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Wjtb Photo Disqualifications?


Pignewton

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There are a lot of photos that violate the rules listed on the jeep contest rules so I would love if someone from the WJTB photo contest would state how these will be handled. Here are the rules most violated as I see them:

You must visit a White Jeep Travel Bug listing page on Geocaching.com by following the instructions in (a) or (B) below:

 

      (a) Locate a White Jeep Travel Bug in a geocache and enter the Travel Bug unique tracking number in the field provided at http://jeep.geocaching.com . Once you click the submit button, you will be directed to the Travel Bug listing page for that White Jeep Travel Bug.

      (B)Visit a geocaching.com cache listing page for a cache which indicates that a White Jeep Travel Bug is reported to be at the cache location. Click on the White Jeep Travel Bug link on the cache listing page to visit the Travel Bug listing page for that White Jeep Travel Bug.

 

A lot of the photos submitted for June violated this rule as the WJTB's had photos submitted before they were ever placed into a cache and were submitted by the geocachers that were shipped the WJTB's to place in caches.

 

Limit one entry per person/email address/log-on/user name/password/ Geocaching.com account per Initial Judging Period.

Any attempt by any participant to use the same location and/or Travel Bug in multiple entries will void all such entries.

 

There are quite a few entrants for June that submitted more than one photo of the same WJTB for different categories.

 

Those are the 2 biggies and I would estimate that more than half of the photos violate basically one of these two main rules.

 

So, my questions are: Is someone reviewing these photos and WJTB logs to verify that the rules have been met? and are photos going to be disqualified for violation of the rules?

 

And on another note:

The participant will click on the “Submit Contest Photo and follow the on-line directions to submit a photo entry. Once the participant has submitted an entry they will be notified that their submission is under review for appropriateness.

 

I didn't receive notification that my submission was under review but it is posted on the Jeep.Geocaching.com website photo album.

 

Thanks in advance for answering any or all of the questions!

Pignewton

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It is my understanding from another thread that one can still vote on logs, though they may not meet the qualifications. In the tallying round of votes, however, any photos getting top votes that violate rules will be knocked out. I guess this just keeps from having to go over EVERY single pic.

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A lot of the photos submitted for June violated this rule as the WJTB's had photos submitted before they were ever placed into a cache and were submitted by the geocachers that were shipped the WJTB's to place in caches.

I spent more than 20 hours assembling and distributing the White Jeep Travel Bugs in a three-state area. I also helped with the distribution of Jeeps at Geo-Woodstock. That is a lot of volunteer time.

 

But because of whiners, I won't be entering the photo contest. This is true notwithstanding the fact that Groundspeak confirmed that the volunteers were eligible to participate in the contest.

 

Hey, have fun with the jeeps.

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A lot of the photos submitted for June violated this rule as the WJTB's had photos submitted before they were ever placed into a cache and were submitted by the geocachers that were shipped the WJTB's to place in caches.

I spent more than 20 hours assembling and distributing the White Jeep Travel Bugs in a three-state area. I also helped with the distribution of Jeeps at Geo-Woodstock. That is a lot of volunteer time.

 

But because of whiners, I won't be entering the photo contest. This is true notwithstanding the fact that Groundspeak confirmed that the volunteers were eligible to participate in the contest.

 

Hey, have fun with the jeeps.

Ive got 43 WJTB's logged and not a single contest entry among them for the very same reason.

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It's so nice to know that a few folks are always ready to rip apart those putting in their personal time and energy to ensure the jeeps are widely distributed. I'm sure these volunteers are going to be just as willing next year to put forth similar efforts...

 

Ron/yumitori, who will be logging a white jeep one of these days. I think.

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In every contest, there are those who will attempt to manipulate the rules or slip a curve ball past the judges. On the other hand, the judges have the benefit of seeing all of the games people try to play.

 

I'm sure the judges have adequate controls in place. Let's let them do their job.

