GhostMouse

Congratulations to @cannibalcow for winning the tiebreaker!

Not a problem! And definitely, if you ever want to chat about photography or ask about a picture, feel free to message me! I'm far from an expert, but I would be happy to give whatever help or feedback I can. Thanks for the feedback on the proposed rule! I'm debating changing the word "actual" to "exact" but I'm nitpicky about my own writing.

Posting on behalf of @dracornithologist, the tiebreaker poll for Contest #231 "Glimmer." Submissions: Little-Star's Chandelier in the Louvre cannibalcow's Morning Way to Work Ping List: @blah @BringsTheSnow @CandraCat @Chaos Rider @Confused Cat @dracornithologist @Fly-by-Night @Fuzzbucket @galleri @GhostMouse @LadyDraco @LadyMadonna @Lagie @Little-Star @Lovecats @NeNi_182 @purplehaze @sh20000sh @Song_of_Fete @Wanderer

I can do this. My suggestion of making a second competition isn't about anyone in particular, it's just about a trend I have noticed over the time I've been participating in these contests, I just brought it up because I was already bringing up a different suggestion and it's been in my head for a while that it could be a fun thing to try. I would just like to reiterate that this is not part of anything I have suggested. Maybe it's my use of the term scavenger hunt that is misleading people? The scavenger hunt would also allow for the use of old pictures. You can scavenger hunt through your personal photo gallery. So if my "weird fruit/vegetable" example was happening, your cardinal tomato would be a perfect entry! (Please share, I'd love to see it!) It's just that the scavenger hunt would have no emphasis on the aesthetic quality of the image being submitted, vs this which is an art contest (at least, as I understand it). I don't want to speak for the group (I would love to hear others weigh in here), but I don't want to see anyone discouraged from participating because they're unable to host. To me, the more entries the better! We put the 48hr rule in place a while ago because a winner hadn't logged in for some time after submitting their photo and we needed a plan for how to pass the hosting duties along, and something we could refer to in the future for guidance. I feel like if you enter, happen to win, and know that you aren't up for hosting, it isn't too different from going missing from the forums for any other reason. If that is the case, and you're around within the time frame, it would just be nice to mention it so that hosting can be passed on right away (or in this case, a tiebreaker set up). (Quick edit: I see this conversation happened in private messages, but a public post would be nice because clearly, sometimes hosts get busy too! ) I know hosting is the "less fun" part, but if we stick to the shorter timeline proposed, each contest will turn over faster and everyone will have more opportunities to participate, so no one will be sitting out on hosting duty for very long (hopefully), so I don't think this would specifically encourage people to enter with no intent of hosting ever (aka the way Fuzzbucket and I play the Bingo game ). At the very least, I see no harm in seeing how things work out for a while and having a discussion later if something needs to change. And since I'm here, here's a proposed wording for the suggested new guideline, to be placed under Hosting Guidelines: - As a guide, contests should be open for entries for 2-3 weeks, and voting for no more than 1 week. The actual timeline is at the host's discretion and can be adjusted to account for holidays, travel, and other life events as needed. Edit, because otherwise it will awkwardly auto-merge. Tiebreaker is here:

My thought was encouraging this contest to be more like #2 (the way I have always interpreted the rules, personally), and then opening up a new contest that is more of a scavenger hunt to find something that fits a theme, which can be edited as much or as little (including not at all) as the contestant likes. The scavenger hunt themes could potentially be more challenging/specific, where the challenge is specifically in finding a suitable picture to enter/subject to photograph. I don't have this idea fully fleshed out so I'm open to suggestions but I think it could be fun. Maybe for these the host simply chooses their favorite (most interesting, fits the best, etc) instead of having a group vote. I'm trying to think of a good scavenger hunt example. One could be something like, "show me the weirdest fruit or vegetable," and then some people might share some kind of exotic fruit that they'd never heard of but discovered at a farmer's market, or it could be this sweet potato I found that looks like a rat. I can't see an artistic way to edit this picture but it is silly and (IMO) interesting! I would never use it for the Photo Contest but I would absolutely use it for a scavenger hunt. Sweet Potato Rat: I think this is the exact divide I'm seeing. To me, a Photo Contest is about the most attractive photo, not matching the theme the best. If the host has said that an entry qualifies for the theme, then I think it's a valid entry and "closest to the theme" isn't a consideration for me in voting. I only factor it in if two (or more) photos are equally attractive to me and I need a personal tie breaker. I feel like I've seen photos win for "matching the theme" even when there are nicer photos entered. So for me, the scavenger hunt would be a "match the theme" contest and this photo contest would be an art contest. This is also my thinking. If they're short and you miss one, or you aren't really feeling the theme or can't find anything to enter, no big deal because the next one will start soon. Extending the times around the holidays made sense because it's a busy time of year and people might be traveling or their schedule might be changed for all kinds of reasons. And of course if something unexpected comes up for the host things have to be flexible, we all know real life comes first and real life is unpredictable.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through that. If you feel up to hosting, it's still open for you. We've had previous winners disappear for longer, with no explanation at all, hence the rule. So no worries! I hope you're feeling better!

