That's true Fade but we have had people win with a not so great mix a lot. These people gets praised for what they lack. When you have good mixes on this site people either ignore you or they be out to get you and they try their best to not vote for you so you could lose. Man, if you win too much and your mixes are great you're the target. I wish people did follow that criteria.
to a certain extent, I DO believe that if you showcase too much skills voters will be against you. no one likes a tryhard, and NO ONE likes someone who's trying to prove that they're more talented. especially in a community with such fragile egos, including mine. so the fact that you evolved towards half-assing your shit -or at least making it sound like you're half-assing- is pretty reasonable.
and I'm not blaming this place for that or imagining the concept is exclusive to the ill. it's like... there's a spectrum, on one end it's some goof who doesn't know shit about music, and on the other there's jacob collier. NO ONE likes a jacob collier. I'd suppose the key is to be as jacob collier as you can be, but act as kanye as possible. in other words, seem way dumber than you are.
on a side note, a made-up law I abide is to NEVER use professional terms in public. it's the biggest turn off for people. they want to imagine you as a mage, not a nerd. high end is "crisp". 9th chords are "maximalist". diminished 7ths are "kooky and gauche". compressors don't exist. heavy saturation is "present" or "huge" and even that wording is too smart. make it seem like it's magic and no one knows how it works. like YOU don't know how it works but you manage to create good stuff anyway. they don't have to know. the less they know the better.
speaking of the less they know the better, ig that's why tame impala gave himself a band name while he was making ALL the music. if people knew it's all kevin parker, they'd have realized "he thinks he's better than them" and they'd have hated him. but "Tame Impala" works just fine.
also there was this one quote from some hip hop producer I forgot that went something like "if you're not stevie wonder, gtf off the keys". that feels relevant here in a weird way.