Not much to read in TRP search by "Number of Comments" - suggestion

Suggestion: Counting words instead of comments in the "Comments" TRP

sort.

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Let's not talk about mate-raters again, but their domination on most

TRPs nowadays is pretty obvious. I would at least hope to see better

images and mostly more interesting discussions in the search "by

number of comments". Well, unfortunately, that's not the case...

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Of course, this is just my opinion. Agreed ? Disagreed ? Now, how

about changing the way the count of comments works right now ?

Counting words instead of comments. What's the point ? Here goes...

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"Wow 7/7" takes very little brain power and very little time to

write, and it's boring to read. Sadly I'd say that about 90% of the

top 3 pages in the comments TRP are made of dozens of such short,

empty, uninteresting one-liners.

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If the site could do a "word count" for the "Comments" sort of the

TRP, it would give a chance to some pictures, which are not visited

by quick-raters, but where a few people have in-depth discussions

about interesting things. At the same time, we may hope that counting

words will somehow motivate people to write a little more when they

really like an image. (Posts or replies by the photographer should be

left out of the count)

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Does all this make sense to you ? Do you like the idea ? And to

photo.net admins and other geeks: Is it something easy to set up,

technically speaking ?

This sounds like a great idea to me. Verbosity would surely be exonerated in this instance. Regards.

say, how about we count beans? i have lots of beans. lets count my beans and your beans and see who has the most interesting collection of beans

 

since i believe that brevity is the soul of wit i use very few words. but some people go on and on and on and on. so lets count words and the more words used will measure how 'interesting' and cogent are the points we make. ditto for photos

 

get the picture?

 

and oh, lets all agree that this is something we want 'mommy' to do for us. because 'mommy' has nothing better to do. than count our beans for us

Jeez! I didn't read Marc that way at all: a bean counter. I think he's looking for a way to sort the gallery above and beyond the current mate-rated image sort which is what occupies the TRP. He's looking for a way that's not boring and repetitive so that he can better enjoy the time he spends here. I agree with him. I would use that sort too in order to find images that had interesting discussions going on.

Come clean. Are you a bogus account? Do you have other accounts here under other names?

Why not drop by the commentaries under some of my photos, especially the ones that get many comments?

 

Some of the photographs have inspired the most erudite comments, including philosphy, poetry, photographic workups of all kinds, current events discussions and a wide variety of topics all related somehow to the photograph. Very few '6/6 nice photo' type comments and a lot of wonderful commentators, all of whom know they will get a good reception; most with good wit and high intelligence.

Marc, I'm only a little geek and not at all familiar with the PhotoNet software. At my office, however, we use a Unix based system that incorporates features that count words for backtiming production scripts. It's transparent, operates in real-time, and is very flexible. It is a universal need in my industry. As I said above, I think the idea has merit. Regards.

<p>"...Jeez! I didn't read Marc that way at all: a bean counter... Come clean. Are you a bogus account? Do you have other accounts here under other names?..."

 

<p>tsk, tsk, your distrusting soul. you miss the point. marc proposes some hyperbolic and convoluted way to highlight discussions that HE thinks are interesting since his penchant for verbosity would be self-rewarded with the additional attention he craves. and he wants 'mommy' (that is, photo.net) to enable that

 

<p>besides once a discussion full of many words or comments or whatever is well under way then what is the point of highlighting something that many members are already aware and participated??

 

<p>a simpler and better proposal is for members to actually facilitate interesting discussions that might never occur by calling all members attention to any photo that any one of us finds interesting. and 'mommy' need not do a thing to enable this for us

 

<p>here's an example:

 

<p><a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/3032023" >IMAGE-ON THIS: "Olive4"</a>

"...I was hoping for an option to post photos with blocked rating option. I do not want to ask for a critique for every photo and I am not interested in ratings any more. In fact in actual system looking at rates can only bring a depression..."

