*** PICK THE NOVEMBER CONTEST THEME! ***

[regnaD kciN]

Poll question: *** PICK THE NOVEMBER CONTEST THEME! ***

The following topics have been suggested by the Group membership.

I'll be keeping the poll open for the next 48 hours, or roughly until midnight Pacific Time on Wednesday.

Now, get those votes in!

[JeffR]

1. In half an hour, I've narrowed down my choice to any one of five

I'll go to bed, and check tomorrow to see how the voting's going. Glad I had much less trouble dealing with my absentee ballot a couple of weeks back. This poll would be easier if one of the choices just had (Democrat) after it...

:shrug:

[regnaD kciN]

2. O.K....

...it's too late to edit the original poll, but just think of the last entry as reading "Mountains (D)." :evilgrin:

[JeffR]

4. Since you constitute the elections board

I'll assume that campaigning after the polls open is allowed.
:rofl:

[regnaD kciN]

8. It is for the one I want...

Sincerely,
Katherine Blackwell

:evilgrin:

[intheflow]

3. Will the contest be in GD or the Lounge?

That will influence my vote.

[Eurobabe]

5. Yeah the lounge gets insects & spiders

LOL

Skinner said we could post in GD. :)

[intheflow]

30. I was thinking Cats vs. Dogs for the Lounge.

Since everyone and their brother posts pet pictures over there anyway.

[TahitiNut]

6. The Topic Suggestion thread was open for less than 12 hours.

:( Hmph! :(

[regnaD kciN]

7. That's correct...

...because we got ten suggestions during that time. As I announced in the call for suggestions (the same as last contest, BTW) that as soon as ten ideas were submitted, the thread would close and the poll would go up.

Look at it this way -- the poll is going to take two days, anyway. Because the topic suggestion thread was completed so quickly, we'll settle on a topic a day earlier, and that means one more day of shooting time before submissions open.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. This is tough

Some of these would be pretty easy for me, but maybe I need more of a challenge (if I ever have time again in my life to take pictures). I'll come back to this later.

[insane_cratic_gal]

10. Mts isn't easy for everyone

It may be easy for ALaska or Colorado or Washington or for those of you who have traveled, and managed to hike one and still had the energy to take a snap. I guess I see it this way, Its like me requesting we take pictures of Amish people. They only happen to be in certain specific areas of the country.

I guess if it wins I sit this one out because I unless I shoot a heaving pair of breasts, a pile of spaghetti, I'm not able to get near any "real" mts.
Not trying to start problems, but I thought we were into making this fair for everyone. Hence why we didn't do "one color" because of photoshopping skills not everyone has them.

[CC]

11. I thought of that too, though

I could hook up the scanner and dig out a mountain photo. Then thought a work around for mountain less people might be a photo of a picture of mountains done artistically.:evilgrin:

[superconnected]

13. I feel your pain.

I shoot digital. Depth of field isn't something digital cameras have - not the $100 cheap ones I use anyway. Digital usually focuses everything at once. I refuse to pay more than $120 for a camera.

[insane_cratic_gal]

14. I shoot with a digital camera too

depth of field is having the ability to stage a row of toy cars and shot the first one as the "main" focus. It really doesn't require more then what you have, only the ability to play around with the objects and placement


Basics
When a lens focuses on a subject at a distance, all subjects at that distance are sharply focused. Subjects that are not at the same distance are out of focus and theoretically are not sharp. However, since human eyes cannot distinguish very small degree of unsharpness, some subjects that are in front of and behind the sharply focused subjects can still appear sharp. The zone of acceptable sharpness is referred to as the depth of field. Thus, increasing the depth of field increases the sharpness of an image. We can use smaller apertures for increasing the depth of field.

