# August 2020 Photo Of The Month Voting



## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 1, 2020)

Thanks to all that nominated.
Best of luck to all.
Voting ends in seven days.



 1. "Robber Fly" by @Dean_Gretsch






 2. "Not Goldfinches" by @zulu42





 3. "Some Enchanted Evening" by @oldhippy





 4. "Gabby" by @DanOstergren





 5. "Sunset along the Coast" by @stapo49





 6. "Costanza" by @Sil





 7. "Phare de Men Ruz" by @Vieri





 8. "To be a child again" by @TreeofLifeStairs





 9. "Waterhead Summer Evening" by @thereyougo!





10. "Marsh Wren" by @zombiesniper





11. "Untitled" by @Tropicalmemories





12. "new mexico window" by @johngpt





13. "Lochan An Ais Sunset 01" by @weepete





14. "It Was a Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day" by @bulldurham





15. "a zillion stars over Nauset Lighthouse" by @SquarePeg





16. "Untitled" by @Dean_Gretsch





17. "One from a recent wedding..." by @Vtec44





18. "Untitled" by @MSnowy





19. "Su Corazon" by @Tuna


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## Space Face (Sep 1, 2020)

Done.


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## Jeff15 (Sep 1, 2020)

Well done everyone......


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## snowbear (Sep 1, 2020)

All are so lovely.


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## stapo49 (Sep 2, 2020)

That was tough to choose. All so good.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 2, 2020)

Don't forget to pick one and vote!


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## Tropicalmemories (Sep 2, 2020)

Done ...... and didn't vote for my own image


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 2, 2020)

Tropicalmemories said:


> Done ...... and didn't vote for my own image



I do the same. Thanks for voting!


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## snowbear (Sep 3, 2020)

Vote, folks.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 4, 2020)

Good, close contest.


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## gk fotografie (Sep 4, 2020)

Sadly, halfway through, no more than 24 votes were cast.
Perhaps for this "POTM" another set-up could be considered, such as the much more interesting possibility of members nominating a photo they made themselves. Direct result will be: more participants, more voters and less "bump" messages to keep things going.The current system, whereby even photos taken in the year 2006 are nominated (14 years after dates!) in this section as photo of the month might be called absurd. Innovation is unfortunately not the strongest point of TPF, but I think it really can't hurt to try something new and when I look at the meager score of 24 votes (did I read somewhere the TPF forum has more than 250.000 members?) it doesn't seem to be a luxury either. It's 2020, so let's move forward!


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 4, 2020)

I welcome suggestions for improvement, especially since this is my first month moderating this contest.

Rule #4 You may nominate any photo _*posted during the month*_ of August 2020 as part of a thread or in the galleries. Photo must have been taken by the poster and all rights must belong to original photographer.

This says nothing about being taken during the month. This discussion has occurred before.

As far as nominating one's own photo, let's do the math. Of 250,000 ( your number ), we'd probably have 100,000 people nominating themselves. Multiplied by the 3 per person allowed, 300,000 photos to scroll through would soon destroy the contest in my humble opinion. I feel this is the reason for the rule in place.

Please, continue trying to make this forum a better and more interesting place!


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## smoke665 (Sep 4, 2020)

@Dean_Gretsch wishing you much success on the new responsibilities. 

Some of the other sites I frequent use some interesting approaches. Sometimes it's really hard to pick just one image, especially when there's several good choices. Maybe rather then a one vote, one image, one winner, go to three votes per member, with a first place, 2nd, and 3rd, even if there are no prizes awarded except for 1st. At least there's a bit of recognition when the choices are close. Also, I'm not sure having the ability to "change" your vote is such a good idea.


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## CherylL (Sep 4, 2020)

Tough choice this month with so many outstanding images.


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## snowbear (Sep 5, 2020)

Low voting has been a trend for a while.  These things are more or less cyclic.


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## SquarePeg (Sep 5, 2020)

Not sure how others use the site but I usually use the Active Threads view.  When there is a lot of activity on the site the vote thread tends to get buried fairly quickly in that view.  I don’t have an issue with it being bumped.  In fact I think it should be bumped more frequently.   I’m very active on this site and even so have missed the vote thread a few times.  Maybe pinning it to the top of the page is possible?  

