It has been noted that there are a more than a few challenges that have disappeared. Challenges such as Technique, Tag, and Macro are no longer current with no one asking about their whereabouts. It has also been commented that there are a few challenges such as Album Cover that receive very few entries.
As the host of the Weekly SH*T List, I do notice ebbs and flows in participation in challenges; particularly during popular individual challenge months such as Flash of Red and Rainbow month. However, I have been asked to request the opinions of the 365 community regarding challenges.
Are there too many? Should we consider limiting the number of challenges running at a time? If we do limit the number running at a time, do we run challenges on a bi-monthly basis? Should we consider running some challenges such as the tag challenge 4 times a year only? And if we do run them quarterly, should we limit the duration of the challenge to one month only or allow entries for the whole three months?
Do we want to resurrect any challenges that have fallen by the wayside? Which ones?
Do we want to get rid of any that are current? Which ones? Or should we allow lack of participation give them a natural death?
Lastly - are there any challenges that we do not run that you would personally like to see?
While I am more than willing to tabulate the comments I do not think that a subject as consequential as this should be left for one member to implement. I respectfully request volunteers to help with any decisions that may be required when all is said and done.
Some challenges such as Street Photography, Landscape Photography remain the same at all times, and as far as I can see the number of entries for these challenges is relatively consistent.
I can see the number of entries varying for challenges such as WWYD; I always look at this challenge; sometimes it lends itself to the type of edit I do and on other occasions, it does not.
I am happy with how things work here and would not like to see any significant changes.
As far as challenge winners not being able to host the next round, my view would be the previous host should then ask the poster of the image with the second most votes to host the next round. Should this fail I would have no objection to being on a list of volunteers who could be called upon to host a challenge.
There are a few challenges that I always try to do, they may not be the most popular but they are my favs ... artist and album cover, others I do occasionally if i have a photo at the time that could be tagged, eg landscape, street, black and white , technique, tag, abstract , mundane
some it takes a while to notice they are gone, or I dont ever notice at all.
some I never enter because they are not interesting to me
some have been going so long the list of things that cant be chosen is longer than people have ideas!
the Sh!t list is very full at times and i just dont scan the whole list because its overwhelming, although i do appreciate having it to refer to. so i dont stay up to date with whats ending when.
Some of the themes are kind of sub-branches of others and in my opinion could be brought under a bigger umbrella, eg
a "technique challenge " , and then the host could select from black and white, macro, abstract, , minimal or processing techniques or whatever they like
a "creative" could cycle between wwyd, album covers, etsooi, collages, , composites
Subject challenge ... could be mundane , food, sport, landscape, street, people , wildlife. pets
some seem to be well liked and get regular entries so they could stay as is , but when only the same 6 people enter every time it gets a bit like a chore to host them.
scenes of the road , people, animals could be incorporated into other themes to simplify the list
2 weeks used to be a good length of time for a challenge but they were lengthened when they started to not get so many entries,
i think this made us lazy!
Perhaps by amalgamating them people would be funnelled into them and a faster turnover would be make them more lively?? .
perhaps we could do a poll/survey if someone could be bothered to set one up ??
I read through the challenges and I think a lot about many of them but I simply don't have time to participate in too many, especially the ones that require a lot of design and editing time. Sometimes it's as much as I can manage to take and post a photograph every day.
I am always impressed by what photos people take and the effort that goes into some of the challenges.
I haven't been using this site for very long but I really enjoy it, enjoy the scope it offers for thinking about photography and for interacting with people with shared interests from all around the world. I learn an enormous amount and am stimulated every day by the opportunities it offers. I'm with John @lumpiniman in that I wouldn't like to see too much change. I wouldn't like to see too much regulation as I think that as it is currently we can pick and choose what interests us and join in as and when we are able.
My personal favourites are the landscape, street art, scenes of the road and six word story challenges. I like the photographer/artist challenge because it sometimes introduces me to photographers I don't know. Having said that, I don't always enter although I do take photographs with the artist in mind.
