I've looked at, and participated in, the Free Study Reject thread; but have not yet taken the time to begin delving through almost 400 entries. It is quite possible the poster of the offending reject was not aware of the similar image in the challenge.
After a quick look through the thumbs I count 5 or 6 entries that bear some striking resemblance to some of the rejects, and several others that are near duplicates of previous challenge entries.
Nothing more than coincidence; nothing to get alarmed about.
I've ALWAYS found it very unfair to post out-takes/alternates/whatever during the voting period.
That's the time people are supposed to be voting on the entries, not on someone's personal gallery of the same topic. I think it takes people (and comments!) away from the actual entries.
Maybe posting a text link would be OK, especially for people who are finished voting (not this week!), but actually posting the image in the forums to "compete" with the challenge entries doesn't seem right to me ... except that it would be a nightmare to enfore, I've always been surprised we don't have a rule against it -- maybe because, in a way, it violates (at least the spirit of) the prohibition on discussing "current entries" ...
I didn't see this thread when I posted my apology in the other thread. I didn't see the image and I figured "it's not a topical challenge, so what can it hurt? It's just another individual photo at this point." But it is MY picture this thread seems to be about. If the mods would like to delete the other thread that's fine. I have already removed the picture, but I'm afraid I wasn't thinking at 12:30am when I posted it. Sorry.
And faidoi - at 1:09 am, I would have been happy to remove it if you'd pm'd me. I posted it just after I decided which one to enter. The post time is like 12:00:31. I sure didn't look thru 400 entries in 31 seconds. lol
I've ALWAYS found it very unfair to post out-takes/alternates/whatever during the voting period.
That's the time people are supposed to be voting on the entries, not on someone's personal gallery of the same topic. I think it takes people (and comments!) away from the actual entries.
Maybe posting a text link would be OK, especially for people who are finished voting (not this week!), but actually posting the image in the forums to "compete" with the challenge entries doesn't seem right to me ... except that it would be a nightmare to enfore, I've always been surprised we don't have a rule against it -- maybe because, in a way, it violates (at least the spirit of) the prohibition on discussing "current entries" ...
I'm afraid I do not understand this logic. For the out-takes from the same shoot as the photographer's entry, I agree as it destroys anonymousness during voting. But to be against posting images for discussion, in a forum created for that purpose, on the off chance it might diminish interest in a challenge or challenge entry, seems a bit extreme.
Following that logic, there should certainly be no portraits posted. But for that matter, as there is a free study in voting, no images that could be considered good should be posted this week. No flower shots, no macros of bugs (what would Jacko do?), no landscapes should be posted as they are nearly always represented in the challenges. And of course, next week, no photos that happen to contain (or even suggest) the color purple.
Like I said, it seems a bit extreme to me. Those voters that are looking for a reason to not like a challenge entry are going to find a reason -- regardless of what is posted in a forum thread.
I've ALWAYS found it very unfair to post out-takes/alternates/whatever during the voting period.
That's the time people are supposed to be voting on the entries, not on someone's personal gallery of the same topic. I think it takes people (and comments!) away from the actual entries.
While I understand your logic, that IS what the Individual Photograph Discussion forum is for. There are always challenges to be voted on, so posting any picture at any time may have the same effect. It's a nice place for show-and-tell if you missed the challenge deadline, got DQ'd for a mistake, or if you just couldn't decide and wanted to share a good runner-up picture anyway (I've had several outtakes marked as favorites). Photographers with consistently average scores (and thus consistently low comments) might learn more from a focused critique that isn't otherwise available (backlogged CC notwithstanding).
Please note this is my opinion ... not anything to do the the Site Council ...
I think the time to discuss individual photos for a specific challenge is AFTER the voting is over. We're not even allowed to discuss the photos IN the challenge, why should we be able to discuss others which people didn't think enough of to submit. Why would one EVER submit to a challenge? Just wait 'til the deadline closes and say "what do you think of MY photo" without submitting it to the voting process.
After the voting is over, you should talk about those photos in the (completely underused) Challenge Results thread. To me THAT'S the appropriate place to say "would this have done better than my entry" or "how would this have done" -- when we can COMPARE it to the actual results, and are free to discuss the entries in the challenge.
I'm sorry, but this seems obvious to me ... while people are all sweating out the scores and hoping for comments on their Portrait entries -- why should I be able to start a thread which basically says "hey, pay attention to ME and MY portrait photo, which I didn't even bother to enter."
I find that procedure quite selfish, to be blunt. The venue for evaluations of photos on a particular topic is IN THE CHALLENGE -- that's why it exists. You don't stroll onto the fifth hole of a golf course and start playing ahead of the approaching foursome. You don't cut in line ahead of someone at the supermarket. I find this kind of posting a quite similar form of "cutting in," which is considered extremely rude, even in the First Grade (I've been watching!).
If you want comments on your photo which has the same topic as a particular challenge, but which you didn't/wouldn't/couldn't submit, please have the courtesy to wait until all the qualified entries are judged first.
