Rules & Guidelines - General

To run things smoothly here at pxleyes, we've set up some simple guidelines.

The main guideline here is having fun by entering and voting in competitions :) But, we also want to keep these contests fair! 12 volunteer moderators keep an eye on the contests and intervene when necessary.

Contests are short lived and based on short contest goals. Moderators decide about the validity of entries. The interest of moderation is to establish a level playing field for everyone.

You are, however, free to raise questions on any decision made on any of your entries by contacting us by email (or in the red flag field of your own entry - The comment section of your entry is not the place to have this discussion). Sometimes it can happen that you get totally pissed off about a decision from to mods. Take some time to cool down before you protest, we prefer good manners here at pxleyes! :)

To understand all rules properly, here's some terminology we use regularly throughout the guidelines.

1. Step By Step Guide (SBS)

When you create an entry for a contest, it is recommended to save intermediate results of your work. When you upload an entry to a contest, you'll see the option to add a step by step guide. Entries with a SBS are always more appreciated by members and moderators. This means that you have the ability to upload all your steps you did to accomplish your result. Shortly describe each step, so people can evaluate your entry better.

2. Sources

A source image is an image that you use to construct your entry. You can use as many source images as you want in your entries, as long as they're all mentioned and are according to the rules. If you don't know where to find good sources, please check out How And Where To Find Legal Source Images. There are millions of sources out there that can be used freely!

3. References

A reference is a photo (no artwork like drawings or paintings) which you use to create an entry. They can either be yours (if so you'll have to post it in the SBS) or a copyright free photo from sites like SXC and FLICKR (if so, you'll have to post a link).

A reference image can be used to look and study how an object / animal / person and so on is constructed. To study the proportions, the materials (f.i. hair, cloth), to see how materials behave (f.i. how water flows and shines).

You are allowed to use non-copyrighted photos. It is not allowed to use copyrighted photos, artwork and so on. It's not a shame to use a reference, but if you do you, must post this reference, either as a link or, if the photo is yours, you must post this photo uncut in the SBS.

4. Theme Contests

A theme contest is a contest where a written contest goal is provided. Take the time to read the goal of a theme contest. These goals are usually simple and to the point. Photography contests for example are always theme contests.

5. Source Contests

In a source contest it's mandatory to use the provided source image in your entry. Not only use it, but also manipulate it in some way. Of course you can also combine it with other external source images. Source contests are only used in the photoshop section.

The following rules apply to all types of contests. They're pretty straightforward once you're used to them. These rules are not written to annoy you, they're here to keep the contests as fair as possible.

1.1. Single Account: Only create a single account to participate on pxleyes. If you want to use multiple accounts (eg. multiple family members, working from the same ip address) - you need to notify us, so we can give you instructions on how to do this fair. If you want to use pxleyes as a family or in your (art)class room please do contact one of our mods first ( see list here ). He/she will give you some hints and tips to make this experience as smooth as possible and prevent problems.

1.2. Extreme Violence, terrorism, gore, pornography, explicit nudity...: if any of these words describe your entry, it's probably not suited for everyone, and should not be uploaded. Your entry should not be offensive to anyone. If you have doubt, you can ask the administration or a moderator first. If we have a contest for adults only, we will have them in a seperate section.

1.3. Entries from Older Contests: You may not use one of your old entries (or any part of an old entry) in a new contest.

1.4. Watermarks: Don't use.

1.5. Amount of Entries: The max amount of entries is different for each contest. But as a general rule: quality is more important than quantity.

1.6. Mentioning your Name: Don't mention your name in your image, image name, description or anywhere else. This way the contests stay anonymous.

1.7. Warning Messages from Moderators: Take any warning message from moderation serious. After you've made changes to your entry, you can red flag it and explain the changes to let moderation know. If you get a warning from one of our mods you must comply to this request before re entering your entry.

1.8. Entries Based on 1 Single Tutorial: Although it is allowed, avoid submitting entries that are exact copies of a tutorial you've read. If your entry is very similar to a tutorial result, you'll have to provide the link to the tutorial. Obviously, it is strongly encouraged to learn from tutorials and use what you've learned in your Pxleyes entries. However, it's not very creative to just follow a tutorial exactly (with the same starter image for example) and submit the exact same result as if it is your entry. Use your creativity and give your own interpretation to the things you've learned from various different tutorials. If you follow a tutorial you may not use the same sources as used in that tutorial.

1.9. Copyrighted Images: Use of Copyrighted Images as Source Or Entry in any contest is not allowed. Explicit permission from the original author is always needed

People want a fair evaluation of their entries. Voting unfair will result in loss of votepower and can make your votes obsolete. In addition to that, moderators monitor your votes and can report suspicious vote behavior. This means that even if your votepower saldo is positive after a set of contests ends, you can still lose votepower if moderators decide that you vote very unfair on purpose on only a few entries.

So... good voting means voting fair ALL THE TIME. If you really don't know what to vote on an entry, simply don't vote at all on that entry. Also, a reported vote means the vote becomes INVALID and will not count in in the score calculation of an entry. Plus, you will lose a significant amount of votepower for each reported vote. To keep your vote reputation up, try to stick to these simple rules:

2.1.: If you really have no idea how to vote on a specific entry, it's best not to vote on that image.