The following shows an example. The lens focuses at the middle between the 3 inch and 4 inch marks. Thus, the 3 inch and 4 inch marks are sharp in all images. The 5 inch mark is not very sharp at F3.2, and is improved as the lens closes down to F3.6. Then, it becomes sharp in all subsequent images. The 6 inch and 7 inch marks are not sharp until F5.0 and F6.4, respectively. The 8 inch mark becomes reasonably sharp when the lens closes down to F8.0. The 9 inch and 10 inch marks are not sharp in all images; but, they become sharper as the lens closes down. For the foreground, the 2 inch mark is acceptable at F3.2 and becomes "focused" at F4.0. The 1 inch mark is not sharp until F5.6, and the lead of the ruler becomes reasonably sharp at F7.1. As you can see, the range of sharpness (i.e., depth of field) gets larger as the aperture gets smaller. Therefore, use a smaller aperture if a greater depth of field is needed. Please check the Aperture-Priority Mode to know more about the use of aperture and its impact on depth of field


http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/950/depth-of-field.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field






Don't take this as being snooty given the numbers its obvious it's not going to be a subject you'll have to worry about. lol but I didn't want you to think that it wasn't something you couldn't do with your camera because I know your talented enough to be able to handle something like that

[superconnected]

17. I took it as informative :)

And since I love cats, good example!

[regnaD kciN]

16. Not to be picky...

...but what you're describing isn't a lack of depth of field, but the inability to lessen it selectively. When everything is in focus, you have a great deal of depth of field. The effect people are talking about here, where one item is in sharp focus where the rest of it is blurred, actually comes from having little depth of field, not a lot of it.

And, while compact digital cameras can't open up as wide as DSLRs or film SLRs (thus reducing DOF), many are more adjustable than you might assume. Check your camera's manual, and find out if, aside from the "all automatic" mode, your camera also offers a choice of "shutter priority" or "aperture priority." (I know at least some Olympus digital cameras offer these options.) To get limited DOF with one of these cameras, switch to aperture priority and make the aperture as large as possible (i.e. the lowest possible f-stop, which will generally show up on the LCD). With this, you should at least be able to play around with DOF to some extent.

[JeffR]

15. Darn

I wish you'd suggested "heaving pair of breasts" as a poll choice. Ah, well, maybe next month...

[insane_cratic_gal]

18. lol could of should of would of

I'm sure that would be very well accepted in the lounge

[JeffR]

33. Hell with the Lounge

This is a theme with virtually universal appeal among men. Pretty much automatic appeal to 48% of the population, to some degree or other.

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. If Mountains gets the final vote, it will be a difficult challenge

if not impossible one, for me, and others, who would have to travel quite a way to actually get photos of mountains. :(

Would have to resort to archived photos, but sure would like to enter something recent and new... ;(

[Placebo]

19. Mountains ain't gonna fly!

Where the heck do I have a chance to photograph mountains in Chicago? lol

[regnaD kciN]

21. Probably not, but...

...by that standard, there are very few topics that could fit every member everywhere.

For example, we had "trees" a couple of months ago. It seems to me that someone living in the desert would have good cause to complain about that choice, just as they would about the "water" contest last year. People living in uninteresting-looking small towns could balk at "architecture." One of the first contests held here was "winter cold," which wouldn't work for anyone in a southern state. The same could be said for last November's "fall" topic (although I'm trying to cover that with the seasonal contests).

It does raise an interesting question: must every contest topic be something that every group memeber would have close at hand? I don't have an easy answer for that one. Anyone?

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. Ummm...there ARE trees in the desert

To name a couple...

Palo Verde tree



Joshua Tree



But, there are no mountains here in the San Joaquin Valley, except the Sierras about a 2 hour drive from me, or the San bernadinos about 2.5 hours away....

[intheflow]

29. Urban Peaks:

:P

[Placebo]

31. If only!

I know entries are sometimes accepted with take a bit of...err, "artistic license" if you will, but I don't think I'd be able to go that far! :P

[Blue_In_AK]

20. I vote NOT for mountains. :-)

Much too commonplace in this neck of the woods.

[superconnected]

22. I vote not for mountians too. We just had two scenic exhibits

tree's/paths... now were toting autumn, the lounge would actually have a right to gripe.