It would be nice that whoever host the challenge to make sure it's continuity. No rules is better, this site caters people with different interests and it should be. Any challenge with good intentions is ok to put up, as long as the host is not too upset by the lack of participants. l am currently hosting my most favourite artist challenge, only 3 participants, so what. I think the challenge should have quicker turn around time, for the artist challenge no longer than 3 weeks. We will have more artists to learn from. Did I say no rules, l just put 3 weeks here myself. Haha š.
Thanks for bringing this up, Wendy. I do think there is a natural ebb and flow in participation, and thatās ok. And perhaps some challenges should fade out and others arise. There are a couple of challenges that I donāt do anymore; either theyāve evolved in focus, or Iāve shifted my focus. And my overall participation ebbs and flows, too. A while back, I actively participated in 10-12 challenges regularly, and I even tracked my participation. Not so much lately, but that is not the fault of the challenges. Just me.
There have been a few times where a challenge gets forgotten, like when a winner forgets to start the next round. I donāt know if thereās a good answer to that, shy of having a āChallenge Coordinator ā, and that seems like a big job. Your weekly s-list is a HUGE help, thanks again for your efforts to do that.
I do like some of the āless popularā challenges, like Album Cover, which you mentioned. But I donāt play every round (shame on me). And Iām glad that there are other challenges that I have no interest in, theyāre good for the community. That said, there needs to be some sort of critical mass as far as participation. If some challenge falls below 5 or 6 entries per round, it might be time to retire (or take a break).
I donāt have any answers, other than I need to step up MY support of challenges. But Iām glad weāre having a conversation.
I learn from the challenges, but sometimes I tag an entry that seems to fit that wasn't taken explicityly for the challenge.
I've been here nearly 7 years (!!!!) and have seen many challenges come and go, get revived, evolve and change and new ones not succeed.
I think we have the understanding that the second placed will host if winner can/will not host. i'm not sure if a fast turnover for a challenge will work, but if we dont try we won't know.
I miss the tag challenge! Not played in ages, would be happy to host it
I get inspired by the challenges. I do miss seeing a couple of the more technique ones (Half and Half and Macro, come to mind). I like @kali66 ās idea of a Technique challenge that would encompass the ones that have less participation. However, I do think the Feb B&W/ FlashOfRed and March Rainbow should stay as their own challenges.
On the whole, I like the variety of challenges and people can participate in them however they like. I personally try to meet the requirements of at least one challenge for my daily photo, so itās nice that there are a lot to choose from.
I agree that the runner-up should host the next challenge if the winner has gone AWOL. Like @30pics4jackiesdiamond said, I believe this was an understanding already in place.
Also, thank you so much, Wendy, for the excellent work you are doing hosting the Weekly Sh*t List. It is such a helpful list.
I don't participate in every challenge, and some that I do tag for challenges are not specifically taken with the challenge in mind. I enjoy the Album Cover challenge, but have not participated as much recently as I once did. I'd hate to see it go away, though.
Some sort of amalgamation of challenges might work, though I'd be more inclined to group street-street art- scenes of the road together, especially as some photos could be tagged for two or more of those at times.
I also like the month long themes, like Flash of Red Feb; Rainbow March; Single Subject April and so on, but see them as more of a personal challenge than a competitive one.
I also add my thanks to Wendy for maintaining that helpful list.
There do seem to be less and less people entering challenges. At the moment I'm having to run 3 challenges in one go. To be honest I'm a little put off entering too many. Sure it doesn't take long to set them going and to run, but it seems to me, it's the same people entering and consequently running them. Definitely need more participation by new people
Sometimes they may drop off because someone didn't see that they won a challenge, my time isn't always dedicated to this site. I have stopped doing challenges because I am not here enough to participate properly. I do think they can spark creativity, even if they don't get a lot of entries. I say don't have a fixed date when they finish, bring the same challenges up to the limelight each month, when they get enough entries then put them up to the vote. it's slowing down so slow down the time limits. Just my opinion.
