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The 1x management answers frequently asked questions
Published the 7th of May 2021
by Roswitha Schleicher-Schwartz
Why have you launched a new version of 1x?
The idea behind the new version of 1x is to create an online photo gallery experience which is more like a real arts gallery. In a real photo gallery, photos are enjoyed in big size and not as a catalogue of small thumbnails. You can now change the order, size and alignment of photos on your profile page and create different exhibitions, just like in a real gallery.
We aim to raise the quality of the whole site by curating all photos, even photos on photographers’ profiles, which were not curated in the previous version. This is truer to our artistic vision of 1x and the original version launched in 2007, where all photos were curated. Our artistic vision is to create an online photo exhibition with all and only the best photos in the world.
We want to involve all photographers more in the curation process to give you more power to publish and reject photos. Curating is a great way to gain experience and learn to be able to take your photography to the next level. In the curation process we also provide much more feedback than before about your photos and different aspects of your photos such as composition, technical quality, colours, light, editing and originality. It is very easy to request critique on photos and the curation experience is much more dynamic than before when providing feedback while curating.
How does curation work?
Curation of photos takes place in three different steps. In the first step all members vote on photos to give photographers an idea about how popular they are with the general public, which is interesting to know when choosing photos for an exhibition. The bar for being passed on to the second step, the expert curators is quite low, so most photos are sent to the second step.
In the second step, the expert curators decide which photos are published or rejected. Published means published in your profile and under “Latest published” in the drop-down menu in the front page. To make sure only very high-quality photos are published, there is a built-in test in curation which determines how skilled each expert curator is. The most skilled curators get much more power in curation, to make sure that all decisions are accurate and taken by very skilled curators. In this step you will get a score on your photo about how popular it is among experts. The first two steps usually take 2-3 days to complete.
Published photos are passed on to the official head curators to have the chance to be awarded. Awarded photos will be exhibited directly on the front page under “Popular” and “Latest awarded” in the drop-down menu. This normally takes 1-2 weeks. A notification will be sent out if the photo is awarded.
What does “published” mean?
Published means that a photo has been approved by the members and expert curators and will be displayed on your profile and under “Latest published” in the drop-down menu in the front page. This means that all photos on 1x are now curated and that the quality is significantly raised compared to the previous version where photos on profiles were not curated. A published photo will not be displayed directly on the front page and it will not be displayed under the different categories unless it is awarded by the head curators.
What does "awarded" mean?
Awarded means that a photo has been approved by the official head curators and will be displayed directly on the front page of 1x. Awarded photos are found under “Popular”, “Latest awarded” and the different categories in the drop-down menu on the front page. Only photos awarded by the head curators will appear under these menu options and directly on the front page. It usually takes 1-2 weeks after your photo has been published for your photo to be awarded. If your photo has not been awarded in 2 weeks, it means it will not be awarded.
How many photos can I upload at the same time?
As a paying member, you can upload 20 photos per week. In the new version you can only have one photo in curation at the same time. When the photo has been published or rejected by the expert curators you can send a new photo to curation. This normally takes 2-3 days, which means that you can send 2-3 photos to the curators each week. The reason for only having one photo in curation at the same time is to make it easier to follow the curation process for each photo and to take part of all the feedback. The idea is also to make sure only the absolute best photos are uploaded (self curation), reduce the number of photos in curation and give curators more time to evaluate each photo.
When a photo has been published and passed on to the head curators, you can immediately send a new photo to curation, without having to wait for the head curators to award your photo.
How do I upload photos?
Click the big green “Upload”-button in the top right corner. You can upload 20 photos every week. When you have uploaded photos click on a thumbnail to send a photo to curation. You can only have one photo in curation at the same time. When a photo has been published or rejected by the expert curators, you can send another photo to curation.
 | Write |
 | Adrian Popan PRO I think had signaled it at least once in the past, but now I feel it is time to mention it again: I have a problem with comments from the curators under the cover of anonimity to which I cannot reply. I don't ask for comments, if I want a critique I submit the photograph in the dedicated section. And, sometimes, those comments are rude, if not downright offensive. Can you please do something about this? Many thanks in advance, Adrian |
 | HLTai Why when my images are published and the members like my image but the image do not appear in the Latest published section of the Gallery:( |
 | Raghuvamsh Chavali CREW One of my photographs is published and it's showing that "This photo is published and awarded (in award queue)". Why is the certificate not showing in the profile? Could someone provide sthe insights into why the process takes so long time to publish and generate the awarded photographer certificate? Thanks in advance. |
 | Photoportraitist I am quite new member of the 1x society, and like others of professional photographers here, am having some doubts in the system of selecting pictures to publish.