We look like friggen tree huggers. Or nature freaks. OR SMTH along those lines.

Mountians will just bring in more trees.

[regnaD kciN]

23. O.K. Fine. I was a fucking idiot to suggest it.

I withdraw "mountains" as a topic.

And I think I'll absent myself from having anything to do with contests from now on. It's not worth the hassle.

[Eurobabe]

35. No Reg!! You can't do that, we need you

I voted for mountains. I'll help you next time, promise. :hug:

[Blue_In_AK]

40. This is sarcasm, right?

:)

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Blue_In_AK]

41. regnaD, I only said no to the mountains

because I thought it might give some of us an unfair advantage. I hope you're feeling better after some rest. :hug:

[superconnected]

43. Wow, I didn't even look who suggested it.

.....

[JeffR]

24. Well, I had a mountains issues too,

though I have a few Alpine shots in the archive, so I wasn't all that nervous about it.

I don't think any theme choice can or will be to everybody's liking. Seems to me that the value of the contest lies in coming up with something that reflects the theme, not in having a theme especially well-suited to what we have on hand, either archived or in terms of ready subject matter.

And, if I didn't have some Switzerland photos at the ready, my take on mountains would have been something like Richard Dreyfus's mashed-potato sculpture from Close Encounters.

You go to the contest with the theme that's chosen, not necessarily the theme you want.

And having been the idiot to suggest silhouettes, I now have to pore through my old stuff to see if I actually have some silhouette pics, and shoot some if I don't.

Hang in there, regnaD. We all appreciate what a great photographer and a great contest host you are. And if you weren't so good at the former, you'd never have had a chance to get so good at the latter.

:toast:

[regnaD kciN]

25. My problem isn't that the topic I preferred didn't get chosen...

...after all, I probably have something in my files for any of those topics. My problem is that it seems that, every time I get involved in running a contest, the whole thing falls apart.

Look at last time. First, people get upset with me for suggesting that it would be O.K. for photos to be revised after submission. Then, when I suggest that maybe it they shouldn't be, everyone else gets upset with me for suggesting otherwise.

This time, I shouldn't have even been running this thread, but I stepped in to help out (which I probably didn't even need to do in the first place). And the major subject of the effort turns into how stupid a topic suggestion I made. And the end result of the whole fiasco is that I may have lost a good friend.

I guess I'm just tired. Of everything.

[JeffR]

26. You have a right to feel tired

but every reason to feel proud. Whether you know it or not, when it comes to the Group, you're the straw that stirs the drink. And far from falling apart, when you're involved in the contests, they run smoothly and fairly. These things shouldn't be taken for granted by anybody, and I don't think they are.

Anyone with a real quibble about Mountains as a theme was free to vote for something else, and it seems most people did. That doesn't negate its validity as an option by any means.

I for one am horrified at the idea that a good friendship may be affected by this. As Ezra Pound said, "When one's friends hate one another, how can there be peace?" I urge you again to hang in there. Don't lose heart.

There may have been some missed communication here that wouldn't have happened if people were gathered together in a room, looking each other in the eye and conversing. That's one of the downsides of these virtual rooms we find ourselves together in. But I can say, without too much fear of contradiction I hope, this is a hell of bunch of talented, like-minded and really good people; we cannot afford to lose anyone, least of all you. And if it isn't too presumptuous of me - like I care about such things - thanks for everything you do here.

[JeffR]

32. On edit after the editing window is closed:

1) Yes, I know Ezra Pound broadcast propaganda for the Fascists during the Second World War. He spent, if I remember right, 17 years in a mental institution for that crime.

2) Hate is a very stong term, and I know that's not what regnaD kciN was implying or inferring with his remark. I can't claim poetic license for using this quote, but one of the greatest writers of the 20th century had ample poetic license, and I was merely quoting him.:P

[regnaD kciN]

34. An addendum to my previous post...

Earlier, I concluded by writing

I guess I'm just tired. Of everything.

