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03/29/2010 05:30:29 PM · #1
What going on with entries. Here's a chart showing entries per month from Jan. 2002 till Feb. 2010.

The chart is not per challenge but per month and from Jan. 2007 till now the entries have been going down per month.

Anyone know why???



Message edited by author 2010-03-30 22:03:12.
03/29/2010 05:40:02 PM · #2
Well...it's my fault too. I'm not feeling really motivated to execute my ideas.
03/29/2010 05:45:07 PM · #3
The bad news is... the trend is downward. The worse news is, membership is pretty much on the same trend. The only good news is that the trend has slowed. Perhaps as the US economy picks up steam we may see stabilization. But the site must absolutely change and adapt to the changing marketplace in order to survive. And only one person can drive that change.
03/29/2010 05:47:18 PM · #4
Originally posted by SDW:



Anyone know why???



People are spending to much time making charts.....:P

Looks like it has been a while since you entered a challenge!
03/29/2010 06:03:52 PM · #5
For me, it's a lack of interest competing in an environment that has become stale and stuck in a comfortable rut. That's how I see voting on the mass scale anyway. The top photos are, with such rare exceptions it's almost criminal, exactly the same. All the time. Every time. Every challenge.

I just couldn't take it anymore. So now I just enter when I'm either a) Really bored or b) semi-psychotic.
03/29/2010 06:13:53 PM · #6
Originally posted by PapaBob:

Originally posted by SDW:



Anyone know why???



People are spending to much time making charts.....:P

Looks like it has been a while since you entered a challenge!

Your right it's been about a year or more since I have entered a challenge. When my dad passed away last year my wife and I had to start helping my mother and brother. Then a few months later my wife lost her job. I had to sell my camera, lens, and equipment along with other items to keep two families above water. I was hoping to be able to purchase a camera at income tax time but for the first time in my life I owed the IRS, so no camera. Maybe next year! Wife still unemployed and with just a disability check coming in it's had to provide for two families and fund a hobby at this time.

I know others maybe in the same situation and that could account for some of the drop in entries.

03/29/2010 06:22:47 PM · #7
Originally posted by kirbic:

The bad news is... the trend is downward. The worse news is, membership is pretty much on the same trend. The only good news is that the trend has slowed. Perhaps as the US economy picks up steam we may see stabilization. But the site must absolutely change and adapt to the changing marketplace in order to survive. And only one person can drive that change.

kirbic you are correct.

I was talking with the site about the DPL and hoping it would return but I guess they have stopped discussing the idea. I did have access to a thread of discussion about the dpl but it kept changing and would lock me out. So I don't know where that stands.

I do know that the WPL and DPL was running during the height of the entries from March 2006 to May 2007. Since then entries have been going down.
Maybe that's a factor.
03/29/2010 06:36:10 PM · #8
Yep, the DPL debacle is an indication of where things are at. The SC should be driving the decisions necessary to roll out the next season of DPL, with a clearly defined set of tasks and a timeline. They are obviously not.
I do know all too well that they have a lot of day to day tasks to attend to, but clearly they signalled that second DPL season was something that would happen. To raise expectations and then to drop the ball is disappointing to say the least. And I'm not even interested in participating!
03/29/2010 06:54:45 PM · #9
K10Guy has it right, its stale there is no incentive to be outside the box and the challenges are repeating them selves. and there isa sameness about the winning shots,Also there seems to be a nastiness within the site hat was not there before too many trolls unfortunately
03/29/2010 06:55:27 PM · #10
Originally posted by kirbic:

Yep, the DPL debacle is an indication of where things are at. The SC should be driving the decisions necessary to roll out the next season of DPL, with a clearly defined set of tasks and a timeline. They are obviously not.
I do know all too well that they have a lot of day to day tasks to attend to, but clearly they signalled that second DPL season was something that would happen. To raise expectations and then to drop the ball is disappointing to say the least. And I'm not even interested in participating!


especially since we had a volunteer to do a WPL. Perhaps we should go back to the WPL idea...
03/29/2010 06:58:45 PM · #11
Originally posted by kiwinick:

