Okay, I am not a competitive person, but I do want to learn from others under the same constraints. No matter the rules, it is still the individual's right to participate or not. If you are too busy, skip the week you cannot participate. Time is a constraint we all deal with, and if you are a professional, I am sure you have a timeline on your projects for your clients. You should be used to it. Let's get serious. I don't usually have attitude in a discourse, however, the sarcasm and rudeness here by a few is inappropriate. Just express your opinions without belittling or questioning others about their point of you. Maybe what I just said should be a rule. lol

Let me see here, if I got the intent of this right, since I seem to be the most recent and egregious offender, let me see if I can sooth your pain a bit. This is not just for you but also for the few others who obviously do not seem to understand the nature of this issue.

I won't repeat this again but the rules up to now have allowed a person to use images that were not created within the time span of the ongoing challenge/contest regardless of the basis for the intent. Just so we will know who you are and are not talking about in your rant, I'm soon to be 77, rode in on the heels of the Great Depression in 1937, lived through WWII and Korea the underprivileged, middle of three boys who enjoyed hand-me-down clothes, no bicycles, no tv, no computer, no camera, and few toys of any sort, the son of a dirt poor Southern Baptist Minister in Arkansas. I won't speak for everyone else but if you're implying that I'm a spoiled brat you clearly must be judging all situations by something you have no knowledge or understanding about.

While not speaking for others, I was not being purposely opportunistic due to being a spoiled brat and quite frankly, your jaded commentary was quite uncalled for in my case and I'm not digging for a bone of sympathy. A 40 year diabetic, with the ravages of age and the partial amputation of my left foot the day before Thanksgiving last year has made it a little more difficult to do some things I would like to do so I will do it how the rules allow me to or won't do it at all, just so you and the others who read the rules and decided for your own self what they should say rather than what they do say and also so each of you can get things in very clear perspective. As long as I am staying within the guidelines of what the rules DO say, not what you think they ought to say, frankly I don't care what you think or say but you'd look a lot more intelligent if you didn't try to impose your will on the rest of the world.

I've grown increasingly weary with those of you who think using historical images up to now was a violation of the rules. Frankly, my first entry into this whole scenario was a couple of weeks ago, having entered a contest only once previously in a Classmates.com photography forum about five years ago, which, incidentally, I tied with two others for first place in, and to be honest with you, I don't need any of this to enjoy my hobby to my satisfaction, especially the rancor from some or you who either cannot read or alternatively cannot understand what you've read in the rules. I have no interest in an ongoing conflict with any of you but you need to pay attention to the reality of the situation and stop criticizing people who have followed the rules as they currently exist up until the current edition labeled "Labor" wherein they have been changed going forward.

The rules have been changed, are duly noted by me, and hopefully St3v3M will be a little less lenient on those who cannot see that their images do not fit the subject and ruthlessly cull them out even if it does mean that the whole endeavor will have to be scrapped for lack of adequate qualified participation. I'm sorry about your smoke problem but your misfortune doesn't authorize you to come blowing it at me. Now, if your apparent rant was just all in good fun, so is mine, or if I somehow failed to grasp the significance of what you said, nevermind!

Okay, I am not a competitive person, but I do want to learn from others under the same constraints. No matter the rules, it is still the individual's right to participate or not. If you are too busy, skip the week you cannot participate. Time is a constraint we all deal with, and if you are a professional, I am sure you have a timeline on your projects for your clients. You should be used to it. Let's get serious. I don't usually have attitude in a discourse, however, the sarcasm and rudeness here by a few is inappropriate. Just express your opinions without belittling or questioning others about their point of you. Maybe what I just said should be a rule. lol

I for one will not enter the contests in the future ( though who really cares). I stopped submitting photos to this forum in its entirety due to the rudeness of individuals on a number of the issues and in support of a friend who has just recently returned to UHH. I have been undergoing chemo therapy for the past 6 months and quite frankly do not feel well enough to adhere to the "no archive rule". I have submitted a couple of photos that I felt pertinent to the topic but they did come from my archive files. I will adhere to the rules but feel the loss of other contributors (not me) to this segment of UHH is doing a disservice to those of us wanting to learn from more accomplished photographers and isn't this the foundation of this forum?

Let me see here, if I got the intent of this right, since I seem to be the most recent and egregious offender, let me see if I can sooth your pain a bit. This is not just for you but also for the few others who obviously do not seem to understand the nature of this issue. /quote]

Gessman, I apologize for naming you in my earlier comment and putting you on the defensive in this thread. Perhaps if it hadn’t been so far past my bedtime and I had been thinking more clearly, I wouldn’t have named names. You came to mind because (1) your photo was so very good, and (2) in your interview you had revealed your medical/health situation. In a prior thread regarding archived photos I had commented how medical and health issues could prevent some Hogs from being able to adhere to a limiting time frame. So, there you were, at the front of my brain, taking up so much of it I wasn’t seeing all of the potential consequences of my words. I am sorry if I caused you to be or feel personally attacked.