note: the word YOU as used here is not pointed at anyone in particular, unless of course this you IS you, then you know who you are.
It never ceases to amaze me of how far a person will go boost their own ego. Come on, do you really feel like a better photographer because you were able to create multiple accounts and vote someone lower or you higher or have someone else raise your vote?
Is it really SO important to get higher on a scale that doesn't really mean anything in the long run? I know that it's cool knowing you won and having your picture on the front page (ok I don't know this personally as I've never done it but I can imagine lol) but does it really mean more if you cheated others to get there? You're only fooling yourself, or do you print those pages out so you can show and fool potential clients into thinking you are well liked?
Exactly how low does your self-esteem have to be to feel good about cheating others in a virtual world?
Sure it feels good to know your image is liked and appreciated but dang, if you don't have the ability you just don't have the ability. Learn and try to become better or just accept the facts and just enjoy yourself. Reminds me of all those people at the beginning of all the American Idol try outs that suck major but they just don't believe it, or their friends and family refuse to tell them the truth for fear of destroying their dreams.
Sorry, stepping down from soapbox now. :)
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SC-Bravo to you for your hard work and dedication to a mostly thankless job, Lord knows there are few that could do it so well (I know I couldn't). Keep up the good work.
Nice move SC. Always good to see a problem resolved, even if the problem has been consistently denied in the forums (denied by many, not sc in particular).
We've heard back from several folks who have said that it wasn't their intent to cheat, they were just trying to make a friend feel better. Being supportive of each other is great and we encourage it. Being supportive by way of artificially boosting scores is NOT OKAY. It doesn't help anyone, including the person receiving the scores, and it tarnishes the integrity of our voting system and our community.
If you haven't read them, please take a look at the Voting Guidelines and feel free to ask if any portion of it is unclear.
I have to chuckle over this. Every time someone brought up that there was a problem with the way voters were voting, the steadfast response has been, "we don't have a problem". Now it's changed to "we've fixed the problem". While it's good that the problem that didn't exist has finally been fixed (not that it can really ever be fixed), I think it would have saved a lot of heated debates and hard feelings by some of the people that posted concerning this non-existing problem had they known that a problem really did exist and it was being worked on. I find this humorous because it's soo much like our government (U.S.) and how they deal with problems. Hopefully the fix doesn't make the whole process just that more complicated and confusing with false readings and warnings.
Mike
I invite you to show me one SC post that says there were NO problems. I suspect what you will find is that our response is largely of the "the problem is not widespread, IF it is happening, it is on a very small scale" nature. If you look closely at a lot of them, we did say we were working on it (thus the word "update" in this thread's title). :)
Most of the people crying foul were making it so that every wpl team and ribbon winner had huge and vast amounts of ghost accounts and friend votes being swapped. As mentioned in the OP, it was less than 0.5% of the site's active users. The effect, in the long run, was minimal, but it is an effect we don't want to exist at all. :/
In each and every case where a person contacted us with specific times or people, we investigated accordingly. What we couldn't do anything about were the ones who said "This is happening" but had nothing other than a suspicion.
If that is fixing a problem that we said didn't exist, so be it, I guess.
Many thanks for the actions that you have taken. Each and every on of you are to be congratulated on sorting out this problem. Your hard work is appreciated by every one in DPC, even if you find us sometimes to be pain in the arse. (LOL) You are just great. Thanks to all concerned.
note: the word YOU as used here is not pointed at anyone in particular, unless of course this you IS you, then you know who you are.
It never ceases to amaze me of how far a person will go boost their own ego. Come on, do you really feel like a better photographer because you were able to create multiple accounts and vote someone lower or you higher or have someone else raise your vote?
Is it really SO important to get higher on a scale that doesn't really mean anything in the long run? I know that it's cool knowing you won and having your picture on the front page (ok I don't know this personally as I've never done it but I can imagine lol) but does it really mean more if you cheated others to get there? You're only fooling yourself, or do you print those pages out so you can show and fool potential clients into thinking you are well liked?
Exactly how low does your self-esteem have to be to feel good about cheating others in a virtual world?
Sure it feels good to know your image is liked and appreciated but dang, if you don't have the ability you just don't have the ability. Learn and try to become better or just accept the facts and just enjoy yourself. Reminds me of all those people at the beginning of all the American Idol try outs that suck major but they just don't believe it, or their friends and family refuse to tell them the truth for fear of destroying their dreams.
