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Help

First of all, what does all this grape lingo mean?

Why should I register?

It’s free, fast, and easy. We don’t spam you or sell your information to anyone and it allows you to take full advantage of our services here, including: growing grapes, picking grapes, building vines, tagging, commenting, and other fun stuff. You could win money and other cool prizes. Plus, we’ll give you 10 grapebucks just for signing up. So register today!

What does growing a grape refer to and how do I do it?

To grow a grape on a vine is to submit a video into a contest. To do so, be sure that it is Grow Season for the particular vine you are interested in. Then visit the growers page. You may choose to either re-submit a grape you’ve used previously or add a new one.

We only have two rules when adding a grape: Do not infringe on copyrights and no X-rated content. Other than that, we’ve left it wide open. Just like real grapes, there are many different shapes and sizes and it will be up to the viewers to decide the quality. You will notice the “embedded code” section on the form. This is there because we do not host entries here on the GrapeShow, we only host the winners. So, before you can grow, your grape needs to be uploaded to a host elsewhere. Then simply copy and paste the embedded code they provide to this form. It’s a relatively painless process and we’ve provided a list of officially supported hosts to get you started.

Be sure to check out our winners guide for information on how to maximize your profit potential during the growing process. Once submitted, you will be able to view your grape in a private section on your profile. It will be kept confidential until the Harvest Season begins. You may delete it at any time but you can only edit your embedded code during the Grow Season. Also, be sure to specify your location in your profile and put your neighborhood on the grapevine when you win.

What does picking a grape refer to and how do I do that?

To pick a grape on a vine is to rate a video in a contest. To do so, be sure that it is Harvest Season for the particular vine you are interested in. Then visit the contestants page and sample the grapes. To start picking at them, use the rating scales below each one. You will see two: One for quality and one for relevance. When picking a grape from the GrapeShow, you want to always consider both the quality of the grape itself, as well as how well it follows the theme, objectives, and rules of this vine and round therein.

You will see your ranking on the contestant’s page and you may feel free to make changes as much as you like during the Harvest Season. Your picks will only be counted once, at the end of the harvest. You will no longer be able to add or modify your selection at this point. The ratings you’ll see from this point on for these contestants will represent the average ratings of the community.

What are the vines all about?

Vines represent contests. There are currently three types of vines you will see here: Endless Vines, Industrial Vines, and User Vines. We welcome ideas and feedback on our vines as we are always looking for new and exciting ways to grow some good grapes. Please see our rules of conduct before participating.

What are the Endless Vines?

These represent our main contest ideas in the show. Currently they are as follows: Neverending Vine, The Editors Vineyard, Battle of the Grapes, and Anything Grows. Each vine is unique in form and function, much like the grapes that grow there. On these vines, the winner is chosen by you. And the vines themselves are subject to community picking as well. So please critique away because your vote definitely counts here. If we notice that a particular vine is dying out, we will replace it with a new and livelier one as soon as we can.

What are Industrial Vines?

These vines are grown by participating businesses. They are temporary vines with one round and one set of winners. The sponsors set up each vine as well as the prizes awarded. This is our premium vine as it holds great prize potential. You never know what to expect here. You may wind up in a deal to create the next commercial for an organization or get your comedy skit/music video aired on national television. It’s wide open. The winners are ultimately chosen by the sponsor, but they encourage your picks and will take them into consideration during the selection process.

What are the User Vines?

These are our fun vines and they come from you, the user. They are temporary vines with one round and one set of winners. The winners here are ultimately chosen by the owner of the vine. These are non-sponsored vines, so while the winners still receives recognition and grapebucks, they do not win a share of the profits as they do in one of the Endless or Industrial vines. They were either rooted in the forum and hand picked by us or purchased with grapebucks by one of our users. Either way, there is tons of imagination to be found here.

Tell me more about this "Neverending Story" vine?

This is a show of all shows folks. It’s a story told by the world to the world. It’s a collaborative tale where each part is told by someone else from somewhere else across the globe. Or at least that’s the goal. Each grape in this vine represents one scene in our story.

As a Grower, your aim is to grow a grape that connects to the current winner so that the two flow together nicely. You could choose to pick up where the last one left off or you could pull a “Pulp Fiction” and travel back in time, branching out from another point. It is very important though that you check that it is Growing Season and you have consumed the winning Grape before you start growing your own. Otherwise you may be referencing last round’s winner.

How you choose to continue the story is entirely up to you. It will, however, be up to the great pickers to determine who does the best job. This is a fun experiment to see how good of a story the world can come up with and where it will take us. What path will this vine take across the globe and will you be a part of it?

