JUST logged in for the first time

[jameschino88]

What's up? This is james! I just joined and an going to give this place a lookover. Are you all a W***** competitor? I've been looking for another site like this for a long time.

[Silky]

[QUOTE=jameschino88]What's up? This is james! I just joined and an going to give this place a lookover. Are you all a W**** competitor? I've been looking for another site like this for a long time.[/QUOTE]

We're our own site. We don't "compete" with other sites, we just do our own thing. Nice to have you James. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

[TrinityOfOne]

Welcome James, hope you enjoy the site.

[Dave]

Hi James, I see you're from Texas .... well okay I forgive you :D

BTW Do you know Peggy Bass? (ignore me)

[jameschino88]

Hah, never heard of Peggy Bass. I don't listen to country or anything either. :P

[Silky]

[QUOTE=jameschino88]Hah, never heard of Peggy Bass. I don't listen to country or anything either. :P[/QUOTE]

LOL! So, James...glad to see you've entered one of our contests. Next step...get that avatar spot filled in...you're lookin' kind of nekkid. ;)

[Dave]

[QUOTE=jameschino88]Hah, never heard of Peggy Bass. I don't listen to country or anything either. :P[/QUOTE]Peggy Bass is a lovely Texas lady I met online several years ago, she doesn't sing :)

[jameschino88]

Just uploaded my avitar. Made it myself.
I've also submitted a second entry.
Also, is there any way I can vote in the current contests that are running? I can't seem to find where they are.

[Silky]

[QUOTE=jameschino88]Just uploaded my avitar. Made it myself.
I've also submitted a second entry.
Also, is there any way I can vote in the current contests that are running? I can't seem to find where they are.[/QUOTE]

Nice av, James. :)

Our active contests (all three on the index page) are the only contests running right now. We don't stagger them. Because we are still a small site, and our membership is still growing, we run all three contests simultaneous...with submission periods 5 days long, and voting periods 2 days long. That way everyone has time to enter what they want, without rushing. When we have a larger member base, we'll probably run them more frequently, or at least stagger their start/finish. Until then...feel free to enter all three contests, if you like. They go to "vote" tonight at midnight CST and new contests will be posted on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. CST.

[Dave]

[QUOTE=jameschino88]Just uploaded my avitar. Made it myself.
I've also submitted a second entry.
Also, is there any way I can vote in the current contests that are running? I can't seem to find where they are.[/QUOTE]
Nice avatar :)

The voting on the current contests starts at midnight (CST) tonight and lasts for two whole days. (reminder : you're expected to vote (fairly) on all the entries in the contest/s you've entered and you can't vote on yourr own entries, well you can but it wont count)

OE

If I were the patient kind, exactly what the lady said before me :)

[jameschino88]

Whoa! Ya'll are helpful and quick to reply.
Voting fairly is no issue for me. I'm very truthfull. :) By the way, does this website have voting karma?

[Silky]

[QUOTE=jameschino88]Whoa! Ya'll are helpful and quick to reply.
Voting fairly is no issue for me. I'm very truthfull. :) By the way, does this website have voting karma?[/QUOTE]

Karma? You mean, if you don't vote fairly bad things happen to you? :)

We don't have karma...we have voting "reputations". We monitor voting closely, to make sure everyone gets a fair shake at the trophies. As long as you vote on the quality of each entry, juding it on its own merits, you'll do just fine. :)

[Dave]

[QUOTE=jameschino88]Whoa! Ya'll are helpful and quick to reply.
Voting fairly is no issue for me. I'm very truthfull. :) By the way, does this website have voting karma?[/QUOTE]No it doesn't .... but we do have Silkenfairy :)

[Maiden]

G'day there :)

[PDG]

Welcome aboard and good luck in the contests!

[jameschino88]

Thanks a lot for welcoming me. This seems to be a great community, and I can't wait to get posting.

[Siouxie]

nice welcome from me too and i¥m sure you will have fun here

[Keebler Elf]

[QUOTE=Silkenfairy]Karma? You mean, if you don't vote fairly bad things happen to you? :)

We don't have karma...we have voting "reputations". We monitor voting closely, to make sure everyone gets a fair shake at the trophies. As long as you vote on the quality of each entry, juding it on its own merits, you'll do just fine. :)[/QUOTE]
What happens if you don't, who decides?

[Silky]

[QUOTE=Keebler Elf]What happens if you don't, who decides?[/QUOTE]

What happens if you don't what? Vote? Vote fairly? More info please...:)

[Keebler Elf]

Whoah thats creepy, you guys live waiting for posts or something.

Just asking about reputations as its not in the faq or anything that I can find. whats my reputation?

Kind of weird having rules that no one knows about. Im all nervous about my voting now Am I doing it right?

[Silky]

[QUOTE=Keebler Elf]Whoah thats creepy, you guys live waiting for posts or something.

Just asking about reputations as its not in the faq or anything that I can find. whats my reputation?

Kind of weird having rules that no one knows about. Im all nervous about my voting now Am I doing it right?[/QUOTE]

LOL! If I'm online I see posts as they're made...and I don't like people having to wait for their answers.

As for the "reputation" thing, the more active you are in the forums and on the site, the higher your reputation. It's not a publicized thing in the FAQ because if people focus too much on their reputation, they tend to vote middle of the road and some of the fabulous images that people enter are judged on a mediocre scale. So, we'd rather have everyone feel free to give out those high votes when they see an image that knocks their socks off. If you vote in a contest, vote on all the entries. I'd also point you to the Voting Scale that's posted as a sticky at the top of the General Forum. Judge each image according to that scale and you'll do just fine. You won't hear from the "vote fairy" unless you lowball all the entries (giving 1's and 2's when an image is deserving of much higher), or unless you vote on only one or two entries in the contest as opposed to ALL the entries. Dont be scare...really. My advice to everyone who votes is to start with a baseline of 6. Add and subtract from there according to originality of idea, skills in blending, shadowing, etc.

One more thing to remember...

A common reaction when someone looks at a contest entry for the first time is "I could have done that". The thing is, these are the thoughts of those who haven't "done that" and haven't even tried. It's very easy to sit in the catbird seat and judge someone else's work harshly....but try to recreate what they've done...it's not always as easy as it looks. A great image is one that's been altered but doesn't LOOK altered. It's an image that's been changed/added to but the changes/additions blend so well that they look like they belong there. That's the whole idea of modifying an image...to blend it so well that the changes don't JUMP out at you. If everyone remembered that when they voted, I think there would be more voters giving out higher scores, and less voters passing out the 1's, 2's and 3's.

Hope this helps. :)

[Keebler Elf]

Okay Im not so sure how comfortable we should be with a secret rule about whos votes are good when the people decideing on what is good voting are the wones who win most of th emedals.

Is this the place to ask? Ill ask in the main forums too.

[Silky]

[QUOTE=Keebler Elf]Okay Im not so sure how comfortable we should be with a secret rule about whos votes are good when the people decideing on what is good voting are the wones who win most of th emedals.

Is this the place to ask? Ill ask in the main forums too.[/QUOTE]

There are no secret rules. It clearly states in the FAQ that you are to vote fairly...FAIRLY! Now, if voting isn't monitored, how do you think we'll know if you're voting fairly or not, hmmm? Oh...and by fairly I mean going by the voting scale...which is also in the FAQ. And I can tell you, we have staffers with years of experience in photoshop, and they know a "crap" image from a "fantastic" image. And if a fantastic image gets a 1 and a crap image gets a 10, you can bet it'll turn heads in a hurry.

The thing is, vote monitoring wouldn't have to be necessary if everyone voted fairly, now would it?