Ratings and opinions

[igla]

Hi Brian, I join this community a bit more then two weeks ago. First

week I posted few photographs and send some for critique. The

critique and ratings were reasonable for dose photos. Second week was

completely different. The photos I posted instantly got rated for

2/2 with no comment on it. I thought maybe they really were bad, but

later normal people rate them accordingly. This week I posted another

photo, got three ratings of 6/6 with comment and just after that one

2/2, one 2/3 with no comments. At this moment this rating system

looks to me like is fixed and someone controls who gets what. I came

to that conclusion after I noticed some facts .First, soonest my last

picture went on the critique list it had 140 views- were this number

came from I have no idea, but it looks fishy to me. Second, the photo

I posted for critique last is not even showing on ?Photos from Last

24 Hours Ranked by Rate Recent Avg? but the average on it is over 5

on both A and O. If the photo is not displayed, how other

viewers can fairly rate or comment it. I though this site was design

for people to share their opinions and knowledge but for some reason

I don?t feel that anymore.

[mottershead]

I looked briefly at the photos that you have submitted for rating. On all but a couple of them, I think a 3 or 4 rating is about right, meaning that a 2 rating isn't out that much out of line. I didn't see any that I thought merited a 6 rating. So, I think probably it is the high ratings, which you can put down to people being generous and trying to be encouraging, that would be out of line. This is my opinion, of course, and others will have a different view.

 

A photo is going to show some variation in the ratings due to a variety of causes. You can expect a couple of points above and below the mean, and even 3 points isn't that unusual, especially on the high side. This means an average (4) photo is going to get some 6's (or 7's) and some 2's. If you argue that the 2's are abuse because a photo has some 6's, you are basically missing the point that both the 2's and the 6's are just the tails of a distribution of ratings of an average photo, and neither are (necessarily) abuse.

[yongbo]

Hi Derek, as a member for more than a year, I won't feel too comfortable if I received too many 7s now. A lot of things to learn and discover from this site, including how to interpret the ratings. Here are some images took by Wilson Tsoi by using the predecessor of your camera. The average is close to 6. http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation?presentation_id=273209

[igla]

Thanks you Brian for a quick response to my questions. You answer some of them, but some you left unanswered. One of them is why my last picture is not display in the recent rated list? You know better then me that if the photo is not displayed, nobody can rate it or opinion it. Is there a reason for that or just a glich in the program?

[igla]

Yongbo Jiang, thanks for your input to this conversation. Finaly I can see that this site is alive and some people stand up, and say something that make sense. Photos that You showed me are very impressive. I know that with camera I own I am limited to some extend, but just the fact that you own a 20D, or D70 does not mean that your photos are the best. I think that photos should not be marked based on the equipment that you use but on aesthetics and originality of it.

[mottershead]

Derek, I don't know which photo you are talking about. The usual reason that a photo isn't in the Top Photos when people expect it to be is that the person does not realize that the date ranges in the Top Photos are based on when a photo was uploaded to the site, not when it was submitted for critique. So, if you uploaded a photo last week and only put it into the Critique forum yesterday, it won't appear in the 1 and 3-day views of the TRP, even though it has been receiving ratings in the last few days.

 

The other reason people don't find their photos in the TRP is that they just don't look hard enough for them, perhaps stopping their search too early because they don't realize that the TRP rankings are generally a bit out of date, since they are not updated in real-time.

 

I get many "Why isn't my photo in the TRP? Is the system biased?" complaints, both via email and in this forum. I can't remember the last time I found a bug with how the rankings are computed. In fact, I can't remember any bugs at all in that area, but someone will probably remind me.

[igla]

Brian, thank You very much for the explenation. Now I understand a little better how the system works.I can see that You trying logicaly solve the problems in the community. Maybe posting small article of how the system of rating works will save some of the comments ( like the one I made). I think that person rating the picture should be forced to make a comment anonimus or not. My last question is :when i post the picture for critique it should be under "landscape", but for some reason it went under "pets", is there a way to correct it?

[igla]

Brian this is Derek again. Sory to say it but I was right. I can't find any of my pictures anywere. Could you prove me wrong, if not could you tell me why ?

[mottershead]

No, Derek. To prove you wrong, I would have to spend about half an hour computing by hand what the rankings should be and why your photo isn't where you think it ought to be. I've been through this exercise plenty of times, and I don't ever recalling finding a case where the software was wrong. I'm not going to do it again just to satisfy you that the system is correct. If you would like to pay me for the time, I will consider it. You haven't even bothered to tell me which photo it is and where it is supposed to be, according to you.

[igla]

thanks Brian. I wont bother anymore. This is the photo i was talking about. It should be under landscape but I put it in pets category.

[a long time ago]

i'm not sure because i've never tried but couldn't you just delete the photo from your portfolio and then repost it under another file name?...and try to remember your dealing with VERY knowledgable people (not me) tring to help. this is a nice, very colorfull picture hurt by DOF issues.