…that’s how I envisioned the gallerieswhen they started two years ago this month- a place to getandgive advice, tips and tricksand a place toshowcasethe best images you can create…

the problem:

figuring out a viable challenge results computing scheme.

why?

A few reasons. First of all, it certainly wasn’t fair to all entrants. There are always a few who just have to “win”, no matter what the contest is. in the case of the digiart challenges, “winning” means you get your image pasted on the main gallery page for a few weeks, as well as a spot on the workshop homepage to show off what you’ve accomplished.

Pretty cool, I must admit; most visitors to the gallery don’t have sites of their own to display their work, and those who do mostly don’t get the traffic that the workshop does. It’s a great place to show off what’s been created and drive some traffic to personal galleries & home pages. And that’s really why the galleries exist - a place to display creative endeavors and drive a bit of traffic to additional pages with more. The web works on links, and cross-links, and multi-links. There’s a bunch of ways to link up with us, and most of them are free:

So with all these options, why is there such a need to rig the rating system in the galleries? I don’t know. It’s really just for fun. But when the rating time comes around, some images seem to get a higher rating than others, and the image often doesn’t merit such a high rating. Other images in the same challenge (often of a higher degree of quality and/or time spent and/or talent) wind up with an abnormally lower rating than one would expect. That tells me that folks are voting up their images while voting down the other enties - which is cheesy, first of all, slimy, second of all, and completely pointless, third of all, since there’s nothing at stake. It’s an exhibition, not a contest. Besides, even if it were a contest, would you really want to win it knowing you were the only one who voted for your stuff?

If the rating system is opened up to everyone, guests included, then there’s an inordinate amount of rating going on. Images that would be ignored in members-only voting wind up with numerous (high) ratings. Others in the same Challenge get numerous low ratings. Hmm…..

Here’s a secret: as Admin of the site, I have access to the database that stores the votes, and I can actually see (if I were so inclined to root through SQL files…) who voted for what, and what they rated it. Here’s another secret: the “you’ve already rated this image” message will pop up if someone from a certain IP address has already rated. This doesn’t (can’t, really) prevent folks from voting multiple times from different computers, like at a library, work, or while using some providers that use multiple servers like AOL. Nothing I can do about that. If folks want to cheat, they will. Even though there’s nothing at stake - and if there were something at stake, the graficalicus.com “empire” is really just a very small piece of the internet (or even graphics-related) pie. Why bother?

Anyway, the other option introduced a few months ago is the Fan Favorite poll, where users (members & visitors) get one vote per day, week, month, or whatever time period is specified during the poll creation. this has worked well, but it hasn’t really been utilized. A main reason is that it hasn’t been publicized (oops…!) but now it will be available on every single image detail page of the gallery, as well as in the main workshop site menu. Of course, folks will vote for their own image - and why shouldn’t they?! - but hopefully visitors will stop by and cast a vote for what they think is the nicest image in the current Challenge.

Also, uploading to the current Challenge will be disabled after the Challenge runs its course, so late entries don’t get short-changed in the voting. The Fan Favorite poll will run for seven days after the Challenge ends - and then we get a new “winner”.

Hopefully this will end the “stacking of the ballot box”. If you read this, and feel like I’m talking about you, I might be - but you’re not alone! Just keep sending your images, play along with others, and offer some criticism or encouragement. That’s how I envisioned the galleries when they started two years ago this month. That’s how I want to keep them going - a place to get and give advice, tips and tricks, and a place to showcase the best images you can create. It’s our community - mine & yours - so I hope everyone feels welcome & comfortable here.

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