Loving reading all this discussion of defaults and quite a few other topics. From repeat defaults, to incomplete, to proper critiques of comics. And of course, the intent that any new rules be made public and obvious well before being implemented. Gonna try and tackle each one individually.
Default - A single default. That is either not submitting a comic, submitting a significantly incomplete comic, failing to use sequential drawing, not drawing your opponent or otherwise not meeting the requirements of the comic in question. In every case the artist should always be given the benefit of the doubt. We've seen plenty of situations where a last minute computer crashing ruins a comic, A personal health problem, or just plain life getting in the way. Yes it's more of a bummer when the default occurs during an event or tournament, especially when other people were vying for the spot, but in general everyone deserves the respect of being asked if they're ok and/or what happened. It might leave a mark on your score, but it shouldn't be a judgement on your ability on a one off.
Double Default - At present, should both artists default, the battle is cancelled instead of being posted. While this does keep the site from having empty battles listed, it also fails to at least enact the normal punishment of having a low score and a marked default on an artist who signed up to participate in a battle. You technically lose more points if your opponent has a comic when you default, than if you both did, and your personal score shouldn't be dependent on your opponents ability. Only the win/loss ratio. I would be fine if a sparring battle was canceled on a double default, but in a regular void battle I think I'd prefer if both artists signed up and did not produce anything, that they still take that ranking hit. Cancelling a battle well before the due date would still be fine, as it would with any other comic. But waiting till the last few days to cancel a battle doesn't sit as well with me. I get that this might encourage more sparring battles instead of regular battles though, so I'd understand why it wouldn't be implemented.
Repeat Defaults - This is when action may need to be taken. While one default can be anything, and well, sometimes life punches twice, we're here as a community to function together. The make up of void has many different facilities to draw comics from, but the regular battle mode and any of the more strenuous events are intended as group efforts. To use sports as an analogy, beyond battles and sparring matches might just be kicking a ball back and forth and if you stop playing it just means no one kicks the ball towards you anymore. But matches, tournaments, and events are groups of people all agreeing to play a game of basketball at the same time. While one guy might have to call out one week due to unforeseen circumstances (say, a sick dog) but if you try to set up a game of 3 on 3 and one person is repeatedly not there, there's no fault on the players not inviting him back if he can't seem to make it with regularity, regardless of reason. Now this isn't to say they should be stopped from participating in solo events or a chance to prove they've returned to fighting shape, and of course given any help they might need. I'm very much in favor of a new rule being instated that should anyone default or produce incomplete comics with repetition, they be blocked from regular battles or events where an opponent needs to draw their character until they can prove, with a set deadline, they can draw a postable comic. I would say tournaments and events too, but those already take comic completion record into consideration for acceptance. I wonder if it'd make more sense to consider the number of weeks a person had to draw, rather than simply the number of battles, but battles themselves are easier to count.
Incomplete - Provided it wasn't so lacking to be a default in itself, incompletes do have something of a bad rep on the site at large. Generally this isn't intended to mean a comic that just isn't full comic shop publishing level of completeness, but rather a comic that has rushed, quick, or just placeholder panels for a majority of the content. These are often very hard to critique since generally "if I had more time" is the answer to so many of the possible things you could critique about the art itself. Instead we need to focus more on time management, structure, and planning a bit when assisting artists who can't quite seem to both plan a full comic and achieve it within their planned deadline. Using a piece of my comic as an example:
http://entervoid.com/view.php?id=5784&side=2&iid=02 it's kinda hard to crit much on this page itself since other than perhaps paneling or writing, anything could be altered or fixed up were it drawn to the completeness the back end of the comic had. That's part of why crits are so hard to give on incompletes. Overplanning and not finishing a comic is a different game than say, only throwing a comic together at the last two days out of a multiple week comic. This is always gonna be subjective to the artist in question what constitutes an incomplete, and I'm not sure if there's a fair way to weigh them against defaults. I will say, however, they are still infinitely better than a full default. Partly because of your score not tanking as hard, but also without it there's nothing to critique at all. I am curious then, if it might make more sense that for comics that would otherwise be defaulted for incompleteness, that they should still be posted, but have automatic default scores. So they can still be read, and critiqued, even if they can't be voted on due to not following the rules.
Accepting or making a challenge to participate in a battle, to draw a comic featuring your opponent, is an agreement between you and your opponent that you'll both put forth some amount of effort to produce a comic within your arranged deadline. Messing up, failing to produce, or just losing your progress to a power outage happens, and it sucks. But after a certain point it should have been up to the artist to recognize they either need assistance getting up to speed, or to take a different path in how they draw in void. Some people draw epic serious comics, others might just see void as a hobby, but either way if you sign up to play I think it's up to void to hold you to your word. I'll always hope that is to lend a hand to help you get into it proper, but should the event occur, to put a stop on an artist who for whatever reason, isn't participating.
Especially with how much work void expects from it's artists. Like, seriously, how much would the comics we draw for practice cost if we were to commission them? If you default 3 times and have nothing to show for it on your side, that's 3 free comics staring your character.
TLDR: Defaults should get less flak. Double defaults should count. Repeat defaults should risk a battle ban after 3 times within a year that can be broken with a BB, incomplete need to weigh against that repeat default counter based on mod discussion, and anyone who's struggling to complete a comic should be able to can get help from the community, instead of feeling shame for not producing their intended finished comic.
If I missed anything or need to clarify, let me know!
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