Signature of the Month Contest Generic Discussion Thread

[Marcus H.]

Ice Climbers says it: cheating. But in the case of posting your votes, it's an indirect cheat.
When people see one's votes, that person's perception of the best three will be influenced in one way, especially when the poster is famous. The votes eventually pile up and the winner will tend to be the first user to be voted by the people. I don't know if this is enough to be called as "jumping on the bandwagon", though.

[KiNA]

Well, for one thing.. its troublesome for the volunteers that keep moderating the SotM if we are to keep the voting private, 2ndly, this contest isnt about winning.. its generating interest toward graphic designs .. We have peoples who never tried graphics before but willing to join.. The main objective IMHO is the submission phase, where peoples posted WIP and other peoples giving C&C, you learn a lot of things.. And hopefully you improves on them.. The voting are simply the gloss.. Everybody wins in the end.

The contest are simply between caterpillars.. Hopefully, some of these caterpillars will turned into pretty butterflies one day

[Evil Rick]

Originally Posted by KiNA

Well, for one thing.. its troublesome for the volunteers that keep moderating the SotM if we are to keep the voting private, 2ndly, this contest isnt about winning.. its generating interest toward graphic designs .. We have peoples who never tried graphics before but willing to join.. The main objective IMHO is the submission phase, where peoples posted WIP and other peoples giving C&C, you learn a lot of things.. And hopefully you improves on them.. The voting are simply the gloss.. Everybody wins in the end.

I second that, in fact, that's what I joined the SOTM and after almost 2 years of partisipating, my skills had improved a lot thanks to it.

Originally Posted by KiNA

The contest are simply between caterpillars.. Hopefully, some of these caterpillars will turned into pretty butterflies one day

So, I'm a butterfly or a caterpillar?

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by KiNA

Well, for one thing.. its troublesome for the volunteers that keep moderating the SotM if we are to keep the voting private, 2ndly, this contest isnt about winning.. its generating interest toward graphic designs .. We have peoples who never tried graphics before but willing to join.. The main objective IMHO is the submission phase, where peoples posted WIP and other peoples giving C&C, you learn a lot of things.. And hopefully you improves on them.. The voting are simply the gloss.. Everybody wins in the end.

I agree as well, Ive noticed an improvement in my sigs since I joined SOTM over a year ago and seen others improve as well.

Honestly I dont even look at what others vote until after I do my voting, mostly since I want to make sure I get all the numbers write so Solace doesnt track me down. Everything being in the first post is nice since usually I make decisions as I scroll down or already had a few in mind when being tallied in the submission thread. Like I said I dont think voting is an issue, its not like the same person is winning over and over and over, usually the contest is windspread with different top 3 people every month. Im not sure where all this voting problems topic came from?

[escimo]

I guess, I'll drop my two cents into the pot.

By what I gather the concern is whether the voting process affects the outcome. It might. Many things come to play in this kind of contests. Pitting any works of art against each other is always a very subjective matter and opens the possibility that votes might end up being cast more to the artist than the artwork itself. I don't see this as a bad thing necessarily.
Say you've been following the contest for some while and you have two signatures by two different artists. One a mediocre piece, in comparison to his or her previous works, by a far more experienced artist and one where a less experienced one has really exceeded oneself. Which would you think would be more deserving of a vote? I'd be inclined to vote for the "underdog". While objectively speaking the one by the more experienced artist might still be better technically and by artistic merits.

So as for artist being "famous" it just might be a double edged sword. When people are familiar with your other work it's quite easy to compare what ever you end up submitting not just with other entries but with the expectations of the quality of your work based on your preceding ones. Not to say that voting for your friends or just familiar household names might happen just as well. These are just part of any contest like this.

Then there's the question of preferences in terms of style. Something that is purely subjective matter. I think every single one of us votes at least to some extent based on the style of the sig.

To sum up, what are we actually voting on. The best? No. We're voting for the most liked and that's how it should be. Quite a few of us can call ourselves such an experts on the matter in hand that we could vote based on technical and artistic merits alone. I certainly wouldn't be on that committee.
This is not a murder trial, we're not here to weigh the evidence and make a decision on the winner by facts beyond any reasonable doubt.

All this is about is picking three of the sigs you like the best for what ever reasons that work for you and voting for them. And as long you can be happy about your votes, all is well.

If the goal would be to safeguard the objectivity of the contest there's very little that could be done to the voting process itself to ensure that. Having entries posted anonymously judged by a outside panel of experts, springs into mind. If something, that would take all the fun out of it and as KiNA stated this is not about winning or losing in the votes, this is about personal improvement and having fun in the process.

I can't come up with a single reason why an art contest even should be subjected to a purely objective process. Art as it turns out is probably among the most subjective matters you can find and so it should stay.

In the end of the day you go with your gut and that's all anybody can ask.

Whoa, this ended up becoming a novel...

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by escimo

All this is about is picking three of the sigs you like the best for what ever reasons that work for you and voting for them. And as long you can be happy about your votes, all is well.

This!

I would also like to add that I would be completely against the idea of a panel of judges to decide on the winners. >_<

[Marcus H.]

I guess the pressures of the next academic year followed by constant spurts of "I feel like I can't do art right now" recently has affected my judgment regarding this. So far, all those entries from the month that passed and January made me feel like they were leagues away from my works.

I too have an account in DeviantArt, but recently, I've been feeling like I can't draw. I just need something to keep me going.