It's a sign of how very true that was that it was only two to three hours later that I suddenly remembered that I had gotten no more than five hours of sleep total over the past two days, and that I'd been up since 4:00 A.M. or so this morning. (It's also a sign of just how tired I am and/or was that I still can't remember why I was up so late the past couple of days, except that it was something important and may or may not have had to do with the contests here -- in general, and for reasons not relating to the group, I've been under a lot of stress for the past month or so, and this just contibuted to the problem.) In any event, being on the verge of falling over without realizing it does not lead to the clearest or most dispassionate thinking.

All I know was that, initially, I was finding the whole topic controversy rather amusing. In fact, I had resolved that, once the polling was over, I would put up a mock "help me pick my entry" thread in which every single image would be a photo of mountains with something small and insignificant silhouetted in front of them -- titled, of course, Silhouette #1, Silhouette #2, and so on. ;-) Then, sometime around 4:30 P.M., I guess I got to a worse stage of tiredness where nothing whatsoever was funny, and it only seemed that I had shown how completely incompetent I was in front of everybody here, and that everyone else was rushing to "rub it in." A weird mood, but I guess that's what extended lack of sleep can do to someone who was already stressed to begin with.

In any event, I realize -- and did so relatively quickly, although not quickly enough -- that I wasn't looking at things reasonably. I'll probably have something more to say, but at this point I'm still "running on fumes" (as if you couldn't tell) and am going to crash for, hopefully, a good six or seven hours before coming back here again. Thanks to JeffR for your kind words, and the rest of you for your patience!

[Eurobabe]

36. Phot group would't be half as fun without you and JeffR

Love you guys!! :loveya: thanks for all you do...and seriously, RK, next seasonal I volunteer to help. -48

[JeffR]

42. Love ya, 48percenter

This Group functions just fine without me, and will function just fine after me, but regnaD kciN is a Plymouth Rock here, and it pains me to see him get down about things.

I've been amusing myself tonight with a thread I posted in GD, arguing with a person I apparently agree with about everything. Gotta love DU! :eyes:

[CC]

37. I know the feeling

specially lately,so :hug: and first chance you get, put blankets over the windows, turn off the phone and find some time to sleep, and relax.
Beyond that I can't type or spell when tired I also get short tempered and have learn to just look at great pics then shut everything off. Earlier I thought I had typed a concise post in your help pic my pick poll, got a phone call then reread it and closed it. Made little sense beyond that I had two favs and the typos were terrible. Loved the pics, tied between two finally voted on one but you made it hard to choose since all are great. Now time for me to stop rambling and off to bed.

[JeffR]

38. Rest and be content with what a true asset you are here

And tomorrow, we stand ready to make life difficult for you again.;-)

[ConsAreLiars]

39. Glad to read this.

One of the best things about this group is that people generally are pretty supportive of one another and accept a variety of views on any particular question as both natural and instructive. And, I think it is fair to say, we all appreciate the work of members (like you) who put in serious work to help us keep going.

In my one attempt at hosting a contest (it's hard work!) I proved I couldn't count to 30, but we muddled through, and nobody freaked. Don't worry about getting everything perfect or making everyone happy. It's just for fun, and people here seem pretty laid back. JeffR said it right.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blue_In_AK]

46. It's okay, Super

regnaD was just tired. I'm sure he'll be fine this morning.

[Mz Pip]

28. Well, I'm new here

so will go with whatever is chosen and do my best. I hope it's not insects but that's just me...

Mz Pip
:dem:

[superconnected]

64. well, him having my messages deleted is only making this worse.

He started it and he refuse to let me be heard.

I refuse to not be heard.

Definitely won't be making up with this person. I refuse to be quited by someone of his character.

[F.Gordon]

66. Geez, give it a fucking break

And leave Mz Pip the fuck alone already. Now you're just randomly posting anywhere? :eyes: Shouldn't you be over on "your" thread commenting on the theme suggestions?

