I know people are always complining about the 1 votes, but not I, it's the 5 votes that I hate!
A 5 vote says to me, "Meh, I don't really have an opinion on this, I'll just click 5 and move onto the next.", it's worse than a 1, at least a 1 has invoked a reaction so bad that people think you deserve that lowly score (ignoring the trolls of course).
What's with all the 5's anyway, don't people have strong opinions on anything any more? I mean my Dance score had 101 of them! Surely 101 people didn't look at that picture and say, "Judging the aspects of that shot and taking everything into account, I'm giving that a 5".
Know what I think it is, people ranting and raving about the low votes, now everyone is scared to vote under 5 without commenting, and at the same time doesn't want to be the one to say "Oh yea, I gave you that 1, I hated it".
Anyway, I'm just ranting because all my entries recently are hovering around the 5 mark and I would rather be considered good or bad, not average!
Of course, lots of 1,2,3s and 8,9,10s that result in a final 5 is ok.
I do have to admit, though, that when voting i do tend to mentally start from a 5 and vote up or down accordingly and quite often the image just sticks there.
if it is technically correct but does not appeal very good or very bad then 5 seems to be a fair vote
But I could take a techincally correct picture of my sink with the camera on full auto and I'm sure it would come out just fine. Surely that's not deserving of a 5 vote even if it is technically sharp, clear etc, and while I'm on the subject, what's with the obsession with technicals anyway? It feels like people give 8 of their 10 points on technicals and then the other 2 on how much they like the shot.
Now see what you've done, I had finished ranting and you started me going again.
[i][i]But I could take a techincally correct picture of my sink with the camera on full auto and I'm sure it would come out just fine. Surely that's not deserving of a 5 vote even if it is technically sharp, clear etc, and while I'm on the subject, what's with the obsession with technicals anyway? It feels like people give 8 of their 10 points on technicals and then the other 2 on how much they like the shot.
Now see what you've done, I had finished ranting and you started me going again. [/quote][/i][/i]
May be its 5 for correctness and other 5 for appeal....
keeping ranting on buddy until you are truly done :P
I do have to admit, though, that when voting i do tend to mentally start from a 5 and vote up or down accordingly and quite often the image just sticks there.
Exactly, not everything is above or below average, if it was then there would be no average and therefore no starting point, no basis to vote from, everything would be topsy turvy and dolphins would walk around in business suits singing "we all live in a yellow submarine". Do you WANT a world like that?
My scale has been 6 to 9 lately. A five is given if the image is really bad. I don't even use 1 to 4 anymore. 10's are kept for photos that are exceptional, which is rarer here lately.
I think what it boils down to is that yes, you are correct in assuming that a 5 is the default vote given to those images that are fundamentally uninspiring. Doesn't matter, really, about its technicals or how off the track it is to the challenge, outside of a blatant DNMC. If it's presentable, meets the challenge, and is wholly unmotivating, it's a 5. I know I'm guilty of that. I'm more likely to give a higher vote to something that provokes me in a negative manner than I am to a bland entry.
I do have to admit, though, that when voting i do tend to mentally start from a 5 and vote up or down accordingly and quite often the image just sticks there.
Exactly, not everything is above or below average, if it was then there would be no average and therefore no starting point, no basis to vote from, everything would be topsy turvy and dolphins would walk around in business suits singing "we all live in a yellow submarine". Do you WANT a world like that?
But but but dolphins don't live in submarines, they live in big clam shells. ;)
... to get lower than a 5 from me, it has to be a below average photo.
Of course, 5 would be "average" if the voting scale started at zero and ended at ten. But the scale actually runs from one to ten, so "average" is 5.5 despite common misperception.
Since there is no "5.5" button, there is no "uncommitted" vote. A "5" vote mathematically sits just below the middle of the scale. A "6" vote sits just above the middle of the scale. The choice to not vote on an image avoids the commitment, but that isn't a vote.
Notice that the "6" is just as close to the middle of the scale the "5". So it makes just as much sense to give "average" images a "6" as of a "5". It probably would take some sort of cultural revolution to shift the votes a half point upward generally. So references to Beatles music and yellow submarines are not that absurd here. Lyrics: "we all vote a six for average, a six for average, a six for average. We all vote a six for average, ...". The send in the walrus.
Looks like Wendy may already be there, with average vote given well above the middle of the scale. Enjoy your submarine ride.
Looks like Wendy may already be there, with average vote given well above the middle of the scale. Enjoy your submarine ride.
Actually, there's a whole underground of us that err to the higher votes for various reasons, though I think you'd find that most of us simply figure that the best effort is put forth on entering challenges, so we reward that effort.....(Though I think there was a recent thread where someone got cranky about determining effort in challenge entries! LOL!!!)
My own personal code is that I never want to win by a miniscule percentage and think that if I'd voted that other entry higher, and more honestly, that I wouldn't have won. That would seem a hollow victory to me. (Not that I'm *that* good or anything, it's just the principle for me.)
Well I admit this thread made me laugh... maybe more so because it's so related to how I vote.
But is what you're really saying that I should be happy with all my recent sub 5 entries since anything but a 5 is better off than just a 5? I'll buy that.
A 5 vote is not average, it's below average.
On the 1-10 voting scale, Average = 5.5 :)
One of your repliers above has an Avg Vote Received: 5.5076, about as average as you can get.
But your right, a 5 is a cop-out.
