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--- dpl_faq [2025/12/16 13:00] – mitalapo
+++ dpl_faq [2026/04/12 12:45] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 ==== General ====
-  * 1 - <html><a href="#q1g">What is the DPL? And what does "DPL" stand for?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q1g">What is the DPL? And what does "DPL" stand for?</a></html>
-  * 2 - <html><a href="#q2g">How does the DPL work?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q2g">How does the DPL work?</a></html>
-  * 3 - <html><a href="#q3g">What s the difference between a team, a division, a conference, and a league?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q4g">How does the scoring work?</a></html>
-  * 4 - <html><a href="#q4g">How does the scoring work?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q6g">How do the playoffs work?</a></html>
-  * 5 - <html><a href="#q5g">What happens at the end of the first 6 weeks of the season?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q8g">How long does a season last?</a></html>
-  * 6 - <html><a href="#q6g">How do the playoffs work?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q9g">How many seasons will there be a year?</a></html>
-  * 7 - <html><a href="#q8g">How long does a season last?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q10g">Will the Site Council cheat?</a></html>
-  * 8 - <html><a href="#q9g">How many seasons will there be a year?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q12g">Will additional challenges (Free Studies, Speed Challenges, etc) count?</a></html>
-  * 9 - <html><a href="#q10g">Will the Site Council cheat?</a></html>
-  * 10 - <html><a href="#q11g">What happens if there are more or less than 24 (or 48, 72, ...) teams when the season starts?</a></html>
-  * 11 - <html><a href="#q12g">Will additional challenges (Free Studies, Speed Challenges, etc) count?</a></html>
 ==== Teams ====
-  * 1 - <html><a href="#q1t">How do I join a team?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q5t">How long is the signup process?</a></html>
-  * 2 - <html><a href="#q2t">How do I create a team?</a></html>
-  * 3 - <html><a href="#q3t">I've accepted an invitation but changed my mind - how do I unaccept?</a></html>
-  * 4 - <html><a href="#q4t">What is a Free Agent? Why would I want to be one?</a></html>
-  * 5 - <html><a href="#q5t">How long is the signup process?</a></html>
-  * 6 - <html><a href="#q6t">Can I change my team (or change someone in my team) during the season?</a></html>
-  * 7 - <html><a href="#q7t">What happens if I get DQ'd and/or suspended?</a></html>
-  * 8 - <html><a href="#q8t">How do I see my team standings & entries?</a></html>
-  * 9 - <html><a href="#q9t">Can I vote on my team's entries?</a></html>
-  * 10 - <html><a href="#q10t">How do we get a forum thread? And is it private?</a></html>
-  * 11 - <html><a href="#q11t">Can we change the name of our team?</a></html>
-  * 12 - <html><a href="#q12t">I can't be captain any more - how do I hand the team to someone else?</a></html>
-  * 13 - <html><a href="#q13t">How does my team get allocated a division/conference/league?</a></html>
-==== Teams as of DPL7 ===
   * <html><a href="#ref1">How many people can I request to be on my team? </a></html>
   * <html><a href="#ref2">Is there any way to guarantee I play with a specific friend? </a></html>
@@ Line 40: / Line 22: @@
   * <html><a href="#ref4">How is the Skill Cap calculated? </a></html>
   * <html><a href="#ref5">Does the "Skill Cap" apply to Mutual #1 choices? </a></html>
-  * <html><a href="#ref6">I requested someone, but we didn’t end up on the same team. Why? </a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#ref6">I requested someone, but we didn't end up on the same team. Why? </a></html>
   * <html><a href="#ref7">What happens if none of my requests work out? </a></html>
   * <html><a href="#ref8">How does the Random Fill work? </a></html>
-  * <html><a href="#ref9">I don’t know anyone to request. Can I still join? </a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#ref9">I don't know anyone to request. Can I still join? </a></html>
   * <html><a href="#ref10">Can I change my requests after submitting them? </a></html>
   * <html><a href="#ref11">I take this very seriously. What if I don't like my team? </a></html>
@@ Line 50: / Line 32: @@
   * <html><a href="#ref14">How are team captains assigned? </a></html>
   * <html><a href="#ref15">How many teams will be setup, and what will be the team size?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#ref16">Can we replace a team member who is unable to contribute?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q7t">What happens if I get DQ'd and/or suspended?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q8t">How do I see my team standings & entries?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q9t">Can I vote on my team's entries?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q10t">How do we get a forum thread? And is it private?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q11t">Can we change the name of our team?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q12t">I can't be captain any more - how do I hand the team to someone else?</a></html>
+  * <html><a href="#q13t">How does my team get allocated a division?</a></html>
 ==== Other ====
@@ Line 60: / Line 50: @@
 ==== General ====
-<html><a name="q1g"></a></html>== 1 - What is the DPL? And what does "DPL" stand for? ==
+<html><a name="q1g"></a></html>== Q: What is the DPL? And what does "DPL" stand for? ==
-The DPL is the DPChallenge Photography League. For more information, see the [[http://www.dpchallenge.com/league/league_dpl_information.php?about_the_dpl|about page]]
+A: The DPL is the DPChallenge Photography League. For more information, see the [[https://www.dpchallenge.com/league/league_dpl_information.php?about_the_dpl|about page]]
-<html><a name="q2g"></a></html>== 2 - How does the DPL work? ==
+<html><a name="q2g"></a></html>== Q: How does the DPL work? ==
-DPL teams, consisting of DPChallenge users and members, compete in matches against other teams. The match results are determined by team member entries into the Open and Member challenges that week. Each team will play at least 6 matches in a season, of which 6 are in the group stage and possibly more if they reach the playoffs & finals, depending on their results in the group stage. All the scores are automatically tracked and stats updated at the end of each week of the season, and there is one overall winner at the end of the season. The next season then starts a week or two later.
