RichN

Welcome to WaterPixels! We are glad to have you.

Photos that you like during the month.. lock after the month is over, you can not unlike or like again. Photos that you have not liked can be liked no matter when they were uploaded. In theory you would clear your queue.. with passes and likes. Then as new photos are uploaded you would like or pass. the results would be newly added photos every month. But not to dismiss photos already uploaded you can like older ones

WaterPixels is getting ready for Members Choice, and the new homepage will support it when we go live. (Forums will stay as is with no changes.) What’s coming Each month, community likes on Showcase photos will decide the top images. On the 1st of the month, we count likes from the month before and place 1st (Members Choice), 2nd, and 3rd. Those photos will be featured on the new homepage, and winners can receive award badges. Nobody picks winners by hand — the likes do. We’ll also introduce a Yearly Members Choice, based on Showcase likes across the full year. We’ll also roll out a new, easier way to like Showcase images (Member Showcase Review). Your existing likes are kept — current like history carries forward. Showcase rules (in place now) Up to 5 Showcase photos per calendar month (multi-file uploads use only the slots you have left). Delete frees a slot for that month. Deleting also removes that photo’s likes, so they won’t count toward Members Choice. You can’t replace the photo file on edit (caption/credit only). Need a different shot? Delete and upload a new one. Member Albums stay unlimited and do not get counted in Showcase. What to do now Keep uploading to Showcase within the monthly limit, and keep liking photos you want to see on the front page. When the new homepage and Review flow go live, Members Choice will use that same like activity — with winning photos featured on the homepage and badges for the placed shots. Likes will also feed toward Yearly Members Choice. More details will follow as we flip the switch. Questions welcome in this thread.

Thinking it would be more useful if I posted the draft copy of the guidelines we were working on for this contest. Clearly this does not have the changes for Entry fees but we have more time to plan this now. I could see adapting this to any contest we may host and I am also using this as a development document for setting up rules in a backup system. The system will be pretty much automated on taking entries, Judge private invites in to the system, Contest deadline management, all aspects of the judging process including RAW file reviews to awards and members choice and the public publishing of everything. SO for a conversational piece, your direct input on this document as a skeleton rule set for future Waterpixel use, I am interested in hearing. Thanks... WaterPixels_Contest_Rules_DRAFT.pdf

I think taking a step back is the move for now. give me time to finish developing the system rather then being rushed to get it done for this coming calendar year. Host a contest in 2027 to trial run it with the suggestions gathered here. Category noted.. thanks. The donation highlight is not a bad idea but then anyone could be featured for a fee.. so maybe not the thing to do. Originally I wanted to make that member choice gallery, so the images that appear are the most rated images by members. So the front page gallery would be community driven. Yeah I put donation on store a while back. thanks Klaus... 🤙

yes we have been working on that behind the scenes. some site adjustments and we will reach out and pursue that more. The initial release of LinkCards will be later today or tomorrow. On the initial release you have the ability to setup a gallery, contact information on multiple custom buttons. WhatsApp link, email, phone etc.. also you can control background, themes, and change colors of text. pretty customizable for a little tool. will post release article soon...

Thanks for the honest feedback—this is exactly why we asked before building the whole thing, more feedback is welcome. I will leave the poll up until it expires and also welcome more discussion. A few things may not be clear. The companies that have banners on our forum are supporters of WaterPixels and not truly advertisers. We do not receive payment, and we see the banners as a way of helping members reach companies we believe are of value. We are looking into the possibility of charging for these banners in the future. The forum, gallery, and articles will remain free. What we’re exploring are optional extras that provide value to members while helping the community support itself. As you know, forum membership is free. WaterPixels staff cover the operating costs. This is not really sustainable in the long term, and we need to identify a way to raise the necessary revenue. Based on today’s pricing, it costs approximately $720 per year—or $60 per month—to operate WaterPixels. That covers VPS hosting for the forum, gallery, and uploads; the domain name; daily off-site backups; SSL; and the Invision Community self-hosted license. As the photo library grows, storage and backup costs may grow with it. No single source is likely to cover that amount. Merchandise, useful optional features, community events, donations, and appropriate sponsor support can each contribute. Together, they may allow WaterPixels to become self-sustaining. We already sell merchandise, with the profit going to the site account. We’ve made some sales, but they’ve been sporadic and haven’t generated as much support as we had hoped. Members have also made donations, which we genuinely appreciate. The contest was intended to do two things: create a fun community photography event and provide a little support for the platform. The calendar would have been printed on demand, with each winner receiving a copy. Entry fees were intended to cover those copies and contribute something toward the site—not turn WaterPixels into a commercial contest. That said, we’ve heard your concerns about charging $5 per image. The cost can add up quickly for members who want to submit several photos, so we agree that a per-image fee isn’t the right approach. Rather than rushing the event—or the development of the management system needed to run contests properly—we’re pulling back from holding one this year. Instead, we may organize a community photography event in early 2027, potentially with sponsor support. That would give us time to develop the necessary tools, work through the details with members, and create an event that is well planned and worthwhile. After that event, we can revisit the idea of a fundraising calendar as a separate community discussion. Nothing has been decided, and any future calendar proposal would take the feedback we’ve received into account. We’ve also developed Link Cards as a bonus service for members and another small way to help generate revenue for the site. The feature will be available soon. A Link Card gives you a personal page on WaterPixels that works like a home page or Linktree. You can add links to your website, Instagram, Facebook, and other places, share the page from your phone, and display a gallery that feels like your own space. Example: waterpixels.net/u/yourname Link Cards will cost $5 per year and are entirely optional. Use one if it’s useful to you; if it isn’t, that’s completely fine. It’s your choice, and nothing else about your access to WaterPixels will change. Thank you again for speaking honestly. Your feedback helped us recognize that the original contest proposal needed more thought. We’ll take the time to develop the event properly, explore sponsor involvement, and continue the conversation with the community as we move forward.

well we can't put a video in a calendar.. 😂 working on making the site more videographer friendly thou. Possibly later add some sort of contest for video if the user base wants it.

We're considering launching the First Annual WaterPixels Underwater Photography Contest, and before we go too far with planning and development, we'd like to hear from the community. The idea is to create an annual WaterPixels competition judged by a panel of underwater photographers, with categories covering different styles of underwater photography. Winning images would be featured in the official WaterPixels 2027 Calendar, which would be available for purchase through the WaterPixels Shop. Each photographer selected for the calendar would receive a complimentary copy. A dedicated contest page will be added to the site to list winners each year with optional Bio, Contact info listed on the site for some exposure if wanted, or simply just simple photo credit.. its up to the winner what the would like. We're considering an entry fee of $5 per image, with photographers able to enter up to 10 images total, with a maximum of 3 images in any one category. The contest isn't intended to be a major commercial competition. Entry fees and proceeds from calendar sales would go toward supporting the costs of hosting, maintaining, and continuing to develop the WaterPixels community. We're also considering a Members' Choice Award, giving WaterPixels members the opportunity to vote for their favorite images from the finalists. Before we put the work into making this happen, we'd really like to know if this is something our members would actually participate in. Ive started a Contest management system for just this but before I get in to some serious time on it.. just want to see what we are looking at for interest. If low response.. we will just table it until next year and ask again and ill work on other things for the site. Please vote in the poll and leave a comment with your thoughts, suggestions, or concerns. We'd especially like to hear what would make you more—or less—likely to enter.