Dan,

First, congrats for the #1 rating! The understanding I have, I am pretty that i am correct, all the judging is fan-based. OurStage does not get involved with the judging, other than facilitating the process.

The probable answer for the difference in rating from one month to another is that different people judge at different times. The tastes of one set of judges is somewhat different than another set of judges. in my opinion, their system is probably the most fair of any site that sponsors a judging contest. The songs are paired randomly; but with the requirement that each song is paired against each other song the same number of times.

I hope that I was more helpful than confusing with that!

Al