if you win? The winner really should consider this. No other coin has given away such an amount for a logo and deserves some appreciation from the winner imho.

 In general I don´t think that the organizer should decide but rather - as FlipPro said himself - the participants of the competition in mutual agreement.  

I already asked you for your proof of claim, where is it?

Or are empty accusations from you all I get?

You say I am to blame for calling out the fraud...you are a nutjob. A hypocritical nutjob.

Your frivolous claim that I somehow hold liability in this mess is very telling of someone who is too blind to see and too deaf to hear any truth.

You are blind. Face it, you are just pissed that the prize money is gone and you need a punching bag.

I am not that punching bag.

It is obvious to everyone smagmadillo was spamming for votes. It's all over the quark boards but since it is apparent you did not know this, I can only assume you have never been to qrk.cc.

IN any event, I am still waiting for any proof of claim for your absurd diatribe and ludicrous accusations.


Go head, I'm still waiting on that chain of title while your face turns blue.

Please outline the chain of title to placing blame on me for pointing out the voter fraud.

Go ahead.

Unsubstantiated? You mean back when smagardilla had a 35% lead on the next design even though his design is "not the best" and it was clear voter fraud had occurred?

I appreciate your comments however you need to zoom out. You fail to mention I have no design in this contest and  I am not a party to this mess. Nor do you mention the fact that smagmatillia attacked me for raising the issue calling me a troll for not supporting his design and calling out the voter fraud.

Original user? I do not even understand what you mean by that. Original user of what?

UNsubstantiated and uncalled for? If anything my friend, it shows I was right to call it out....look at this bloody mess of fraud and greed.

Go ahead mate, show me the chain of title.

This vote has been totally compromised and should be nulled. Obviously, Smaragda is using proxies to vote his logo into the winners circle.

Look man, no offense to you and your design but this is not the way to win. It is akin to stealing 120K qrk and  leaving the entire quark community holding the bag with an inferior design for a logo.

I know a good logo when I see one and that is not it. Yes it is nice to look at in an archaic dungeons and dragons sort of way but it does not portray quark in the right light.

I feel bad for saying this stuff because I know as an artist myself how much work goes into the design process but this is a not a free-market vote. Smaragda is rigging the voting apparatus. There is nothing that justifies this insane lead in voting based on what I see with my own eyes.

I am trying to protect quark's image and our investments in it but you are playing games trying to collect with only your own interests in mind.

FORK THIS VOTE NOW. I am sickened by this treachery.

BOXXL - you nailed it. That logo is stunning. Its simplicity speaks volumes.

Ok, let's clear up a few things.

We've now reached the point where even the 'scammers' realize this all isn't turning out the way it was supposed to be and that it's an illusion to claim a price of 120k by ridiculing themselves.

Many of us prefer to keep the logo as is. I agree to a certain point!

Basically it is too late to change the logo. It would be a huge mistake, it's a very strong logo!
The current design of the logo has it's flaws but they can be resolved.

We should reconsider the following actions for logo/branding:
- Rescaling (reproportioning) the elements in current logo (current one looks 'bloated')
- Implementing a modern flat single-colored logo design. Current logo contains too many colors which is problematic for scaling etc. (colorful variations can be then be made available in subsets, based on color themes)
- Providing vector files for each logo/branding/subset element
- Implementing standardized subsets of logo/branding (accepted here buttons, charms, physical coins, banners etc)
- Implementing standardized colors themes (For example smashed colors to give it a retro/earthy/grassroots feeling)
- Implementing standard text/font layout for Quark matching the logo style

I've used my concepts to introduce additions to the current redesigned logo. The Q around the logo (boxxl also adopted this). These additions can have different meanings/functions, a wallet for instance. IMO this is a very interesting concept that no other crypto is using.

We should use the generous funding of FlipPro as a budget, managed by the Quark foundation, to deliver a standardized logo/branding set based on the current logo. By leveraging standardized logo/branding elements for everyone's use we can help grow Quark to reach higher maturity. Cool t-shirt designs, posters, banners, buttons, color sets, coins etc.

