Browsing through the galleries (mainly the Bryce galleries, but not exclusively), I noticed that many of the comments are by the same people, from image to image. Upon closer examination, I've noticed that some of the forum "regulars" comment either 1) almost all the time or 2) hardly ever. So, my question is, what makes you want to comment or, vice versa, why don't you? There are some very good images out there, with virtually no comments and often (though not always), they are by people whom we don't see very often in the forum. So, is it a question of familiarity? Will you only provide comments to people you know or possibly people you like? Just wondering...

Some kind of familarity for me... Unfortunately, I don't have much time to browse the gallerys. So often I only comment images of people who are on my favorite list. I know that there are many great artist with wonderful works in the gallery. But my lack of time don't let me comment much. :-( I feel guilty when someone comment my works and I don't comment much by myself. J.

Time mostly, I fall behind about once a week just trying to keep up with the forum. Typically I miss 7-10 threads altogether and get into others a day late. I think I was 64th on the what do you do question and the discussion had already splintered into several conversations. I'd like to try and keep up with the gallery. If I search it exclusively Bryce then I chance missing Toxicangels Poser post or maybe Dreamsosweets psp drawing. You can filter by the tool used but you can't filter by the quality of the work. There are 456 posts so far today. That doesn't count the U.S. members who just now got home from work and will post tonight. If I gave each a minute to load I would still need seven and a half hours to look at them all. I go to the thumbnails and go back maybe about 10 pages (thats 1/7th of todays postings) If I see something spectacular I look at the full image and I rate it. If everyone has already said great spaceship, desert, how'd you do the water drops, etc. then I don't comment. Only if no one has commented or it hasn't been said do I write my own comment. P.S. In the time it took to write this 15 more images appeared in the galleries.

A lot of times, I will comment on a regular that usually comments on my work, or I will vote/rate accordingly also. I do try to comment on all the work I find that is impressive, or if I see a beginner, I will offer up some good words to keep them motivated, we were all beginners once and the first comments we all got were pretty exciting. Moreso, I think I agree with Electroglyph, the time factor runs in more and more for me now. I try to get as much as I can read and commented, but sometimes that is just wishful thinking. :( MD

I suppose I am sort of capricious in that it depends on my mood, how tired i am when working through the galleries, how I feel about the piece, both artisticly and aesthetically, how many comments it already has and/or if i think my comment will help inmprove the work. Another problem is when I can't get in to the gallery every day, it does pile up and then getting caught up can be a slog. This is not meant to disparage any works or person but it can be a bit tiring when you get 30 or so pages down on a dial-up. I also don't rate, personal choice. Just not comfortable with ranking systems for art.

Many factors but familiarity is definitely one of them. Of course an awesome art is an awesome art, that always deserves a comment. I love looking at other people's works, so why not thank them for giving me such entertainment and leave a freindly comment? Of course time is a factor, I only have dial up too. When I was doing traditional (Drawing/Painting) art, I used to hang out with other artists that support each other. After all, only other artists using the same media can truly have an understanding appreciation of what we do here. I would have stopped rendering long ago if not for the encouragement of other artists. To mention a few: Stefano, linkinpark, and so many who is and have always been a great encouragement and inspiration to me. Lastly, this is what I like most about Renderosity (especially the Bryce community), It's a great place to learn. Go to http://eye.box.sk hehehe, those guys leave brutal and plain hurtful comments especially to us Brycers!

This isn't quite on topic, but one thing that tends to bother me is that in no time after I post an image, it's already at the bottom of the page wit the 18 other thumbnails in there.. Doesn't seem to give people's work much time to be rated/commented on in the first place. I'm sure many people check the first page, then move on. I like to just click around on random pages, and hope I get some stuff there that I've never seen before, then I can comment. Just letting you know that not only regulars post and comment! :-) Cory BS

One reason is time, the second is we have our own server in our little community, LAN. It was bought for 350 people and right now close to 500 use it, meaning half of the time I have no internet. If I do have, I usually first go to the top 20, as many of the works inspire me. Than I go to the Bryce gallery and comment on something I really like a lot even if it has already 50 comments, or to encourage somebody that didn't get any views or comments at all. Third reason, I have a list of favourite artists. I receive emails when they post and usually its great stuff and I comment.

for me its time, mostly. i dont have much time to browse but i try to comment in every kind here and any type of artist, not just for my friends, and yes... i have seen very amazing masterpieces WITH ANY COMMENTS INSIDE!!!! (or maybe 2 :) i dont undertands why, maybe the familiarity with other members determinate much. and every time that some user visit my gallerie and comment in any work y try to do the same just for curiosity and courtesy.

