 Alexander Czernin-Morzin |
July 2008 Contest Totals Contest Totals for July 2008 Calling all Contesters! Here are the totals of the entries in the Free Contest for June 2008. Taken at 09:00 a.m. C.E.T. ( Midnight in Redmond, WA): This time the totals are not so close to midnight as I am not connecting from home and have only a GPRS wireless connection which "dribbles" the data in - sort-of like we used to have years ago. I call myself lucky when it hits 44 kbps, but usually 12-20 kbps is luxury. When I take the laptop in the car, drive about 6-7 km I can connect in the HSDPA mode with maximum speeds of about 700 kbps! Nature and Landscape 3140 13.2 % Again the totals don't quite add up - well, see above! Comparison: October 2007: 40033 "THE" exceptional month! The drop of monthly entries continues. Please do not compare the drop with the number of entries in October 2007, which was the first month I knowingly wrote down the figures. I do remember that October was an exceptional, unexplained, month, with totals many thousands higher than ever before. Why the drop? I've done my puzzling so now I leave it up to you readers of this message to find the solution! Less entries should give our judges a great relief. 16,000 less to judge than in October! Enjoy BP as Christine and I do! Alexander
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher  Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
Thanks for your hard work, Alexander! Love to see the stats at the first of the month.
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Michael Skelton . |
The stock market isn't go down this fast. The numbers are surprising considering that its vacation season.
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Colleen Farrell |
Thanks for your statistics work, Alexander! I think I'd be screaming if my connection speed were as slow as your wireless! ;) I think vacation season is precisely why the numbers are down so much--although people may be taking plenty of photos, they're not at home to process and upload them! Looking back in my notes from last June, I wrote down 26,364 for the total. My figures aren't as precise as Alexander's, of course. But that total seems to lend support to the idea of summer being slow.
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Michael Skelton . |
" Looking back in my notes from last June, I wrote down 26,364 for the total. My figures aren't as precise as Alexander's, of course. But that total seems to lend support to the idea of summer being slow." Colleen , You have the totals for all the summer months last year? It would be interesting to see what the the seasonional total was. That is still a 10 percent drop from last July. It could be the economy and people aren't travelling. People to busy or just about anything really.
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Susan Fox |
Isn't the drop due to the fact that those with free galleries can no longer enter?
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Michael Skelton . |
Good question Susan . Im sure that it would explain some of the lower totals but not so sure it would explain over 6,000 less then last month. One of the things that surprised me last month in the threads was that some one came up with a stat that with over 11,000 free members galleries that there was only 197 members active in the week prior. I have no idea where these numbers came from. It possible it would bring the total closer to the number Colleen stated for last year. As with anything I guess we'll just have to see how it goes the next few months and see where the numbers are headed.
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Colleen Farrell |
Susan, I'm not sure the drop is only due to the free galleries being excluded from the contest, because Alexander posted some statistics a few weeks ago that showed they didn't make up a huge percentage of entries to begin with. But certainly they would account for some of the drop. Mickey, you're right, the drop could be from anything; it's hard to say. My totals (and BPs, according to their finalist emails) for last spring/summer were: April 07- 23,634 (BPs: 23,900) So ... yeah, it's certainly a drop from last year, and probably due to a combination of factors. :)
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- Lisa J. Boulden Contact Lisa J. Boulden Lisa J. Boulden's Gallery |
Just a thought... Could the drop be partially due to the unusually high amount of natural disasters experienced recently? I wonder how many members were curtailed from their BP activities due to tornadoes and floods in the midwest, or the fires out west.
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Michael Skelton . |
Gee Lisa , Sounds like the time to be out taking photos ;o)
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- Lisa J. Boulden Contact Lisa J. Boulden Lisa J. Boulden's Gallery |
Sure would be a great opportunity for pictures, Mickey. Perhaps with electricity back in working order, and computers up and running again, we may soon come across some of those images here on BP.
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Alexander Czernin-Morzin |
I need to thank you all for the comments on those statistics. We see the drop in submissions, but let's admit it, almost 24,000 uploads shows that BP is well liked by many and a most valuable place to be. For us it is not only the contest, but all the other "things" you find on the site. We seldom find discussions about the "Pro" sites. However, if you look at the activities there you find a large percentage of those sites that are very active. This, to me, shows how valuable a website BP is. And the courses... I have taken three 8-weekers and really liked them. After all, education is THE number one item on BP. Question: How many BPers have actually clicked (an read) all of the menu items on top of the pages? My hunch: Few - hopefully I am wrong. And a question to Colleen: If you feel like it, I could include your oder totals in my next effort. Obviously with the proper copyright! And yes, please do scream about the slow connection. We are visiting and the house is in a small, narrow valley, with very few houses, so no need to put in a transmission tower. If I drive about 3 miles, I get a HSDPA connection (here only GPRS) and that runs up to 700 kbs instead of the 15 to 40 here. BUT, these all are WAY faster than when I started Emailing and connecting to Compuserve in the 80s. We got, for example, news of a granddaughter, connecting from a payphone in a campground in Sedona using an accoustic coupler on the phone and were exalted that we got 1200 bps! Next week we should be back home and can surf both at the same time and a wee bit faster. More statistics to come? Let's see.
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Colleen Farrell |
"And a question to Colleen: If you feel like it, I could include your oder totals in my next effort. Obviously with the proper copyright!" Certainly, Alexander! :)
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John G. Clifford Jr |
I know that the changes to the rules that do not allow basic gallery 'owners' to enter the contest anymore stop me from entering. I've never taken a BP class, but I have purchased several BP books, and I have been a presence (on and off) on the Forum, answering a lot of questions. I understand storage concerns that BP has... but the 30-image limit was a good way to limit this. BP could additionally award 'points' for activity in the contests/on the forums, or for ordering merchandise, that would keep the gallery active. Have images consume a point each per month, and if the user balance drops below the # required for his gallery, 'age' the old photographs off. This rewards active users who add to the community spirit here while slowly but surely eliminating people who don't actively participate.
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