Shirt.Woot

Gatzby wrote:We've been using misprints to filter our prison-style raisin wine.

Anyway, as far as I know, there's nothing wrong with the Rejectamotron, though there's plenty of stuff going on around Woot HQ at the moment. It might be a day or two before that comes to fruition though.

That was a funny site, but my work computer got a virus and some ad-ware notifications from the anti-virus software about 2 minutes after I got out of there. I lost about an hour of work while IT fixed my computer. I won't presume that it was from that site... but I didn't go anywhere unusual on the interwebs today other than that site. Anyone else have that problem?

ansharp wrote:A late night push to keep me in the top 20 (happy hour and muppet are putting up a fierce battle, and bad hair day is making a move):

You all know someone who has a black hole for a heart. Maybe you wuv them, maybe you wubble them, but either way, they deserve this shirt.


Thank you and goodnight!

Sorry you got bumped down. I was happy when I hit 100. I didn't even submit a print-ready because I am such an amateur I didn't think I would get 10. I thought my un-rejected Dreams shirt was much better and it got 8 votes.

ansharp wrote:A late night push to keep me in the top 20 (happy hour and muppet are putting up a fierce battle, and bad hair day is making a move):

You all know someone who has a black hole for a heart. Maybe you wuv them, maybe you wubble them, but either way, they deserve this shirt.

Thank you and goodnight!

that reminds me... get me to 100...

bfassburg wrote:Sorry you got bumped down. I was happy when I hit 100. I didn't even submit a print-ready because I am such an amateur I didn't think I would get 10. I thought my un-rejected Dreams shirt was much better and it got 8 votes.

No worries. I'm just thrilled to death to be in the top 20. And congrats to you for climbing all the way up on a resub.

ansharp wrote:No worries. I'm just thrilled to death to be in the top 20. And congrats to you for climbing all the way up on a resub.

Thanks. Most of the shirts in the top 20 are far more creative so I kinda feel like I stole somebody's spot. I probably won't submit anything in the derby for a couple of weeks so I can get some work done on the things I actually am paid to do, so maybe I can come back with something more artistic and intelligent down the road.

geekfactor12 wrote:This describes me pretty well, too- though I don't think my insight is particularly keen ;)

For me, I stick around because I genuinely like Woot- I've been a member here for a long time, and I'm pleased as punch that they've branched into my favorite type of product, shirts. I also love seeing new talent develop in this derby. Each week, there are a couple of genuinely special shirts that I'd like to own.

That's why it frustrates me when more mundane stuff gets votes. I'd like to see Shirt.Woot develop into a site that sells truly high-quality shirts, things that are at the same level as Threadless and Design By Humans but aimed squarely at this audience. It's tough seeing things win (or even just finish highly) when I don't think they fit Woot's corporate mandate to sell only original work.

But I think I'll always be back, there's just too much potential here to ever walk away completely

I think everyone is expecting too much from a system based on POPULAR votes -- just look to politics to see where that has got us. I've been here since derby 1 and I am still mystified on what gets votes and what continues to sell week after week in the long-running unreckoned shirts.

However, there is one part of this democracy that really works well. Since there is no quality barrier like there is on other sites, the Derby allows all the riff-raff and lousy designers in here to LEARN through experience. Just look at how artists like Cho and Edgar have grown by looking at their early entries (not that they started lousy).

As has been said many times before, Woot has 4 days per week to print all the artistic, creative, and risky shirts. How well they've done that is mixed but the Derby is really the place for the people to participate, vote, and have their will implemented.

Best Loser Awards posted on http://BestLosers.com. Voting isn't done so hopefully I'm not jinxing anyone. Bonus points to whoever can figure out the theme for the names of the Best Loser Awards this time...

thatrobert wrote:Best Loser Awards posted on http://BestLosers.com. Voting isn't done so hopefully I'm not jinxing anyone. Bonus points to whoever can figure out the theme for the names of the Best Loser Awards this time...

