Controversies and Dramas of Nation Song Contest

The 116 year history of Nation Song Contest has seen countless episodes of drama, both on and off the hosting forum. This page documents the most noteworthy incidents.

Escotia and the birth of the confirmation PM
In NSC 1 Escotia failed to vote, but disguised this fact by pretending that there was an error on the forum which caused the private message to fail to be delivered. As a result of this, it was decided that all votes should be confirmed by PM in order that this would no longer be a valid excuse.

Venera voting
In NSC 7 Venera voted in the contest by giving points to the first ten countries in precisely the draw order. While this is in itself possible, Venera was banned from NSC as a result, leaving a legacy that made Venera synonymous with cheating.

NSC 19
There is a degree of controversy regarding Ugaly's win in NSC 19 with the song "Europa" which only came to light decades after the edition itself. Martin, the founder of the country Mooseland, revealed that the host Robin (also known under the username r_SpEeD) had approached him after he had sent his votes, asking him to give his 12 points to Ugaly instead of Vorhota. Robin had wanted Ugaly to win the edition, and this was enough to put Ugaly in first place. Martin did as he was told.

In addition to this, Reignland had voted incorrectly and only managed to correct their votes at the last minute. Robin refused to accept these votes, and it is speculated that this is because they would knock Ugaly off the top spot.

The Waiting List length
The length of the Waiting List has been causing controversy for several years. Since around early 2011, the Waiting List boomed in size, reaching a peak of around 30 nations on occasion. Some nations have waited for over a year, or around 20 editions, to move onto the roster.

NSC 91
NSC 91 in Perryfornia was one of the most controversial ones ever. The issue which caused most dissent was the deadline that was specified as 18:20 CET+1. Many people didn't realize CET+1 actually meant EET (the host's time zone) and voted within one hour after it. None of the votes were accepted despite protests. This lead to unusually high number of non-voters and the first ever 0 pointer. One of the semis only required 45 points to qualify. The host was accused of intentionally leaving the deadline ambiguous in order to sabotage the contest. He was also accused of rigging the semi allocation in order to help certain nations to qualify.

In the final show, Rumia and Horehronieland, whose owners were vocal against the host, sent two identical sets of votes.