Todd MacMillan, digitalimagecafe.com, macmillaninc.com suppression of opinions in member forums, apparent favoritism in photo contest judging process, owner uses scare tactics to silence members who criticize, there seems to be a clique of members who win, Internet
The owner of the digitalimagecafe.com, Todd MacMillan, threatened to cancel my membership when I started asking questions about the judging process for the photo contests. It was scary and humiliating the way MacMillan came across as a tyrant with total control over even the most constructive and well-meaning criticisms posted by me a others into the member forums. There appears to be an obvious preference for specific aesthetic styles regarding works submitted to the various contests. This can be evidenced in the high number of contest wins concentrated in a small group of members - specifically a few with many hundreds of wins, most of them, in my view, nwith uncannily similar creative paradigms. Most of the remainder of the membership have relatively few, many less than 10 and some with no contest wins. It would be nearly impossible for this situation to exist without some major bias in the judging process, or even a rigged judging system, or, at the very best, a process in which final decisions are actually made by the owner so as to favor submissions that are in concert with his own creative biases.
The deception is found in the way the owner promotes and presents his site and the so-called "fair" judging process and the reality of the lopsided contest win distribtion throughout the membership. I agree with the previous 2 reports on Todd MacMillan and the digitalimagecafe.com and I feel bad for the member who had his membership cancelled right after he renewed it and Todd MacMillan refused to refund his membership fee. That does not surprise me when I consider my own experience. It does not suprise me that the submitter of the first Rip-Off Report on Todd MacMillan had constructive comments he posted into a member forum REMOVED virtually immediately after he posted it. I know what this poor member must have gone through just because I got enough of a taste of it from my own experience with MacMillan and entering contests and commenting in the forums. I'm not renewing my membership - I can say that for sure. I submitted many works into the various contests and many of my submissions were as strong or stronger than those chosen as "winners". I only won 3 times in nearly 11 months as a member. There is no doubt in my mind why. I believe that Todd MacMillan should be investigated and I encourage anyone else who feels they have been mistreated, deceived, or ripped off to file a complaint here.