We now have an entity (Quark foundation) that is able to properly initiate and manage this logo/branding project which, in my opinion should be an ongoing thing. I'm positive the dev team will adopt a high quality logo/branding for Quark based on the current logo.

For this a small designer/branding team should be formed by the foundation. The team should work together to provide the best possible branding for Quark!!!

As a designer participating in this 'contest' I ask FlipPro to consider the above.

To any other serious participant: I suggest you do the same!


Thanks!

That's a decent option, but still I think the prize amount should be massively reduced.

Let's see...

What about...

2500 QRK for 1st.
1500 QRK for 2nd
750 QRK for 3rd
500 for 4th
250 for 5th

NO more fighting, no more bickering please.

So many choices, yet very little variation in who seems to be garnering the greatest number of votes. I am completely confused as to how that happens. There are so many good entries. Could it be because those of us currently in the lead are listed on the first page of the Google document?

I'm not trying to be cute. Why are the votes stacking up in such a way? It's not following any sort of bell curve.

I have to ask everyone to look at all of the logos. There are more choices than just the top 3.

As the current leader (not bragging, this standing most likely will not last much longer) I would like to throw out a proposal to the current top 2 behind myself.

In my opinion, and I'm sure you both will agree, an absolutely *massive* number of great entries are being overlooked as we rise further and further above the others. I like both of your submissions. Mine is clearly the weakest of the 3, but I'm in the lead nonetheless, simply on the strength of my campaigning efforts alone.

So as the current leader, what I would like to propose is that we 3 sacrifice our voting leads to bring the next 5 entries below ours (in total votes) UP in the rankings, equal to our own... an 8-way tie... and then let the voting proceed from there. FlipPro could easily start a new poll to replace this one.

Just browsing over the past few pages it is clear to me that things have gotten out of hand, and we can stop it right now if you both will agree to do this with me. This is not really a fair contest to the other entrants. We 3 have been dominating this beyond all reason, and I think it is time for us to show some gratitude and sportsmanship.

This is a sincere offer. FlipPro, please feel free to disqualify me immediately, if I ask even once to renege on this deal we are about to make. I just feel that some outstanding work in this contest is going largely unnoticed, and I abhor injustice.  I suppose we could just start ALL over but that wouldn't necessarily be fair to those of us who have managed to move ahead of the others. And no offense to those beautiful entries either... as I previously stated, the way the votes are falling is completely strange to me. Utterly inexplicable.

I will only agree to this, though, if both boxxl and barrysoetoro will also agree to it. So what do you say guys, shall we do the right thing and bring up the frontrunners from amongst our competitors, and give them a much fairer shot at winning this for their outstanding work?

Come on, friends, you know in your hearts you want to make this a fair shake for all involved.

And before the criticism and flaming of me starts, for this, I am not pretending to be better than anyone. I am not claiming to be more "sportsmanlike" than the others if they refuse my offer. I am doing this for one reason alone, and you can take this for what it is worth. I am doing this, truly, because I want the others' work to get noticed, and VOTED FOR.

It is simply ridiculous that out of hundreds of possibilities, us 3 have risen so far above the others. Both of your designs are excellent. Mine is mediocre but I worked my butt off to practically beg people on all my forums to vote for me. So I am NOT insinuating anything about your work, either.

But the truth of the matter is, and I am sure you will agree with me here as well, your 2 designs are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to brilliant, beautiful designs represented in this contest.

Will you both agree with me to even out the votes for the top 8, to give the others a fair shot?

Again, FlipPro, and anyone who reads this, feel free to insist on my disqualification if I even attempt to renege on this deal at any point. I am fully prepared to put my money where my mouth is.

But as I said, I will only agree to this if the other top 2 will agree to do it with me, in the interest of giving more people a fighting chance. My lead will not last much longer, and most likely, I will not be garnering many more votes because I have ceased and desisted from all campaigning. Further, I have asked those who already know of my entry in this contest NOT to vote for me, if they haven't already.

So, boxxl and barrysoetoro... can we do this? Please say Yes, for the triumph of fairness and goodness over their opposites.

(Now I will post this and take the heat for it, as I am certain that I will be accused of insincerity, having something up my sleeve, or worse.)