We have Avatar comps, which I haven't a clue how to partake in.
But Caption Competitions are where it's at.
But Caption Competitions are where it's at.
Why can't we have Caption Competitions in Miscellaneous ?
- Thread starter Delta Vega
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Is there a rule against them?
Caption contests seem to have fallen out of favor. I honestly didn't even know they were still a thing.
I mean, none of the new Trek shows (DSC, PIC, LD) have them...and most of the ones that do, don't seem to be updated very often.
I mean, none of the new Trek shows (DSC, PIC, LD) have them...and most of the ones that do, don't seem to be updated very often.
@Delta Vega , I refer to you another post I recently made on the subject of contests in Misc:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/random-thoughts-or-whats-on-your-mind.288326/page-248#post-13550727
So, since caption contests are finite (have a winner and an end-point), they would presumably be allowed. Someone would obviously have to take the initiative to start one, of course.
However... the most common images for caption contests seem to be from movies and TV shows. If that's what your thinking, then Misc would not really be appropriate, and it should go in TV & Media (or Science Fiction & Fantasy, if you were just limiting it to those genres).
Theoretically, then, the only images appropriate for a Misc version of the contest would be "real life" images. This unfortunately has the potential to become fraught, and thereby cause issues for your friendly staff members. So if one were to go ahead, hopefully those type of issues could be avoided (although my magic eight-ball says the outlook is murky...)
I was tempted to close this thread, but I'll leave it open for now if you want to discuss further.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/random-thoughts-or-whats-on-your-mind.288326/page-248#post-13550727
So, since caption contests are finite (have a winner and an end-point), they would presumably be allowed. Someone would obviously have to take the initiative to start one, of course.
However... the most common images for caption contests seem to be from movies and TV shows. If that's what your thinking, then Misc would not really be appropriate, and it should go in TV & Media (or Science Fiction & Fantasy, if you were just limiting it to those genres).
Theoretically, then, the only images appropriate for a Misc version of the contest would be "real life" images. This unfortunately has the potential to become fraught, and thereby cause issues for your friendly staff members. So if one were to go ahead, hopefully those type of issues could be avoided (although my magic eight-ball says the outlook is murky...)
I was tempted to close this thread, but I'll leave it open for now if you want to discuss further.
Fraught with what? We already have rules for how far it's allowed to go with sexualized images. I assume that anything that crosses the line into impropriety or rules violations would be dealt with by the moderators.
I was active on the Cheezburger site for many years, and we never ran out of non-SF/media pictures to caption.
There were many subdivisions of categories on that site, including interior decoration, buildings, nature, animals, and so on.
For instance, this is one I made many years ago... that made the Cheezburger home page (they featured several each day). Yes, it has a media reference on it, but there are thousands of ways the actual picture could be interpreted):
However, this one does not have a media reference (it's a screen shot of a jigsaw puzzle I bought from a craft company website; I'm partial to cats, birds, and nature scenes).
Original picture:
Captioned version:
Someone on another forum posted a photo of her cats:
I couldn't resist (I had her permission):
Someone posted this Christmas ditty during one of our friends circle's Christmas events:
This last one has a commonly used photo and there are thousands of captions:
Now I know that the other caption contests involve posting a picture and people don't put the captions on the pictures themselves, but rather underneath. I don't do as much captioning on the pictures as I used to because the generators on the Cheezburger site went wonky and the new owners never bothered fixing them. I have yet to find a satisfactory substitute for all the different kinds I used to do (posters, comics, basic).
So I'd be happy either way. But there are many non-media photos that can be used, and while all these I've posted involve animals (they're what I happen to have handy on my hard drive), there are lots more out there.
So, to the Miscellaneous moderators, here's my question: Could this be tried on a trial basis? If it works, great - we have another activity. If not, it's a learning experience. Caption contests are popular upforum; the frustrating part comes when the host goes MIA for months at a time. From what I've noticed, the Miscellaneous regulars tend to be... regular, as in dropping by reasonably often.
And yeah, I'd be willing to host it (after November 30, due to RL reasons of moving and NaNoWriMo; this should be enough time for the staff to discuss this and decide).
I'm sorry, I thought I already answered this above? Based on my current understanding of the "game threads" rule in this forum, this would be allowed. Somebody would have to step up and actually run it, though. And it shouldn't be something media-specific; otherwise it should go into one of the appropriate media forums.
The part about causing us potential headaches was just further musing on my part. Hopefully that doesn't come to pass.
If the other mods interpret the rules differently than I have, then I presume they would say something.
