Geograph - photograph every grid square

The simplest method is just to put a place name in the search box on the top right, and then everywhere relevant comes up in distance order. If there are more than one place then add the county or other distinguishing element, it also asks you which one you want if not. The advanced search really needs a direct word search to work. Some are easier than others. Tags such as horse, cat or bridge should be the easiest, whereas user names can appear to confuse the system and more likely to raise place names again. These are for searching photos, the discussions are searched using their own search box when logged in, and besides the filtering process where you check the forums to search and dates, the word selection needs to be pretty specific to exclude lots of similar words you don't want to see.

These are the simple methods, there are many more complex but just for the basics these should suffice.

Create a search that only find images in the given square, in reverse date submitted order using the search form http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?form=advanced . This one is an example for SN5881: http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=23416804 . Copy the GeoRSS link at the bottom of the search results page. You can either read the feed in an RSS reader such as Google Reader http://www.google.co.uk/reader by adding the link as a new subscription, or you can use an RSS2email service such as Feedmyinbox http://www.feedmyinbox.com/ to receive updates via email.

There is also a link at the bottom of your profile page giving access to a special search showing images uploaded in the last 30 days in any square that you've submitted to.

Finally, you can subscribe to the grid square discussion of a square you're interested in by going to the grid square discussion page and ticking 'notify me of new posts'.

(Inspired by a question asked on the forum by tuppence and answered by barryhunter http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=18&topic=13038 .)

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, allows you to obtain an up-to-date listing of the latest Geograph submissions for integration into another website or RSS reader. For more information, try this Wikipedia article on RSS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)

We provide an GeoRSS (RSS1.0) feed at http://www.geograph.org.uk/feed/recent.rss which contains links to the latest 20 moderated images.

We have recently added RSS feeds to other parts of the site:
* You will find an RSS button at the bottom of search results, useful to keep updated on local images.
* Registered users can access an RSS feed of the latest topics in the Discussion Forum, and even subscribe to an individual topic, just look for the RSS button!
* the Grid Square Discussions even supports GeoRSS.
* Get an RSS feed of recently updated Articles.
* The newer Content section has an RSS feed.
* Find out about organized meets by following the RSS feed.

(They also accept the format parameter like the main feed.)

If you use the Firefox web browser, you should be able use our feeds as "live bookmarks" - simply click the orange button in the address bar (or in the status bar on older versions).

For more technical information, see
http://www.geograph.org.uk/help/api

There are several ways to create a photo collection - http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Content-on-Geograph

Marked list - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Mark-facility
You can save this as a private list or use it to build a Themed Topic or Article.

Themed Topic - a discussion area where you can gather photos either alone (by locking the topic after each post) or collaboratively.

Article - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Help_on_formatting_of_articles for help in creating articles which can also be a sole effort or opened up for collaborative editing.

Articles are indexed by google (and other search engines) and are visible to registered and non-registered users of the site.

I am guessing this is a question as to the suitability of family snaps. The general rule is the people should be the secondary element of the photo rather than the main feature, and posed shots (it can be worked out in most cases) are more suitable to other photo sites as not related to the area they are in. Having said that a discussion thread has refined this recently, and the general conclusion was if there are local events or occupations which are taken spontaneously then a person featuring as the main subject can be included although without a reasonable amount of background would normally be added as a supplemental*. But for straightforward posed family snaps then the only circumstance they would be suitable is if they were a small part of the whole scene, and as with most the older the photo the more flexible the criteria.

*From 11 May 2016 the Supplemental classification will be replaced by Image Type Tags: see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Image-Type-Tags-update

First select the appropriate forum, either from the forum list page http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?forums=1 or by selecting the icon from the 'recent discussions' page http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?forums=0 (either at the top or beside an existing discussion thread).
Once on the correct forum, scroll to the foot of the page and in the box labelled 'Topic title' just below 'New topic' type your title.
In the large text box below 'Message' compose your post - help on formatting is available by clicking the link [Help - How to format posts including inserting images and links] (opens in a new tab).

See the help on formatting forum posts, there is a link to the right above the text box.
[url=http://www.example.com]Some text[/url] shows as Some text
The shortcut for [url=][/url] is the globe with chain icon immediately above the box - your link goes after the = your text goes between the ][

See the help on formatting forum posts, there is a link to the right above the text box.
[url=http://www.example.com]Some text[/url] shows as Some text
The shortcut for [url=][/url] is the globe with chain icon immediately above the box - your link goes after the = your text goes between the ][

It isn't a matter of scoring, and there are no hard and fast rules, except that the photographs must be taken within the qualifying week, and submitted by midnight on the Tuesday after the end of the qualifying week.

There is a rota of volunteer selectors, who look through all the eligible images, and whittle down to a shortlist of about 50. Individual selectors select according to whatever criteria they decide, and post the short list to the discussion forum.

They also notify the previous week's winner, whose privilege it is to pick the winner the next week.

The weekly winners eventually go forward to a selector who picks the image of the year from among the weekly winners.

Any member can volunteer to pick a week's selection. To volunteer, send a message to the Photo of the Year Co-ordinator.

The Photo of the Week competition is an informal competition intended to showcase some of the best images submitted during the week.

The only criterion for an image to be considered is that it must have been taken during the qualifying week, which runs from Saturday to Friday, and submitted by midnight on the following Tuesday.

Some people like to make sure that their images are submitted within the qualifying period, and other like to delay their submissions to make sure they are not considered.

What constitutes 'best' is very much subjective, because the selections of both shortlist and winner are done by different contributors each week.

As with all subjective selections, there is often disagreement with some of the selections, but that usually manifests itself by people saying which image they would have picked if it had been up to them to do so.

It all takes place in the Discussion Forum "Photograph of the Year (date)".

Members of Geograph can (if you aren't yet, sign up by clicking the 'register link' top right on any page). Go to the forum ('Discussions' in the sidebar menu) and add any pictures you'd like to see in all their glory on the front page for one day only to this thread: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=17652 . They will then be added to the list from which the daily picture is picked. If you'd like to suggest a picture for a specific day, please say so - there's no guarantee though, as the day may already have a picture assigned to it. You can post a small selection of your own pictures, but it is nice to highlight other peoples efforts as well where you come across them.

There is one technical limitation to bear in mind: The front page picture has to fit in a landscape frame due to the page layout. If it isn't landscape format, it'll be cropped and the central section used. Sometimes that can work, but generally it's best to pick landscape formats in the first place.