Come one come all, It matters not if you are a lurker, 1st time collector of really great Wallpapers, graphics student, or Pro graphics designer, consider getting involved in this great past time/hobby and make it a time to remember for yourself and experience what you have been missing.......
Once again we wish a big Congrats and Thank You to *Draconis* for running the contest for this week. Its sometimes not easy, but I've been told its rewarding.
Parting is such sweet sorrow, but in every case we know that sooner or later there will be a return, so in the interm and since the last update. Let us give them all a big Congrats and Thank You !
We welcome back this *39* times winner running the show of shows!!! Congrats are in order to *Nordlark* for presenting to the group an outstanding entry worthy to be classed as a winner, thus we declare *Nordlark* back in the house. We've said it all too often, but never enough, *Congratulations*, and even though it seems to never go far enough in describing the tremendous effort that is needed to win this contest, "Big Walrus" does say it nicely! And we all look forward to seeing a fantastic source that will test the merit and imagination of any and all whom wishes a challenge. And may your week as BW be the stuff of legion (if only in your own mind!).
This week's *WW424* FAQ version contains the following changes:
The New WW422 Weekly Walrus Winner and New Players(s) if any.
Have a great week.... But before you continue or leave!!!!!!!
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A whole bunch of something new, is brewing with-in the Walrii World:
Check out the new Blog at: http://weeklywalrus.blogspot.com/ being run and evaluated by OSCA.
Next, please check out the new contests website that Ariane has set up:
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The Walrus Contest FAQ
This is the FAQ for the alt.binaries.pictures.wallpaper Usenet newsgroup Weekly Wallpaper Contest. A short version of this FAQ that contains the basic rules in outline form is available at: http://www-walrus.blogspot.com/p/faq-and-history.html
1. Just what the heck does Walrus stand for?
Walrus stands for "Wallpaper Gurus". People all over the world scan and tinker with images on their computers everyday, for the simple viewing pleasure of others and personal satisfaction. Most of these images are not within any size standardization and could range
from very small to very large. But there's a special breed of us who specialize in computer desktop background images, more commonly referred to as "Wallpaper". A wallpaper has a set of select standardized size formats that correspond with common computer monitor resolution sets, such as 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x960, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, etc. If you have found yourself reading this FAQ, you probably already know all of this stuff because this FAQ is posted in the alt.binaries.pictures.wallpaper newsgroup.
Within this newsgroup, you will find numerous posters who can be termed a "Wallpaper Guru". Within this group is a weekly contest to find out who is the Supreme Wallpaper Guru (at least for the next week). The person who's wallpaper submission for that week's contest that gets the most votes becomes the Big Walrus* for the next week. This is not to say that the people who do not submit an entry for the contest are any lesser skilled than those who do. The group is meeting place for many, many Wallpaper Gurus and a few of them choose to participate this little contest every week.
*(Jer Ed: Up until the initial creation of this FAQ (9/27/02), no one has actually used the term "Big Walrus"; but I'm hoping it will catchon.)
(Jer Ed: as of 12/15/02, it has been used sporadically, but certainly hasn't yet "caught on" to the disappointment of this editor; who will be renewing his fight to ensure that each week's winner will be called a, or the, Big Walrus, by at least a few participants each week. Get with the program, people.)
(Dönjön Ed: I'm onboard. This rewrite now includes Big Walrus throughout the document. Also, coined is the plural form of Walrus - Walrii.)
1.1. What mastermind created this?
Panama Red thought up the concept and original set of rules. He came to us on August 24th, 2002 and posted the following:
"Subject: **PING** <<Group>> - An Idea
I kinda got this idea when Pete Zha posted a pic of Tammy Cochran and asked for the "Wallpaper Gurus" to create a wall from it. There were some good walls created and posted just from that one pic. And I thought it was cool that so many took the time to do them for him.
I propose we take a random photo each week and everyone from the group creates a wall. Then at the end of the week we can choose a wall as the "Wall of the Week" and at the end of the year we can have a newsletter type Walrus Awards for the participants. (Walrus =
WALlpaper + guRUS)
Dunno, probably doesn't sound as cool as it did in my head. But then, my head is a very scary place and I was stoopid stoned at the time.