 

mark, that option already exists. i think you upload a new photo and request a critique and check a 'not rated' box. maybe some people will comment but they cant rate it and there is no gallery exposure. anyone know more? hope that helps

spaghetti western - I like your idea. Suggest away. I'm sure people will have a look see. But why does Marc have to loose for you to win? Marc's idea has a lot of merit. Both ideas can exist in the universe. Win-win you know. Only way to go.

Some people like arguing for arguments sake. It's an absolutely great idea and full of plain old common sense... meaning don't hold your breath.

"...It's an absolutely great idea and full of plain old common sense... meaning don't hold your breath..."

 

what separates the wheat from the chaff as ideas go is that IMAGE-ON THIS requires absolutely NO SITE IMPRIMATUR (no 'mommy' help) to do it. it only needs member member participation, akin to what goes on with W/NW (words/no words). once IMAGE-ON THIS gains popular GRASS ROOTS momentum then the site cannot resist to provide it with its own forum, just like W/NW has now

Spaghetti- I've read your suggestion several times re: IMAGE ON THIS. At first glance....I thought it was a great idea. I still think it has merit but have some questions/concerns:

 

1.) What's to prevent mates from recommended each other's images? Wouldn't that put us right back where we started from? You may have already thought this through and have a solution.

 

2.) Where would you post the recommendation to look at a photo. I've noticed your links to photos in several forum responses. If this system or procedure was adopted, where would I go to find the recommendations or links (or to make one)? Would the site set up a separate forum for this? I assume that's not your intention because that would require "Mommy's" assistance.

 

3.)Would this procedure necessarily improve the odds of viewing quality images or becoming involved in interesting discussions regarding an image's merits?

 

Don't get me wrong...I think your suggestion is a good one. I'm fairly new to the site and confess that I enjoy reviewing the photos in the TRP. At least half of them appeal to my sense of aesthetics. The other half....well lets just say it's more of the same, from the same, and no longer holds my attention. I for one would like to see your suggestions implemented if there is some way to minimize many of the same problems we're seeing in the TRP. I think it would offer a better learning experience vs. the "Nice Photo" comments that are so prevalent.

 

You may have already outlined the specifics I mention above. If so, please post the link so I might have a look.

laurie, glad you ask those very good questions. heres my thinking

 

1) not a problem since only persons who find the usual suspect mates photos 'interesting' will bother to 'discuss' them such as they do, many to glad hand each other, etc. remember, calling public attention to what you or i might think is an interesting photo might not generate interest if no one else agrees with our view. in which case, really, no harm no foul

 

2) once i think there is sufficient groundswell of interest in IMAGE-ON THIS then i (or others?) will initiate an IMAGE-ON THIS thread in the site feedback forum and that is where we will begin to post and find links to photos we might find interesting. the site wont sabotage this by deleting those threads since that would be just plain mean. then, once momentum picks up then PN will not resist the urge to create a separate forum for us to post those links, just like the W/NW forum

 

3) probably both. many pairs of eyes can do the job better than a narrow committee. of course there will be trolls and sincere members who will recommend dubious images. but then really no one will bother to comment on these so the extent of that type of behavior will abate of its own accord

 

and no, i havent yet outlined the formal specifics except by way of some examples and general explanation. but i will do so some time soon

also part of the value of having an IMAGE-ON THIS thread, or successive series of threads as we start out, is that we can exhange input with each other as this goes along about refinements and suggestions to improve the process by way of collaborative constructive criticism

I was able to determine whose sock-puppet "spaghetti western" was, and this account has been disabled.

 

In answer to the question as to the appropriate forum for posting "Look at this photo" threads. The forum for a photographer to post requests for critique is the Photo Critique forum. A photographer can also post his/her own photographs to a "No Words" thread in a variety of forums -- although these are not intended for critique. If you feel that a photo is neglected, place a high rating on it, and it will be visible as one of your "highest rated photos". That is what that feature is for, and if people respect your taste they will use it to find out which photos you think warrant attention.

 

If that isn't enough, create a presentation with links to your favorite photos, as many people have done. There isn't a forum where "look at this neglected photo" threads are on-topic.