FAQ

The system monitors all images and moves images to the archive if they are very unlikely to win awards further than what they currently qualify for. For example, if an image is three standard deviations away from the mean score of the montly winner and that image has enough votes to qualify, then it will archive and not continue to collect votes for the annual award. This mechanism is in place to keep the voting pool lean and allow everyone to get votes faster.

You can see visually how the system works in this PDF document. Also, more information is available on the about page and the site overview.

The upload multipler determines how many images you are permitted to have active at any time. An example:

At weight 2, free account, you are permitted 2 uploads. If you win an award that increases your weight to 4, for example, you will be permitted 4 uploads, and so on to a max of 10. Under the 10x (subscriber) formula, you are permitted 10 times as many images at any point (max 100).

The vote ratio (displayed above the menu bar, if you have no other messages), is a metric that measures the rate of votes at DA. A voting ratio of 2.0, for example, means that you can expect an average of two votes per day per image. The site does not permit the vote ratio to fall below 1.5. If this happens, uploads are disabled for any members who follow this logic tree:

Site ratio < 1.5 ^ User ratio < 1.5 ^ votes received > 100

In words, this means if the site ratio is less than 1.5 and that member has an individual vote contribution / votes received ratio of less than 1.5 and that member has more than 100 votes then uploads will be disabled. If any of the conditions are false, that member will still be permitted uploads. This means that new members will be able to upload regardless of the site-wide vote ratio up until that member receives 100 votes.

At DailyAwards.com, the more you win, the more your vote counts. Some users have won many awards and have a very strong vote. Don't feel discouraged! First, on standard ratings, a user weight is capped at the lowest signature level voter (currently, 21). Second, the competition at DailyAwards.com is not about your account weight, but rather about your photography skills. The weight mechanism simply exists in order to create a method of capturing the strongest opinions from the top performers on your images. The way to become a winner at DailyAwards.com is to focus on learning so you may better compete with your images.

Yes. There is a watchdog script that runs occasionally and looks for abnormal voting patterns, collusion and foe voting. Please try to be objective and fair when casting your vote. Should you find an image you believe deserves a very low vote, by all means, you should vote what you feel is fair. An occasional low vote will not flag your account.

The most important thing is simply to be consistent. Inconsistency (voting very low or very high for a small set of users) will trigger a swift response and at a minimum will result in account suspension.

Collusion, at DA, means two or more members working together to improve the scores of the group. There is a zero tolerance policy for this behavior. The site utilizes a very sophisticated collusion detection mechanism along with a number of other automated and manual checks.

The best policy to follow to avoid any issues is to simply vote what you feel is fair, based on all relevant criteria for evaluating photography. As long as you are consistent with your ratings, you should never encounter any issues with the collusion detection mechanism.

Signature awards work just like standard awards, except the rating used is calculated solely from votes by members who have either won an award on the homepage or who have an account weight of 21 or higher. This means that top performing members of the site select the winners of the signature contest through the normal voting system. See the about page for more information on how the signature awards can increase your account status.

If a user of the system chooses to leave you feedback, that feedback will be delivered to the email address you have stored in the DailyAwards.com system.

No. At the minimum, an image must have the equivalent of 15 raw votes before it can win an award. Here is a breakdown of the requirements for an image to win each award:

No. The voting system is continual. Votes you have accumulated in the past will continue to count towards your image as long as it is stored in the system. If you would like to reset the votes for an image you have uploaded, you may delete that image and upload it again. All votes will evaporate and it will be treated as a new image.

Use the delete button to the left of the image name on your account page.

DailyAwards.com is ad free for subscribers, but utilizes Google's AdSense technology for placing ads on pages for free accounts. The site is primarily supported by subscriptions. If you do not have a subscription, visit the subscription page to learn about the benifits that come with a subscripton.

You can see a list of current site supporters here

When a member views one of your images, your first and last name will appear with that image. You may use an alias if you'd like to mask your name. Look in the my account page for a link to update your profile. Your email address is always protected. The only way your email address can be revealed to another user is if you elect to do so by sending that user comments.

To reduce the size of the database that drives the voting system and to minimize the resource requirements on the server, the system will currently delete images ranked 4.9999 or lower if they have accumuliated at least 15 raw votes. The idea behind the site is to compete with your best work and win awards.

The system will not allow you to vote for the same image twice, however, some users may upload the same image into different categories (not recommended) or a user may choose to delete an image and upload it again to reset the rating on that image. The system treats this case as a new image, thus placing it in your voting pool again.