Screenshot Comp discussion

[toprob]

There is one forum for the screenshots comp, and another for discussion of the screenshot comp rules.
Unfortunately, it seems there are members determined to destroy anything, if that will upset some other members, and they refuse to recognise that.
I have better things to do with my time than waste it responding to stirrers.

I've grabbed this quote from the screenshot comp thread, as I think I've used my quota of comments there already this month.

Just a couple of points. First, I don't think that there was any firm ruling on 'banter' within the screenshot comp thread, and personally I don't have any problem with it. However I'd be happy to go along with a ban on comments, if and when it was implemented.

Since it is a competition, I'd even accept a certain amount of 'trash talk' in the good old kiwi tradition. However trash talk here will probably breach the rules at some (early) point, so maybe not. But speaking of rules (oh god, here he goes) I've always maintained that the only effective way to deal with problem posts is via the 'report' button on the post. It helps to point out the rule-breach -- "this post breaches this particular rule" -- and then the admin really have to make a yes/no decision.

As I still have moderator status, I see some extra buttons on each post, can someone with a normal membership confirm that you can actually see the 'report' button?

And of course the other option is to start a campaign to ban any comments in the screenshot comp thread. Have at it! Until then I can't promise I won't continue to banter away...

[Ian Warren]

I'm always at the forefront here for some reason, fact is I don't need the 'Win' and when it happen's I even broke the recent 'Rule and Law' and pass the winnings on which is something even recent with a 'JUSTFLIGHT' product without a problem... tho not sure who scored the prize.

Again, I see a Screen that break the rules 12 to 15 months, back there was text , no mention there , I thought it was suited and the screen did not score any point least from memory.

Even this recent month the rule was broken again, Gliders without out any NZ scenery showing, It was a four ta five years back I had a DC-3 screen and was told I did not have any without ... this last month two screens break the rules ... No NZ showing , one could screen anywhere.

This month, again I did it again, and a whine and whined up peoples, I don't have a frame ... I have an insert of the real piece and the cockpit simulation , again I'm here to create idea's , I have everything .. I don't need the prize .. easy, idea is to give people Ideas.

I'm still hooking into there with no regrets and no apologies , Just being creative and giving ideas , 'Lateral Thinking' is brilliant , I have always been right on the very tip from the very start ... other than a few months ... least I post nearly every for 10 years rather being than walking away.

My task here is to put idea's into peoples heads and learn peoples brains.

Even the banner screen currently can be anywhere !

[toprob]

Ian, your post sent me scurrying back to the rules, and there is no rule that it needs to show NZ scenery -- not to mention I think that Doug has tidied it up a bit, removing the 'and over which part of NZ' bit.
I love to see a NZ-specific shot on the banner, but I don't particularly vote that way. With the location being a bit more open at the moment, there's a chance that we might gain some members.
I'd love to see a NZ-specific Xplane screenshot in a month or two!

[Ian Warren]

Look at it this way, the screen, mine, dose not have a border, it has a insert and is relevant to the cockpit and showing the detail produced, the rules obviously have changed, I have a very good memory and detailed ...

I can't see what the problem is for a starter, its a photo insert and not a screen border, all this to promote a freeware and go's to this stage, stupidity! , When I start drawing/painting I don't follow rules ... one thing tho my memory recall's 'specifics' .... I knew the rules, I'm not going to re-read every month ... I'll check the theme then go for it .

[dbcunnz]

If you go back and look at all the comps sice I started running them that you will find that there were only one or two occasions where the rule stated that you needed to have NZ scenery showing all the rest have had (Please state Aircraft details and over what part of New Zealand the image was taken)

[Ian Warren]

Frankly its pointless debating , I had well over couple thousand posts deleted , one thing I do have is a wicked memory, tho cannot find the exact date is not the point , point is look at the decline of anyone posting in the competition or even frequent the forum full stop .... its was free and easy going now its a 'Junta' and not many now do hang around ... simply walked , that is across the entire board, all threads ....... you got have to have some open freedom and see , I can list the names of many who simply don't return and that is in other areas as well, ... cripes Its not real life and many 'did' follow.

The people that meet me know exactly how I think and how I operate and also take no crap ... willing to take suggestion, I again as mentioned have a very good memory with statistics , the thing that piss's me off is the memory on the forum/history and the other changes old word/line a "Memory of Convenience" and adjusted to suit.

I'd be the most banned person on this forum and still standing ... and then again re-installed or put back in due do to other members, who now really don't visit anymore, ... why is that ... Am I just a puppet here ..... others simply .. they have WALKED AWAY .. I'm not a rocket scientist but it dose not take much to figure out the little inviting things rather the banning things.

[dbcunnz]

OK if you think that I am the reason people are walking away from the forum just bloody say so and then I will walk and let someone else run the bloody screenshot competition.
Also if you think that I stole all your posts that you can't find just bloody say so I have just about had a guts full of all this you are slinging around all the time.

