I’ll chime in to clarify because personally I don’t think this is a fair representation of the app. Getting downvoted for doing a trick has nothing to do with the “prizes”. SA is a really open system were you are able to participate in the community from the beginning. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes it’s not. Judging can be rough for entry level tricks for a couple of reasons. First some beginners don’t fully understand the tricks they are voting on. This is probably a symptom of passing off a trick before they were really ready. Secondly there is at least for the official tree a set of voting guidelines and if you do a trick differently than is taught or go outside the specified guidelines you will get downvoted. This keeps it uniform and fair for all in theory. In practice it can be a bit too ridged for many players and/or can be difficult for those that don’t take criticism well. I speak for myself and many others when I say that the SA community is generally really positive, very helpful and patient to players that are willing to ask, listen and learn.
I have literally an admin quote another admin and state.
“Because this trick is easy pills we have to be extra strict with this basic thing”.
So you may call this an unfair representation but I’m just calling it as I’ve seen it.
I think that whole app is great. It’s just something that clashes with my personality a lot of the time and it’s why I only interact with it sporadically.
I know a lot of people absolutely love it and that is great.
It’s an excellent initiative and i think the people who built it and the ones who spend a lot of energy in it are great.
I’ve just found for me personally that i prefer going through the basics in a different manner.
I agree 100%.
Some of the basic/easy tricks are getting some weird votes (whether because people don‘t pay much attention or just want to „farm pills“).
But if you check some more difficult custom tricks there is such a nice community with dedicated players trying to share their coolest tricks while also being supportive/helpful.
So yeah, first tricks can be a bit tedious but its so worth it imo.
this is what kept me from even trying the app. one thing I’ve come to love and appreciate about the hobby is the variations and flair that ppl add to make tricks their own. i feel like trying to standardize an inherently creative activity stifles it. I’ve loved the part in TAW where i see how everyone else did the thing. 10 ppl doing a trick 10 slightly different ways makes me smile 
but i relate it in my mind to taking an art class and being told youre not doing art right. to me, as long as the trick essentially functions the same, everything else is just a variation on a theme
we have Japanese players come in and think it isn’t judged strict enough. I love to see where the quote of from because I think the context matters. And yeah the judging should be more strict overall because a lot of sloppy play is allowed to pass. The goal is to help people learn and not get frustrated over not picking. As @ZZ8 said this is generally a problem only on early tricks and sometimes on very specific elements. I think it kinda goes back to the old trick ladders and I guarantee the judging is less strict than those used to be.
If it were really about the “pills” then half of the custom tricks wouldn’t exist IMO they give them out for free essentially for the dumbest little tricks.
@Splizacular TaW is great too since the tricks are curated, but the feedback is always going to be positive. FWIW, I think if you did the trick wrong, no one would say anything. Obviously the group is incredibly helpful as well and will always answer questions, film more videos, etc.
Both groups are great because they encourage you to film yourself and share. For me it has made me think about presentation and performance more than I might have in a different learning environment.
Fwiw, you dont have to pass any of the tricks to be able to still see the tutorial for any of them. It just unlocks the ability to submit a video for judging.