I'm seeing a lot of people asking why some projects don't get involved in voting contests. I usually avoid the topic since I know some people put work in to make them happen and have good intentions, but since there are a lot of folks making posts and comments on spaces about projects not participating, I'll share the honest reasons we choose not to in case it's helpful.
Generally speaking I think they're a net negative for projects/brands. Some could say that it's friendly competition, but I'm not really sure it's the kind of competition that helps brands. If you break it down, they're popularity contests where the projects involved are asked to drum up support for themselves. I'm not sure if that's a good thing for projects and communities to spend their time and energy on. You're probably not going to love the dude putting in work to ask everyone to vote for them as prom king.
Also in terms of friendly competition, most folks seem to agree this space can easily get too tribal sometimes so I'm not sure if there's a lot of value in pitting communities against each other to decide which is more popular. I've seen quite a number of these competitions turn sour.
We usually privately let organizers know we'd prefer not to be included to avoid confusion and give projects that are interested in participating the spot instead. We explain why it's not something we'll promote, but some organizers choose to include us anyway and that's fine -- it's their choice. Not sure if they need to criticize projects for not engaging, though.
If people have fun doing these I have no problem with them doing it. It's just not for everyone and I think that's alright too 🤝