The "Lightningy" Award
Artulo wins another Loser Award with "throw me the cheese". This one has a great rat escape story with a nice realistic hand-drawn style. A lot of varied styles and obvious skill from Artulo -- I'm sure I'll be interviewing him in the next few months when he wins a derby.

I'd just like to go on record to say I went on record to say this in one of his earliest derbies ;) Rob and I, we know what we're talkin' about

Hey Robert (and others) - Any insight on Bountee? After a couple of disappointments with Spreadshirt and my more intricate designs, I thought I'd try Bountee. They accept .svg files readily which is nice, but I seem to be having some difficulties uploading files to their site and having them show up correctly.

Anyone else having problems with their shirtmaker program? I run Windows 2000 and I usually use Mozilla. Can't access much on the Bountee site at all with Mozilla, but I can with Explorer. Perhaps there's a plug-in that I need to make things work properly.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!

Off to bed. I thought I was going to have a design printed tonight. But, Aegis burst my bubble. Thrilled for him though. Just wonder how I got my signals crossed. Aegis- I'll check out your design in the a.m. Just can't wait until 1 a.m. for the big reveal! Congratulations!

G'night all! Best of luck to all the foggers tonight and nearby contenders. I know it will be an anxious few hours and then a couple of days until you figure out the rankings. I'm excited for all of you! Sounds like a lot of first-time winners this derby. That's always exciting!

klswoot wrote:Wow! So this week will have a lot of first-time derby winners. That's awesome. I really like when that happens. Your shirt must have been printed well before I came to shirt. woot. Is there a picture of the design on shirtderbystats....or is that before cwarrington started that site?

I think Woot needs to take a Derby break for a few weeks. The Derby themes are nice, but it seems that the artists, but mainly the voters, are just burnt out.

Since the "Patterns" derby (which was one of the better derbies, IMO), the top 3 shirts of each derby have been declining. It's partly the artists fault, but mostly the voters. People aren't grasping this very well.

Maybe give two weeks notice, with a weeks voting time. Give people real time to think over the theme and designs before submitting. Because honestly.. most designs lately suck, and the fact that they're, not only placing very high, but winning these derbies is astonishing to me.

Idk, just my opinion. But it's been very weak lately.

MHBoston wrote:See-Sawlitude pic

Thanks, MHBoston I totally meant to post a pic but got distracted with work. Work gets in the way of Woot too often, I'm supposed to be catching up right now yet here I am!

shan24 wrote:Thanks, MHBoston I totally meant to post a pic but got distracted with work. Work gets in the way of Woot too often, I'm supposed to be catching up right now yet here I am!

No problem. I love that shirt

Holy freakin crap - have you seen the fog?

SBR, Ed, shan and Skek.

How long will that last?

halfbee wrote:Holy freakin crap - have you seen the fog?

SBR, Ed, shan and Skek.

How long will that last?

I saw it. Hope the monsters get some love.

I am VERY impressed w/ nearly ALL the entires. Not sure if I will buy those from the FOG, but certainly appreciate the efforts.

thatrobert wrote:Best Loser Awards posted on http://BestLosers.com. Voting isn't done so hopefully I'm not jinxing anyone. Bonus points to whoever can figure out the theme for the names of the Best Loser Awards this time...

Thank you, thatrobert, you honor me once again with a place in the bestlosers writeup! CertainIy I'd rather be interviewed as the winner (who wouldn't?) and don't consider it a jinx at all....it would have taken a phenomenal push to get the mouse a hundred or so votes overnight, but Edgar's shirt is up there in the fog again so congrats to him. Soothed's win me a prize entry has some great shading, I'm really impressed, and taking notes on how to do things right!

And yes, I'll never forget how Adder was the first to say that I'd place within ten derbies (that was what, four or so ago? still plenty of time). It gave me incentive to do a bit better.

MHBoston wrote:No problem. I love that shirt

Well thankyaverymuch!