+A: DPL teams, consisting of DPChallenge users and members, compete in matches against other teams. The match results are determined by team member entries into the Open and Member challenges that week. The season has multiple phases:
+    - **Pre-season:** Registration and teams formation
+    - **Regular season:**Teams compete against each other in their division
+    - **Playoffs:** Qualified teams compete in elimination rounds
+All the scores are automatically tracked and stats updated at the end of each week of the season. The 4 teams qualified for the last playoff round compete for Gold / Silver / Bronze medals.
-<html><a name="q3g"></a></html>== 3 - What's the difference between a team, a division, a conference, and a league? ==
+<html><a name="q4g"></a></html>== Q: How does the scoring work? ==
-Let's break this down into the parts:
+A: There are two parts to this:
-  * League - group of 2 conferences.
-  * Conference - group of 1 or more divisions.
-  * Division - group of 6 teams.
-  * Team - group of between 5 and 7 DPChallenge users (Season 1) or between 7 and 10 users (Season 2).
-The minimum number of required teams to make a season is 24 teams (or 120 users).  The maximum number of teams allowed to participate in a season is infinite, but the number must be divisible by 24 (48, 72, 96, etc).
-<html><a name="q4g"></a></html>== 4 - How does the scoring work? ==
-There are two parts to this:
   * Team Member Scores - Each week, there are two challenges that count for DPL - member (Sunday/Monday) and open (Tuesday/Wednesday)Paid members may enter either or both, while registered members may enter the Open challenge. The 4 best scores of team members are averaged together to make the Team Score for that week. A team member may only contribute one score each week to the team score.
   * Team Scores - Once the team score has been calculated from the team member scores, the team with the highest score wins that week's match.
-<html><a name="q5g"></a></html>== 5 - What happens at the end of the first 6 weeks of the season? ==
+<html><a name="q6g"></a></html>== Q: How do the playoffs work? ==
-After the first 6 weeks, all the teams in each division will have played matches against the other teams. The team with the most wins (and highest average of Team Scores in the case of a tie) is the winner of that division, and will go into the playoffs.
+A: The top 8 teams from all divisions advance to the playoffs. The playoff is divided into 3 rounds.
+  - Elimination round of 8
+  - Elimination round of 4
+  - Medals round: The 2 qualifying teams compete for Gold. The runner ups compete for Bronze.
-<html><a name="q6g"></a></html>== 6 - How do the playoffs work? ==
+<html><a name="q8g"></a></html>== Q: How long does a season last? ==
-The winning teams from each division all qualify for the playoffs. However, the rest of the details of the playoffs have yet to be finalised.
-<html><a name="q8g"></a></html>== 7 - How long does a season last? ==
 The DPL is broken up into seasons.  A single season's schedule is as follows:
- - Week 1: The season is announced, the free agent pool opens, and team captains can begin to create their teams.\\
+ - Week 1, 2, 3: Players registration starts.\\
- - Week 2: The teams are automatically placed into divisions, divisions automatically placed into conferences, and conferences automatically placed into leagues.\\
+ - Week 4: The teams are created and the team threads become active.\\
- - Week 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: The regular season season begins with the first challenge announced.\\
+ - Week 5: The regular season season begins with the first challenge announced.\\
- - Week 9: Once the results from Week 7 are in, the playoffs will begin and last for two "challenge weeks".\\
+ - Week 6, 7, 8, 9: The first three rounds are completed.\\
- - Week 11: Once the results of the first round of playoffs are in, the finals will begin.
