2,000,000 Post Avatar Contest Rules

[Doctor Q]

2,000,000 Post Avatar Contest

MacRumors Forums is approaching its two millionth post. To celebrate, we are having an avatar-creating contest. Avatars are the images you see under the names of some MacRumors members who have reached 500 or more posts. They can be created with almost any graphics or image editing program. Even if you don't have 500 posts to display an avatar, you can enter the contest.

There are two prizes for each winner:
1. Bragging rights.
2. Winners with less than 500 posts will get to use their winning avatar in the forums, even though they would otherwise not be eligible to have an avatar.

Winners will be chosen in three categories:
* Best Animated Avatar
* Best Static (non-animated) Avatar
* Best Apple-themed Avatar (somehow related to Apple Computer)

Five finalists will be selected in each category by the moderators.

The winner in each category will be chosen by a public poll among the finalists. All MacRumors members will be eligible to vote for the three winners.

Contest Rules:

Please read through these rules. They will answer most of your questions.

1. Eligibility. Any MacRumors member with any active member status can enter. You can submit as many entries as you like. They must be your own work. Avatars must follow the guidelines for the current avatars: jpeg, gif, or png files, at most 75x75 pixels and at most 20,000 bytes (19.5KB). Oversize avatars will not be eligible.

2. Submission.2a. To submit an entry, click here (http://forums.macrumors.com/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=70) to create a new thread in the Avatar Contest forum.

2b. The thread title must be your MacRumors member name or your member name followed by a unique counting number, e.g., Mr. Anderson for the first thread, Mr. Anderson 2 for the second thread, Mr. Anderson 3 for the 3rd thread, etc.

2c. Attach your avatar to the first post in the thread. Do not link to a graphic on another web site or your own server. To be eligible, avatars must be attached to your post.

2d. You do not have to say which of the categories the avatar is for. If it is Apple-themed, it will automatically be eligible in two categories.

2e. Submissions must be new work done by you, not seen on the MacRumors boards previously.
3. Comments. When posting your entry, you can add your own comments about it if you like (e.g, to tell what gave you the idea or what software you used), but this will not affect judging. Anyone can post comments to anybody else's contest entry thread to talk about that entry, but these posts will not affect judging. If you have comments or questions about the contest itself, post them in this thread.

4. Changes. Avatars posted in your thread, other than in the first post, are not eligible for the contest. You may change the avatar in the first post if you want to improve it (or shrink it to an eligible size) the same day you start the thread. After that, start a new thread to enter another avatar in the contest.

5. Suitability. Keep it clean. Avatars should not be political, offensive, tasteless, profane, X-rated, etc. If you even question whether or not an entry is appropriate, do not submit it, or PM a moderator and ask about it first. Members posting something unsuitable will be dealt with as per forum rules.

6. Entry period. The period for contest entries has started as of this post. It ends the moment of the 2,000,000th post, which we estimate to be sometime between 1 and 2 weeks from now. The exact moment depends on posting rates, which vary day to day. There will be an announcement here when the entry period is over.

7. Finalists. The MacRumors moderators will select 5 finalists each in the Animated, Static, and Apple-themed categories, based on creativeness, craftsmanship, and/or humor. There will be at most one avatar in the finals for a given MacRumors member across the 3 categories, so exactly 15 different members will be finalists. Decisions of the moderators will be final. The moderators will not be eligible to be finalists but may submit avatars.

8. Voting. There will be three polls:* Best Animated Avatar (5 entries)
* Best Static Avatar (5 entries)
* Best Apple-themed Avatar (5 entries)
Any MacRumors member can vote, at most once, in each of the three polls. The polls will be open for at least 3 days. Ties, if they occur, will be handled as co-winners.

9. Prizes. Finalists get enviable bragging rights. Winners get even more enviable bragging rights, and they may use their winning entry as their member avatar, whether or not they have reached 500 posts.

10. Rules. If you don't follow the contest rules, your entries will not be eligible to be finalists. A mistake such as misnaming your thread or using an oversize avatar may or may not be pointed out to you.

11. Legal mumbo jumbo. There is no legal mumbo jumbo. We're doing this just for fun! When in doubt, we'll use common sense and you should too.

To see the contest entries as they accumulate, click here to display the contest forum.

Good luck!

[vniow]

And so it has begun...

*fires up Photoshop*

[G5Unit]

OK. I hope this will be good. I might enter a couple.

[JDOG_]

So...Excited....

Big plans this year, maybe something with Steve Jobs and an Ewok in the same 75x75 space...who knows.

[dontmatter]

heh, watch something big happen in mac land, and have the whole thing end early, and people be disgruntled, but hey, now they have an apple PDA for christmas! (or something like that... though of course, nothing is happening in mac land until january....)

