Caution: Ding Dong talk ahead
I really enjoy entering video contests. Each contest I enter is a new creative challenge that requires a different solution. Thanks to the contests I’ve entered I’ve become a much sharper filmmaker so it’s a great way to improve your skills. And of course, I also really like winning and getting big checks in the mail for my work.
But there’s a lot about video contests that frustrate me. Contest organizers sometimes don’t play by their own rules and sometimes contestants just flat out cheat in an effort to win. And that’s why I started this blog. My hope is that if someone shines a little light on the negative aspects of video contests, people will be forced to do better and play fair.
I think the thing that bothers me most about video contests is the lack of civility and good sportsmanship. Greed, jealousy and desperation can make people go a little crazy. Throw in the anonymity that the internet provides and you’ve got a recipe for sabotage and trash talk. For example, in a score-based competition, how many times have you seen your star rating drop mysteriously in a very short amount of time? How many times have you gotten ugly, anonymous comments about one of your videos? Do other contestants really think that the judges will see that youtube user “rudeboy742” thinks your entry “sucks goat ass” and then think to themselves, “yeah! This video does suck goat ass!?”
A few days ago I wrote about suspicious voting activity in the Butterfinger contest. The next day, someone going by the name “Douche Pumper” (yes, that’s what he called himself) left a very angry, very depressing comment on that blog post. Here it is:
Wow. Talk about someone who is bitter about being fat and having a small ding-dong. You think anyone really wants to listen to some fat, red-bearded turd ramble on about how disgruntled he is over video contests? They don’t. Loser.
Get a life and get a job, you lazy f—. And, better yet, why don’t you make your own videos and actually compete in these contests. Then someone might actually care about what you have to say. Until then, have fun watching your website float off into the ether of Internet sites never visited.
It’s always the fat guys with little ding-dongs who start sites like this. Like Harry Knowles.
Anonymous Coward. <—That means you. Not my signature.
It’s obvious what has happened here, right? One of the contestants in the Butterfinger contest saw that I was questioning the suspicious voting activity and are pissed that I suggested that they may have been doing something less than ethical to win that contest.
Except….that’s not what happened. Though the comment was left anonymously it was pretty easy to figure out where it came from. I added a fancy piece of code to this wordpress blog that tells me where visitors are from and how they got here. I checked the program logs and saw that the comment came from a visitor from Dallas, TX who arrived at the site via a google search for the name “Justin Spence.”
A few weeks ago I did a blog post about a Dallas filmmaker named Justin Spence who I believe flagrantly plagiarized the work of frequent video contest winner, Jared Cicon. Mr. Spence seemed to copy Jared’s 2008 winning Taxlsayer.com video for a contest held by ForRent.com. I feel that he not only plagiarized the concept he even copied the tone and pacing and locations of Jared’s video. I wouldn’t have even mentioned it on the site except that Mr. Spence’s apparent rip-off actually won first place and 10 grand from ForRent.com. Jared graciously said he didn’t mind the plagiarism but Spence never bothered to get his OK until other people called him out on his theft. All around it was just a very uncool thing to do. To read the blog post that got Mr. Spence so angry, click here. And just so you can see I’m not crazy, here is Jared’s original Taxslayer ad:
And here’s is Justin Spence’s winng ForRent.com ad:
So anyway, it looks like Mr. Spence found the post about him while googling himself. He got angry and needed to unleash his venom (he also unleashed in a rather ugly way on the people on the ForRent site who also accused him of plagiarism.) But if Mr. Spence left a comment on my post about him then everyone would realize it was he who was obsessed with the size of my “ding-dong.” So he left the comment on the Butterfinger post to make it look like someone from that contest was the anonymous jerk. And that’s the part that really bothers me. Not only did he say a bunch of ugly (and wildly incorrect BTW) stuff, he also tried to frame one of the butterfinger finalists.
If Mr. Spence thought that what I said about his ForRent.com winning video was incorrect or unfair, he could have just e-mailed me and said so. I would have even been happy to post some kind of rebuttal from him or maybe even take down the original post. But instead, her spewed out a bunch of weird bile. Just for fun, I’ll address some of Justin’s points:
“Wow. Talk about someone who is bitter about being fat and having a small ding-dong. You think anyone really wants to listen to some fat, red-bearded turd ramble on about how disgruntled he is over video contests? They don’t. Loser.”
Not actually a photo.
Do you see what’s going on in this guy’s head? He doesn’t seem to realize that the mascot of this website isn’t an actual photo of me. I don’t look anything like that guy. I just thought it was a funny piece of clip art so I picked “beardy” as The Video Contest News’ mascot. The thing that really speaks volume’s about this person’s maturity level is his obsession with “ding dong” size. Why is Justin Spence so hung up on penis size? I’m no psychiatrist but I’ve seen enough episodes of Frasier to make an educated guess. Also, I am not disgruntled. I am totally gruntled with video contests! I don’t want to give an exact number but I have won A LOT of money thanks to video contests in the last two years. Also, Beardy’s beard is really more brown than red, isn’t it?