That’s not the sole issue affecting vote numbers of course.  24 votes is actually pretty high compared to some previous months.  Having 3 votes would be an interesting idea but only if it would be possible to have ranked choice voting - not 3 equal votes.  

I think it’s great that there was a lot more activity nominating this month.  I’m hopeful that participation in voting will improve as well.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 5, 2020)

I believe the best thing that can happen for this contest is for more nominations to occur just like this month. If more members are included ( as @gk fotografie  was suggesting, I believe) the number of people participating in the vote will also rise. It's the basic lack of participation that is at the root of this. For someone like myself, the nomination itself is a nice gesture. I think if people took an active role in the forum, and weren't concerned with the number of " likes" or their posting totals for the month, there would be more substance in the forum as a whole. I joined the forum because photography gives me pleasure and I wanted to learn. As I said, being nominated is an honor to me with the talent we have here. If a photo makes you take a second look, or it has " wow factor " for you, show the posting member your admiration and respect.


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## smoke665 (Sep 5, 2020)

SquarePeg said:


> Having 3 votes would be an interesting idea but only if it would be possible to have ranked choice voting - not 3 equal votes.



Equal votes tallied up the 3 places fairly easily. I would think adding place choices might overly complicate the process. 

Another thing that might be helpful is a simplification of the nomination process. It doesn't work well for me if I'm on my tablet or phone. I try to remember to do it later on my computer but then I forget.


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## SquarePeg (Sep 5, 2020)

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> > Having 3 votes would be an interesting idea but only if it would be possible to have ranked choice voting - not 3 equal votes.
> ...



What would you want made easier?  I’m not sure exactly what you mean.  I almost exclusively use my phone or tablet for the forum.  If I’m nominating something I just open TPF in a second browser tab and copy/paste from one to the other.


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## smoke665 (Sep 5, 2020)

SquarePeg said:


> . If I’m nominating something I just open TPF in a second browser tab and copy/paste from one to the other.



That's what I do on computer, but android phone or tablet wasn't playing nice about giving up the URL  for awhile. Been awhile since I've tried it will check to see if it still does it next time I want to nominate something.


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## terri (Sep 5, 2020)

gk fotografie said:


> Perhaps for this "POTM" another set-up could be considered, such as the much more interesting possibility of members nominating a photo they made themselves. Direct result will be: more participants, more voters and less "bump" messages to keep things going.The current system, whereby even photos taken in the year 2006 are nominated (14 years after dates!) in this section as photo of the month might be called absurd. Innovation is unfortunately not the strongest point of TPF,


Voting for one's own photo is the concept behind Sm4Him Photo Challenge.    So that's already covered here at TPF. 

POTM is designed to _applaud the work from other members_ - period.   Viewing the contest through that lens, it does not matter when the photo was taken.  If someone posts older work they recently came across, decided to share it here, and it touches someone enough to want to nominate the work - what is the harm?  

There are more informal contests here that are specifically designed to get members to go shoot something brand new.


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## gk fotografie (Sep 6, 2020)

terri said:


> gk fotografie said:
> 
> 
> > Perhaps for this "POTM" another set-up could be considered, such as the much more interesting possibility of members nominating a photo they made themselves. Direct result will be: more participants, more voters and less "bump" messages to keep things going.The current system, whereby even photos taken in the year 2006 are nominated (14 years after dates!) in this section as photo of the month might be called absurd. Innovation is unfortunately not the strongest point of TPF,
> ...



Given your response, it's clear to me that you really don't understand the meaning of my reaction (the only thing I've mentioned is the idea that it might be interesting to think about a new set-up for this kind of activities at TPF seen the lack of interested by members, but apparently this touches a rather sensitive chord with people who are against innovations and don't want to see this forum slowly deflates), it's too bad, but for me it's a waste of time to go into this further, because my time is really way too precious and if we're honest, how important is TPF actually?


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## Space Face (Sep 6, 2020)

Ouch!


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 6, 2020)

Since the "free " bumps appear to be over, I guess I have to do it the old fashioned way....BUMP!


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## PJM (Sep 6, 2020)

There is much good work in here this month making it a tough choice.  Congratulations everyone!