I am having an impression, that the way of selecting photographs has literally nothing in common to selecting an art in any gallery for exhibition. In any art gallery, it is we, creators decide to publish art according to our own creativity, skills and vision. It is not the visitor of gallery rating our work and picking it for an exhibition. That is the real value of art gallery. To meet the way an art creator sees the world.
Here on 1x.com, the perspective was turned around and has nothing to do with picking artsy creations. It is rather picking the creations which are average and meeting expectations of an audience, fitting the audience requirements.
That has nothing to do with art gallery exhibition. The way 1x.com works is killing the individualism of creators. |
 | Ian Moone Greetings, my name is Ian Moone and I am the principal photographer at InvokeMe Photography & Magazine, currently located in New Zealand. I have a following of around 125,000 followers on facebook with many images like in the thousands and here many are binned and not published. One image with around 10,000 likes was rejected and had a very high member score. Many images I have submitted have high scoring from my peer members and often denied last minute? I would like some clarity as I have invited some member of mine to this platform early on and have also been asked what's going on? If it could be made clear I would be happy to promote 1x to all my followers but I'm currently wondering why I am even needing to write here, like so many others? We pay money to make someone or others wealthy, I would hope to hear from you. My email is: [email protected]
Regards,
Ian Moone |
 | Arthur Talkins PRO Hello 1x.com fraternity , Curators, head curators et al
Im looking for some clarity here .
Im new to the site , 2 months, and 16 images published, 1 image awarded.
It is my understanding and hope that head curator judging is objective vs. subjective.
I have uploaded some beautiful images that have been rejected.
Browsing other sites, I have noticed that there are some images that are so grainy, so out of focus, so indistinct , yet they are not only published but awarded !! Im trying to understand the curation process . Too, the method and science of the judging .
Thank you for letting me pose my question
A happy , but slightly confused member
Best, always
Arthur Talkins |
 | Johnson Huang PRO why doesn't the buy print show even though I choose to sell?
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 | m salim bhayangkara I think I prefer and match the classic version, with this new version I think it's more complicated and I also still don't understand when my photo was published but it didn't appear on the main page the last photo was published,...hopefully the 1x team can be better and easily accessible by members... greetings
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 | Jassi Oberai Also there seems to be a rule where both color and black and white versions of the same image cannot be published and awarded. I somehow do not understand this rule because black and white is a totally different and more creative version of color. It requires different skill sets to create a impelling black and white. My one image got published with more than 84% curation votes and was awarded as well. Later it was disallowed both being published and awarded. I wonder why it was not even allowed to remain in published category. Not here to question the rules, but expected 1X to understand that black and white if created well, represents a totally different final image. |
| | Jassi Oberai The new design is not friendly. I might re consider my decision to continue if classic design is discontinued. New curation process is good but design is too much on the face with complicated navigation. |
 | Rob Darby PRO Dear Yvette - thank you for explaining the new curation process and the differences between gamma and classic 1X formats.
I have a few questions that I am hoping don’t come across as being critical. I am just trying to understand the curation process and as several people have noted, transparency is valued by the membership although 1X.com has no obligation to provide it, it builds more trust and support within the community:
1. The new process seems to be intentionally creating 2 tiers of recognition. Published and P+Awarded. Do the curators anticipate Publishing more images, and then culling some percentage of them to get to a more manageable and, possibly, a higher quality Front Page?
2. if the % of images being Published remains the same, what % of them are likely to be rejected by the Head Curator for Award? There was mention of a popularity score for the 3rd step which implied that more than one Head Curator will review the Published images?