Hmm. Good questions Wendy. I, personally, don't enter a lot of challenges. Anymore, I'm lucky to get my daily photo taken and posted. I like the list that you compile in whch all the current challenges are listed, dates and links to original discussion posted. I don't read the discussion every day and sometimes overlook many of the challenges because of that, so the list helps me review possibilities.
I like the idea of the challenges because they can provide inspiration and motivation. I have been on the site for 12 years and cominig up with an idea for something to shoot is sometimes difficult for me. Having the challenges helps me immensely as does your effort to list them all for us each week.That being said there is an ebb and flow to my participation and I understand the desire to have more thank 3 photos to choose from. I don't have any creative ideas or solutions but would hate to see them all disappear
I like options! I can't do all of them, but I like to pick and choose which ones I want to participate in. I'll even do one or two that may have a need for more entries. I don't see the participation I used to see for all of the challenges. I'm not sure what some of the newer folks want from this site, but I won't go down that road.
I was the last host of the tag challenge - July last year - it only had a couple of entries - Kali suggested I rest it until someone missed it which I thought was a good idea...I have not noticed any posts asking what happened to it so resting it is :)
I still consider myself a newbie here, and I remember entering my first challenge with trepidation, but was thrilled when I won my first and then had the worry of hosting the next! I pick and chose what I enter as some are 'not for me'. I have loved the monthly themes as they have helped me think what to shoot so that I don't miss a day. Perhaps if we had a specific number of fixed monthly themes like flash of red, rainbow etc. then the challenges could fit between them? At the moment I am combining rainbow and March words and that is certainly giving my brain a work out! As a newbie I would not know what was missing but am happy for things to stay as they are as I can pick and mix and basically will go with the flow.
April often has a challenge in which one picks a specific subject to photograph each day and I think June is āwildā encouraging shots taken outdoors.
@30pics4jackiesdiamond@annied
There have been a couple of people say that they miss the tag challenge in this thread, Annie.
And then Jackie also said she would be willing to host it.
Maybe one of you can bring it back.
Oh my- thinking about all the challenges is almost as overwhelming as their number. Off the top of my head I can say it's hit or miss for me on most of them- if I see the post, and it captures my attention I may do it (artist challenge, black and white, song title, and a few others like them). Some I should enter more often but if I miss the post, I forget to look and see if they're running (tag challenge, composite, abstract) and others are just not for me (anything with sports or pets). There are a few I constantly look for (WWYD, Album Cover Challenge, One Week Only). Of course, you know I love February (!!), and to support all those faithful fans of black and white, I return the favor in March with color. Lately I've been using the monthly word challenge because it fits in well with my work schedule and assists the low creativity level that sometimes results from said job. I did enjoy the tag-challenge and wouldn't mind seeing that resurrected but all in all, I can't say I miss any of the others that I can think of. I don't know if there's any way to improve on some of the questions you raised but some viable suggestions seem to have been made above. Your weekly shoot list is great and I have checked it on several occasions to see if something's running or not. Keep up the good work!!
@kametty@summerfield@olivetreeann
Thank you for taking the time to put your two cents in, ladies. I really appreciate your input, especially since you all are regular participants in many challenges!
@farmreporter@30pics4jackiesdiamond I am happy to start it up again - it was tag challenge 188 that only had two entries - will I go with 188 or start fresh with 189 and 188 disappears into the abyss?
wow so many great replies. I love that there are so many challenges there is something for everyone.
but there are also way more than I can ever manage but I always try to see if something I'm uploading might fit a competition and tag it. I usually do that more often than purposefully try to compose a photo to fit
except for my few favourite month themes like FoR, Rainbow, Half and Half and 30 days one subject.
I just can't quite decide would it work better if we extend competetions to run for a couple of months, or if we shorten them to turn over faster.
Maybe it would help if we do keep them monthly to have them always start on the first and end on the last day. All we would need to do is find out what number it is.
if they go for 2 months, have them all start and finish either on all even or all odd months.
