kamraman

I just realised that it said photos of SLRs and that this was a Nikon

forum. Sorry about that.

Fair enough, I see how the ratings can be beneficial for sorting the photos. As for why I would consider a rating of 6 useful without a critique, but not a rating of 3... Simple, if someone likes my photo or thinks it's successful, that's enough for me. Sure I'd rather hear "why" they like it, but it's not necessary. Alternately, if photos can only be rated as 5, 6, or7, and I don't get many ratings, then I would assume that my images aren't grabbing anyone's attention and are in need of improvement. I'm interested in knowing which of my photos are successful, but I don't need low ratings to know which ones aren't. I think the lack of comments, views, and ratings (of any kind) will tell me that. I see your point and I personally see validity on both sides of this discussion. In all fairness, at the moment I've got no complaints about anything on this site, I just had an idea while reading this thread and thought it was worth contributing.<BR><BR>

"If people are only interested in hearing praise for their photos, they should limit their audience to sympathetic friends and family."<BR><BR>

I appreciate your comments, but please be aware that I'd be more than happy to have every one of my photos ripped to shreds by anyone who wants to do so, as long as there's informative critique about why this or that photo is garbage. I view critiques of the negative aspects of my photos as immensely more useful than any amount of praise. Praise doesn't make me strive to be a better photographer, but being informed of my photographic shortcomings (according to someone else) and of ways to correct these issues does. It doesn't upset me if someone rates one of my photos as a 3/3, but it doesn't tell me anything useful about that photo either. However, as you've noted, the numerical ratings (sans comment) are not necessarily intended to be useful to me. I'm fine with this and I have no problems with Photo.Net using them to administer this site.

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Regards,<BR>

-James

Keith, I think you may have hit on something here. I'm new to Photo.Net, but I've been reading this forum and I find it interesting. My personal opinion is that rather than replacing the originality rating, it should just be deleted. I find that most photos don't strike me as original even if they are aesthetically pleasing. Conversely, I don't really care how original a photo is if it's not aesthetically interesting. Who cares if a photo is the only one of it's kind if it's not well done? In fact, the "average" rater that's been discussed in this forum is probably completely un-infomred about what true originalty is anyway and may not have the eye to spot it when it's presented to them. The tutorial itself explains that the two categories often affect each other, so why not reduce the rating criteria down to a single category, i.e. how does this photo appeal to you (the rater). I also think that it would be a good idea to reduce the rating system down to just 5s,6s,and 7s. If a photo is not good enough to be a 5 or better simply encourage people to pass over it. The best photos will have the most ratings and the mediocre photos will have fewer. If I'm looking at photos and I see one that would be a 3, then I'm welcome to offer a constructive critique on how to improve that photo. Or, I can just pass over it, and then over the next one, and on, and on... until I get to a photo that grabs my attention. This would also prevent me from giving lower ratings to good photos that don't particularly appeal to my tastes because I would simply pass over them. I'm not personally invested in how my photos rate on here anyway, but I love to hear peoples thoughts. If somebody thinks my photos are crap or the worst pictures they've ever scene; that's fine with me and (as long as the can explain why) I'd love to hear that opinion too. But, receiving a rating of anything less than 5 is completely useless to me without the critique to go with it. I feel that encouraging people to only rate photos they like would make life easier for both the administrators (less abuse)and the photographers who complain about unwaranted low ratings. If you don't receive many ratings you can't complain that people are low balling you, but you can decide to go out and shoot more visually gripping images. Just my "newbie" opinion based on what I've experienced and read so far. I love the site despite any "glitches" in the "system," Thanks for keeping it going.

-James