there seems to be 2 sides to this discussion .i have read every comment so far and there are some interesting points raised .i posted on a site called eyefetch ,i was told it was a very good site for learning so being new to serious photography i joined .if you really want to see how elitism really works go check this site out .they have comments and ratings from 1-10 and if you hit 9.5 you receive a medal .how this site works is how many medals you can get and members will deliberately  down rate your image regardless of how good or bad if they see you heading for a medal at the end of the day and those that recieve medals end up with thousands .it is then a case of look at my pics arent they wonderful yours are crap !! .now for me personally i wasnt too bothered about medals although admittedly its a great feeling if you get one it was more about learning .well i had friends just like here but i learnt nothing and yet on rr i have learnt loads just by looking at other members work not by whats been said .naive or not the point is when i first joined here last july i got 4 maybe 5 comments from the same people day in day out ,(jeff being a good friend from the start ) now i get probably 30 and im thankful for everyone whether fluffy or not because ive made some great friends along this journey here on rr and a lot of the members only have this outlet to communicate with people for whatever reason .i definitely wouldnt hurt anyones feelings intentionally and i dont comment to receive them .i look forward to reading peoples comments on my pics good or bad .i still have a long way to go with this hobby and sometimes i dont feel qualified enough to give technical comments but that wouldnt stop me from saying i liked the pic in whatever manner i choose whether it be excellent or superb .if i like it i like it if i dont i dont .as for putting pics up with no comments ,well i think its being polite to tell the members they are too busy to look at the present at any of the pics and the only way i know of is to put a pic up explaining this .

in conclusion i would say this is the friendliest site i know of where people enjoy putting their pics up each day ,me included ,and communicating with people .the choice is still the members and how they choose to do things and members also have the choice to look or not whatever the case maybe .there are many members also that dont post pics all the time and yet still comment on pics everyday including mine ,so where is the i`ll scratch your back syndrome now .it is about photography ,it is about about learning ,but it is also about being friends with people and i see no harm in it as like jeff i do it for enjoyment of the hobby and of this site

mick