To be clear, I am not suggesting the rules change to only allow new photos. I feel like this rule is doing more harm than good, or at least causing more confusion than it is clarity: "No manipulation besides basic photo adjustments (contrast, exposure, cropping, color balance, lighting, etc.)." To me, I take it that "contrast, exposure, cropping, color balance, lighting" are the expected (but not required) editing basics for submission, but extreme manipulation is not allowed. Most of those are done automatically now when a picture is taken with a smart phone. An image can be cropped or the horizon leveled in a matter of seconds on a smart phone, which I imagine most (not all, I know) contestants are already using to take their pictures, so a simple edit of an existing photo shouldn't be a huge investment of time, it can literally be those two touches and done in under a minute. It takes longer to load a photo to the forums. I also never meant to suggest a hard and fast rule for submission or voting times, just a general guideline that hosts can use as a baseline, something that seems to work the most often. Sometimes we get new winners who are participating in their first contest and they have no idea how to set up the new one, I definitely would have liked some written guidelines my first time hosting!

I've noticed that with certain contests, people seem to try to post whatever it is they already have that they can fit into the prompt, whether or not that picture was taken or edited with artistic intent in mind. Essentially, to my eye, this contest gets a lot of snapshots instead of photographs. This is an ongoing observation and not about this contest in particular. I think as an outlet for that kind of thing, it would be fun to have a sort of photo scavenger hunt, where the theme is more important than the aesthetic. Show me something yellow, show me a wild animal, even a take on this prompt would be perfect, show me your personal "glimmer." And then the vote could be for whoever fit the prompt the best, or had the most creative "answer," or some other criteria (maybe the host chooses each time). I've been hesitant to say anything because I really don't mean to offend anyone with this or call out anyone in particular, I don't want anyone to think this is about them specifically (it isn't). Art is subjective so perhaps the things that look like snapshots to my eye hold more artistic value to others. I also don't think anyone in particular only posts snapshots, sometimes a person may post something I find beautiful one contest and then a "snapshot" the next. I have certainly been guilty of submitted something I didn't think was artistic enough, just for the sake of submitting something. But I've really been thinking that people seem to enjoy searching for "what matches the prompt" and that it would be a fun contest in its own right. And in turn people might be more willing to stretch themselves and take new photos to submit for this one, or edit an old photo into something really lovely.

Congrats to @CandraCat for the win! I would like to point out that the win has not been acknowledged withing the 48 hours stated in the rules and it has now been a week without a contest being posted. At this point the rules state hosting should pass to the second place winner, but second place is a tie, so I suppose we need a tiebreaker? I would also like to gently propose some new guidelines for the contest timeline. This single contest has now taken more than two months, which I think is an exceptionally long time. I don't see a need for voting to take more than a week, or for entries to last longer than 3 weeks, which would allow for the full run of a contest within the span of a month, allowing for nearly 12 contests a year (and that's assuming the new host has a theme ready to go upon winning). Considering how few contests can be posted in a year, I almost want to propose an even shorter submission time frame, but I also don't want anyone to feel rushed, so I'm interested to see how the rest of the group feels? Alternately, I've been considering for a while that this contest seems to be approached in two different ways, and I think it could possibly be split into two contests, which could double how many are played in a year. I am worried about how small that might make each contest thought, and I don't want to offend with this suggestion by defining the two play styles as I see them. I just think there's the opportunity for two different games to be played here, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had this thought or would be interested in the idea?

My husband and I picked up Pokopia (for me) and Resident Evil 9 (for him) on the same day, about a month ago. I'm no good with action games but horror is my vibe so I really enjoyed watching him play through it. I've been joking about how they're the same game because of all the similarities (the limited storage, the chests, gaining hip pouches, the epistolary story telling through documents you find along the way). Anyway, he finished first so I've watched him play through RE2 & 3 now, and we just started 4 last night. Meanwhile, I've finished the main story in Pokopia but I'm still trying to find all the Pokemon and make all my towns look cute. I've been playing Pokemon since Red/Blue but I've never been really excited about battling, this honestly might be my favorite Pokemon game ever.