:Þ
~Pan"
He got many positive responses and some funny jibes about the "stooped stoned" comment:
- Utheman was the first to suggest that the previous weeks winner would then post the Source Image for the next week. Mikey was the first to suggest or ask that people tell what programs they use to create their walls. ben wheeler asked if non-participants could vote. Pan agreed to all these suggestions.
- Pan posted the first Source Image - a pic of Leslie Bibb. The inaugural participants in the first weekly contest were Panama Red, Monkey Oracle, Utheman and Dönjön. Utheman was voted the first Big Walrus.
- Since that time and while the contest has ran, other ideas and suggestions have been brought up and those that have been adopted are outlined here in this FAQ.
- Jeepjerultra© (Jer Wilcoxen) created this Walrus Contest FAQ and maintained it from 9/27/2002 to 12/15/2002. He used Panama Red's original rules and other people's suggestions for this FAQ.
- Dönjön submitted a rewrite to Heretic and the group on 12/23/2002.
- Heretic maintained the FAQ from 12/23/2002 to 3/1/2003.
- Dönjön is the current maintainer of this FAQ.
- Angel(TM) hosted a website that served as the contest's archive and also provided thumbnails of the current weeks entries.
- Evil Sideshow Bob hosted a website for all of us to use from week #?? until week #58 in which he thumb nailed and made available all the current week's entries.
- Wolf makes available a PDF formatted version of this document, which he posts to the group shortly after this is posted on Mondays.
- Shamari hosted a website that has just the weekly winning walls along with the number of times those entrants have won.
- JDa makes available a HTML formatted version of this document which he tries to post to the group using the same time frame Dönjön and Wolf use.
- Dönjön created a short, rules only version of this FAQ on 10/30/2003 which was hosted on Angel's website.
2. The Weekly Timeframe
The Source Image is posted after the close of voting of the previous week's contest. It is usually posted on Sunday but it could be on Monday. It is sometimes reposted on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Submissions or Entries come in throughout the week, usually Monday through Thursday but sometimes a late entry on Friday will still be included in the voting. Voting is on Friday and Saturday but late votes on Sunday have still been counted. Tallying up the votes and declaring the winner happens on Sunday. More detailed information can be found below.
3. The Source Image
The Source Image (or Source Picture) is a picture file that is to be used as the subject matter for the current week's wallpaper contest.
3.1. Where can I find the Source Image?
The Source Image can be found, of course, in the newsgroup. It is posted sometime after the previous week's contest is over. Generally, it is posted sometime late Sunday or on Monday. Look for a post titled something like "Week #50 Source Image" or "This week's Walrus contest Source Picture", etc. You get the idea.
You can also find it on the Walrus group's website under the current week at the following address: http://www-walrus.blogspot.com/. Click on that link or paste it into your web browser.
3.2. Who posts the Source Image?
The person who won the previous week's contest gets to select the Source Image that is to be used for the current week's contest.
If you are that winner, post anytime on Sunday, after you've been declared the winner, but no later than Monday or people may wonder about your whereabouts and start to send out search dogs.
Name the subject of your post as something that the other Walrus players will easily recognize. Something like what is outlined in 3.1. above.
Also, you need to post the Source Image at least twice; Sunday/Monday and Tuesday/Wednesday. This newsgroup can get a lot of traffic some weeks and that means posts can get bumped off the servers pretty quickly.
3.3. What guidelines are there for the Source Image?
The Source Image should be large, very large if possible, simply because it's easier to work with and manipulate a large image than a small one. If you happen to win one week and then post a small Source Image to use for the next week, we will all taunt you, make funny faces at you and be generally grumpy about the bad picture we have to try to use.
The actual dimensions of your Source Image don't matter. In other words, it doesn't have to be wallpaper sized.
As far as what subject matter is appropriate for the Source Image; nothing definite has ever been discussed. So anything that tickles your fancy can be used. If you have a particular subject matter that you are fond of… post that. Holiday time is a good time for holiday pictures.
So far, no bans have been placed as to what the Source Image cannot consist of, but please use some common sense. Inflammatory subject matter will be just that.
4. Creating & Submitting a Wallpaper Entry
This is where you get creative and make a wallpaper that you'll enter into this contest. There aren't many rules but there are a few. The focus of the contest is, of course, creativity and imagination; and you wouldn't be reading this unless you had at least a little of both.
