Contest take entirely to long, and contest holders take to long to make decisions .

It's already bad enough that some of the contest take entirely to long, but sometimes it is even worse because a contest holder is allowed to restart a contest. This in my opinion is not fair because the designers who participated from the beginning are already tired from trying to please the costumer and someone who has not had to endure the contest for the full length can just swoop in and win the contest. Next, even after the contest is over it takes way to long for contest holders to pick a winner. Some of the contest holders are not even involved in the process, so you calculate the length of the contest with the length of a restart plus the length it takes them to pick a winner and this = WAY TO LONG.

I guess when extending contest, CHolder has to increase the money too, not much, but...
Restarting contest actually rarely happened, still it is rough for designers.
If we look from CH point of view, if we are not satisfied at the end, and have prepaid the contest, why not extend or restart (for fresh ideas) the contest?

It is a risk we all are taking.

yea, but what about he length it takes for some contest holders to pick a winner?

Egaminat, I agree with you to a point. I think 6 days is enough time for a contest holder to hold a contest. I have been part of a couple of contest which has been extended. What makes me upset is when a contest ends and you never hear back from the Contest Holder. If you read the rules and regulations, it states that if the Contest Holder doesn't pick a winner after a certain time, the contest is declared abandoned and the prize money is split between the top three designs. I was a part of two different contest which have been abandoned and I was #1 and #2 in both contest and I asked DC about this and they wait almost 2 months to do anything about it, which is longer then it's stated in the rules and regulations.

It's fair to extend the contest at least another 6 days. There are tons of great designers out there and I don't see how you can't find a great design, at a great price. It is not fair to wait over 2 months to declare a winner, it is not fair to the designers who worked so hard to come up with the best design, just to get no response in the end. I don't think some people understand the things we do in order to get a good design out. People like my husband don't understand the work behind what we do.

Thanks for the post

Emaginat, I understand your point.
Well, DC has rules regarding the clients obligations. If DC would have been your or mine site we would not be that expandable;)
Comparing to other contests here, those we are talking about are in minority.

Most of those, as I believe, are agencies/designers who work over us for actual client, so probably that is why it takes too long - it's a 3 way path.

I agree if this were a personal project id probably be charging a "KILL DATE" fee for
all the work done to that point, I also have a problem with the constant adjusting of
the design briefs. #JustSayin!

It is your responsibility to check the contest brief! The contestholder has every right to change the brief adding info/changing. The ch is paying for this design. Why would the ch not have the right to change the brief?

Changing the brief helps many times because the CH after seeing the designs makes a better idea of what he wants and changes the brief, ads examples etc..
There are times when changing the brief confuses us but you have to understand that buying a logo is like buying any other thing... you may change your mind about it.
we're only humans (Ch and designers)

I wish contest holders would focus on thier projects in the period of the contest, reply fast to comments and rate all entries even if they do not like them and when the contest end take action right away either pick the winner or extend, maybe this should be told to contest holders when they start a project!