What's this? (see rules)

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About What's this? (see rules)

Post your visual riddles: an object detail, a minimal close-up, a picture out of focus; then ask: "what's this?", cross your arms and wait...

A QUICK-FIND LINK FOR UNSOLVED PHOTOS (this will ONLY work for the photos tagged with "unsolved"): flickr.com/groups/whats_this/pool/tags/unsolved/

***PLEASE BE SURE TO REVIEW THE GUIDELINES CAREFULLY BEFORE ADDING YOUR PHOTO TO THE POOL OR IT MAY BE DELETED***

( Se você não falar o inglês e sua língua preliminar for portuguese ou outra, use por favor esta ferramenta útil para a tradução das réguas e das linhas:

dictionary.reference.com/translate/text.html OR babelfish.altavista.com/ )



***This is how this group works:

a) POSTER - post a picture to the pool with no information such as tags, descriptions, adding to other descriptive/revealing groups, or anything else that may give away a clue to what it is. Make it a riddle, make it hard to grasp what the picture is of: you may want to post a detail of an object, or something out of focus, or an unusual close-up. Photos which have been post-processed (or PhotoShopped) are okay - as long as they arent so unclear that it makes it impossible to determine what the image is. They should start as a photo, and should NOT be 100% computer generated. The image MUST be ambiguous, or it will be deleted. After you do that, write a message under the "New riddle!" topic to signal the beginning of the game. Finally, have fun with the proposals of the other members!

b) PLAYER - visit the page of the picture and leave your suggestions there as comments (not in a thread in this group).

c) WHEN IT'S REALLY DIFFICULT - if no one can guess correctly, after a while the POSTER may want to give a tip, or reveal the mystery. Do give the guessers/players a fair shot at it before doing this.

d) KEEP THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE PUZZLES PER PLAYER TO A MINIMUM - In order to keep the number of submissions under control (and easy to access), please dont post too many riddles at one time. This has generally been kept at one active riddle per player, but so long as there isnt abuse of this rule, we can remain a bit flexible. One or two is always preferred, and your photos wont be deleted unless you start flooding or simply posting many in a row or neglect to follow up with those commenting/guessing on your photos. As your submissions are solved (or when you've decided to give away the answer because no one will ever get there) you can reveal, then post another one or two.

e) TAG "UNSOLVED" OR "SOLVED" - When you submit a new puzzle to the pool, please tag with "whatsthis" AND "unsolved". Once your riddle has been solved, change the tag to reflect "solved". You may also want to add the word "solved" to the title of the photo. This helps members easily sort through which photos are still in active "mystery status" and which are not.
If you are fairly new to the game, you are encouraged to look through some of the photos in the pool as an example.

*** It's important that we all try to adhere to the few guidelines that have been established for the group in order to keep it fun and running smoothly.
We never like to delete a photo, but they must keep to the nature of this group in order to remain in the pool. We've decided that to best maintain the integrity of the group, we cannot allow the submissions that dont fit the group's modest restrictions to linger in the photo pool. Resubmission of a photo that's been deleted should be approved by an administrator prior to doing so.

Thanks everyone! Feel free to post any questions or concerns you may have (if appropriate for public forum), or contact an administrator.
And as always, have fun...