“And, better yet, why don’t you make your own videos and actually compete in these contests. Then someone might actually care about what you have to say..”
Why would someone be into video contests enough to start a blog devoted to them and yet never shoot entries themselves? For the record, I shoot maybe 3 contest entries a month and as I said, I do win….a lot.
It’s always the fat guys with little ding-dongs who start sites like this. Like Harry Knowles.
How does Mr. Spence know how big Harry Knowles’ penis is? I don’t know and I don’t want to know. Wait a second, they are both from Texas. Maybe…um, never mind.
At the end of Mr. Spence comment he slams me for writing this blog anonymously….and then signs off anonymously with the name “Douche Pumper.” (Why would he call himself Douche Pumper??)
Ok….so, I understand that the irony here is getting pretty deep. I write a blog under a pseudonym where I call out cheaters, bad sports and crappy contests and Justin criticizes me for doing that and then tries to make it look like some innocent contestant from the Butterfinger contest did it.
This is a good time for me to explain why I do things the way I do here on VCN. I’m very, very proud of my video work and it’s been very tempting to post about my latest wins here. This site could also be a great tool for building a personal fan base and for getting votes for videos when I need them. But I’ve decided that I should keep my work out of this blog, at least for now. The reason? I am worried about retribution from people like Justin Spence. Like I said, I want to see video contests cleaned up and so I’m going to be bringing attention to people who are making video contests less fun for the rest of us. Now imagine if my name and a list of my work was available on this site. Many video contests are basically popularity contests. If a guy like Mr. Spence is so bitter and angry that he has to make fun of a cartoon mascot’s beard and penis size then it’s not a giant leap to assume that he might also try and sabotage a stranger’s contest entries in retribution for them pointing out his inappropriate actions. Long story short, if you act like a jerk I am going to call you out on it. But I refuse to give bad people the tools to wreck my chances in whatever contests I’m currently in.
Video contests are awesome but guys like Mr. Spence make them less awesome. These are the guys that aren’t just satisfied with getting their friends to vote for their entries, they also have to get their friends to give bad scores to their competition. These are the guys that create fake youtube accounts so they can make it look like “the people” all agree that your work sucks. These are the guys start fights in the comments sections of a contest’s website. These are the guys that make us all look bad and these are the guys that convince companies that video contests are just not worth all the hassle. Guys like Mr. Spence are the ones that want to wreck a good thing. But you don’t need to let these angry people get away with it. If someone is harassing you in a contest, let us know and we’ll try and give them some of the attention they obviously crave so badly.
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Dude, this post if fucking rad. You not only make a great point, but it’s actually like a piece of investigative journalism and I LOVE that you called this asshole out on this shit! Way to go, and keep up the good work!!!
And Justin Spence can go fuck himself!
Speaking of, I’ve got an idea… Next time you win a consolation prize in a contest or something, and you get a free iTunes gift card or whatever, you should host a contest called “Justin Spence is an Asshole” and then require entries to title their video “Justin Spence is an Asshole,” and then if a few entries are submitted, people will google his name and all they’ll see all over the front google page is the truth about this jerk.
wow. i don’t know what a douche-pumper is but that guy certainly is one.
The Lord definitely works in amazing ways with his lessons, and this has been a very valuable one for me. I handled this situation the wrong way, and for that I am very sorry. (Proverbs 28:13 – He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.) I have an anger management problem when it comes to negative criticism and the Lord is guiding me through it. For that, I am definitely thankful. (James 1:2-4)
Let me start by apologizing for sending those destructive words to you and to the others who read them. (Romans 12:17) After initially being attacked with some less than desirable words on your blog, I let the anger boil up overnight and failed to pay attention to Proverbs 29:11 and Ephesians 4:26-27 by returning evil for evil. “You intedended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
Anyone else who struggles with similar knee-jerk reactions to criticism, I encourage you to visit this page: http://www.gotquestions.org/anger.html
With my confession and lessons learned, I’d like to handle my rebuttal the way it should have been handled the first time without the acrimony.
I know a lot of video contestants were upset with the results of the ForRent contest; however, after speaking with Jared about using his concept for the commercial, I felt that it was not necessary for me to remove my submission. (His email can be read on the contest site, of course.) To be fair, I put myself in Jared’s position and asked myself if I would be upset if someone used my concept for the winning commercial that I created for Callaway’s Big Bertha Diablo driver in April. My immediate answer to that was no. I would be flattered if someone used my winning concept for another brand. If someone thinks they can make my concept work better for a different company, have at it. I’d love to see what the outcome is. And as Jared said in his email, “It is similar, but you didn’t go into a daydream sequence, assume another identity, ride a horse, and you’re not as good looking as me. Sorry, I’m a comedian first, producer 2nd. The whole ‘phone call to a buddy’ thing has been done a thousand times before I did it. Though there are paralells between the two spots I feel more flattered than ripped off.”
My intentions were never to hide the fact that I used another filmmaker’s winning concept, but to try to impress a company with a commercial that they could be excited about to use for their advertising. If I had been working with ForRent one on one without the contest, I would have shown them Jared’s video as an example of a ‘phone call to buddy’ scenario we could use for their commercial.