Eeee! I am 2 votes away from 100. Please vote, please. I sure hope I can make it by noon. Even though dinosaur arms shot past me, I still managed to move up one rank last night. FUN!

One last morning post... boss is being witchy today (of all days) so I'm not taking a chance bringing up woot at work except to find out the new theme at lunch. *sigh*

Good luck everyone!

deleted

klswoot wrote:Hey Robert (and others) - Any insight on Bountee? After a couple of disappointments with Spreadshirt and my more intricate designs, I thought I'd try Bountee. They accept .svg files readily which is nice, but I seem to be having some difficulties uploading files to their site and having them show up correctly.

Anyone else having problems with their shirtmaker program? I run Windows 2000 and I usually use Mozilla. Can't access much on the Bountee site at all with Mozilla, but I can with Explorer. Perhaps there's a plug-in that I need to make things work properly.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!

Off to bed. I thought I was going to have a design printed tonight. But, Aegis burst my bubble. Thrilled for him though. Just wonder how I got my signals crossed. Aegis- I'll check out your design in the a.m. Just can't wait until 1 a.m. for the big reveal! Congratulations!

G'night all! Best of luck to all the foggers tonight and nearby contenders. I know it will be an anxious few hours and then a couple of days until you figure out the rankings. I'm excited for all of you! Sounds like a lot of first-time winners this derby. That's always exciting!

That's too bad about SpreadShirt. I don't think I mentioned that they ended up rejecting the one I ordered and I had to resub it with a big black outline that turned it into one big blob. For that shirt it should come out fine but for what you were trying to do probably not.

Interestingly, I've had problems with Bountee on IE but not with Firefox. Make sure you have the latest version of Flash. My lion shirt that I subbed at DBH I tried to enter in the color contest on Bountee first. I eventually just gave up -- it was huge and complex and their system couldn't handle it. I emailed them for help and they never got back to me. I know they said there cannot be any embedded bitmaps in your SVG so make sure you're following that rule.

Ledbetterus wrote:I think Woot needs to take a Derby break for a few weeks. The Derby themes are nice, but it seems that the artists, but mainly the voters, are just burnt out.

Since the "Patterns" derby (which was one of the better derbies, IMO), the top 3 shirts of each derby have been declining. It's partly the artists fault, but mostly the voters. People aren't grasping this very well.

Maybe give two weeks notice, with a weeks voting time. Give people real time to think over the theme and designs before submitting. Because honestly.. most designs lately suck, and the fact that they're, not only placing very high, but winning these derbies is astonishing to me.

Idk, just my opinion. But it's been very weak lately.

Interesting I wasn't that impressed with the patterns derby. But I would say that there was a point in there -- I'd say even earlier -- before we'd all figured out some of the rules for winning (like early is better than good), that we were getting a lot of truly impressive entries. One way or another, Woot has to change the rules to encourage more time spent on the derby entries.

p.s. One way or another, somebody has to encourage me to write shorter, less-complex sentences...

Hi folks!

I am (for the last time) asking for your vote on my design. I am very proud of the fish, and even though people might think I am a runaway favorite, it is much closer than that (I'm sure)! I have not had a shirt printed yet, so this is my best shot.

Thanks!

halfbee wrote:Holy freakin crap - have you seen the fog?

SBR, Ed, shan and Skek.

How long will that last?

A dream fog. Thank you voters!

klswoot wrote:A dream fog. Thank you voters!

I must give a very heartfelt (Feb 14 after all) thank you for that, kls.

thatrobert wrote:Interesting I wasn't that impressed with the patterns derby. But I would say that there was a point in there -- I'd say even earlier -- before we'd all figured out some of the rules for winning (like early is better than good), that we were getting a lot of truly impressive entries. One way or another, Woot has to change the rules to encourage more time spent on the derby entries.

p.s. One way or another, somebody has to encourage me to write shorter, less-complex sentences...

