bagginsbill posted at 4:04PM Wed, 30 December 2015 - #4246454

I have no doubt that asking for critical comments will not get any if the asking is done in the gallery. If that's your point, I agree.

But you did say "Sadly no version of Rendo has ever included a "read the artists mind" button so none of the rest of us would have any clue that this was your desired intent unless you stated it clearly, loudly, and often." And that is why i showed that screen shot. Rendo does show the artist's mind on this point. If you don't look at the images anyway, that is no refutation of my point. People who want critical comments can ask for them explicitly in the UI at the time they post the image.

So really there are two issues - how to get somebody to participate in the gallery so they can see that you're asking for engagement with other artists, and then actually enaging, and the dangers thereof. You make some valid points on both those counts.

Yup.. That was pretty much what I was getting at. And no arguments here but I noticed when I uploaded that the "Both Critical and non=critical comments welcomed" seems to be the default setting, so I'd tend to take that with a grain of salt. Granted I guess you could leave a critical comment and if they got offended chastise them for not changing the default, but in my experience actual critique isn't usually what most people are after, seems like what they really want is a pat on the back. I'm ok with either myself really, I participated in a couple of photography forums when I first started to get serious about it as a hobby - and my initial attempts got a ton of critique.. some of it pretty harsh. One guy even suggested my best course of action would be to take the camera back to the store and ask for a refund.. lol. I thought that was mondo harsh, till I read the next comment and it suggested I buy a really expensive camera strap and use it to hang myself with.. lol.

But it all in all the majority of the critique helped me a lot and I didn't take any of it personally. But I found in leaving critique of my own I discovered pretty fast that even when people actually explicitly ask for it they often aren't really prepared to receive it, even if your like me and leave only comments you feel are constructive. So unless it's someone I know or someone that has posted enough that I can tell they are the sort who would take criticism well, honestly I avoid it like the plague. Again just my personal preference of course,