aye, not that these have been bad sources. just challenging

SHOCKER the results of the lizard contest SHOCKER

Totally agree.

without specifying any particular contests, recently, i've gotta say, there has been some well dodgy voting going on. there are some crap chops doing better than great chops, and it's very disheartening to see quality work being outdone by sloppy stuff

and it is bemusing when you see comments complimenting a certain aspect of an entry, despite the fact that that aspect is - on closer inspection - quite wrong

i wouldn't have said anything, but this is a gripe thread so there you go

lizard contest

http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/108400/votes.html
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/108276/votes.html

totally undervoted

agreed. i think some newer people may get put off that crap posts by regular people do better than good posts by new members, and heck, so would i

That's a good point.

Well, I feel I need to put in my two cents...not like that's worth anything...but here goes anyway!

First of all, I have only been here just over a month. I am so glad I found PSC and have already learned a great deal from everyone here. The one disappointing thing is this...I don't believe the comments area is being utilized to it's full potential. DP, you say that there have been so many crappy chops from newbies and veterans alike, but as a newbie I am still "learning" what is considered a clean chop versus a messy chop. I could learn so much faster and apply my new knowledge to chops if I knew what the heck was wrong with the chops I do! How am I to know what makes a "clean" chop if nobody has the time to explain what I did wrong/right in a chop?? I understand there is PM for this, but I have not received a single PM from anyone or even a suggestion for a PM to talk about something I could make better in any of my chops (granted, there have been only 5, but...). I am almost discouraged now to enter any chops because of the fear of not being up to par with the standards you seem to have set, but I don't honestly know what those standards even are yet. Eve has been very forthcoming with comments, and I really appreciate her for doing that. Otherwise, most of the comments I have seen are only if the person is out of votes but thinks it's good. I would love the constructive criticism and could benefit greatly from it!!! I just wish more people would provide it...

I'm sorry if this is too *gripy*, but I have been stewing over this for a while now and felt I needed to say something. As a newbie, I know I can benefit tremendously participating here, but I can honestly say I have learned more from reading and watching than I have from participating.

You bring up good points that have been brought up many times in the past. This only validates the points in my opinion.

This also brought something to mind that I hadn't considered before.
We cannot PM the chopper in an anonymous contest!
This makes using the comments block so much more important!

Oh, and lpoetschke, NEVER be too intimidated to enter. You might not get many tips on what you've entered but you get zero tips on stuff you don't enter.

Well I've never been too keen to offer criticism in the comments field. I suppose I don't really want to come across as a know-it-all. After all, my chops are far from perfect, and ...you know....'people in glass houses...'
Anyway, I do get PM's occasionally from friends here pointing out a shortcoming or flaw in an entry...and I have PM'd friends with similar. So you might want to take the initiative and ask someone by PM...I'd be happy to help. We even get to view the occasional entry before it gets posted. I looked at someone's entry today before the contest opened...
Anyway, feel free to ask for feedback or for someone to preview your post...there are tons of helpful people here!
Cheers,
Brad

I was out of town when Scion made the comments about my Corner Fish entry - thank you all for your kind words.

lpoetschke - don't worry about what is 'considered' a good work, there is no 'standard'. This should be coming from inside you, be critical of your own PS work and push it to your own limits. You should be the one happy with what you present. Look up the past entries that YOU like (not how many votes they received) and ask yourself - how on Earth did they do this? If you can't figure it out - PM them and ask, more than a few would be willing to share tips and tricks. I'm more than willing to criticize, some people agree with me and take notes, some get offence. Post more to get more feedback.

And mediocrity in general should be expected, as most of the 'leaders' are in a race for collecting votes, which means (at least) one entry a day, doing what's 'good enough' - they aren't exactly pushing the envelope on the 'quality' aspect. I'm sooooo waiting to see Claf's 40-hours chop

I must be insane. I thought my lizard chop was undervoted and I just cannot believe how badly my Thermometer chop is going down (3 poxy votes)

I can understand people not getting the humour..but I thought I might get more for the reasonable integration work

Your corner fish entry deserved to win by a mile...and this entry http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/108442/votes.html was so undervoted I just cannot accept it to be true !!!

Tofu - in my experience leaving a comment in an anonymous contest acts much like a PM, I've posted a few "recommendations comments" (no vote) or "voted with comments" in anonymous contests, with the author responding via PM, whether agreeing with me or defending their entries

Hey thanks for your vote and comment Gran for the corner fish.... the cleanup on it's own was of course worth a vote anyway

Geez I'm now sorry mine won seems a lot of people didn't think that it should have....