[TheMonarch]

I'm in... As soon as I'm done with finals... :)

[macnews]

this should be interesting to see...

[liketom]

ok i'm going for this one ! lol

:cool:


been waiting for this

[autrefois]

2,000,000 posts, wow! Congratulations in advance to MacRumors!

Let's see if my logic is right.

June 2000 - August 2004 (approx. 50 months): 0 to 1,000,000 posts
August 2004 - December 2005 (approx. 16 months): 1,000,001 to 2,000,000 posts

It took about 1/3 of the time to get the second million, not bad at all. Therefore if this trend continues...

December 2005 - May 2006 (approx. 5 months): 2,000,001 to 3,000,000 posts.
May 2006 - July 2006 (approx. 1.6 months): 3,000,001 to 4,000,000 posts
July 2006 - August 2006 (approx. 0.5 months): 4,000,001 to 5,000,000 posts

And so on. Pretty soon, there will be over a million posts a day, and before you know it, there will be more total posts on MacRumors than total songs sold on iTunes! :D

I think you guys will soon need more moderators to keep up with this huge amount of traffic...And it will not be feasible to have an avatar contest for every million. ;)

[ASP272]

And just think of how many people are like me who read a lot of the rumors but don't always post. That's why I haven't gotten my Avatar status yet. I need to start posting my opinions of rumors more often. I will, however, enter a few avatars for the contest. It will be good practice for when I get my own. Cool beans! Congrats to MacRumors for so many users/posts! :)

[Photorun]

Woohoo! Go Macrumors! Congrats on making it to two million (or almost).

I'd join the avatar making process but the last one I liked got people's all upset and me banned for a week.

[dubbz]

Great! :D

Good luck to anyone who's planning to participate!

[dcv]

Ohhhh I've got so much work to do and right now I just wanna load up Photoshop and have a go!

*hopefully* i'll find time before the 2 millionth post...

[~Shard~]

I was wondering if MacRumors would have some sort of contest to celebrate this milestone - it's great to see it will not go by unnoticed! I remember the 1,000,000 post festivites and the other avatar contest, so this should be a fun time once again for everyone. Although I will most likely not be entering anything personally, it will be fun to review all the entries and vote. :cool:

And as an aside, I wonder what percentage of this second group of 1 million posts myself, mad jew, mkrishnan, and Lacero have contributed... :eek: :o ;)

[devilot]

And as an aside, I wonder what percentage of this second group of 1 million posts myself, mad jew, mkrishnan, and Lacero have contributed... :eek: :o ;)Great. Now you've done it... now, Doctor Q is gonna have to spit out some crazy stats. Tsk.

[emw]

Yikes. I'm leaving tomorrow for a week. I better hurry up and get my entries in! Not that I have much of a chance, but still...

[~Shard~]

Great. Now you've done it... now, Doctor Q is gonna have to spit out some crazy stats. Tsk.

Hey, I never said the good Doctor had to do anything of the sort - it was more rhetoric than anything! :) Plus, I don't know if we want to see those types of figures... :o ;)

[LimeiBook86]

I've been waiting for this hahaha. This'll be fun, I'll be back with some new Avatars soon :D

[Laslo Panaflex]

2 Million? Man, I remember when we had the 1 Million posts contest, I think one of my submissions even got honorable mention :D

[Doctor Q]

June 2000 - August 2004 (approx. 50 months): 0 to 1,000,000 posts
August 2004 - December 2005 (approx. 16 months): 1,000,001 to 2,000,000 posts

It took about 1/3 of the time to get the second million, not bad at all. Therefore if this trend continues...

December 2005 - May 2006 (approx. 5 months): 2,000,001 to 3,000,000 posts.
May 2006 - July 2006 (approx. 1.6 months): 3,000,001 to 4,000,000 posts
July 2006 - August 2006 (approx. 0.5 months): 4,000,001 to 5,000,000 posts

And so on. Pretty soon, there will be over a million posts a day, and before you know it, there will be more total posts on MacRumors than total songs sold on iTunes! :D What a great post! Let's just declare you the contest winner and forget that avatar stuff!

[Lacero]

Do we have anything planned for the 1 Billionth Post contest? I have an idea, but I'm not telling...

expecting to see something written in white? nothing to see here. hehe



Here's to the Crazy Ones http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35452 (http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/movies/think-different.mov)

[~Shard~]

What a great post! Let's just declare you the contest winner and forget that avatar stuff!

Haha, when I read his post I thought of you Doctor Q and how much you no doubt would appreciate those statistics. ;)

Do we have anything planned for the 1 Billionth Post contest? I have an idea, but I'm not telling...

