An Appeal to the Masses: Photo Sizing Question

[nibblesandbits]

Makes perfect sense but we have not had a tie yet, at that is after 8 complete contests using this system. (Contest 8 Headed Character was the closest because there were so many excellent entries; but even then there were no ties.) I have not seem a person yet vote the same all the way down the line. For the most part, I see pretty straight forward voting. I think there are enough serious voters that they would counterbalance anyone who wasted their time with a straight vote. And on wdwmagic you ahve even greater numbers of people who 'get it.'

There is only 2 dangers to this system and I have threatened anyone with a permanent ban if they do it.

The first is attacking a picture in order to drop their standing without merit. What do I mean by that. Someone's picture is good, a true 4 or 5 quality picture. Along comes a vindictive person who doesn't like the contestant so they give them a 1 just to hurt them, not because the picture was bad.

The only other challenge I have is a few people vote for only a few of the pictures instead of all of them. I have also issued reminders that they need to vote for all entries.

So, I have issued and repeated these warnings several times, 'do these and you are banned'. So far, no one has been completely banned. I had to issue a 5 contest suspension for a person who broke the 2nd problem by voting for just 1 picture and gave it a lower score then everyone else (but not as low as a 1.) It seemed vindictive so I suspended him for 5 contests.

All in all, it has leveled the voting field and has made the administrative nature of the contests a breeze, no polls, no placing images into the voting threads, and in the case of these boards, there would be no rounds (initial poll followed by final poll.)

RU


PS - Sorry Mrtoad, I forgot all about having to have an account to get into the VF galleries. My apologies.

Like I said, I think I'm going to keep the system we've got here now in place for a while...I'm definitely going to keep an eye on things though...

I really do like that system...just figuring out how to get it to happen here would be the most interesting part. It seems like it was a little easier to get that system at VF...I don't know if it would be able to be set up that way here. Definitely something I would have to talk to Steve about.

If anybody else out there runs a contest on another board, or has another way of fixing this "problem," let me know, I'm all ears! :lol:

 

[mrtoad]

PS - Sorry Mrtoad, I forgot all about having to have an account to get into the VF galleries. My apologies.

No problem at all.

It sounds like a good system. Is there a way to make someone vote on all before completing the task or it will not take any of the votes they put forth?

Also, the only other thing to mention is that everyone does have different taste so it is hard to really say that a particular photo is definitly a 4 so if someone gives it a 2 they must be doing something wrong when voting. I know because I take some weird photos with weird lighting and angles that I really like to take and like the results yet my wife thinks they are just flat out weird. It is like walking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looking at some of the "modern" art and people saying that is no way art, it is ugly or a child could do that or any other negative comment yet the art got in there as someon obviously deemed it worthy.

 

[mrtoad]

RU - forgot to mention, I love your photos. Do you have an online gallery of all your stuff?

 

[RU42]

True, there is a matter of taste and that has to be a consideration. Before I would ban a person I would ask for an explanation. Typically I would look at someone giving a 1 to photo that gets 4 and 5. Even if a person thinks a picture is weird, giving it a 1 would be extreme. There are some photos that are submitted that are blurry, poor lighting , and in general bad and the lowest most people go is 2.

Over in the VF Galleries there is a Members Gallery section. Go to the R section and find my folder RU42. There are a few there. We changed software last summer and I have not had the chance to reload years of photos. So all that is there now is from August 05 to December 05.

RU

 

[Kadee]

True, there is a matter of taste and that has to be a consideration. Before I would ban a person I would ask for an explanation. Typically I would look at someone giving a 1 to photo that gets 4 and 5. Even if a person thinks a picture is weird, giving it a 1 would be extreme. There are some photos that are submitted that are blurry, poor lighting , and in general bad and the lowest most people go is 2.

Over in the VF Galleries there is a Members Gallery section. Go to the R section and find my folder RU42. There are a few there. We changed software last summer and I have not had the chance to reload years of photos. So all that is there now is from August 05 to December 05.

RU

I am not trying to be rude or critical (really just a bit curious), but why would giving a blurry or bad photo a 1 be extreme? I am an amature photographer and do a little free-lance for our local paper. I am also on my way to becoming a certified photographer. If someone submitted a photo that is blurry or just plain bad, I would have to give it a 1. Is it not acceptable to do that? Would someone get banned for giving a bad photo a 1?

 

[RU42]

Would you be banned, no - not if the picture deserved it. But most of the people involved in these contests realize this is all for fun and there is nothing to be gained by giving a person the lowest possible score.

No a person could be banned if the general scores are 4 and 5 and then someone comes in and gives it a 1. Most of the time that is nothing but vengeance.

RU

PS - I am happy to discuss this with anyone but I think I already disrailed this thread enough. Please feel free to PM me.

 

[Tramp]

All in all, it has leveled the voting field and has made the administrative nature of the contests a breeze, no polls, no placing images into the voting threads, and in the case of these boards, there would be no rounds (initial poll followed by final poll.)

RU

.

I tried to get into your forum but need to register. I intend to do that so I can take a good look at your contest. I like many of your ideas. While contests are meant to be fun, fairness is, by far, the single most element to assure it remains fun for EVERYONE.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.:wave:

 

[speck76]

A little background.....the 700x525 was orginally used as when the contests started, that was the largest sized picture that could be attached to a post.

Now that pictures are not "attached", size does not matter :lookaroun but I would think that some consideration should be had on those that do not have fast internet connections.....