Obviously, you and other contestants do not agree, but ultimately it was up to what ForRent.com wanted for their marketing efforts. Public voting was a very small percentage of the overall final score, and that is why I entered. They were not going to let the public decide who wins the contest. In the end, they felt my commercial best represented how they wanted to advertise their brand. And that is what I shoot for every time. Not to please the other contestants in a popularity contest, but to produce something the client would actually love to distribute. I have local clients ask me all the time to create a video like a certain commercial that they like.
Anyway, the easy route was to explode in venom and anger to all the negative criticism, but Romans chapter 12 has given me a considerable amount of guidance and a valuable lesson through this.
Good luck with future contests and your site, and God bless.
Justin
UPDATE:
This morning, the person I said made the Ding-Dong comment e-mailed me a very friendly message where he explained that I had incorrectly identified him as the “Douche Pumper.” He also posted his e-mail to me on his own blog.
I sort of freaked because if he was telling the truth that meant that I had made an innocent guy look like a total jerk. So I combed through my web logs again and did some other crazy internet magic and came to the conclusion that everything I said in this post was correct.
I wrote Justin back and gave him more information about they type of info I used to determine that he was indeed the douche-pumper in question. I told him that if he was just straight with me we could settle this weird mess and move on.
Since Justin was a big enough person to delete his own blog post and then come here to set the record straight and apologize I think we can call this issue closed. As a thank you to Justin I have obscured his photo in this blog post and more importantly, I have removed any mention of his full name. That’s sort of important since now no one googling him will find this post. I’d delete the entire thing but I think it’s important to leave up.
Wow, what a weird web page… Internet justice and apologizing at it’s finest!
I guess obscuring the details was a nice gesture, but ultimately ineffective considering Justin came here and commented.
Justin, your comment here with all the bible quotes came off really disingenuous… kind of like when a filthy mouthed rapper thanks God on stage for winning an award. However, when I found my way to your site… I saw you have a bible quote (rotater?) on your site… which just means you are a standard human who just strayed from your chosen path. A work in progress… keep working.
Regarding “false accusations” (Off Topic)…
I used to manage a hotel and I had a Night Auditor who was stealing CC numbers and also paying for rooms with stolen CC numbers and pocketing the cash. Myself and another person “staked out” in my office and taped her and watched her for several hours through some blinds. I knew she would be up to something that night because there was a room missing a CC imprint and I had questioned the guest (who said he paid cash) and called her to ask what was up. (not telling her I talked to the guest)
As expected… she try to cover her tracks by placing a CC imprint on the registration card as if it had always been there. Anyway, after several hours when I felt I had enough on tape… I called the police.
Well, it almost fell apart first of all because I called from an in house phone and she saw an alert on the phone showing my extension (stupid on my part)… luckily she didn’t catch on fast enough and a few minutes later myself and the police officers came walking through the front door. (I had gone out a back entrance.)
I found some evidence, but nothing to warrant a search for about 15 minutes… the officers couldn’t just go on me saying she had altered the reg card. There was not a female officer, so they couldn’t search her anyway. She kept asking to go to the bathroom… luckily she was not allowed.
Anyway, she was a fast talker and denying everything and there were a tense few moments where it looked like she was going to get away with it and was going to look innocent… the hotel owners and I would have likely gotten sued because that is the type of person she was.
Finally after reviewing the tape I saw she threw something in the trash and she also stuck something behind her back down her pants after the police arrived. It was downhill from there for her…
The female officer arrived and found 5 or 6 fraudulent/stolen Credit Cards between her cheeks… and I don’t mean her mouth! LOL
She was part of major theft ring in our region. Turns out she had done it before and she was even involved in stealing some of my personal CCs.
What is the point… I get how you were feeling for a moment. The problem is everybody says they are innocent… even when all the evidence says they aren’t until they cannot deny it any longer.
Thanks,
Michael
Here is my perspective. If my work was copied in format and someone won a prize in a contest I had also entered, than it is a whole different cat fight (similar to what Beardy is going through now with CASKET, shoulc his allegations be found to have merit). Some might even say that I am foolish to let my work be used for purpose of gain for any reason without compensation. That Justin was man enough to contact me with an admission that he used my IP as a template but also that he was prepared to withdraw if I was offended, really disarmed me and helped me to make my decision to give him the thumbs up. I think though what should have happened, (to save himself a lot of potentially wasted time and aggravation) is Justin should have contacted me prior to pre-production for the green light. Who knows, I might have even helped him develop a stronger script.
I also know that if Justin is ever contacted by For Rent for a sequel, that he will need to cut me in on the action, and should probably negotiate with me before negotiating with For REnt since I could potentially squash any agreement makes with them that I consider inequitable.
So yes there are a lot of issues surrounding the matter, but relative to the blog post, I think it admirable that Justin faced the music and also that Beardy reciprocated. This was a great example of contest husbandry and it’s kind of neat that I played a small part.
Thanks Beardy…and Justin.
Jared