3. I had a very bizarre situation with an image that was “Published” last week. It showed as accepted, my acceptance score increased, and then a few hours later it was Rejected, and then I woke up the next morning and it was Published again. This has never happened before.
4. I have to agree that the Awarding process may result in higher quality images, but I have rarely seen an image that was Accepted in the previous curation process that seemed of poor quality. I do worry that “bigger names” and “favorite” photographers will be disproportionately represented on the FP Awarded images. I suppose that this will result in higher quality images (assuming that bigger names/popular photographers generally produce higher quality images than some of us!), but this third step is going to be another form of rejection. Being Published, while still meaningful, will not provide the same visibility of the photographers work than it did previously. It use to be a happy day when an image was accepted. Now, being Published is only 1 step - rejection may still follow. If the intention is to Publish more and Award fewer, then perhaps this is a good trade-off,.
1X.com is a special place, but one has to accept rejection and criticism as part of the process of participating in the community. I worry that the % of people who make it to the FP will go down and this “may” frustrate some.
Anyway, as always your explanations are clear and very helpful. I hope that more information is provided on the % of photos being published and P+Awarded relative to the past. This might alleviate some of the concerns raised in this thread. Of course, if a very high proportion of Published images are also Awarded, and the 3rd step is more of a “peer review,” then this change will not affect us as much as it might appear. |
 | Colin Dixon CREW Why when my images are published now they do not appear in the Latest published section of the Gallery. |
| | Adrian Popan PRO And one more thing: I have to confess that when I want to retrieve quickly information, view portfolios etc. I switch to the "Classic 1x", as navigation is much quicker and more intuitive...Sorry, but this is reality and am sure I am not the only one thinking and feeling like this. Good luck, Adrian |
 | Martin Fleckenstein PRO Dear Adrian, you are not the only one thinking and feeling like this ... see my post below. Best wishes, Martin |
| | Adrian Popan PRO OK, so I understand the need for raising the bar of the overall quality. Therefore, if the photo is not at least "published" it will not be anywhere visible by others. That is good. What I understand less though is the possibility to upload up to 20 photos per week, considering that the new curation system cannot process more than 2-3 photos/week. I find this 20 photos counterproductive, misleading and going against the principle of "quality above quantity". I could understand this if we could upload 20 photos and then go on a sabbatical year or something. But even then, they would not go "automatically" to the curation flow. So, why not have a maximul of, say, 3 photos/week? |
| | Martin Fleckenstein PRO If the classic 1x site is discontinued, I will let my account expire. I can't do anything with the new features. Too bad! |
 | Ralf Stelander FOUNDER Hi Martin,
What are you missing in the new version? Please send me an OEmail and let me know.
Good light, Ralf |
| Martin Fleckenstein PRO Hi Ralf, in my eyes, the Classic 1x page is clearer. You can get information about the image and author faster. The comment function is easier and more communicative. What bothers me most is the lack of transparency in the curation with the differentiation between "published" and "awarded". |
 | Vincent DEMOULIN PRO Thank you very much for your explanation. However, on the new site, switching from latest awarded to latest published, the few first pictured depicted do not change. That behavior does not match the expected duration for each process. If the awarding process is longer than the publication process the same pictures should not appear simultaneously on the two galleries.
Which is still unclear for me is that during the curation process I don't know how to distinguish the popularity score of phase 2 from the score obtained in phase 1. I always see only one score, evolving in time.
Best Regard |
| Ralf Stelander FOUNDER This is a temporary issue which will soon be fixed. A photo which is both published and awarded can end up both in latest published and latest awarded, but normally there will be a time gap between publishing and awarding like you say.
