Dear Uncle Chris, Jimbles, Stephen and fellow admins. Just an ask and a thought. Some amazing members attain mega amounts of finder points. Try as I might, I never get hardly any. Molly and Karyn have very kindly given me some of their own supervotes a couple of times, but me being me, I don’t like to keep asking. I think I’ve got 13 of 28 left since the last donation given which is probably over 12 months ago. I cling to these last 13, and that means I mostly vote normally, even though I want to add a lol vote to many that crack me up, but I fear of not having any at all! This may sound a daft idea, but what if we could buy Supervotes? As in, (for arguments sake) £5 for 15 or whatever. It may also help bump up the prize funds, but mainly, the non-finders like me - Who, due to the Isaac Newton based Finder-point rule of thumb challenge you first have to move to Austria, solve a 150ft long equation and take up plate spinning to understand that you lose finder points if you vote for other captions.
So, I’ve been pondering the matter for a while now. As I sit looking out of the window in my Salzburg apartment, waiting for the rain to stop so I can go out and buy more plates, I realise there must be a way.
If we did have the buy option, I think not only would it keep up moral and improve the scores, especially for newcomers and thus keep them here…possibly?
I’m sure this may have been debated before and there will be reasons why this won’t be possible.
Other that that, can the first, say, 3 voters of an eventual winning caption get finder points regardless of all other captions they vote for?
So like, you can vote away for other captions you like, without the knowledge that doing that ballses up your finder points. So more people can be lucky in spotting a good un? I’m not often on time to win a finder point, but I was a while back and I was the first of a winning caption. No points wah.
I’ve tried hard to understand how this feature works, and believe it or not, I’ve a feeling that me understanding the off side rule would be a piece of piss lol!
No need to explain how it all works. I’ll never geddit. Bless my little dibby head. 
Lol, Karen. Yep, the Finders Points are great in that they encourage early voting, but late Finds can impact them severely. This can be an issie for later voters.
Re the equation, I think switching Finder Point distribution to the end of voting on each pic, rather than weekly, is being considered. This may clarify things a little if it is adopted.
Your idea of buying Supervotes is very altruistic, and any contributions are great to take the pressure off Chris who already puts so much into the site. I do wonder if the monetization of anything onsite may be problematic, but Chris would know better than me.
If it would cause issues, donations are always welcome. And I’m prerry sure Karyn or Molly would happily reciprocate donations with donations of Finder points. As in (for arguments sake) £5 for 15, or whatever 
Again, Chris would be much better placed to encourage or discourage this than me.
EDIT: Crikey, “issie”, “prerry”. Remind me not to post in the forum after Friday night beersies
Karen, I’m more than happy to give away supervotes to anyone who needs them. Please don’t be afraid to ask, but if you’d prefer not to I can keep an eye on your quota and top you up when you’re running low. I have more supervotes than I could ever use myself and I’d rather they were being put to good use. My only concern is that they are not used too freely, and reserved for what the voter considers to be the most deserving captions.
Ohhh KaZzEr❤️ Thank you for your lovely reply. The Ladymeister Captioneers are just SO ace! Xxxx
Hi Karen, I haven’t been ignoring your post, I promise!
It’s a very tempting idea as it would help boost the cash prizes and give people something they’d enjoy using.
On the flip side, there would be a slight devaluation of votes, and a devaluation of the voting reward system (finder points). But these effects are probably manageable if we don’t go crazy and issue too many paid-for supervotes. We would, however, need to back-date supervote awards to former cash contributors, for fairness
Overall, what do people think about the idea of paid-for supervotes, with the money going into the prize fund?
- I like the idea
- Unsure / don’t mind
- I don’t like the idea
- Other (please comment)
If doing, I suggest also doing paid-for caption quota. You might find more people wanting to purchase that.
Gotta admit, this was my thought as well, Troompa. Karen’s offer was very altruistic, but you may find people keener to pay for something that benefits them personally.
Just not sure if there could be issues with buying “chances” to win a prize. It’s a bit of a stretch to think of captions as chances, but something that should be considered, maybe.