I love you answer though seriously for one major reason... It is genuine! You will find when you are on the other side of a contest, that is probably the thing you will value most.

Another good part of your answer is that your personality came out. You not only offer praise, you also give an insight into your mind. We can see your thoughtfulness and also your humor. So your post right now is the best. Not because I told you what to say, but because it just is (at this point).

So you have to remember that while you may "tend to overthink it", most do not. You throw it out there and they give it back to you in their own way. As long as you tell them what to do (like answer the 3 questions), then you won't know what you get until you get it. Trust me you will see some pretty interesting people giving you answers you never expected.

While I agree with you that my post was a little confusing (I can take it ;) )... I will also tell you that it was about as simplified as I could do it. I'm trying to 1) teach people how to "host" a contest 2) prep everyone for all the contests coming next week (in which we will help to market and increase attention and 3) demonstrate it in the same post with my own little "mini-contest". I will certainly help anyone do a much more complicated version, but the idea here is to move to the lowest and simplest form that any newbie can do.

The reasons behind it are more complex though. To succeed here in steemit, people need to learn how to "engage' with others. Play in their games, go to their posts and comment, and help others in various ways. That's how you get big here. And it starts small and simple. Anyone can do it and they will get better at it the more they try.

I made the SBD rule to help those that feel they have to offer an "upfront" reward, which THEY DO NOT. They can just give away some of their SBD earnings once their posts pays off... The bigger purpose isn't to make money today, it is to build friendships and relationships like we have built in a short time. To do that people need to be encouraged to comment and talk and share ideas in various ways.

My observations from my interactions with you is that you are very very precise and high quality. That is a good thing. But when you hold a contest you might just want to start with a simple one and get as many to participate as possible. The key here is that many have never played the game and we want to make it easy for them to get started. Once you get your game going, then the next versions you can make tougher and tougher. And eventually you will build a following of people that are like you.

So I believe in casting a wide net (especially if you want to help newbies to particpate), so that you can grab the participation of many.

As for the way to pick the winner, there are so many ways you could do so. Heck you could just offer a participation prize and many will still come... It seems like many would actually care about the prize, but once they enter they realize they actually have a little fun. They would probably come back for free and play again, the money and the prizes are really just a small incentive to explore.

You are the judge of your own game and you can decide based on whatever you want. Like in this game I didn't say how the "best" answer was going to be picked. I've learned to not "box" myself in a corner if I'm not sure exactly what I want, because honestly I get answers (like yours) that just stand out. Sometimes its the humor and sometimes it the genuineness, but its always interesting.

I always like to see what's in your mind simplymike... I always enjoy our chats! If you are on discord, you can DM me at davemccoy#2479 and I will discuss this further too.

I do hope you try to do one next week because we (#newbieresteemday) will be coming out with a program designed to help the newbies to find your games and encouraging them to participate. It should be good for you and it should be good for them. We are just trying to facilitate what makes the community stronger ("engagement")