K10Guy has it right, its stale there is no incentive to be outside the box and the challenges are repeating them selves. and there isa sameness about the winning shots,Also there seems to be a nastiness within the site hat was not there before too many trolls unfortunately


Actually, I think the winning entries have changed up a bit. When I started a year ago, it was sunsets and waterdrops for almost everything. We've had some stranger, more abstract, less technically perfect images recently. Imo, it's better than it was a year ago. Also, the quality is certainly better than 3-4 years ago. Because the challenges repeat, it's interesting looking back at the top 25 in the old version of the challenge. There are so many photos that really wouldn't make it today.
03/29/2010 07:03:58 PM · #12
Originally posted by K10DGuy:

For me, it's a lack of interest competing in an environment that has become stale and stuck in a comfortable rut. That's how I see voting on the mass scale anyway. The top photos are, with such rare exceptions it's almost criminal, exactly the same. All the time. Every time. Every challenge.

I just couldn't take it anymore. So now I just enter when I'm either a) Really bored or b) semi-psychotic.


yepp.

From the front page (at the moment of writing).

glass + water drops + something



tried and tested subjects





just to give an idea.

PS: I do not mean to pick on these individuals photgs. Its just that these are the images on front page at the time of writing this message. The main theme of main page more or less stays the same.

Message edited by author 2010-03-29 19:31:09.
03/29/2010 07:24:43 PM · #13
I've been a subscribing member since 2006. Certainly not as long as some. But, 50,000+ votes cast later, I have some observations to offer. I really like dpchallenge. It gets me out taking photos. I learn a great amount from reading the forums and developing my skills to meet challenges. dpchallenge is a great development site with great participant photographers. My "eye" receives additional training and development each week. This is an inspirational site!!!!

My suggestions for improvement in site health involve the balance, or rather imbalance, between the rights of voters and commenters versus the rights of participating photographers. I think the SC is a hard working group. They guard the rights of voters (even trolls) and the rights of commenters (even the irresponsible ones) ABOVE ALL ELSE. Sometimes, as a photographer submitting images to a challenge, I feel like MY RIGHTS are not very well represented. I can imagine the discouragement of the beginning photographers (the future market!) when they are blasted by troll-like votes and disparaging comments. Constructive comments are always welcome. The tear down stuff is a plague. A subtle shift in enforcement priorities of the SC might create a less hostile environment for those who submit images to the contest.... after all, these folks are the lifeblood of dpchallenge.
03/29/2010 07:32:41 PM · #14
hmm..all the winning images are alike....I didn't see anything like this when it was on the front page...... To read something like that is offensive, when I usually work hard on my entries. (I'm sure others feel the same way)
I think some people see someone Else's work, and say "I would LOVE to be able to take a shot like that", and this is why we see duplicated images/ideas. And usually the trend passes and it's on to the next one. This is a learning site, and I believe that's what people are doing when they "copy".
03/29/2010 07:33:38 PM · #15
Originally posted by K10DGuy:

The top photos are, with such rare exceptions it's almost criminal, exactly the same. All the time. Every time. Every challenge.

Then quit looking at the top scoring entries. There is far more to the challenges than that. At that point of the rankings the challenge is almost purely about popular appeal. Most people are in agreement that they are pretty good, so they rise to the top. You want to see some creative stuff that does not have that broad appeal, you know where to look for it.
03/29/2010 07:39:04 PM · #16
I will agree that we tend to often see the same kinds of images on the front page for the previously mentioned and well known reasons. It is what it is. My two ribbon shots were 100% cliche subjects that have been done many times before. I'm certainly proud to have achieved them, but I have other entries I am prouder of and that I personally consider to be better.
03/29/2010 07:41:46 PM · #17
Originally posted by hahn23:

I can imagine the discouragement of the beginning photographers (the future market!) when they are blasted by troll-like votes and disparaging comments. Constructive comments are always welcome. The tear down stuff is a plague.

