Skiwillgee,
I'm certain that a blank rating doesn't effect the overall score as quite a few people don't leave ratings on my work and my score stays the same. It was a good concern to raise though and you are probably not alone in that thinking. If anyone knows different then please let us know.

Thanks ICM for your response and also to Thandaluz.

It is heartening to know that artists can contact the moderators with any concerns they might have, however, this is ultimately their choice, as is their choice on whether to receive comments and ratings.

The concern raised is not over their choice to accept comments and/or ratings but how people respond to the artists wishes, that is really the heart of this thread. I know that people react differently to criticism but I've have known people on Renderosity who have been deeply upset by vicious comments and as a result have stopped posting for a while. One artist in particular received an awful comment and others 'jumped on the bandwagon' and joined in the crucifixion of the image. To be fair this artist gave as good as he/she got but people were amazed that this type of thing could happen on here.

Yes, you are correct in that users have the choice of whether to allow comments and if they do select the critical choice then they should expect and accept them, as long as the comments themselves are critical in a helpful way.

I wasn't really intending to give any examples of the gulity parties by name on this forum as I don't want people ganging up on anyone in particular. I hoped the outcome of this forum would be that people who do post these types of comments would just take a deep breathe before posting and think carefully about how they word their comments and appreciate how they would feel if they were on the receiving end.

To give one very general example I have seen comments on a number of nautical images that rip the artists work to shreds and when you check the persons gallery who left the comment there are no images to back up what they say.

The concerns raised about ratings is that it's annoying for people to see comments such as 'superb image' and 'excellent work' on their work and then to see their rating go down as a result of that comment. The 2 just don't make sense.

All it takes is a bit of common sense and a little thought.

Wow, many thanks to vangogh, high praise indeed and I'm feeling very flattered.
I've only been Brycing for 4 months but like to try different styles of work, there's certainly no end of inspiration here on Renderosity.
Tony :-)