It'd be great for people to have more time to put out quality work. If woot limited entries to one per account, that would certainly make people think about what they were submitting. On the flip side, though, it would just encourage creating second, third, etc accounts just to submit something.

Here is what I personally would like to see:

The theme announced a week ahead of time.

Expand the fog of war to the top 8 or 10.

Redo the code (yes I know this is a stretch) so that folks refreshing votes to keep themselves in the hotness doesn't work anymore.

Take the "I'd want one" buttons off the thumbnails (especially off the new hotness thumbnails) and put them at the bottom of the entry's comp image.

Move rejected entries to another page "the reject pile" so they don't clutter up other work.

Define and post clear rulesets about detail and comp images.

Rigorously enforce the rules not just on Saturday but more often. I know that it takes staff time to do so, but it will help clear things out, plus make people think twice before submitting. Currently it seems that only really offensive stuff gets taken care of timely. Sure there is the tattle button, but that just seems like a pacifier. Like pushing the button on the streetcorner post to get the walk light.

I'm sure there's more. Sorry for the long winded post.

MHBoston wrote:

Hey! Thanks for posting this. How funny! I was going to do one like this for the Quitter Derby. With the other half walking away. So glad I didn't as it would have resembled this (and totally unintentionally.)

Cute Shan!

SkekTek wrote:I must give a very heartfelt (Feb 14 after all) thank you for that, kls.

I think you're in good shape. But, it's hard to ever feel confident until the actual time of the reveal! Best of luck. You deserve it! You've had a lot of nice entries.

klswoot wrote:I think you're in good shape. But, it's hard to ever feel confident until the actual time of the reveal! Best of luck. You deserve it! You've had a lot of nice entries.

And a few stinkers But so have we all!

SkekTek wrote:And a few stinkers But so have we all!

Even the bad entries help you hone your skills.

In your description for your fish entry, I wonder if woot will shed light on your Imaginary Holiday entry as it was one of those that had a bit of controversy behind it! I think it's great that you have created a design that appeals to both sides this time around.

I'm really surprised this week- I voted for 5 of the top seven, and 3 in the fog. it will be pretty interesting, come Friday and Saturday nights.

Man, my stomach is all in knots. Edgar may very well surpass me and take third...and deservedly so! Plus I'm freaking out that should Soul Glow manage to hang on to third...it'll print like crap. Gah!!! I just have to hope that since it wasn't rejected that the woot staff believe they can handle printing it.

soothedbyrainfall wrote:Man, my stomach is all in knots. Edgar may very well surpass me and take third...and deservedly so! Plus I'm freaking out that should Soul Glow manage to hang on to third...it'll print like crap. Gah!!! I just have to hope that since it wasn't rejected that the woot staff believe they can handle printing it.

I hope you are safely in one of the top 3 positions. I sent you a PM, too. I think Woot will be able to handle the smallest details of your design as they have done justice to James' fine details in the Caterpillar design and the Comparative Diagram.

Trompe L'oeil is, as woot put it, "Hyper-realistic style of painting", then you design is probably the most realistic in the current fog and exemplifies Trompe L'oeil the best of the four (imo).

Excited to see how it prints if it wins!

superspryte wrote:Money issues aside, I'd buy three of the four in the fog, actually. It's a good fog. ^_^

My bank account is glad they don't print the top 10, since I'd buy most of the top-rated non-fog too!

klswoot wrote:Even the bad entries help you hone your skills.

In your description for your fish entry, I wonder if woot will shed light on your Imaginary Holiday entry as it was one of those that had a bit of controversy behind it! I think it's great that you have created a design that appeals to both sides this time around.

I know nothing about the controversy, unless it was the simpleness of it. That I'll always agree to- it took about 5 minutes to make... And looking back, my first few designs were very hackish. I'll never get to Cho's level (or discodancing, or patch, or tgentry, or countless others), but they have served as excellent role models, whether they knew it or not. I can at least know I can occasionally make something good.