Hi Steve,
The changes I have made are a recognition of the fact that I cannot screen pictures every day, or that I cannot screen as many pictures as I would like per day. Now, while screening pictures I can flag a few for delayed publication on the site, this will allow me to, for example, go to an air show or as happened last week go to a job interview, and still have pictures appear on the website.
It's not ideal but it's an acknowledgement of the fact that I can't screen pictures every day but it keeps the homepage content changing regularly rather than having pictures appearing in large batches. The more the content of a website changes the more people will tend to visit it, that can only be beneficial to all photographers.
Yes I know it takes a while for me to work through the queue but I like to think that I consider each picture on it's merit's, and generally speaking if I do have to decline a picture I include either a brief explanation of why I declined it or suggest how to fix it, all that takes time.
The changes above are part of an overhaul of the website back end that will allow for more screeners and should also help speed up the screen process by removing any ambiguity, or at least remove as much as possible. You have to understand that I'm not a software programmer so this website has been pieced together as I went along.
Airliners.net takes over a week to screen pictures, yes they get way more pictures submitted than I do but they also have more screeners, they are also more ruthless, I tend to mull over a decision before declining a picture, I'll always look for a way to accept it.
I really want to keep standards on the site as high as possible, I accept some photos that in my head I shouldn't accept because the quality or editing is borderline but I feel bad declining every picture so I let some slip through. Like I said in another thread, sometimes it feels like some photographers are just dumping the contents of their hard drive into the upload queue.
I changed the "Top of..." section on the homepage to 2 days, down from 7, this is to encourage me, and the other screeners when they come on board fully, to ensure a quicker turnaround of pictures in the queue.
If you are in a hurry to have a particular picture screened you can use the new upload page:
http://www.worldairpics.com/upload/There is an option here to submit a picture for priority screening, I get a text message direct to my phone if there is a priority upload so you can be assured of a faster turn around on a priority upload picture.
I hope this answers some of your concerns.
Regards,
Frank.
