The supergluer strikes again, the clues are sticking.

Glyn Evans

I'll never understand the rules of captioning... or should that be the rules of voting... Sometimes an old caption gets no votes and other times gets lots or can even be a monthly winner. The skill is to decide when a caption is appropriate for a photo. There would be few captions if every caption, phrase and idea had to be unique. The beauty of this site is people get to vote for what they like and abstain from voting for what they don't like. If a caption makes someone smile it has done its job.

Stephen Bean

Anon, now that Stephen has been revealed as the caption author, perhaps it would be appropriate to reveal yourself if you wish to have an open debate. In regards to recycling, I saw 'Get a Tomb' and thought, I've seen that many times before, so I didn't vote for it. Some captioneers use old captions on purpose as they think it suits the photo perfectly and it will get votes. Other captioneers will accidentally use old captions without realising. With the site operating for so many years and with so many similar photos, this is inevitable. I do take issue with the whole 'people should've voted for other captions instead' comment from anon though. Nobody on this site should have the audacity to 'tell' people how to vote. People can decide themselves what they like and if they decide they like 'Get a Tomb' instead of other captions, then suck it up and move on (or write a better caption to beat 'Get a tomb'). I had a situation a while ago where someone was giving me shit because I tried something different on a Mona Lisa photo, so if you go for the classics you get hammered and if you try something new you get hammered. Let's leave the voters to decide what they want. And on the subject of voting, there seems to be the misconception from some that us captioneers post captions and then a 'separate' group of voters turn up 3 times a day to tell us how great we are. 'Reality' However is that every voter on Caption.me also posts their own captions. It would be a fairer and more appreciative situation if some would vote a little more. Only my opinion.

The Wolf

Well, The Wolf has pretty much said everything I would have, but I'll throw some support to the Anons. It is frustrating when you're trying to be original and a recycled caption smashes you in the votes (especially when they get tagged "Clever", or worse, "Creative").

But Stephen is also right. If voters don't know, or don't care, that a caption isn't original, and it fits the photo and amuses them, then it deserves a vote from them. Not everyone will vote the way we personally want ... which is a shame as that would pretty much guarantee a 50 quid monthly income ;)

James Lennox

Ok, this will probably be the last thing I say about this.

Benny Hill, who wrote all his own shows, famously said, "There are no new jokes." However, as we've seen from the truly clever captions here, creative originality really has no bounds. There have been some high profile funny people since Hill who were totally original, there have also been joke thieves. Robin Williams was well known for this. The night before appearing on a talk show, he'd slip into the back of a comedy club and from the shadows watch the hungry up-and-comers. Steal a couple zingers, then repeat them on-air before millions. The kid who wrote them, could never say them again.

It's my belief that for most people, creativity and humour can be developed, much like exercising a muscle. Despite enthusiasm, dedication and effort, there will always be some who are quicker, sharper and funnier than the rest. Which brings me to identities. Just as some might not like to learn that fact about Robin Williams, I too was surprised to see that Stephen Bean was the poster. Why? Because when I'd read his long list of wonderfully funny winners, I was inspired and genuinely impressed, much like the public were with Robin.

The mark of a true creative soul, is risk taking, Robin tried a lot of crazy attempts or as the Americans say using baseball metaphors, "Swing for the fences!" & "A swing and a miss." Some hit big, others fell flat. He started to steal jokes because he got a bit lazy. Daily exercise, though essential, is a drag.

On this page, you'll see a couple more attempts at this photo by Stephen, which didn't score as high. We throw a lot at the wall and hope something sticks. This is especially apropos as a member's quota increases.

When I said, "a comment should have scored higher," it was never an attempt to tell people how to vote, it's me trying to express some level of tribute to original creativity. Of course we can't control the voters, but as posters, we have a kind of honor code. Robin broke it. In any line of work, in every culture, taking someone's invention and claiming the credit for it, is looked upon with disdain.

Surely we want to encourage originality here? Chris has tirelessly put in so much to build this site up, and it can continue to grow has a hotbed for creative development. If Chris isn't lazy, why should we be? It was never my intention to tell people how to vote or post, but merely to encourage the development of creativity and originality. Stephen obviously has this in spades. Any of you who are parents, would never encourage your child to be lazy. Why not? Because you care about them.

The way I stumbled upon this site, was from another caption site where someone had commented something like, "Why do you people waste your time here, when there's Caption.me?"

Already this site's humour is fairly regional and ideological, but that's ok, people go with what they know. Let me tell you why I brought this issue up in the first place.

If we continue to be lazy and post lazy attempts with our genuine ones, of course the voters will vote, but the true creatives will become frustrated. Just like that comedy kid who had his best jokes stolen and can never use them again. His light is snuffed out. Creatives will see the rewarding of hack stolen material and think "Why bother?"

Sure, you might build a popular site, but it'll be like 90% of the web, an echo chamber of group think, without the inspiration of true creatives, who have moved on elsewhere.



PS: You might notice, I'm currently the only voter for "GET A ROOM" under the homeless guy photo. It's a clever application of a well known statement. It may have been used in this way before, but not as much as the other. It'll also be interesting to see what the fallout is, having revealed my identity...

Mauris Iocus

I think this would work better if you shortened it to 'Stairway to Heaven'.

Karyn Harrison

Thank you Karyn. Being a cyclist myself I'm quite happy with the idea they only go to heaven.

No wonder the early ads read "Bone Shaker for Quakers prepare to meet thy Maker."

Mauris Iocus

There will always be a place for the recycled caption, not only because there is an endless supply of new captioneers who are perhaps unaware a caption has been previously used, but because repetition is funny. Why else do we spend our money on comedy boxsets if we only want to watch them once? I've watched every episode of Friends at least fifty times and it still cracks me up even though I know half the lines by heart. If a caption is funny and appropriate to the photo I think it would be a shame not to use it. I like to use song lyrics and quotations in my own captions and enjoy seeing others do the same. Just because they're not my own words I don't necessarily see it as a sign of laziness. I'll often spend up to an hour trying to put together something original only for it to be totally unappreciated, whilst a pun I made which took just minutes to think of gets half a dozen votes. It makes me think 'Why bother? I could've spent that hour watching Peep Show.'

Karyn Harrison

I felt exactly the same Karyn about my caption on this photo about the closet. I was most proud of this caption and yet it scored zero. That's why I always try to give a vote to a caption I like that is on zero. I use a lot of the supervotes you give me on captions such as these. It's nice to know at least one person appreciates what you have created. It's perhaps ironic that Mauris made a comment on my 'closet' caption but didn't like it enough to give it a vote. Some of the captions I am most proud of have scored zero which is why I would never want zero vote captions to be deleted as they used to be. In answer to your question Karyn, if your caption makes YOU smile then it was worth bothering and your own opinion of it is the most important.

Stephen Bean