+ - Week 10: Mid-season break\\
+ - Week 11, 12, 13, 14, 15: The next rounds are complete. Top teams announced.\\
+ - Week 16, 17, 18: Playoffs round 1\\
+ - Week 19, 20, 21: Playoffs round 2\\
+ - Week 22, 23, 24: Playoffs round 3\\
-<html><a name="q9g"></a></html>== 8 - How many seasons will there be a year? ==
+<html><a name="q9g"></a></html>== Q: How many seasons will there be a year? ==
-There's a space of at LEAST 1-2 months between seasons, to give teams time to change around and recover, so at most 2-3 seasons per year.
+A: Assuming a 3-4 months space between seasons, we can accommodate 1.5 season a year.
-<html><a name="q10g"></a></html>== 9 - Will the Site Council cheat? ==
+<html><a name="q10g"></a></html>== Q: Will the Site Council cheat? ==
-Uhh... NO! Of course not! :o)
+A: Uhh... NO! Of course not! :o)
-<html><a name="q11g"></a></html>== 10 - What happens if there are more or less than 24 (or 48, 72, ...) teams when the season starts? ==
+<html><a name="q12g"></a></html>== Q: Will additional challenges (Free Studies, Speed Challenges, etc) count? ==
-If an exact multiple of 24 teams is not reached, then the next highest multiple will be used. For example, if 75 teams are finalised, then only the first 72 will be able to compete. The order in which teams are finalised dictates where they are in the count, so getting your team to be finalised should be done as quickly as possible in order to ensure a place.
+A: No, only the first two normally scheduled  Members and Open challenges (Sunday/Monday and Tuesday/Wednesday) will be counted towards the team scores each week.
-<html><a name="q12g"></a></html>== 11 - Will additional challenges (Free Studies, Speed Challenges, etc) count? ==
-No, only the first two normally scheduled  Members and Open challenges (Sunday/Monday and Tuesday/Wednesday) will be counted towards the team scores each week.
 ==== Teams ====
-<html><a name="q1t"></a></html>== 1 - How do I join a team? ==
+<html><a name="q5t"></a></html>== Q: How long is the signup period? ==
-To join a team, you need to be invited by a team captain. If you're not already in the process of joining a specific team, and you've not had any invitations, then you need to join the Free Agent Pool.
+A: The signup period is usually 3 weeks.
-<html><a name="q2t"></a></html>== 2 - What is a Free Agent? Why would I want to be one? ==
-A Free Agent is someone who wants to join a team, but hasn't yet received and accepted an invitation. The Free Agents are the first port of call for teams that need more members. Even if the season has started and you don't yet have a team, staying in the Free Agent Pool means team captains can substitute you into their team, should one of their members drop out, or if they started without a full team. Substitutions might happen at any point during the season.
-<html><a name="q3t"></a></html>== 3 - I've accepted an invitation but changed my mind - how do I unaccept? ==
-As long as the season hasn't started yet, you can just click on the 'unaccept invite' link. However, you should contact your team captain as well, to explain why you've changed your mind.
-<html><a name="q4t"></a></html>== 4 - How do I create a team? ==
-Firstly, only DPC members can be captains. To create your team, go to the 'create a team' page, enter your team's name, logo, and a list of team members to invite. Once you've invited at least 4 other members (and they've accepted), then your team will be finalised.
-<html><a name="q5t"></a></html>== 5 - How long is the signup period? ==
-The signup period is usually 1 week, with the first 2 days for existing teams only, and closes when at the announcement of the first challenge of the season on the Sunday rollover.
-<html><a name="q6t"></a></html>== 6 - Can I change my team (or change someone in my team) during the season? ==
-In general, teams are allowed only one change in member during a complete season. If more than one is required, [[http://www.dpchallenge.com/help_contact.php|contact the SC]] and explain why the change needs to happen.
-<html><a name="q7t"></a></html>== 7 - What happens if I get DQ'd and/or suspended? ==
-For a DQ, your score for that entry will obviously not be counted towards your team's average. For a suspension, you will not be able to compete until the suspension is lifted.
-<html><a name="q8t"></a></html>== 8 - How do I see my team standings & entries? ==
-You can find the team standings [[http://www.dpchallenge.com/league/league_current_standings.php|here]], and the current entries at the end of the last thumbnails page for each challenge still in voting. In addition, all of this information will be kept in your team's profile page, which can be found under 'My Home' -> 'My Team' on the top menubar.
-<html><a name="q9t"></a></html>== 9 - Can I vote on my team's entries? ==
-No, they are treated like your own, ie displayed at the end of the last thumbnails page for each challenge.
-<html><a name="q10t"></a></html>== 10 - How do we get a forum thread? And is it private? ==
-Your team will automatically get a forum thread created once the season starts - assuming your team is finalised - and will be hidden from all other DPC users APART FROM the Site Council, who will only read the threads for moderation purposes.
