Hello there, it's me again!
With Screenshot of the Week 791 up and running, we're over the halfway point of Screenshot of the Week's schedule for 2023! In some weird way of symmetry, SotW 791 is the 20th Screenshot of the Week for the year.
Three months ago, I ran a poll about changing the schedule back to a weekly one, and while the weekly format has been successful, I'm still looking at ways to improve the contest format as a whole. My main concern for a while has been the amount of unique users submitting for the contests - that is, people who aren't regulars. I've even distilled it into a pie chart!
Some facts about this rather disorganised chart chart:
- The data used is based on people who submitted starting with SotW 772 (the first one this year) up to SotW 791 (the most recent)
- Across 20 contests, there have been 30 unique submitters.
- The top 5 submitters are Architect Abdiel, Feenicks, Twilight Knight, Joelmacool, and a tie for fifth place between Mitchfork and I.
- Out of the 30 unique submitters, 16 have entered Screenshot of the Week 2023 just once. That's over half!
- Another 5 have entered Screenshot of the Week 2023 twice - which combined with the 16 one-time entrants, takes us to 21 - or over two thirds of the unique submitters for Screenshot of the Week 2023.
With this rather broad look at the data, I want to ask some questions of the community:
- What would be a better way to encourage more people to submit screenshots? Currently, I do regular updates in the PureZC Discord notifying everyone of how many submissions we have. Depending on what's been submitted, this can range from two to three updates a week. Should I be looking to tie these into the announcements thread more, or do you have another suggestion about what might work?
- If you've submitted once or twice, what do you think's something that would make you want to enter Screenshot of the Week more often? Honestly, I just want to see everyone submit their screens - win, lose or draw. I appreciate the people who have submitted multiple entries so far this year - without you, the contests wouldn't be happening on this regular a schedule - but I'd absolutely love to see more one or two-time entrants entering on a semi-regular basis!
- Alternatively, if you haven't entered Screenshot of the Week yet, what do you think would be something that would make you want to enter? You've voted, you've left a nice comment, but maybe you're just not sure about entering a screenshot - what can we do to encourage you to enter?
I've really enjoyed running this rebooted version this year and I'm glad the feedback and response from everyone in the community has been positive as it has been! At the same time, I want to keep improving the way the contest is run to have the best iteration of it possible.