So tell us a story, world!

Tell me more about "The Editors Vineyard"?

Welcome editors! Whether you are a seasoned editor or a newbie anxious to learn, this vine is for you. What we hope to achieve here is to get as many different versions of the same Grape as we can. All to demonstrate the awesome power of editing.

We want to wind up with funny versions, scary versions, weird versions, awesome effects, etc. so that the Grape is transformed into something completely different. The difference between this vine and the Neverending Story vine next door is that here, the timeline stays as it is. Their vine grows longer, ours grows wider, giving us many variations to choose from in our Vineyard.

The winner can choose whether to start fresh with a grape of their choosing, or continue on with their winning grape as the target for the next round.

Ready. Set. Edit!

Tell me more about the "Battle of the Grapes" vine?

What’s this? You want to go Grape to Grape with another Grower in the show? Well then, you’ve come to the right place. Here the champion sets the terms, and the challenger must abide by them. Should the challenger prevail, he/she will become the new champion and set the new terms. Should they not, the current champion will remain and await their next challenger. If we currently do not have a champion, you may choose a challenger and, should they accept your challenge, go to battle.

Two grapes enter, one grape remains!

Tell me more about the "Anything Grows" vine?

This is our free spirit vine. It’s sort of a free-for-all where anything goes unless we are running a themed round. Other than that, there are no rules really, just grow some good Grapes.

Have Fun!

I have a great idea for a new vine, how can I make it happen?

Cool! Please feel free to submit any ideas for new vines on the forum. Should we choose to use your idea we will reward you for it. Initially you get 100 grapebucks and a spot on the User Vines. We will credit you for the idea and it will be posted to your profile. If it holds up well in that vine and we decide to transform it into one of our Endless Vines we’ll reward you an additional 100 grapebucks and credit you on our homepage.

What are the different seasons here?

We have only three seasons here at the GrapeShow: Grow, Harvest, and Consume. These may occur at different times depending on which Vine you frequent, so you never know what the weather’s going to be like around here.

How long is the Grow Season?

Grow Season lasts 21 days. During this season you can grow your grapes on a particular vine, but you cannot pick grapes or view those being grown by others. At the end of this season, the grapes will be ready for the harvest.

How long is the Harvest Season?

Harvest Season lasts 7 days. During this season you can pick grapes on a particular vine, but you cannot grow any grapes. At the end of this season, the winning grape will be announced and ready to be consumed.

How long is the Consume Season?

This season is a bit unpredictable. It’s very similar to winter, only instead of checking with a groundhog, we need to check with our sponsors so that we may properly reward the winner. If a sponsor exists, Grow Season will commence. Otherwise, we wait.

Hooray, I won! So what now?

First off, congratulations! If you won in one of our Endless Vines, you now have a shot at some serious fame and fortune. The first step for you is to upload your winning grape here. You must perform this step prior to receiving any prizes. This allows us to add your Grape to our lovely Grapevine and showcase you as a winner across the site, by giving your Grape a unique skin. Next, be sure to setup a paypal account so we can credit it with your winnings. And lastly, show it off. We may split the proceeds with you 50-50 if you do. Regardless though, we will reward you 100 grapebucks and showcase your entry on our homepage for the following Consume and Grow Seasons. Thanks for playing!

Cool, I’m a runner-up! So what now?

First off, congratulations! We would like to reward you with 75 grapebucks if your Grape came in 2nd place and 50 grapebucks for 3rd. Your account should have already been updated. If you did not receive payment, please let us know. Thanks for playing!

Ok, I participated. So what now?

Thank you for helping us make this a great community to be a part of. For that, we would like to reward you. As you participate we fill up your account with grapebucks automatically, if you are not receiving these, please let us know.

What in the world is a Grapebuck?

A grapebuck is our currency here on the GrapeShow. As we are just starting out, we have yet to establish a currency exchange rate, but we will in the future. For now, all you need to know is you want them, lots of them! As we grow, we will be adding a variety of goods and services that you will be able to purchase with these. You will soon be able to use them to run your own vine in our User Vines, upgrade your profile, purchase merchandise, and all sorts of fun stuff.

