Reverting to monthly? - VOTE FOR THE NEW COMPETITION FORMAT
 

Suggestion..what about reverting to a monthly comp run on the same principle; ie winner chooses next topic?
Al.

Hi there Al and any others who read this. I think something has to happen to revive and encourage entries into our competitions, but I'm at a loss to know what. Is this a seasonal thing? ie: many on holiday or away so unable to enter? I know this weekend was very busy for me so I was unable to enter. PERHAPS a Three Week Competition might solve that, and I would agree Al that it should have similar rules to the weekly we run now. Photos taken between say 1st and 21st of the month, week for voting, winner picks next subject. This would keep each competition within a month and give time to enter for those with busy lives and a breather for those months which are more than 28 days long. Member poll to decide winner and all winners displayed in Winners Gallery. Each January perhaps a members Poll on the 12 Winners to decide Photo of the Year. Perhaps a Certificate for monthly Winners (it could be sent by email for the member to print off) and a Plaque for WPF Photographer of the Year could be arranged?

yup back to monthly,

I agree that a longer period between comps. should be tried.

Also the rule that demanded that photographs 'must be taken during that weekend' was very limiting and possibly could be relaxed. So many times I had taken shots that were outside the time frame, '...the ones that got away' you might say.

I should hate to lose the competition element in the forum completely.

Graham

I'd go for that. As it is by the time I've got round to opening the subject for the comp, thought about what I'll do for it, I'm out of time to go anywhere, get back, process and post:(

sounds good Andy...gives everyone more time.

Just to let you all know we the mods are in the process of trying to come up with a solution, we want to keep some sort of competition going but its finding a good balance.

The monthly comp failed because of lack of entries and now it seems the weekend challenge has done the same it could be because of the time of year with lots of members away.

I think Andy's suggestion is good - I always look at the weekend comp, but my weekends are pretty busy, so I rarely get the chance to enter. I would agree that the photos should be taken during the duration of the comp, otherwise the tempation would be to trawl through old photos rather than make a new image for the brief.

Last 2 monthly comp's got approx 12 entries; not 2! Diminishing voters seemed to be the problem then.
Andy's base idea appeals to me; maybe further fine tuning to 1st -21st each month to enter & polls close 3 days before the end of the month to allow winner to choose a following months topic that must be Ok'd by the mods to ensure it's maybe not too extreme? Entries must be taken in that 1st-21st corresponding period.
Al.

I sometimes wonder if some members are intimidated by the standard of some others. Or think, I could never do that or take a picture like that. That is why in my Photography club days we always had a beginners section and a separate beginners competition. Once you had won a round in that - you had to join the seniors. Beginners could enter either competition, but seniors could only enter the senior one. We already have a group of Seniors who have won either the weekly comp, monthly comp and POTW. Just an idea and I'm very aware of the extra work this may place on our unsung heroes, the moderators and admin staff so the decision has to be theirs. Perhaps a couple of Competition only Mods could be found to help? Just thinking out loud in print but it would be sad to loose the competitions. I cannot help thinking about the last meeting I arranged, when no one turned up - I had a good time but it would have been nice to meet others as I have done on past occasions. PS I'm trying to arrange another under Never say die on the meetings thread.

Andy, I suggested a beginner's section (for the reasons that you outlined) when I first joined WPF and got slapped around for it. It'll be interesting to see if opinions have changed in light of declining entrants.

Having dual competitions running simultaneously sounds like a recipe for confusion. We get enough confused new members as it is not knowing where to post things.

The decision as to what gets done with the competition is very much down the membership, not the mods or admin. The infrastructure is all there, it's up to the members to use it as they wish. The moderators job is to do just that, to moderate, not to generate all the content on the site. Any member wishing to start a competition run on whatever lines they want to is free to do so, they can be a self appointed competition mod by doing so. ;)

Here's my take on things, note, this suggestion has no more influence than anybody else's suggestion(s), it's just an idea, feel free to adapt as you see fit.

