Weekly competition #117 - Street photography - Comments

I think the point is that if people don't participate in the forum then they are unlikely to be aware of the competitions in there. Those that do participate might see the competition and think hey that's fun but they are already committed to the forum and are part of the community. Having the competition as a part of the gallery which is used and abused by all sorts of people makes it very visible to casual visitors and non Pentax users and hence they enter with no real commitment to our community.

Maybe that's unfair but it seems possible.

Mike

I've stayed out of this, but I'm inclined to agree Mike.

Well....I'm done with the subject. I played "Devils Advocate" and obviously Silence remains. Thats fine by me.
I hope....one day the competition issue is solved and reinstated and experienced by the active PUF members in its former glory.
Till then..... that cup will pass by me....... untouched.

We are just trying to keep it.... (Help please Martin a translation for gezellig???)
Like a bug in the rug...?
Gemütlichkeit seems to be the word strangely enough, you English know that's German right?
Maybe George can help?
Ah well.

To keep it gezellig, everyone should pay their part.
Nothing is for free in this world and if someone are trying to get a free ride by willingly neglecting some of the duties suspected by the winner (judging their competition), then it stop being gezellig for everyone and non would be willing to contribute since no one wants to put their time in it and getting nothing for in return.

David now has the important job to show how it should be done so that the standards and values of the Weekly competition don't go down in a negative spiral.

Simply keep it gezellig since I always found it that here, we are all proud members of this forum right(?) so lets act like one.

You and others have raised some good points, Martin, which I am sure JR (who never sleeps) will pick up on when he thinks everybody who wants to has had a say. But it may take more than a day or two to hear all the views and reach a consensus.

G

To be honest is it really only the competition, have we all forget why Gwyn left?
I also felt a change the last half year, the family feeling, the cosiness is less these days.

Not blaming the newer members here, simply a few events that spoiled that.
Hopefully we can let the recent past behind and go back how it used to be, I know that I'm optimistic but rather that then lose hope right...

Thanks George, and of course you are right. TBH I wasn't going to comment at all ,but your suggestion here:
and Gartmore's remark and thereby opening the door for some discussion here:

made me do so, as there was a slight recognition concerning the ideas/questions posted there.

Of course we can debate to arms length, about this matter but basically it comes down to one simple question.

Do we accept the fact that PUF has grown to big to run the weekly as the active minority of all the members(about 5%) once loved and liked.
If answered with yes maybe we should skip the discussion and just settle with whatever the judge may indulge to please the participants.
And simply stop wining if things happen to be on the short side.

If ...on the other hand the answer is NO, than lets continue the debate and by all means don't be lost in silence, but post suggestions or ideas to make it work again.

@ Stefan,
I think Homy or Intimate should cover gezellig. And your other remark about Gwyn and some recent forum issues? I think thats valid, seen in the grand scheme of things, but not relevant to this particular discussion. One subject at the time please ??

Till later,

I visit the Forum regularly and try to keep up to date with all things PUF. I comment on people's photos and view the fortnightly competitions there. But I don't put photos in the Forum or enter the fortnightly competition because I believe its too complicated for my feeble non-technical brain.
So I post my photos in the Gallery and love to enter the weekly competitions there. Occasionally I win a competition and work hard to deliver a judgement as swiftly as possible and post comments.
But if I've understood some of the forgoing comments correctly then I'm not considered to be a committed member of this community.
Oh dear am I in the right place?
david

You haven't understood correctly. You are very much a participant, even if you don't drop in daily. Martin was talking about those who only enter the competition, but never take part in the forum.

Such people will not feel honoured or alternatively, obliged, to enter into the spirit of the thing, which is to do your bit when you win. If you have no clue who the other competitors are, why bother to do anything?

Personally, I think that before any drastic action is taken we should see the effect of publishing the rules more plainly. If that doesn't work, then perhaps we need a competition club within the forum, possibly with membership available only to those who have made at least 20 posts.

Or alternatively at least 5000, to give me the chance of winning occasionally.

G

Yes, I think this is the best course.

I have to say I haven't been unhappy with the way the weekly comp was going until a couple of weeks ago. I do get more satisfaction from the fortnightly comp - both because of its more intimate and comradely nature, and also as a technical exercise which offers a level playing field for all entrants. However, I think it would be a shame to lose either comp, as they serve a different purpose - one encourages you to work on shots already taken (normally), the other to use your camera.

Hopefully it won't come to this though. As George observes, let's see if giving more guidance to new judges works.

That's partly because I was living in Ethiopia when I wrote them!

I second the remarks of George and Dr Mhuni - let's give the newly emphasised rules for entering and judging a chance before taking any really drastic action. Essentially the weekly competiton works well, its just unfortunate the inevitable problems seem to have come all at the same time.
david

You certainly are considered a committed member!
Again...easy answer...you certainly are!!

I think this is a good first step.

Making the rules a bit clearer will help all the entrants, although I still like the idea of minimal rules.

I'm happy to leave the competition end time as midnight Sunday, but as there may be a lot of entries to judge, and we all want feedback, the judge should also be allocated some time.

I would say the judging should be completed by midnight on Monday, unless there are some unforeseen circumstances, which can happen !!

This will give the judge 24 hours to complete his / her task, although on the couple of occasions I had to judge, I started writing up details as soon as the first picture was posted.

I don't think this would cause too many problems as pictures may be entered from someone's 'back-catalogue', so you have 6 days to select one or shoot a new one ?

From the number of new users on this site, and the number of new users entering the weekly competition, I'm sure this Pentax User Forum has added to Pentax sales, so maybe they should pitch-in and offer weekly prizes of a K-7 for each winner ?

Anyone else think this is reasonable ???

I'm breaking in the prizes at the moment