Heat

I don't agree that if someone is satisfied with a photo there's nothing to learn. It's always interesting to know WHY somebody liked something. There are so many different reasons to like a picture and a photographer cannot anticipate what a specific viewer will like or how he will "resonate" with the work.

You're right, I usually rate lower than average (average rating, not average 4/4). If I rated 7/7 all over the place, what would I do when/if I saw a REALLY good picture? Rate it 7/7 as well, and then there's no difference? I haven't rated 7/7 a SINGLE picture on photo.net. I have one 7/6 (or 6/7) and all the rest are 6/6 or lower. And even of those, I don't have that much.

Still I feel my ratings are too high because my average is above 4. This might mean I rate more pictures that I like than pictures I dislike or that I rate everything too high. If your average is not 4, there's a bias.

I don't think my ratings are similar to the ratings of any other individual on photo.net. They reflect my taste, what I like and dislike. If you feel there's a group rating in a similar way, please mention the names and evidence. If such groups exist I find it completely stupid and I'm certainly not part of one.

You mention my ratings and say "usually with no comments". Again, I don't agree. From my main page I can see I rated 534 photos on this site and made 495 comments (I guess it's 496 once I post this one ;-). That's pretty close! Also, browse through my comments and you'll find that most of the time when I'm commenting I'm saying meaningful things, not only "wow" and "great" etc. (although I might have some of those as well, I never pretended I'm perfect).

Anyway, all I want to say is that I'm trying to be honest in the way I rate and critique photos on this site, I'm more experienced than some, less than others, I try to help when I can, my taste is not perfect, my photography is far from it, and I'm only human...

Take care. ;-)