Hi Dave just wanted to extend my heartfelt appreciation for these photo contests. They seem to bring people together, and I was able to look through the pictures and maybe have an idea of what the interests of folks on ATP who I don't interact with, what plants they take pictures of - it seems a great way to be able to have contact outside my usual forums. Thanks again, personally I think this one was a great success
Cheers

I agree. This was a great way to see some names (and new plants) that are new to me. The photography contest makes me want to visit more forums in the future. It's good to know that one does not need to be a professional photographer for folks to admire their terrific photos.
Thank you Dave.

it is almost like an ice breaker

Managing a contest like this can be an absolute nightmare, administratively. And I'm pretty sure that it's frustrating on that end (firsthand info here: I am absolutely confident that I, personally, showed up in a bad dream or two of Dave's during the contest).

But what a great consequence/benefit Greg points out. We all have our own cells and threads and interests and micro-communities here on ATP to some extent. But the contest seems to shuffle the strata some and really allows for connections and insights and appreciations that wouldn't otherwise occur.

Thanks for posting this Greg. It's really true.

Thanks for throwing this party, Dave. I know people really do enjoy the contest and the cascading effects that it has on the site and the site's participants.

Asa totally true!!

with Greg, absolutely. The contests are a wonderful way to broaden our use of ATP.

Seems to me that the contest in late summer 2014 to buff up the Plant Database was another huge success. Did I miss it this year?

@dave ? When will we have another one of those?

gg5 said:Hi Dave just wanted to extend my heartfelt appreciation for these photo contests. They seem to bring people together, and I was able to look through the pictures and maybe have an idea of what the interests of folks on ATP who I don't interact with, what plants they take pictures of - it seems a great way to be able to have contact outside my usual forums. Thanks again, personally I think this one was a great success
Cheers

I agree---thank you so much, I too, appreciate all your hard work....and am still looking through all the marvelous photos!

with all of the above. Great contest, well run and managed, especially with many challenges involved in doing so. The photos were varied and wonderful and I really enjoyed looking through them. It was a bit difficult to cast votes because there were so many good ones!
Thanks for all you do, Dave!

dyzzypyxxy said: with Greg, absolutely. The contests are a wonderful way to broaden our use of ATP.

Seems to me that the contest in late summer 2014 to buff up the Plant Database was another huge success. Did I miss it this year?

@dave ? When will we have another one of those?

Yes, those are indeed a lot of fun, and they tend to get everyone into new areas of the database that they may not be active in. We'll have to see about doing another one sometime.