As far as I can tell from (my admittedly limited) browsing around various images very few people are giving a rating to an image unless it's a "10" but there are many comments. My suggestion is force viewers to give a rating if they wish to leave a comment.

My suggestion is force viewers to give a rating if they wish to leave a comment. do you think that would cut down on the number of comments people leave?

I don't like to rate images. Somehow it's like having a grade school teacher give one student an "A" and another an "F".

I did think it might reduce the number of comments, but if the rating idea fails due to too many 10's and not enough actual ratings then it may be worth forcing the rating.

Of course you could (go back?) to a system where only the total rating counts rather than the average.

Can I ask, what is the rating for anyway? Am I missing something?

Of course you could (go back?) to a system where only the total rating counts rather than the average. well that would favor the older art... as for what the ratings were for.... i've no idea to be honest. but i imaging they were created because members wanted more ways to communicate and find art... so there were ratings assigned to images so that the 'best ranked' gallery could help folks find art that other members though good.

I've been thinking about this for a while. I usualy don't rate images because I think it seems to me if I give someone a low rating I'm putting myself on a pedestal, like I'm better than them. I would probably rate more if the ratings were anonymous. But I like people to know it's me when I comment on an image.

at one time the ratings WERE Anonymous...what we found was that people were very nasty to eachother because their ratings were hidden. i don't think there is a perfect solution. :(

Looking at the current way the ratings are sorted two possible ideas come to mind. The first is add 9 to the total of the ratings for an image then divide by the number of ratings plus one, admittedly this may still favour the older images slightly but the order they are sorted would make more sense. The other idea is a bit like the idea I had for sorting by number of comments ie. after calculating the average rating for an image then divide this by the number of weeks since the image was posted to get the value for sorting.

Just to say in my last message I should have said "number of viewings" not "number of comments"

rankings are always a sore point especialy if things being ranked are given favor in some way. I'd say leave the rankings but remove the option to sort by rank. Then, it doesnt' matter over all what rank anything has except to the individual artist and those viewing the work. Also, a comment on comments. I tend to look at them kind of like applause and for whatever reason i find myself getting depressed when i see lots of views but no comments. Now that's probably a pretty silly way to be but I'm pretty sure i'm not the only one that feels down when people dont comment. Especialy since there's a sort by most commented. I wouldn't suggest forcing people to make comments but I might suggest that mods be required to make comments and give rankings on anything uploaded to a gallery connected to a forum they are a mod of. (ducks out of the way of flying objects tossed from multiple directions at the same time.)

If you force ratings then a great many of us will never comment on another image. I don't believe in ratings and I will not leave a rating on ANY image. I left "grades" behind 30 years ago when I graduated from High School and I'm not about to go back now. Ratings are for the birds as far as I'm concerned. What REALLY matters is comments, whether they be "oooh cool" or actually helpful critiques of a piece. I vote for "don't fix it, it ain't broke" Kate

I'm with Kate on this one. Totally. Viewings can also be considered in the same light as comments and/or ratings. If you get lots of view then you know something about the picture was appealing enough to get peoples attention. If not then you know the picture wasn't the type that appeals to the majority here. If you worry too much about ratings/comments vs views then you are running the risk of not making your art for YOU. You are the most important factor in this whole thing. If you get 1 view and YOU really like and are happy with that piece then you should stay happy with it. Some of my own most favourite pieces are largely ignored by others. And, that's ok. MY tastes are different than theirs. That my friend is a good thing :) (er, being different that is)

I'm not particularly interested in the ratings I get for my work - my reason for wanting the ratings system to improve is so I can find the best of the rest easily (as rated subjectively by others is fine for me) - the way the ratings are sorted at the moment simply does not accomplish this task. My suggestions for improving the options for sort by viewings or comments are the same - ie. I'd like the best/fairest mechanism available enabling me to find the best images to see on Renderosity. In the case of sort by ratings, at the moment an image that has a single "10" appears before one that has say twenty "10"'s and a single "9" - this doesn't seem either useful or fair. As in the other thread I agree with CrystalWizards idea of extra sort options based on time.