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## smoke665 (Sep 6, 2020)

Dean_Gretsch said:


> As far as nominating one's own photo, let's do the math. Of 250,000 ( your number ), we'd probably have 100,000 people nominating themselves. Multiplied by the 3 per person allowed, 300,000 photos to scroll through would soon destroy the contest in my humble opinion. I feel this is the reason for the rule in place.



Of the others I've seen, it's either submit or be nominated, not both. However one has somewhat of a hybrid approach that works fairly well. Members submit current images only (exif data included) for consideration, to a POTM thread throughout the month. Members nominate images from the pool, by clicking a link button, also throughout the month. At the end of the month the top so many nominated, go to the voting stage. Sort of a double elimination process. Nowhere have I seen the ability to "change" your vote after its been cast.

Lots of fireworks on your first month Dean, aren't you lucky. LOL


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 6, 2020)

I think the ability to change your vote doesn't hamper anything. We all make decisions we wish we could undo. I'm guessing you think someone might change the course if their original vote wasn't winning and they then voted for one who might win instead? I think we just have to trust the integrity of the body of members if this is the concern. Anywho...discussion is good!


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## terri (Sep 6, 2020)

gk fotografie said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> > gk fotografie said:
> ...


TPF is an online community for photographers of all skill levels, from around the globe.    We try to make things welcoming, interesting and fun.   How "important" that is to the average member will certainly vary. 

It seems, given your negative comments in this thread, as well as the discussion thread that led to the recent creation of the C&C Gallery, you're dissatisfied with TPF.    We encourage suggestions from everyone, but anyone who replies to you without tossing flowers gets this kind of negativity, plus the big "Disagree" red x.   Insulting the forum and the folks who are genuinely trying to make it fun only makes you look like a chronic malcontent.

TPF doesn't have to be "important" in the grand scheme of things, to still be worth while to a lot of us.  If all you can contribute here is negativity, you sure don't have to torture yourself by continuing to view our many faults.


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## terri (Sep 6, 2020)

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I think the ability to change your vote doesn't hamper anything. We all make decisions we wish we could undo. I'm guessing you think someone might change the course if their original vote wasn't winning and they then voted for one who might win instead? I think we just have to trust the integrity of the body of members if this is the concern. Anywho...discussion is good!


I agree with Smoke that the "change your vote" button is off-putting.    I don't recall seeing it in the old v Bulletin software, either.  I can take a look to see if it's a feature that can be turned off or on at will, and then we can discuss options.


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## Designer (Sep 6, 2020)

terri said:


> I agree with Smoke that the "change your vote" button is off-putting.    I don't recall seeing it in the old v Bulletin software, either.  I can take a look to see if it's a feature that can be turned off or on at will, and then we can discuss options.


I don't mind the "change your vote" function.


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## smoke665 (Sep 6, 2020)

Thank you @terri . Personally I think not having the ability to change my mind makes me consider the choices more closely, without being influenced by the way others are voting.


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## terri (Sep 6, 2020)

smoke665 said:


> Thank you @terri . Personally I think not having the ability to change my mind makes me consider the choices more closely, without being influenced by the way others are voting.


Agreed.   Make your decision, vote and stick with it.   If there's a tie, the mods are given the task to choose, but I can't recall ever having to do it.   We seem to always have clear winners.    

Well - it's beside the point, because that feature seems to be embedded at the time the poll is created.   Unless there's an option not to show it when a user creates a poll, I think it's part of xen Foro's setup.


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## snowbear (Sep 6, 2020)

i've broken three or four ties between POTM and The Sm4him Challenge.  One method I use is to hold my vote until the end, and break the tie that way.  I have also consulted others.  Dean will do what works best for him.

We had a tie (three-way IIRC) on Photo of the Year.  For that, we held a second round of voting with just the tied entries.

Change You Vote is fine with me.  Some folks may see something in one or another after they have voted, and I can see where someone might hit the wrong box, especially on a phone.  I have a small screen and rather large (fat) fingers and frequently hit the wrong marker for things.

I stopped the "Display Votes Publicly" early on when I realized it showed who voted for what.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 7, 2020)

A great, close contest, folks. If you haven't voted yet, please do! If you enjoy this forum, you owe the contestants!


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 7, 2020)

About 13 hrs left all! Vote, vote, vote!


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## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 8, 2020)

The finish line is in sight! You have just a very short time left...just over an hour! Vote for your favorite.


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