I can only imagine what that would entail... :eek: :cool:

expecting to see something written in white? nothing to see here. hehe

Damn, fell for it - sometimes you're just too clever... :D

[mozmac]

Yes, now I will finally be able to use an Avatar. While I am here multiple times everyday, posting has not been my strongest quality. You're all going down!

[joepunk]

Been waiting for this as-well. I probably won't have flying chance in heck of winning but what the heck, why not enter.

[~Shard~]

Yes, now I will finally be able to use an Avatar. While I am here multiple times everyday, posting has not been my strongest quality. You're all going down!

My, that's pretty presumptuous of you! :p Good luck to you in the contest, I'll be anxious to see if your 'tar has "the right stuff" to win... ;) :cool:

[Phil.]

And just think of how many people are like me who read a lot of the rumors but don't always post. That's why I haven't gotten my Avatar status yet. I need to start posting my opinions of rumors more often. I will, however, enter a few avatars for the contest. It will be good practice for when I get my own. Cool beans! Congrats to MacRumors for so many users/posts! :)

Yup your like me BUT i finally decided to sign up, and I'm trying to post more frequently -This is a great community! :)

[Jaffa Cake]

Yes, now I will finally be able to use an Avatar. While I am here multiple times everyday, posting has not been my strongest quality. You're all going down!Well, if you're going to be like that maybe none of us will want to vote for you... :p ;)

[EGT]

Oh darn. My photoshop/creative skills = naught.

I look forward to seeing everyone else's though! :D

[monke]

2,000,000 posts, wow! Congratulations in advance to MacRumors!

Let's see if my logic is right.

June 2000 - August 2004 (approx. 50 months): 0 to 1,000,000 posts
August 2004 - December 2005 (approx. 16 months): 1,000,001 to 2,000,000 posts

It took about 1/3 of the time to get the second million, not bad at all. Therefore if this trend continues...

December 2005 - May 2006 (approx. 5 months): 2,000,001 to 3,000,000 posts.
May 2006 - July 2006 (approx. 1.6 months): 3,000,001 to 4,000,000 posts
July 2006 - August 2006 (approx. 0.5 months): 4,000,001 to 5,000,000 posts

And so on. Pretty soon, there will be over a million posts a day, and before you know it, there will be more total posts on MacRumors than total songs sold on iTunes! :D

I think you guys will soon need more moderators to keep up with this huge amount of traffic...And it will not be feasible to have an avatar contest for every million. ;)

If it took 50 months to get 1,000,000 posts, on average Mac Rumors had 709-710 posts per day
From the start of August 2004 till now it has been 501 days, an average of 1911 posts per day

So... if we keep getting 1911 posts a day, it will take 22 more days till we reach 2,000,000 posts, which happens to be January 5th. :p

[zap2]

this looks fun, to bad i cant photoshop for my life(nor do i own it, do have gimp )


well i already have my 'tar but this will be fun to watch:)

[ibook30]

Damn, fell for it - sometimes you're just too clever... :D


Me too .

2 million will be a mile stone in macrumors history,,,, for about 6 months. Then if MR continues to grow it will be at 3 Million ( around July 2006).

And of course - after three million posts, it expands exponentially and grows and grows and grows until MR takes on Google in a cage fight-=---- of death...

I'll stay tuned for that.

[~Shard~]

An of course - after three million posts, it expands exponentially and grows and grows and grows until MR takes on Google in a cage fight-=---- of death...

I'll stay tuned for that.

When will the MacRumors IPO take place and how many stock options will I receive? I think the quantity of stock options should relate to the number of posts a member has.... :eek: ;) :o

[Crager724]

I've never made an avatar before, does anyone have a tutorial on how to make one? I have some ideas and would like to get in the contest but need a little help getting started. Which app. should I use? I have gimp and the stuff that came with my iMac, but no photoshop or corel draw.

[ahunter3]

2b. The thread title must be your MacRumors member name or your member name followed by a unique counting number, e.g., Mr. Anderson for the first thread, Mr. Anderson 2 for the second thread, Mr. Anderson 3 for the 3rd thread, etc.


Brilliant. Just @*%#@ brilliant.

Now a "New Posts" search is chock-full of threads with distracting and provocative titles, many of which look like they might contain intriguing questions or information, many others of which lure me in just out of curiosity.

And they're about stupid ^$&%$# avatars :mad:


Ya couldn't have maybe perhaps instructed people to use thread titles beginning with "Avatar Contest Entry" followed by username or something?

::stalks off to see how difficult it would be to block all avatars from displaying on screen::

[Doctor Q]

::stalks off to see how difficult it would be to block all avatars from displaying on screen::
User CP -> Edit Options -> Thread Display Options -> Show Avatars checkbox

[Lacero]

And they're about stupid ^$&%$# avatars :mad:
Turn that frown, upside down :), Mr. Bowtie.


