The RFF Contest Rules and submission site

[MP Guy]

The rules:

First and foremost you must be a member of RFF

Write a comprehensive article on rangefinder cameras vs. SLR’s. If someone is considering the purchase of a camera, this article should convince that person to consider a rangefinder camera. In other words, the article should provide information which will spark interest in a rangefinder camera. It would be nice for the article to detail digital photography and the future of rf's .as it relates to it

Please send your articles via email to the following address:

jtorral @ gmail .com

remove the spaces. It is there to avoid spammer.


I and a chosen other will select 5 or 10 top articles.

Out of the selected articles, a poll will be put in for members to vote on their favorite article. The winner will be chosen by you.

Moderator except for me is eligible. After all, you will pick the winner.

Whenevr you are asked about your new won camera tell them it where yougot it from.

Article entries will end on midnight May 31 2005.

Voting for the winner will end by midnight June 31 2005.

The winner will be chosen by July 1st 2005.

[Natalia]

WOW, this is exciting! I'd like to win (I had to return my R2A because of the viewfinder problem and never got another one), but I am a lousy writer, when it come to tech articles:(

[Auxerrois]

Hmmm...this reminds me of a work of fiction I once read that also took place on a June 31st. At the end, to make his point, the author emphasizes that all characters are fictional and that the story couldn't have taken place since there is no such date as June 31.

But I will not let that deter me...Rangefinders are no work of fiction. I'll assume the drawing is June 30th :)

[Swann]

Great idea! I look forward to all articles. I fear I myself won't submit, my english is too poor.

[MP Guy]

Submit the article. This is open to the world. I can always translate it using a service. If you need the german or italian language installed for the forum I can do that.

[gabrielelopez]

What?? Can I write it in italian?? I guess too many words are going to be undertaken...all those "way of telling it...". I think I would better try in english...
So we must publish it in this following thread ??

[cp_ste.croix]

ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy!

How technical should the article be? I'm way more literary than technical.

Oh, and if I win, I promise to get rangefinderforum and engraved on the baseplate...

[momosgarage]

How many words? I am sure there are people here that could write a thesis on rangefinders vs slrs. To keep the submissions under control I think there should be a upper limit on words similar to magazine style article submissions.

[tedwhite]

Perhaps an essay of, say, 500 words (two pages, typed, double-spaced), as a minimum, and 750 words (three pages) as a maximum. Some of us, swept away and in the throes of passion about rangefinder cameras, might be given to excess. A novella might result.

NAH. Impossible.

Ted

[wlewisiii]

I like those limits, Ted. Even if they aren't official, I believe I'll try to use them as I find in my experiance, I need something to act as a discipline or I'll blather till the cows come home.

William

[MP Guy]

Please send your articles via email to the following address:

jtorral @ gmail .com

remove the spaces. It is there to avoid spammer.

[ray_g]

I suppose the winning essay would be used for some purpose, at the very least, posted as an article in this site. In the spirit of obtaining the best possible result, how about it if one (or two) forum members with professional writing experience were to act as non-partisan "editors?" Just a thought.

[tedwhite]

Not a bad idea, Ray. I would not be surprised to learn that a number of forum members have the requisite experience. You probably have it. So do I. Perhaps Jorge could screen out submissions that clearly aren't going to make the grade and submit finalist essays to the "editors."

Ted

[ray_g]

Ted, I did enjoy reading your article, "The Class." As for me, I am a man of science, a left brain. The only part of my right brain that works, at least some times, is directly wired to my shutter trigger finger. ;)

[tedwhite]

If I knew which part of my brain works when I write, I'd be ahead of....in front of....almost in touch with.... "IT." (love those vague pronouns). Although I can spell the word ("science"), from that small success onward, I am adrift in a rudderless boat without a compass.

Ted

[Stephanie Brim]

I write, but I don't know if I can be convincing enough due to my very short experience with rangefinders. I suppose giving it a try couldn't hurt, though. Lord knows that I could use a rangefinder that allowed me to change lenses.

[cp_ste.croix]

I am a writer/editor as well as an English teacher (though I can't spell worth a darn!), but I want to win! I don't envy Jorge, as I think this will be an awful lot of work for him.

My partner is a magazine editor, and they pass around blind submissions and write feedback individually and then discuss them in a group to make final decisions about content.

