Photo Group History 101, or, The Evolution of the Contest Rules

Not to step on Celebration's post about the contest rules, but I wanted to post this as a separate thread with a new title so more people might read it (if they're interested) instead of just seeing a thread they've already read kicked again.

It took a bit of creative research, but I vaguely remembered most of the photo contest evolution to it's current form started in the spring of 2005. So I checked the archives for May 2005 and hit the jackpot. FWIW, none of the rules were ever meant to be put in stone, but they have stood us in good stead for four years now. Anyway, even though some of the OPs have titles that wouldn't seem to have anything to do with the creation of the rules, there are some discussions worth reading (or re-reading) in the thread.

There are probably more discussions later as other details got fine-tuned, but these threads represent the genesis and that's all I have time to research right now. :hi:

May 7, 2005: Need Contest Host Volunteer (s) (First comprehensive discussion about winners hosting the contests.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x3354

May 8, 2005: Building a Template for Contests - Help me ( and successors) do it right
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x3444

May 10, 2005: Poll question: Who should host the monthly contest?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x3490

May 15, 2005: May Photo Contest Theme: LIGHT AND SHADOWS -- Submit entries here. (First contest with firm submission rules.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x3628

May 24, 2005: The June Photography Contest (Where we have the first discussions about making separate submission and comment threads for the contests.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x4052

May 30, 2005: Contest Agreement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x4301


Edited b/c spell check doesn't catch typos that are actual words.

:cry:

Hard to believe we've been doing this for four years now. Wow.

Raging.

I didn't realize I was in an early contest. For some reason I though I came in well after they had been started.
Great job of hunting down those threads ITF.

I remember making the Photo Group Demopedia page over Christmas break, 2004. I remember feeling like I'd been on DU for forever at that point, but I'd only been a member for about 4 months! :rofl: I'm sure I never dreamed I'd see an African American president for president, much less have him be *'s successor!

...and it's hard to believe he actually is gone (tombstoned) for good.

I have a friend to whom that happened, and he swears he never got an explanation, or an answer to his requests for one.
Is it always permanent?

Thanks. I obviously need some help on my searching skills. I think the poll pretty much settled the matter for now. We keep the same rules.

Fortunately, thanks to everyone's help, I have several options to make my pictures under 200k now without reducing the length. And, everyone else has the same information.

The archives function is off-line at present (who know why:shrug:) and I searched under something like photo contest rules 2005 in the Google search. Came up with this link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/archives.php?date=2005x1, which is the archives list for January 2005. Just changed the "x1" to "x5" for May '05'a archives, then searched each day for the word "contest." Like I said in the OP, it was creative searching! lol

And still, I didn't read any discussion in those threads about photo size. I think that discussion must have happened earlier because it was in those first contest rules. FWIW, if you want to search yourself, the Photo Group has only been around since October or November 2004; before that Groups didn't exist on DU!

so let me throw my 2 cents in. It seems to me, if I recall correctly, that early screens had a maximum resolution of 800, which people still might have had, so it was established as the maximum size. I don't think it is as important now, but it is nice to keep it at a size that doesn't make people scroll. Since the conversation over the weekend seems to have established that we will keep the rules as is, it is a moot point now, but I think that was why it was originally established.


May I respectfully ask that next time we talk about something as important as changing the rules, that we either refrain from doing it over a holiday weekend or extend it for longer than just the weekend? Some of us may be away during those times, and it doesn't seem fair to potentially establish new rules in those times without everyone's feedback.

We did have some discussion over the weekend. I wondered where you were, because I got the feeling that some people didn't even want to discuss the rules at all. However, the original discussion was from a newcomer to the contest.

However, the poll Mira took was only for one month while she hosts it. I think it was ten to four in favor of keeping the same rules, so your vote would not have mattered. But we can always revisit this later.

Furthermore after my arguing that nobody on dialup actually voted in the contest, it turns out that Cassandra has dialup and she does. She looks at them at work if they don't all load.

I'm glad we had the discussion because now everybody seems to know what file size is, how to find it, and how to submit photos that conform to the rules.

although if the rules had changed, then I might be a little upset. :D


I think it is always better that occasionally address the rules, to make sure they still apply, and to make sure everyone understands them.