DA Photo Contest Forum / Website / Website Policies

Website Policies

Alan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:42:22 GMT

I'm just wondering what is up with all the nudity here on the site? I understand that it just might be in good taste and all, but in reading the Terms and Conditions I found this:

DO NOT submit obscene, nude, profane, violent or otherwise untasteful images to this site. This policy is socially enforced. If you have an image selected by the community for removal, your account will be marked and could be deleted.

I do believe there are lots of other sights on the internet that promotes this.

Alan

Critique Request Accepted, but not fulfilled

hahn23 — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:44:03 GMT

[color="navy"]I requested a critique from a member on June 3, 2008 through the [/color][url=http://www.dailyawards.com/members/Paid_Critique_Writers.aspx][size="2"][color="firebrick"]Reviewers Accepting Critique Requests[/color][/size][/url][color="navy"] page. 1000 DA points were subtracted from my account immediately. As of today, July 5, 2008, no critique has been completed by that person. I have sent at least 4 courteous emails asking the member to please complete the critique, or cancel the transaction. She has not bothered to send me one message explaining her failure to complete the critique.

This is no big deal. It's just a loose end I'd like to clean up. And, the other party is not communicating. I know she is from a non-US country (Belgium), so there may be a communication problem. She is active in the DA contest, as I have seen a few of her images appear in my voting window.

Some help with this situation would be appreciated. Can't seem to resolve this by multiple communication attempts. Hey, she can even keep the 1000 DA points and simply cancel the deal. I would happily request critiques from other capable members (who have indicated a willingness to write critiques), as soon as this pending critique dilemma is resolved.

Thanks in advance for any help[/color]!

Got killed

DFish — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:15:58 GMT

I was reading some of these threads yesterday and found them interesting though old. This morning I personal experienced an issue discussed.

My latest post in the gallery yesterday had only 2 signature votes and an average 7.000. This morning I have 3 signature votes and an average 6.222. Someone in your signature group is trying to really hurt the voting standards. I am not a subscribed member so I don't have all the info, but as near as I can figure, I had two 7 votes and one around 2 or 3.

The Surge Mystery

hahn23 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:32:07 GMT

[color="navy"]Many votes are a good thing. We want to encourage voting! But, are too many speed votes from new members a concern to anyone else?

Just a casual look at the top four voters in the past 24 hours will show all four as being new members with less than one week of involvement. Collectively they have cast 6704 votes and received 300.

Is this a problem? I don't know. Seems like it's not sustainable. Since I've had a few off-the-wall comments from this type of member on my images, it seems like something is not quite right. But, I can't put my finger on it.

Maybe one of the mega-voting new members would help me understand why they are voting so much with few or zero images entered into the contest. Help me comprehend the intensive/compulsive behavior. I invite any or all to post some comments here. Or, anyone else for that matter[/color].

Prohibit "blank" "blank" members

hahn23 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:04:52 GMT

[color="navy"]Members who are using "null" symbols for their name need to stop this behavior. It's confusing and several members have adopted this "dark secrecy" strategy. Time to nip this in the bud.

At the very least, members of the DAGC need to use their real names. There's plenty of nefarious activity going about. The entire membership needs to know who the members of the DAGC are! Or, the "self made anonymous" members could simply resign from the DAGC. Their honorable position is a public responsibility. If they want to be private, then withdraw with grace!

If this situation is not resolved within 24 hours, I'll submit this requirement suggestion to the DAGC itself! That's not a threat. It's a promise[/color]!

[color="firebrick"]edited to add:
I've had enough of the childish behavior. I changed my mind. Those who can't act like responsible adults need to be reined in. So, I am submitting this to the DAGC now. [/color]

Perishable Weight & Permanent Weight

hahn23 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:00:03 GMT

[color="firebrick"]Starting a fresh thread with this concept from another thread....[/color]

[quote][b]Admin (2/18/2008)[/b][hr][quote][b]hahn23 (2/17/2008)[/b][hr][color="navy"]
...One of the "skewing" developments over time was to allow weight to be gathered, without limit, by flooding many categories with many images. A category win is an accomplishment, but the daily, weekly, monthly and annual wins are much more important and prestigious. The members who have achieved many hundreds of weight points from hundreds of category wins and few longer duration wins are improperly positioned with much power to throttle the competition. Had we long ago put a cap on weight points from category wins, we could have kept things in perspective.

