The Idea And The Campaign
Fun.sports has an interesting proposal for the consideration of 
We are already at the end of September and in about 3 months we will be ushering in the year 2020. Why not we start an article writing campaign now with a view to electing "STS Sports Personality Of The Year 2019?" We can have the election through a poll conducted via dpoll.io. The writing campaign shall run from Oct 2019 to Jan 2020 and the poll shall be held during the first week of Feb 2020.
During the campaign period anyone can nominate a sports person by posting an article naming a sports person of their choice for the title "STS Sports Personality Of The Year 2019" and giving reasons why the author thinks the nominee should be elected. There should be no limit to the number of articles nominating a particular sports person.
The Poll
After the end of the campaign period (first week of Feb 2020), SportsTalkSocial will create a poll in dpoll.io inviting people to vote on their choice of the 'STS Sports Personality of the Year 2019.' The poll will name all the previously nominated sports persons and the links to all the articles that have been published until the end of Jan 2019. The purpose of providing the links is to provide the voters (who could be from outside the tribe) a reference materials so that they know why these sports personalities have been nominated and also to assist them to make informed decisions.
Turn the campaign/poll into a contest.
Here is the highlight. After the election of the "STS Sports Personality Of The Year 2019" title winner through the poll, we will know who is (are) the author(s) who nominated the winner of the title. We shall then declare the said author(s) as the winner(s) of the contest.
We suggest SportsTalkSocial allots a certain number of Sports tokens as prize money for the winning candidate(s). We could still have the contest without the prize money but that would take away the excitement and the zest that comes with prize money. Alternatively or in addition, SportsTalkSocial could perhaps consider getting a sports company to sponsor the campaign.
The Rules
Here are our proposed rules of the contest (subject to confirmation and additions after feedback from the community):
Each participant (author) can only submit one entry (nomination). Participants who submit articles or vote on dpoll.io using alt accounts shall be disqualified from the contest.
Participants may nominate a sports personality who has already been nominated by another participant. There is no limit here. If a nominee with multiple nominations from multiple participants wins the title, then all the said participants will be declared winners of the contest and the contest prize, if any, will be divided equally between them.
The article heading should be as follows: "STS Sports Personality Of The Year 2019 Nominee: ……………………….."
The article shall give at least three (3) reasons why the author is nominating the sports person named in the article.
The body of the article (excluding the heading) should comprise of at least 600 words.
The decision on who is the winner of the title, as chosen by the poll voters, is final and cannot be contested under any circumstances.
If two or more sports personalities receive the exact number of votes resulting in a tie, then the poll shall be repeated till a winner is found.
The participants shall have a minimum reputation of 25 at the time of submission of the article and a minimum reputation of 40 before the poll is held. All those participants who don't meet both these qualifications will be disqualified from the poll/contest. This will to some extent weed out the bad actors and if followed as a standard practice by all the other contests on SportsTalkSocial, it will encourage good behavior among the community.
Participants when submitting articles should be mindful of copyright and defamation issues that may affect or implicate the participant and/or the platform. (See below for additional notes)
In addition to the above rules, participants shall also observe all applicable laws, rules, regulations and guidelines.
Only participants who have complied with the rules will have their nominees and the links to their articles published in the poll.
Sports Personality shall be defined as a person who is an active participant in whatever capacity in any sporting event during the year 2019 or any part thereof. A sports person who has retired prior to 2019 from an earlier role but has assumed a new role (such as a coach) shall still be considered to be within the ambit of the definition of Sports Personality.
Uncertainties and ambiguities, if any, in the rules shall be resolved by
For the sake of clarity and certainty,
Notes To Rule 9 :
Participants are strictly prohibited from using any images or videos from other blogs, news sites , magazines and such. Only images from public domains, paid images from stock images sites (like https://shutterstock.com, https://gettyimages.com and https://123rf.com) and free images from stock images sites such as https://pexels.com, https://pixabay.com and https://unsplash.com are allowed.
All images (including paid images) must cite the source in the following format: Image By: [Name of Creator] of (Website providing the image with Link).
If it is your image, then cite as follows: Image By: @yoursteemusername.
If it a video, then cite as follows: [Title of Video on the Video Website] - (Name of Website with Link) Video By {Name of Video Creator].
If it is your own video, then cite as follows: Video By: @yoursteemusername.
Because the nominees for the title are likely to be famous sport personalities we have to be extra strict with this aspect of the rule. For an example of how it is done refer to the image above.
We suggest that images are not used under the fair use or fair dealings exceptions to the copyright protection. Unlike the fair use exception, fair dealings exceptions are rigidly defined i.e. they are not open-ended. Further, the fair use or fair dealings exceptions provided in the laws of the various countries do not specifically provide for contests or polls as exceptions to the copyright protection. Most of them make reference to, among others, reviews and criticism but these are not the same as contest and polls. Hence, in our considered view, we believe it is best to err on the side of caution and avoid the use of images under this exception to the copyright protection.
We are aware that images of famous sports persons are not likely to be available for free on the free stock images site or even in public domains and not everyone can afford to pay for images from stock images site like https://gettyimages.com. That is the reality we have to live with and therefore we have to find the best alternative solutions. Below are some of our suggestions:
- Share your own photos, if any, of sports persons with others in the community.
- Use the services of artists on steem blockchain or elsewhere for a hand drawn artwork of the sports person.
- Use paid images from reasonably priced stock image sites such as https://shutterstock.com or https://123rf.com. There may be other sites. If you know of any, please share it in the comments sections.
We have addressed the copyright issues at length above because we see copyright infringements daily on steem blockchain mainly because of misconceptions of what is allowed and what is not allowed. One common misconception we see a lot is the believe that simply providing the source of the image is enough to exonerate the author from liability for infringement. This is simply not true. We see this error being committed by many including some of the active members of SportsTalkSocial community.
Always be aware that in most jurisdictions the copyright owner has 3 years from the date of infringement to initiate an action. Copyright owners typically don't sue every offender. They usually wait till the harm caused by the infringement is large enough to justify litigation cost. They look for repeat offenders and successful bloggers from whom they have a good chance of recovery. Therefore, if you have been infringing someone's copyright regularly, you may not get any legal notice until the last week of the 3rd year.
As for defamation stick to facts as much as possible. If you have to compare your choice of nominee with another sports person, make sure everything is based on solid facts. Don't assume anything. Be very careful when passing an opinion based on assumptions especially if the opinion paints a sports personality in a negative light.
If we had a successful run this time, we could make this an annual campaign starting in October of each year.
We believe we have addressed most, if not all, of the important issues for the implementation of the contest. We also believe if the contest is properly run with an attractive reward for the winner(s), it will have a huge positive impact for the growth and success of SportsTalkSocial and its community. We will be the most delighted if it does.
What are your thoughts SportsTalkers?
cc
