Challenge Yes or No?

[chrisdesign]

I will not present any further challenge until a moderator clarifies whether, due to a lack of involvement, this competition will continue or will not be continued.
Regards
Chris

 

[IamSam]

I think this is more of a question for the forum members and not a decision for the staff.

The lack of interest and participation in the challenges has been evident. Let's take a 24 hour period to see if we can get some opinions from the active and core members of this forum, as to whether or not they think the challenges should proceed.

 

[Argos]

For me, is a yes, I like the challenges! It's true that sometimes gets too low of participation, maybe a post with ideas of members to make it more interesting and to get an idea of what people would like the challenges to be. I don't know XD.

 

[IamSam]

Thanks David.

No more opinions from anyone else?

edit: I did see the posts from LacyKeo and sousou707 in the last challenge thread. It's not enough to just want the challenges to continue because you enjoy the content.....................the idea is for you guys to participate. We seem to have the same people in the challenges month after month. I completely understand that they can't always find the time to make entries. But I can also understand if they become somewhat discouraged at the lack of interest and participation.

sousou707, your very active in the "free edits" so I'm not sure why you're not willing to participate.

LacyKeo, Don't compare your work with others and do your very best. Competing will help you get better! Variety is key.

 

[colleague]

I like the chalenges too , but sometimes only 2 participants is not very much

 

[sousou707]

I’m willing to participate to the next challenges. Sometimes I’m very busy with schoolwork so I only do little free requests during my breaks, but I will participate to the next challenges if there is more.

 

[IamSam]

Well.................I think the underwhelming response to this thread reflects the opinions of the forum members. This is a sad time for the forum.

 

[Rich54]

My feelings about the challenges aren’t fully rational, but they go something like this: Sometimes the topic just doesn’t spark my interest and other times I can’t think of anything clever or creative to submit. But mostly, the challenges subconsciously seem like work to me, as in obligation. They are an assignment with a due date and follow-up requirements (voting, creating the next challenge if I win this one). I already have a stressful day job and Photoshop is a hobby that lets me escape all that, so I instinctively stay away from the challenges because I already have a full plate of things that I must do. Like I said, this is not a fully rational way to think, but there it is.

 

[chrisdesign]

Well, well.
That's how it is in life. Everything has its time and a place.
Yet everything is in constant change nowadays. This gives room for new ideas.
The challenge seems to have come to an end as such.

Personally, I found this thread very interesting, instructive and enriching.

Kind regard
Chris

 

[LaceyKeo]

Maybe instead of “challenges”, it could become an “inspiration” thing, instead?

I don’t know, I haven’t thought it through, and you guys have a much better understanding of how the forum works as I am something of a casual visitor...

Somewhere people post like, “Hey, I’d love to see your take on Cyborgs. Here’s a demo piece (pic), let’s see what you’ve got”.

People could browse the “inspiration”... area... (thread? Sub-forum?) and submit to whatever they like...?

It would be such a shame to see this area closed, perhaps it could just get a re-vamp instead?

Thank you Sam. Should contests continue, in some form or other, I shall do my best to enter.

 

[IamSam]

Maybe instead of “challenges”, it could become an “inspiration” thing, instead?

That would be something all together different than what we are trying to address here. Thanks though.

Somewhere people post like, “Hey, I’d love to see your take on Cyborgs. Here’s a demo piece (pic), let’s see what you’ve got”.

That can be posted at anytime..............again, not what we are trying to address.

It would be such a shame to see this area closed, perhaps it could just get a re-vamp instead?

The challenges have gone through many re-vamps over the years and nothing ever helps in getting members to participate. There's nothing wrong in how the challenge was set up............it was fairly straight forward. The problem was drawing interest away from other aspects of the forum. The latest version of challenges, lasted the longest. If anyone has any ideas that have not been attempted in the past, then please speak up.

Should contests continue,

This is not up to me. This is a decision made by the current membership.

I shall do my best to enter.

Yes, this has been the ongoing problem.

 

[Ross]

Although I've only recently joined, and I interested in the challenges - I too just need to find the time. Are the contests happening on a regular basis? Or is there some consistency that I can plan a my schedule around?

 

[chrisdesign]

If you're interested in the challenges, just check out the appropriate thread. There used to be one challenge every month.
And in case you'll have some new ideas don't hesitate to present them here.

 

[LaceyKeo]

If you're interested in the challenges, just check out the appropriate thread. There used to be one challenge every month.
And in case you'll have some new ideas don't hesitate to present them here.

New challenge ideas?

I had (what I hoped was) a decent one, should I post it here?

 

[polarwoc]

Hi guys, I am reading this thread only today as I get the time to leisurely view this site on weekends.