Here's to the Crazy Ones http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35452 (http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/movies/think-different.mov)

[dernhelm]

Hey, I never said the good Doctor had to do anything of the sort - it was more rhetoric than anything! :) Plus, I don't know if we want to see those types of figures... :o ;)

The only figure you need to see is who has the highest average posts per day.

But all you people spend way too much time here IMHO! ;)

[dernhelm]

Yup your like me BUT i finally decided to sign up, and I'm trying to post more frequently -This is a great community! :)

Hey, I've been here since 2002, and I'm still not even half-way there. Can't say that avatar status ever meant much to me though. Not sure what I'd pick if I could have one...

[~Shard~]

The only figure you need to see is who has the highest average posts per day.

Lacero would win that contest, I believe... :cool:

[Lacero]

Lacero would win that contest, I believe... :cool:
Hmm... don't know if I should be proud or disgusted with myself. :D :o


However, if we're going by pure post count that would have to go with Mr. Anderson at 20,907 posts! :eek:

Or strictly Post Per Day, I'd nominate Randall at ~47 ppd. :D

Here's to the Crazy Ones http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35452 (http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/movies/think-different.mov)

[~Shard~]

Hmm... don't know if I should be proud or disgusted with myself. :D :o

Nothing to be ashamed about at all, I'm not much better... ;) :cool:

However, if we're going by pure post count that would have to go with Mr. Anderson at 20,907 posts! :eek:

Yes, it's going to be a while before anyone surpasses him. Apparently even wdlove has given up! ;)

Or strictly Post Per Day, I'd nominate Randall at ~47 ppd. :D

Oooh, that is quite the average! Now of course you realize any Mod reading your post will put a flag on poor Randall to ensure he's not simply spamming MacRumors... :o :cool:

[ahunter3]

User CP -> Edit Options -> Thread Display Options -> Show Avatars checkbox

Cool! Thanks!

[LimeiBook86]

Some of the entries are really cool so far. I hope we get as many submissions as we did last time. That was a heck of a lot of fun! :D

[Bengt77]

However, if we're going by pure post count that would have to go with Mr. Anderson at 20,907 posts! :eek:
Yes, it's going to be a while before anyone surpasses him. Apparently even wdlove has given up! ;)

Darn, what title would they have by now, had they not been Moderator and Contributor respectively? Even the FAQ doesn't answer that question (http://guides.macrumors.com/Help:MacRumors_FAQ#How_do_user_titles_work.3F). Boy, what a post counts! :eek:

[~Shard~]

Darn, what title would they have by now, had they not been Moderator and Contributor respectively? Even the FAQ doesn't answer that question (http://guides.macrumors.com/Help:MacRumors_FAQ#How_do_user_titles_work.3F). Boy, what a post counts! :eek:

It all depends with what frequency higher titles are achieved, since there is currently a big gap between 601 and 603(?). But after that, there would be 603e, 604e, etc., up to the 750s and then so on... tough to say what they would be! :cool:

[XIII]

Good luck to everyone! I have no image making skills, but I look forward to voting. :D

[deejemon]

Meh. I can't use an avatar, so I can't imagine why I would even bother entering.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Help:MacRumors_FAQ#I_can.27t_upload_an_avatar

[Lau]

Meh. I can't use an avatar, so I can't imagine why I would even bother entering.


There are two prizes for each winner:
1. Bragging rights.
2. Winners with less than 500 posts will get to use their winning avatar in the forums, even though they would otherwise not be eligible to have an avatar.

You're probably right. I wouldn't bother. :rolleyes:

[~Shard~]

Meh. I can't use an avatar, so I can't imagine why I would even bother entering.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Help:MacRumors_FAQ#I_can.27t_upload_an_avatar

Yeah, people who can't read the rules properly probably shouldn't enter... :p :cool:

[autrefois]

What a great post! Let's just declare you the contest winner and forget that avatar stuff!

Thank you! Glad you liked the post, and I am honored to be declared the winner of the MacRumors 2,000,000 Post Avatar Contest! :D / ;)

I'd like to thank MacRumors, my family, my agent, and all the people who helped make this possible...

But if I am declared contest winner, I definitely think iNeedtoSwitch should be declared co-winner since he took the time to calculate more precisely (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=1979894&postcount=29) than I did. :) ...

Then again, people who submitted avatars may not like the fact that I won (or co-won) without even submitting an avatar...

So I guess maybe it's best that I don't win. But I am now on winter break and am (slowly but surely) getting closer to 500 posts, maybe that will inspire me to make the winning avatar! :)

[kingcrowing]

I cant wait to get an avatar... I'm around 400 posts now, I've made a few cool ones, but they all have my name in them, but maybe I'll make one!

[Doctor Q]

The contest is now closed.