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Wow...this sure did get off topic fast. I went to asking a question about photo disqualifications to being called a whiner and a volunteer hater. :anitongue:

 

To clarify: I do NOT believe a volunteer should automatically be disqualified from the whole contest. However, if you are submitting photos of a WJTB that was shipped to you (ie. you did NOT find it in a cache) then shame on you.

Just because you initially placed a WJTB does not mean that you can't submit a photo of it if you find it later unless you already submitted one photo already (ie. one jeep/ one photo for the contest).

 

To yumitori: I didn't "rip apart" all the volunteers, just the cheaters! Not all volunteers are good volunteers and that is universal!

 

To WH and Leprechauns: Sincerely, thanks for volunteering to help with the contest job well done from you! Looking at the stats in your profiles you both did well to hand out or place WJTBs.

 

ps. I'm not sure why the folks that did a good job got so defensive. Any cheaters wanna post a response to defend what they did?

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This thread did NOT get off topic. Each reply, including mine, properly takes issue with your assertion that a volunteer jeep distributor is not entitled to enter the contest based upon a Jeep that was shipped to them.

 

If I need to refrain from entering the contest in order to receive a "thank you" from you, then I don't accept it.

 

If you call any of the volunteer reviewer team "cheaters" without just cause, then you anger me as much as the person or persons you're accusing.

 

As I stated above, we asked Groundspeak about entering the contest and we were told it was OK.

 

Since it's apparently OK for you to call my friends "cheaters," I will call you a sniveling whiner, and ask you to go find some other way to have fun.

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So, my questions are: Is someone reviewing these photos and WJTB logs to verify that the rules have been met?

No. If they are PG photos and do not look modified (as in photoshop), they're listed for voting.

 

and are photos going to be disqualified for violation of the rules?

 

Yes. Winners will be scrutinized for rule violations and they will not win the contest.

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I didn't receive notification that my submission was under review but it is posted on the Jeep.Geocaching.com website photo album.

You received the success notification on the web page when you submitted your photo. It didn't say you'd get an email, phone call, or fax.

 

The photo was listed as one of the contest entries so I'm not sure why you're picking apart the rules for the promotion.

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In thinking about this further...

 

I get 180 jeeps shipped to me in huge boxes. They show up on my doorstep unexpectedly, two days before my daughter's graduation ceremony. I spend hours taking each jeep out of the box, unscrewing the jeep from its annoying black plastic mount, using a tiny screwdriver. I attach a tag and keychain, then place it back into its box for shipping purposes. I spend several hours sending and receiving e-mails from the *fifteen* other geocachers who would be receiving jeeps from me for distribution in their areas.

 

Once the WJTB's were ready and the logistics set up, it was time for distribution. I put well over 300 miles on my car -- a full $40 tank of gas -- driving to five different counties to drop off Jeeps in my home area so that it would be convenient for the local helpers to pick them up and get them placed quickly into caches. I also drove quite a ways north to meet the geocachers who were taking larger groups of Jeeps for distribution in Northwest PA and Eastern/Central Ohio. Then I went to FedEx Kinko's and spent 90 minutes there, boxing up Jeeps for shipment to six geocachers strategically located in each cache-dense area of West Virginia. I paid for the boxes and wrapping out of my own pocket. Then I went out to some of the hardest caches I could find in my own distribution territory, and hid a bunch of Jeeps myself.

 

Many geocachers showed up at a "Jeep Distribution Event" and were handed a White Jeep at the event cache. Total effort: however long it took to drive to a park and walk to a picnic pavilion. Because they retrieved the WJTB from a cache, they are eligible to enter into the contest under Pignewton's view of the rules. But I do all the work described above, and if I had kept one Jeep for myself to enter a photo in the contest, it'd be SHAMEFUL.

 

:anitongue:

Edited by The Leprechauns
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This thread did NOT get off topic.  Each reply, including mine, properly takes issue with your assertion that a volunteer jeep distributor is not entitled to enter the contest based upon a Jeep that was shipped to them.

