Measures of improving and shortcomings solving

[Pierre Dumas]

I think images shouldn't be downloadable except by the owner

All posts including albums should be editable at any time

Moving the existing images to the wanted album should be enabled

Rating should be anonymous and a list of highest rated images should be created by categories, time and in all categories for all times

The views counters shouldn't register views by the owner

Everything else is OK, rich text editor is the best of assets

I invite all fellow members to say their opinion on these issues and moderators to give us their opinion, prospects and explanations

Thank you all in advance

PDE

[LineMartel]

I do agree that images should not be downloadable and I would add that right clicking should be disabled.

[WJT]

"...Rating should be anonymous and a list of highest rated images should be created by categories, time and in all categories for all times..."

You're not serious! This was tried before and it was an absolute dismal failure.  That policy allowed dysfunctional members to create fake sock-puppet accounts, login under those accounts, and then unscrupiously boost their own snapshots. Then they would low-rate and trash the photos of competeing members...all with anonymous impunity.  It would be the nail-in-the-coffin for this site if that policy were to be implemented again.

[Pierre Dumas]

Thank you all for your opinion, my friends! I think the site started its dying process since 2017 when the rating was stopped! Number of views dropped down, number of comments, number of active members too!

Here's what I proposed to the new owner @mjensen:

I think the rating must be reintroduced in the way that once was! Those who receive low ratings should be able to avoid rating! "Submit for rating" possibility should be the solution of that problem. Rating from 1-7 should be anonymous, but the authors of the works submitted for rating should also be anonymous!

The rating that now exists is like no rating at all because all rate with five stars since their rating is visible!

OK, let rating alone, it was just my opinion, some more important things I mentioned in the topic

[samstevens]

16 minutes ago, Pierre Dumas Esquire said:

I think the site started its dying process since 2017 when the rating was stopped!

Note the important difference between a causal connection and a correlation. I suspect the connection between ratings and site viewership is the latter, if even that, but not the former. 

Post photos and you might get a constructive critique but a gold star really doesn’t accomplish much. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by samstevens

[Phil_Light]

13 hours ago, Pierre Dumas Esquire said:

I think images shouldn't be downloadable except by the owner

All posts including albums should be editable at any time

Moving the existing images to the wanted album should be enabled

Rating should be anonymous and a list of highest rated images should be created by categories, time and in all categories for all times

The views counters shouldn't register views by the owner

Everything else is OK, rich text editor is the best of assets

I invite all fellow members to say their opinion on these issues and moderators to give us their opinion, prospects and explanations

Thank you all in advance

PDE

As a few have mentioned to me before, images are downloadable even if shut down by the site parameters. And you can always do a screen capture. So it's really a moot point. Now if you can get them to fix this inane NSFW filter that works once or twice and doesn't work if you navigate wrong, I'm all for it! I also think the original album functionality was great. Now it's a quagmire. I was told that a full time resource does not even exist now for the site. It has become a dump and run enterprise for the new owners it seems.
Has anyone figured out how to shut your account down? It's not obvious and how do you prevent auto-renewal's now?

[Phil_Light]

18 minutes ago, samstevens said:

Note the important difference between a causal connection and a correlation. I suspect the connection between ratings and site viewership is the latter, if even that, but not the former. 

Post photos and you might get a constructive critique but a gold star really doesn’t accomplish much. 

I liked gold stars when I was in Kindergarten!

[samstevens]

5 minutes ago, RobertWPillow said:

Maybe the photo.net administration of the early new millennium also came to believe leaving the rater's identity unknown would promote more candor in evaluating the submissions.

It was specifically mentioned at the time by administration that it was to avoid both revenge rating and tit-for-tat rating. [See @Phil_Light above on Kindergarten.]

Edited January 30, 2023 by samstevens

[Phil_Light]

14 minutes ago, samstevens said:

It was specifically mentioned at the time by administration that it was to avoid both revenge rating and tit-for-tat rating. [See @Phil_Light above on Kindergarten.]

Yeah I got that. My comment was tongue-in-cheek or maybe I should say tongue stuck out with a Bronx cheer for the new site.

[samstevens]

13 minutes ago, Phil_Light said:

My comment was tongue-in-cheek

Of course it was tongue-in-cheek. Rest assured, I got that! 😊

[Phil_Light]

31 minutes ago, RobertWPillow said:

For what it's worth, I think your abstract penguin shots deserve four gold stars.

Great! The old system would have rated them 1 through 7. What would you give it there? And for you here's the original image!

[samstevens]

1 hour ago, Phil_Light said:

What would you give it there?

According to old system rating rules, penguins get a 4, naked ladies get a 5, naked ladies exercising get a 6, naked ladies exercising on the beach get a 7, and naked ladies exercising in the arctic with penguins hits it out of the park! [request PN offer a penguin emoji]

[Sandy Vongries]

Key point, on this platform, Photo.Net cannot be the same as it was anytime in the past.  It is not going to be what it was at its best, it will simply be the best it can be given available features.  A great deal of work has been done, and there aren't many more switches left to be thrown.  Hopefully more details will follow in the next day or two.

[Pierre Dumas]

11 hours ago, Phil_Light said:

Great! The old system would have rated them 1 through 7. What would you give it there? And for you here's the original image!

