Is using social actions as prizes allowed?

I have recently made a talent show, which provides loves, favourites and follows as prizes for the winners and honourable mentions. I have received a comment saying that this act is not allowed, but the topic they linked to did not align with what they were trying to say.

For those of you who do not have the time to read the entire topic, the main idea was that using social actions for payment is only acceptable if payment is optional, is not easily confused with real-word money, is not for something like remixing (which is allowed to be done without “paying”), etc. I was confused as payment and prizes are not really the same thing.

Prize-giving is completely optional. There are no rules that state that all competitors must be prize-givers, or anything that forces or pressures users to become prize-givers.

P.S.If you are interested in the talent show, click the words “my 200+ special” in my signature.

Paddle2See wrote:

If the prizes are Scratch social actions then it is going against this policy here:

It is not okay to use Scratch social actions such as likes, favorites, or follows as a form of payment. Scratch social actions should always be something that Scratchers give freely, not something they do because they are getting “paid” for it.

Please feel free to link them to this post or the policy.

Malicondi wrote:

No.

Paddle2See wrote:

If the prizes are Scratch social actions then it is going against this policy here:

It is not okay to use Scratch social actions such as likes, favorites, or follows as a form of payment. Scratch social actions should always be something that Scratchers give freely, not something they do because they are getting “paid” for it.

Please feel free to link them to this post or the policy.

Fun_Cupcake_i81 wrote:

mtech22 wrote:

-snip-
So contests that offer follows as prizes aren't allowed?

I would argue no, since in most contests the judge chooses a winner based on their artwork, game, or whatever it's a contest for, and following someone means you like their work, and obviously, they picked a winner whose work they liked. (I wasn't really sure how to word that, so sorry if it seems confusing.)

EDIT: To be clear, I think they should be allowed.

Za-Chary wrote:

It is at the very least discouraged. Ideally loves/favorites/follows should be given on an individual basis depending on whether somebody likes a project/user, not because they are being “paid” or “awarded” these social actions.

I'm willing to believe it's not allowed, although you are correct that the linked topic does not exactly address this, so I'm not 100% sure.

I'm aware I was ninja'd with a concrete answer, but I wanted to share my thoughts anyway.