4.1. Who can submit an entry? Or can I submit an entry?
ANYONE can submit an entry. We can't guarantee that your entry will win; no one can ever guarantee that. But as long as your entry fulfills the guidelines, submit it. We'd rather have 20 or 30+ submissions than 5 or 10. This is not an exclusive club; we appreciate everyone who wishes to take part.
4.2. Use the Source Image
The Source Image must be used, in some effect, in the wallpaper you create for submission. In essence, we're not supposed to change the subject that is in the Source Image of any given week's contest. We can use that subject to create an entirely new theme of our own choosing. The idea of this contest is that we all start with the same subject that's in the Source Image and get creative with that same subject to make our wallpaper entries. That way the entries have some similarity in order to give a baseline from which to judge.
Now how to determine what exactly is this week's subject? There is not one all-encompassing answer. If the Source Image is a background image, the subject is the entire image. If the Source Image contains items that are able to be distinguished from one
another, those are the subjects of the Source Image. You may use one, all or parts of the subject(s) of the Source Image in your creation (entry). It is usually obvious what the Big Walrus had in mind as to the subject to be used when he/she posts the Source Image but if it's not readily apparent to you, ask, I'm sure he/she will tell you.
Finally, the subject(s) to be used from the Source Image must still be recognizable in your created wall. You can modify the subject(s) of the Source Image in any way you see fit. It's up to you on how you do that and you are only limited by your imagination. But be mindful that if you tamper too much with the subject(s), you may risk losing votes because you are tampering with the spirit of the contest. If your tampering results in what is needed to express your new theme in your entry, all's cool. For example, if the Source Image had a pic of a house as the subject and instead of placing the house in a new scene like along side a beach you decide to create a wrecking ball theme, well then breaking apart the image is necessary to create that theme. But make sure that we can still recognize the original house somehow in your created wall.
4.3. Size of your Entry
Size does matter, especially in this newsgroup. The most common resolution sets for computer monitors is 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x960, 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. All of those resolution sets are in pixel width x height. This is a wallpaper newsgroup and a wallpaper contest. Anything else belongs in another newsgroup in the
alt.binaries.pictures hierarchy. The 1024x768 size is by far the most popular and we'd rather that people keep their submissions to that size; but if you really want to make it a different size, at least make it one of the other five listed above.
If you do accidentally post in a resolution not listed above, you may be asked to resubmit your entry in a wallpaper size. Please don't take offense to this. Just resubmit it in the proper dimensions.
Note: Tileable images are allowed in the main ABPW group but they are not allowed as entries by themselves in this contest. If you want to make a tile out of the current week's Source Image and enter it, tile the image into one of the above resolution sizes and then post that version as your entry.
4.4. Naming your Entry
The following format was decided upon for the filenames of our entries both for recognize-ability amongst the different posts that occur in the newsgroup and for usability when it comes to hosting our work on the Walrus site. It's been modified after several discussions but the originator Panama Red first suggested it after he was having trouble keeping track of what files were entries early on in the contest.
Simply put, the file naming format is:
WW##_Name_Optional Title.jpg
The WW stands for Weekly Walrus (Contest) and it sets the posts in the group apart from everything else. Capital letters are preferred just because it was either 'WW' or 'ww' and in our opinion 'WW' works better for setting these groups of filenames apart.
The two-digit number that follows next is the current week number of the contest. No space is necessary between the 'WW' and the number so it should always look like this; 'WW54' or 'WW99' or eventually, when we get there, three digits; 'WW267'.
Then, an underline is asked for to separate the 'WW##' from the next part of the filename. We went round once about using a hyphen instead but the conclusion is that with a hyphen, people sometimes want to put a space both before and after said hyphen. That's variety and we opted for the method that we thought would look like a space and still be a separator of some substance and in using it wouldn't attract variety in it's use... the underline by itself foots the bill. So now we have 'WW##_' as the built format for filenames.
The next asked for part of the filename is for the entrant to put whatever name, handle, or nym he/she wants to use to distinguish his or herself apart from all the other entrants in the contest.
