I would strongly suggest it be member-only, with staff, vendor or commercial entries disallowed. The reasons are pretty simple & in fairness as it's inappropriate for staff to participate in a competition against members, the various retailers already have plenty of recognition through advertising and they often have the resources to make any "competition" with our DIY members unfair....We're also less formal here, a bit more laid back so there's no need to ask permission to hold a build off, there's no staff involvement unless requested (other'n forum rules ofc). It's just a matter of deciding what class/type of bikes, the rules concerning entrants, the beginning & end dates & then creating a thread in the appropriate subforum, choppers, cruisers, rats, trackers, w/e... Two threads, one for rule establishment, suggestions & entry requests (later becoming handy for non-entrant build discussion) and one for the actual build off is suggested, ofc the staff here is at your disposal for maintaining those threads (off topic/non entrant/moderation) should it be needed.
...we very much encourage member (non vendor) hosted & judged events, or at least a poll to determine the winner as this helps eliminate any question of product bias and to insure a fair, friendly competition.
...for now the type/class subforums are suggested or even our Event section should it be a multiple class competition, we can always move threads should it be become necessary.
Please do contact any of the staff here should you wish assistance for any reason, even suggestions concerning rules, classes and other parameters, or simple thread/post maintenance - we're more than willing to aid any event in any way we can
Who said anything about various retailers here? And who is nominating popular merchant offerings here?Well, we do usually let these suggestion threads kick over for a little while to allow folks to formulate their thoughts & get a better idea of the idea
As for competitions, we encourage members to create their own to prevent any question of bias - a "bike of the month" very similar to any other competition, here's the general outline for a "build off";
I would strongly suggest it be member-only, with staff, vendor or commercial entries disallowed. The reasons are pretty simple & in fairness as it's inappropriate for staff to participate in a competition against members, the various retailers already have plenty of recognition through advertising and they often have the resources to make any "competition" with our DIY members unfair.
Nominating popular merchant offerings kinda defeats the point as I see it;
I think the OP had all of this in mind to begin with.....
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