I'm a little baffled as to why you haven't been Tombstoned yet. Maybe the mods are in the "let them vent.. it's the election" mode.
:shrug:

This is the Photography Group... not the superconnected Soapbox Group. You've made your fucking point.. now either move on and run the contest or get the fuck out. Your comments (yea, I read them) were vicious personal attacks. Either kiss and makeup or get the fuck out..... cause I'm not hangin' in any forum with the likes of you with the way you've been. If others want to pander to you... that's fine, but not me.

Peace
:hippie:

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NashVegas]

49. Your Posts Were Deleted Because You Were Engaging in Personal Attacks

They would not stand in any other DU forum or private group, no matter who they'd be directed at.

[superconnected]

51. Crisco , you don't even know the story. EVERYONE PLEASE READ

Regnad you are dismissed from helping me with the November contest.

Everyone else, an apology is in order.

I asked regnad to help because I have never thrown a contest before.

On the day the question for what the november contest should be came up, regnad emailed me that I needed to ask you guys right away. I wrote back that I was busy at work and if it needed to be in a hurry, he should do it.

He put up the very short time limit of taking entries. He made the rules - without discussing them with me- any of it. I was shocked to see the entry suggestion period last for only a matter of hours and be closed so quickly.

I know regnad personally, I had discussed days before-hand wiht him about how he really didn't want the contest for November to interfere with the Autumn contest he was throwing. I'm convinced he wants the two contest to allow him to submit his autumn and mountian photos. I'm farily certian that's why he answered the person above - Placebo on post 19, the way he did, and why he got mad at me about not wanting mountians on the phone and hung up on me, and why he came here and made a big deal about it.
And I in retailitation started calling him an egotistical baby.

The contest topic should not be in his hands as he is competing in it. He had no right to so througly take it from me when all I asked him for was help and gave him permission to post the question for contest entries - he took over everything - rules time line, all, without even asking me. I was surprised when I saw he posted them. This contest should not be rushed like he's trying to do it.

So I apologize for letting it happen.

The current topic list is NULL and VOID. There was not enough time for people to think of topics.

I'll start a new thread asking for contest themes. I wont ask you to enter the contest until you've had the theme at least two weeks, so you can go out and photograph it.

Regnad will have to schedule his Autumn contest around it and I strongly suggest you don't let the person throwing the contest to enter. I know he already secured that, but really, if you guys want an honest contest you should ask that he not enter or someone else throw it who does not plan on entering.

I'm running the November contest. please respect my decisions on it.

Open suggestions start on the new thread I'm creating tonight. We'll keep the suggestions open for 3 days.

Kelly

[JeffR]

53. Some unsolicited advice on that:

If you put out a call for suggestions that remains open that long, you'll end up with way more suggestions than will fit in a poll. It might be expedient to eliminate the two themes above which received no votes, open a thread for two new theme ideas and incorporate them with the ones already proffered, then run the voting again.

Then again, Silhouettes already has a large plurality of the votes so the will of the people on this has been pretty convincingly expressed, IMHO. Whatever the fuss over the Mountains theme, even if it was an ad-hoc addition to the poll, it didn't win. Starting this process again from scratch might be redundant.

As to the contest timeline, that's entirely your decision based on what's workable for you. Those of us who have hosted before will, I'm sure, be happy to offer advice on this if you need it.

And BTW, I for one don't feel you owe the Group an apology. Obviously, there are some fences that need mending between yourself and regnaD kciN, but that's none of my business so I'll shut up about it.

[superconnected]

54. I'd agree with that

but only a few people even picked the themes listed above. It wasn't fair at all. Since I am a systems administrator, I do kinda "get" computers so I'm perfectly aware of the limitation of the 10 poll. I won't be using it. There are other alternatives. 2 hours with only a few posting is not how I want to run this.

And I am running it :). So we will begin again.

JeffR, I do appreciate your suggestions. I'm noting them.

[JeffR]

55. I'm no fountain of wisdom

but if I can be of any help, I'm here. Four previous hosts did a lot of handholding with me when I hosted (I needed it).

