How do you approach moe competitions?

Recent discussions and debates on various moe competition threads has left me curious about something.

That is, when people determine which character to vote for and/or support in a moe competition match-up, what is the main decisive factor for them?

Is it how moe the character is, or is it their assessment of the character's quality in general?

I wonder because I think there may be a bit of a disconnect here, causing disagreement on certain moe competition results, and so it might be interesting to see what determines people's votes here.


Speaking personally, I will typically go with my assessment of the character's quality in general.

For example, there was recently an ISML Exhibition Match pitting Ohana (Hanasaku Iroha) vs. Erio (Denpa Onna). I like both characters, I consider both characters moe, and I think both are good quality characters. However, I also think that Ohana is the higher quality character overall, but that Erio is more moe.

In such circumstances, who do you vote for or support? The best overall character, or the most moe character? Or are the two one and the same for you, rendering the question moot?

And so that's why I have this poll up. I'm looking forward to responses from all sides of this issue. :)