Should the semifinal threads be posted in the Lounge?

[mogster]

Hi folks!

Great photos, all! :hi:
Today the submission of candidates for the January contest will be closed and I'll start the three voting threads.
But where should they be posted, in here or in the Lounge? The final ten candidates will be posted in the Lounge, but should we keep the three initial threads in the group? The way I see it, it's easier to keep them kicked in here, and the promote the group link in the Lounge. But there may be different opinions, so have your say in this poll.

REMEMBER:
If you haven't submitted your photo yet, now is the time to do it! :-)

The submission will be closed this evening at 10 o' clock, US Eastern time (If I can manage to sort out the time zones correctly).

[MissHoneychurch]

1. I would say Lounge

because there are people who don't have a star and aren't able to poll or post in the groups. Would be fairer to them. And so far we kept the threads kicked in the Lounge in united effort.

[mogster]

2. Good point, MissHoneychurch

So the non-star people can't post or vote in the groups? I didn't know that.

[GOPFighter]

3. Posting the photos in the Lounge...

...attracts new people to our group.

[alkaline9]

4. You know, I was gonna vote for leaving prelims here but...

...after reading the arguments already posted, I would say the lounge is the best place for them. I didn't realize that people without stars could not post certain things in the groups, but if that's true then the lounge is the only fair place to put it. The other thing that came to mind too was that, us photo-groupers may be partial to certain other photo-groupers which could alter our vote in the prelims... so in the lounge does seem most fair.

[mogster]

6. I agree

When this contest is done I'm gonna make a reference thread on the what-to-do's for a contest, to help the hosts keep track.
Can't hurt to have some guidance lines, then the individual hosts can add personal spice as they wish ;-)

Mod, you can close this poll whenever you happen to read this :P

Signed, SillyPolls Inc.

[NV Whino]

5. There hasn't seemed to be a problem

in the past keeping the thread kicked in the lounge. Even lounge lizards like pretty pictures.

[bvar22]

7. The minority voice speaks.

but I am more than happy to go with the flow.

[F.Gordon]

8. Make that two minority voices

But I'll go with anything. Write in ballots. Colored marbles in a jar. Pieces of paper in a hat.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

9. With the InTheFlow?

or...?

[bvar22]

10. Minority Voice Speaks

The arguments for posting the Preliminary Polls in The Lounge have some validity.
I have read the accusations that some attempt to influence the outcome by rallying friends to vote for their pictures.
I don't believe that anyone here in this group does that. I respect everyone's artistic committment in this group.
Maybe I need to get out more often.
If some here are doing that:
SHAME ON YOU!!! WHAT POSSIBLE BENEFIT IS THERE IN "winning" if you LOSE YOUR SOUL?

There is a valuable element that is lost when the preliminaries are held in The Lounge....Peer Review.
I value THIS GROUP, and am amazed at the level of talent and creativity that has gathered here.
I want to know what the members of THIS GROUP think of my pictures and of ALL the pictures posted here.
I don't care if my entry gets NO votes. If that happens, I will be able to find out WHY, and CORRECT the deficit in my skills.
The ability to learn from "Peer Review" is lost in The Lounge.

In "The Lounge", snapshots of kittens, puppies, ugly babies, and Oversaturated Colors will collect votes beyond the photographic Merits of the photograph....just a Fact of Life. Admittedly, catering to your audience IS a SKILL that is necessary if an artist plans to make a living with his/her art, I would like to avoid that class for now, at least here at DU.

I stand by my vote for Preliminaries in the Photography Forum, Finals in "The Lounge".

(Some say I enjoy being the "Minority Voice" too much) :hippie:

[ConsAreLiars]

11. One solution to keeping the contest kicked up in the Lounge that I tried

when hosting was to have a Contest Announcement thread that contained the links to the 3 Voting threads. This meant that only that one thread needed to be seen (and kicked) in order for people to easily find all three photo contests.

My view on the merits of posting the 3 Preliminary contests here or in the Lounge is that sharing our work with others is one of the main goals of the contest, and the voting format is just a means to that goal. More important to me than who gets how many votes, and what that might mean, is that I don't recall seeing any image that didn't get picked by some people as "the best."

As for the concern that Loungees band together to vote for pals instead of pics, well, that could happen if Round One was posted here, and the results would be more decisive with a smaller population of voters. Polls here generally get a couple dozen votes, while Lounge contests draw around 150 voters.

And, as a practical matter, more voters means troublesome ties are less likely.