Note: special characters do not work for filenames that are put up on the web site so it is asked to refrain from using them if you want your entry to be grouped with the other entries of the current week. I use Dönjön as the nym I go by when participating in news groups. But since Dönjön has two special characters in it, when I name my filename, I use the simpler form of just Donjon. So now the built format of the filename in my case is 'WW##_Donjon'. If the name you use around Usenet contains spaces and/or punctuation, please remove that from the filename. This is to keep things tidy and, again, so the filename will work when posted to the web site. For example, if the name you go by is Crabbie Pattie, when you place your name in the filename, please omit the space so it looks like CrabbiePattie. If your nym is "Mr. Starfysh the 3rd", you could use Starfysh in the filename or MrStarfyshthe3rd if you're so inclined. If you go by the name #$%^&*! when posting to newsgroups, please consider changing it to something that can be used on the web site if, again, you would like to see your entry grouped in with the rest of the players. Heh, you could go with NumberDollarPercentCaratAndAsterickExclamation but it'll most likely get chopped to something shorter, possibly just Number, because there is also a limit on the number of characters that can be used in filenames on web sites.
The rest of the filename format is optional and it will get trimmed off of the filenames that are posted onto the web site. No offense is meant but because of the limit on the number of characters that can be used, everything past your name will get trimmed for the
sake of uniformity and neatness... and usability when it comes to hosting these files on the web sites.
If you are so inclined to add a title to your entry, you can include it in your filename. To separate your name and the title of your entry, again use the underline to indicate where your name leaves off and the title begins.
So, in my case, the filename might read at this point 'WW##_Donjon_The best wall you've ever seen' or if I didn't title my entry it may just read 'WW##_Donjon' (Again, the ## will be actual numbers and not the number signs).
Note: Angel(TM) is most likely going to remove the title from the filename since she is limited in the amount of characters she can use in the names of the files she hosts on the website. So since that's going to occur, it doesn't matter if there's punctuation or spaces
contained in that part of the filename. If whatever I decide to put in the title area of the filename actually can be used and saved by my image manipulator program, it most likely can be posted to the newsgroup.
Finally, the last part of the filename should be self-explanatory; the '.jpg' part. We all know what that is right? Okay. I'm done explaining every aspect of our file-naming format.
4.5. Posting your Entry
Post in UUEncode. We're not going to be dealing with a large number of images, so let's avoid stirring up the yEnc pot and just post in an encoding method that we know everyone already has.
Use a subject line that won't be accidentally missed. Use something like "Here's my entry for this weeks contest" or "Walrus Contest Submission", etc. Most newsreaders can use Watch filters as well as Kill filters. If you make sure your subject line contains any one of the following; Walrus, Entry, Submission, or Contest, then it's probably not going to be overlooked.
Since one of our ultimate goals to visiting and posting to this newsgroup is to learn a little bit, we ask that you include a little description about the procedure you used to make your submission. Things like what image manipulator you used (i.e., Paint Shop Pro (PSP), Photoshop (PS), Corel, etc.), what filters or effects were used, tricks or shortcuts you discovered while creating your wall, etc.
It's common that you'll get some comments on your entry. If after a reasonable period of time no one has commented on your wall, resubmit it. Your ISP or some other disturbance in the cosmos may have mucked up your post out in Usenet. (Either that or Allen has had something to do with it going missing.) You can also check the Walrus site, http://www-walrus.blogspot.com/, and see if it has shown up there.
Entries can be submitted anytime after the Source Image has been posted through Thursday. The winner from last week is going to call for the vote sometime on Friday so it's a good idea to get your entry in ahead of that so that it's not missing from the list of entries.
Keep in mind that this newsgroup is a global thingy. It may be Thursday to you on one side of the world and Friday to last week's winner on the other side. He/she may call for the vote and you may be still touching up your entry. In which case, if he/she still allows it in, because votes have been already cast, you may miss out on some votes that would've come your way.
If you have questions such as, "How do I make a post to the newsgroup?" or "What is an index?" then I suggest you download the A.B.P.W FAQ, which is posted as soon as possible, after the end of the current weeks contest.