This artwork I would rate seven/seven (for  originality and for aesthetics), no doubt about that

[JDMvW]

Repeat of long-standing policy of mine relating to "ratings" and "likes"

 

In my opinion, the general level of skill and art shown in the postings here are mostly of a high level. Since comparisons are invidious I almost never rate or like images, and I do not ask for people to "like" mine.

The numerical ratings were not a benefit but rather a nightmare. We're a lot better off without.

[PapaTango]

The mess that was in the old "review & rating" system is infamous!  Have a read of this monograph:

https://reagle.org/joseph/2013/photo/photo-net.html

 

[John Peri]

Resources are limited, I quite understand and sympathize with that. I think that what should be prioritized at the present time are the outstanding problems.

Though I mentioned it some time ago, I still have the possibility to add any fellow member’s photo as my profile pic (someone already did this with my work).  Also, I am still not able to see all but 4 or 5 % of my own photos (they remain filtered and unopenable), which presumably means that no one else can seem them either. I imagine these issues among others are being looked at, just a gentle reminder.

I agree with the statement above that it would be nice to be able to choose whether to submit individual photos or not for rating.  

[SCL]

IMHO screw the ratings...it's a carryover from the me-too disease. Personally, and almost exclusively, I tag a "like" in the No Words forum when somebody  posts a creative picture interpreting/following the stated theme. If somebody elsewhere asks for a critique, it isn't a rating, but rather a down to the bones discussion of the good, bad and indifferent and how it can be improved. That's just my take on things - to each his/her own.

[LineMartel]

17 hours ago, Phil_Light said:

As a few have mentioned to me before, images are downloadable even if shut down by the site parameters. And you can always do a screen capture. So it's really a moot point. Now if you can get them to fix this inane NSFW filter that works once or twice and doesn't work if you navigate wrong, I'm all for it! I also think the original album functionality was great. Now it's a quagmire. I was told that a full time resource does not even exist now for the site. It has become a dump and run enterprise for the new owners it seems.
Has anyone figured out how to shut your account down? It's not obvious and how do you prevent auto-renewal's now?

A screen capture is not the same as downloading a full resolution file

[samstevens]

1 minute ago, LineMartel said:

A screen capture is not the same as downloading a full resolution file

True. But, as the photographer, why download a full resolution file of your work to PN? Unless you’re planning to sell a file via PN, there’s no reason to make vulnerable a full hi res file. If you’re worried about others downloading your work, you have control over what you post. Given its recent history, trusting PN to in any way protect your work is not a realistic way to proceed. 

[LineMartel]

9 minutes ago, samstevens said:

True. But, as the photographer, why download a full resolution file of your work to PN? Unless you’re planning to sell a file via PN, there’s no reason to make vulnerable a full hi res file. If you’re worried about others downloading your work, you have control over what you post. Given its recent history, trusting PN to in any way protect your work is not a realistic way to proceed. 

This was not an issue when I first uploaded my files years ago - Now I would have to delete them one by one and re-upload a lesser version

[samstevens]

Just now, LineMartel said:

This was not an issue when I first uploaded my files years ago

Yes. And as Sandy and TGOPS have repeatedly said, the PN past is gone and there’s no going back. There are also now more limited resources to accommodate member needs than there were years ago. If it were me, and I was worried, I’d delete all my hi res files and create a small, representative gallery of, at the most, 30 photos, 1000 pixels max at 72 dpi. If it were me, however, I wouldn’t necessarily care if someone downloaded a hi res file of mine. I’d be rather flattered, lol. 😊 I understand others being more protective of their work, of course. But, in this day and age, where all of our stuff is vulnerable, each of us has to take control of what and how we post if we want to ensure maximum security. Gotta start with now, not then. 

[mikemorrellNL]

This may be a very dozy and uniformed comment but web browsers (I use Google) enable users to:

a) open images (in new tabs) in the size/resolution in which they have been posted

b) save images to a PC for further inspection, for example in PhotoShop, other image post-processing, or Exif data analysis tools.

Yes there are 'photo sites' that prevent downloads of photos. I suspect that this type of 'download prevention' is a customized option on individual  websites. I may well be wrong!

[LineMartel]

2 hours ago, samstevens said:

Yes. And as Sandy and TGOPS have repeatedly said, the PN past is gone and there’s no going back. There are also now more limited resources to accommodate member needs than there were years ago. If it were me, and I was worried, I’d delete all my hi res files and create a small, representative gallery of, at the most, 30 photos, 1000 pixels max at 72 dpi. If it were me, however, I wouldn’t necessarily care if someone downloaded a hi res file of mine. I’d be rather flattered, lol. 😊 I understand others being more protective of their work, of course. But, in this day and age, where all of our stuff is vulnerable, each of us has to take control of what and how we post if we want to ensure maximum security. Gotta start with now, not then. 

I do understand that there is no going back. If I could delete my account and its content to start anew your suggestion would fit me, but right now I would have to spend weeks tweaking my existing account. There does not seem to be a way to cancel my account

[samstevens]

10 minutes ago, LineMartel said:

I do understand that there is no going back. If I could delete my account and its content to start anew your suggestion would fit me, but right now I would have to spend weeks tweaking my existing account. There does not seem to be a way to cancel my account

Right. You may be stuck. The good news is that PN is but a blip on the radar and gets relatively little traffic. I doubt many people coming along will be interested in downloading and abusing the hi res files they find here, but there’s no way to know. Best of luck.