[Ice Climbers]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

I guess the pressures of the next academic year followed by constant spurts of "I feel like I can't do art right now" recently has affected my judgment regarding this. So far, all those entries from the month that passed and January made me feel like they were leagues away from my works.

That doesn't matter. We're not here to judge, merely to have fun and/or give advice to those who needs them. If you don't do it, you just won't improve! (at least that's what I think)

[Marcus H.]

I did receive few comments along the two SOTM sessions I've joined; is that a good thing? o.o

[KiNA]

If you take it as so, yes ..There's always room to evolve your skill. Sometimes what obvious to us isnt obvious to someone else.. and vice versa ..

Taking others advice to improve is one of the thing to do, but sometimes, its ok to just stick with your own style. Be unique, but at the same time, be open to suggestion.

[mero]

Why is there a bytes requirement for the SOTM out of curiosity? Compressing the files/saving as a worse format such as jpg to meet the requirement deteriorates the original quality of the sig.

Spoiler for EXAMPLE:

http://i43.tinypic.com/wvsdow.png

[ganbaru]

Why? because we use the same rules than for the signatures than we can use on this forum.

[Solace]

Your version -



My version -



Spot the differences.

[mero]

You could have just looked at my example. It is brighter like i said. You may not notice it but i certainly do.

[Solace]

I did look at your example. I also noticed that your uncompressed PNG, your compressed PNG, and your Jpeg are wildly different. I used the version posted in your thread and compressed it to Jpeg to show that the loss isn't as striking as your example. Since you posted your example as one large image I can't tell the differences in file sizes and couldn't work with it. If you want to post your original PNG I can certainly compress it to Jpeg if you want to see the differences I come up with.

Anyway, I've had this argument before, but ultimately it is much easier to ensure signatures follow forum rules. It discourages people from using the larger file as a normal signature and receiving a warning/infraction, and it adds to the challenge of creating the signature.

I will admit, as I did back when I had my first argument over this, that there is an obvious loss from uncompressed PNG to Jpeg. However most users here have no issues with creating quality signatures that fit under the limit. The biggest complaint against file size on the forums is against animation, which is understandable but even then creative users have managed to work with it and shine.

It might seem silly that the contest restricts the file size when many other similar contests on other sites do not. However, consider it an additional challenge instead of a restriction and you might find yourself learning some new tips and tricks. There's always the tutorial thread for some helpful pointers.

[mero]

Originally Posted by Solace

I did look at your example. I also noticed that your uncompressed PNG, your compressed PNG, and your Jpeg are wildly different. I used the version posted in your thread and compressed it to Jpeg to show that the loss isn't as striking as your example. Since you posted your example as one large image I can't tell the differences in file sizes and couldn't work with it. If you want to post your original PNG I can certainly compress it to Jpeg if you want to see the differences I come up with.

Anyway, I've had this argument before, but ultimately it is much easier to ensure signatures follow forum rules. It discourages people from using the larger file as a normal signature and receiving a warning/infraction, and it adds to the challenge of creating the signature.

I will admit, as I did back when I had my first argument over this, that there is an obvious loss from uncompressed PNG to Jpeg. However most users here have no issues with creating quality signatures that fit under the limit. The biggest complaint against file size on the forums is against animation, which is understandable but even then creative users have managed to work with it and shine.

It might seem silly that the contest restricts the file size when many other similar contests on other sites do not. However, consider it an additional challenge instead of a restriction and you might find yourself learning some new tips and tricks. There's always the tutorial thread for some helpful pointers.

That one you posted in your last post was the original uncompressed png by the looks of that DA address associated with it.

I was really more curious about the reason for the restrictions rather than attempting to argue them. I didn't know that the sotm rules corresponded with the forum rules until just recently. I guess it isn't a huge deal.

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by mero

I was really more curious about the reason for the restrictions rather than attempting to argue them.

Obviously as stated the restriction itself from the forum rules. Size limit is restricted so the forum loads easier but users who may have slower speeds. I'm not sure when this policy went into effect (and Im too lazy too look ) but its been in place since Ive been a member here. Personally I like it since Ive been on several forums where users have lines and lines and image after image of sigs and its distracting sometimes, plus usually slows loading speed.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by mero

That one you posted in your last post was the original uncompressed png by the looks of that DA address associated with it.

I was really more curious about the reason for the restrictions rather than attempting to argue them. I didn't know that the sotm rules corresponded with the forum rules until just recently. I guess it isn't a huge deal.

Fair enough. I suppose I was a bit defensive. The origins of the SOTM are a bit ummm...haphazard. The concept began as a SOTW event that had some initial interest but kind of didn't really fit with the pace of the community here. Pretty much everything about the SOTM grew from the community discussing how to make it work for them. There's always room for improvement of course, but volunteer efforts and time....well, I'm sure you know how that goes.

Some of the rules were created simply because it was easier to mix them with things the community already understood, like the method of voting and the way the duration of the contest was handled (the original rule template for the SOTM was our banner contests). Some of them happened because of issues that arose when the a particular contest was happening (the rules regarding crops and derivative works for example).

It's a convoluted history but the bright side is that the contest has managed to stay running for years with stable participation. Can't ask for more than that honestly.

[Mike_Tha_Hero]

I was viewing the current SOTM voting, and I notice the load of entries. My God. ^_^'

You guys seriously need a SOTW. Week by week contests are a whole lot better. I have a lot of experience with these, so if you guys need any guidance, let me know.

[ganbaru]

Not sure than it's a good idea for here; as the decission making / thread opening can sometime be slow and a week is kind of short and the fact than some of the sig maker do not connect on the forum that much...