SHOWCASE 2015

[djguk47]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

........cheers for commenting on this David I though I was using white text on this question ;o)

and there are so many B&W images posted on the forum... maybe we should have a section.... "Ansel Adams wannabees"

[Claire Barrett]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

Just thought I'd wade in here and give some input from the magazine team. Also we'd like to say thanks to Bhuna once again for offering to run the Showcase.

There were mumblings last year about not many members entering the showcase, with only days to go until entries closed. So, in a bid to boost the competition (and ultimately the membership of the forum), here at EOS mag we decided to promote the competition via EOS mail (email newsletter) and Facebook, to give existing members a nudge and other EOS users the chance to join and participate. This worked... whether for better or worse is open to individual opinion.

A few of the members who went on to win in a category had only just joined, whilst some were ‘sleeping members’ who had registered several years previously, albeit had never posted. That doesn't mean to say they hadn't visited, looked around, taken advice or inspiration from other active members' posts.

Here are some facts and figures to take into consideration in terms of restricting the End of Year Showcase:
Current forum membership – 8,503 registered members
10 or more posts – 861 members
20 or more posts – 584 members
100 or more posts – 248 members
Given that the complaints last year surrounded the limited number of entries, the stricter the entry requirements, the fewer entries you're inevitably going to get.

We're always keen to promote the forum wherever and whenever we can as it's a useful resource for EOS users. You are a very friendly bunch – much friendlier than many other forums we visit – and the forum provides an important extension of EOS magazine, offering a community for our subscribers.

We don't tend to interfere in the forum and won't on this occasion, but to suggest that any activity on the forum is wholly independent of the magazine is perhaps a little bit blinkered. We work hard in the background to keep spammers at bay (a laborious and time-consuming task), to moderate posts and members where needed (rarely, thankfully) and to maintain the site in various other ways. And yes, support for the magazine in the form of subscriptions contributes to the running costs of this friendly forum, which is open to all Canon EOS users.

End of Year Showcase 2015 does suggest that it's the culmination of the year's work and, as such, perhaps should at least be restricted to members registered before the Showcase opens for business. However, to restrict your pool of participants to members with, say, only 100 posts, might detract from the competition and from the friendly nature of this growing EOS community.


PS. For reference, an asterisk * after the member's name indicates a subscriber who has requested classifieds access, so whilst all members with an asterisk will be subscribers, not all subscribers will have an asterisk.

PPS. We will, as in previous years, be supplying the prize for the overall winner – a one-year subscription to EOS magazine.

[Bhuna]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

PPS. We will, as in previous years, be supplying the prize for the overall winner – a one-year subscription to EOS magazine.

awww Claire....you ruined my surprise now and I can confirm to everyone that I got in touch with Robert in preparation for this and confirm that the magazine are happy to offer a years subscription as the prize again like last year :)

Thank you Claire for your input on this matter and to the magazine for helping promote the competition and again providing the prize - there is still time to discuss this before I start, so it will be interesting to hear thoughts now based on the figures and information you have provided.

I am also interested in hearing peoples thoughts on the categories - especially if people think that B&W should be separated as suggested.

As has been pointed out, this is a competition showcase for the forum, Im not here to dictate the rules / categories, I just volunteered to take over when graydon last year could not afford the time to do so, so I just copied and pasted the rules / categories from what he used to use.

Despite being away for the majority of this year and unable to be involved in photography at all these last few months due to severe lack of time myself for work and personal reasons, I have popped back into the forum to run this competition again voluntarily (and I wont even be entering) and whilst I have no problems in amending rules / categories, please can people bear in mind any suggestions and how they will be easily administrated - its surprising how much time is taken up just checking that you all have saved the picture in the right format, with data etc, whether its taken with a canon eos camera etc etc etc,

Last year we only had 46 people enter, but this was over 200 photos for me to check - we then had a lot more people vote - and I would like to say that as far as I can remember all those that entered actually took the time to vote as well.

My suggestion would be based on the stats:

The main categories have a rule in place to either say "Entries must have been a member of the forum before 30 November" (so therefore I am not accepting entries from those that only joined up to enter the competition) or "A minimum post requirement of 10 posts" (any more posts and we really are limiting the number of entries).

