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Yugoboy, the downvotes didn’t hurt you this week (your entry was at 5th when they happened and stayed that way even after), but last week…

User=Yugoboy, ContestID=351, EntryID=74556423, Time=2012-01-29 01:15:00, Votes=33, Place=3
User=Yugoboy, ContestID=351, EntryID=74556423, Time=2012-01-29 01:30:01, Votes=30, Place=5

That’s one of the things that’s puzzling though and makes me think it’s more likely a glitch of some kind – unless they have multiple accounts, how can one person remove THREE votes from the same entry? And if it’s not one person, then what are the odds that three different people did it within the same 15-minute time period?

What, all of you don’t have half a dozen Alts to improve you’re standings? You guys are behind the times!

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My Farkback:

Voting, oh voting, why are you so hard?

OK, as a Photoshopper and a Farktographer I have to say I am not really getting over the new voting system. I KNOW (really, I do, I’ve sat through hundreds of conversations on the PSAEF about the voting and how no one votes for good work and everyone votes for cliches…GOD have I sat through that!) that people asked for a change. I know that you guys did your best to accommodate a prickly audience. I even know that the system devised is the best compromise in what everyone was asking for.

I appreciate what you tried to do.

All of that being said, everyone hates it. By trying to please everyone, you pleased no one. The photoshoppers hate it because the cliches are still getting votes, the Farktographers hate it because what we think are “Best” are getting ‘Funny” votes. The regular Farkers just don’t care because they aren’t tracking their votes for Funniest or Best comments…they are just saying Shiat.

It’s not a tantrum, not a threat to take my Five Dollars and go home, just an observation.

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And now for a bit of mystery tinged with controversy. Last night between the 11:30pm and 11:45pm (Farkistan time) scans, 85 votes were removed. For those who may not have noticed, when Fark moved to the Best and Funny voting system, it also turned the vote buttons into toggles, so even long after you’ved voted for an entry, you can come back any time before the contest closes and remove your vote.

You can see it in the voting charts; at 11:30 there were 1449 total votes and at 11:45 there were 1367. But that’s only 82 votes difference, those math whizzes among you are saying, and you’re right, but that reflects 85 votes removed and 3 votes added. Yes, the 3 votes added all went to the same person and I’m not naming names because A) I have no idea if this is the result of a glitch in the voting system, an intentional attempt at manipulation, or just merely coincidence; B) I don’t want to muddy the otherwise friendly waters here; and C) even if intentional, there’s nothing technically illegal about it per the current voting system.

So I did some research to see if this has happened before since moving to the new system. It happened twice to two people during contest #347, 3 times to two people during contest #349, twice to the same person in contest #350, 7 times to three people in contest #351, and of course 85 times across almost everyone in this contest, #352.

Is it an attempt by someone(s) to manipulate the contests? Is it a glitch on Fark’s side? Is it just an absent minded voter who forgot they already voted and isn’t paying attention to that fact that they’re now unvoting instead of voting again? Who knows.

What I do know is that it’s possible, and like I said even legal technically, to cast votes for everyone early in the contest and then come back later at the end of the contest and selectively unvote. What I also know is that I absolutely do not care for this feature of the new voting system, even above and beyond the issue of Funny votes vs Best votes.

What…what?? Ok seriously, I continue to encourage everyone to send Farkbacks about the voting system, as well as post on the Fark Farktography thread. I’m going to ask directly and see if there was a glitch or something up.

I am Farkbacking now, but I am doing “Touchy Feely Crap”

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My understanding was either inside or outside. Yugo?

Either. The only restriction is that it’s got to be a building dedicated to some belief system.

So, any building with Guinness on tap would by, definition, meet this theme? I say this because I believe in only two things: Guinness make everything better and Jameson whiskey makes Guinness better.

Ahhhhhmmennnnnn

When I first got here, I made the mistake of asking people if they enjoyed Irish Car Bombs (Guinness + Bailey’s + Jameson = awesome). They…um… don’t take too kindly to that sort of talk in Manchester. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing Didn’t know that ahead of time. Oops.