How do you define the difference? I ask this because often, especially in the case of a new member who is learning, they may be able to identify what they don't like about an entry, but not quite be able to offer constructive advice to go with it.
03/29/2010 07:52:08 PM · #18
The only challenge that has truely excited me (in a looooong time) was the Fine Art challenge, because it was a chance to see more out-of-the-box kind of entries. I would suggest doing more of these and also to review the voting weight of members (which might help the troll situation).
03/29/2010 08:03:39 PM · #19
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Originally posted by hahn23:

I can imagine the discouragement of the beginning photographers (the future market!) when they are blasted by troll-like votes and disparaging comments. Constructive comments are always welcome. The tear down stuff is a plague.

How do you define the difference? I ask this because often, especially in the case of a new member who is learning, they may be able to identify what they don't like about an entry, but not quite be able to offer constructive advice to go with it.


Old dogs can teach new dogs new tricks, except the feedback loop is currently prohibited by the SC. (I'm talking about learning the art of offering constructive criticism.)
03/29/2010 08:07:16 PM · #20






They might not be far out images, but they're also not necessarily the norm, either. I looked 10 challenges, found these in 5 of the ten.
03/29/2010 08:07:42 PM · #21
Personally I think there are several ways DPC could improve and increase users, members, and their participation.

1. When you first become a user/member every time you enter a challenge you see a dramatic change in your stats. But as time goes on the change becomes smaller and smaller till your stats don't mean much to you anymore.

Solution: I think DPC should incorporate a baseball/football/basketball type stats area in everyone's profile. That way it will tell you what you have accomplished each year. At the bottom could be the totals.

2. Bring the DPL back permanently.

Solution: Have a separate site such as DPCPrints so the DPL can have it's own front page, stats, and forums with team threads; open and private. This way if you are a participant of DPL you can click over to the site (the same way you do with DPCPrints) and if your not participating in the DPL you will not have to worry about all the team treads in the forums of DPC.

3. Learning Center

Solution: Incorporate a DPC learning center to focus on a few subjects. DPC could ask a few professional or experience members to conduct several classes on different subjects. DPC could work out some type of compensation to the Members that are willing to teach a class. Possibly a free membership.

Message edited by author 2010-03-29 20:08:55.
03/29/2010 08:08:46 PM · #22
I'm new...relatively. I do like this site. One day, likely I will enter a challenge (when I can figure out how). What's nice about this site compared to one that I did frequent is that the people here seem much nicer. You're a fun bunch. Other site? Somewhat condescending in attitude toward novice photographers.

For what it's worth...
03/29/2010 08:15:28 PM · #23
For me it is a combination of a few things.

1. Attitude. Too many people willing to attack others in the forums just because they have a different belief system

2. Challenge Themes with III IV V behind them.

3. Site is somewhat Static. Things need to as Kirbic said change and adapt but that does not seem to be happening at a pace that the rest of the world is moving at.

4. Troll Voting, People who vote low because they don't like cats or kids or whatever. It seems that no matter what subject you pick these days you will have a handfull of people who vote you a 1 2 or 3 because of their strange little phobia's. This makes me think why bother... So unless I can come up with an out of the box idea that I know wont get stamped DNMC by the people who are stuck in the box. I wont enter.

It is not just DPC that needs to change. The attitude of some of the people who play here needs adjusting as well.

03/29/2010 08:18:39 PM · #24
Originally posted by SDW:

I was talking with the site about the DPL and hoping it would return but I guess they have stopped discussing the idea. I did have access to a thread of discussion about the dpl but it kept changing and would lock me out. So I don't know where that stands.

Sooner than you think... ;-)
03/29/2010 08:20:36 PM · #25
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Originally posted by K10DGuy:

The top photos are, with such rare exceptions it's almost criminal, exactly the same. All the time. Every time. Every challenge.

Then quit looking at the top scoring entries. There is far more to the challenges than that. At that point of the rankings the challenge is almost purely about popular appeal. Most people are in agreement that they are pretty good, so they rise to the top. You want to see some creative stuff that does not have that broad appeal, you know where to look for it.


Trust me, I'm on the site still because of that, but when it comes to trying to COMPETE, well, I just don't have the desire. Not when I see what I see hit the front page time, and time, and time again.

Just not worth it to me.
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