[superconnected]

56. well, you've done it before so you know SOMETHING!

It's only Nov 1st so I'm not too worried about being behind yet. I know I have to allow 14 days for people to photography the theme after it's chosen. And then time for the contest to run in 2 phases. I'll probably make the time for chosing the theme after the choices up, shorter, but not less than 48 hours.

I changed it to Suggestions until Friday noon - because I want people to have a chance to vote before the weekend. We can close voting on Sunday at Midnight. That will make 2 weeks exactly before the contest opens on a Monday.

[CC]

57. Damn I have hardly been around because

of the kitchen I wish was finished already and might be before Thanksgiving...God forbid what family is here thinks we are cooking a turkey this year including DH will be skinned alive with a dull table knife.

I was one of the ones that said something about mountains though and did add a work around. Who came up with it and why is unimportant. Sorry but that is just plain truth. No not everyone could do it so most voted against it. I find this group to be a place to relax and enjoy other people's artistic approach to photography. There is no one that disappoints whether first time amateur or professional. This is a place to encourage those that love photography, period. How expensive or cheap their camera is doesn't matter,how much time they spend on photography or not doesn't matter, what lens they use or don't use doesn't matter except that info is great for those of us learning. All that matters is they love photography and they love looking at others photography. This has been a place to relax and take a chance to show my work in a safe place for me the last year plus. This is a place to encourage others to test their wings when we think what they do is beautiful. This is a place to push those that are not sure of themselves to take a chance and just try. (I pushed Blue pretty hard, sometimes maybe to hard but she had beautiful pics that should be shared as far as I am concerned. ITF might need just as hard a push except I really think she has found her calling elsewhere.)
I understand your being overwhelmed with running a contest, I know I was and dreaded winning a second time. First time ITF was a mod and more help than anyone could imagine. Just ask and all of us are more than willing to help. But...whatever is between you and Reg please keep out of the group. I know I do not want to be forced into taking "sides" and I bet most here would be much happier to have you both here as part of the group without having to take"sides." You are both an important component to the group that offer a wealth of information. For me it has been hard to watch this. SC you won the last contest and it is you place to run this contest the way you want. So go for it and ask for any help you need from all of us. Reg, you came up with and offered to run the seasonal contest, so go for it and ask for help from all of us should you need it. Keep the other stuff IRL and settle it there please. I for one do not want to be dragged into it. Damn but I am too tired to deal with it, am trying to finish a kitchen and keep a Dem as Senator with a lying cheating Repuke trying to steal it, and get a Gov. that can work with our state leg. instead of whining about how we don't let him do slot machines his way so everything is F'd up. There really is more important things. If I sleep 3 hours a night that would be a good LONG night of sleep. This place I look at pics before I try to sleep or when I wake in the middle of the night. Please keep it on topic and supportive. Also please remind yourself of this groups mission.

Welcome to the Photography Group
The purpose of the Photography Group is to discuss photography as an art, skill, and means of communication, as well as share photographs.

Professional, amateur, digital and traditional film are all welcome.

Discussions of political or editorial photographs should continue to be posted in their appropriate forums. Do not post copyrighted images without the consent of the copyright holder.

I am not sure I made sense or not because I am beyond tired. I would just like this place to be an escape from the evils of the world. I only had two...here and the KOEB and I can't even think of keeping up with the KOEB these days. (You try sometime) It comes down to this, if this group becomes as decisive and backbiting as others then I am gone. I can not deal with it right now and will not even try too.

[regnaD kciN]

58. "...and he had WMDs, too!"

:eyes:

I've been holding my peace about this, hoping the whole thing would go away. But now that it's turned into an attack on my integrity (as opposed to random personal attacks), I need to present the facts.

-- When it became apparent (during last month's preliminaries) that superconnected had a good chance of winning the October contest, she asked me for help in running the November contest. I replied that I would give any advice I could, but that all the work itself needed to be her responsibility.