BUT in addition to this we add an "OPEN" category, which is open to ANY forum member (regardless of post count / time of joining).

[DaveG001]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

Andy
The last posts from Clare and yourself are excellent calibration points
I support the guidance you give and rules you post
Importantly I also appreciate your time and effort to make this work
Cheers
David

[planetc]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

I think that sounds pretty reasonable. This also prompted me to check my post count, which doesn't come up on tapatalk without looking at profiles, and by some spooky miracle it stood at exactly 1000, this being post 1001! I feel quite special given the stats above, lol

[Tigger]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

The main categories have a rule in place to either say "Entries must have been a member of the forum before 30 November" (so therefore I am not accepting entries from those that only joined up to enter the competition) or "A minimum post requirement of 10 posts" (any more posts and we really are limiting the number of entries).

BUT in addition to this we add an "OPEN" category, which is open to ANY forum member (regardless of post count / time of joining).

yep I'd say that seems pretty fair

I am also interested in hearing peoples thoughts on the categories - especially if people think that B&W should be separated as suggested.

it does look like its only me and one other that supports this so perhaps not worthwhile

[Wrinklyrocker]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

I think the end of year Showcase is an opportunity for members to show their new and best work of the current year. If we can only enter work that has been submitted during the year then surely that work will have less of an impact and therefore take away some of the prestige and excitement of the Showcase.
I believe that if you enter the Showcase you should also vote.l understand that Bhuna had problems last year with people not voting after entering.

[rcarca]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

Personally I have not been very active on the forum this year, nor did I enter last year - mainly because of little local difficulties with SWMBO (but no longer... almost). I would be disappointed to be excluded and many of my best shots (as if I have hundreds lurking on LRCC just waiting to appear) have not appeared here.

However, I do think the requirement to have been here before the end of Nov 2015 is a good one. I would have suggested that you should have entered the monthly forum competitions to have a right to go in the showcase, but that would restrict the number of qualifying entrants to about 10 people

Fantastic job Andy. You have my admiration for doing this yet again!!!

Best

Richard

[Parsen66]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

it does look like its only me and one other that supports this so perhaps not worthwhile

I'd agree with Ian, in that there should be a category for black & white. There has been some excellent posts during the year

[Bhuna]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

OK - please keep the comments coming regarding category change / minimum requirement / members at a certain date / voting / etc. I will do my best to accommodate changes as long as I believe I can easily administer such a rule change.

thanks all.

[RogerMac]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

Speaking as one who is on the periphery of the forum I would like to think that I could enter and that means that the qualifying post count would need to be less than 50.

Roger

[Jonathan Teatime]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

Would making post count a qualification for entry, encourage users to "Spam" the forum in an effort to get their count up?

[Muscat]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

I know that I haven't been very active on the forum for a while but I do agree with rcarca in that many people my well not place some of their best work on the site for comment, rather putting up just a sample. If this is the case and you restrict the entries to only those images that have been posted you may not see some of the better shots.

[lunarbo]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

Just come back to the forum after a couple of weeks away, have read comments with interest and it's clearly a subject which has raised strong viewpoints among members

Last year I was very disappointed to see strangers coming in, taking the applause and buzzing off never to be seen again. So i'd go along with measures such as minimum posting count and length of time membership coming into entry qualifications.

I'm with Muscat in that I don't think we should restrict entries to shots which have already been posted over the year. Some of the fun is not knowing who took the photo- albeit it's also nice to see a photo that we remember from months ago as being a super shot or recognisably "Fred's". Some of us are not prolific posters, just go on to say either "I'm really chuffed with this" or "this isn't quite working- help please".

Also maybe if I took something last March and had another look at it, a minor tweak in PS and suddenly it's a WOW do I then have to stick it on the forum in December with my name on it so as to then enter it (anonymously!) for the end of season showcase. Surely not.

[Tigger]

Re: SHOWCASE 2015

agree Bo .. I dont think it should restricted to work posted here, but should be from current member base and an acceptable member posting count..