I’d just like to give people an idea of how I work the moderation of this group.
Hopefully this will make things maybe easier for me and more understandable for you.

This is a black and white group basically. Colour will be deleted with no questions asked and no answers given. Its fairly simple, you might even say “its black and white”.

I used to provide a reason for every rejection but the redbubble options for this are limited and quite frankly its a very time consuming process since we upped the limit from 5 to 10 pics allowed per person.

Sepia and duotones are accepted – as long as they are not too bright. If they are too bright – then they will classed as colour and overprocessed and not accepted.
Brown tones AND blue tones in the same image is not duotones, they will be rejected.

One of my pet hates in this group is selective colour. Selectively coloured shots are more about colour than colour shots are in my view. Rejected again.

Collages & composites – rejected- overprocessed. Not a single photo.
Triptyches – rejected- overprocessed. Not a single photo.
Added textures – rejected- overprocessed. Not a single photo.
Writing across the photo – rejected – overprocessed.
Frame around your photo – rejected – overprocessed.
Web address as name of photo – rejected.
Blatant smut – rejected.
Overpushing contrast, Orton, HDR, high key, low key, – done poorly and boring I will reject it for overprocessing. Done well in a nice image I will turn a blind eye and accept it. I know thats not in the group rules but thats the way it is at the moment.

I would love to do more features. Its the fun part of moderating and we certainly get the quality of pics to allow it – but we had a recent thread where the consensus was that you would like featured works to stay up for a week.
So I do what I consider pseudo features.
I moderate 2 to 3 times a day. Each time I do there are 3 to 6 pages of pics to be accepted or rejected. Probably an average of 150 photos a day to sort.
I sort through these doing the deletions first – about 1-2 per page.
Then I have a cursory look to vaguely decide on the better shots among the rest.

Sometimes I might pick a theme. Last moderation lot it was portraits. I rarely have the theme the same as a current challenge- matter of fact I dont think I ever have.
Then I go through all the pages there waiting and accept the pics.
These better shots or themed shots will be whittled down to 12 and accepted last.
This way they appear on the front page. And I try to accept that last 12 in a way that will appear pleasing to the eye. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I dont.
I love the front page to look good and with the amount of quality shots posted here thats quite easy to do. Feel free to let me know if there is a subject or type of photography that you think I am ignoring. Its probably just because I dont realise I am doing it as I am influenced by my own personal tastes.
The front page shots usuallylast there between 6 hours and 24 or so hours depending on your luck.

There are some shots that we have all seen hundreds of different versions of.
To impress me these ones have to be exceptional pics of the photo they are copying or imitating. A prime example is the “Afghani girl”. The original is a great shot. So are most of the 4000 or so versions I have seen on redbubble. Don’t get me wrong, imitation is how we learn and we all do it (knowingly or not). But you probably wont see your version of “the Afghani Girl” on the front page.
Your version of Ansells Half Dome – maybe.

I hope this helps explain a few things for some people.

regards
Garth

ps
A small reminder. 2 pics a day people. If you upload 4 or 5 – I pick 2 out and reject the others. You might have chosen a different 2.

Great explanation….well done….I believe this is as clear as you can be…..Thanks

Thank you for the in-depth explanation, Garth. Bless you for all the hard work and taking the time to educate your “class of students”.! lol:) It is a pleasure and honor to be amongst so many brilliant artists. I am brand new with black/white and still find it intimidating to place my work for all to see….but that’s the way you learn. If in fear…DO IT ANYWAY!

Crystal clear… well explained…. some lessons in here for other Group Moderators… including Me!!!

Many thanks for the explanation and a glimpse into the work load for the host of a busy group. Your time and hard work are much appreciated. Thank you.

Fair enough. Thanks for taking the time, and keep up the good work.

You’re doing a great job Garth – as a fellow host I hear where you are coming from.

Thanks Garth, Appreciate the time that you take in helping out the group, and for encouraging such great work that I see in the features.

Wow, that’s a really well thought through method of moderating you are using. Thanks a lot for putting so much energy, effort and care in the group. I love looking at the front page and admiring the choises you made :)

Gartyh B&W is B&W good on you for taking the stand.

“Sorry, what was the middle part, Again?” :) Could not resist. Doing a great job!

Clear as black and white….Thanks for all you do!