Or you can visit: http://www-walrus.blogspot.com/p/faq-and-history.html
Once you've posted your entry, that's it. Don't continue to make 'improvements' to it and then repost the modified entry. We're trying to keep things straight for archiving and voting plus your entry is being added to a website for all to view. This takes some work on the Webmaster's end and it's a hassle if you keep reposting it. You've got several days to work on it so get it the way you like it before you post it in it's final form. (Exceptions can be made if you make a blatant mistake in your entry and you repost a corrected entry in a timely fashion. It will be up to the Big Walrus if this adjusted entry is allowed. If nothing is said from the Big Walrus, the first entry will stand. Other exceptions that are also allowed for posting a corrected entry are if your entry was not wall sized or if you forgot to add your signature stamp if you normally include one.)
Now if you do want to continue to tweak your wall after you've entered it or if you have an alternate theme idea that you wanted to explore, that's fine... we love to see creativity. But we ask you to hold onto it until after that week's voting has been started by the Big Walrus, especially if it's an alternate theme idea. We ask this because not only do these non-entries cause confusion for the Webmaster and the Big Walrus but they could also be similar to themes that other Walrus participants are currently working on as their own entries. What you could possibly be affecting is if your 'non-entry' is viewed by that person as being better than even what they were working on as an 'entry'... well, that might cause them to abandon their work and not even participate. We don't want to discourage participation.
Therefore, please share them with us after the voting has been started. When you do post them, make a note in the subject field that this is either an Alternate Entry or a Non-Entry.
5. Criticism
Constructive criticism is something every poster to this group has looked for since the group's creation. But, if you can't say anything nice or constructive then don't comment at all. (Jer Ed: I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't stand it when someone tells me my walls suck without saying how they'd improve them. It doesn't happen very often, but I still can't stand it.)
One of the ideas of this contest is for improvement when it comes to making wallpapers. Just by entering this contest you should prepare yourself for feedback.
If you would like to signal to the group that you are seeking helpful criticism, even if it happens to include negative as opposed to positive remarks, put [C&C] in the subject line when you post. The letters C&C stand for comments & criticism and by placing that in your header you are making known your intentions of wanting to hear the bad with the good.
6. Voting & Declaring a Winner
Well, someone's got to win, right? This is when the Walrii and anyone else who desires, gets to cast their vote for their favorite wall out of all the entries that have been posted during the current week. You may cast only one vote for your favorite entry.
6.1. No voting for your own submission
We all like competition, but this is just for fun and bragging rights for a week. Hopefully we can all learn a little from each other and everyone will benefit.
6.2. Who can vote?
ANYONE can vote for any week's contest. We can't stress this enough. Even if you don't have an entry in the contest, you can vote for someone who does. ABSOLUTELY ANY VISITOR TO THIS NEWSGROUP CAN VOTE IN THIS CONTEST. If you are a regular poster to this newsgroup, feel free to vote. If you don't post to the group but you read and download a lot (commonly known as "lurking"), feel free to vote. If this is the very first time you have ever visited this newsgroup, feel free to vote. If you have never even heard of alt.binaries.pictures.wallpaper and got this FAQ from someone or found it in some other newsgroup, come on by and feel free to vote. The voting starts every Friday and ends on Sunday. We want as many people to vote as possible.
Now, it shouldn't have to be spelled out but if you have an entry in the current week's contest, don't go busing in votes from Dade County, Florida or some other such tactic to drum up votes for yourself. The others in the group may not like your tampering with the polls.
6.3. When do we vote?
Voting takes place on Friday through Sunday. Sometime on Friday, the Big Walrus will post a vote thread with the instructions in the subject line to vote in this thread. An example might look like "Weekly Walrus Contest #50 - Vote Here". He/she may also post a contact or thumbnail sheet that has all of this week's entries on it. It's up to him or her but this has proven helpful in the past and people do ask for it.
Cast your vote in that thread by just hitting the reply to newsgroup button on your newsreader. Don't alter the subject field because then your vote won't be grouped with the rest and might be left uncounted if missed.
The Big Walrus may post a couple "Voting Update" (see example in 6.4 below) messages as the voting rolls on, especially if some weekend floods occur in the group. If you already voted when you see these posts, look to see that your name and whom you voted for is included in his/her list. If you don't see it listed there, notify the group.
Voting before the Big Walrus calls for the vote is not allowed. If you can't be here on either of the voting days, such is our loss for that week. That doesn't mean that we are trying to exclude you from participating in the future though. We don't allow early votes because we try to be fair to those people who may have worked on their entries all week and your early vote may come before those participants have actually entered their creations. (Exceptions can be made if the Big Walrus deems your early vote doesn't unfairly exclude any of the other players.)
