Change in user profiles in challenge stats

[ParomaGhosh]

Am just so MAD at this latest development. When I joined dpreview a couple of years ago and entered my first few photos, I started off with a measely 24-26% average placement. I solely credit these challenges for inspiring me to take better and better pictures. Over the last two years I entered more and more pics and watched my placement improve gradually to about 66.2% and now..poof!!

Just saying that looking at a constantly improving percentage did feel so good...dpreview please bring that statistic back!

 

[thanasaki]

Trying to improve my challenge statistics, is for me also a great "challenge" for making better photos and to refine my PP techniques. In the last months -after submitting hundreds of photos, I enjoyed climbing this ladder by as little as 0.1%.

Please bring it back and -if possible- with an improved algorithm, weighting more the more recent photos.

 

[Tony Tomlin]

I'll throw my weight behind any "restore my %" movement. The monitoring of the results is how my wife judges my time in participating.
--
Tony

 

[photoman555]

Yes I agree... bring back the %age stats. Because the biggest challenge here is to improve our photography. And the best way to gauge that is through your percentage rating. It is always good to see your %age improve by .1 or .2% one week, only to drop by .3% the next... more incentive to improve on the next challenge...

SO BRING BACK OUT STATS...Please

Peter

 

[Mike Ronesia]

Early on I submitted a lot of shots and their placement and my ranking helped me learn what is appealing to people that don't have an emotional attachment. All of these early entries caused my overall score to be very low in the 30% area. As I improved my skills and decisions on what photos to enter I used the stats to gage my success. I was at 49.9% and hoping this next entry would push me over the 50% goal I was shooting for by year end. Now I will never know...

For me I am less inclined to enter challenges because I have no gage to tell me if I'm getting better and that was the whole reason I entered in the first place. Like a golfer I play as much against myself as I do the other entrants and now I don't know my handicap so as a skill development tool it is much less useful.

Please bring it back, but it's OK if you don't use those first 10-15 entries.

THanks
Striving for 50 no more...
--
It's easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask for permission.

 

[onlooker]

Long time ago I proposed that instead of lifetime average (which after certain number of entries is unlikely to change much - it's math), it would be more interesting and motivating to keep the average for the past 20 entries. Perhaps that would be a solution?

 

[ParomaGhosh]

Yes I think that's a good idea.

 

[Images by Kipper]

Tony Tomlin : I agree, the Boss wants’ results, and she who must be obeyed, will also reduce my time for my own pursuits if I can’t show improving returns (seriously a joke ladies).

But honestly onlooker has the answer, in my opinion. Although I would prefer a higher past entries number, say 50, especially if one is an active participant in Challenges.

Cheers – Kipper

 

[onlooker]

But honestly onlooker has the answer, in my opinion. Although I would prefer a higher past entries number, say 50, especially if one is an active participant in Challenges.

Alas, for many 50 would be almost like no change from before, and mathematically there would be more visible movement and incentive in a smaller number. 50 would also be more forgiving of temporary lapses of judgment (submitting a real dog to a cat challenge ), and thus would be less demanding and would provide less feedback on the bottom line.

 

[idnab]

If you all need a fix to feel good - just run your numbers anytime in a spreadsheet.

Personally I may rather be interested in your photography.

But honestly onlooker has the answer, in my opinion. Although I would prefer a higher past entries number, say 50, especially if one is an active participant in Challenges.

Alas, for many 50 would be almost like no change from before, and mathematically there would be more visible movement and incentive in a smaller number. 50 would also be more forgiving of temporary lapses of judgment (submitting a real dog to a cat challenge ), and thus would be less demanding and would provide less feedback on the bottom line.

 

[onlooker]

If you all need a fix to feel good - just run your numbers anytime in a spreadsheet.

Personally I may rather be interested in your photography.

I don't much care one way or the other (go back through my posts in this thread and find one where I express any strong opinion for or against), but I am somewhat surprised by the underlying hostility. What's stopping you from enjoying photography with or without the numbers?

 

[idnab]

I do not mean to be mean - I am just skeptical that haphazard voting by public can be a good feedback to judge one's personal photography ...

If you all need a fix to feel good - just run your numbers anytime in a spreadsheet.

Personally I may rather be interested in your photography.

I don't much care one way or the other (go back through my posts in this thread and find one where I express any strong opinion for or against), but I am somewhat surprised by the underlying hostility. What's stopping you from enjoying photography with or without the numbers?

 

[onlooker]

I do not mean to be mean - I am just skeptical that haphazard voting by public can be a good feedback to judge one's personal photography ...

On that we agree. I prefer that hosts took the responsibility and picked the top 10 winners themselves - with comments and reasons.

 

[Mike Ronesia]

I do not mean to be mean - I am just skeptical that haphazard voting by public can be a good feedback to judge one's personal photography ...

