New Contest Phase?

[Brad]

One thing that I think would be agreed by most, is that the winners should be chosen out of a group of finalists - not the original entry pool.

How we get these finalists is a different matter.

We can either have the judges choose, or voters choose. Both have drawbacks. The voters will be encumbered by an additional voting period, an dnot everyone will get around to voting twice a month - it's a bit messy, especially for the moderators.

If judges decide, then people will be eliminated before anyone has a chance to vote. It gives the impression that your pictures are "less qualified" for a public contest, simply because they didn't make the final vote. As it stands now, all photos are treated equally until the final vote - it seems more "fair".

I agree with Eric. The discussion should be about how the finalists are chosen and how many finalists there should be.

In my opinion, an additional public vote really does not solve the problem. The final vote might improve, but the extra voting phase would continue to suffer from the inefficiencies of the current voting system. The two main problems being a balanced voter to entry ratio, and also how excessive entries can prevent the average voter from making a fair decision. This leaves the idea of the judges and/or admin making the decision. Any thoughts?

 

[Brad]

I had planned to start the new phase in the February '07 contest. In fact, I had already picked out 10 photos to be included into the official vote. I have decided to postpone the new phase until the March contest. The main reasoning behind the delay is that I think it would be more fair if I posted the criteria I use when reviewing photos. I will post a list of things I look at when reviewing photos before the start of the March contest.


Contest Entry
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Admin Filter
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Member Vote
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Judge Ranking
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Winners Announced


Admin Filter: This phase is intended to keep the number of entries to a specific count; this level or entry count is currently undetermined. The phase also ensures that photo entries meet the rules and standards of the contest.

Public Vote: Community participation. This is intended to be the largest influence on the contest results. This contest would be a lot easier if the public vote was simply removed, leaving only an admin filter and judge ranking phase. However, I enjoy the community voting and will try to keep it in place as long as the member votes are not completely overshadowed by attempts to negate fraud.

Judge Ranking: The main goal of this phase is to help balance out fraud. It is just too easy to create multiple accounts. This phase will require close scrutiny to ensure that the member vote has the biggest influence on the contest results. This phase, or the numbering system as a whole, may require some fine tuning. Starting in March, I will no longer be a permanent judge and will only fill in as a replacement when needed.

I am always open to suggestions for improvements.

 

[Brenda R]

Also to be fair I never vote for myself. I don't worry about winning. I just like to submit photos so everyone can see my cutie. I also love seeing everyones pics. They all were so cute.

 

[Brad]

Administrator Filter

Here is an external link that I believe does a good job at explaining what makes a good photograph.

There will be 10 photos that make the member vote this month. This number could change over time. The criteria below will be used in the order given for narrowing down the number of contest entries. Photo attributes such as focus, spacing, and background will be the biggest influence on which photos pass the administrator filter. This new phase will start in the March '07 photo contest. The details of this new phase will most likely be integrated into the official rules before the April contest.

contest rules
Photos need to meet the contest requirements. There may be limitations to who can participate as well; check the contest rules for more details.

photo quality
I prefer sharp photos with the subject in focus. Spacing and the interplay between light and shadow may be of influence.

background
I prefer a natural background. Excessive showing of unnatural items (including people) may detract from the photo score.

chameleon
I judge the subject of the photo to other chameleons of the same species. This allows a species without much color to compete with chameleons like panthers.

Due to the simple fact that photography can be an art, there are exceptions to some of the above criteria. This post is subject to change at any time.

 

[jesseesperto]

Just a thought but rather than trying to make the number of entries proportional to the number of voters, why not just eliminate down to a group of finalist, say five or even ten pictures? These could be judged by moderators or a small voting group, and then these finalists would be submitted for public voting. If a set of well established criteria are used for this elimination it would be fair and impartial. Things like photo quality, composition, originality, rarity of species, representation of species, etc are not as subjective as "hey I like that one."

This would help eliminate some of the self voting because the voting would only occur for the five finalists entries.

Just my 2 cents.

Zerah J Morris

I like this idea the best..It makes the most sense...I thought that is how it was done..

 

[lele]

Update?

There will be 10 photos that make the member vote this month. This number could change over time.

Well, I am guessing this is not in effect this month since there are 20+ photos still up. I would assume you would not allow someone photo to be listed and the pull it as that would not be very nice (plus it might flame you beyond repair! (lol!)

I did not read every post so forgive me if this was mentioned, but if you eliminate certain photos as they come in you may want to stipulate in the rules that if your photo is not in the final 10 (or whatever) NOT to post or email asking why your photo is not showing up - you'll be inundated! If you personally (and/or judges) want to let individuals know so they can improve their photography skills that's great, but I can just see a lengthy thread of complaints - then again, maybe not. Just something to think about.
lele

 

[Brad]

Actually, the new phase starts today. This afternoon I will post the voting poll and it will only include 10 of the original 29 photos.

I would assume you would not allow someone photo to be listed and the pull it as that would not be very nice (plus it might flame you beyond repair! (lol!)

One reason for the current choice is competition. Members can replace their photo during the entry period if they think their chances have decreased due to the photo entries of other members. Another reason is that some members have expressed that they enjoy viewing all the entries every month. Keeping the contest gallery viewable to everyone during the entry phase would allow for that.

I agree, feelings will be hurt. The other option would be to hide all entries and only show the finalists at voting time. Either way, I expect email from disappointed members. I strongly believe there needs to be a limit on the number of final contestants. I don't want to be the bad guy, but I don't see a reasonable alternative

I am always open to making changes that would improve future contests. I plan to leave all photos in the gallery for a few days so that members can see the choices I made if they are interested.