Having a vote cast for you by someone else is not allowed. If you're not able to cast your own vote, we'll miss you, your vote and your comments. Please come back and join us next week though. (Note: exceptions have been made in the past for spouses but it's been frowned upon. Please get a separate ID for them and let them participate with us. We love participation.)
Once you've cast your vote, it's final. So make sure your voting for who you mean to before you cast it. If you do miscast your vote, tell the Big Walrus and then it's up to the Big Walrus if the change gets made.
Note: The voting thread can become quite large as it fills up with discussions about the past week's entries, votes and replies of thanks for those votes. Knowing this occurs, sometimes the Big Walrus will post two voting threads instead of the required one voting thread: One for discussions and the other for a simple one-line vote. This is an effort to help manage the voting process and to not lose track of votes. If you are voting and you want to discuss what you liked or didn't like about the past week's entries, do so in the Discussion thread and then also post your vote as a one-line sentence in the Voting thread, i.e. "Crabbie votes for Starfysh". You are not required to post to the Discussion thread but it's nice to get feedback so if feedback is what you want to give, please do it there. Also, try to not post comments to the Voting thread.
6.4. When is voting over/ who totals the votes?
Voting is from Friday until Sunday but isn't actually over until the Big Walrus says that it is over.
Sometime on Sunday, the Big Walrus will total up the votes and post the results to the newsgroup. The 'Results' post will include how many votes were cast for who, i.e. 7 - Walrus, 5 - Starfysh, 3 - Planktune, 1 - Crabbie, 1 - Leech, etc. It may also (and this is preferred by a few members) include a listing of names next to those vote tallies, i.e. 7 - Walrus (SquidInk, manateeIII, Sealpup, Leech, Algae#9, Crabbie, Planktune), 5 - Starfysh (Mr. Limpet, …) etc. If you don't see your name listed here and you voted, it might have been missed. Reply and tell someone.
If you get your vote in on Sunday before the winner is declared and the Big Walrus sees your vote, then you've scooted in under the wire. But things do cross in the mail. He/she may be posting the results as you are trying to cast your vote. Hey, it happens, in which case your vote may not count. This is Big Walrus discretion area.
6.5. What happens in the event of a tie?
Ah ha, if there is a tie, the current Big Walrus will vote a second time for one of those among the tied entries. If he/she happens to BE one of the people tied, he/she CAN vote for himself or herself. This is the only time someone can vote for himself or herself. You know what they say, RHIP (Rank Hath It's Privileges).
6.6. Note: Past Discussions About Changing The Voting System
Twice the subject has come up that entertained the notion of changing the voting system away from the current one vote system to one of several different alternate voting suggestions. The ideas were varied from a multi-point grading system w/several categories to score to a simple idea of voting for a first, second and third place choice w/ 3, 2 and 1 points awarded accordingly.
The latest discussion happened in week #27. The change was suggested by those that had a desire to do more with their vote than just voting for one entry per week. Especially since the contest was displaying more and more talented entries. (There were 41 entries during week #27).
This discussion was upsetting to some Walrii because the topic had been discussed before and it had been previously decided that we would stick to the simpler one vote per week way of doing things.
Therefore, it was decided that we should all vote, one way or another, whether we wanted to change the system or stay with the current system. If the result was for the current system, it was suggested that a note be placed into the FAQ to inform those newer players that this subject has already been covered. This is that note.
Out of those that did vote, the result was 27 for the current system, 1 for a change and 1 for doing away with the vote altogether.
Angel(TM), Baelthazaar, Brainless B., ColdBeerHere, D_Judge, Dabbler, Dadd, DaDerf, Del, Dönjön, EdNY, Evil Sideshow Bob, fourthdot, Gunz®, Jeepjerultra©, JohnnyVegas, Lotsa Treez, MCBaby, Monkeyman, NØKXU, Pixie, Robin-C, Roland of Gilead, Sandrat, Utheman and Vic voted for the current system. Pyro979 did too but wants to revisit this when the amount of entries hit 100.
W2whale voted for a change in the system and Artistic Perversions voted to do away with the vote.
