Changes to Picture of the Month

[boatbuilder]

Watch out for the changes - this explains how it will work

From next month's poll (about 1st November 2019) I will be making some changes to the Picture of the Month poll which has been made possible by a new feature I have added to the forum today.

This should hopefully make it a more enjoyable experience as you will be able score your votes, rather than just tick a box.

Instead of selecting to vote for either one or two pictures as has been the case up until now, you will be able to select up to THREE pictures. However, instead of just selecting three, you will be able to give each one a score rating as follows:

You will have at your disposal, SIX points to award across the maximum of three pictures.

The maximum score you can give to any one picture will be THREE points. What this means is, that if you choose to vote for three pictures you could score one with 3 points, one with 2 points and one with 1 point, to use up your maximum allocation of 6 points.

Of course you could also give them all just 2 points each, or even just 1 point each. On the other hand you might want to give just two pictures 3 points each.

Whatever combination you choose, you can use up any number of your allotted maximum of 6 points across up to three pictures, and you don't have to use up all your points if you don't wish to. You will choose your number of votes from those displayed in a drop-down alongside each choice. If you were to try to allocate more than your 6 points then you will see a message advising of this when you come to submitting your post. Also, after you submit your votes a message will appear at the foot of the poll for five seconds advising that your vote has been accepted.

Please note: once you have submitted your votes you won't be able to go back later and use up any unused votes.

Below are two images which show what a typical poll will look like both whilst the poll is active and when the poll is closed. As you can see the total number of votes cast will only be displayed AFTER the poll has closed. However, the voter will see his or her own scores displayed until that time.

I hope you'll find this will make the poll more interesting.

What you see after voting and whilst the poll is still running

What you see after the poll has finished

[boatbuilder]

Regarding the changes from November, as described above, I thought it might be useful to post a draft version of how future poll topics will be presented. Here is what the poll post will look like from next month. Naturally I have excluded the currently unknow detail which has been substituted with a series of "x's". Hopefully you will find it pretty straightforward, but if anybody needs clarification on any of the aspects of the new poll, then it might be wise to ask in advance of the first poll.

Welcome to the November 2019 'Picture of the Month'

PLEASE NOTE: The voting process has changed – please read the BLUE text below.

The pictures for this month's 'Picture of the Month' poll have been nominated by xxxxxxxxxx who has selected xx pictures from those posted on the forum during October.

ALL members have up to a maximum of SIX ‘voting points’ which can be spread over a maximum of THREE of the nominated pictures in accordance with the following guidelines:

You can only allocate a picture a maximum of THREE points.
For example you could give three of the pictures 3, 2 & 1 point each, or just two of the pictures 3 points each, or three of the pictures 2 points each – or any combination of points as long as you don’t exceed your maximum of SIX in total.

Select your scores from the drop-down boxes alongside the picture names in the poll above.
If you exceed your total of six, you will see a warning appear on the screen when you try to submit it.

You must select ALL your scores before submitting as you will not be able to add to your votes later.
You don't have to use all your six points - how many of them you use is entirely up to you.
Once you have submitted your votes, they will be visible to you in the boxes where you chose them but the full result of the poll WILL NOT BE VISIBLE until the poll has closed.

The poll will close at xx:xx (GMT) on Xxxxxxxx xxth November and the picture with the most voting points will be displayed on the DEDICATED PAGE for the latest 'Picture of the Month', for the next month, and will have a permanent place in our PICTURE OF THE MONTH GALLERY

__________________________________________________________________________

[boatbuilder]

From this month's poll (September 2021) I have decided to run the polls until the end of each calendar month. The polls will therefore close at 23:59 (UK time) on the last day of each month, and the winning image will be displayed as normal for the duration of the following month.

[boatbuilder]

For personal reasons I was unable to get round to compiling a March 'Picture of the Month' poll. I therefore intend to produce one for April within the next couple of days utilising pictures from both the February and March submissions.