faq > general

What's the limit on language in captions? I'm talking about profanity. If it's really funny, and possibly even necessary, will it get by? I noticed one caption containing "Holy s***!"

Captions that use gratuitous bad language and aren't funny may be deleted or downvoted.

However, caption.me is not intended to be family-friendly site, so captions can be as risque and provocative as you like - provided they are funny.

How come the votes that I receive disappear for no reason outside of the one minute withdraw-vote period?

Very occasionally, votes are automatically removed if they're found to originate from other users who are connected with you in some way (having the same IP address, for example)

Is the competition judged by just one person? If so, are only the 'liked' captions chosen for judging or are they all given an equal chance of winning the prize?

The votes of captioneers help create a shortlist from which the winning caption is chosen by Chris, the site owner.

Why is there constructive voting

Do you mean why is there only an upvote and no down-vote?

There is a good discussion about this on the forum.

At the moment, only admins are entitled to down-vote, and only for certain reasons. This helps maintain positive relations between captioneers and avoids some of the negativity and gaming of the system that came with liberal downvoting.

Having said that, I would consider other ways to hide unfunny captions and I welcome suggestions.

I don't know anyone on caption.me personally, I don't work with anyone that uses it, I have one single account which I use to caption and vote, yet I still continually have votes removed hours after they have been given. Why is this?

There may be another person using caption.me from your IP address (which can be shared within a workplace, or in some cases within a mobile or broadband provider). Votes from such linked users will be automatically removed.

Caption.me will try to avoid linking users on IP addresses shared by thousands of internet users.

I have for some reason lost 3 votes for my recent caption, why is this as it was after the voting had closed?

If caption.me finds votes that come from users who are linked to you in some way (perhaps they used the same computer or network as you at some point), then the site will periodically remove their votes for you. If this removal happens at the start of the week, it could result in you seeing a negative score.

What is the purpose of the number at the top right hand corner of the picture?

For photos, the number in the top-right-hand corner shows the number of captions your last visit to the site.

For visitors that aren't logged in, it shows the number of captions in the last 24 hours.

If the number turns yellow, there have been captions since you opened the page.

Why isn't my photo showing on my captions?

The author of a caption is hidden for three days (whilst the caption can be voted on), in order to make the voting fairer.

Why is there an option to stay anonymous on the comment option?

This is mainly to avoid revealing the author's identity after writing a caption.

With the up and coming photos, if you have voted, can you later vote the other way?

To avoid tactical voting changes, the photo voting has the same time restriction as caption voting. You can only retract or change a vote within 60 seconds of placing it

What do the little twinkling stars on the "captions" part of the bar at the top mean (to the left of "discuss")? Sometimes they are there, sometimes not.

The twinkling stars appear briefly on the update badges to notify you an update (e.g. new caption) has just been made by another visitor.

When you make final judgement as to who wins, do you unwittingly give preference to the newer captions over the ones a week or so old?

I (Chris) make judgement over all the captions submitted from the start date of the competition (beginning of the month) to the end date of the competition (end of the month).

I make allowances for the fact that captions written in the last seven days of the monthly competition may not have had a full voting period.

How many pics are there to choose from in total and how many entries do you usually get each month per photo?

As of June 2011 there are 1,374 photos and 32,320 captions in total.

The month of May 2011 saw 1,091 captions submitted, giving an average of 35 captions per photo.

Hi..I am not sure how to add my icon to my name..it says drag a box down over face. Have no idea what this means. Thanks for help.

Note that this feature only works on a laptop or desktop computer. You should click and hold your mouse button at the top of your face on the image and drag down, which will draw a box. Release the button when the box covers your face. This will select the portion of the image you want to use for your icon.

Are Americans eligible for the cash prize?

Yes, if you can receive money through PayPal, you are eligible

If I delete one of my own captions that has received no votes , does it still bring my voting average down?

Yes, it will do. Deleting zero-voted captions doesn't improve your voting average.

Why do some captioneer names remain hidden when the date has passed?

