Zoot wrote:No, but it does raise an interesting point (sort of). Given that these comps are now less well-populated than they once were, especially during the winter months
I think that's mainly indicative of the general forum participation. Blame Facebook!
Zoot wrote:The rules are pretty clear that old photos CAN be used, although the intention is to encourage new photographs, so F-ZeroOne didn't really have a problem anyway other than stating that it wasn't an entry in the accompanying text.
Yup, obviously it's great to encourage people to go shoot something new but it's still better to post something you have than not post at all.
Zoot wrote:However, the one that I think bears re-examination is the rule that only the latest (or a nominated) photo can be used. I would presume that this is to prevent a shortlist containing only photos from one person, but I am sure that the judge can be relied on to make sensible and reflective choices. It just seems to be that, if the intention is to encourage people to go out and shoot, then any photo taken and uploaded, whether nominated or not, should be permissible, and it should be up to the judge to decide which is best.
The thing is though, whilst we want to encourage people to participate in the thread, and posting as many pics as possible is a great way to do that, it shouldn't give them an unfair advantage of multiple entries. The onus should be on the photographer to nominate their chosen entry to keep the competition side of it fair with just a single entry per photographer into the actual competition.
I'm more than happy for us to have a re-think of the rules but I'm not sure that's going to make any actual difference. I think it's more a case of encouraging more people to get involved in the first place than changing the rules which have served us just fine for several years now.