I feel the need to toss my 2 cents in as I have read through the whole thread and have mixed feelings/opinions on things, so please don't shoot me but here are my thoughts after seeing what everyone else has to say. And no I cant remember everything everyone said so if I missed something I'm sorry, I'm not having a go at anyone or anything this is just my thoughts on things after reading it all.
So ok my thoughts:
Firstly I have been in soquili for a few years now, I have never won a breeding. My first couple was LL and LM before they split over a year ago. Not long after that (maybe a month or 2) I had a new couple to enter and they are LL now as well. then this year I had another couple.
Summery: I have had 3 couples total that I have ever entered in breedings, 2 LL, 1 is half way to LL.
The extra odds that so many have talked about have done me no good what so ever (entered first breeding in Oct 09), and it can be very hard seeing other couples that have just started trying win every month. But that's how the cookie crumbles, can't change it and honestly I don't really want to.
However Open is a huge category, at on average 200 entries per breeding, I can see how dividing open into edited and unedited could be better for the odds, but here are some thoughts on that.
1. Most entrants have 2 couples per breeding raffle.
- Lets assume that they only qualify for the open slot, which usually has 2 or more chances in it. So 2 couples have a 1/100 chance of winning 2 or 3 times. That would make that owners odds 2/66 roughly. (as the current system stands if the open has 3 slots)
2. Every month more couples become LL or Rp qualified. I've not seen anyone mention this really but its something we all know. And unless a breeding is LL or Rp focused its rare to see more than 2 - 4 LL couples win every month. So the odds never really decrease in those categories, especially Rp which is such a rarely used slot. And while LL is becoming more common, most are still rolled in other categories, be it mini, open or unedited.
3. I personally have never seen an edited only category, I know colourists choose what slots they want to do and that's wonderful, but there is a chance of people having soquili that don't fall into anything but Edited. And while not always the case colourists can and sometimes do opt to only allow unedited to minimal edits in their raffles. I know anyone can enter and have a set of unedited baskets, but if an owner doesn't want to loose edits in a breeding they loose even more chances of entering let alone winning.
Conclusion:
As it stands the system works, and while I agree the open could be divided into edited and unedited, I do not think that it would be fair to make owners choose what slot they can enter if they can only choose one (if it is even their choice). Fair has been used a lot in this thread and the overall consensus is nothing is fair, however flawed as it might be the system works and it rewards the loyalty and hard work of of its customers in Rp & LL slots, and in the even rarer newbie slots it give those who have never won a smaller increase in chances.
In the end I think colourists should be able to divide up their slots how they wish, in the end they have a minimum requirement they need to do in any given month, so anything extra or any extra chances they feel like giving are a bonus/gift from the colourist not the shop as a whole.
So yeah that's my 2 cents, please don't rip me to shreds, I just felt like voicing my thoughts as the debate had got me thinking quite a bit. I dont think either way is going to be fair, someone will always miss out, In the end you can't please everybody all of the time, but you can try and please some of the people most of the time, and I think the colourists try hard to do just that.