You should try entering one sometime. Just find an appropriate still image or animated GIF of your choice, crop and size it using any basic draw-and-paint program, and post it.
There are online GIF makers like this one that let you edit, crop, resize and optimize animated GIFs without having to download any software.
Just to add, EZGIF is a great service I use all the time, but one thing that's not included in their services is storage. Can't forget to export the image of GIF you made to your image hosting page of your choice, EZGIF deletes the images after a couple of hours.
I'm fine with there being a caption contest as well, with the stipulations Murder Hornet / Avro mentioned above.
I'm flip-flopping on whether or not photos of a political nature should be allowed, since political discussion is permitted in Miscellaneous, political memes are hugely popular and in these turbulent times it seems as if even the most mundane things have become political, so how can you avoid discussing it? I just don't see how you can do it without threads frequently breaking down into an argument, though, which kind of ruins the point of a lighthearted caption contest.
I'm flip-flopping on whether or not photos of a political nature should be allowed, since political discussion is permitted in Miscellaneous, political memes are hugely popular and in these turbulent times it seems as if even the most mundane things have become political, so how can you avoid discussing it? I just don't see how you can do it without threads frequently breaking down into an argument, though, which kind of ruins the point of a lighthearted caption contest.
I'd prefer no political content, actually. Things are very contentious now, not only in the U.S. but Canada, Australia, the UK, and many other places. During my active years on the Cheezburger site Bush was president, and I recall making maybe 3 or 4 captions that weren't terribly complimentary about him (I never used profanity; the owner at that time wanted the site to be more family-friendly). I remember getting downvoted on those, the comments weren't great, so I went back to captioning animals, Star Trek screenshots, and Business Cat.
This is such a wide open kind of thing, and I'm not sure if it would be better to present specific pictures in a single category or multiple categories (not everyone enjoys captioning cat pictures or even animal pictures).
mmmmm So- we have 5 images and people caption them--- then a vote thread--- then a winner that posts the next 5 images? I am ready to go and do the first one- but it is like -- is it 5 images or 3 images or 8 images IDK. so I am at a stand still and the other details as well--- 
as the problem gets deeper --- this image needs captioning here --- and I have started the captioning of images right here, right now with the first image.
as the problem gets deeper --- this image needs captioning here --- and I have started the captioning of images right here, right now with the first image.
Surely the picture post on Miscellaneous comes under the same criteria, without added captions.
Many people post snappy fun pics, personal pics etc
Are these not running the risk of being "fraught" ?
I didn't mean to open a can of worms, it was just an idea.
In my mind a Miscellaneous Caption Competition would have "miscellaneous" subject matter
Is that too simple ?
Many people post snappy fun pics, personal pics etc
Are these not running the risk of being "fraught" ?
I didn't mean to open a can of worms, it was just an idea.
In my mind a Miscellaneous Caption Competition would have "miscellaneous" subject matter
Is that too simple ?
Maybe he's not asking for approval for a caption contest. Maybe he wants a reason why we can't have one. Or wants to debate the issue and needs someone to take the counter position.
For my own part, my reason for asking is because my usual forum is bureaucratic like that. Any new kind of threads or activity needs permission. You would not believe how many years it took to convince the admins and senior staff to let me run a writing competition; at first they said no because winning = elitism, which breeds trolling, which makes more work for the moderators.
Then they said okay, but only if it goes in the Forum Games subforum. I said no, it's not a game, it's to encourage writing, so it belongs in the Arts forum (where we discuss books, writing, music, painting, TV, movies, and there's an ongoing cooperative storytelling activity there that's done in the form of webcomics).
Well, permission was finally granted, several years after I first proposed this contest (modeled after the original version a friend started on a forum I no longer belong to). So this bureaucratic hell is what I'm used to, and I haven't broken the habit of asking for permission and guidelines and such.
Then they said okay, but only if it goes in the Forum Games subforum. I said no, it's not a game, it's to encourage writing, so it belongs in the Arts forum (where we discuss books, writing, music, painting, TV, movies, and there's an ongoing cooperative storytelling activity there that's done in the form of webcomics).
Well, permission was finally granted, several years after I first proposed this contest (modeled after the original version a friend started on a forum I no longer belong to). So this bureaucratic hell is what I'm used to, and I haven't broken the habit of asking for permission and guidelines and such.
You already got approval to start a contest. No need to quibble.
Sometimes you just have to stand up and not take "yes" for an answer!
I've changed my mind
Well, if anyone else would like to start a caption contest, please feel free to do so. In the meantime, there's not much more reason for this thread.
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