Hm

Rant time.

...I have already joined two contests whose host simply canceled the contest without warning (I know one of them deleted the entire journal, because I couldn't trace the journal back to them). Another one of the contest hosts simply left the entrants hanging because they haven't updated for months and never replied to anything anyone asked on the contest journal.

Hm. :I

Now I'm wondering why. I don't think it's because of the lack of attention; at least one of them got more than 10 people responding that someone wanted to join (some have even set their entries). And not because the lack of prize(s). And not because nobody made it to the deadline. So...why, then?

I mean, what, free art?

There are lots of other ways for people to get free art, actually. I offered requests (and still offering it) on my other journal. And some of the awesome deviants around here who offered free artworks are much better than me skill-wise. It really is not hard to get free art from generous people of the deviantArt.

But, see, I dedicate myself to each of the entries I sent. I worked hard to get the entries done inbetween college/job/chores even though it might not be perfect. I did my best. And it pissed me off when the host of a contest I'm in suddenly decided the contest is no longer on, without giving as much as a warning or offering an apology to all the entrants involved.

To me it looks like they don't think the entries even worth the time for them to give warnings or apologize beforehand. It's impolite, annoying, and it makes them seem they belittled the effort the entrants made to join their contests.

It's different when they already mentioned you'll need at least 5 entries or something for the contest to go on, or when they mentioned any other possibilities that they might not continue the contest. But they did not. Nothing implied on the original journal, nothing explicit or implicit. So what's their excuse(s), if any?

I myself have made two failed contests: one of them had only two participants who actually submitted their entries. I tried to gather as many prizes as I can, and I only got TWO PARTICIPANTS. It sucks. But I didn't drop the contest, even after 75% of the entrants said they couldn't meet the deadline (despite of the fact that they have more than a months to work on it and I even allowed sketches for entries). I didn't, because I don't want to be unfair to people who were interested enough in my contest to make an effort to create their artwork(s).

So...why, contest hosts?
What actually WAS your excuse?

At least I'm still decent enough not to put your name on the hall of shame. Be grateful.