SEEKING CRITIQUE: how many photos ...

When posting an image for "critique", I make a point of never having more than one photo visible on the front page at a time.

 

Possibly, others may consider this too, as adding six or seven photos in rapid succession, as some do, will inevitably prejudice other members by removing them from view.

When posting an image for "critique", I make a point of never having more than one photo visible on the front page at a time.

John,the front page if I understand your point is the first fifty or so images which appear as you open the critique forum before the ''load more'' box pops up at the bottom.If so,I see your point but cannot agree with it because doing so would limit my use of the site as it is set up;I would however welcome and abide by a limited number of uploads the site might want to set for this platform....much like the former version of PN.FWIW,I have raised more than once over the last two years this matter of ''load more'' feature/limitation which is hurting the use of the photo side of this new PN but it seems nowhere near the top of the priorities list!

I've been on P.net longer than some.

Critiques have always been hard to get

 

"For many are called, but few are chosen."

 

However you do it, I think only asking for a few at one time is more productive of critiques.

 

It used to be that when you had posted an image for comment, it would randomly show up at the bottom of the thread. That worked, but even so, it wasn't a flood of critiques.

The photo side of PN needs a complete rethink as I and others have mentioned before. As it stands now, it's a complex maze of buttons that still sometimes confuses me two years after the switch over to the new version. Navigation through this site must appear daunting to newer members and certainly has an effect on their active participation in the community. Take a look not only at comments but views - both down substantially compared with the numbers when PN was operating under the old system. Despite the constant addition of new members, the actual number of users on line at any particular time has barely budged from what it was at the change over and is, I believe, far below the activity level of the old version. There doesn't seem to be any attempt at critical evaluation from management. Maybe they believe fixing things is just too much trouble or too expensive; at any rate there seems little interest on the part of management in improving and streamlining the navigation and use of this site. Now if you don't believe that things need fixing here, I'd be glad to provide specific examples, chapter and verse, of frustrating design flaws. Finally, I'm specifically addressing the photo and critique side of PN, not the forum side (including the No Words forums) which seems to operate pretty much as it should,.

cannot agree with it because doing so would limit my use of the site

I certainly understand, but unfortunately some people will always and do abuse .. some level of compromise is needed.

The thoughts voiced by John Peri seem to make sense to me, but I also have some sympathy for frigo's comments. It would appear if members just want exposure for their work then posting an unlimited number of photo's at a time works. If members are wanting others to give careful thoughtful critique and leave comments then a little restraint may reap better results. We have seen series of almost identical images posted a the same time, I for one have enough trouble sorting through my own photos without having to edit for others.

It would appear if members just want exposure for their work then posting an unlimited number of photo's at a time works.

.. yet it will be those very same people that are prejudiced if someone that follows them does exactly the same thing .. once again, I think that some compromise is the common denominator here ..

once again, I think that some compromise is the common denominator here ..

I have just uploaded a series of photos I shot yesterday and as you noted,I bumped my own series of photos of three days ago from the front page to the next page of the critique forum.Prior to this I checked this front page on which I had 9 photos and where you had the one photo uploaded also three days earlier and realized the number of hits your single photo had(232) was about the same the total of my 9 had generated(247).A quick count on the turn around of a photo on this page is therefore about three days before it passes to the next page where it remains available for critique;after it has gathered hits/likes/favorites/comments, it,by some calculation kept secret by Admin,then works its way up the trending list where it gets more attention.As I noted earlier,I would gladly abide by any limit Admin would set(old PN had these limits for daily comments and ratings and I have stayed basically with these numbers over the years) but I think this may be a long way off as one of the ''incentives'' being promoted to merge to a paying membership is the possibility to upload up to 20 images at a time to the critique forum.....a far cry from what we are discussing here.

I have just uploaded a series of photos I shot yesterday

 

Rightly or wrongly so as not to infringe on anyone's sensitivities, a "nude" will indeed often attract more attention than a more deserving shot - another reason why I limit what I expose at one time!

 

I do understand perfectly the interest you describe in showing one's work "en masse" when the occasion demands it. However, it is another matter when some people abuse the system day after day, as some of our members do.

 

It is also the reason unfortunately why so many privileges in life are reduced, so as to accommodate to the more thoughtless among us .. the roads with the least accidents in Europe are the German one, but now they want to set a speed limit on the autobahn in order to control the 5 per cent of drivers who have total disregard for others.

As I recall, before PN was redesigned, new photos posted for critique did not simply stay on the front page and bump off others. There was a software-generated rotation system where, for the first few days, new photos were rotated on and off the front page. That worked out pretty well and was fairly egalitarian ... sounds like that feature was discarded in the redesign.

 

I never found a big advantage to numbers of views or visibility itself. I wanted constructive comments which could help me grow as a photographer. That took some work and active networking. The more I gave others thoughtful critiques, the more thoughtful critiques or helpful comments I got in return. That started dwindling even before the redesign for a variety of reasons and I sense had little to do with visibility.

 

Those days are gone and I highly doubt they’re coming back. Social networking has had a big impact on attention spans and on what people want from the site. From my vantage point, and this is said with no stats other than my own observations to back it up, the most popular and active feature on the site is No Words. No Words. That really tells the story. I truly believe people do not, for the most part, want to talk about photos and whatever learning is sought seems to be more about new or old lenses and new or old gear rather than about how to envision and conceive of making a photo or approach photography.

 

So, if the purpose of visibility is to get critiques, I suspect a very different system would have to be in place and a very different membership would have to be sought ... well beyond number of views. If visibility itself is the goal, a system like what used to exist might help some.