Changes/Improvements to Request Streams (Patreon)

So, I need to change and update how I do the request streams a little bit, mostly for my own sanity, but also for clarity on how I pick things. At the moment, picking stuff is done like this:

1: roll  random number gen 1-whatever number of requests (about 100) i call the "normal pool" of submissions

2: read that pick, sort it by one of a few things: is it an OC of mine, is it a furry r34/fanart pic, or is it a non-furry r34/fanart pic? These are the main categories I sort the picks into.

3: once I have picked 4 for each category (i just keep rolling random numbers until I get enough), i pick 2 of the categories to be the 'stream vote' polls, usually based on what i feel up for drawing that day.

4: the "my pick" 2 drawings are chosen similarly. i either pick 2 from the un-used 3rd category from above, or scan the list manually for something that pops out at me like "yeah that sounds really cool, i want to try that today!"

5: i keep a record of who's already won a drawing. after picked, i delete it from the list and pick from those who haven't yet...up to a point (see below)

6: if a particular idea has lost a vote several times in a row, i will often pick it manually for the "my pick" so don't be discouraged if that happens. 

7: if an idea is something i won't do, don't feel excited or up for, I'll remove it and message the person to resubmit another if they want. these ideas should be good for a number of people to enjoy, and if it's too obscure, difficult, odd or just not my thing, I don't think I'll enjoy working on it, and it likely won't turn out very good.

That's it in a nutshell. There's a few problems with this though particularly number 5; if new people join and keep adding to the list, as well as old patrons leaving before they're picked, but still have an idea on there, constantly updating the list manually is very time consuming. If new ideas keep getting added, then it starts to get more unfair for those before them, suddenly having the possibility of waiting longer. 

So for this reason I think I'll start to "weigh" requests by person. If someone has their request picked, it gets removed, and i write it down elsewhere to keep track. using colour-coding on the spreadsheet cells, I'll assign a month a colour. like if Patron A gets their request drawn in December, and December is blue, the next time i see them submit an idea, I'll mark the cell "blue" so i know how long it's been since they've gotten one. 

After a while(not specific.. usually 8-10months? for most patrons, half that for $25), I'll remove the cell colour, putting them back in the normal pool. It doesn't mean i won't pick from them until then, for example, if there aren't enough good requests, or enough to fill a category from the normal pool, then I'll go roll through the coloured pools, from oldest to newest, until i find some approrpriate requests. With 100+ requests, and me doing 8 or so per month, that would take a good year and half or more to get through -everyone- if i did it strictly "only pick un-drawn ideas until everyone's gotten one, then restart", so, sorry if it seems forever since your request was picked, but try and remember that there are a lot of other submissions, and hopefully, a lot of them are images that others want to see, too! group effort, group-enjoyed submissions kind of goal.

Whew. So as far as I can see, THERE IS NO 100% RULE-BOUND "FAIR" way to do this, I think this is the closest I can get. I'm sorry! I'm trying my best. Mixing random picks, and personal picks to mitigate "crowd-pleasing" requests being the only ones voted for, and not turning it into a raffle. The only other way is to throw ALL of this 'picking/voting' stuff out the window and I just pick manually myself each and every one, only what I like, with no cooldowns for anyone, and run the risk of it taking a very long time for someone to get their idea.

SO!

What I want to change about it:

1: Make the results view-able by everyone. With Google Forms I can make a view-only link. This way people can see others' requests, see who was picked when, and so on. I can't really think of a good reason why anyone would be against this..? but if you are, comment below and let me know. The plus side to this is other requests may give you an idea, but also...

2: You can second someone else's request. If you choose to 'second' another's idea, there will be a spot in the form for that. If the idea is picked, it will count for both people's request, however, the chances of me going with it go way up with the more people that pick it. 

3: Right now I do 4 per stream, I'd like to go back to 5 if I can, but I think to do that, I'll have to save time and energy by doing the sketches for 5 picks first, and then polling the stream to see which they want me to colour. Colouring is much less intensive on my hand and saving that for last is probably best, and even if i only end up colouring 3 or 4, at least I have 5 things drawn! That, or, like my friend Tom does, save the colouring for another separate stream.

Thanks for reading all of this, let me know what you think; I should be making the new form soon, after I hear from you guys about what specifics or suggestions you might have.