You misread what he wrote because it suited your perception of what you think of him for criticizing some of the volunteers.

 

He shows specifically in the rules where they define the order of operations that makes a photo valid:

  • Go to a geocache listed on geocaching.com that lists a WJTB in it
  • Take the WJTB and locate one of the photo subjects for the contest
  • Take a picture of the WJTB with the contest topic
  • Put the WJTB back into a cache
  • Submit photo

His complaint is that the first step of going to a geocache to locate the WJTB (explicitly written in the rules) is not taken by some distribution volunteers who have submitted photos of WJTB that were directly mailed to them from Groundspeak and not retrieved from a cache.

 

He doesn't say that volunteers "aren't entitled to enter"; he only asks that volunteers who do enter do so by getting the WJTB from a cache first. You've put words into his mouth and you are usually better than that. I think you owe him an apology.

 

My personal opinion is that someone receiving the WJTBs from Groundspeak directly for distribution is justified in grabbing one or two from the box for their own placement into caches later. As such, it would be a silly triviality to make them place it into a cache and then pull it back out again to go get the contest picture verbatim to the rules. There will be plenty of caching friends who will go out to find a single WJTB and retrieve it from a cache, artificially place it into a cache they did that day, and then have the other one retrieve it seconds later. They can both take pictures with it that way and the system will show that they both retrieved it from a cache (even though it never saw the inside of a second cache).

 

As for the other violations, I know of one person whose photo was removed from the gallery because their photo topic didn't fit the definition asked for (there's a thread on this in the GC.com Website Forum). As for photos of the same WJTB and other rules violations, in that other thread it was said that those photos will be left and in the end, if a winning photo is shown to violate the rules in some way, it will be disqualified and its votes lost. I really disagree with this method (although it's easier for them because they only have to look over the winning photos instead of each entry). The reason I disagree is that it puts the impetus on the users/voters to have to decide if they are voting for a legit entry. Otherwise their vote is useless and at worst, another valid photo that they liked also could have received their vote. Why do I have to cross-validate all of my vote getters to see if I'm voting on a dead end or not? I should be asked to vote on only the worthy photos.

 

Why you haven't received a notification about your submission being under review as the rules state would happen is potentially a technicial matter that should be raised in the GC.com Website Forum.

 

EDIT: Or read Jeremy's responses above...lol.

Edited by ju66l3r
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The photo was listed as one of the contest entries so I'm not sure why you're picking apart the rules for the promotion.

I don't know about Pignewton's particular reasons (obviously).

 

I do know that some people were not happy with the way the last Jeep promotion seemed to fall apart at the end. Maybe it didn't and everything went according to plans, I don't know, I wasn't paying attention to everything being said or everything that happened. But some people's perception was that the rules sort of went out the window at some point for the contest and winners were determined that had violated the highly structured, extremely picky rules. After I went through them recently, looking at the Photoshop issue, I can understand why people would hope to get some clarification so that their time spent getting a great shot for entry and stumping for votes wouldn't go to waste by a wave of the hand *after* there was nothing they could do about getting a corrected/valid entry into the gallery or after their valid entry had lost to someone's invalid one...which didn't get a wave of the hand even if it was in violation because it slipped past the judges.

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After I went through them recently, looking at the Photoshop issue, I can understand why people would hope to get some clarification so that their time spent getting a great shot for entry and stumping for votes wouldn't go to waste by a wave of the hand *after* there was nothing they could do about getting a corrected/valid entry into the gallery or after their valid entry had lost to someone's invalid one...which didn't get a wave of the hand even if it was in violation because it slipped past the judges.

Thanks for the clarification as to why you think people are being picky.

