Re: [AGA-Contest] AGA Aquascaping Contest: Entry Incomplete

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

We had a power outage last night, and I just got the computers back up.

Not 2003.  If you look at the entries, there's no possible way.  The 
winning entry was Mr. Hofteizer's all-red aquascape.

I will bet you mean 2002, in which the winning EXTRA-LARGE category was a 
Jeffrey Senske tank (credited as such), but photographed by a fellow named 
Larry Wright.  It is one of three Jeff Senske entries, all in that 
category.  In Biotope, there is the winning tank by Mike Senske.  And over 
in Paludarium there are two entries from ADG, one credited to Lee Clifton 
and one to "ADG Design Team".  The only one that strikes me as potentially 
inappropriate would have been this last tank.  And I beleive I asked him 
about this point.  It was quite a while ago, so I don't know the answer. 
I do suspect it was satisfactory.  Based on what I know of Jeff and Mike, 
I am pretty sure Jeff created only the three tanks credited towards him.

That doesn't change the IMPRESSION that people have, which clearly 
persists years after the fact and long since ADG has reduced their 
participation in the contest.

The "don't judge" was removed after the first or second year, as NOBODY 
checked that box, NOBODY called it a showcase except for some of the 
organizers.  I certainly can add it back in at the descretion of the 
current team and organizer.

Finally, though any yahoo could enter the contest with a fake name (cough 
cough entry 135 in 2006), I don't think that should be a reason to remove 
the rules.

  - Erik


On Fri, 1 Aug 2008, Phil Edwards wrote:

> Lee was their paludarium guy for a while if I recall correctly.  The website's 
> down so I
> can't confirm.  If I also recall correctly in 2003 (?) one of the winners was 
> an aquarium set
> up by ADG but entered under the name of the client in whose house it was.  It 
> may have been a
> case where the people had a greater hand in maintaining the aquarium, but I 
> distinctly recall
> Jeff saying that it was one of the tanks ADG was heavily involved in.  
> Personally, I don't
> care that ADG used to win so much, they deserve every ribbon they have and more 
> for tanks
> that never got entered.  The point of the example was to illustrate how easy it 
> is for people
> to take advantage of the current system to bypass the limits if they so 
> choose.  I'll admit,
> there were a couple years there when I almost had Sharon submit extra entries 
> with a note
> that they weren't to be judged but I wasn't sure if the notes would have been 
> before they
> were judged so I didn't.      
>
> Getting to the point of the original discussion though, why not give people the 
> option of
> submitting non-competition photos if they want?  I can't imagine that folks who 
> have more
> than three rounds of aquascapes to show wouldn't choose the best aquascapes for 
> competition
> anyway.  Using myself as an example again, I know I would have used a "Comment 
> Only" option
> liberally in the past.  The only aquascape I did in order to compete was the 
> little West
> African setup in 2003.  I would have been just as happy clicking the Comments 
> Only box on all
> my others entries and potential entries.  If such an option were available this 
> year I'd use
> it.  I know my setups will never be competitive again but damned if I don't 
> want to put as
> many aquascapes in the show as I can.  I've never expected any of my aquascapes 
> to place, for
> me it's about supporting the organization.
>
> Would there be a significant work/time investment involved in setting up the 
> entry process to
> separate the judge/don't judge entries?  All I see is the box on the user end 
> and know
> nothing about the work behind it.
>
> I agree with Karen, using some sort of pre-screening or consensus between the 
> judges about
> which are the top X number of tanks that actually get judged would be a good 
> idea, especially
> since we don't get to see our scores.  If it gave the judges more time to 
> comment on each
> entry all the better. 
>
> ~Phil
>
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--
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com

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