If we could do it all over again, there should have been 1/10 the weight allowed from category wins and 5x the weight granted from the longer duration win. Then, we would have had a weighted system which was truly merit based[/color].[/quote]

This is sound reason. I do not disagree that the power granted by the category wins may be disproportionate to the effort required. I prefer discussions that call out specific issues such as this and start a discussion of possible solutions. Remember, DA is a living project. This concept is new and your admin is open to change.

To start the discussion - how about rolling off the weight gained from category wins but making the higher awards permanent?[/quote]
[color="navy"]Eric, your proposal would be a refreshing step in the right direction. Thanks for weighing in on the issue. I strongly support the idea of putting weight gained from higher awards in proper perspective with weight gained from category wins. Just fine with me to make the more rare award weights permanent. And, let the much more numerous category and sig category award weights be transitory..... with time specific expiration. Six months seems right. I would not object to three month expiration.

I think it could be a very healthy purging of everyone's portfolio, weight-wise, to let 'em go. Should provide stimulus to keep on improving one's photography. Would offer hope to the newbies. Lots of reasons to like the concept. I'm very happy we are getting at this. I think it represents new life[/color].

Solicitations

Admin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:36:15 GMT

As an added layer of protection against voting fraud, The site administration is offering free subscriptions for members who report solicitations to join a voting circle. The term will vary depending on the severity of the event, but we promise a minimum of 3 months.

I do not believe this is an issue today and I believe that after recent site events, the current voting environment is very fair and stable. This is only meant to act as a deterrent for this kind of behavior.

You may report any of these events either to myself or wemor.

To fill in some gaps, the recent issue that was announced in the general announcements section was not detected because the members involved submitted images that scored very high in the contest without collusion. Within any system there are limits, and this is an obvious limitation of the system we have here. So, in an effort to cover all bases, I am offering this incentive to keep the site honest.

Finally, I feel a bit like the bad guy lately. I truly appreciate the highly diverse and very positive community that we have here at DA. I cannot express how happy I am with the general good nature of the site. However, in any community, there are the occasional issues that arise. I know that we will always be able to overcome those issues and move forward in a productive way.

Thanks to everyone for being a part of DA!

Would you like to be a part of DAGC?

Admin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:51:15 GMT

If you would like to be a member of the new DAGC (DA Governance Committee), please post a brief message here. I cannot promise that you will be added, but I simply need a pool of members to draw from when creating the initial core.

Also, if possible, please do not use this thread for discussion. I would appreciate a simple thread that is easy for me to reference as I need to add members.

If you very strongly wish to be a part, just make it known in your post and I will do my best to accommodate your request.

Thank you!

Dodging the Witches

hahn23 — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:39:01 GMT

[color="navy"]Very interesting experience to submit images to the contest these days. Takes some perseverance to overcome the votes of some high weighted voters. I see a lot of behavior which is neither fair, nor objective. I am taking notes. It's a different environment here these days. Eric, are you listening? Do you care[/color]?

DA Governance Committee

Admin — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:07:30 GMT

Here is an idea, that right now is just an idea. In other words, no thoughts on implementing this, but I would like to open this topic for discussion.

Nearly all of the ideas that shape DA come straight from the community. However, there is no formal mechanism for bringing community ideas from suggestion to implementation. My /rough/ idea is this.

- The site would forum a governance committee of limited members
- Participation in the committee would be limited (X or % max representation)
- Committee members would need to have X months minimum experience w/ DA
- Committee would have a page to facilitate idea reviews and discussion
- Members could bring ideas to vote
- Committee would pass site changes as assignments to administration for implementation.
- Administration would report status back to committee through committee page.
- Admin would have veto power (request is returned to committee with comments for further review)

The forum serves some of this functionality today but is not an efficient or formal way of accomplishing these tasks. Thoughts?

Someone Else's Art

hahn23 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:25:09 GMT

[color="navy"]Okay, looking for some support or guidance here.

I voted on an image which was a full frame capture of a sculpture. It was a nicely done photograph. However, some, or most, of the glamour of the image was due to the uniqueness of the sculpture. Therefore, I rated it somewhat low to the photographer and added a comment that this was a "full frame image of someone else's art". The response came back to me....[/color].

[color="crimson"]"[i]Is a building not someone else's art? Do Statues or someone else's Art not have a place on DA? Where would you suggest I put such photos? (Be Nice :) )

Come on Richard - open your mind, spread your wings - there's absolutely no need for you to be so anal - especially when you're such a good and celebrated photographer yourself.