I'm happy to go with anything, but if we can find a way to streamline running them and keeping track of them, I'm all for nutting that out!
@farmreporter thank you for bringing this up as well as all you do here. this is truly my happy place!
@annied
I am going to suggest that we keep 188. However, I cannot find any tag challenges after 185.
I went looking to see if the two entries you got were from members who are still current and I would then suggest that they could keep those entries or submit new ones.
But ... no joy in finding anything after 185! It might just be me - lol!
BTW - I plan on entering it regardless of what number it is!
@farmreporter I saved the discussion for when needed and the tag for it still has Moni and Kali's entries there - will post it up today as 188 with an explanation :)
I participate in challenges in a hit and miss fashion. I totally rely on the SH$#T list to keep me up to date with what's happening (big thanks Wendy! ) - and often check here if I've been away a while to see what's going on!!!
I don't have a lot of time to take and edit photos - so that has a bit of an impact on participation. In terms of the range I do like a variety - even though some are a little random and some not so interesting to me.
When I do enter I don't tend to have a great 'winning' or being shortlisted streak! which obviously directly impacts on whether one hosts or not! I liked some of Kali's thoughts - but worry it might get a bit regimented or some might take a while to cycle around....
I think 2-3 weeks other than the monthly ones is a good amount of time . My 2 Cents
I like a lot of the suggestions made by Kali, @kali66, I always look forward to the month long challenges like FOR (Feb), rainbow (March), half&half (May), and abstract (August). I donāt think I would like a limit. I donāt participate in many of them, but I still enjoy seeing what others do and learn from them.
Some of the challenges fit me more than others; so, as far I'm concerned, the greater variety the better as I am sure others resonate with ones that do not resonate with me. And great appreciation for the weekly list...without it I'd be lost!
At times I'll shoot with the challenge(s) in mind and other times just see what I've shot within the time frame anyway that might work. So I'm all for them! They are inspiring.
There is another factor as well...even if I do not enter a challenge I very much enjoy seeing the entries; they, in themselves, are inspiring and stimulating.
May had half and half, but also mayflowers. August had abstract august that I love. I canāt remember if 30dayswild had many participants but itās a good them and worldwide.
I personally donāt participate in many shorter duration ones but I love to see them.
@danette
I did ask Ross a couple of times if I could put it in the bottom somewhere with his stuff but did not get an answer.
I also found that it got lost in the mix when I had it under the themes and challenges thread so I moved it to General. It is always very easy to find there ... always on the front page.
So - just go to General and you will find it easily.
Thank you to all. I am a newbie and I do enjoy entering the challenges from time to time but I donāt have the available time or energy to restart a challenge IF I should ever win.
I greatly appreciate the people who run these and I am thoroughly enjoying being a part of this amazing community/family.
Have a Sunny Day š
I have found that I do not have the time I once had to be more active with the Project as I did in the past. All of our lives are continually changing and at some point, we need to sit down and decide what will we give most of our time to. The other day I was searching for a photo that I uploaded to the Project many years ago and when I found it I started reading some of the comments I received. I then clicked on the names of the people that commented and was surprised that nearly half of them are either no longer a part of the Project or are no longer as active as they once were.
And so to answer your question Wendy, I do not think that there are too many challenges per se, I think many people do not have the time or want to spend the time participating and that comes across as a lack of interest. My 2Ā¢
I see often on here, āyour project, your rulesā and that applies to the challenges; you choose to do them or not do them, itās called freedom of choice.
@brigette@shutterbug49@granagringa@pandorasecho@eahopp@skipt07@phil_sandford
Thank you all for taking the time to comment and put your two cents in. It appears that most members are all for keeping things the way they are and see no problems in the way things are presently operating!
So - it was a good discussion and well worth doing!
@eahopp
Please don't let the fear of not having the time to host the next challenge if you win deter you from entering.
You can always ask the runner up to host if you do not have the time ... this does happen on occasion!
