Not been around here long enough to feel comfortable about making radical suggestions - but this is just a thought I'm throwing out.
How would it be if we were unable to see challenge entries until we'd voted on them? I.e. there were no thumbnails of the entries visible until a vote had been given to that shot from that user? There were a couple of shots in Time that seemed to be awful in thumbnail, but once up full size were really very good - and I've wondered what the effect of the thumbnail view is on voting.
I realise that for a lot of people without broadband (like myself until next week ...) it would be annoying not to have any idea of the entries without spending the five or six hours voting - but also I don't think it's reasonable that people can effectively choose their favourite shots from the thumbnail view and then just vote on those.
Perhaps it could be a personal preference?
I've no idea how tough/easy it would be to program - I guess that would depend on the exact architecture of the site, but the database sems pretty thorough and surely it wouldn't be too tough.
I don't use the thumbnails to vote really, so I don't care if they are visible before voting or not. But I do like to use them to get back quickly to a photo I wanted to comment on after the vote. Or to quickly get back to review a shot I don't quite understand.
I like it too. I've seen people mention in the forums that they pick through the thumbs and vote the ones that grab them which seems the wrong way to go about things to me.
I think this is a great idea. I really only use the thumbs after I finish voting to "fine tune" my voting. I think this would be an excellent way to prevent people from doing just what "bod" referred to, as I too have seen this "method" of voting mentioned in the forums.
I don't use the thumbnails to vote really, so I don't care if they are visible before voting or not. But I do like to use them to get back quickly to a photo I wanted to comment on after the vote. Or to quickly get back to review a shot I don't quite understand.
I wasn't suggesting that thumbnails would never be available - just that they would only be available after the challenge ended of after you'd voted on that photo. Your situation would not change.
You can't actually vote on thumbnails of shots you haven't already voted on at the moment. If that makes any sense. what I mean is you can only adjust your vote from the thumbnail view.
My point is that the thumbnails influence people's view of the whole challenge entries before they start voting. I suspect.
I for one like the thumbnails, I take a look at all the pages before beginning then I have an idea of what everyone did, and the creative ones stand out that way. For example in the time challenge there are lots of clocks but then there are a few that really stand out creatively, by being able to see a complete overview of them before beginning to vote I am able to score those who are creative on the merit of creativity also.
I for one like the thumbnails, I take a look at all the pages before beginning then I have an idea of what everyone did.
Thus my point: very contrasty photos do not thumbnail as well as those with lesser dynamic range - so the overview you get from looking at the thumbnails is inaccurate. A bit.
Thus my point: very contrasty photos do not thumbnail as well as those with lesser dynamic range - so the overview you get from looking at the thumbnails is inaccurate. A bit.
Ed
I am sorry you misunderstand that completely I look at the thumbnails first to get an idea of what the trend was and what is orginal I am not looking at anything other than that. I still have to go through one by one and vote. Only thing it does for me is gives me an idea of what is orginal and what is the normal.
I vote on clarity, orginality, overall appearance, and a few other factors come into it. But I believe someone who is showing creativity should be rewarded for the orginality. Being able to see all the photos as a quick overview tells me what is different when I start to go through and vote.
Fine example is this weeks challenge...how many photos of clocks are there? I know one photo that sticks out to me even now and it was not a photo of a clock. But I didn't notice it when I quickly looked at the thumbnails I noticed it when I was going through one by one. Thats when the creativity of the photo jumped out at me not when I glanced at the thumbnails.
The thumbnails only give you an idea of what to expect you can't decide on the thumbnail but then maybe that is why there are so many 1s, 2s and 3s on photos that are really good, people aren't willing to look at the entire photo only the top quarter of the photo, if anything should be changed its the ability to cast a vote at the top of the page, I think the last thing that appears on each page should be the numbers to vote so that you have to wait for the photo to load before you can cast your vote!
At first I didn't really like the idea but after I thought about it I agree and OneSweetSin actually helped me decide. I try hard to vote on each photo on an individual bases. We are supposed to be rating each photo individually and not by comparing one to another. For me it is not about picking a clear winner, the totalling of the ratings will take care of that. By seeing all of the thumbnails at once it is too easy to compare them with each other and to spot trends. We need to remember an important point. When we decide what photo to submit we do not know what anyone else is submitting so when we feel that our photo is original there can still be other's submitting the same 'original' image. The subject matter alone shouldn't be the determining factor in originality. How the subject is shot should be considered just as important, if not, more so. For these reasons viewing all of thumbnails at once can actually negatively influence the voting. Afterwards, viewing the thumbnails can help to fine tune our ratings and to locate a particular photo to admire.
I also agree to this idea. I tend to also agree that people in general (in life.. not just here) are greatly influenced by color patterns and such as well. When I go thru the thumb's initially, I tend to congregate towards certain things.. I go back and vote on every submission though. Anyway.. kudos Ed.
I am going to say this again a bigger issue is the numbers coming up directly under the title. They should be at the bottom of the page and you shouldn't be able to cast a vote til the image is completely opened up in front of you. But you can cast your vote soon as the numbers are there and without even viewing the image, ever think that might be why some of the wonderful photos get the 1's and 2's?
Yeah - after starting out reading the latest in the "Hollywood Idiots" thread it was great to move on to not one but several threads that made me laugh out loud and snort my tea.
That said, inhaling hot tea is not a pleasurable experience, even though the laughter that causes it is!
