Due to the incredibly high number of submissions each week between the member and open challenges, I am going to stop attempting to comment on photos in both challenges. Being a member, I will pursue commenting on all photos in those challenges until they grow to a point where I can't do that. I will also be posting the score I give each photo along with the comments. Personally, I think scores should be public information and not hidden. The score you receive reflects the viewer's true opinion of the photo moreso than most of the comments do.
I'll take this opportunity to challenge everyone to post the scores they give in the comment block of each photo...
John, I must say you do alot here, and want you to know that your input is very much appreciated. Thanks for all your hard work!
That being said, I look forward to your comments and hope that my works inspire you to do so, whether in a good or bad way. I recently got a comment from you for my primary colours entry, and I quote: "=6". I would surely love to know how you came to that number.
If you have the time, i'd love some additional info....
[...] The score you receive reflects the viewer's true opinion of the photo moreso than most of the comments do.
I think not. A 6 from one person means something totally different than from another. I would rather encourgae people to write comments why they like or dislike a photo.
Though the score is always appreciated (and thanks for the 8, John) I tend to agree with stephan. I do sometimes leave scores with my comments, but I like context to accompany a score, and I think if I say "5" that means a lot less than if I say "the shot seems too dark" or "the soft focus doesn't add anything to the shot" or whatever almost-intelligible thing I try to say to help people out! I'm still learning how to critique well, so for all those who've gotten comments from me and you agree, disagree or just plain shake your head..thanks for bearing with me!
I do understand the not voting/commenting on both challenges part, I have been doing exatly that for some weeks, but just leaving an =X as a comment on entries, I do not see the point. If everybody start doing that, our entry screens are going to look long and austere. I can understand that some would enjoy the extra gratification of getting a good score from "setzler" for example. As far as I am concerned, if there is no comment and I am just getting a "=4", I don't realy care if it's "setzler" or "crackpot417". The statistics at the end of the challenge are just fine for that purpose. Imagine the increase of messages there would be asking for scoring justification and explanations (I see you already got one). All the "monday morning casual unhappy challengers with low scores" will discover the reason of their misfortune and flame them accordingly. This could be entertaining but certainly not necessary. Adding your score to a comment (as you have done in the past when the score was high)seems like the most reasonable solution.
I do understand the not voting/commenting on both challenges part, I have been doing exatly that for some weeks, but just leaving an =X as a comment on entries, I do not see the point. If everybody start doing that, our entry screens are going to look long and austere. I can understand that some would enjoy the extra gratification of getting a good score from "setzler" for example. As far as I am concerned, if there is no comment and I am just getting a "=4", I don't realy care if it's "setzler" or "crackpot417". The statistics at the end of the challenge are just fine for that purpose. Imagine the increase of messages there would be asking for scoring justification and explanations (I see you already got one). All the "monday morning casual unhappy challengers with low scores" will discover the reason of their misfortune and flame them accordingly. This could be entertaining but certainly not necessary. Adding your score to a comment (as you have done in the past when the score was high)seems like the most reasonable solution.
I second that. If there's no comment to leave, why leave one? The addition to the average score will do fine for me, too. The comments you've left me have been very useful and I'd rather you put effort into that than just letting me know what score you gave me. Frankly, and don't take this the wrong way, if it's just a score it doesn't matter who it is giving me the score - I can see the breakdown at the end of the challenge. A comment is a a different matter, however.
And I'm afraid I don't agree with you on the open scoring, John. I think that leads to tit-for-tat scoring. I've seen it on photoSIG and I don't believe it wouldn't happen here too. I sometimes reveal my score after the challenge is over - and I like having that choice.
As to comments, I leave a comment if one occurs to me as I look at the shot, but I admit that with some, I just can't think of a thing to say (does that happen to anyone else?)
I will post my scores that I give... I may not always leave a comment with them, but I don't have some fancy rating scheme. Whatever score I give is where I believe the photo falls between the absolute worst and absolute best possibilities for the challenge. I am not one who tries to pick the winner by giving only one ten. My score is an honest evaluation of the photo. I will be posting my scoring guidelines on my profile... I have started but it's not finished yet...
Setzler, can you explain what benefit an amateur photographer can get from a scoring number alone?
The time you will have saved not commenting the open challenge you will use justfying by mail the scores left on the member challenge.
Well John, you commented on my primary colour shot, and didn't leave a score! V complimentary comment though, so I have no complaints.
I agree with JJ that you'll just be filling your inbox with PM's asking you why though.
In the end, if one wants to score high here, the only way seems to be to work it out for yourself - which i think is probably the most effective way to learn. Some seem to think that there's a magic formula, or that one of the site gurus is going to come up with the magic phrase that turns them into a ribbon-winner, but I for one am learning (v slowly) what scores and what doesn't here.
I'd be intrigued to see non-secret scoring though - think it would lessen the number of people averaging 3.something on votes cast.
i think i contribute more by voting on only 20% of the pictures but trying to leave a meaningful comment on every vote. i recently started doing this and am very happy with this system. i don't have the time to vote on every photo and certainly not to comment on every one, but since a constructive comment adds so much more than just getting the votes in, i'd rather do that.