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I can see the number of entries varying for challenges such as WWYD; I always look at this challenge; sometimes it lends itself to the type of edit I do and on other occasions, it does not.
I am happy with how things work here and would not like to see any significant changes.
As far as challenge winners not being able to host the next round, my view would be the previous host should then ask the poster of the image with the second most votes to host the next round. Should this fail I would have no objection to being on a list of volunteers who could be called upon to host a challenge.
There are a few challenges that I always try to do, they may not be the most popular but they are my favs ... artist and album cover, others I do occasionally if i have a photo at the time that could be tagged, eg landscape, street, black and white , technique, tag, abstract , mundane
some it takes a while to notice they are gone, or I dont ever notice at all.
some I never enter because they are not interesting to me
some have been going so long the list of things that cant be chosen is longer than people have ideas!
the Sh!t list is very full at times and i just dont scan the whole list because its overwhelming, although i do appreciate having it to refer to. so i dont stay up to date with whats ending when.
Some of the themes are kind of sub-branches of others and in my opinion could be brought under a bigger umbrella, eg
a "technique challenge " , and then the host could select from black and white, macro, abstract, , minimal or processing techniques or whatever they like
a "creative" could cycle between wwyd, album covers, etsooi, collages, , composites
Subject challenge ... could be mundane , food, sport, landscape, street, people , wildlife. pets
some seem to be well liked and get regular entries so they could stay as is , but when only the same 6 people enter every time it gets a bit like a chore to host them.
scenes of the road , people, animals could be incorporated into other themes to simplify the list
2 weeks used to be a good length of time for a challenge but they were lengthened when they started to not get so many entries,
i think this made us lazy!
Perhaps by amalgamating them people would be funnelled into them and a faster turnover would be make them more lively?? .
perhaps we could do a poll/survey if someone could be bothered to set one up ??
I am always impressed by what photos people take and the effort that goes into some of the challenges.
I haven't been using this site for very long but I really enjoy it, enjoy the scope it offers for thinking about photography and for interacting with people with shared interests from all around the world. I learn an enormous amount and am stimulated every day by the opportunities it offers. I'm with John @lumpiniman in that I wouldn't like to see too much change. I wouldn't like to see too much regulation as I think that as it is currently we can pick and choose what interests us and join in as and when we are able.
My personal favourites are the landscape, street art, scenes of the road and six word story challenges. I like the photographer/artist challenge because it sometimes introduces me to photographers I don't know. Having said that, I don't always enter although I do take photographs with the artist in mind.
Don't know if any of that helps but . . .
There have been a few times where a challenge gets forgotten, like when a winner forgets to start the next round. I donāt know if thereās a good answer to that, shy of having a āChallenge Coordinator ā, and that seems like a big job. Your weekly s-list is a HUGE help, thanks again for your efforts to do that.
I do like some of the āless popularā challenges, like Album Cover, which you mentioned. But I donāt play every round (shame on me). And Iām glad that there are other challenges that I have no interest in, theyāre good for the community. That said, there needs to be some sort of critical mass as far as participation. If some challenge falls below 5 or 6 entries per round, it might be time to retire (or take a break).
I donāt have any answers, other than I need to step up MY support of challenges. But Iām glad weāre having a conversation.
I've been here nearly 7 years (!!!!) and have seen many challenges come and go, get revived, evolve and change and new ones not succeed.
I think we have the understanding that the second placed will host if winner can/will not host. i'm not sure if a fast turnover for a challenge will work, but if we dont try we won't know.
I miss the tag challenge! Not played in ages, would be happy to host it
On the whole, I like the variety of challenges and people can participate in them however they like. I personally try to meet the requirements of at least one challenge for my daily photo, so itās nice that there are a lot to choose from.
I agree that the runner-up should host the next challenge if the winner has gone AWOL. Like @30pics4jackiesdiamond said, I believe this was an understanding already in place.
