Grrr my comment didn't post so now I have to do it again. Has anyone who has stated that the artists' work in the "Hot 20" is stale or bad stopped to think that what one piece of art means to you means something different to other people? That what you see as bad, someone else might find inspiring? As far as entering contests goes, winning one is nice, but pushing your imagination to see what your mind can create is a far more rewarding personal experience. Whether you win or lose at least you showed up in the first place and are putting your work out there, and that means more than any votes or comments ever could. :) It shouldn't be about how much others like you or your work, but how much you like yourself and your work.

My query would be just who does the choosing on who get's the Secret Vote Flag for the week? Will is be controlled by software randomisztion mathematical formula's or will this secret flag be assigned by human being's who in and of themselves are already biased? Do you see the point? If it's software assigned with a membership of over 300,000 and the software chooses to flag non-active members with the ability to vote, then what kind of slant does the hot 20 get? What happens if the secret 100 are 100 people who never vote? What happens to the Hot 20 for that week?

Message edited on: 10/24/2004 15:44

Well, my viewpoint would for it to be random. As to 100 "not-so-active" people being randomly chosen, the number could be raised to 200 (as I listed above) or even higher and, additionally, the focus could be given to certain criteria such as those who have recently viewed the galleries and those who have logged on recently (as an example).

My point is still, who decides what factors are programmed into the equations? IE: People who log in Regularly + People Who Vote Regulalry * Random Number People Who View Galleries Regularly + People Who Vote Regularly * Random Number It still doesn't do anything to get past the "Popularity Vote" VS "Quality Vote" issue that seems to be bugging people who only want quality Images in the Hot 20? There's No forumula that can pick the image Quality that I am aware of. You'd need some very smart AI software with a sense of taste and style for that!

Well, while not a perfect suggestion, I think it would reduce the number of people whose task, it seems, is to make sure they support any image posted by their friends, as it takes a random number to include them in the voting list. And, please remember, I'm not finding fault with the images I see in the ot 20's...they are almost always good. The only problem I see is that there are others out there with equally good images that may be getting "honest" votes but never enough to reach the goal making the Hot 20 due to lack of friends voting.

I know jack all about coding and such but I am wondering if it would be possible for all comments made to NOT say who the person is who commented BUT once you have at least 3 comments from ppl who are NOT the creator of the work then below all the comments it could reveal: comments were posted by the following members listed in alphabetical order (then list the members) Also, perhaps not revealing the ranking until the poster has 3 comments from other ppl would help too. Perhaps then, ppl would be more inclined to give true constructive criticism rather than worrying about ppl getting mad at them or ranking their work poorly for revenge. Ive seen this sort of thing in all sorts of different online communities over the years and thought this suggestion might be helpful. Also, add a new ranking: This is an improvement on previous entries by this artist might be a good thing for some of the beginners in the graphics sections. As for the Hot 20, well, that seems a lil more difficult. Do we really NEED a "Hot 20"? We've already got the "Most Viewed" link, perhaps though the "Most viewed" should have a bit of tweaking... Most Viewed subfield: by day, by week, my month, by year and all time viewing ??? Just a thought from a newbie (who not only knows jack squat about coding but also knows jack about graphic art except what I like and what I don't like) :>

Actually that is The BEST suggestion I've seen regarding this whole issue in a long time. Having the option to select Most viewed by [Timeframe] as an option would give you a lot of different choices. At least the 4 choices you've given plus you could have other choices such as: Viewed By [Active Voting Members] Viewed By [Active Forum Posting Members] Viewed By [Active Members] Viewed by [Moderators] Viewed By [Business Interests] (A Biggie for those interested in the commercial appeal of their images) Raves for that suggestion CageWench!!!

Message edited on: 10/24/2004 20:59

What if the comments could only be read by the artist, rather than everybody? Veiwers could say what they wanted with out worrying about what everyone else thought and without "humiliating" anyone in front of their friends. People would have to decide whether to vote based on what they thought rather than what everyone else was doing. That should cut down on the voting cause everyone else did factor.
And there could be a delete button next to every comment so that the artist could delete any comments they didn't find helpful and keep the ones they find usefull or favorable. I'd guess trolling wouldn't be as much fun if everyone didn't get to see the nasty comment and it could be immediatly deleted. Nobody'd have to feel bad about saying 'that's nice' after 50 other people said it was wonderful.

I'm sure there's something wrong with that idea, but at the moment, haven't figured out what it is. I don't really care if anyone sees my comments or not...but that's just me.

Message edited on: 10/25/2004 01:13

i loved your idea gladys....less pressure to follow a crowd if their isnt a visable crowd to follow =) and i dont care who sees my comments...just me

I agree with you though Glady's, especially when it comes to snide comments being made on someone's images. It's bad enough people have to be nasty, but compound that with the embarassment of knowing everyone else saw what they said makes you feel about 2 inches tall. Comments should be private.

Or give the artist the choice...put a "private comments" check box in.

Fair enough, make it a choice, although

1. for me personally, I don't know why anyone would care that everyone saw their comments. I'm sure someone has a reason, but beats me what it would be. I don't need anyone else to see that someone said "whoohoo that's wonderful!" to me.

2. That wouldn't help the voting situation any, because then a person could just delete all the bad comments, or delete any comment that didn't have a vote attached to it, giving a false percecption to the next viewer.

In response to the "galleries are for mutual masturbation" type comments... Yes. They are. Not everyone has a lot of self-confidence. I had mine fairly actively stomped on for a lot of my life, so the compliments from people here mean a LOT to me. It's kept me going to see that a few people think my stuff is good - and that they're not just people I'm related to. ;) So, back-patting is very welcome here. If it wasn't, I wouldn't allow comments or ranking. That being said, the alternative search mode sounds great. RC

re: comments viewable only to artist Not a bad idea Gladys, though I see some pros and cons with that. If only the artist sees them, they could get a slew of the SAME suggestions over and over, which, I think isn't that one of the things irking the original poster? However, then the new viewers would be more likely to give a real review (i would guess). As of late, I have decided that I don't care what ppl rank my poetry, so I ma removing the ranking option. I am always open to comments though, so I leave the comments box on :> And to SteveJax: thanks for your enthusiasm regarding my suggestions :> Cara-Mae

I think it's an indication of who had the right idea, judging by the top20 now, LOL.

I noticed that Emant, prog and Calum5 are the top 3 right now... But the orignal poster wasn't any of these 3 so far as I understand all this... cara

'ps any one who has support for such a person I would like to ask them to consider there own morals and dont bother commenting on my work !' (a statement from one of the artists currently in the top three) As long as people have attitudes like this, there's no hope really, is there?

cagewench: true, which is why I said, have a delete next to each name, so you can save what is useful, as it is right now, I've been here since january, I've posted probably 50 pictures or so, and I'd say I've probably gotten less than ten helpful comments. And I get the same comments over and over, but none of them really ever suggest anything...I took the ratings button off months ago, because everything is excellent. trustme_backstabba: Saw that comment and left, I'm not going to start basing what I can or can not view on friendships and affiliations.

Gladys, that's why I recently began posting my poetry without the option to rate :> trustme_backstabba: that comment sounds familiar, I think I read it though with all the reading and such lately, I can't recall where,, cara