The first exciting steps into this new year.

Agree

It took me a moment at first to realize why the winning idea would be clear in march. But it does make complete sense.

Maybe you should just mention that clearly somewhere?
"all ideas will run for 31 days. So the winning idea will be know first of March!"
something like that?

i think you should try to explain it (Paul's two lines are very clear allready). Because otherwise that very nice plan posted on January 28th has no chance of winning.

I would go for clarity and end in the end of the month.

Also considering that now, since it's possible to take your vote back in favor of a new idea, there is the chance for late comers.

Maybe one or two days before the deadline you could send a mail around reminding people that if they are interested they can check now on 'all' the ideas.

Like that people might reconsider and change to a late posted idea.

i like the idea of reminding just before the deadline.
so ending all idea's 30 days after they have been submitted is more fair, but i can see the point of clarity and simplicity.
And also: maarten can start working already the first of february

yes Bart, can't wait to see Maarten in action.

plus a deadline would give the excitement of 'who-is-winning-tonight'.

i think you have convinced me. i wonder what maarten will do!

I'm also getting more and more convinced. I like the 'who is winning tonight' deadline idea. We can let people know about that via facebook, twitter, email, etc. In that way late ideas still get a lot of attention and everything will kind of balance out.

After reading all the arguments I am in favor of closing the vote in the end of the month! Clear and simple. It will be an exciting count down moment when the voting closes (that maybe needs to be celebrated in a bar....?)

Closing at the end of the month is clear indeed.

You might consider giving each idea 2 weeks to be voted on? It's a bit short but like that each idea still has the same amount of time, which is completely fair. In other words: an idea posted on the 1th of january will close on 15, an idea on the 15 will close on 31. And of course ideas in between, so 4-19, 8-23 etc etc...

cheers!

uhm, to prevent misunderstanding:

you can only add ideas until the 15th of a month...

Yes, it's a fair solution. One half for adding, other half to finish the voting. A disadvantage with this option is that if you have a nice idea, you won't be able to add it to the site in the second period. And by that time you can, you maybe forgot about it, lost interest or you don't visit the site anymore.

You could make it that you can still add ideas in the second period, but those ideas will be in the 'waitinglist' for the month after. Pity then is that you can't start promoting the idea you just put on. You have to wait.

or you could add it/post it, but we would only be able to vote for those ideas from the coming month? (after the previous idea has been chosen) like what you mentioned above, but that the waiting list is visible. that will also add excitement to it, people can read ideas and get inspired and worked up about them, but they will need to hold their horses?

but no closing night, no bar, no beer...

i think it sounds confusing also to vote until the 15th and then after that you can still post ideas but there will be no voting..
I think its important to be able to post and vote every day of the month

Ok guys. Thanks for all the feedback and ideas. It seems like every solution has it's down points. So I guess it's about choosing the one with the most up points!!

1. Current situation (each idea has 31 days)
Up - Fair, each idea has the same amount of time
Down - Little bit confusing/complicated at first sight
Down - Takes long before it's clear which idea 'won'

2. Cut the month in half, 15 days adding ideas, 15 days voting/waiting.
Up - Fair, each idea has the same amount of time
Up - Closes in the end of the month
Down - Still a bit confusing/complicated
Down - People cannot add ideas in the second period, or have to wait to be able to vote on it.

3. Close everything in the end of the month
Up - Simple and easy to understand
Up - There is a closing night
Down - Not completely fair

---------------------

Conclusion

I guess option 3 still wins. I would need to give more attention on recent ideas, so they get more chances. And I think the extra wave of attention on the last day - because of the closing night - will kind of balance out the unfairness. Hopefully the ideas which were very good, but didn't make it because of a shortage of time, will get reposted the month after.

I guess we'll just try it out for a month, see how it goes. It's always possible to change it again if it doesn't seem to work!!

Laters, m

Last night I was in favor of a mix between Thierry and Sara (15 days max for every idea, new ideas for the coming month are visible but you can only vote from the first on).

But now I think Paul is right, you should "be able to post and vote every day of the month".

For the continuity, clarity and simply to keep people interested your conclusion to close in the end of the month is probably the best solution.

Time will tell...

the nice thing is that since this is your lab rat, you can choose to do whatever feels-seems better, and once it doesn't feel 'right' anymore, you can change it.
anyhow, i think that suits the nature of this project and where you are at in life. trial and error. or trial and success.
i agree with fricke there, time will tell.

idea 3!!! and keep the 31st free in your agenda's

Yes, it's a good excuse to have a party on each last day of the month... This is going to be fun!!! (it already is btw)

and from 12:00 on no more garbage as it looks now...

Not so fast!! A lot can still change...