53 replies to this topic

[nynavey]

Just curious...does the 'drive-by voting' in the various categories happen often? I had hoped to get genuine critiques here, and not find one or 2 persons creating bogus, empty accounts with which to vote. But being new, perhaps this is a regular occurance and one that should be ignored?

Either way, that's what I'm doing.

[markgoldstein]

Hi,

This is a recent occurrence and one that I am keeping an eye on! :-)

[etfon911]

I thoroughly agree with you. I have noted one user in particular giving extremely low scores with innane comments not related to the photos at all. This, of course, skews the entire purpose of a rating system and generally kills it - and turns members off.

[gav_davies]

If photos are getting enough ratings, would it be worth taking the highest and lowest scores off each and working out the average on that. At least that way you might alleviate the problem of people giving ridiculously low or high ratings (from bogus accounts or not). Just an idea anyway

[markgoldstein]

A good idea, gav_davies, although it wouldn't be automated and I would have to work out the averages myself.

Does everyone think that this problem is still occurring?
Or have things calmed down now?

[Kurt]

The problem of some extremely low scores seems to have gone away, but a new phenomena of extremly high scores seems prevalent to me. Fairly mediocre pictures regularly get scores of 9 and 10. This has the effect of devaluing the truely excellent shots.

[markgoldstein]

So the situation has swung the other way now!

Are the people who were posting low scores now posting high ones? Or are the high scores just a general trend?

[gav_davies]

Perhaps it would make sense to make the scoring anonymous. At least then people won't be influenced by others votes and couldn't purposely try to undermark other photos so their own can win. I've noticed that on another site, you can't see the average mark until you vote yourself, and you can never see how other particular users have rated.

Just an idea anyway...

[nynavey]

The anonymous voting might be a good idea...at least to cut down on retaliation voting. But then again, what about the bogus accounts?
Maybe make a person's vote not count for the first 30 days of their opening? Really the voting isn't that important to me anyway - the critiques are what I enjoy. As it stands right now, the photo(s) with the highest scores is not necessarily the best shot.

[GandalfFishcake]

<rant = on>
I find it a bit strange when a technically poor photo gets a 10 and a comment of "I love this". I submit to this website in the hope someone can critique my efforts to help me become a better photographer. I feel the scoring has to reflect technical competence, style, composition and feel, rather than whether it's a cute doggy in the (off-centre) picture.
Keep the 9s and 10s for the truly great photos, and don't be afraid to score low, provided you can justify it with a comment.
</rant>

[nynavey]

Well said Gandalf. There have been some excellent photos (by composition, exposure, mood, feeling, and subject-matter), yet they get rated low with no explanation for it, then those with poor composition, exposure, subject, etc. are rated high with no explanation. There seem to be a few who have no thoughts of their own and trail along on the comments of others, even though their ratings do not mesh with it. ???

It ruins the critiqueing process because those that really care about improving their photography aren't going to continue to post. I don't want to see this place go down in that respect.

[gav_davies]

Some strange voting going on today with Neddy as well. Just had 6/10 for my too latest pics with no comments:

http://www.photograp...cat=3030&page=1

http://www.photograp...cat=3030&page=1

Yeah, OK they aren't the greatest pics in the world, but possibly deserve higher than a 6. I would say that though ;0) In fact, looking back Neddy seems to have given me a 6 for all my pics apart from one and almost always only gives a rating and no comment.

Never mind anyway...

[nynavey]

And Neddy will not share his/her photos with us to check out their individual style and techniques? Interesting.

Time to let the rating system go. It serves no positive purpose at this point.

[markgoldstein]

I'm beginning to think the very same thing. It might be time to drop the Voting system and just use Comments instead...

[nynavey]

This is a repost from Tootsie's catepillar photo:


And for what it's worth, a non-cook can appreciate a good meal, but they will not appreciate it to the depths that a cook will, simply because they do not know what went into the mix. Whether you decide to rate on that is, of course, your perogative. I agree with Neddy in that some of these photo are way off base in their rating (IMHO), and believe me, the online photo albums of the internet are filled with proof that not "everyone with a camera can take a decent picture of a bug". We are trying to understand these lower ratings moreso than discredit them. And without an explanation as to why, we'll never learn. I don't want every photo I see to tell a story and show the subject's history, present, and future. But then again, maybe someone does. It explains a lot if those are the standards you hold a photo to. I am still curious as to what you would give an honest 10 to. There are few photos I could award a 10 to as well, but it would be most interesting.

Maybe we should consider having some kind of 'your top 10 all time photos' list, of famous or amateur photographers on this website somewhere? It would show the different tastes of different visitors.