-<html><a name="q11t"></a></html>== 11 - Can we change the name of our team? ==
-If the season hasn't yet started, the captain can change the team's name via the team admin page. However, once the season has started, the name is fixed, unless you have a typo or an exceptional circumstance - [[http://www.dpchallenge.com/help_contact.php|contact the SC]] for either situation, and they will decide whether to make the change.
-<html><a name="q12t"></a></html>== 12 - I can't be captain any more - how do I hand the team to someone else? ==
-There is no mechanism for this yet, so you will have to [[http://www.dpchallenge.com/help_contact.php|contact the SC]]. They will then contact your team, and confirm that they agree with the change.
-<html><a name="q13t"></a></html>== 13 - How does my team get allocated a division/conference/league? ==
-Teams are allocated a division (and thus a conference and league) based an overall team average score of an average of each participant's last ten challenges (fewer for those that haven't entered ten times). All finalised teams will be ranked at season start, and allocated a league, conference, and division based on this ranking, so that the top 4 teams (with 2 leagues and 2 conferences per league) will not play each other until the playoffs.
-==== Teams as of DPL7 ====
 <html><a name="ref1"></a></html>== Q: How many people can I request to be on my team? ==
@@ Line 170: / Line 118: @@
 A: No. **Mutual #1s** are the exception. We prioritize that specific bond above the skill calculations.
-<html><a name="ref6"></a></html>== Q: I requested someone, but we didn’t end up on the same team. Why? ==
+<html><a name="ref6"></a></html>== Q: I requested someone, but we didn't end up on the same team. Why? ==
 A: If you weren't a Mutual #1 pair, your request was subject to the Skill Cap. We process requests in this order:
@@ Line 185: / Line 133: @@
 A: It isn't purely random chaos. The system assigns remaining members to teams specifically to keep the team under the Skill Cap. It tries to balance the league so every team has a fighting chance.
-<html><a name="ref9"></a></html>== Q: I don’t know anyone to request. Can I still join? ==
+<html><a name="ref9"></a></html>== Q: I don't know anyone to request. Can I still join? ==
 A: Absolutely. You can leave your preferences blank, and the system will place you on a team where your skill level fits best to balance the scales.
@@ Line 212: / Line 160: @@
 <html><a name="ref15"></a></html>== Q: How many teams will be setup, and what will be the team size? ==
 A: The number of teams and the teams size will depend on the number of players registered. We are aiming at 5-7 players per team, and an even number of teams. In order to avoid leaving registered players out, the number of players per team may vary slightly (+-1).
+<html><a name="ref16"></a></html>== Q: Can we replace a team member who is unable to contribute? ==
+A: Direct transfers between teams are complicated, so we won’t be moving members from one team to another. However, during the mid-season break, teams may add one additional member to compensate for a non-contributing member.
+<html><a name="q7t"></a></html>== Q: What happens if I get DQ'd and/or suspended? ==
+A: For a DQ, your score for that entry will obviously not be counted towards your team's average. For a suspension, you will not be able to compete until the suspension is lifted.
+<html><a name="q8t"></a></html>== How do I see my team standings & entries? ==
+You can find the team standings [[https://www.dpchallenge.com/league/league_current_standings.php|here]], and the current entries at the end of the last thumbnails page for each challenge still in voting. In addition, all of this information will be kept in your team's profile page, which can be found under 'My Home' -> 'My Team' on the top menubar.
+<html><a name="q9t"></a></html>== Can I vote on my team's entries? ==
+No, they are treated like your own, ie displayed at the end of the last thumbnails page for each challenge.
+<html><a name="q10t"></a></html>== How do we get a forum thread? And is it private? ==
+Your team will automatically get a forum thread created once the teams are finalized. Team threads are hidden from all other DPC users APART FROM the Site Admins, who will only read the threads for moderation purposes.
+<html><a name="q11t"></a></html>== Can we change the name of our team? ==
+If the season hasn't yet started, the captain can change the team's name via the team admin page. However, once the season has started, the name is fixed, unless you have a typo or an exceptional circumstance - [[https://www.dpchallenge.com/help_contact.php|contact the SC]] for either situation, and they will decide whether to make the change.
+<html><a name="q12t"></a></html>== I can't be captain any more - how do I hand the team to someone else? ==
+There is no mechanism for this yet, so you will have to [[https://www.dpchallenge.com/help_contact.php|contact the SC]]. They will then contact your team, and confirm that they agree with the change.
+<html><a name="q13t"></a></html>== How does my team get allocated a division? ==
+Teams are allocated a division based on the team pre-season performance. Teams are allocated evenly between the divisions.
 ==== Other ====
 If your question isn't covered here, please post it in the forums, and someone will answer you there and/or add it to these FAQs