And if I did the last thing I would do would be to come on here and ask for votes. The last 4 or 5 months there seem to have been so many of these threads. Wouldn't people rather win on merit? And not because they have 50,000 Facebook friends or have blatantly asked people to vote on a big site like this.....Just my opinion. What do others think?
@moirab I agree. I would want to win a competition because I had the best photo in it, not because I was able to hit up the most people on the Internet. Other's mileage may vary, but that's how I look at it.
I used to participate in I Shot It challenges (found them through FB) and they actually eliminate photos that show a skewed number of votes - I forget the exact verbiage they used for their reasoning, but it was awesome, and I'm going to try and find it now. :)
ETA: I found it!
Please do not ask your friends to vote for your photos. We consider this to be a form of cheating. If we see mediocre photos with a large number of votes then we will remove them from the competition. Evidence of cheating in the voting patterns, could lead to accounts being deleted. This is a competition to find the best photo, not who has the most friends to vote for their photos!
I think maybe a better way would be to ask someone to view your entries and if they feel your entry is worthy of their vote, it would be much appreciated. I think the effort is most likely to drive people to at least view their work??????
@moirab I tend not to even open them or go to the vote. I find the facebook competitions tend to just get more traffic for the organization or thing you need to download to vote. I am all for encouraging one to enter, but always hat the popularity contest aspect of most of these instead of being about the photo itself. Hey I will not even vote for my own community organization to get $5000 from target or pepsi if I vote each and every day. Give an award on merits.
@moirab you are not old and not grumpy. I think you win by being confident and bold enough to point this out. I was actually talking about this off line.
I agree...if you are asking desperately for votes, you probably need them because your pic is not that good. If it is a great pic people will just vote. On the other hand you can tell your friends/ family etc you have entered a competition if they would like to take a look. They can choose if they want to vote or not.
@shirljess there is already so much to look at and read on 365 and every week I look at new people browse browse browse maybe they could tweet on their twitters or beeb on their bebos canvas their facebook friends and their friends or put an ad in their local paper. Every week there are themes, competitions and votes lots of voting opportunities!
@newbie "On the other hand you can tell your friends/ family etc you have entered a competition if they would like to take a look. They can choose if they want to vote or not."
I think that's an EXCELLENTLY polite way to go about it. And maybe just tell them once. Tell them once, and then a reminder, if that.
@beautifulthing Please do not ask your friends to vote for your photos. We consider this to be a form of cheating. If we see mediocre photos with a large number of votes then we will remove them from the competition. Evidence of cheating in the voting patterns, could lead to accounts being deleted. This is a competition to find the best photo, not who has the most friends to vote for their photos!
@moirab I would rather not see these threads being posted along with a few others. The only self promotion have ever really enjoyed seeing is the frog on a tomato joke @bobfoto@dieter because it was meant to be funny.
i don't like entering comps where winners are chosen by number of votes. mainly because i think most people WILL ask all of their friends to vote for theirs, and well, i just don't have a lot of friends so i figure what is the point :) i mainly enter juried competitions where there is a juror or 2 or 3 that have a specific art/photography background and choose work based on a theme, merit, and how they see that work will fit into a particular exhibition.
thank you for starting this thread... generally i just keep my mouth shut on these sorts of things... i thought i was in the minority, tho!
however, the ones that particularly make me crazy are not necessarily photo related, but kid related... as in, please vote for my kid in this competition... makes me sad when i think of all the other kids whose parents aren't going around drumming up votes and who might be equally talented or deserving... basically, i hate it when a competition on talent or merit turns into a popularity contest... that just sucks!
@peterdegraaff Actually, I was offended when the tomato frog was up, asking for more faves, the day before the Top 20 went up. I even unfollowed for a while. You can agree to disagree but I really don't see how that's any different than what this thread is about.
@5unflow3r You're probably right. I have never liked self promotion anyway so why make an exception. Meant afterwards though, particularly response from Dieter. Agree about the request for more favs the day before top 20 was not something I liked either. Many of the show me threads are the same in a way.
@peterdegraaff It is difficult not to self-promote here though, I will say that.
:-) But there have to be lines....in the end it is mostly a popularity contest I guess
I completely agree with this. It's very irritating seeing people do that, and I'm sure it sucks for the other people who are more deserving of winning losing to someone who goes on their facebook page or whatever and gets x many people to vote for them cuz they want to win.
