Member 'experience level' upgrades

[ricktas]

The moderators and I have reviewed members who have been on the site for over 2 years and have been active during that time. We have decided to do an en-masse member upgrade.

Beginners who joined prior to 01-01-2011, who are active members and have over 250 posts on the site. We feel that over 2 years of being an active member should be commended and that you should have all the basic skills down by now, and thus are deserving of an upgrade.

Congratulations to the following members for being upgraded to Intermediate Level

agb
Allan Ryan
AnnieP
Chinook
Coriena
Greeny
la lumiere
lostris
MegHenry
nuoz
nuoz2
SkattyKat
Tommo1965
wandapics

Congratulations to the above members on your upgrade. If you feel this should not have happened, please send myself or one of the site moderators a personal message and we will discuss.

Note. More beginners may be upgraded in the near future.

Next up: we will be upgrading some intermediate members to advanced.

[ricktas]

Intermediate members who have been members since before 01-01-2011, have been active contributors to the site and have over 500 posts.

Congratulations to the following members who have been upgraded from Intermediate to advanced:

Ameerat42
Andrew
andylo
arnica
Bennymiata
Bercy
bobt
Boo53
Boofhead
Brian500au
Cap
Chilli
Coolie21
Danielle10
Darvidanoar
dbose
Derek-C
dulvariprestige
fabian628
FallingHorse
farmer_rob
feral1
fess67
Floribunda
hawko02
Ian
in2fx
invisible
Ionica
Jacs14
JimD
judybee
junqbox
kaiser
KarenC
leanneqld
Lindiwe
Mark L
Mary Anne
Mat
Michaela
mikec
mikew09
mpb
mudman
Nanny
nixworries
nouveau1
OzzieTraveller
peterb666
peterking
Phil777
rafikicat
Rattus79
rellik666
rene52
Robert Horler
Roosta
salnel
Sarge
Shane.R
smp
Speedway
StanW
trublubiker
wideangle

To all the above members, congratulations on being upgraded to Advanced. If you feel you should not be at this level, please send a personal message to myself or a moderator.

There could be more upgrades soon!

We do upgrades all the time, from reviewing members competition entries and votes to your participation on the forums. This is the first time we have done a 'bulk upgrade' as such, and we could be doing more of both the usual upgrades and bulk upgrades in the future.

[Mark L]

Jeez, upgraded.
Think the 'bulk upgrade' is a good idea. Anyone worried by their upgrade should just relax and

[Wandapics]

Thanks Rick I was thinking I should go up as I have gone up at Camera Club
Now to try & post more on here.

[Mary Anne]

Yes a bit of a shock for me too having never won a competition yet. And never will now.

[ricktas]

Yes a bit of a shock for me too having never won a competition yet. And never will now.

As was said, if you have an issue with the upgrade, send a PM to a mod or myself and we will review members individually.

[Mark L]

Yes a bit of a shock for me too having never won a competition yet. And never will now.

I often think that the beginners are as good as the advanced in the comps.
Don't base your ability on what the comps results say.

[Ian]

thank-you rick and mods, but i am not sure i am worthy of the up-date just yet. ian(aka pappa smurf)

[geoffsta]

Looking at the list of names that were in intermediate, I'm surprised weren't in advanced anyway.
And I agree with MarkL. Last weeks comp, some of the beginners images were clearly better than some of those in advanced.

[CAP]

Finally cracked 600 posts and a level upgrade on the same weekend !!!!
Bit early to bust out the scotch, might go celebrate with a coffee.

[alsocass]

Yes a bit of a shock for me too having never won a competition yet. And never will now.

I have been thinking lately that the intermediate competition has had overall better quality pictures than the advanced, t least in my beginner opinion.

[Sifor]

I have been thinking lately that the intermediate competition has had overall better quality pictures than the advanced, t least in my beginner opinion.

I'd agree with you on that one, especially for this week's POTW...

[Geoff Port]

Congratulations to all those upgraded. Well done.

[Mary Anne]

I have been thinking lately that the intermediate competition has had overall better quality pictures than the advanced, t least in my beginner opinion.

As mentioned above I also look at some of the beginner entries and think *What are they doing in this Skill Level* they should be in Advanced

[peterking]

I don't agree with it.

Looking at it though, maybe this is the challenge I need to pull me out of my complacency!

[Kym]

Beginner is the default when you join, some people don't set it even if they have 20+ years experience.
It gets sorted fairly quickly, we also tend to review new members and bump them if they have any sort of pro experience.

[Kym]

Yes a bit of a shock for me too having never won a competition yet. And never will now.

Winning a comp is not the only thing, making the final on many occasions is quite significant.
Statistically winning is very difficult. I.e. compare the number of winners to the number of entries.

[Speedway]

Thank you for that ego boost, I needed it I have been feeling a bit down lately and not doing enough photography, hopefully this gets me off my backside and out there again.
Cheers
Keith.

[Rattus79]

He he he. I'm advanced now!! Look out!!

[Mary Anne]

Winning a comp is not the only thing, making the final on many occasions is quite significant.
Statistically winning is very difficult. I.e. compare the number of winners to the number of entries.

Numbers don't mean anything to me I have been in the finals a few times. My aim is to win one competition and then I will be happy