I usually comment if people ask me to (by posting a link in the forum for instance). I also post comments to images made by my favourite artists every once in a while. And I also post comments if I really like an image. I haven't been following the gallery very much lately though. I'm busy trying to work out all my new ideas before I forget them. I've been working on one scene for 3 days now, and I'm also building on my Genesis project (My challenge entry being the inspiration for and one image from the series)

Time. Thats is it for me. I've tried putting my favorite artists in so that I get ebots and now my ebots are backing up and I havent' been able to visit them either. Sometimes, if I don't have time to comment I will vote for the pic if I think its really good. I've never voted for an image simply because I like the artist, I have to really like the image, its an ethics thing with me. I also don't rate when I comment, just a personal preference thing there too. Most of the time its all I can do to keep up with the forum. Time, never seem to have enough for all the things I'd like to do. Angela

I think comments are really important. In my first weeks as a member, when I was almost giving up after seeing so incredibly good work in the Bryce gallery, I remember Alvin writing a comment under one of my early works that went something like this: "You're improving fast, I'm following your improvement and it shows" (quoting by memory). It may seem nothing, but it changed completely my approach. I felt encouraged and pushed to work better. So, I leave lots of comments. I love this forum, but it's second to the gallery, in my priority. Of course, I comment the works of the people that are in my fav's list, and I comment works of the forum-ers that I got to know better in these months... but, generally speaking, I comment ALL the images that I like or interest me in some way, or those that IMO need some suggestion. Specially the ones by new-posters. Of course, time is a factor. I dedicate at least 45/60 minutes a day to the Bryce gallery, and often this means that I have to work later in the day to catch up with the "real" work (bread&butter) that I left behind. I'm on fiber-optics, so downloading and opening the images is not much of a problem. Too bad that I really don't have the time to view ALL the images in the gallery, so I usually load a page of the Bryce gallery and then right-click on the thumbs that inspire me most. S.

Mine is both time and knowledge/experience. I too don't have time to browse the gallery much. I tend to only look at images that are either in the forum or have a link from there. I also still feel like I know only a fraction of what others know. I don't feel 'qualified' to offer suggestions or, more often, whatever I would suggest has already been said. I have a rule of thumb that if I have a critisizm, I have a suggestion also. I think something needs changing but I don't know how it should be changed so I won't say anything. More and more tho', I'm starting to feel a bit on par with some of the others so hopefully this will start changing for me.

It's mostly time for me too, I usually come to the forum during breaks in work or when I've got something rendering and once I've replied to things in here there's usually not enough time to go look through the gallery. On other occasions I spend a lot of time in the gallery and try to catch up with what I haven't seen. When it comes to commenting I usually always visit my favourites and comment, and I do comment on unfamiliar artists if I find their work inspiring. I just feel that sometimes it takes too long to comment on everything and there are times when I think I don't have enough knowledge to say anything. Catlin

I've only commented on a very few images, and i don't post here much either, but....my reasons are good in my eyes...lol as for gallery images, they are GREAT! I love all of them, and until i can put out work like that, they dun need my unskilled thoughts...lol other than WOW which is what i say when i see most of them.. (sometimes i say, WOW, they made that in Bryce??? man i need to get to work) lol and wonder off... Here, i read as much as i can, although i don't post much, i do read and learn, and when i need some help, i do ask a question or two...I don't get a huge amount of responses, but then, like i said, i don't post much either, but i look at it sometimes as a blessing, like the image critique time things...lol with as long as it takes my pc to render, the fewer differnt things i try at once, the better. winks basicly i'm the kind of person who sits in the shadows observing quietly, taking notes, learning from others...then when the time comes and i must come out (lol) i have something at least semi recognizable to show... I am in no way, nor will i be for some time, i assume, any where near as good as you all are....i've had my bryce for maybe 2 mos now? and i hope that i have learned alot and look forward to having more time to play with it, and learn the more complex things in it like this mos. challenge....lol Keep up the great work everyone! JenC

also, lol, i don't have many images in my gallery, but what i try to do it look at the number of viewings of that pic. It must be at least view worthy if people are looking at it, even if they don't have time to comment. That maybe could help some to see if their images are good or not, instead of just rankings or comments....personally i'm thriled to deatht that one of mine has like 65 viewings. Until i found this site, i thought the only way for me to show people my stuff was in the chat programs i use, Manor and palace, or for me to put them on my own web page and hand out the addy. I just love that i can have a few of my unworthy pics in with such great artists work... when people in manor say my pic looks good, i say, and i quote "this is nothing compared to what is at Renderosity" and i hand out the addy...lol so, if not commenting or ranking, maybe the mor etraffic will be a plus on my half? grins and winks JenC

I generally only comment on what takes my nterst at the time, or if something truly is outstanding, but it can be har to keep track of all the stuff that gets posted here.

@JC_01, you should speak up more often and never be too shy in showing what you've done. As you must have seen in here we all post our images and ask for tips or comments, then go away and work on the words of wisdom received from other members. Everyone only had Bryce for 2 months a one point and most of us have survived intact. See you soon..............8) Catlin

Catlin, You are always so nice...the voice of reason and the voice of design...lol You're probably right...lol hopefully ine of these days i'll have a whole day to sit and render, and post grins The plus side is, this week, i created a new phpBB2 forum for our manor and palace, and am now debugging....i would love to be able to design a whole new set of images for it using bryce. who knows, maybe my whole day in bryce rendering will be doing that? winks Anyhow, i'll try to post here more....lol but if ya'all don't see me for a while, dun worry, i'm still around...grins...but could be lost in the now 5 boards, or bryce, or scripting palace or building in manor, lol and if the kids kidnapped me, PLEASE SEND HELP! LOL thanks for all the support along the way! grins JenC