Since then, I have ordered Irish Car Bombs in the bars, but I always have to order each ingredient individually.

You didn’t actually DO that did you?!?!
I’ve never trod on the shores of Eire and have only briefly spent time in Merry Ole, but the one thing I learned is NEVER order American drinks anywhere but in the USA!

😯

[ennuipoet]

My understanding was either inside or outside. Yugo?

Either. The only restriction is that it’s got to be a building dedicated to some belief system.

So, any building with Guinness on tap would by, definition, meet this theme? I say this because I believe in only two things: Guinness make everything better and Jameson whiskey makes Guinness better.

Ahhhhhmmennnnnn

[ennuipoet]

Some Possible Reasons
for the Superbowl Happening
on a Sunday

It may be that God is a consummate gambler,
and knows better than to take a wager
against this kind of passion play.
Or the predilection of people for prayer
and its potential necessity
when it comes to a Third Down and Three.
How the odds are better
when twelve men gather
there’s a game in the coliseum
or on the TeeVee
substitute the host for hot wings,
I think you’ll see what I mean.
Because, it’s the worship
and these temples pack more capacity
than any arsty fartsy chapel in Rome
and no coincidence
goal posts are a cruciform.
because whether it is an altar
or an end zone,
somebody is praying
who fervently believes
(and are, statistically, more likely to receive)
in a miracle
by the Fourth Quarter.

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Did we decide in the original thread whether my Seagull is “lomo” enough for this theme?

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Yeah, not really sure what to make of the monkey…

I can make a hat, or a broach or a pterodactyl…

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http://www.fark.com/comments/6916669/Theme-of-Farktography-Contest-No-352-Go-out-get-some-strange-Details-rules-in-first-post-LGT-next-weeks-contest&new=1#new

/contest linky thing

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I actually have an idea, and a general shooting plan, now I need to find time to do it. Also, does anyone have any idea how to go about affixing a round piece of fruit to a cross?

/yes, I am actually serious.

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Already! Crap, I’ve got to get to work! (Not asking for it to be bumped, just freaking out because I’ve got to actually DO them now!)

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I’d decided not to use performers this week for reasons of artistic purity. Then I realized this was Fark, and artistic purity goes out the window. So, performers are back in, along with hot girls, cute kids and giant stryofoam bras.

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.

Damn. Now I have to choose a different photo to enter. I have one just like this. 🙂

Well, yeah, but it IS a self portrait 😛

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It’s funny the differences. I posted a semi-rant in Apples and Oranges about how HARD the theme was, and I come in here and I realize how really heebie jeebied the idea of street photography makes most people, (And don’t get me wrong, by the standards of a full time street photographer I am standing in the shadows eating corn and saying “buc buc”.) versus how much I love doing it!

On top of that, most people don’t give jack and shiat about photos of strangers, the Fark voters certainly don’t reward bravery. If you go through my Bibliostats you will see 40% or so of my photography is street work and the voters routinely pick a puppy pic over some stranger doing something strange. I show people my print portfolio and they ask, do you know these people and I tell them no. They all look confused. They wonder why photograph people you don’t know?

Because they are always different! There are millions of photos of the NYC skyline, trillions of photos of a pretty flowers and quadrillions of cute kittehs on the internets…but no one else in the entire Universe has this photo:

and they never will. That’s worth the discomfort, the occasional drunk old Dominican guy trying to break my camera (yes really happened) the angry mothers acting like I am child molester, sore feet, aching knees and wicked sunburns.

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In the end, breaking out of your comfort zone is really hard in street photography. What I have learned is that 90% of the people don’t even know you’ve taken their photo unless you get right in their face to do it. I’ve been working at lot on shooting from the hip, carrying my camera by my side and shooting up, down and to the side as I walk past. I am starting to get better results after some months of practice.

Most of my shots, however, are by going to places where people know and don’t care about photographers. Parades of any stripe are rich meat for street photography and not the performers either, but the spectators.

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