Participation

[Morningbreath]

Wow, participation in these contests is really low of late. I can’t believe the weekly contests draw so few farktographers anymore.

I like the theme selection lately its a nice mix of broad and narrow themes. Its just a shame that more people aren’t participating. I don’t have any answers as to how to boost participation, its just sad because it seems like this contest is fading away.

[staplermofo]

We could try publicly shaming people who don’t participate.

[CauseISaidSo]

I agree, Morningbreath. It is sad.

I also miss the daily discussions that used to occur around here and wonder what happened to all of the previous regulars. Did they get bored, have real life demand their attention (that one I can certainly identify with), get offended, move to the depths of Africa and have no internet, …?

We could try publicly shaming people who don’t participate.

staplermofo, you are hereby sentenced to stand in Grant Park for an hour with a sign stating “I created a Farktography theme and didn’t participate in it.” 😛

[bender16v]

This summer has been crazy for me work-wise and I’ve been on the road almost the whole time. It’s no excuse for not participating but after working morning to night during the week I’ve been visiting local points of interest on the weekends. That doesn’t leave much time for shooting for contests unfortunately.

[orionid]

Did they get bored, have real life demand their attention (that one I can certainly identify with), get offended, move to the depths of Africa and have no internet, …?

All of the above?

Central VA, Central Africa…. might as well be the same as far as the ISPs are concerned. I also have a thing about being the only one posting to a forum, so if other people aren’t posting/discussing, I tend not to either. Downward spiral/self-fulfilling prophecies/whatever.

[CauseISaidSo]

I also have a thing about being the only one posting to a forum, so if other people aren’t posting/discussing, I tend not to either. Downward spiral/self-fulfilling prophecies/whatever.

Yeah, I think that probably applies to most of us still hanging around. No point posting if you think nobody’s reading.

[orionid]

Now that I think about it, that kind of sums up how I’ve been treating the contests lately, too. Used to be, I’d keep a list of upcoming themes in my pocket and shoot specific to them, with thoughts like “How can I best interpret this them? How can I do something different that still fits? How can I beat U-Man this week?” Now it’s more like “Oh, it’s Wednesday, guess I better archive-dive for a post or three. Oh, it’s Sunday, lemme see how I did. Oh, maybe I should have voted.”

[ravnostic]

I kinda got lost after the hip incident from photography in general, but I’m trying to participate again; it’s just hard to get back into the habit.

[zeke]

Yeah, all this. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Part of the issue is we all have stuff going on, and we’re all very busy adults with many important things to do. So, we need to draw in fresh blood. Without new people coming in, attrition will only get worse.

I just posted a ton of theme suggestions… I went back to the well in many cases to see what tended to do well for participation, both from number of contestants as well as raw number of votes (which means we KNOW people were in the thread and looking). What I’m going for is accessibility… themes that people can relate to, are interested in, and can say ‘yeah, I’ve got a couple of those pictures, let me post them.’ Also, I went for themes that people saw in Fark headlines in the past that clearly drew traffic.

Please, everyone take a quick pass through the Themes board, and start voting for the ones you’d like to do!

[staplermofo]

Zeke wasn’t kidding. Holy crap.

[orionid]

I start at the bottom and work my way up. I saw the themes first and went “Oh, shiiiii…. Zeke’s back with a vengeance.”

But good thinking, man.

[linguine]

I’m sure I’ll be more active in a couple of weeks. For those that don’t know Im a seasonal park ranger so I don’t really have the best internet access or subjects that aren’t nature during the summer which makes it more difficult to participate, but I’ll be heading back to civilization soon(shudders) and Ill be aiming to play more then.

[zeke]

I just posted a ton of theme suggestions… I went back to the well in many cases to see what tended to do well for participation

Oops, I did it again.

(Go look! Vote! Tell me what you like and what sucks!)

[Yoyo]

Ok, twist my arm. I’ll come back.

[Elsinore]

YAY!!!! ^^^^^^^^

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