Song Fight! Turns 20

[Pigfarmer Jr]

People can already enter with as many band names as they want, and the workarounds that have been used are just because there's no way to tell things apart otherwise, both in the software and by the humans using it.

I probably wasn't clear but those two points are exactly what I was trying to point out. Use as many band names as you want for multiple entries but using the same band name for multiple entries in a single fight causes problems.. which should be avoided.

[Lunkhead]

Due to limitations in the way votes are recorded, when you vote, you're effectively voting for "all of the songs in the fight attributed to that band name", there is no individual tracking of which song by a band name you voted for.

[fluffy]

And even if there were (by using abstract file IDs instead of the band name as the vote key — which we really should be doing anyway!) there's still the issue of the listener knowing which of ten Goatfucker songs they're voting for. Having a number in the artist name is just easier for everyone.

[Lunkhead]

Sure, although, putting the numbers in the artist name has the side effect of then splitting the artist's songs across multiple artists in the archive, e.g:

https://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=add
https://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=add_1
https://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=add_2
https://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=add_3
https://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php?key=add_4

Putting the numbers in the filenames and keying the vote on the filename is the way to go but to be frank I'm not interested in hacking up the PHP code to add that, given the way the votes are saved...

[fluffy]

Yeah the easier approach would be to retroactively change the archive data to give them all the same artist name, although I'm not sure how that'll interact with the vote counts.

[Jim of Seattle]

You can be
Dork 1
Dork 3
Dork 4

knock yourself out, Sam is just not going to number them for you.

“To maximize Song Fight's resources for everyone who wants to participate, please only enter one song per fight!“

Sure it’s not technically enforceable, but it’s not ‘doing the right thing’. I would not do that because this is what the rule says and I like to live in a world where people don’t litter and hold doors open and only enter one song per fight. The world runs on adherence to unenforceable rules.

[jb]

Yep that is the request, just saying if you enter multiple times we will put you in the fight even if you aren’t hiding behind multiple band names.

[fluffy]

When the three people who actually run the site are saying “it’s a request, not a rule” you can be pretty assured that it is a request, not a rule.

That said, it’s a thing that’s only happened in exceptional circumstances and it should ideally stay that way.

[ujnhunter]

Just don't be Dork 2.