I can’t say for certain that it was. What I do know is that some pretty funny things happened with the voting by text for the people’s choice on panorama finals night 2012. Not to mention that in the first place I thought it to be down right foolishness to allow voting before a note is struck (What were we voting for, the best performance or the band we support?) Nevertheless on Panorama Saturday I sent a text for my band and got a response thanking me for participating. Ten minutes later I tried texting again (you were encouraged by advertisement to vote more than once) entering the same code and got the response: “please text correct short code to your favourite Medium & Large Band category of choice.” In other words my text was rejected. I encouraged other members of my band to text and lo and behold their votes were rejected as well. I then tried sending a text for another band and - you guessed it - the text was accepted. I the tried again to resend the code for my band and on eight occasions my text met with rejection. My friends also had the same experience with only two votes accepted out of approximately fifteen attempts. At first I thought nothing of it, believing that it may have had to do with traffic congestion. In retrospect however, I must say that I find it passing strange that the vote for the other band (which incidentally won the people’s choice) went through without a fuss while the votes for my band kept bouncing back. One person even told me that when they entered the code and pressed send, the first letter in the code changed from “b” to “n”. The first time it happened they assumed that the error was theirs, but then the same thing happened three more times even though they had taken care to ensure that the correct letters were entered. Hmmmmh.
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first of all when you listen to pan on the radio or tv you cannot get the true sound or effect of the performance.the voting should be left to only the people present in the stands as they have witnessed not only the performing sound of the pans but also the artistry of the performance. i am not talking about the mad antics of whining and jumping around that is so prevalent these days,but showmanship is now a staple part of the performance and must be judged on its merit .personally i am not a backer of any particular band .i was present in the stands ,and if tha judges were fair they would have noted that the only two bands that got a standing ovation and the longest and loudest round of applause were silver stars and renegades.yet they finished third and fourth respectively. if voting is left to any and all of the voting public ,every backer of every band will vote their band regardless of their performance.i would love to hear other points of view.
sigh!
Marcano, i do agree with you. Texting should be done after a band has performed, with a particular code for that band. I also experienced the same problems you encountered. I guess we have to wait for Pan Trinbago meetings to understand these issues.
voting by text must never be part of our panorama competition! I know people who did not hear a single band, but was texting for their favorite band although not hearing them for the year. this is madness,
So there was no discrimination in voting, from our experience.
I hope this will settle your mind somewhat and help you as a respected person of authority and level headedness to also settle the minds of renegades players and supporters that their hard work is beginning to pay off and that they just need to keep doing what they are doing and the rewards will come.
Don't allow them to get side tracked by baseless conspiracy theories and paranoid flights of fantasy.
Mr DJ, let me assure you that my question was steeped in no conspiracy theory. In the first place I do not consider voting by text to be a serious competition; how can it be when voting commenced long before a note was even struck. The only winner there is the telecommunications company, for in case you hadn’t noticed, the cost per text was even higher than normal. My blog was posted simply because as a thinking person, I believe in questioning things and not in just accepting anything that is shoved down my throat – the constitution of the land guarantees me the right so to do. In passing let me also mention that win lose or draw, Renegades has always been one of the hardest working steel bands in the land and not just for panorama but all year through - ask any All Stars player and they will confirm that. Oh and by the way perhaps you missed the part in my blog where I said that I also texted a vote for All Stars – or do you consider that part of the conspiracy theory as well?
Mr Marcano,we say in Dutch,,,,,maak jouzelf niet druK,,,, meaning do not do not place yourself in suspense or anxiety/being uneasy for the point is in block leters.,,,,,NO NOTE WAS STRUCK,,,,NOT A TONE OR CHORD HEARD,,,,,ENGLISH LANGUAGE,,,??????? i do find it not difficult to understand?it,s a 6 for a 9 to the point,factual and logical,,,,,No note was being struck and or was being heard. How can one vote.God Bless..
What's the results of the People Choice?
Large band All Stars won
The whole peoples choice thing was set up to cover the judges asses, because the eventual winner was always gonna be on of the speed, pan slamming, props and stage performance/spirit of Carnival bands, which judging criterion carries a mere 5 or 10 points out of 100. The gullible public no longer check for music, hence the euphoric crowd reaction/people's choice, which has been winning panorama in the large band category recently. Do y'all remember Guiness Cavaliers, slamming and noisy, beating Pan Am North Stars, Anthony Willams, Hilanders Slater/Bertie Marshall etc. noise and jumping around beating some of the finest music...we've gone full circle again