I need to grumble

[SamLouise]

Sorry and all that because I know things are new and I don't mean to whinge and sound like an old moan bag but for me, it's all getting far too confusing in the gallery section these days.  There are too many picture boards, too many threads, too many competitions being opened and shut etc etc.  I can't keep up and am now starting to feel that I want to avoid it all and just go into the main gallery and stick with that.

Unless I am mistaken - and I apologise if I am - there isn't even a winners thread to say whose photos did the best? 

I was going to open a poll to see if other members were thinking the same but I don't want to appear disrespectful.  It's not simple anymore.

[legendaryone]

I do agree there does seem to be a lot of threads but i think we should give Kens way of doing it a chance 

[lorna]

Sam I absolutely agree with you. Of course we all know how much time Ken has spent on his ideas but I was really confused when trying to catch up on posts after being away for a week. Agree with legendaryone that we should give the new way of doing things a chance.

[rosebud]

I think i need to go & lie down in a dark room after trying to find my way around everthing photo orientated. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz .

[kenkew]

OK, let's see if I can explain things by taking S'Blue's points one at a time.

'...............it's all getting far too confusing in the gallery section these days. There are too many picture boards, too many threads, too many competitions being opened and shut etc etc.....'

I believe the boards in the 'Photo Gallery' category are self explanatory particularly as each board has a strap line alongside explaining it's basic contents; ie, 'Photo Talk'=General photo discussion, 'Gallery' = pictures of interest'..etc.
Too many threads? The threads I've created are mainly in the 'Contest' section and have been kept to a minimum but sufficient to cover the expanded contest. For each contest section there is a request to submit photo's,(which is locked and not added to)  when the pictures are in, that thread is removed as it's no longer applicable and is followed by a new one with the pic's for voting on. Again, this is a thread which does not have additional posts added to.
The only extra to this is a comments thread applicable to that particular contest. That's it. At no time should there be more than two threads per contest section showing. The old system actually had three showing! The request, the vote and the winner!

Unless I am mistaken - and I apologise if I am - there isn't even a winners thread to say whose photos did the best? 

To answer this is really an extension of what I put above. It's true, there is no winners thread and there's a good reason for that. I relized if we followed the old format we would end up a tangle of threads and the shouts of 'confusion' would be justified. To keep threads to a minimum I remove the request for pic's and put in it's place the vote thread. When the vote is over, the voting thread is removed and a results thread is opened. The winner's name is placed as the last post in the results thread but all the pic's are also added to the Results thread. The Results thread eg, 'Life1: Results' means to find the winner people must glance through the pic's submitted for that contest.
 I thought that was a reasonable way forward. If I created an extra thread purely for the winning name, not only do we clutter up the board with yet another thread, people going to the winner's thread would then have to go to and open the voting thread again to see the winning pic. Putting the pic's and winner together makes sense and cuts down on threads. That's better than adding an extra one?

I was going to open a poll to see if other members were thinking the same but I don't want to appear disrespectful.  It's not simple anymore.

It's right to say it's not as simple, that's because there are more choices, not because the format isn't simple. Those wishing to be part of more than one contest will have a little more to do. But again, that's simply due to contest choices, not format.
 Briefly then, apart from the comments thread per section, there is only one 'active' thread in operation that people actually need to join in with after submitting a pic, that's the vote thread.
 Any ideas for a better than this format I'd be keen to see.
Thanks, Ken.

[Common_Clay]

I just thought I'd add something positive to this thread, that is to say that I feel a lot more involved in the photo gallery... well not yet, but I feel as though I could become more involved! I find the new headings much easier to navigate. I'm ashamed to say I could never seem to work out how the competition worked before, where to send pics to, which thread to go into, etc.

[calendula]

I'm not grumbling but it might be an idea to keep all the current comps, themes, votes and comments as stickies so they are easy to locate at the top and maybe colour code them, i.e. each group has its own colour - apologies of this just adds more confusion 

[kenkew]

At the moment, all current competition sections have a thumbs up icon.


See also today's post in the 'Photo Talk',  'Competition Comments' topic.
Ken.

[calendula]

but the comments aren't  or are they - is it me or is it something more spooky 

[Hyacinth]

....so how do the stats work out Ken? More peeps voting than before... same number....fewer?

Answers should be a self-evident indication of any tweaks that are needed?

[kenkew]

Stats are very positive so far, but it's early days, that's why everything goes into the data-base, Alishka. Eventually we should end up pleasing everyone...well, hopefully as many as possible!....
Ken

[Hyacinth]

Brill Ken...way to go

[Gardengirl]

Can I put in my two penneth please
I think the new system is working well....all credit to Ken
Only one little point......it's a shame that not many people seem to be joining in posting photos in the comps and also voting.  I did notice on the one occasion that Dan emailed (I presume everybody) to say that the voting had begun, we had loads of people looking in to the comp and voting.
It seems such a shame in view of all Ken's hard work and organisation if not many people join in

Oooops, sorry Ken, should have probably put this in Competition Comments

[ACE]

Can I put in my two penneth please
I think the new system is working well....all credit to Ken
Only one little point......it's a shame that not many people seem to be joining in posting photos in the comps and also voting.  I did notice on the one occasion that Dan emailed (I presume everybody) to say that the voting had begun, we had loads of people looking in to the comp and voting.
It seems such a shame in view of all Ken's hard work and organisation if not many people join in

Oooops, sorry Ken, should have probably put this in Competition Comments

Perhaps the reason people are not joining in (they might be by now) is that this is an allotments and gardening forum.
I was happy enough to look into the gallery now and again, but photography does not really rock my boat. It is the same with recipes but at least you can link to another forum if that is what you want. There are at least four photo posts in the shed at present as this part of A4A is starting to 'leak' outside of its section.

