I Challenge You Fellow Newbies... To 250 Downloads! - RACE CLOSED

Hey all,

I just finished reading Imgorthand's forum topic on exclusivity and someone there gave me a great idea. As a fun way to challenge ourselves, I'd like to start a friendly contest for iStock newbies. I currently have FOUR whole downloads (woo-hoo!), and would love to reach the magic 250 in order to be considered for the super-cool club (a.k.a. EXCLUSIVE). Although I'm working on that for my own selfish reasons, I wouldn't mind having some extra fun at it by holding a friendly competition. Here is my proposal:

RULE 1: Starting today, we will have a race to 250 downloads. The first one to reach 250 is the winner. I know that there's a little lag time in updating the stats for everyone to see, but maybe an iS admin can help out here. If not, that's cool too, we can just go by the honor system.

RULE 2: Obviously, you have to have less than 250 to participate. A lot less. Let's create a few categories:
Cat 1: 10 or Less
Cat 2: 11 to 25
Cat 3: 26 to 50

I think that's it for the categories, because I like things in threes. But just as important, this is a challenge for newbies. In my humble opinion, more than 50 downloads is not a newbie (just my opinion).

RULE 3: There are no more rules. See, I told you I like things in threes. No limits on entries, no fancy spreadsheets, just a good ol' race based on your own honesty.

Now, I have to think of a cool prize, besides a shout-out in this forum for the winners (although there's not much that can top that). Maybe a T-shirt or something like that, I don't know, but I don't have a budget for anything these days, so I can't go buy you a cool trophy. Input on this would be more than welcome.

If you're interested in participating, just holla back here and we can get started. I'll try to keep track of everyone that opts in. I hope that we can get some traction here and that I'm not the only one in the race (although that would make me the winner! um, and the loser).

-Ben

PS - Like all things iStock, this is a friendly challenge. Let's keep it that way, otherwise I will kick and scream like a baby.


PPS - I originally started this topic incorrectly in the Discussion forum. I believe this is the official home for stuff like this, so please respond here instead of to the one in Discussion. Muchos gracias.

(Edited on 2009-01-19 10:57:57 by BenLin)

(Edited on 2010-01-11 13:41:34 by BenLin)

PRIZES:

1st Place Overall - "The Moment It Clicks" by Joe McNally - donated by Ethan (emyerson)
The first person to reach 250, regardless of category, wins this prize.
As of 5/4/2009, Maciek (Imgorthand) has won first prize by reaching 250. All contestants in Category 2 are no longer eligible for the remaining two prizes. Congratulations Maciek!

1st Place from remaining 2 categories) - Book or video on the historical photographer of your choice - donated by Jani (JBryson)
The first person to reach 250 from one of the two remaining categories (i.e. this person cannot be from the same category as the 1st Place Overall winner), wins this prize.
As of 5/6/2009, Shirley (skdesigns) has won second prize by reaching 250. All contestants in Category 1 are no longer eligible for the remaining prize. Congratulations Shirley!

1st Place from last category - iStock T-shirt - initially donated anonymously; actual donor is Charly (charlybutcher)
As of 6/25/09, Inkout has won third prize by reaching 250. Congratulations Inkout!


The original groups:

Category 1 (10 or less DLs)
Category 2 (11 to 25 DLs)
Category 3 (26 to 50 DLs)

1/31/2010: there is a new friendly contest to see who gets their next 750 DLs first.  Post your stats every week here.

(Edited on 2010-01-31 14:23:35 by BenLin)

Sounds like fun.  Look forward to 250 dls for us all.

I'm in. Looks like it will be Cat 3 for me but just barely. Should be fun.     <== 3 sentences


Don

Well done, Don.  Welcome.  Good luck.

I'm still under the wire at 49 (with a surprise 2 happening yesterday).  Can I get in?  The idea of a race motivates me. 


(3 sentences there too 

Welcome, Karen.  It inspires me too.

Welcome to the race!  It looks like you've got an early lead!  But wait till you see my next few uploads!

Hey I've got a set of 3 also! I love races, I love newbies, and I love this book, so I'm going to sweeten the pot a little and buy the winner of this race a copy of "The Moment It Clicks" by Joe McNally. Sorry, only one copy coming from me, so it's not the winner in each category, just the first one to cross the finish line.


Best of luck, doods!


 

Thanks for the incentive Ethan.  You rock.  I'm looking forward to winning. (3 sentences)

Sweet!!  We now have an actual prize for this race!  Hopefully that will inspire everyone even more, and possibly even draw a bigger pool of contestants.  Thanks emyerson, for coming up with a prize, and for paying attention to something that us noobs are doing.  One of the best things about iStock is the advice and help that the seasoned pros give the rookies.  Everywhere else, be it the office or another part of life, it's a dog-eat-dog world.  Good luck to everyone (especially me!).

I'm in for the race, too - I'm a newbie vector contributor - just a month now! So far I've had 2 downloads, so add me to Cat 1.

Hi, i'm new here also. I'm FIRMLY in the first category and would love to get involved.

Welcome to the race skdesigns and Eyelikedurt!  Good luck!  Woo-hoo!

Now that's a great incentive!  I will personally vouch for the awesomeness of McNally's book.  Good luck to all of you!

Oooh this sounds like fun. I was thinking of joining in the Race to Silver but then realised that my 7 dls would look a little lost there lol.

Best of luck to all of you!

Hey,  my 17 downloads and I will play!    Thanks for putting it together! 


And tip o' the NY Mets baseball cap to Ethan for the McNally book offer, too!  I'll go on record and commit to a little "pay it forward" activity:  After I earn the little gold crown, I'll offer a photography book prize for whatever newbie race happens to be going on at the time.  Now, keep in mind, this could take awhile...


Happy 2009, everyone.


Mike

this should be a fun one to watch, maybe post your milestone pictures say 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 


good look all 

Welcome Species125 and mrod!  Finally charlybutcher has some competition in his category, although only one newbie will get to win the grand prize.  With 8 entrants, we've got a bona fide competition now!  (Still 3 sentences)