Grapebucks are more than just currency though; they represent your score here on the GrapeShow. When you spend them, your available quantity will decrease, but your total earned will not. So if this was a video game, these would be your points. You can earn these points in the following ways:

Activity Grapebucks
Tagging a Grape 1 per grape
Adding To Favorites 2 per grape
Picking a Grape/Vine 3 per grape
Commenting on Grapes/Vines/Topics 4
Creating a Forum Topic 5
Registering 10
Referring a Friend 20
Growing a Grape 25 per round
Third Place Prize 50
Second Place Prize 75
First Place Prize 100

We reserve the right to revoke your grapebucks should we deem they were earned in an ill-gotten manner. So participate responsibly and everybody wins.

Why are you outsourcing the video hosting?

Excellent question, and we have several reasons for doing so:

  1. You double your promotion by displaying your videos in two locations. Consequently, you increase promotion for GrapeShow (if you follow the Winners Guide) which further allows us to increase the prizes and rewards we offer here. And when you post here, it helps promote your video host as well. So, everybody wins.
  2. It makes for a good host comparison guide here on the show. You can see different hosts side by side and determine which one you prefer. We can also track which are most popular among our users and share that information with you. So if you don’t currently have a host, this is a good place to find one.
  3. You can go on using your host of choice, w/o the need to switch. If you don’t currently have a host of choice, check out our list of officially supported hosts.
  4. We want to reward you as much as possible for participating in the show. To do so, we need to cut our costs. By outsourcing a large chunk of the hosting we save on bandwidth and disk space and we pass the savings onto you via bigger and better prizes.
  5. It adds some more character to the grapes, don’t you think?

That being said, we do currently host the winners of each vine on our server. This helps us keep a nice, tidy Grapevine for your viewing pleasure. And it is yet another way we like to promote/make-over our winners here, so if you see our unique GrapeShow video player, you know you’re looking at a winner.

So how is this site different from any other video hosting site?

Well, first of all, we’re not a video hosting site per say. We specialize in contests and bringing video together around a common theme or purpose. You can’t just submit video to us, you need to submit it with a purpose in mind and ready to compete with fellow videographers/editors to achieve that purpose. The videos on GrapeShow are not standalone products they are each part of something bigger, the Grapevine they competed for and/or the Bunch of Grapes they competed against. Whereas most video hosting sites are about a place to store your videos online, we are about connecting them. You could say that we’re where your videos come to connect and compete with one another, away from home.

Which video hosts do you officially support?

First of all, you can feel free to use any host you like, provided they offer embeddable code to display your videos. The hosts in this list are simply the ones we have tested and who provide us with an API so that we can display nice little thumbnails for your Grapes. If your host of choice is not in this list, please let us know and we will do everything we can to get it on there. In the meantime, we will display a default thumbnail and provide you with an option to upload a replacement thumbnail to our site. If, however, you do not already have a host of choice, these are the ones we recommend as they are popular choices and have been tested here:

    1. YouTube

What is the code of conduct here?

We pride ourselves on having a friendly and fun community of folks passionate about all things video. This is a place where newbies come to learn and experienced users come to show their stuff. To keep our community a pleasant one, we ask that you observe the golden rule at all times and treat folks as you would like to be treated.

Constructive criticism is great, blatant insults and abuse, however, will not be tolerated. Cheating, deception, and other deviant tactics are also not tolerated. This includes creating several accounts, referring yourself, excessive/meaningless tagging, spamming, and the like.

If we catch you breaking our code of conduct, it will be grounds for revoking your prizes, grapebucks, and membership. Be honest, respectful, and courteous and we will all live happily ever after. Help us keep this a positive and constructive place. If you should witness anyone breaking the code, please let us know.

What happens in the event of a tie?

We will be the tiebreaker.

What are the fame and fortune grape-o-meters all about?

Ah, glad you asked. Those are there to show you how well your Grapes are stacking up in the “real world”. In other words, how much actual money they’ve made you and how many registered users they’ve attracted. Currently, you will see this on the winner’s details page. The more hits they get, the higher their fortune becomes.

What’s a widget? A tag? RSS?

Widgets allow you to display the cool stuff you have on GrapeShow (your Grapes, your Vines, your ranking, and so forth) on your own website, blog, myspace page, etc. Just visit the widget page, copy the code provided, and paste it where you want it displayed. Easy as that.

Tags allow you to organize your Grapes and favorites for easy referencing and sorting. As you start filling out your profile, you can keep things organized. In turn this helps keep the community organized, because your tags are combined with everyone else’s to help organize the entire show.

RSS allows you to stay current on all the new stuff that happens around the site, without the need to actually visit the site, although we hope you still do. If you subscribe to an RSS feed and you have a feed reader you can keep current on that particular vine, comment, user, etc.