About the scores from phase 1 and phase 2 we are working on an update on this to show the two separate scores. |
| | Martin Fleckenstein PRO In short, if a photo is marked as "published", it realistically means not published if it is not "awarded". |
 | Yvette Depaepe CREW A not awarded but published image is exposed in the portfolios as 'published', Martin. And visible on the Gamma version 'latest published' + for sale if the author marked it. |
 | Ibrahim Nabeel Thank you very much for this article! Now everything is clear to me! But I have a question if 5 pictures were sent to the format in the old version! Are all of them considered or only one picture,? |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW They will all be considered but one at the time, Ibrahim. When one is curated the next one will go to curation. Same system as if you upload them in the Gamma version. |
 | ilan PRO How do I see a picture of what was published in the new version |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW If published & awarded: Gamma most popular
If only published : Gamma latest published
Both on the frontpage. You also can ask for 'thumbnails' to have a better overview. |
| | ilan PRO Where do I see a picture of the new version? |
| Ralf Stelander FOUNDER Hi Ilan, just go to 1x.com and you will see the pictures on the front page. |
 | Bogdan Bouşcă PRO Dear Yvette,
You can provide 5 versions of 1x in the same time, I'm still here because I still perceive this site as one of the best in the world. So.. I don't mind how many versions you create! Just keep your level high!
My best! :) |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW ;-) That a fine comment, Bogdan! Anyway, I'm not involved personally in any changes and there will never be more than 2 versions (only temporarly). Best regards, Yvette |
 | Eli Hason The steps especially 2 and 3 is anonymous to curators or the curstors know who posted the photo? |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Only the Head curators who decided to 'award' an image can see the name of the author. Member curators and expert curators don't ! |
 | Hans-Wolfgang Hawerkamp PRO Thank you very much for explaining the new curation process.
If I have understood correctly, should it no longer happen that a member is represented with a image on the 1x front page every day? |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW If published and awarded: yes in most popular on both versions.
If only published: yes on Gamma in latest published. |
 | XibiaoHuang PRO 已经解释的很清楚了，明白了，感谢亲爱的Yvette! |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Thanks, Xibiao ;-) |
| | Bogdan Bouşcă PRO Hello Yvette! Now it's clear for me too new new system. Only I'm a bit confused about - "Why we have to "work" with two versions in the same time) of one site?" Despite this, the Gamma version works extremely annoying on the smart phones. What is the purpose? It's like eating the same food from two plates, but from one plate the food goes to stomach and from the other plate you just pretend eating, but you have to complete the task :) - Good - hope your system will work! As all the updated versions, they do nothing else, just to complicate things and regret the initial version, simply and clear. My best regards and good inspiration in this process! :)
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| Yvette Depaepe CREW Dear Bogdan, working on two versions at the same time is very confusing, I agree. Both will stay for a while till they are similar except for the new curation system and for the presentation. Just as everybody, I have to deal with it too. The only thing I can do is posting articles written by the managers to explane and clarify things. I'm glad to be able to help this way and pleased with the many reactions which will be read by them. Cheers, Yvette :-) |
 | Saad Salem PRO Thank you for the fine explanation, then what about the old photos in the portfolio of the member which are not published ( according the new nomenclature) ? did they remains in the portfolio ? |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Keeping the portfolios with the unpublished photos is a general request, my friend. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer here. |
 | Anita Martin AnnaPileaFotografie Thank you very much for the explanation Yvette. Now I understand everything much better! Also the time to get from net selected to published and from published to awarded. Also the explanation of the popularity is clear to me now! Have a nice weekend! |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Glad this helps, dear Anita ;-) |
 | Greetje van Son PRO Hi Yvette, thank you very much for this explanation. I'ts much more clear to me how the new version works. It is not clear to me about the sales: when a photo is publiced and not awarded is this photo visible for sales partners? Hope you can answere me about this. I regret that the sales overview becomes different. I hope that the old version will stay. |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Yes Greetje, published but not awarded images also are visible for sales partners now. The sales overview and much more features in the Classic version will be similar in the Gamma version soon. They are working on it and will not be fixed in a short term. |
| Greetje van Son PRO That is quite a relief Yvette for the future. Thank you very much for your answer. Nice weekend! |
 | Jaco Marx PRO Thank you Yvette(: |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW My pleasure, Jaco :-( |
 | Christine von Diepenbroek PRO thanks for your informations, makes it a little bit clearer. But what are with the photos which we can upload and send to curation in the "classic version" are they lost for the the frontpage or what? |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW No, not at all, Christine ... Just only one by one will go to curation. If published and awarded they will still be seen on the frontpage of the classic version. If only published and not awarded, you can see them in the Gamma version (latest published). |
 | Rick Brockamp PRO I like the changes you've made. I agree, while navigating the site, it does feel more like a photo gallery experience. I am also pleased that you have left the classic 1X embedded in the site. This is a helpful tool for photographers to navigate the changes and access addition information only available in the original format. |
 | Francesco Del Santo Thank you for your article, dear Yvette. Have a beautiful weekend... :) |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Thanks Francesco ... ;-) |
| Francesco Del Santo My pleasure, dear Yvette... :-) |
| | XibiaoHuang PRO 我想问的是，如果是发布的照片，没有获奖，没有出现在首页，这样的照片在个人的画廊中是否能删除? |
 | Teruhiko Tsuchida PRO Oh! I understand. In short, there are two ways, one is that it is posted on the top page even if it is published, and the other is that it is not posted on the top page!
