Qsilv

Hey, I enjoy the ratings... AND the comments (tho even they CAN get peculiarly abusive... usually in a childish way).

The ONLY part I have a small problem with is that a single vote can be a veto.

And Rachel is an absolute saint! *twinkly grin

marg

just a comment to people who joined recently..

the forum is very new - before that, when the ratings blitz started, we started having extended chats on random pictures (e.g. whenever someone noticed a pic had just dive-bombed in the ratings) and then decided that anyone could call a forum by posting a pic with that title

some people never saw the original forum and started talking about the same issue in a new pic, which is what will continue happening, even now ThinkDraw have given us a real forum

matthew

Nobody wants all 5 votes ernie... We just want a 4 vote not to be a death sentence to a great pic...

as I said before... Puzzlers pic of Mt Rushmore was #1 in animals... One vote of 4 (and 4 is DAMN good) would mean that her #1 pic is now #2,572...

...why would a 4 vote suck like that?

anotherronism

Ernie: I agree. This topic has crossed so many forums now it's hard to follow anyone through their thinking. You are right. No ratings. We're here because we like to be here. But if there is a rating system then it should be fair.

I think all the ranting should be construed not as an attack on the site but as an affirmation that it's a worthy place.

I'm not a ratings fan. But I do appreciate feedback. I appreciate it a LOT! I try to give it often as well - even to the little kids making hundreds and hundreds of faces.

The one thing about the rating system is to pull the best to the top where it CAN be criticized and seen.

I posted earlier (somewhere) about my friends (in real life) rolling their eyes when I try to show them something I've worked on. Finding a place where we can contribute and be contributed to is wonderful.

I think the rating system helps draw attention to better efforts and might get people looking at our other stuff and commenting on that.

When I post something mediocre I'll get a few comments but after some hours it slips down the gallery page count and is lost to time. If no one ever clicks my name those efforts are lost. The ratings and rankings DO serve to revive interest in our former efforts and for this fact alone I think it is a worthy thing.

But I'd also vote to do away with it entirely. Ambiguous? Yeah. But there it is...

Ernie

i have mentioned this many times in different threads on here ron... i think WAY too much emphasis is being placed on voting, and we now have people threatening to leave because they didnt make top 5.
Is that what this site is about? remove all voting, remove all top 5s, just draw to draw. it shouldnt feel like a competition. It should feel like a challenge and an achievement when u better your best.

There are countless posts on this forum, trying to find a solution to this, but everyone is bringing their own expectations of their pictures being worth only 5 votes with their comments. I draw for me. I dont look at votes. I look at comments. I know i am not as good as some, I never will be, I am ok with that.

I just feel sorry for Rachel, who has created this forum as a way for us to have a voice, and all she has had in return in whinging and complaining and requests for things to make out lives easier.

if the forum wasn't ever here, people would have just plodded along and had a bit of a grumble, but i feel it has created a monster. I don't like looking at the forum anymore because I feel it is just attacking this site... if everyone has so many issues with it, why are we still here? If we know our pictures might not get 5897625 5 votes, why do we still put hours/days into them? surely the answer to that is because it is not the ultimate reason for any of this.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest, because I dont want Rachel to get disheartened and think everyone hates this site, cos clearly we dont, and if the voting thing is SUCH a huge issue... remove it all together, no top 5, no highest rated, just draw to draw.

<end rant>