I'd like to see a 'cant see rating until you've rated it' setup for contest entries, as well as a randomized listing as the default view.

try submitting them to digg / reddit / make etc. to get them more exposure. If it's good, this will massively help your page views and push you to the front page.

You're probably right. Maybe the first view should be randomised?

What they should do is this. They have a day that all the instructables must be posted by. Then there would be a set date for the instructables to start racking up views, and votes. Also the instructable can be viewed before the set date(s) acure but these views and faves don't count in the contest. This would work like a month to enter. And week to rack up votes and views.

yes and an istructable posted early wil usally be ahead

It is kind of a problem - I noticed that during the epilog contest that the most-viewed group that was shown on the main page didn't change an awful lot after the first week, and once the contest had closed and the voting was open, the final 5 entrants got featured on the contest page as the most recent entries too. It does seem to be of benefit to get your Ible in very early (to get most views overall) or very very late (so you are potentially in the last 5).

Featuring the final 5 (most recent) so prominently during the crucial voting round does seem particularly arbitrary. I mean, I know they aren't literally featured, but they are permanently fixed as the first 5 to be shown on the contest page.

Saying that though, it isn't all about the votes - I was lucky enough to be amongst the winners in the Epilog contest, and more than one person has commented that they hadn't even noticed my Instructable during voting. I was ranked like, 60th or something by votes, but was picked by a judge to go through to the last round, so can confirm that it isn't all about having an eye catching first icon and getting the popular vote.

However: For tactical publishers, I'd say the best time to submit would be when there is still one newsletter to go, then hope you stand out enough to get featured during the voting phase. I say this because I was fortunate enough to get featured in the newsletter the week before voting was open, and I reckon I collected 10,000 page views just from that alone. If voting had been open during that time, each one of those people who clicked through, would only have to click once more to vote, and then, once they looked at the list of the other 550, might have been disheartened and headed off elsewhere.

I think the Instructables team have a really tough job trying to balance the wishes of the casual readers (page views = traffic = money) who want to see only the cool flashy things first and might get bored after viewing two or three (never mind 576), and the publishers who have something to gain and want to be exposed fairly and democratically.

you bring up a good point

Tankguy has a good point

I just realized, your I'ble probably got caught in the filters 'crossbow' most likely the keyword. That often means that by the time they get through, they are missed by most the regulars.

Though a random view would be more interesting it just seems like a bit of self pity to me... Take the music contest I posted playing the spoon questionably, something I found hilarious and fun, however it probably won't get a vote, sometimes doing stuff for the sake of it is good enough. Besides that little crossbow looks like fun, we've been weird weaponry lately, but much, much bigger...

yeah that kind of sucks. I could however, give you a hint on how to increase your pageviews. If you tried your best, it kind of sucks when it doesnt really get a reward.

It was worse in the April fools contest. The only way to vote for an Instructable was to find it in the contest page by going through pages of instructables ordered by views. There was no vote button actually in the Instrucable.

Well, its more a case of those who put the hardwork in, get more out. Your I'ble is very good. But there are still much more 'Epic' entries. The more someone puts into an I'ble, and the more thought out there idea, the more likely they will get views, or featured. Your on the right steps, you have some excellent pictures, but a bit more explanation, and something a bit different, can go a long way.

Yeah!