[Ian Warren]

Doug, look at it this way, it would not have got voted for, there no mention off having inserts, no frame on the screen other that the insert, rather jumping up and down, I'm in there posting ... and off things my votes always go to the underdog's , the one's who have appeared to really put some effort in and I study them, then decide ...... as I mentioned, I don't need or want to win the prize, my task is to give people idea's ... nothing in the rule about 'inserts' and we have always been allowed photo material ....... The biggest thing is at least I put an entry in , if it was winning you have the power to distribute the points/votes around and within the competition.

[dbcunnz]

Rule 2) Some editing is allowed (if you know how to do it.) Additional images - either screenshots or "real" images can be added - but the main component of the image should always be of a Flight sim screen capture.
That rule has always been there even before I started doing the competition.
A small insert is fine but not one that takes over the flightsim capture image.

[Ian Warren]

I also went thru the rules and again was and are well within limitations ..... The has to show NZ scenery , (or least it did) -

One thing that will bring a lot people back, and look and add, and for those members who own the outside world scenery, all the
requirement is a New Zealand registered aircraft , You have the RNZAF Herks , 757s , airlines and aircraft simply doing a Tiki tour !

So many fly off NZ shores and have great scenery to show .. be well worth inviting their screens into the competition .... ANZ 747's into Kia-Tak and every where.

[emfrat]

When this topic was started three years ago, after a similar outbreak of argument and accusation about the rules, voting, and so on, I posted the rules I try to work to, within the bounds set by the comp rules published for each monthly comp. I do read those before I start.
Since then, every few months we have had the same problem - discussion in the screenie comp forum when it should be in this one. After last month's lot, I asked if the comp discussion forum could be stickied right next to the comp forum, so that people would have no excuse for not using it. Doug very wisely moved it to the Members Only section, which is a better idea, because I don't want to see NZFF brought into disrepute by members publicly brawling in cyberspace. Nothing damages a good forum more than that.
Comment in the comp forum is fine - Ian regularly says some encouraging words on entries, and also welcomes new new entrants. Wry comment when a rival has just posted a brilliant pic on the lines you were planning to use, or a shot with an Air***k in it, all count as banter, but any subsequent reply should be no more than one line, or better still, a cleverly-chosen smilie.

[toprob]

Emfrat --
Ah, Ok, I understand where you are coming from. But my take on this thread is that it was created to deal with one specific topic -- whether or not the comp could be improved by a few tweaks, or a complete overhaul, after a bit of a heated discussion about the rules. Although it could be read now as the companion thread to the screenshot comp, it wasn't back then, and I can't see any merit it making it so now.

I do think it's a good idea to have a separate discussion thread for each month's comp, if we wanted to remove the discussions from the comp. Having one endless thread is a bit messy, especially if members have different memories of what's been said before....

By the way, this thread did its job, there has been a few changes to the way the comp is run, and all seems to be working well.

But I'm still a bit confused about your posts, the only one I've seen which could be construed as negative is yours. Maybe you did 'report' some posts and they've been removed, in which case the system works. (I know that some were shifted here, but that's normal tidying up which the moderators are happy to do. And unless there's a firm ruling on what is and isn't acceptable in the comp thread, I'm sure that some members will still push the boundaries.)

Edit: ...and if there was a discussion thread each month, I'd like to see it linked in first post.

[Ian Warren]

I do think it's a good idea to have a separate discussion thread for each month's comp, if we wanted to remove the discussions from the comp. Having one endless thread is a bit messy, especially if members have different memories of what's been said before....

You Nailed it ... Best way of looking at it ... every month go's into oblivion , without boundary pushers or idea makers were would we be.

[emfrat]

Maybe you did 'report' some posts and they've been removed, in which case the system works. (I know that some were shifted here, but that's normal tidying up which the moderators are happy to do. And unless there's a firm ruling on what is and isn't acceptable in the comp thread, I'm sure that some members will still push the boundaries.)

Edit: ...and if there was a discussion thread each month, I'd like to see it linked in first post.

Rob - I didn't even know what that button was for, until you asked if ordinary members could see it. I haven't had any posts of mine go missing, though Ian says a lot of his have. I did once PM Doug, asking him to ask another entrant to fix his screenie so I could vote for it. That was done, the entrant fixed his previously ineligible shot, and I voted for it. (Doug had missed the faulty shot due to RL issues at the time.)

I agree that an ongoing thread is not the best way to deal with Comp rule discussions. It could be done by a topic within the Screenshot Comp discussion forum called 'July 2016 Comp discussion' or whatever, as appropriate.

[dbcunnz]

A suggestion for competition entries try and resize your image to over 1200px wide that would make it much easier to do a banner from.
I also suggest that if you have been using PhotoBucket that you consider using another host as PhotoBucket resizes all your images to 1024px wide and as you can see by this months banner very hard to make that image fit into the 1200px wide banner.