Finally got all mine, they're all great but I particularly love the crow and all the Pokemon eggs, and now I have this weird craving for boba and avocado toast...

R41 - Show one of your prizekin lines and the reason why you chose to showcase that specific line. - Bingo It was a lucky holiday find and someone was nice enough to gift me a mate shortly after. R42 - Show the 4 different Moonblight dragons. Showing 1 = 1 point. Showing all 4 = 4 points. I'm guessing you get the drift here. - Bingo (my whole Moonblight group for 4 points) R43 - Show me your favorite Xeno breed and why is it your favorite? 1 point for messy lineage. 2 points for pretty lineage. 3 points for a CB. - Bingo They're the ones I end up breeding the most, they look great with so many things, and they're such a nice green. R44 - Show a CB Red and a CB Magma. Give a reason why the Red is hotter than the Magma. - Bingo Red - Magma The Red has attracted more mates so is probably hotter by dragon standards. R45 - Show all 6 Gemstone colors. 1 point for no CBs (messy fine). 2 points for all CBs. 3 points for ONE lineage (can be messy) that has all 6 colors. 4 points for ONE pretty lineage that has all 6 colors. - Bingo All CB R46 - Show me your upside down mint from April 1, 2026. (I know they will be growing hatchies, and that's okay, since I'm the host, lol). I got eaten. R47 - There's a few breeds that have the word "moon" (or some variation of it, such as moonshine, etc) in the description. Show me your favorite "moon" breed and why is it your favorite one? - Bingo They're so pretty, particularly the blue ones. R48 - Tonight (April 3) is gonna have thunderstorms which will chill the weather for tomorrow, but not for long.. So I'd love to see a Thunder x Thundersnow lineage (no messy ones) and no other breeds in it. R49 - Show me a lineage (either stair, spiral, or checker) made of a breed that begins with a A and a breed that begins with a Z. R50 - You all know that my very first dragon is a Storm dragon, so let's see if you have a cool lineage with Storms. (No messies, of course.) - Bingo

Want: 2G Skystrider from Female Silver Shimmer, mate for her Have: CB Rainbow Copper Make an offer!

Very cool adults! Is the double L in Papillunes pronounced like papillon or like lune? Papi-oon? Papi-loon?

Aw, I got eaten. That's two years in a row! 😭 I haven't seen them all yet but I'm loving the new sprites.

I'm so excited to see the adults for these, I'm really liking the hatchlings so far. I managed to grab 4 Orange pygmies in my first batch and 4 Blue pygmies in my second, I'm not sure what the difference is because I caught them all during the day. My Blues are all Alpine and my Oranges are all Desert, but I think others have already ruled out Biomes? It doesn't feel random when you get 4 of the same all at once, hopefully someone smart will figure it out soon. Ugh, trying to leave a space for a Flipped Mint tomorrow but I really want to get my last Bone egg.

Black Tea: 4 Black Truffle: 3 Blacktip: 0 Blusang: 2 Brimstone: 0 Flint: 1 Floret: 6 Incense: 6 Magnesium: 0 Mariner: 0 Melismor: 3 Mirisia: 5 Olive: 3 Siorghlas: 5 Turpentine: 1 I didn't try for 2Gs except for the Incenses, I'll update if I manage any more. It did finally occur to me to pair all my 2G Incenses together for some 3Gs, at least!

In addition to what purplehaze said, if you click on "Show Results" it counts as a vote for nothing, and you can't go back and vote for any of them. It's like opting out of the vote.

Took this, thanks!

It's one of my favorites, I watch it every year on Thanksgiving because there's something a little cozy about it. Or maybe it's because it's about a big family gathering? I can't quite explain it but it just feels right as a Thanksgiving movie to me, like you could probably put it on at a family get together and everyone would be entertained, I dunno. The other two movies were okay, the second one was kinda fun but the third one fell flat for me.

I'm so sorry. ❤️ It sounds like she's ready but that hardly makes it any easier on her humans. ❤️

It has to be CB from the Coast, bred eggs don't count when it's a location requirement.

R37 Bingo R38 Bingo? I'm still finding this one a little (forgive the pun) nebulous, but if I've missed something I almost definitely have it

R36. Create a group of (obviously CB, since I gotta see the biomes) one breed that you have a M/F for EACH biome - that's SIX pairs. Xenos, NDs, Zombies, or Vampires DO NOT count. - Bingo R39. Show me a perfect 9th gen stair that was NOT created during PH's Breeding Challenge. Two breed only. - Bingo Could you clarify which breeds you count as hybrids and which breeds you count as having alts?

I'm familiar with this game, Jax and Salem are fans. What does that taste like? I've never heard of it.