Nudes: a voracious hole of ratings

Yes I noticed it too, but on the other hand the number of views and ratings of the nude photos are quite low...

I think maybe the trick is to simply put ALL of one's images in the NUDE category, nude cars, nude trees, nude tweety birds....Also for all of us aging males, put a NUDE picture of ourselves in the NUDE category...this will bring the situation under control very quickly...Bob Atkins...you're first..

As a recent addition to the site and someone who has posted numerous nudes, I have learned that the ratings on this site mean absolutely nothing. People are going to look at what interests them and apparently most people on this site are interested in nudes. If you are looking to improve your photography, ratings and critiques here will not help you very much. I suggest, if you want to improve, shoot what interests you, learn to operate your equipment, study the greats of the past (Cunningham, Brandt, Man Ray, Weston, Steiglitz, Penn and many others) and continue to shoot. If its feedback you want, then ask for it and hopefully, people who are interested in your subject matter will give you an honest opinion. Everyone has an opinion and in the end you must please yourself with your work. Ratings are nothing to "suffer" for.

Humph... I was under the impression that the whole reason for the critique forum was so that an individual could get helpfull opinions on one's photo's, and the ratings was a way for others to show you at what level of "good or bad" they thought your shot was, no matter whether the subject was of interest to them or not!

 

I mean, we are supossed to be a free comunity here, of people who share a common interest "Photography" and a common goal in our quest to improve upon our skills "or in some cases, the lack of" and maybe have a little fun in the prosses!

 

This site is not unlike any other part of the world, where you have many different facets and groups of people, living amongst each other in freedom!

 

And if Pnet started excluding any one part of the site "Nudes" in this case, it wouldn't be any better than a dictatorship, and thats never been what true art, and anyone who loved art has ever been about!

 

One of the most importent things that I have learned over the years is that, no matter what it is that you are doing, you will never get anymore out of it, than what you put in to it!

 

So with this in mind, if everyone here would give more, "and not worry so much about what someone else might say or do" than what they expect to get, maybe we would find that in the end, we who are here for the joy of this, and the love of just having fun with our chosen art, will come out ahead!

 

 

Ken.

the best answer along this thread. HAHAHAHA!!!

Chris, your answer is not focused on my initial statement: it is about the *amount* of rates, not even it's averaging or looking for them as a kind of feedback. The more rates an image becomes, the more they're viewed. If nude shots take all the rates, then they take all the visibility too.

 

Anyway, it's been a long time ago, when people used to give some kind of feedback for an image sent to the critique rotation, probably now the best way to have some of it is to post to the "Critique only" section.

No it's totally untrue: the nudes are barely listed in TPR by views!

"views" are almost a random counter that is increased every time the page with the image is opened, then every view is real.

Sorry, I wanted to write: "every view is NOT a real one"

This site is having all kinds of problems, mostly due to negligence. I sent them a check back around January 3 to renew my subscription/membership, and they never renewed my membership. They still have my check. They won't send it back.

 

I suspect photo.net is on its way out, I am sorry to say. This site is being ignored. Too bad. It was nice while it lasted.

I don't agree with the above poster at all.

 

I think that they're doing a good job for the most part. ALOT of the problems stem from member problems. Sociological issues that the admin couldn't really fix.

 

The recent change in the default view for TRP was an awesome act on the part of the admin and I salute them for it.

Here's my subjective take on the whole thing. I've been a member for a while, and I'm a complete amateur. I have an understanding of the workings of my camera and lens, but compared to the talent present on the site I'm quite a novice. Feeling this inferiority, I was rather reluctant to comment or critique, much less rate, until I found that by commenting/rating on what I liked (nudes) I began to think about what I liked and why I liked it so much. This experience, breaking out of my own little sociological shell, "enabled" me, or perhaps "empowered" me, to begin making comments on other categories of pictures. If you click on my link, you'll see the vast majority of my comments go to the nudes category, but not all. I've developed some favorites, photographers who I feel do good work, and I check their new offerings frequently. But I also run through the TRP daily to catch the last 24 hours' worth of offerings and rate, and comment, on those that request a comment, constructively. My interest in one genre has translated into viewing more photographs, not less, and in many more genres than I might otherwise have searched.

OK I'm gonna put my 2 cents into some of this. As a very new member to both PN and photography! I find it hard to beleive that a lot of older pners haven't come to grips with the rating system. And are determained to think that some how it is fixable and should be an exact measure of just how good they are to all the world. Well i hate to tell you but it's not going to happen. What I don't understand is why you don't realize this, set your ego's aside and use what is relevent in the rating system to your advantage and discard the rest as it should be.

 

Someone way up there. said they were new and not getting anything from this site and wished maybe they shouldn't have joined. Well your right then you shouldn't have! I bought my camera and joined PN I think the same week and I have learned an unbelieveable amount since joining. So that aspect of the site as somebody else above mentioned is dynamite!!! I would more than recommend PN to anybody who wants to learn photography!

 

On the other hand I know personally long time photograpers who find PNs critique's to be to nice. And they are usually :). But if you ask a specific question and not just comments please, then you can really get some good answers.

 

As for rates! It not going to change so you have to! Unless you can't rate without adding a comment is implimented you might as well forget it. And since i doubt very much they will do that the matter should be laid to rest. It drives me nuts when someone gives me 3s or lower! Why, not because there 3s but because they never leave a comment so what have I learned! Ok i'm hungry now, gotta jet, just a little food for thought. Cheers Nova ~ Oh yea nudes sorry, oh who cares there nudes, what do you expect :) lol

This is coming a little late in thread - however, I think what Nova has said is absolutely correct. I too have seen my rating go down the hole - 2's and 3's now, whereas 6 months ago I was getting 5's and 6's on pictures that are not even remotely as good as the stuff I'm shooting now. But hey, what can I do? Rating is entirely someone's opinion - though I do think that those who rate should be made to leave comments.

 

But that may in and of itself not be an answer at all. If I was some random muzzy person leaving low ratings because I was...well, muzzy, then I would simply copy and paste the same "I hate it" message after my rating. And guess what Nova, you and I still will never learn why they didn't like it. The world is like this - so we should just take solace in our own artwork and the few others (sometimes many others) that generate the same vision as our own.

 

I always rate fairly and offer comments to my ratings. If Nova posts crap, I'll let him know (this has yet to happen and only the coming apocylpse could signal such a thing). And people like Nova do the same for people like me. So I stay a part of this community becuase the photographers that are true to themselves and true to their art always make it worth it. I ignore those 2's and 3's from anonymous raters - but will pay attention if they come from a member that also leaves me their 2 cents.

 

And in the illustrious words of Nova "Ah yes, nudity" - well considering I like nudes and someday wish to shoot my own, I will continue to support the nude category. The more I see different techniques, the more I learn about what types of portrait photography I like and dislike. If anyone ever said someone's nude where not indicitive of capturing the true human soul, then I would simply direct them to Misha H's PN site. The best there is in my opinion.