karen1573 - i love the idea of a critique sticky.  if it's another forum, then no one will go there.  look at the developers forum.  i'm sure there are several people building things, but they post to the software specific forums if they want to do w.i.p. 

i definitely want the critique with the image itself.  otherwise, it's a lot less useful.  not only would having the image elsewhere make it a p.i.t.a. to critique with constantly swapping between two tabs/windows (especially with how big most images appear), it would make it less useful to receive critique and have to look back and forth.

i actually like the favorite artists feature.  that would be perfect, imho.  if i really didn't want something critiqued, i'd label it "for fun" or some such.  and in any case, i'd rather have the info than not. i think posts are already great for people who want feedback only on particular images.  the whole point of what i'm interested in would be to get regular, steady feedback on every image i post, and regularly posting feedback on other people's works.  i'm not thinking of random threads.  i'm thinking of a consistent group of artists that can rely on each other for feedback.  i'm not sure that individual threads would do that.  but i certainly don't know what would work and am willing to try just about anything.

and i want to add that i'm absolutely thrilled and very thankful that the mods are discussing ways to help this happen.

i do think there would need to be a way get out of the group.   i think some sort of key phrase in the title  would be enough to exempt an image, but getting out of the loop altogether would be difficult to automate.  well, i'd think that could be done in the sticky thread, too.

ideally, there'd be a group feature to the site, but then this would be a very, very different web app.

ThrommArcadia - i think you raise some great points, but i differ with you on some.  i personally don't think knowing 3d is crucial to analyzing a cg image.   for instance, without knowing a thing about the image you're talking about with your friend, if i received criticism on shadows and reflections, i'd know i had to do something so that they looked right.  it doesn't matter to me if the person knows 3d, because i don't think someone should have to be an expert to get my image.   in fact, i'd rather have feedback from  someone who doesn't automatically disregard problems produced by the figure or software, as i think many of us do instinctively.

it's not an issue to me that some people are hobbiests - i think that's great and i knew that when i first registered here.   but this is the only creative community i've ever been a part of where people seemed to expect nothing less than "i love it!" and 5 stars when they put their work out for public review.  and worse, it seems to be the norm of politeness.  saying someone is less than absolutely perfect should not be an insult.  

 the fact of the matter is if when work or words become public, people will have lots of different reactions.  we need to find a balance, just as we do in any social situation.

but i am personally not interested in telling anyone else what they should want.  i am not trying to say people should be treated any differently.  i don't care (or at least not much) that others are more popular than i am.  that's not false modesty, that's practicality.  right now, it takes me ages to make pictures.  i need to get better as fast as i can, and i'll be faster if my skills advance.  i'm just saying i'm really interested in some thorough critiques, and i'd be more than happy to start critiquing people who would be interested in detailed feedback.  just about the only reason, imho, to post to a hobbiest site is to receive feedback that helps advance my work.  for that  it's great to get encouragement, but i also need advice on how to improve