All captioneers should be revealed after a three day voting period. Note that this voting period starts the moment they've submitted their caption, in order that everyone gets the same fair voting period. So for a given photo, there may be some captioneers revealed, and other more recent contributors will still be anonymous.

Just wondering- are there really cash prizes? If so please explain how it works.

Yes there are indeed! The winner is private messaged and asked for either an email address for a PayPal transfer, or account number / sort code for a bank transfer (their choice). There are dozens of happy cash prize winners who continue to contribute excellent captions to this site. If they'd been scammed, they'd leave, right?

Is there a limit on the amount of captions that I supply on one photo

No, you can add any number of captions to a single photo, subject to your overall quota

how do I log off

Look for your name at the top of the screen and click it. Then click "Log off" (at the bottom of the user profile page)

Can I recover deleted captions?

Afraid not, sorry

In the discuss section, how do I comment on a caption? Apologies if this procedure is obvious

When logged in, click the little speech bubble icon on the right-hand side of the caption. This will display the comment box

I entered a caption for the suitcase lady and it went two times again.. I would just use the second one, but I really don't have another caption and I don't want to waste my quota. Can you erase it.. I Deleted it.. Owed 1.

I have raised your quota and prioritised work to prevent double submission of captions.

i just accepted a edit revision on the panda pic... did it go through? Do I just click accept?

Yes, that went through just fine.

I've noticed in the discuss, captioning section, some captioneers are posting comments on their own caption.. Is this allowed? I kind of thought this was a faux pas - like voting for yourself. Just checking!

If we see people doing it regularly and it looks like they're deliberately drawing attention to their own captions, then we'll have a word.

Why is the circle on the star wars picture showing forty some as new... this morning? Did no one vote on it before, now?

Not sure exactly what you mean, but the circle shows the number of captions created on a photo.

I made a comment on one of the captions and posted in discuss. I received two votes for it, before I realized it was very close to someone' s caption. I THEN, deleted it , but I still have the 2 votes and the caption only has my one vote.

I’m not sure I fully understand the issue you’re describing.

You don’t lose votes when you delete a caption or comment.

With all the people that have joined CAPTION ME and all the newcomers, why are they not active in contributing to the captions or even the voting? Why would you join if you are not going to participate?

That would be a good thing to discuss in the forum, where those newly signed up people may be able to respond

I notice names of newcomers being added every other day and many names of captioneers that have been here for years , but why do I only see a handful of names writing the captions and voting on them?

That would be a good thing to discuss in the forum, where those newly signed up people may be able to respond

LATE BLOOMERS CONT. We get 3 days to caption, but if no one bother to review after 1 or 2 days, it's futile.... especially if your cap. is near the bottom. You can EDIT and come up with a great idea , but, no one will see it.

Hi Kathleen. We have discussed this at more length on the forum. In general, the forum is a better place to have discussions like this. Please use the search facility on the forum to find any existing discussions to avoid creating duplicate discussions. Thanks and see you there

Rewarding Finders for Finding Top Captions is a very effective measure in keeping the voting fair, however, late-bloomers still get a bum rap. CONTINUED.

You state- the author of caption is hidden for 3 days to make voting fair, but someone can review your profile and see it. I checked, immediately after submitting, it shows on my profile., so how is it fair?

When you view your own profile, you'll see all your captions. When others view your profile they'll only see those captions that have completed voting

CONTINUED...Re - my "repeat editing captions". I had to use all 3, once they went through and come up with 2 ideas I didn't have. WHY would it not say Repeat, sure you want to cont.?

Apologies for this annoying experience. I am currently re-writing the code for editing captions, so please bear with me. In the meantime I will boost your caption quota (if I understand correctly, you have lost quota when trying to edit a caption).

Attempted to edit my last caption.. It appeared to not go through and I clicked it two more times - received - you are out of captions mess. Thought I had 2 left,( I was saving for end.) When I reviewed my entry it repeated 3X

Apologies - this sounds like a bug. I am currently re-writing the code for editing captions, so please bear with me.

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