ESC Rules Contest - Overview of Rule Changes + Strikes

[Tufkai]

ESC Rules Contest
 
Overview of Rule Changes

1956 –
+ Singers can be of any age
+ Each player sends two songs
+ Solo artists only
+ Each player has 4 votes
+ You can vote for your own song
+ If anyone does not vote, the Swiss player will provide the votes on their behalf
+ Only the winner is announced
+ If at least one player sings in English, the language rule will be enforced the following edition

1957 –
+ Solo or duos only (a featured artist counts as a duet if they’re included in the recap)
+ Each player sends on song
+ Each player has 10 votes
+ If anyone does not vote, they will get a replacer
+ If anyone does not vote without informing me/having inactive status on their profile they receive a strike
+ If replacers cannot be found, 10 of the votes of other players will be drawn out of a hat
+ All votes are announced on a scoreboard
+ You cannot vote for your own country
+ If there is a tie, all songs that tied will be considered winners, and Austria will withdraw out of protest (same to Sweden, Finland, Norway and Portugal if it happens in a later year before 1975). If there is another tie before 1989, there will be a revote between the tied songs
+ If Spain or Portugal wins before 1975, Austria will withdraw

1958 –
+ The winner from the previous edition hosts the contest

1962
+ The voting system is changed. Each player has to give 3,2 and 1 point to their top 3 songs

1963
+ The voting system is changed again. Each player has to give 5,4,3,2 and 1 point to their top 5 songs
+ In addition to two lead singers, you can have up to 3 backing singers (they must not have any solo parts)

1964
+ Each player has 9 points. They can give 5,3 and 1 to their top 3, 6 and 3 to their top 2 or 9 points to one song

1967
+ Voting system is reverted back to the one used between 1957 and 1961

1971
+ Each player must rate each song between 2 and 10
+ You can now have up to 6 vocalists

1973
+ Countries can now sing in any language. Luxembourg and Monaco must sing in French unless they send native acts. If an act is singing in a language other than an official language or English, they must have no connection with a country where that language is an official language (e.g. Zoe can sing in French for Austria, but Amir cannot sing in French for Israel. If the language in question isn't the main language of the song, it will most likely be accepted e.g. Stella Mwangi can send a song in English that includes Swahili lyrics for )

1974
+ Voting system is once again reverted to system between 1957-1961 and 1967-1970

1975
+ Modern voting system is introduced for the first time. Each player must give 12,10,8-1 points to their top 10 songs.

1977
+ Every country has to sing in their own language once again. If countries send an entry in English within the first 24 hours they will be allowed to use them

1980
+ From now on, votes are announced in numerical order instead of song order

1989
+ In case of a tie, the song with the most 12 points wins. If there is still a tie, it continues with 10 points, 8 points and so forth. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie, the song that performed first wins.

1990
+ Singers must be over 16 years of age

1992
+ Luxembourg is no longer allowed to borrow

1993
+ A pre-qualifying round is introduced for the seven new debuting countries. Each player gives 12,10,8,7,6 or 5 to each song. The top 3 highest scorers will advance to the final
+ The 7 newest players (based on first confirmation date) will have to take part in the PQR The bottom 7 users from the previous edition will have to take part in the PQR (if at least one of them withdraws, the next lowest ranked players will participate. Note that any PQR participants who fail to confirm will be 'greylisted' in 1994)
+ If fewer than 29 users confirm for this edition, the users who failed in the PQR will be assigned new countries, and given three days to send an entry

1994
+ The bottom 5 countries from 1993 are relegated this edition (or 6/7 depending on whether Italy and Luxembourg are in the bottom 5). The relegation system will not affect the players, and they can still confirm the following edition regardless of their result.

1995
+ The bottom 7 from 1994 are relegated

1996
+ Everyone except the host must participate in a pre-qualifier. The top 22 qualify to the final

1997
+ The 5 countries with the lowest average results are relegated this edition (or 6/7 depending on whether Italy and Israel are in the bottom 5)
+ Any songs found to have broken rules after submissions close will lose a third of their points for the sake of calculating average results (this will not affect the official results)

1999
+ The 6 countries with the lowest average results are relegated (or 7 depending on whether Hungary is in the bottom 7)
+ Countries can now sing in any language.

2000
+ The 5 countries with the lowest average results are relegated
+ From now on, the big 5 are exempt from relegation

2001
+ The 7 countries with the lowest average results are relegated

2002
+ The bottom 5 from 2001 are relegated (bottom 6 depending on whether Portugal is in the bottom 5)
+ The rule about losing a third of points is removed (though any country that wins despite breaking rules will lose their hosting rights)

2004
+ The top 10 countries from 2003 are automatically qualified to the final. The top 14 players from the previous edition are also automatically qualified to the final. Only the host will keep their country, while the other 13 will be assigned an AQ country, while the rest will be assigned an SF country.
+ Only the host will remain with an automatic spot. The AQ's will get an extra day to confirm, but if they do not do so in time, their spots will go to players who ranked lower the previous edition.
+ The top 10 highest scoring songs from the semi-final will advance to the final
+ A new tiebreaker rule is added. The song with votes from the most countries is superior.

2006
+ One non-participating player must provide votes for Serbia and Montenegro

2008
+ The host keeps their country, while the 2nd to 5th placing players are randomly assigned one of the big four countries. (2nd to 4th if a big 4 country won last edition)
+ The other countries are divided into 2 semi-finals. (The pots will be adjusted accordingly, with the changed pots being redrawn)
+ The top 9 from each semi-final will qualify. Of the remaining songs, the song that got the most votes from replacers is the ‘jury’s choice’
+ From here, if Armenia wins, Azerbaijan will withdraw, and vice-versa

2010
+ Jury’s choice is removed. The countries with the 10 most points qualify from the semi-final

2011
+ Big 4 is extended to Big 5, with the 2nd to 6th placers getting countries from those countries (unless the winner from last edition was from the big 5)

2015
+ The top 7 from 2014 automatically qualify to the final with the introduction of Australia

2016
+ Big 6 is restored to big 5
+ Players must give two sets of 12 to 1 points – jury and televoting

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Strikes -

You will get one strike (and will not be tagged the following edition) if...
- You fail to send an entry before the deadline without an explanation
- You fail to vote before the deadline without an explanation

If you get three strikes you will be 'greylisted'. This means -
You are barred from confirming for 24 hours for 5 editions
Sending voting replacer will not give you an automatic spot in the next edition

Any subsequent strikes will result in the same penalty, and if you get another strike while you have a penalty, another five editions will be added

Attempting to cheat in this contest will result in three strikes (plus a five edition ban) on the first offense, and a permanent ban on the second offense

Strike list	1	2	3
axisv	X	X	X
marsajohnesc	X	X	X
qwertyqaz123	X	X	X
vaggelis10	X	X
hello	X	X	X
sircheeseaton	X	X	X
domantasm	X
escalexsp	X
mrgeorge	X
madmucca99	X	X	X
nvscfanph	X	X	X
chhunter	X
lucahsv	X	X	X
alper	X
eurovisionsmellsgood	X
kenajabam	X
sebber	X
calumcalum	X	X
aqueenforthepeople	X
soumpouros	X	X
aroharmy	X
guineapigmusiccharts	X

Currently greylisted -
axisv (until ISF #01)
nvscfanph (until ISF #02)
hello (until ISF #07)
madmucca99 (until ISF #02)
lucashsv (until ISF #04)