Also, thank you so much, Wendy, for the excellent work you are doing hosting the Weekly Sh*t List. It is such a helpful list.
I don't participate in every challenge, and some that I do tag for challenges are not specifically taken with the challenge in mind. I enjoy the Album Cover challenge, but have not participated as much recently as I once did. I'd hate to see it go away, though.
Some sort of amalgamation of challenges might work, though I'd be more inclined to group street-street art- scenes of the road together, especially as some photos could be tagged for two or more of those at times.
I also like the month long themes, like Flash of Red Feb; Rainbow March; Single Subject April and so on, but see them as more of a personal challenge than a competitive one.
I also add my thanks to Wendy for maintaining that helpful list.
Thank you all for taking the time to contribute your two cents worth. It would appear as most of you are saying we should keep all the challenges and maybe even bring back a few.
I am with you all - participation will ebb and flow but that does not mean we should cancel those challenges that are not as popular as others.
Thank you, Liz
It's good that you are remembering all these monthly themes!
There have been a couple of people say that they miss the tag challenge in this thread, Annie.
And then Jackie also said she would be willing to host it.
Maybe one of you can bring it back.
Thank you for taking the time to put your two cents in, ladies. I really appreciate your input, especially since you all are regular participants in many challenges!
but there are also way more than I can ever manage but I always try to see if something I'm uploading might fit a competition and tag it. I usually do that more often than purposefully try to compose a photo to fit
except for my few favourite month themes like FoR, Rainbow, Half and Half and 30 days one subject.
I just can't quite decide would it work better if we extend competetions to run for a couple of months, or if we shorten them to turn over faster.
Maybe it would help if we do keep them monthly to have them always start on the first and end on the last day. All we would need to do is find out what number it is.
if they go for 2 months, have them all start and finish either on all even or all odd months.
I'm happy to go with anything, but if we can find a way to streamline running them and keeping track of them, I'm all for nutting that out!
@farmreporter thank you for bringing this up as well as all you do here. this is truly my happy place!
I am going to suggest that we keep 188. However, I cannot find any tag challenges after 185.
I went looking to see if the two entries you got were from members who are still current and I would then suggest that they could keep those entries or submit new ones.
But ... no joy in finding anything after 185! It might just be me - lol!
BTW - I plan on entering it regardless of what number it is!
I don't have a lot of time to take and edit photos - so that has a bit of an impact on participation. In terms of the range I do like a variety - even though some are a little random and some not so interesting to me.
When I do enter I don't tend to have a great 'winning' or being shortlisted streak! which obviously directly impacts on whether one hosts or not! I liked some of Kali's thoughts - but worry it might get a bit regimented or some might take a while to cycle around....
I think 2-3 weeks other than the monthly ones is a good amount of time . My 2 Cents
At times I'll shoot with the challenge(s) in mind and other times just see what I've shot within the time frame anyway that might work. So I'm all for them! They are inspiring.
There is another factor as well...even if I do not enter a challenge I very much enjoy seeing the entries; they, in themselves, are inspiring and stimulating.
I personally donāt participate in many shorter duration ones but I love to see them.
I did ask Ross a couple of times if I could put it in the bottom somewhere with his stuff but did not get an answer.
I also found that it got lost in the mix when I had it under the themes and challenges thread so I moved it to General. It is always very easy to find there ... always on the front page.
So - just go to General and you will find it easily.
I greatly appreciate the people who run these and I am thoroughly enjoying being a part of this amazing community/family.
Have a Sunny Day š
And so to answer your question Wendy, I do not think that there are too many challenges per se, I think many people do not have the time or want to spend the time participating and that comes across as a lack of interest. My 2Ā¢
Thank you all for taking the time to comment and put your two cents in. It appears that most members are all for keeping things the way they are and see no problems in the way things are presently operating!
So - it was a good discussion and well worth doing!
Please don't let the fear of not having the time to host the next challenge if you win deter you from entering.
You can always ask the runner up to host if you do not have the time ... this does happen on occasion!