I was wondering how many people have time to visit a gallery twice for the same post. I see so many members that add a thank you to their comments for someone leaving a comment or rating. if you really want to thank someone send an im or better go to that person's gallery and leave a comment on their work. I visit as many galleries as possible becuase I enjoy seing everybody's posts even if they do not have time to return the favor. I think very few of us have time to go back and see if the person left a thank you. sometimes I accidently go back to the same post because I can not remember if I commented or not

That's a good point. I used to send an IM to everyone who commented on my images but in the end I just don't have the time which is a bit sad I guess. On the other hand, like you say if you post a thank you on the image itself, who knows who sees it...probably not many. I do look at the gallery and leave a comment but I have never received a "thank you for looking/comment" msg yet so I figure if you wanna look and say nice things, then that that's great and I appreciate it...I already probably said a "pre thankyou" in the comments anyway.

It "is" a good point,and one I've been trying to make for years. One reason (but not so much as the next reason) the galleries are slow,is because of the ability for the author,to be able to post additional replies. Personally, I'd never "Re-visit" an image to read an exchange between authors,and/or those who reply. It's not like I'd get an E-bot saying "yesitis3 has posted a reply an image that you replied to on the Renderosity.com Lightwave Gallery". (Thank The Gods). So the only way to keep up with the exchange would be to keep checking it from time to time just in case someone has added another reply. I know I wouldn't do that. (Unless it was the infamous and controversial "Pink Pony" image...lol) Another reason,( and this is a bit more critical) is the ability to type enough text in the replies to write War And Peace. With this "Feature",as it is now, the database, has to reserve (AND LOAD) a record large enough to accommodate the wordy replies "For EVERY reply in EVERY image" This happens whether the reply is a novel, or simply says "Awesome". It still has to load the record to accommodate the novel. It seems to make more sense,that if an image requires discussion,then it would be more practical to start a thread in the appropriate forum and discuss it there. At least then,the participants would get an E-bot notifying them of a new addition to the discussion. Anyway...hopefully the new site-ware will address the speed issue. Tom

Good points. The fact that you can only leave one single comment on an image prevents a true "discussion" in the comments section of an image. So that's not a real problem. And about database reservations/loads: it doesn't work that way. Databases (including MySQL) have fixed length text fields, variable length text fields, and Binary Larbe Objects (BLOBs).
Fixed length textfields behave like hawkfyr describes. They're useful for fixed length texts, like ZIP codes or telephone numbers. Variable length text fields: actual storage and load consists of the actual text length itself plus a two-byte number representing the length. Useful for names, addresses, short commentaries. And BLOBs only reserve a 16 byte pointer in the record itself, pointing to the actual location of the data (which can be VERY large, more than 1 GB per data item - depending on the database engine). BLOBs can contain complete novels, graphic images, movies, complete programs, just about anything. The maximum size of a comment (and IM, and forum post) makes me think that Bondware/MySQL uses variable length text fields for these features. So memory reservations and record size will be dependent on the actual content. Unless the current Bondware 2.0 is designed even worse than we already know...

Saying thx does show other visitors that you appreciate the comments made, even if the people who leave those comments don't see them ;) Sending IMs to them all could be seen as a bit spammy IMHO. Definitely visit their galleries though.

I've never received enough comments on any of my images for me to be concerned that I don't have time to reply to all of them. I'm happy with the comments I do get though and I make a special effort to send a quick IM to whoever comments just to say thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. Under my most recent image I said something about leaving a comment if you would like to..and forgot to tick the box that allows commenting. It was late at night and I went to bed straight after. I had several IM's about the problem, fixed it, send IM's to the commenters that it was fixed and put a comment of my own under the image to apologise and was pleasantly surprised when all of them reposted...I have a couple of hundred views of the image now and I think my efforts to IM people thanking them paid off. I know this is just one instance, but I don't think a lot of people are offended by IM's saying thank you. I've had some lovely replies to my thank you's as well so personally I think it's a nice gesture. And yes, I do go visit their galleries and quite often leave comments. Helen.

I have never been offended by thank you's. anybody that is too occupied to look at an im should slow down a bit. taking life to fast

I don't usually post in the comments of my gallery images. I figure those are for people who have viewed it and want to leave their thoughts, comments, reviews etc. If someone has asked me a question about how I've achieved something, I'll send them the answer in PM. One of my recent entries had "missing fingers". I fixed the image and made an entry stating I had. The only reason I did that though was so the person who made the comment wouldn't be asked later "what missing fingers?" LOL

Quote - I have never been offended by thank you's. Anybody that is too occupied to look at an im should slow down a bit

I agree. It's a sad world we live in "Thank you!" is considered as SPAM!!!!!!! Sheesh. I've often wondered what's happened to proper manners and now I know :( It's obvious that those same people are instilling the same outlook to their offspring :( My parents taught me to say please and thank you and to be courteous to people. It really bugs me when I see people with bad manners.

I usually just post a thank you on my image. For some reason it feels akward to send private messages to people (I feel as if I am harassing them for no good reason). I only send private messages when someone has offered a little bit of constructive critique. Wich doesn't happen often enough sadly.

Like I said before I do try to say "thank you" for comments left on images that I post but that's not why I post them. Most times its because I have been working on a character and decide to play around with it a bit and if I like what I end up with, I'll put it in my gallery. If you happen to like it then that's a bonus.

But if you purchase a product from me you will always get a thank you note whether you like it or not lol...it's called manners and good business.

You purchase something in a store they usually say thank you and is this any different ? .....I think not ...

Kym

Well I suppose you are right and I will change my habbits and thank people with a PM.