nickjeftic

Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those

for whom thou shinest! - Zarathustra

Reality is just a beautiful illusion. - Nick

Hi David and hey, no need to worry about an argument! I am the Zen guy remember?

To quote Goethe: Since I?m in a hurry you will please excuse me for writing a long letter.

I am of the opinion that:

Positive grading is not what is ?rearing? our children today but it is consumer societies successful project of creating a world of obedient non-thinking consumers. The system doesn?t want people to think about what they like.. they just want them to choose form one of THEIR options.

They like to call it the Freedom of Choice.

From early childhood kids are fed with ready opinions, selected & filtered knowledge, clich鳬 guidelines on what is success and what is failure and first of all on how important in life it is to settle into conformity.

They like to call this: The Freedom of Thought.

Further they teach to be politically correct and that any major difference of opinion (outside the system) should be avoided.

They like to call it: The Freedom of Expression.

Which leads us to consensus which is a direct manifestation of the above aforementioned points and a tool to mend of one?s insecurity regarding his own identity. I mean, there was a general consensus at the time that Van Gogh was a mediocre painter. There was a general consensus that the Sun evolves around Earth. Wars have been waged and terrible atrocities have been committed due consensus?s. So what is the value of consensus?

And what is Art? Just a form of expression of ones feelings and thoughts. And like Evolution it has no negative.

But hey I?m a little off the track here.

If you look closely, the positive grading system I propose does not exclude negative grades. It requires negative grades to be explanative. In the current PN system aesthetics is described by a scale of 1-7 1 being Ugly and 7 Beautiful. This would mean that 3 is: mediocre with a tendency towards Ugly. How can a technically correct photo of a butterfly or flower have a tendency towards Ugly. Personally unappealing perhaps but never ugly!

The current system is much like your wife walking out on you without leaving a note!

Also lets make it clear I do not believe that we necessarily need a grading system. I just think that since its there it should be kinder since most of us are here for the fun. Personally I think that having a Critique Forum ONLY would be just fine.

Anyone interested in a professional opinion should send his work for evaluation to relevant institutions or enter competitions.

By the way Dave, you are not a mediocre photographer, you just take SOME mediocre pictures. But you have some really fine gems in there (especially the few abstract shots) which show that you DO have that spark in you! Perhaps it is the Lombardi system that keeps you form letting go and expressing yourself freely. As a basketball coach I used to tell my players: When you shoot do not wish for the ball to go in.. expect it!

And by the way Oscar?s NEVER represent the best in movies they represent the diplomatic, interest driven choice of the Hollywood clique which is a money making industry. Like sports. Like music. Like politics. Like education.

Just: Bread and Spectacle for the masses. It keeps us off the streets and earns them a good buck too!

Finally: The Reality of Life? Interesting concept Dave! We should get together sometime and discuss it over a beer and steak!

PS If you find some remarks incoherent or patronizing please note that it is due to the lack of literary finesse and not bad intention.

Aesthetics and Originality are not rationally measurable.

Their values are ?In the eye of the beholder?, morphed and driven by one?s inherited character, education, experience, public opinion, moods, etc.

Both are just personal opinions and therefore should be treated as such.

This all is well understood by anyone who has ever asked for public opinion.

Since we are all here presumably to have some fun, mingle and learn something along the way, in order to maintain peace, the Critique Forum should possibly consider a more positive approach to grading, one more kind to delicate human feelings.

Here are some suggestions to administration to reduce their headaches:

Abandon negative grades for aesthetics. Make the grades descriptive starting e.g. form Nice and building up to Spectacular, Breathtaking or whatever. Whoever feels that a work isn?t worth of a nice grading should not grade at all but can contribute an explanative critique instead.

A grade should be introduced for Technical Performance since it is measurable, improvable and more helpful in constructive assessment of a photo.

An originality grade should also only be graded as positive and be a supplementary bonus for quality, not a basic one.

Arrange Critique Forums by themes and allow photos to be entered only under a certain subject. That way they would stay on the site longer and would be visited mostly by people interested in a specific subject. That way you will ease the effect of a Pop critique panel evaluating a Jazz musician?s performance and vice versa.

Finally, just relax people! Have a beer, put you footsies on the desk and just enjoy the pix!

Nick

Hi to everyone! Although I am new here I took the liberty to make some comments and proposals. I posted the text bellow to another forum but no one responded so here I go again.

Aesthetics and Originality are not rationally measurable.

Their values are ?In the eye of the beholder?, morphed and driven by one?s inherited character, education, experience, public opinion, moods, etc.

Both are just personal opinions and therefore should be treated as such.

This all is well understood by anyone who has ever asked for public opinion.

Since we are all here presumably to have some fun, mingle and learn something along the way, in order to maintain peace, the Critique Forum should possibly consider a more positive approach to grading, one more kind to delicate human feelings.

Here are some suggestions to administration to reduce their headaches:

Abandon negative grades for aesthetics. Make the grades descriptive starting e.g. form Nice and building up to Spectacular, Breathtaking or whatever. Whoever feels that a work isn?t worth of a nice grading should not grade at all but can contribute an explanative critique instead.

A grade should be introduced for Technical Performance since it is measurable, improvable and more helpful in constructive assessment of a photo.

Originality should also only be graded as positive and be a supplementary bonus for quality, not a basic one.

Arrange Critique Forums by themes and allow photos to be entered only under a certain subject. That way they would stay on the web longer and would be visited mostly by people interested in a specific subject. That way you will ease the effect of a Pop critique panel evaluating a Jazz musician?s performance and vice versa.

Finally, we should all just relax, have a beer, put our footsies on the desk and just enjoy the view! This is supossed to be our pastime so lets not turn it into a rat-race as well!

Nick

Aesthetics and Originality are not rationally measurable.

Their values are ?In the eye of the beholder?, morphed and driven by one?s inherited character, education, experience, public opinion, moods, etc.

Both are just personal opinions and therefore should be treated as such.

This all is well understood by anyone who has ever asked for public opinion.

Since we are all here presumably to have some fun, mingle and learn something along the way, in order to maintain peace, the Critique Forum should possibly consider a more positive approach to grading, one more kind to delicate human feelings.

Here are some suggestions to administration to reduce their headaches:

Abandon negative grades for aesthetics. Make the grades descriptive starting e.g. form Nice and building up to Spectacular, Breathtaking or whatever. Whoever feels that a work isn?t worth of a nice grading should not grade at all but can contribute an explanative critique instead.

A grade should be introduced for Technical Performance since it is measurable, improvable and more helpful in constructive assessment of a photo.

An originality grade should also only be graded as positive and be a supplementary bonus for quality, not a basic one.

Arrange Critique Forums by themes and allow photos to be entered only under a certain subject. That way they would stay on the site longer and would be visited mostly by people interested in a specific subject. That way you will ease the effect of a Pop critique panel evaluating a Jazz musician?s performance and vice versa.

Finally, just relax people! Have a beer, put you footsies on the desk and just enjoy the view!

Nick