[Leica] Photo contest rules/policy question

[hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson)]

Brian, I think that you have hit on the best solution there, if you can't
assemble a volunteer panel of experts, to your satisfaction.
If people register for the comp, they ought to be motivated to be part of
the voting. You wouldn't even need to exclude them from voting for
themselves, since that would just be effectively discounted as every entry
would come with one automatic vote for itself. Perhaps you could emphasis in
the entry rules that registered photographers are expected to vote each
month as well? 

However, if you have B.D., Ted and Tina(?) or similar well published and
recognised photographers willing to preside, I for one would be more than
happy to be assessed by only one or two or three people. After all, the
competition is all about encouraging participation and to improve our skills
by seeking the opinions of other enthusiasts. 
It does, however, effectively exclude those judges from months where they
are sitting.


Cheers
Hoppy

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Brian Reid
Sent: Friday, 25 August 2006 05:05
To: LUG@leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] Photo contest rules/policy question

Last week I announced the upcoming LUG Monthly Photo Contest, and then that
very evening (before my daily backups had run) the server computer melted
down. So I've had to rebuild the contest on the refurbished hardware.

In doing so, I got to wondering if perhaps it would be good to change the
mechanism, and I wanted to hear what people had to say about this change.

I've only found three people willing to serve as judges, and that isn't
enough. So I've been thinking about a more populist approach.

Suppose that I adjusted the software so that nobody could see the ratings
assigned to a photograph except me, and that a large number of people were
given a set of ratings buttons to click on. If we get 200 people registering
on the contest site (hoping someday to submit a contest entry) then perhaps
anybody who had submitted more than 2 pictures could be given "judge" powers
(i.e. given a set of ratings buttons to click on). Or maybe all of you could
tell me who should be the judges, and then 
I'd simply put the ratings buttons on their accounts, without going through
the formal process of asking people if they want to be a judge.

I trust that any LUG member will be gracious enough not to rate his or her
own photographs, and, besides, if that happens I can tell and do something
about it.

If we did this, then I'd imagine that there would be between 50 and 100
judges, and they would assign a rating to any picture that they thought
needed to be rated (good or bad). At the end of the month I would declare
the winners to be the photographs that got the highest numeric rating score.

A scheme like this makes the contest more populist and less professional,
but my goal here is to get people to enter pictures, not to displace the
Deutsche B?rse prize.

Comments?

Brian Reid
LUG Saloon Keeper



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