The Final Fifty Gallery

This is a great angle and I like the dark around the edges. It makes me feel cold and sad at the same time.

I'm not sure why comments aren't allowed for the actual voting, so I'm making my comment here. I found the voting machine kind of challenging to use.

If I accidentally voted for the wrong pictures (I missed some that were below the 'fold' due to scrolling trouble), is there anything I can do about it now?

Couldn't the voting machine be made with more height, so that users with small monitors might have to scroll their browser, but we don't have to scroll in the voting machine? I would have found it convenient as a voter to be able to review all thumbnails simultaneously. Also, I suspect that the photos above the fold get a significant boost.

It's very tempting to just vote from the thumbnails, because it's a bit of a pain going back and forth between thumbnails and the larger version, but the thumbnails are cropped in a way that you really don't get a good idea of how the photo is
balanced. I would usually address that issue by using thumbnails that are shaped like the original, even though they don't tile as easily. Some people's photos got a leg up in the contest because the crop happens to be more flattering for their photos than for others.

There was at least one photo where for the longest time I couldn't find the X to return to the thumbnails, because it blended in so well with the bacground of the photo. Maybe there is a better way.

I found it strange that the gallery showed us the titles, but the voting machine hides them. Perhaps you feel that the photo should speak for itself?

Hi, KT -- I think I can answer your questions.

We disable comments on the entry that contains the Voting Machine because we found that some people were scrolling right past the VM's "Cast your vote" button and instead clicking on the Submit button below, which actually is for comments. Also, some people were posting comments favorable to one photo or another, and we didn't think that was fair at the point of voting. Removing the Comment function is sort of like requiring poll workers to stand 50 feet from polling places.

If you changed your mind about photos after you voted, you can vote again tomorrow. And the next day.

The VM is the height it is because believe it or not, the first couple of months of this contest, we let users vote on every single photo -- we didn't narrow the field to 50 first. If you think you have scrolling problems now ... !

I'm afraid that if we lengthened it to display all 10 rows, the 3 boxes at the top would be off your screen and you wouldn't be able to click and drag a photo from say, the 10th row up to one of the boxes. I hope you'll get used to how it works. But you don't have to worry about photos in the top rows getting more exposure; the photos are randomized with every reload.

The crop on the thumbnails is done by Flickr, not us. We are pulling all 3 photo sizes -- thumbnails, medium, and large -- from Flickr. That's why the titles aren't there, either. And you're right: The photos SHOULD speak for themselves.

But your concerns are precisely why I posted this Final Fifty gallery: To give everyone a chance to look over the photos -- with titles -- in an easy format with a Full-screen option before voting.

You're right, once in awhile the X does blend in with the photo, but eventually you can spot it.

Hope this helps...

I made the cut! WOO HOO!!! Good luck everybody.

Not sure what kind of contest this is supposed to be. Apparently technical competence, lighting, sharpness and composition take a back seat to "cutesy" shots of smarmy little kids, sad-eyed puppy dogs and a pair of abandoned shoes in a driveway. A majority of these photos are average at best.

Arctic cats, this is an amateur contest. I feel your comments are out of place in this forum.