-- Within a day of her winning the October contest, I reminded superconnected that she should get a topic-request thread up, as previous winners usually had them up immediately, so that people would have a long lead time to take photos. I did discuss with her the timing of the monthly and seasonal contests, but it was with the point that the seasonal contest not interfere with the monthly one, not vice-versa as she now presents it. My concern was that, since she hadn't run one of these before, that the seasonal contest end soon enough so as to not press her for time running hers. I also reminded her once again, on the weekend, about getting a topic-suggestion thread up.

-- On Monday, with still no sign of such a thread, I e-mailed her again, reminding her about the thread. Since I knew she was in training, I also offered, if she wanted, to handle the topic-selection part, since it wasn't really a part of hosting the contest. She initially replied that she would get to it herself, but then sent a second e-mail saying that she couldn't get it done soon -- and possibly not for the entire week -- because of training, and "can you please do it."

-- Accordingly, I put up a thread, using the exact same pattern as my request for the October contest last month. The terms were the same as I had used in both April and October: two days (or until ten suggestions were received) for the request, two days for the poll. With that, I was thinking that a topic would be in place by Thursday night -- not quite in time for the exact beginning of the month, but close enough. To the credit of the members here, the thread filled up in nine hours (not the "two hours" superconnected now claims). As I now regret, I put in the final suggestion of mountains -- simply because we'd never had that topic before, and I thought it would be interesting with all the photographers in Rocky Mountain states, Alaska, etc.

-- The poll goes up, and people start teasing me about pushing mountains as a choice. Entering into the fun of the matter, I start signing myself as "Katherine Blackwell," etc. I never really thought that mountains had much of a chance of winning, and it really didn't matter to me because I had good material I could submit, or a good idea for a photo to be taken, in each of the categories. (If anything, I have a better choice for "silhouettes" than I do for "mountains.")

-- However, as I pointed out long ago in post 34 above, I was running on fumes, getting only a little more than two hours sleep a night for the past two nights. Between that and the stress of trying to help my daughter get her school project done, get ready for Halloween, etc., I emotionally crash sometime around mid-afternoon. Now, I start seeing all the "let's not do mountains" posts as people telling me that my choice sucks, that I'm incompetent at suggesting topics, and so on. As I said before, not thinking reasonably, but that's what tiredness can do to me. So I post a couple of regrettable comments on how everything I try doing here gets dumped on.

-- Shortly thereafter, superconnected calls me. Being in a really bad mood, I snap at her. No excuses -- I was definitely in the wrong. But, immediately thereafter, I realize that she was right -- I was overpersonalizing the comments, and shouldn't have gotten upset about them. I try to call and apologize but, understandably, she doesn't want to talk to me, and hangs up before I can even say "I'm sorry." Fine -- I deserved that. I send her off an e-mail apology.

-- The next morning, after finally getting enough sleep, I find that superconnected has written me back, accepting my apology. I'm happy that everything is all right once again between us. Then I come over here to DU, and am astounded to discover that she, barely fifteen minutes after accepting my apology, had started in with all sorts of personal attacks on me. From that point onward, I have neither e-mailed her nor posted a single reply here until now.

Obviously, in retrospect, I should never have offered to help superconnected out with the topic-selection process. But my only motivation was to help out a person I considered my best friend, and who might be under too much of a workload right now. In retrospect, I should have kept silent and, if people started complaining that they didn't have enough time to shoot material for the November contest, let it be her problem. But I didn't want to see her catching flack from the group, and thought I'd offer to help out any way I could before that happened.

I'm sorry the events of the past two days took place, and I'm sorry, and, to be honest, deeply puzzled, that they apparently cost me a close friend. But I'm not going to stand for some fantasy-world scenario that has me scheming to take away someone else's contest, when all I wanted to do was help them.

[ConsAreLiars]

59. I'd file all of this under "shit happens" and "no blame."

These are stressy times, to say the least. And I think most of us have learned that we are merely human, thus imperfect, and the same is equally true for others. I think I speak for most (maybe all) here in saying that both of you have been contributing much to the rest of us. I know I've learned from both of you. And I (we?) don't doubt your (either's) good will. I hope that you both can kiss (metaphorically) and make up, since you have obviously been able to work well together in the past. After all, in the larger picture....