This vote didn't include all the Walrus Contest players at the time of the poll... but it is enough of a mandate to serve as a notice to future contestants that we've "been there... done that."
7. What's a Big Walrus to do?
When you are declared the winner of the previous week's contest, you are dubbed the Big Walrus for the week. What this means is that you get to run the Walrus Contest for the week after you are declared a winner. Your duties are:
- Select and post a Source Image. (See 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 above)
- Repost that Source Image later in the week. (See 3.2 above)
- Create some contact sheets and call for the vote. (See 6.3 above)
- Tally up the results and declare the new Big Walrus. (See 6.4 above)
If you are unable to do any of the above or would like to opt out of the responsibilities, drop the group a line and tell us how much you are planning on doing. Or ask for help if you feel you might need it with counting up the votes, designing contact sheets, whatever. We're all pretty easy to get along with as long as we know what's on your mind and we'd be glad to be Little Walrii to the Big Walrus.
Note: There are some other things that some of the past Big Walruses have been doing that enhance the contest experience. These include elaborate Voting Update jpegs and awarding Winner Certificates to the next Big Walrus. These are nice additions to the contest but they are not required, so don't feel obligated to do them if you are not so inclined. But expect some good-natured kidding from some fellow Walrii for leaving them out. It's only in fun.
7.1. What happens if the Big Walrus goes AWOL or steps down?
Yes, it's been known to happen that our leaders sometimes jump ship in the middle of the night and are never heard from again. The reasons could be many; most likely computer failure, but there could be other reasons. If that happens, this section is here to try to help ensure that things run smoothly and that there is a method for keeping the contest churning along when those hiccups occur.
The Big Walrus has a certain time frame to get certain parts of the contest rolling before he or she is to be considered AWOL. After the winner is declared in the previous week's contest, the newly crowned Big Walrus has the next 24 hours to show up and claim his/her tusks and to get the next week's contest under way by posting the next Source Image.
The deadline on Friday for the close of accepting entries and when the voting period is to begin is normally left up to the Big Walrus since it is his/her week and he/she has the prerogative of when things are to happen. But there has to be a point where it is assumed that the Big Walrus is having problems and isn't going to show. That AWOL deadline will occur on Saturday and it will be the same time of day that the current week's Source Image was posted back on Sunday or Monday. For example, if the Big Walrus posts the Source Image on Sunday at 7 pm, he/she has until 7 pm on Saturday to get the vote going or he/she will be considered AWOL. If he/she posts it at 10 am on Monday, then he/she has until, at the latest, 10 am on Saturday to start the vote. (Remember, the Big Walrus should actually start the vote sometime on Friday. This is just a deadline for when it is to be determined that the Big Walrus has gone missing.)
Likewise the Big Walrus has a time limit for wrapping the vote up and declaring the next Big Walrus winner. If the Big Walrus doesn't show up after the voting part of the contest has already run for two days plus 6 hours, then the Big Walrus should be considered AWOL.
If the Big Walrus misses any of those deadlines, all the duties of the Big Walrus should immediately pass to the previous week's second place finisher.
If the Big Walrus notifies the group that he/she is going to be absent from the group ahead of time, the duties should fall upon the previous week's second place finisher and not to whoever speaks up first. Running the show is a privilege and therefore you should win, or in this case, place, to get to do the honors.
If the Big Walrus needs replacing and there is a tie between the second place finishers of the previous week, the tied second place finishers should try to work it out amongst themselves as to who gets to do the duties of the Big Walrus. They can try to work it out amicably since we like to keep a nice atmosphere around here but if each of them (or no one) wants the job, then the reins of the contest should automatically go to the second place finisher that has the most seniority in the contest. If the seniority week number of the second placers is the same, then it gets decided alphabetically (posting nym).
If the Big Walrus reappears after the next step of the contest is underway, it will be up to the second place finisher if he/she wants to pass the duties back to the Big Walrus. (Note: If the Big Walrus misses the deadline to put up the next Source Image and the second placer has fulfilled that roll, there is no changing the Source Image. If the vote has started, then the vote has started. If a new Big Walrus is declared, then that's final too.)
8. Is there a corresponding site on the web with this contest?
Yes, its now at http://www-walrus.blogspot.com/
9. Changes to this Contest
Suggestions are welcome. If you see some way that you feel may better this experience, by all means, post your suggestion. Use the following in your subject line: "Attn: Walrus Contestants" or something equally noticed.