On that we agree. I prefer that hosts took the responsibility and picked the top 10 winners themselves - with comments and reasons.

For me, I want group feedback. I use this more as a tool then a contest and want to know what the overall view is on a shot I submit. I can only think of one photo that I submitted that I felt was deserving of first compared to the rest and it finished in the middle of the pack so what do I know. I just started hosting so please don't leave it up to me.

People don't like leaving feedback and I get that. What I'd like to see is a drop down with some standard comments to pick from that describe why you did or did not like a photo as an option to writing your own comment. This would make it easy for people to leave feedback about comp or DOF without taking a lot of time.

--
It's easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask for permission.

 

[onlooker]

On that we agree. I prefer that hosts took the responsibility and picked the top 10 winners themselves - with comments and reasons.

For me, I want group feedback.

But people do not leave feedback in challenges, so it is not the best vehicle for that. And if you meant indirect feedback by voting, it is somewhat iffy, particularly with voting irregularities. Besides, art is not an egalitarian discipline. If art galleries were forced to be self-sufficient (charge enough to recover full costs of operation), most of them would go out of business.

Let's assume for a moment, however, that you believe all voting is perfectly honest and above board. Tell me, who do you want to learn from, those who are better than you, or those who aren't? How many who are truly excellent in your particular interest area in photography do you think vote in any particular challenge that you enter? How many of those vote on your photo? The chances are that if your photo is superb or really lousy, it will get noticed for more than a couple of seconds and will get the deserving vote. Otherwise, it will be skipped or given an offhand 1.5-2.5 "me-too" vote that doesn't really mean anything.

See, the odds that you will actually learn something by votes received if your photo is not in one of the extremes (superb or miserable) is negligible at best.

 

[RaptorUK]

Use the Feedback and send them a message . . .

http://www.dpreview.com/members/feedback

Am just so MAD at this latest development. When I joined dpreview a couple of years ago and entered my first few photos, I started off with a measely 24-26% average placement. I solely credit these challenges for inspiring me to take better and better pictures. Over the last two years I entered more and more pics and watched my placement improve gradually to about 66.2% and now..poof!!

Just saying that looking at a constantly improving percentage did feel so good...dpreview please bring that statistic back!

--
Take a look at my album . . . http://www.F1Album.com

 

[iMac therefore iAm]

On that we agree. I prefer that hosts took the responsibility and picked the top 10 winners themselves - with comments and reasons.

For me, I want group feedback.

But people do not leave feedback in challenges, so it is not the best vehicle for that. And if you meant indirect feedback by voting, it is somewhat iffy, particularly with voting irregularities. Besides, art is not an egalitarian discipline. If art galleries were forced to be self-sufficient (charge enough to recover full costs of operation), most of them would go out of business.

Let's assume for a moment, however, that you believe all voting is perfectly honest and above board. Tell me, who do you want to learn from, those who are better than you, or those who aren't? How many who are truly excellent in your particular interest area in photography do you think vote in any particular challenge that you enter? How many of those vote on your photo? The chances are that if your photo is superb or really lousy, it will get noticed for more than a couple of seconds and will get the deserving vote. Otherwise, it will be skipped or given an offhand 1.5-2.5 "me-too" vote that doesn't really mean anything.

See, the odds that you will actually learn something by votes received if your photo is not in one of the extremes (superb or miserable) is negligible at best.

One should be able to look objectively at their photo and the ones at the top and see why they didn't do better. If you've been shooting for a long time you should be able to tell a good photo from a great photo - a lot of people can't.

As for me, I want a full tally of all challenges.

--
Some cool cats that can use your help
http://www.wildlife-sanctuary.org

Even if you can't donate, please help spread the word.

 

[Mike Ronesia]

OK, so just put back the total and add a "Last 20" as well. I can live with that. Let people choose if their's is visible or not.

--
It's easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask for permission.

 

[Figsbury]

Did I miss any announcement from DPR that this change was planned or had happened?

I didn't notice one and I visit fairly frequently.

If there was no related communication, this change just indicates a total lack of respect to the site users and challenge entrants, and that really affects the way in which I perceive this site.

I've kept a spreadsheet of my results and percentages, even if the DPR calculations don't quite tally with a straightforward calculation of position v entrants. But that's not the point. The point is the way in which a supplier treats it's customers.

Unless someone can point me to a thread that I've missed I'm seriously considering letting my current entry run and then forgetting about challenges completely, entering or voting. I'm sure it will make naff all difference, but it'll make me feel better.

 

[RaptorUK]

Sorry to hijack this thread . . but there seems to be a Forum time issue . . .

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1018&message=39820123

--
Take a look at my album . . . http://www.F1Album.com