[vladhed]

I suppose the winning essay would be used for some purpose, at the very least, posted as an article in this site

Good idea. I suggest that the winning essay be used as the introduction to the 2nd RFF lulu book!

[Patrick]

Can u tell me if what format the artical has to be in? would a word file be ok?

[Alex Shishin]

Quick question: When you say "remove the spaces" to "avoid the spammer" what do you mean? Thanks!

[RML]

Alex, remove the spaces in the email address. The spaces are added to give email address crawlers a hard time collecting email addresses off web pages. To get a working email address you type the address excluding the spaces.

[bmattock]

He means you can deduce his email address if you remove the blank spaces from the line he posted instead of using it literally. There are 'spam bots' out there, automated programs that systematically search every web page they find for anything that resembles an email address. They add it to a list and it gets sold, and that unfortunate person gets emails for penis extensions and baldness cures and low rate home mortgages for the rest of their life. Many people therefore mangle their email address intentionally so that humans, which can reason, will be able to figure it out - but the spam bots perhaps cannot.

But spam bots keep getting better at figuring things out...

Best Regards,

Bill "I am not a Spam Bot" Mattocks

[Stephanie Brim]

What he really means is, of course, that he's afraid of someone throwing Spam at him. I would be, too. Those ugly blue tins. The mysterious quality of the 'meat' inside. It's scary stuff.

[tedwhite]

Nasty stuff, devised during WWII. Do not look too closely at can's description of contents. However, a few tins in a back pack can keep you alive for a week or two, should the trek go wrong.

Ted

[GeneW]

Stephanie, you're closer to the truth than you might realize. As I understand it, the term spamming comes from the Monty Python skit -- a restaurant with only variants of spam on the menu and a group of helmeted Vikings sitting at the table chanting and singing "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam ... "

Gene

[BrianPhotog]

I have a questions and a suggestion:

Question: how many entries are we allowed? I ask because I have fiendishly devised a couple of different approaches to the brief.

Suggestion: That papers be presented for popular voting without revealing the authors name or nick to avoid members voting for a paper for any other reason but the content. I'm a newbie here, so I'm slightly paranoid of the 'klick factor' :)

BTW, I really like the idea of this contest (and obviously the prize...my R2 needs a soulmate). It's something different then the regular photo thing.

[Stephanie Brim]

Monty Python was genius and obviously knew of the dangers of this supposed 'food'.

[l.mar]

"Perhaps an essay of, say, 500 words (two pages, typed, double-spaced), as a minimum, and 750 words (three pages) as a maximum. Some of us, swept away and in the throes of passion about rangefinder cameras, might be given to excess. A novella might result.

NAH. Impossible.

Ted"


How about Haiku?

Light and simple as
Opening your own eyes quickly
Rangefinder cams rule

;)

[tedwhite]

I like that haiku idea, you who reside in the mighty midwest.

It would achieve two admirable goals: 1) concentrate the mind; 2) cut down on reading a lot of prose.

Ted

[MP Guy]

the essays are coming in. Looking good. I am definetly going to need help in picking the finalists.

[rami G]

in the email address he gave above. The author inserted spaces in the address to avoid automatic search engines locate his address and send spam mail to it. If you want to send him an email you should use the symbols in the address he gave but without the spaces.

[Roger]

Jorge has said he and one other will review entries. I prefer that to examination by a panel of editors. They could exercise their function on the winning article, once it has been selected, to make it more appropriate for wherever it is going to be used. There were also no limits on length in the rules. This RF vs SLR comparison is a very complex issue, and I don't think a 500 or 700 word limit is in any way appropriate. Well, no such limit was mentioned in the contest rules, so it would be inappropriate to introduce that limit now, after at least one entry has been written (mine!). <GRIN>

[jlw]

Question for Jorge: After emailing our articles to the specified address, will we receive any confirmation that they were received?

I sent mine in, but since I had been having some trouble with my email accounts, I'm not sure it got through...

Thanks for any info!

[Roger]

jlw's question is mine, too. I'd like to be sure my entry arrived safely.

[GordonSBuck]

Same here. I've submitted my entry - twice - without confirmation. I wonder if the email address is correct.

[JoeFriday]

nevermind.. I'm too slow today.. LOL