Anyway, best wishes.

[regnaD kciN]

60. Thanks, Cons...

It would be nice to be able to do so.

[superconnected]

61. so much for facts

1. Regnad kept saying I won october and I repeately said I won't believe it until the contest closes, and he kept talking about the november contest and asking me how I would run it. I kept saying I won't worry about it until the contest closes and I'll see if I win. At no point did I decide I was going to win and start worrying about the next contest. I repeatedly stated I didn't know I was going to win. I didn't. And I didn't expect to.

2. After excepting regnads apology from the phone, I came to DU to find plenty of posts about it here, sure 15 mins later. That refuled the fire. Of course he felt how dare I comment, while he went nuts on the board. He should have mentioned he posted about it on the board when he apologized. Then I wouldn't have been surprised to see it and the issue wouldn't have been re-opened.

Both regnad and I are filmmakers and both have shot features. I was making comments on my last movie on a film board and regnad had the self absorbed audactity to tell me not to post things because people would think I was talking about HIS movie. I told him no, as the subject I was speaking on was my own movie, and he really couldn't seperate or comprehend that ppl wouldn't apply my comments to his movie - shot 3 years before my last one. That's about the top of self absorbed egoism as you can get. Of course I can come here and say I don't want mountians - which it turns out regnand didn't EVEN CHOOSE, and he went psychotically nuts and assumed by saying that, I attacked him. He did. This whole topic went off topic because regnad decided people not wanting mountians was all about him. Since he didn't choose mountians, I think you should question his integrity and intentions, right down to him saying he had chosen them on his last post. He shoots mountians. He's a little different than the regular contest entrant, I've seen him go nuts because he didnt' win contests in the past. He really takes it personally. We're talking major ego. I think he already picked his mountian submission or he wouldn't be so obsessed with it. That's an integrity issue.

3. No Regnand, you offering to help, wasn't the problem. What you did - totally take over, is the problem. All I said was if it has to be a hurry then you put up the topic suggestions. I didn't say and poll theme, and throw the contest, as you listed above that you were planning to and when. All you had the go ahead for was to post for theme suggestions. I never agreed to use your last schedule or that you throw it like you did the last one.

4. Regnad, we never discussed specific dates. All we discussed is that you didn't want it to get in the way of the autumn contest. Nobody agreed to use you previous contest as the format for this one. The help I asked for was because I hadn't put up the poll code before. I told you that specifically.

[Name removed]

62. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[intheflow]

63. Whatever happened to the Photo Contest being loose and fun?

No worry on timetable from me, Kelly. In the early days, we didn't even start discussing the topic until a week into the month it was being hosted. I have every confidence that however you host this, on whatever time table, you will do an excellent job. What more can we ask of a volunteer?

The Professional Volunteer Coordinator hath spoken. :hi:

edited because html tags aren't working for me this morning.

[superconnected]

65. I just posted something about the poll I examinded and how

we can go up to thiry entries and it's gone.

Facinating... I posted it right here.

[Blue_In_AK]

50. Superconnected, take a deep breath.

Everybody's been especially thin-skinned lately. I'm not sure why -- maybe with the elections so near at hand and the fear that they'll be stolen again, maybe it's PTSD after six years of living under GWB's insane administration. I see it happening all over DU, people attacking each other. People have even had issues with me over the past few days, and I'm NEVER controversial. You and regnaD have been friends, he always speaks very highly of you and your talent. Can't you all just make up? regnaD has admitted that he overreacted on the "mountains" thing. It's really nothing to forfeit a friendship over.

[superconnected]

52. see the New November contest thread.

self-delete. From here let's focus on the November contest.

Pleae go to the New November Contest thread.

[Moderator]

67. Locking.

Contest is closed. Thanks for voting!


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