Just imagine if the edible and non edible plants was sectioned up between every veg and type eg potatoes, cabbage, salad. Or roses, perrenials, annuals etc. It would be so tedious to trawl through them all you would give up.

I am not asking for change as I just scroll past the photos and if it makes you happy so be it. But I would not mind if it was pulled back a bit into its own section. Perhaps Photos4all might be an option.

[Gardengirl]

Point taken Ace, but I would add that there have been quite a number of views to the competition boards so if people are interested enough to look at the photos surely it does not take a second to cast their vote

[kenkew]

Perhaps the reason people are not joining in (they might be by now) is that this is an allotments and gardening forum.
I was happy enough to look into the gallery now and again, but photography does not really rock my boat. It is the same with recipes but at least you can link to another forum if that is what you want. There are at least four photo posts in the shed at present as this part of A4A is starting to 'leak' outside of its section.

Just imagine if the edible and non edible plants was sectioned up between every veg and type eg potatoes, cabbage, salad. Or roses, perrenials, annuals etc. It would be so tedious to trawl through them all you would give up.

I am not asking for change as I just scroll past the photos and if it makes you happy so be it. But I would not mind if it was pulled back a bit into its own section. Perhaps Photos4all might be an option.

Thanks for the feed back, ACE.
All comments regarding the photo contest are taken seriously by me and I see all of them as a positive step in the right/popular direction.
 I agree entirely that A4A is in the main concerned with gardens and allotments and my reason for joining all those years ago was that I have had one or both for most of my life. But, as can be seen from the many posts on here, we are also a community of people with many varied interests among and outside that interest.
 Purely with regard to the documenting, via photography of that interest, the subject, by it's very nature, is so wide and varied that the original photo contest simply didn't allow or encourage the wider scope of things. My idea was/is to open that possibility while at the same time encourage those new to photography to participate.
 Past pic's have always included holiday snaps, pets, family and even DIY so what we have now is not so different, only more accessable in that we offer more of a particular subject rather than 'all levels' competing in a single section.
 I take your point about putting things together in what you call a  'Photo's4all' section....Erm..we actually did that, we call it 'Photo Gallery' and in there are categories to cover most concerns but I accept that a photo to describe 'tomato blight' is best at home in the plant disease section.
 Practically all contest subjects are A4A membership requests and not only will that remain so, I'm hoping to cover even more categories and add sections to handle photo queries to help new people with problems taking, 'tweaking' and downloading theie efforts.
 Once again, thanks for your comments and here's to the future of a developing A4A family.
Ken.

[sarah]

But its too complicated. there are too many competitions to keep track of.  i agree there are a lot of people who have an interest in photography (I'm one)  but there a thousands of dedicated photography forums.  what i like about the original a4a format was that it  was a simple add on to the allotment/garden side of things. now it is spilling out into the forum too much.  i liked it with just one monthly competition and a general gallery .  i know that there are varying degrees of ability amongst the contributors and that you are trying to create a level playing field but its not necessarry; in the past people have voted for the picture they like best regardless of its technical prowess.  this is just a personal opinion and not intended to have a go because i know you are only doing what you think is good for the forum.  if there is enough interest why not have a sister forum such as the recipe4all as Ace suggests. sorry to be negative, i do appreciate the work you are putting into it.

[Lindsay]

Sorry, I disagree - I don't think it is too complicated. Anything that is active in the competition board is a sticky, and once it is closed it goes down with the regular topics.  I admit I wasn't sure to start with with the new format, but now it has had a few weeks to get going, it seems to me to be very clear.  However, I wasn't around much when the "old" competition board was running so can't compare.

I joined A4A because I was interested in the gardening side of things, but I like the idea that there are other interests on the same site - photography, cooking, humour!  The photography section has plenty of interest, especially amongst those of us who aren't necessarily enthusiastic enough to join a photography forum, but to whom it is a pleasant pasttime.

Well done Ken - thanks for all your efforts! 

[Grandma]

Thanks for that, Lindsay - you've expressed my sentiments exactly! I love the new comp. format - I enjoyed the 'old' one but this is much more fun!

Even the digi section - (I don't 'do' digi  ) - but have thoroughly enjoyed seeing what other folks can do.

Many thanks, Ken. I'm loving it! 

(P.S. When are the next 'Scenes' and 'Life' comps coming, please???)

[Gardengirl]

I agree with much of what Lindsay has said also - I did not think I would be eligible to join A4A as I am only a gardener, not an allotmenteer   However, another member persuaded me to join and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. The fact that A4A has so many different topics is really good I think and gives people the choice to 'join in' with which topic they are particularly interested in.
We are really lucky to have such an enthusiastic member as Ken who is willing to take on the photography side and this frees up Dan to deal with the Allotment/Garden side of things.
Well done Ken - long may it continue