Question aboot Anonymity

[pRED]

"If you are entering one of your photo comps, your photo must not have been posted in the forum during the past two months."

Does this include the entire site? Such as posting pics in the photo gallery.

Thx in advance,
Ricky

[DeboraBremner]

I believe it's anywhere on the forum....including the gallery...

[Cliff]

That is a good question. Debora is correct, not posted in any section of the forum

Also, the same thing would apply to pictures that are close, but not complete identical. The two below pictures show what I mean. Although they technically are not identical pictures, it doesn't allow for the competition to remain anonymous if one was posted and one was entered in the comps

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad226/Cliff_Erhardt/Cliff%20fish%20tank%20pics/90%20gallon%20FW/90FW02April.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad226/Cliff_Erhardt/Cliff%20fish%20tank%20pics/90%20gallon%20FW/90FW02April2012.jpg

[Triton]

Thanks cliff, I had figured that with the tank shot. How's it work with doing completely different angels. Say I do 1 pic in my journal standing at left corner
32576

Then enter
32577


In my opinion, any full tank shot should technically be considered the same tank. But if you want to take photos of individual things in the tank I think that's fine.. Example

32578

You can tell it's my tank if you really pay attention, but most members wouldn't notice the background or the type of fish I have stocked etc so should be fine.

Mostly think it's just a honor code type call about keeping it fair and anonymous because it's tough to determine where to draw the line

[Zerileous]

I have questioned this myself in the past, and I probably am diverging from the OP here. That said, we have to have some kind of balance between encouraging entries and anonymity. For example, if I have been following poster X's journal for a few months (say this is someone with only one tank, not a MTS guru, and we want to encourage newer hobbyists to participate in the comps) and they go a month or more without posting a FTS and then enter into the TOTM, odds are pretty good that our more active members will still recognize the tank.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I think the honor code has a lot to do with voting as a member who has followed some journals. It can be difficult to avoid bias, but I don't think it's a good idea to impose such a strict idea of anonymity that it is difficult for people to enter. It's up to the rest of us to avoid the urge to think "oh I recognize so-an-so's tank and it's really cool, and I know how cool it is because I've been following it every step of the way" and to recognize that everyone probably has an awesome story behind their hobby even if we haven't read it personally.

[Cliff]

Triton, the first two pics in your example are good illustrations of what is acceptable. It has to be different enough to help prevent it being recognized

[Plecos]

Kinda hard when you have a 14" Pleco in your tank, kind of gives it away real fast.