EPIC Project Chatter

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Fark ain't all bad. Some changes have sucked. Like the ensmalling from 700px wide down to 640px. Most got used to it. The 2 vote thing wasn't some evil conspiracy to piss off regular photoshop contest contributors. It was actually an attempt to make voting better for us in response to requests from some regular contributors. Yep, many had complained that voting wasn't fair because some 'shops were skillfully done but not funny, while others were very funny but not so carefully crafted. Some thought this created 'elite' photoshoppers that hogged all the votes. Now that it's been split, and pretty universally declared suckified, I'm guessing they'll try getting it back to one vote or maybe try something else. No matter what they do someone will hate it.

Some things they've changed are good for us. I hadn't thought much about the gifting of TF they let us do until just recently when I was going to sponsor someone. Instead of having to pay, I had 3 months I could gift out free. Drew didn't have to do that. Also, "O"s may seem bad, but they were worse a few years ago. Especially size wise. Drew actually visited the Photoshop forum to say he didn't know that size mattered and that they'd pay more attention to it. They did. Not all "O"s are great, but they are better. One solution if you find the quality lacking is to submit more good ones.

As far as the rest of the site, I check the headlines daily as my primary source for news. I do read some of the comments, but they tend to be very predictable. Almost everything turns to partisan political spewing by people that have no intention of opening their minds to any possibilities other than their own preconceived notions of how the world works. Needless to say I don't visit Fark for the threads outside of photoshop stuff.

One thing I have noticed over the years. Photoshop contributors tend to start out timidly, grow enthusiastic, improve their skills, then outgrow Fark contests. Always they blame "the way things have become" when it usually stems from within themselves. Yes, there were some great choppers in the past, but there are some great ones now (including DBPMS). Go back and really look at some of the contests from 5, 6, 7 years ago. You'll find almost the same spread of quality and crap as you do now. Our memories tend to get selective.

Maybe I shouldn't be commenting. I've hardly contributed any 'shops recently. But I still lurk and I still hope to pick up the pace again. Yes, I preferred the one vote system and it helped me work on improving quality, but it isn't the only reason I contributed.

Oh, and I'd be glad to participate in this project...whatever it is going to be.