I've read the posts below, and I wasn't going to comment, but it really is hurtful when the people leave praise then my ranking suddenly goes down. I depend on you, my peers to judge my work. For days I thought my Wave was a real loser. But I promised myself i'd post it so you all could tell me how to do it better. Then Gebe saw some merit in it, and my heart soared. She gave me a little confidence - so I published it. So even inexperienced people get attacked by invisible trolls. I thought it was only the popular people that got shot down. I don't know enough people here to be so disliked. Maybe it would be better to take my little renders elsewhere. My aim is to make 'pic of the day' at e-on; fat chance if i'm only average. BillyGoat

You know what I think is happeing, when you click the excellent ranking some tend to scroll down to make the comment, when you do that without clicking first you change the ranking. Not on purpose but by accident. I think your render is excellent and I ranked it that way. Really I think this is just an accident that this happened. You should submit it to E-on I am sure they would find this one that should be picture of the day. Please don't stop posting I love looking at your work. Sharen

Thanks Sharen - it helps to know this. I questioned this to begin with because of the other posts. When there are a lot of views, and only a fraction of comments, which added up to excellent, and 2 or 3 views later, the ranking shows 'good' I looked for the comment(s) to see where I could have done better. There wasn't any critique, so I assumed the worst. But then again, I was totally surprised by the 'excellent' ranking to begin with. This sounds silly, but... I want to be 'chosen' by e-on, instead of being turned down via submission to their site. I'm going to go with your scenerio above - it makes me feel a lot better. :-). You are such a sweetheart! BillyGoat

This point of Sharen's about accidental scrolling has come up a couple of times lately. I suspect it can easily happen (not to me for a couple of days yet, as I don't have a scroll wheel on this mouse). So to the administrators, could I suggest a minor change to the ranking form that would avoid the problem altogether. It's only simple HTML, and the present list-box for selecting the ranking could very easily be replaced by a single-choice check-box style of selection. It would make the form slightly larger, but I can't see that being a problem. A matter of only a couple of minutes work to implement, and a change that might avoid for others the sort of heart-ache that BillyGoat has gone through on this occasion, except where it really was a case of trolling activity.

Flycatcher has a very good point. However, if your goal is to get picture of the day and you have a very good chance IMHO, un check the ranking option all together and use your page views and comments to grade your success. Even the word RANKING is starting to bother me. Who among us really want to be RANKED? Graded perhaps or helpful comment for sure but Rank to me has a negative condensation. Just a thought. `shoop

I decided to drop off the ranking system a long time ago. When I post my images, I leave the comment area open to be polite (I hate when I find a great image and I can't comment on it :) ). I don't see a point to the ranking system anyway. If people are really nice, all you get is 'good' or 'excellent'. And if they are critical, then it goes down in flame. Just look at how many questionable images are marked 'excellent'. The comments are a more valuable way to 'measure' an image.

Completely agree with agiel:-). Why do you need rankings? They are never impartial. (IMHO)

BTW I never give rankings. Excellent is the most given ranking (sometimes I'm wondering why), that's why I say these are not impartial.

thats why I suggested a ranking based on comments in my previous post. The problem is a comment can also be a bad comment and should not be counted as a positive; so it is not so easy. As it has been said previously, ranking should not be a scale of value (which has no real meaning), just a unit you can send if you think the pic is good (only one unit allowed). That means the rank should be based on number of person which send a rank (maybe divided by the number of visits); in that case, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE to give a bad rank !!! But the rank keep a meaning... What do you think of that? Yves

If we have "bad" rankings, why should a person not be able to use it Yves? That's why I say that rankings are nothing. If you put a "hmm!" or something less then good, we mods will be flood over by IM's of wining members, because they got a "less then good ranking" Nobody will believe or think that his (her) image is really "hmm!". We only should put one possibility : "Excellent" and then everybody will be happy (but ensnared - I hope this is the right word).

BillyGoat, to make Pic of the day at e-onsoftware you do not need any comment, no ranking and even not to be in the HOT 20. When you think your image looks great and if you have not post-worked it, just submit it to e-on on their site. They are the only juges to decide if it OK or not for the PODT. Have alook in our FAQ to see how to behave. :-)Guitta

Rankings can be depressing, I look at the comments mostly to see what people feel about my work. Most times I am satisfied with what people say, the trolls....well I try not have them give me a bad day. LOL...Sharen

And... BTW BillyGoat, I have deleted the "hmm!" comment from your image, because this one trolls. He found the image interesting and good, so he cannot put a "hmm!". This doesn't go together with the text of his comment. Now you're again excellent. :-)

BillyGoat again: e-on will not come here to choose your (or any) image for the POTD, you need to submit. Guitta

Thanks everyone for explaining this to me. I was under a lot of false impressions. I honestly thought e-on went through the Vue Gallery looking for fresh meat, LOL! I thought they picked you - didn't realize that it was by submission only. I don't mind critical words on my work at all. I welcome them. I can 'take it' coming from you. I have more respect for the person who stands up and says 'It's Crap' and tells me why - versus the one who hides and stays silent. And you're all correct on the most important part; Rank has nothing to do with art or creativity. No one is excellent all the time. If my work is considered 'good' - that means i'm getting there. And that is my prize. I'm pleased that you people took the time to write out your thoughts on this. It helped me in a big way. It won't be long til I knock on e-ons door.

Good for you girl!...I bet you get one in right away. Sharen Always remember never get discouraged, some day your turn will come......(isn't that from a song)LOL...keep your beautiful smile. Sharen