Car Of The Month - proposed changes?

NOTE: In no way is this post meant to be a case of sour grapes, envy/jealousy, tall poppy syndrome or any other biased rant, just an observation with a few polite recommendations

Now that I've been on this forum for over 18 months, I've come to notice some trends in regards to the Car Of The Month winners - mainly, it usually comes down to 1 or 2 cars just about every month, often Scott .  Now that shouldn't really be a surprise, as he does have one of the best cars here, as well as pretty decent photography skills, so that means on any given month he's a decent chance to win.  But what it does mean is that those who don't win might get a bit fed up with the lack of variety - same as if the one car cleans up just about every trophy at a car show or wins the same trophy multiple years in a row; after a while you get a bit sick of seeing the same thing and you're less likely to take an interest in future shows.  Not that we should reward everyone who enters though (I despise the kindergarten mentality of "Everyone's a winner, you all get a prize!" just for entering/turning up)

Anyway, based on those observations, I am proposing the following recommendations:

1) As per this year, the Car Of The Month winners go onto a calendar for the next year - any double-ups (the proposal below should limit those) then either go to the runners up or by request if people want a particular month.

2) If a person wins a Car Of The Month contest then they are excluded from the next 3 monthly contest, as a way of introducing variety into the top banner, encouraging the not-winners (since no-one is a loser ) to go out and take more/better photos of their cars as well as giving those new to the site a greater impression of the variety of cars and owners the site encompasses (if the same 2-3 cars make up the banner all year long, it gives

3) Make the banner an animated slideshow of the winners over the course of the year (maybe with the Month mentioned as well), or maybe finding a way to still recognise the current winner but still injecting some life and variety into the banner.

4) Move away from the concept of a whole-car photography-only contest (not that it is explicitly one now, just that seems to be the dominant form of entry), or maybe try and feature modifications (and photos of said modifications) as contest entries - say a good quality photo of someone's nice shiny cold-air intake, or the paint job on a set of cam covers. Get creative, get artsy, think outside the box.

Thanks for the thoughtful ideas!  I'm always open to suggestions lol.

1) it is time to start thinking about a new calender!

2) My thought has been that the voters have the power.  I don't just pick my favorite pic... you guys vote.  So if you are sick of seeing a car over and over again, don't vote for it, right?

3)  An animated banner might be possible, like if I combined the top 2 winners in a GIF.  I might also be able to to a random pic of the top 2-4 winners, so it changes when you refresh.  I could even have a pool of pics (old pics) and the winner gets added to the pool.... of course, that would mean the old pics are always there.

4) well the idea of the pic at the top of the page is to represent the AE101 club, so the pic should be a car imo.  Now, if I was able to script the random image thing, then maybe we could slip some parts in there as well, as our visitors are most likely to see a whole car at one point in their visit lol.

I hope to hear a good discussion following!

I really liked the ideas that Hiro proposed, and the idea of the banner pool its great

i agree with the whole "it always comes down to the same couple of cars". and i too like the pool idea. its always cool to see different cars. also i like the "features" pictures as well because no 2 of us have the same exact interiors and performance mods, its a nice change of scenery. infact next month ill take a picture of something other than the entire car.

kickfli12 wrote:

infact next month ill take a picture of something other than the entire car.

As long as it is something bigger and more identifiably AE10x than a bolt

possibly as part of the banner we could have the main part being the whole car then beside that a couple smaller pics of interior or rims etc...for example.....

some great ideas posted here ian, we are all open to suggestions

disturbedphil wrote:

possibly as part of the banner we could have the main part being the whole car then beside that a couple smaller pics of interior or rims etc...for example.....

Only downside to that I can see is where do the extra photos come from? If it was a "feature car"-style contest then maybe, but with the current setup most of us don't go out and take photos like it is a magazine photoshoot. Plus not all of us have tidy cars on the inside (I know I don't, the downside to driving it every day)

but why dont you all go out like its a magazine photoshoot? hell, thats the most fun! even if youre using a cell phone you can still go crazy and come out with great pictures. in fact, ive won with a cell phone pic. but i do go out and pretend like its a magazine shoot

lol look at the banner this month, i think thats magazine quality and anybody can do it, you just have to take your time (and i understand that we all dont have that kind of time) =)

^^^ lol, Mr. humble here

But you guys can make and submit your own collages like that, nothing wrong with that even in the current format!

In all fairness, aside from this month, I haven't entered the competition since May , and from memory I've only won once or twice in the past, so I don't really think we need to start changing the rules as even though we have repeat entrants we rarely have repeat winners.

I do however think that the photo should be judged by how well taken it is, not how appropriate it would be for the site banner or what the Corolla itself looks like. Even the most stock standard Corolla in the world could win ride of the month if they took a well composed, clear photo. I'm aware that not everyone has an expensive camera or the skills to take something magnificent, but even by taking the car to a beach, a field, something with a nice backdrop etc, shows that they've put the effort in, and for me that gets my vote any day, regardless of what the car itself looks like.

Kiwi-Corolla wrote:

In all fairness, aside from this month, I haven't entered the competition since May , and from memory I've only won once or twice in the past, so I don't really think we need to start changing the rules as even though we have repeat entrants we rarely have repeat winners.

I may have been exaggerating slightly

Hiro wrote:

Kiwi-Corolla wrote:

In all fairness, aside from this month, I haven't entered the competition since May , and from memory I've only won once or twice in the past, so I don't really think we need to start changing the rules as even though we have repeat entrants we rarely have repeat winners.

I may have been exaggerating slightly

Just ever so slightly . I do however appreciate the compliment

Kiwi-Corolla wrote:

I do however think that the photo should be judged by how well taken it is, not how appropriate it would be for the site banner or what the Corolla itself looks like. Even the most stock standard Corolla in the world could win ride of the month if they took a well composed, clear photo.

I agree!  This is what I mean by "appropriate for the site banner" lol..... a well-taken photo of an AE101, regardless of mods.