1st to 21st of the month is the period to enter pictures
entries have to be taken during that period
person who set the theme judges during period 22nd to 27th
person who set the theme offers short critique, awarding places for 1st, 2nd, 3rd
winner chooses theme for following week and announces it before the 1st of the following month
person who set the theme cannot enter their own competition

This basic idea is used by many other photography fora. A few points to note from experience of this sort of thing....
People are sometimes put off entering from fear they may win and then have to critique/judge, 2nd place is much coveted. :rolleyes:
People sometimes get the huff because the judge's opinion did not match their own. That's life, get used to it.
A winner takes all approach can result in parochial judging where the same couple of people ping-pong the win between themselves for several months before one feels guilty and gives it to another. By forcing the judge to give reason/critique, this is effect hopefully reduced.
Different judges use different criteria to judge, this can lead to some very odd results, but that's life.... see above.

The point I'm trying to make is that whatever scheme someone comes up with will not be perfect. Whatever you guys want to do, the forum structure is there for you to do it. The competition format will be whatever the person who sets it up wants it to be.

Poll system as was for me..I like the fact that you cant see who's winning till you've voted:D
Al.

Me too. Otherwise, I like Duncan's suggestions. Although, I dont see why voters couldnt add a post in the voting stage explaining why they voted as they did, if they want to - might make for some interesting reading.

I support the poll system as well, it's a very nice facility on the site. All the other points add up to a sound plan.

Graham

I also like the poll system.

I go along with Duncan on this one. I have several misgivings with the poll system.
In it's favour it is simple to setup and nobody has to think about the vote too much.
Against because the images cannot be submitted anonymously other factors can affect the vote.

I've not been too active recently, either the topic has not inspired or recent events have taken up much of my time.

I think fortnightly maybe a better time frame. If you decide to opt out for one then a month is a long time to wait for the next.

The discussions about the competition format seem to be going in circles a bit so I've decided to add a poll to this thread so we can see what if the prefered option. I've looked at suggestions put forward here and elsewhere and have come up with some choices:

1. reverting to monthly - 1st-21st for entries with a week for voting
2. reverting to monthly - 1st-21st for entries with a week judging by comp starter
3. fortnightly - 7 days for entries, 4 days for voting
4. fortnightly - 7 days for entries, 4 days for judging by comp starter
5. sticking to the weekend challenge in it's current format

I've added a poll to this thread which will run for five days (ending next Friday) and suggest that we start the next competition using whichever formant wins.

I've not entered often because I rarely have the time over a weekend, even when you lengthened it slighly to close a midday Monday, I would still only have Saturday and Sunday, one of which is my sport togging day, the other a family day on which my wife prefers I leave the camera at home unless I'm togging 'family moments'

It is a difficult one though and this post isn't helping much is it?

I like the all in one comp way things are run on here though, having two sections would only confuse matters and anyway, I want anything I enter to be judged alongside the best ;)

Definitely all for a longer time frame. I voted for the current favourite but would be very happy with the other popular option. Either way lets give it a go for 6 months or so, it can always be refreshed after that.

The other thing that is really noticable, hardly anyone joins in discussions!

Most people seem to post images or comment almost exclusively within the gallery, even the Critique forum is quiet with few topic views and that is the busiest forum apart from the 'Say Hello' forum

Fortnightly is better in my opinion. It's not too short a time. Members can think/plan/execute. Weekend challenge postings often look like entry for the sake of entering.
Monthly competition may look little long to hold on interest.

Well looking at the poll results it seems that fortnightly with members voting has just edged it, though there was a clear overall prefernce for the fortnightly challenege. So I suggest we give fortnightly competitions ago we can always look at it again if it doesn't work out.

Fortnightly is fine with me it will give me some free time to find a picture and enter it, a weekend was to short for me either I was to busy or the weather was against me but now I will have at least five or six afternoons free were I can find one.

Jim