2.2.: If you decide to red flag an entry, don't vote extremely low on it because your vote may be reported for the wrong reasons and you'll lose votepower.

2.3.: If you have family or friends in a contest, it's best not to vote on their entries or favour them..

2.4.: If someone asks you to vote on specific entries to increase his/her chances to win, don't vote on these entries or make up your own mind about them; 'friendly voting' is strongly discouraged.

2.5.: Don't tell anyone which entry is yours. This might influence this persons vote behavior.

2.6.: Do not share your entries which are in running contests on (social) sites like Facebook or Twitter. Entries must be anonymous. When contests are closed you are free to share them wherever you want.

2.7.: Be aware that moderators can see and check all the votes which are made (except on their own entries!). Suspicious votes attract extra attention and will be looked in closely

When you comment on an entry, keep these basic rules in mind:

3.1: Don't mention the name of the author in your comment. Contests are anonymous and mentioning the authors name makes voting less fun and less accurate.

3.2: Don't personally attack anyone. (no flaming or bashing)

3.3: Don't offend anyone by making political or religious statements.

3.4: Don't make negative comments without suggestions for improvement. (eg. "THIS SUCKS", "WHAT A MESS", "LOW VOTE FROM ME", ...) The author will be discouraged by these comments can do absolutely nothing with them. There's nothing wrong with critique. But, it should come with a suggestion. * DON'T talk about your favorite holiday destination in someones entry.

3.5: Don't start discussions in someones entry that are totally unrelated to the entry.

3.6: Don't ask someone for dinner in someones entry. Keep this private!

3.7: Don't comment on 'administrative' issues of the entry (such as being off-topic for example), but raise a red flag instead.

3.8: We encourage you to make positive comments on entries, tell what you like about the entry and give some suggestions which might improve that specific entry.

3.9: Authors can give comments points (thumb up) to show appreciation of that comment. Other members can also give a comment one point if they agree with what's been commented.

It's simple, just be nice and write constructive comments. Comments such as "nice" and "great" will not be removed, but the author is probably expecting a little more. Violation of any of the items on this list can result in removal of your comment and all violations are logged.

The forum is a place to hang out, have fun and get to know other people. It's NOT a place to complain and insult others. Because forum discussions can get completely out of hand, here are some rules about posting on the forum:

4.1: Don't post personal attacks.

4.2: Don't complain about an entry that you think does not deserve that high or low spot. Although, this may be your opinion, the general public obviously thought differently about it.

4.3: Don't blame voters for the low score of your entry. You were probably expecting better results for your entry, but complaining about it won't change anything. Results are final.

4.4: Don't complain in public about any of the site rules, about the vote system or about someones vote behaviour. There is nothing wrong with posting a good suggestion and ask other opinions about it on the forums. But, complaining or whining won't help.

4.5: If you are not sure, keep it private. Sending a complaint or suggestion to the administration or a moderator has more effect than doing it on the forum.

4.6: Read the FAQ and do a search on the forum first, before you ask a question. Many questions were already answered in an older thread or are explained on the FAQ page.

4.7: If you post on the forum that you are leaving the site, the thread will be removed. Leaving this site however does not mean your contest entries will be removed.

Violation of these rules can result in removal of your forum account. If you break forum rules, but not the site rules, your forum account can be removed and your site account can remain active.

Banning can happen in 2 different ways:

1. Temporary ban: a temporary ban consist usually of several weeks up until some months. The height is up to the moderators and administration to decide and is not discuss able. A temporary ban is given to members who keep on violating site rules. The reason for a temporary ban is given to the member only and will not be posted publicly.

2. Full ban: a full ban means that your account will be removed from pxleyes and you are not allowed to make a new account. New accounts will be removed without given reason. The reason for a full ban is given to the member only and will not be posted publicly.

If you manage to get banned (which is hard if you follow all the simple guidelines!) and really, really, really want to be active again, the best thing to do is sending a mail to the administration and explain what went wrong. Maybe you will get a second chance. If you get banned, your IP will also be banned, so you can't make a new account. Don't try to make a new account on another computer, because you will be caught.

Another thing that will result in an immediate ban is having several accounts to manipulate the contest results. All IP addresses and all vote behavior will be monitored, so we can keep everything fair and smooth! We don't like to ban people and it doesn't happen alot either. But sometimes, it's absolutely necessary. If someone keeps breaking the rules or simply annoys the hell out of everyone, he/she will get banned.

The more people who follow the rules and the more people we can satisfy, the higher the prizes we can give with each contest. Pxleyes is a place to have fun and to meet new people with the same interests! So, if you follow all these simple guidelines, Pxleyes will stay fun and everyone will be happy! Good luck!

If you want to have your account removed from this site, please contact the administration or one of our moderators. Please do give a well defined reason for this request, it is very likely that the administration and/or moderators can solve your problems. If for instance you are insulted by one or multiple members, this is not a reason for YOU to leave. Since this could happen out of the views of the administration and mods they may not be aware of this. Informing them might for instance result in (temporary) bans of other members so you can keep enjoying pxleyes.