"my image had x score why wasnt it accepted" or "I see an image in FF with a lower score went through zomg!?!?".
So I thought I would write a post to hopefully explain the selection process a bit better, and dispel some myths. Many/most of you already know this, but hopefully this will be a useful resource to direct new users to, if they have any concerns in the future.
Shots are submitted into the New Submissions section, and they stay there for a minimum of 24 hours, and a maximum of 48 hours, before being rejected. Every 56 minutes, our resident janitor Scruffy approves the highest scoring image that has LESS than 24 hours left.
It may help to think of the first 24 hours as a vote gathering stage, and the 2nd 24 hours as the actual approval stage. Your image may be the highest scoring image with less than 24 hours left, but if another image with a higher score drops below the 24 hour mark before scruffy works his magic every 56 minutes, that image will go through ahead of yours.
So, the mathematically-minded of you would have figured out by now that Scruffy puts through about 30 images a day. But about 60/70 images a day go through to FF, some with scores which are a lot lower than you may expect. Here is where the moderators come in. The moderators will also put through good images which will not make it on score alone. This is why you see images with lower scores in FF.
In summary, forget about scores and just concentrate on making great looking, interesting images, and your image will have a good chance of making it, either through public vote or selection by a moderator.
That being said, sometimes images just dont make it. We cannot put through them all, everyone has had images which they loved but didnt make it, dont be too disappointed and keep trying!
Addendum: Moderators do NOT reject snapshots. The ONLY reason a shot gets rejected, is because the community didn't rate it high enough, and that is an automated process. Moderators simply choose to save some shots from the community dustbin ;)
I did my maths and figured out scruffy puts only 25.7 shots through a day. (there's 24 x 60 = 1440 minutes in a day, 1440/56 = 25.7 shots a day, correct me if i'm wrong). Maybe it's an idea to increase this just a little bit and push a little less through.
The current system works fine, that would make no tangible difference at all. The shots that scruffy would push through are pushed through by us anyway, generally speaking.
them00ch "It may help to think of the first 24 hours as a vote gathering stage, and the 2nd 24 hours as the actual approval stage. Your image may be the highest scoring image with less than 24 hours left, but if another image with a higher score drops below the 24 hour mark before scruffy works his magic every 56 minutes"
Question: Does that mean that if someone uploads an amazing screenshot next to ours the odds our against us ?
Other questions: when I write these lines there are 100 screenshots under 24hours, does that mean that only 1 out of 100 would be chosen ? How many shots are saved by moderators can we know ? What's the process ?
I'm still torned between trying to do hard to solve and not so obvious shots like the one I just uploaded or upload some obvious shots... (even though I have to admit my tape shot went through, guess it must have been a moderator's choice since the rates where low)
'when I write these lines there are 100 screenshots under 24hours, does that mean that only 1 out of 100 would be chosen?' Every 56 minutes the best shot with a maximum of 24 hours to go will be chosen, so around 26 shots make it this way each day.
'How many shots are saved by moderators can we know?' You can go to a certain date, count the shots minus the 26 explained above minus the awesome uploads (maybe around 3 each day max if there are no special series by someone)
'What's the process?' Moderators normally check the shots with only a few hours left (because they probably won't make it) and choose the most awesome ones to push through manually.
quote: "Other questions: when I write these lines there are 100 screenshots under 24hours, does that mean that only 1 out of 100 would be chosen ? How many shots are saved by moderators can we know ? What's the process ?"
The answers to all those questions are in the first post :)
To clarify, every 56 minutes the highest scoring shot with <24hours goes through automatically.
so around 26 shots get chosen automatically daily. About 80 go through total daily, which means around 55 shots are pushed through by moderators daily. This figure changes day-to-day.
quote: "Question: Does that mean that if someone uploads an amazing screenshot next to ours the odds our against us ?"
No more than if someone uploads an amazing shot within the same 24 hour period :)
quote: "I'm still torned between trying to do hard to solve and not so obvious shots like the one I just uploaded or upload some obvious shots... (even though I have to admit my tape shot went through, guess it must have been a moderator's choice since the rates where low)"
I think we spoke about this before, just take the shots you like. Someone previously said "if its a tough, little known movie, take an easy shot; if its a well-known, easily recognizable movie then take a tough shot". Its a good rule of thumb, but still not a guarantee. Just make sure the shots themselves look interesting, regardless of the importance in the story etc..
There are no rules or guarantees, just take the shots you like, if they consistenly dont make it, then try another approach. Sometimes we have great runs where all our shots go through, other times we only manage to get 1 in 5 through. Just keep trying, and dont get stressed. Once its uploaded its out of your hands :)
Just saw MrZob uploading 3 great shots in a row on the same theme (beautiful pair of legs). I find that intersting. If we do like this and upload 3 shots in a row, does that mean if I followed you well that only 1 of these 3 shots have a chance to make it (that is not counting the moderators of course) ?
No it doesnt mean that at all, I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion.
The shots once they pass the 24 hour mark, have another 24 hours to be selected. So they could all go through depending on score. Every 56 minutes a shot is chosen, so each shot has 24 chances to get through automatically. Or they could be pushed through manually.
I think the fact we don't get any explanation on how to change the resolution of the picture so the red bars would not be seen and then snapshot is rejected without any reason given is upsetting, personally I'm done uploading - I tried many times and each time the snapshot was deleted, tough, I guess others have better luck I'll stick to solving :P
red bars isnt the problem, its the black bars all around. There is a lot of info in the forum about how to remove them, and how to take shots in general. You can contact experienced uploaders or moderators with questions if you want. So, there should be no problem getting good shots. The resolution, by the way, has nothing to do with it....
well see, I was asking and nobody is responding, so how can I know? I'm trying to contribute to site, but I'm very very lost and I find the help/FAQ section not helpful.
Hey Sati, the comments above are very helpful, read them and I'm sure you wont have any more problems. You said before you were asking for help and no-one was responding - can I ask where?
you can. I asked my fellows and the guy who rejected snapshots, as well as few uploaders. If my snaps are going to be rejected in 2 days, I'm not uploading anymore, that all there is to it :)
I can understand why mine haven't made it through, but when a pic made it through to FF yesterday that is one of the movie's most iconic shots and the EXACT shot can be found anywhere on the internet, well, it just makes me question the whole system. I thought we were supposed to make our own grabs. I have the movie myself and as a lot of people guessed it I'm surprised nobody questioned it.
Sorry, but when a grab that is almost exactly the same as one of mine makes it to FF and mine got deleted it's time for me to stop wasting my time with the members silly games and say buh-bye now!
I would just like to contribute an addendum to the original post, because I see many complaints on people's profiles about "moderators rejecting my snap". I just wanted to add a clarification to resolve this misconception :
"Moderators do NOT reject snapshots. The ONLY reason a shot gets rejected, is because the community didn't rate it high enough, and that is an automated process. Moderators simply choose to save some shots from the community dustbin ;)"
So next time a shot gets rejected, if you feel the need to blame someone, I am afraid you will have to blame the voters for not voting it high enough, not the moderator team. I understand there is an element of frustration in shots being rejected, and sometimes people just need to vent, but saying you hate the moderators for it is misguided anger.
@kinoute LordMyst is right, mods can take favorites into account to approve a shot that wouldn't have made it. But favorites are useless for automatic approval. They do count for SotD though.