Sorry, stepping down from soapbox now. :)
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SC-Bravo to you for your hard work and dedication to a mostly thankless job, Lord knows there are few that could do it so well (I know I couldn't). Keep up the good work.
I am one of those who lack the spectacular ability, but at this point, it doesn't matter. I do have fun, I look at this as just a way to pursue a hobby without investing a lot, and I will continue to do my scrapbooks of family gatherings, trips, baby albums, etc. That is really the main reason I take photos, and videos, and keep every receipt and ticket from every trip to put in a scrapbook, including gas receipts. It is fun, I like looking back at them, and it brings back wonderful and happy memories.
i don't mind about the job by sc but it's definitely affecting my uploading photos in other website which are outside dpc.
so i guess i have to warn anyone who knows my work in other websites
"Don't vote for me if u see my photo in dpc challenge!" or i will just stop uploading any of my entries for dpc's on any outside websites.
So then I could get rid from any friends or people who recognise my works.
i don't mind about the job by sc but it's definitely affecting my uploading photos in other website which are outside dpc.
so i guess i have to warn anyone who knows my work in other websites
"Don't vote for me if u see my photo in dpc challenge!" or i will just stop uploading any of my entries for dpc's on any outside websites.
So then I could get rid from any friends or people who recognise my works.
Here's an idea and stop me if this doesn't make sense. If you have friends on another site that vote here why not wait two weeks until voting is over before uploading your image? This would give your friends the opportunity to vote on your image for what it is and would also keep you from getting banned for receiving high votes from the same people.
i don't mind about the job by sc but it's definitely affecting my uploading photos in other website which are outside dpc.
so i guess i have to warn anyone who knows my work in other websites
"Don't vote for me if u see my photo in dpc challenge!" or i will just stop uploading any of my entries for dpc's on any outside websites.
So then I could get rid from any friends or people who recognise my works.
Here's an idea and stop me if this doesn't make sense. If you have friends on another site that vote here why not wait two weeks until voting is over before uploading your image? This would give your friends the opportunity to vote on your image for what it is and would also keep you from getting banned for receiving high votes from the same people.
i don't mind about the job by sc but it's definitely affecting my uploading photos in other website which are outside dpc.
so i guess i have to warn anyone who knows my work in other websites
"Don't vote for me if u see my photo in dpc challenge!" or i will just stop uploading any of my entries for dpc's on any outside websites.
So then I could get rid from any friends or people who recognise my works.
Good work SC! Would it be possible to add to the "rules" that when dpc'ers have a shot in a challenge they should refrain from uploading their shots to flickr or any other photosites or their personal blogs. Most of us visit other photosites and seeing shots that we either already have voted on (in an ongoing challenge) or see later while voting feels a bit wrong.
Good work SC! Would it be possible to add to the "rules" that when dpc'ers have a shot in a challenge they should refrain from uploading their shots to flickr or any other photosites or their personal blogs. Most of us visit other photosites and seeing shots that we either already have voted on (in an ongoing challenge) or see later while voting feels a bit wrong.
we have always treated the anonymous entry aspect of DPC to be a courtesy between users and have never really tried to restrict a person's use of their photograph.
if you feel that your image is highly recognizable and presenting it elsewhere could affect the votes it receives on DPC, it is up to each individual to decide when and how to display it. there's just no way that we can monitor other sites, and we do not feel comfortable enacting restrictions or penalties on what individuals do with their own work.
Good work SC! Would it be possible to add to the "rules" that when dpc'ers have a shot in a challenge they should refrain from uploading their shots to flickr or any other photosites or their personal blogs. Most of us visit other photosites and seeing shots that we either already have voted on (in an ongoing challenge) or see later while voting feels a bit wrong.
I don't think that would be very fair. I don't have any personal (know in person) friends on this site. I have a blog that I post to for family and friends. The address is not posted here, nor does anyone here know it. It's not under a user name that anyone here knows. So why shouldn't I post to it?
Good work SC! Would it be possible to add to the "rules" that when dpc'ers have a shot in a challenge they should refrain from uploading their shots to flickr or any other photosites or their personal blogs. Most of us visit other photosites and seeing shots that we either already have voted on (in an ongoing challenge) or see later while voting feels a bit wrong.
I think that this request is silly. Do we need to be watched over and checked up on to make sure we all do the right thing? I am a person of integrity, and adding a silly rule like that would assume that most of us are not. If you see an image, either vote on it according to your voting parameters, or skip it if you cannot. That seems much more simple.