In my opinion, PS Challenges thread should continue because it is a source of inspiration and a treat to the senses that relish on creativity. I have followed this thread from the beginning but never felt confident enough to make a decent entry. After following the thread as a spectator for long, I submitted an entry but it took time. The last Cyborg contest was spectacular and the winning submission was surreal. I did not feel I had either the skill or time to post an entry. I mention all this only to prove a point that lesser participation in the thread does not necessarily mean lack of interest. In my case, I was interested in all contests every month.

I would urge that the PS Contests should go on as before.

 

[IamSam]

@polarwoc
Thanks for the input. I would like to reiterate what has already been stated in that it's not enough to be interested in the content of the challenges which is difficult if not impossible to measure. There seems to be some misunderstanding in the usage of the term interest. In this matter, interest needs to be reflected and counted by participation. It's not enough to idly stand by and have enthusiasm for content, one needs to get involved and become part of the process in order to accurately calculate the need for forum activities such as the challenges.

 

[IamSam]

I had (what I hoped was) a decent one, should I post it here?

Sorry I missed this. No, please do not post ideas for contest content. This thread is to discus why there has been no participation in the challenges and ideas to change that problem. We seem to have a great turn out for the Free edit forum. No matter their skill level, members don't seem to have any problems performing free edits. If only that same enthusiasm was present for the challenges.

 

[polarwoc]

@polarwocThere seems to be some misunderstanding in the usage of the term interest. In this matter, interest needs to be reflected and counted by participation. It's not enough to idly stand by and have enthusiasm for content, one needs to get involved and become part of the process in order to accurately calculate the need for forum activities such as the challenges.

If by expecting an increased 'interest' you mean all people watching this thread are expected to participate with posts, the end result could be sub standard submissions. On a couple of occasions like the Spooky Challenge by @Argos I prepared an entry but felt it was not up to the mark and refrained from submission. Though you may not realise it, I was deeply interested in the contest but it gives an impression that lack of participation is lack of interest.

 

[IamSam]

@polarwoc You seem to be stuck. How about we remove the term "interest" altogether. The challenge threads need participation to continue.

If by expecting an increased 'interest' you mean all people watching this thread are expected to participate with posts, the end result could be sub standard submissions.

I have no expectation that everyone "watching" this thread would, could, or should comment. Removing myself and Chris, there have only been 7 members comment. There are many people who participated in challenges that have yet to comment. There are at least 20 to 25 regular core members who participate in other aspects of this forum who are remaining silent, which speaks volumes. This forum is very active.

Let's look at it this way..............
You joined the forum on Jan 20 2018. There have been 13 challenges since. You participated in one challenge (#67)

#57 had 4 participants
#58 had 3 participants
#59 had 4 participants
#60 had 6 participants
#61 had 6 participants
#62 had 3 participants
#63 had 2 participants
#64 had 3 participants
#65 had 3 participants
#66 had 5 participants
#67 had 6 participants
#68 had 3 participants
#69 had 2 participants

Less the 3 challenges that had 6 participants, the mean average for challenges since you joined is 3.2 participants per challenge. Remove our two most active participants, Chris and David, and the mean average drops to 2 participants per challenge!!!!!! Challenges 58,59,62,64,68, and 69 would have had only 1 participant each!!! The challenges can not be sustained on the backs of two to three members.

While I don't doubt there is some enthusiasm for the challenges.................it's boils down to participation. This discussion thread has nothing to do with interest in the form of watching the challenges, it's about the interest in participating in the challenges. Please don't confuse the two. If the challenges can not produce participation, there's no need to continue.

 

[polarwoc]

I would like to make a humble suggestion. If you are selling a house, you advertise to 1,000 people of which 20 turn up on the day of inspection, of which 5 may place an offer. You would not worry about the 2% actual visitors that fructified from 1000 advertising pamphlets and say stats look poor. As long as you have a minimum of 2 participants, it is competition. As long as there is interest in that competition shown by people through liking the posts or through comments or even just page views, there is not much to worry about.

We should rather be thinking about the sequence of steps a person would take to become a submitter of competition entries. 1) first visits the forum, 2) seeks to learn PS and starts serving requests 3) watches the contests page - to start with 4) starts liking posts, votes and comments, 5) participates with an entry. Concentration should be on getting 1000 people to visit forum, getting 100 to serve requests with intent to learn and improve, of which 10 may watch the contests page 5 may comment, vote and like of which 2 may submit entries - eventually.

Points about need for more enthusiasm in participation are taken. Improving the page visit count should be a bigger priority over cutting one of the highlight features of the forum.