Why don't they use that time to focus on getting better at photography (or whatever it's a contest for) and learn from the people who did win? Seems much more honorable and productive...
I just think it's a reflection of systems where anyone gets to vote. The whole thing is pointless, so I don't care if someone asks for votes. That said, I still won't vote unless the image is exceptional.
It's really no worse than half the comps out there, where someone who knows nothing about photography judges the photographs. I lost count years ago, of how many "winners" took out the prize because of their mediocre or even terrible shot of an interesting (or beautiful) subject. There is no worth in that, either, but i'm never going to tell people not to enter - I'm sure it is fun for some.
@moirab My daughter recently came in the final 50 (of 50000) of the Bonds baby Search Competition, There was a part of the competition which was bonds pick and part which was 'peoples choice', the people choice was basically another word for popularity contest. My daughter got in via the bonds pick section, even though she didnt winthe final competition it made me proud that she got in with out needing to be 'popular'
@moirab - I'm looking forward to being old and grumpy. I think I have the grumpy bit down pat.... just gotta get a bit older.
@5unflow3r@peterdegraaff - while my fave thread was intended to exploit the commercialism of this site and I manipulated everything to my advantage, I never intended the posting to occur just prior to the Top 20 being released. In fact I think my post was a sleeper and it was posted around 3 maybe 4 days prior to the Top 20. I was banking on weekend traffic. And I only wanted one fave, that's all I asked for.
But I get a good laugh at the spin-offs and the teeny tiny culture that frogmato created. All of it was for shits and giggles. ;)
@bobfoto I thought that the spinoffs made it even worse that you did that. I really did. And I knew that they would happen as soon as I saw your thread.
Thank you for posting this! I totally agree, and usually just ignore those threads. I don't like those "popularity" competitions either. I've seen it do many times, not just with photography, where the best entry doesn't win because someone else has a zillion friends.
@peterdegraaff haha, I totally agree that some of the show-me threads feel like blatant self-promotion too. I always enjoy those threads, dont get me wrong, but I often think to myself "haha, that person is trying to get more views/favs" when I see a mediocre "this is mine that I took today"
@jinximages I totally agree with you. No amount of complaining is going to make it stop because it really is fun for some people. Idk, I guess some folks just like entering competitions and trying to get the popularity vote? But for me, if I happen to even look at it, and If the image is jaw dropping, yeah I'll vote. If not, I'll just move on.
I never read these threads, unless an attractive and misleading title makes me open them, but then the only thing I don't want to do is to look at the pic, no matter its quality. And if (extremely rarely) something makes me curious enough to look at the pic, I also look at the other ones and possibly vote for another that I like better :-)
I enter competitions where there is a panel of judges (photobox for example) also enter competitions at my local camera club. I'd rather not enter a photo on the basis that the most popular one will win. I'd rather it be how good it is. I do however find that preparing for a competition I sometimes like to make a discussion on here with a few options to get some outside opinions. (I have done this once). I found this really helpful in narrowing down my decision with other photo people :)
I'm so short of time I barely get to comment these days.. however if I see someone, whos work I follow and admire, looking for support, I have followed links and voted. If only to balance the whole popularity issue and to support someone who has a passion, who takes images every day, who supports me here, oh and only if it is good..
@jules88 I've done that too! I do hope that's not too frowned upon. It's really helpful to have more sets of eyes on your photos, because sometimes I get really attached to one that I think is amazing but then when I show it to people no one else seems to like it, ha! That's more of a "critique me" than a "vote for me" but I know sometimes asking for critiques looks like begging for followers or views too, even if that wasn't the intent.
@moirab well honestly... until you started this thread, i thought i was the only one who thought this way... the "pls come vote for my photo" has been quite prevalent on the online parenting community i belong to and no one has ever said anything there... so - thank you for speaking out!
Whoops! Have woken up this morning to find my shot from a couple of days ago on the PP - hope it's on merit :oD and not because I started this thread.....................
Totally agree! All these self pushing actions, I already mentioned this problem too on this forum. Inthink most fun must be making and improving photos. When you really think you are really good, participate in the real photo competitions, not the social ones.