Discussions will most likely follow in the thread you've started. People for or against your idea will likely sound off.To get your change implemented, a vote will most likely be necessary. The person making the suggestion shouldn't call for a vote; another Walrus should do that. If that occurs, the current Walrus FAQ maintainer will then oversee this process.
10. When is this FAQ posted?
This FAQ is posted every Monday and, sometimes, Thursday to the alt.binaries.pictures.wallpaper Usenet Newsgroup. Sometimes my job/life/ISP interrupts this timetable however, in which case apologies and/or reposts will be made.
11. Walrus Anniversaries. (Updated 08.14.2008)
Every year some of the Walrii like to celebrate the fact that the contest has passed another milestone of becoming another year older. We celebrate it by designating a week as the Anniversary Week. This celebration is nothing formal as far as rules go. Some will celebrate it by creating 'Happy Anniversary Walrus' wallpapers or by incorporating something anniversary related into their entries that week. Still others may post a discussion thread about something in retrospect about the contest... maybe a 'What was your favorite wall...' or 'What was your favorite Source Image of the past year?' thread. What ever happens is non-structured and is just another interesting facet to the atmosphere of this contest. \
The Anniversary date of this contest is August 24th (see section 1.1 above). Therefore the Anniversary week of any particular year is the week in which that date falls. The contest started with week 1 (WW1) but that week was actually the week after the inaugural thread that kicked things off. Fortunately, that helps keep our yearly format to 52 weeks in a year... or a few years at least. Eventually we will have to have a year that runs for 53 weeks as you can see below.
WW001 (August 25, 2002) to WW052 is Year One (52 weeks).
WW053 (August 24, 2003) to WW104 is Year Two (52 weeks).
WW105 (August 22, 2004) to WW156 is Year Three (52 weeks).
WW157 (August 21, 2005) to WW208 is Year Four (52 weeks).
WW209 (August 20, 2006) to WW260 is Year Five (52 weeks).
WW261 (August 19, 2007) to WW313 is Year Six (53 weeks).
WW314 (August 24, 2008) to WW365 is Year Seven (52 weeks).
WW366 (August 23, 2009) to WW417 is Year Eight (52 weeks)
WW418 (August 22, 2010) to WW469 is Year Nine (52 weeks)
WW470 (August 21, 2011) to WW521 is Year Ten (52 weeks)
WW522 (August 19, 2012) to WW573 is Year Eleven (52 weeks)
WW574 (August 18, 2013) to WW626 is Year Twelve (53 weeks)
WW627 (August 24, 2014) to WW678 is Year Thirteen (52 weeks)
WW679 (August 23, 2015) to WW730 is Year Fourteen (52 weeks)
WW731 (August 21, 2016) begins Year Fifteen.
12. The Players List
In order to boost egos, here's a list of all the people who've ever entered into the Walrus Weekly Wallpaper Contest along with the week number they joined. If you submit an entry to any week's contest, then your name will be added.
If I have left anybody out, misspelled your name, if you have submitted to the contest and have not yet been added or if your name appears in this list twice or more because you have changed your Usenet handle; please send a message within the group with "Attention WW-FAQ maintainer" in the subject line and I'll get it corrected. Make sure that I reply to you, because my memory sometimes resembles Swiss cheese and things can leak though the holes from time to time.
13. The Winners List
The following people have had a turn at being the Big Walrus on top of the ice. Congratulations to all of you. Tto see the winners and their wallpapers please click here
Thank you for reading and please encourage others to do so.
Dönjön & JDa
---
"I am in a duel to the death with this wallpaper. One of us has to go."---Oscar Wilde
The Walrus, as well as the Usenet group, FAQ, can be found at:
http://www-walrus.blogspot.com/p/faq-as-of-10-12-2010.html
(You may pick between versions coded in: .txt, .html, .doc. or .pdf formats)
(The most up to date version is posted in alt.binaries.pictures.wallpaper as soon after the Weekly Contest is over and a winner has been declared.)
Short Form of just the basic rules can be found here:
(short form is being revised.)
Archives for the Walrus Contest
http://www-walrus.blogspot.com/p/the-archive.html