All your comments say to me is that you are shallow minded and that you are unable to open up to such things. It lowers your credentials to me and thrusts the thoughts that you are an expert and guru in certain aspects of photography but that you have little understanding or appreciation of other aspects.
Now that's not me having a go at you Richard - absolutely not!!! It is merely what your vote and comments tell me about you. There's a huge big world out here other than goats and mountains - you may not like it ,appreciate it or respect it but it doesn't mean you have the right to rubbish it!
What would you think if roles were reversed?"[/i][/color]

[color="navy"]Okay, to me.... capturing a photo of someone else's art, without attribution, is really something that does not belong in a photo contest. Even with attribution, the image may be very good... but the excitement and drama derives from the talent of the sculptor or painter. The photographer, in this situation, is only reproducing an image of someone else's art. Seems cut and dried to me. But, I'd like to know how others feel. It's not necessary for me to link to the specific image. Just imagine a photo of "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin. Is the photo the art.... or is it the art of the sculptor[/color]?
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/The_Thinker_close.jpg/250px-The_Thinker_close.jpg[/img]

Active / Archive Slots

wemor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:25:19 GMT

The site allows 1x weight (MAX 10) for active entries and 250 archive slots for regular accounts and 10x weight (MAX 100) and 250 archives slots for subscribers.

Question: What will happen when I have 250 images in the archives and I wish to archive another one of my images? Will I need to delete one of my 250 archives to make room for the new archive?

and

What if I have all 250 archive slots filled and the system auto-archives one of my active entries. Will the auto archive make room for the newest image? Will it delete a random archive image to make room for the newest archive? Or will the newest image be deleted because there is no more archive space?

This is all hypothetical on my part. I am not near the 250 archchive limit but I have seen some accounts that are very close and wondered what would happen when someone's archived slots were full and the system attempted to add another archived image. WE

Lots of Views

hahn23 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:47:59 GMT

[color="indigo"]I'm a bit confused. Maybe someone can offer guidance. On my recently uploaded images, I receive 70 - 100 views within hours of initial upload. Not many votes.... one or two.... but, lots of views. Has anyone else observed this phenomenon? It's sort of perverse....

Could be related to the idiosyncratic nature of "me". However, I'm not sure I should be that paranoid[/color].

Contest Entry Image Identification

wemor — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:55:24 GMT

During my lunch today, I has a session of voting on images at Daily Awards. During my voting an interesting transition took place. I voted on an image and like always, a new image was loaded. I glanced at the previous image in the post-vote window to check out the rating and I was surprised to see the photographer's name included with their image. I knew this feature was in the works and I enjoyed the addition of seeing who had created the image after voting. Also, during this voting session I had no less than six images presented to me for voting where I did not have to wait to cast my vote to identify the submitting photographer. Their name was included somewhere in the posted entry. This is not just an isolated case either; four different photographers had either added their name in the image, comments or title of these six entries.

During the changeover from the old site this topic was approached in the following thread [url=http://www.dailyawards.com/DAForum/Topic120-23-1.aspx] Is Anonymous Voting[/url] . During the run of this topic the forum moderator suggested:

[quote]If important enough, then I think it should be discussed (cordially) with input from Eric (instead of assumptions or quotes without context) and a decision made. [/quote]

I think the time has come for that discussion.

In rereading the original thread I gathered that the general feeling was that the practice of identifying the photographer within a contest entry should not be incouraged. Glynn offered the idea that:

[quote]Maybe a social policy of voting an automatic 5 for any such image would deter the practise.[/quote]

I think that Glynn offers a good solution and I am ready to begin voting with that in mind now. But to develop a consensus, I believe we should have some open discussion first. Please offer your opinions...

One final note. There is another thread suggesting, "We need Fresh Blood" seeking new site participants. I agree and have mentioned to a number of my photographic acquaintaces both in person and on line about Daily Awards. One, rather opinioned one (some might call him snobby - he calls himself that anyway) visited the site, reviewed some image ranking lists and commented to me "how lame" it was having identifiable images up for votes. I certainly did not appreciate his comment but his point was well made. For the good of the site I feel we should work towards discouraging photographer identified images in the voting pool.

Again, please offer your thoughts... WE:cool:

Category Switching again!

Rocket — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 05:54:56 GMT

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but someone else is switching Category into unexpected. (and will win signature category awards for the next two days) I have sent him a PM and pointed him to the forum posts.

Category switching

Rocket — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:01:07 GMT

This poll was suggested in another thread.