@ladyjane -- isn't that the truth. there's a page for the most popular photos for crying out loud. how do they become popular? because you and I comment and FAV them. Amazing.
How about everybody stops bitching, these projects are for ourselves and nobody else, I enjoy commenting on other peoples photos and I love receiving comments where's the problem?
If somebody is looking for support when the enter a competition I see no problem voting for them If i feel their photo is worthy of winning. But I agree that if the persons photography is going to win it would win without them chasing votes :)
@djepie@ladyjane@tabithasyear Thanks for commenting. It is a discussion page. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. This was very general. And lots of people commented. 'The last 4 or 5 months....' 'Just my opinion.' If you look at how the thread was started. It's the internet. A public forum. @mej2011 In my opinion it's not terribly polite to call people 'jerks'. @amoment there have been SO many of these asking for votes threads I wouldn't know who he was referring to. Have fun! Don't take it so seriously!
Who cares. Don't open 'those' threads then.
On a side note, I entered a competition today. Its called 'Lets get me on the PP page of 365'. So please go fav my photos and let's make me win! :P I kid, I kid. :P
@ladyjane I don't see it that way at all. I love having an audience for my work - even as a raw beginner. But that's very different from a popularity contest.
I make (and hope I receive) comments on the merits of the photos - not on who my friends are.
I hang paintings in galleries because I love to share my work. Not to become popular.
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I used to participate in I Shot It challenges (found them through FB) and they actually eliminate photos that show a skewed number of votes - I forget the exact verbiage they used for their reasoning, but it was awesome, and I'm going to try and find it now. :)
ETA: I found it!
Please do not ask your friends to vote for your photos. We consider this to be a form of cheating. If we see mediocre photos with a large number of votes then we will remove them from the competition. Evidence of cheating in the voting patterns, could lead to accounts being deleted. This is a competition to find the best photo, not who has the most friends to vote for their photos!
I think that's an EXCELLENTLY polite way to go about it. And maybe just tell them once. Tell them once, and then a reminder, if that.
I like this VERY MUCH!
however, the ones that particularly make me crazy are not necessarily photo related, but kid related... as in, please vote for my kid in this competition... makes me sad when i think of all the other kids whose parents aren't going around drumming up votes and who might be equally talented or deserving... basically, i hate it when a competition on talent or merit turns into a popularity contest... that just sucks!
It's like respect. If you have to ask for it, you're not worthy of it.
:-) But there have to be lines....in the end it is mostly a popularity contest I guess
@5unflow3r Lunchtime, off to Opera House. Chat later maybe
Why don't they use that time to focus on getting better at photography (or whatever it's a contest for) and learn from the people who did win? Seems much more honorable and productive...
It's really no worse than half the comps out there, where someone who knows nothing about photography judges the photographs. I lost count years ago, of how many "winners" took out the prize because of their mediocre or even terrible shot of an interesting (or beautiful) subject. There is no worth in that, either, but i'm never going to tell people not to enter - I'm sure it is fun for some.
Eh I don't care what people post...the only annoying thing in a thread on here to me is the spambot!
@5unflow3r @peterdegraaff - while my fave thread was intended to exploit the commercialism of this site and I manipulated everything to my advantage, I never intended the posting to occur just prior to the Top 20 being released. In fact I think my post was a sleeper and it was posted around 3 maybe 4 days prior to the Top 20. I was banking on weekend traffic. And I only wanted one fave, that's all I asked for.
But I get a good laugh at the spin-offs and the teeny tiny culture that frogmato created. All of it was for shits and giggles. ;)
@peterdegraaff haha, I totally agree that some of the show-me threads feel like blatant self-promotion too. I always enjoy those threads, dont get me wrong, but I often think to myself "haha, that person is trying to get more views/favs" when I see a mediocre "this is mine that I took today"
Sad, but so true.
If somebody is looking for support when the enter a competition I see no problem voting for them If i feel their photo is worthy of winning. But I agree that if the persons photography is going to win it would win without them chasing votes :)
On a side note, I entered a competition today. Its called 'Lets get me on the PP page of 365'. So please go fav my photos and let's make me win! :P I kid, I kid. :P
I make (and hope I receive) comments on the merits of the photos - not on who my friends are.
I hang paintings in galleries because I love to share my work. Not to become popular.
YMMV