It's an extreme example, but even if it's published, it may not be posted on the top page all the time, right?
If so, it feels a little sad even if I was published as an honest feeling.
I think it's the same as when it wasn't published ...
But thank you for explaining in detail.
I pray that the new rules will move in the right direction.
Thank you very much.
I used translation software. I'm sorry if it doesn't get through well. |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW I don't have the answer here either, Teruhiko. I guess you can't but why should you ? It is taken in account with the number of published photos and is visible in your portfolio also for our sale partners. Cheers, Yvette ! |
| Teruhiko Tsuchida PRO Dear Yvette. Thank you very much for your answers!
I think I understand more. Have a nice day! |
| | Martin Fleckenstein PRO Hallo Yvette,
Danke für die ausführliche Erläuterung, die aber sehr spät erfolgt. Transparenz sieht in meinen Augen anders aus! Wenn Fotos „published“ sind, erscheinen sie auf der Startseite unter „latest“, schreibst du. Das stimmt so nicht bzw. es funktioniert nicht. Bei meinem letzten Foto war es jedenfalls definitiv nicht so!
Der Sinn der Neuerungen erschließt sich mir, auch abgesehen von dem oben angesprochenen Problem, nicht. Und es überzeugt mich auch nicht!
LG Martin |
| Martin Fleckenstein PRO Hello Yvette, Thank you for the detailed explanation, but very late. Transparency looks different in my eyes! If photos are "published", they appear on the start page under "latest", you write. This is not true or it does not work. With my last photo it was definitely not so! The sense of the innovations is not clear to me, also apart from the problem mentioned above. And it does not convince me either! LG Martin
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) |
 | Theo Luycx PRO Martin,
A published photo comes not always on the starting page only when he is awarded. If a photo is published it is also known if he is awarded it only takes longer for it to get to the startpage. In the old classic version you can see if your published photo is awarded. Go to your last published and awarded photo. If there's a triangle on the left, you can see the next one which is awarded. I was on your site and your last published photo did not follow the earlier awarded. So he will not come on the startpage I think. Theo Luycx SC.
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| Yvette Depaepe CREW Dear Martin, I ony can give you the explanations the 1x management gives me to upload as information in the magazine. Only published and not awarded images appear in 'latest published' in the Gamma version, not in the Classic version (here only published and awarded images on the front page). |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW And dear Theo, the trick with the triangle on the latest published and awarded photo doesn't work anymore since the Gamma version and new curation system was officially launched ;-( |
| Theo Luycx PRO Yvette it still works in classic. If you go to your profile and there are P+awarded photos and only P photos. If you take there a P+awarded photo he jumps only to P+ awarded photos. You can try on every site.
kind regards Theo |
 | Filiberto Galli PRO With a free account it is possible to submit 1 photo per week; given the new curation process, there is not any reason at all to pay a subscription to have as many as 20 stand-by pictures in queue |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Hi Filiberto, since several years, it is no longer possible to subscribe for a free account on 1x. There are only a few free accounts left as it is your case. |
| Filiberto Galli PRO Sure, I didn't know it. Happy to be still among the few lucky guys |