This is a poll to guage the feeling of members on category switching/shopping.

I think I have covered all the options suggested but if not let me know there is 1 slot left.

Edited for spelling.

New Categories

Admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:26:26 GMT

As most of you know, I had to open the new categories (for moving images into them) due to a technical glitch I crated for uploading images. I have received some complaints about users moving images into those categories. While it is my fault that it is possible to do this, it would be most respectful to refrain from moving images into those categories at this time unless it is a fresh upload. I will be taking a close look at the images to win in the new categories and if they have no category wins elsewhere, but have a significant number of votes, I will be removing those images.

I am sorry to have to do this, but it seems reasonable to me for a person to understand it is not the most ethical thing to do by moving older images into a new category as it is building.

category shopping

Daniel — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:40:20 GMT

i have seen da members move images from one category to another quite often.... i cant be sure of the reason, but from my observation, it generally occurs when an image is moved from a "competitive" category to a less competitive category.....

Portrait to people or even photojournalism...
flower to stilllife,
any category to other....
macro to nature,
various categories to aquatic...

I think this unfair.....

i think and hope that eric will in V3 or sooner, block this possibility....

just a thought,
daniel

Edits

Tonka — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 11:55:34 GMT

I did want to address this one...

I do feel that edits should be left in place.. I wrote a post addressing the removed posts and so there it was all by itself lol...and not makin any sense...this might skew a whole conversation...

sorry just wanted to input ...If the moderators choose to edit or delete then it should stay.(I trust their decisions to edit or delete)...not for any other reason than subsequent posts...if the entire post gets deleted then perhaps the following posts regarding said post maybe should be deleted as well?...I dunno but you's had me thinking I was losing it....;)...( more so than already)..

Edited with my apologies, I did not intend to post in bad taste..My apologies Will..It wasnt aimed at you just towards the subject matter...Thank you Carol for pointing that out.. :)

(removed the quoted post as my point is conveyed without it...I just didn't realize that..)

Rude Comments

Gesta — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:56:03 GMT

After sending an RFC on my image

2nd Time Lucky I received this reply..

"Anonymous
Sorry, Geoff, but her face scared me so much right away, there is something totally wrong with her eyes. It is just my opinion, but I take this one as a photo mistake."

The account weight of 195 attached to this comment narrows it down to 2 people at the time of posting. I cannot imaging anyone of such high standing being so rude, so is there any possibilty that the sit is getting hacked in some way? I know Tonka has had a similar problem lately.

Expectations for fulfilling comment request

Serge — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 00:45:50 GMT

What is your opinion and behavior when you find an RFC in your account page? Do you answer every single one, do you cherry-pick, or do you ignore them all?

I've been filling up all request forms until now, but I started going to the image page, and looking at the photo average to see what prompted the member to click that RFC button.

Another thing that I am looking for (and this is where I have a conflict) is some sort of description. I know that Richard mentioned in the past threads how having EXIF data (basic ISO/F-stop and shutter speed and whether or not flash was used would suffice in most cases) helps commenting on the photo.

But sometimes I notice that the vote I cast is within 0.5 of a point to the photo's average, and at the same time that vote is higher than 5 which means that I thought of a photo as above the average. Then I find myself needing to help the member (that's how I view leaving comments, as a constructive criticism) find out what was that with that particular image that I did not find appealing or interesting.

Those are the times when a brief note by a photographer explaining what they tried to achieve (especially if there are some obvious heavy edits going on) would help the commentator address their concern.

Lastly, since we cannot vote low without entering a comment, I would ask Eric to prevent members from clicking on the RFC button before entering information about the photo in the description and shot settings fields.

Makes sense?

ps. In the meantime, I'll leave the RFCs - those WITH NO DESCRIPTIONS - in my inbox and perhaps get to them later when I have time to waste.

-Serge

High Key - Category?

oboy — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:04:22 GMT

I created a high key photo with a shot of my daughters eyes. Is it Digital Art, Macro, Portrait or Other?

Who Rules The Roost??

Stormhaven — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:38:21 GMT

IMO, one of the greatest threats to the ongoing health of DA is the power of the forum participants. In all actuality, we are the policy makers. We are the complaint makers. We are the ego breakers. In other words, we run DA.

I'm not a technical person. What I DO wonder is if there is any method whereby Eric could get input from the whole of the community, and not just us who take the time to surf the forum? In fact, WE (not Wemor) may be the "unwashed minority."