 

As for the above point, I do not judge the final winners for these promotions so I do not know how Rodale/Jeep goes about deciding how the winners are picked other than by reading the rules and assuming they abide by them. I did ask the particular question above regarding clarfication on rules. Specifically I asked if it was ok for someone to resubmit a photo after their particular image did not meet the requirements. The answer was that only one entry was permitted, so the point is moot after the fact. Once you submit your image the image is sent. I'm sure there is some legal rigamarole in there which makes it the way it is.

 

Also historically speaking, in the past you would compete in a photo contest by mailing a photo. As far as I know there was no way that you would know whether your photo met the criteria or not so you could send another one. So perhaps the rules of photo contests are still antiquated. I don't really know.

Edited by Jeremy
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Lep:

 

You put them all back in boxes :rolleyes: I'm lucky I didn't have to ship them anywhere, I just hand them out... even then I only got 50 of them. I'm only logging into my account the ones I dropped in caches...

 

You really put forth a lot of work on this. Even though I don't live in W. PA., thanks for all that work. I'm sure shipping all those TBs to others will get a few of the bugs you put together over this way for us Marylanders to find.

 

Have a great holiday weekend, and congrats to Li'l Lep on the graduation.

 

:anitongue:

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I owe nobody an apology. He's called people "cheaters" when they've done nothing that was not blessed by the people we volunteered to assist.

According to the strict reading of the written rules, if they submitted a photo without getting their WJTB from a cache, then they violated the rules.

 

This may be something that's given an exception by GS and as I wrote I would agree with that exception. But given that the rules are laid out in such a tedious and explicit manner, it's completely understandable that someone would question these entries (since the exception isn't laid out in the rules).

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Also historically speaking, in the past you would compete in a photo contest by mailing a photo. As far as I know there was no way that you would know whether your photo met the criteria or not so you could send another one. So perhaps the rules of photo contests are still antiquated. I don't really know.

Good point. That may easily be part of it. It's a shame that the boilerplate hasn't been updated to go with the technology of these things to improve the submitter's experience. I have submitted contest entries in the past by mail and gotten no feedback as to whether I didn't win because I was disqualified for having my stamp crooked on the self-addressed stamped-envelope or simply because I just didn't win. I have also seen "photo contests" where I saw some very great ideas to fit the theme get busted by a simple layer exchange photoshop entry that everyone thought was the greatest, funniest thing since prop comedy (not saying that will happen here fortunately).

 

You always hate to lose on a technicality.

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You always hate to lose on a technicality.

That seems to be the bottom line in this topic and other "unfair" topics. The reason, it seems, as to why these rules are overly restrictive is because topics like this one pick apart whatever rules exist. It is certainly a shame that the rules have to exist but there does seem to be a legitimate reason for them. I expect that this promotion will adhere strictly to their interpretation of the rules since the prize is more significant than last year.

 

You can sort of see the issue with the dual submission, however. I could post one that definitely violates the rules at the last day of the promotion, and say it was unfair that I didn't get an opportunity to resubmit a photo like Bill did on the 15th.

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Thanks for the clarification Jeremy. I was only asking the question because there were soooo many WJTB photos that violated the primary rule of being found in a cache or being listed in a cache and not being found.

My apologies (accepted or not) to anyone that got their feelings hurt by my question. :anitongue:

I'd offer you a thank you again Lep but I'm afraid it would just be rejected again. :rolleyes:

I wasn't pointing specifically at your friends as cheaters and I'm not going to name names but if the shoe fits...

 

I'll not post again except in self-defense. <_<

 

ps Thanks for understanding the reason for this post, ju66l3r.

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I almost became a cheater.Thanks to every one for letting me know the rules.I just found out an hour ago about the jeep contest.I Was more worried about getting the jeeps I was so fortunate to get and start on their way.I read the photo contest part of what the pic. had to have in it.Was planning to take a pic. of the next Jeep before I put it in the cache..Thanks everyone for saving me the time to do this just to have my entry deleted in the end.So far these jeeps havnt stayed in the area long.I will just put the jeeps on there way and forget about the contest.Unless one comes into the area from somewhere else.

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