By way of influence, I think the forum participants, including myself, have too much influence. Eric is continually having to "dance the dance" just to keep the vocal minority satisfied. I fear that he might become schizophrenic, just trying to keep us happy. He must feel a little bit like he's in the middle of a taffy-pulling contest (look it up).

Eric, I challenge you to find out how many (per centage) of the "Top 360" actually participate (make comments) in the forum more than once a week. If that figure is what I'm guessing it will be, it should be obvious that even some of the most active (skilled?) photographers are not having their opinions polled about site issues that could potentially affect their participation and satisfaction.

I'm in favor of a broader Rule of the Roost. In fact, and this is a novel idea, I'm in favor of Eric turning a deaf ear to the forum for awhile. After all, it IS his site.

Discarding of Votes

WillPat — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 06:17:53 GMT

Please indulge me for a moment while I do a bit of venting.

Just got done doing a bunch of voting (and some commenting too) for the first time in about a month. And it reminded me of one of the main reasons why I don't like to vote here. It depresses me to see how high people here score many poor quality shots, shots with little or no merit and/or serious technical issues.

But what really ticked me off was an image that had an attractive subject but was full of obvious flaws. I looked at it for a while and then wrote a detailed comment with 3 or 4 suggestions to improve it. Then I decided not to leave a comment because everything I had to say sounded so very negative. So I voted it a 5 only to be told that my vote was discarded by the system. I thought to myself "You can't even vote a FIVE on an image that BAD?" That made me angry because I was trying to cast an honest vote that reflected my true opinion of the image. But the other voters had scored that one an 8, so I got my vote thrown away. It wouldn't bother me to see a really low vote discarded, like a 1-3, but a 5 was as high as I could honestly score that photo.

What a crock it is that you can't even vote honestly without the system dumping your vote. The system forces you to vote the same as everyone else!

Standard / Signature Threshold

Admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:41:20 GMT

I have adjusted the definition of a signature vote to be the top 10% of the community (previously the top 7.5%). This will set the threshold at approximately a weight of 20. This will take effect starting at midnight (server time).

COPYRIGHTS

Tonka — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:57:01 GMT

OKAY SERIOUS QUESTION HERE....

what is the policy on copyright here or if it applies to the web totally.....I mean if I take a still life picture and there is a name on the subject.....am I infringing if I do not have permission to post it??? like an everyday household item in general??? thanks for your help...:D

Masked or Not

kendp — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:48:35 GMT

Some voters are masked, others are not. I must have missed something. Are members masked unless they request otherwise? What is the procedure for unmasking?

how many people are on this site?

thedude — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:31:06 GMT

i was just wondering how many people were on this site now is it getting more popular? did not know what category to put this in so i figured i should try this one:D

Show a USERs (not an image) voting history, pattern?

HawkeyeLonewolf — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:11:00 GMT

Can we get a feature where we can see how a particular user has cast votes -- their "curve" if you will. See how many 10s vs. 1s, etc...

moving picture to diffrent category

thedude — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 08:32:31 GMT

i have a picture that already has won an award and i was wondering if i changed the category will i lose all the pictures weight or will i still have the same award?

thanks!

Opinion on how to vote on this

oboy — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:01:04 GMT

One rule for uploading a photo on DA is that the photo width can not be greater as 2x its hight or its hight can not be greater then 2x its width. I came across a photo that looked like its width was 3 or 4x of its hight. The photographer place the photo an a black background and used a black background for the DA Image Viewer to get around the limitation. The photo looks therefore a little small. I like to see your opinions for:

Is this practise OK?

If not, would you reduce your vote by one point?

Mistake?

Tonka — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 15:22:39 GMT

Does anyone know who's image "Headshot" is?

I was voting and came upon this image which, I dunno seemed like it may have been processed and uploaded incorrectly?? I hope I am not mistaking it but I didn't want to vote on it without knowing..Wasnt sure what to do, I wrote a comment saying so without choosing a score and hit "vote" but the image did not come up on the right corner so I could not find out who's it was.

I do not know how to "ignore" an image and am assuming that you just hit "vote" without selecting a score?

Please let me know if this was the proper thing to do?

Thanks.

Top 360 photographers

gandhi — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 23:28:32 GMT

First of all,i don't know is this good topic,but here is the question:

How website sort a list of top 360 photographers,i know by the current weight,but what if there (and there is) some folks with the same weight?What then?i just wonder. :ermm: