Gallery Ratings Switched Off

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by DaiTheDragon

I think canny may have hit the nail on the head. As the mods have to look at each photograph, let them give it a rating. I think we should all trust the moderators decision to award rating on quality, rarity, and difficulty plus they usually know what equipment was used. As long as the mod don't mind that is.

Dai

You've got that right. I have to agree with that.

[Boddie]

Doesn't sound like a bad idea provided it is not too much work for the editors and moderators but the Ed's and Mod's should also be allowed to deny any image they feel does not make the grade without it being resubmitted in the hope that another Ed or Mod will accept it, just adding to their workload.

[nightshade]

I read the start of this thread "grainy and out of focus" I cannot believe anyone would do that

[Barbara]

'Sorry if it's a little hard to read but I don't know how to add more than one quote into a reply

Originally Posted by Boddie

And I think that was the problem. Stu has pointed out on his post (14) that there seemed to be people rating images 5 star simply in response to their friend having rated one of their images 5 stars the previous day. This was on, more often than not, common species that are not that difficult to capture. This totally skewed the rating system.
I looked this morning, before the ratings were taken off the thumbnails, and there were numerous images not worthy of 5 stars, and it was the same persons voting time and again, simply reciprocating each others marks.

'I am one of the regulars who like to comment and rate pics and if I am one of the guilty ones of rating grainy and out of focus pics then I hold my hand up and I apologise. I cannot check this because the star ratings have been switched off. But I disagree that just because someone has voted for my pic the day before that I would then award their pic the same star rating the day after'.

Originally Posted by Boddie

The rating system was denied as it was being abused and the inference was that images not worthy of 5 stars had received 5 stars by persons reciprocating a friends ratings. Surely this is something that needs addressing?

'It's was my individual judgement if I decided to rate a pic'.

Originally Posted by Boddie

it has been abused and denied those who used it correctly and not just to BIG UP their friends.

'Why should I want to BIG up to my friends'


Please don't misunderstand me and I understand the reason for turning off the star ratings but comments like this surely are going to upset regular members and make them feel alienated, I don't know about them but I feel alienated at the moment, and comments about trying to bump up posts counts, what does it matter how many posts a member has, just because someone has more posts than another meember does not mean they are a better person. In fact I am going to ask StuDH if he can delete my post count because I don't give a monkeys about it, but all these comments about trying to bump up posts has actually stopped me commenting on any images. I feel very disillusioned with it all.

I am normally a laid back person, but each time I read this thread I am getting more and more irritated so I don' think I will read it anymore.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Barbara

Please don't misunderstand me and I understand the reason for turning off the star ratings but comments like this surely are going to upset regular members and make them feel alienated, I don't know about them but I feel alienated at the moment, and comments about trying to bump up posts counts, what does it matter how many posts a member has, just because someone has more posts than another meember does not mean they are a better person. In fact I am going to ask StuDH if he can delete my post count because I don't give a monkeys about it, but all these comments about trying to bump up posts has actually stopped me commenting on any images. I feel very disillusioned with it all.

I am normally a laid back person, but each time I read this thread I am getting more and more irritated so I don' think I will read it anymore.

Don't get put off Barbara, I for one appreciate your gallery comments and I know other do too! To reciprocate them is human nature, and it doesn't mean they're adding to what I can only describe as 'The gallery conspiracy theory'.

In my opinion, the comments feature in there, adds just as much to the community of the site as the normal forum posts do. If some are concerned that it's just being used to bump up posts, why cant it be disconnected from the main forum post count? If it can't, just do away with all the post counts if it worries people so much! Being one of the individuals with the highest count, this certainly wouldn't worry me at all. It's not what I joined the site for, and I suspect most feel the same too..

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by Alan

Don't get put off Barbara, I for one appreciate your gallery comments and I know other do too! To reciprocate them is human nature, and it doesn't mean they're adding to what I can only describe as 'The gallery conspiracy theory'.

In my opinion, the comments feature in there, adds just as much to the community of the site as the normal forum posts do. If some are concerned that it's just being used to bump up posts, why cant it be disconnected from the main forum post count? If it can't, just do away with all the post counts if it worries people so much! Being one of the individuals with the highest count, this certainly wouldn't worry me at all. It's not what I joined the site for, and I suspect most feel the same too..

I'd go along with that too.
Don't get disheartened Barbara, your a good cotributer and your pics are extreamly good. I have stopped putting photos up for the mo as I feel some one up there doesn't want me too.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by Alan

Don't get put off Barbara, I for one appreciate your gallery comments and I know other do too! To reciprocate them is human nature, and it doesn't mean they're adding to what I can only describe as 'The gallery conspiracy theory'.

In my opinion, the comments feature in there, adds just as much to the community of the site as the normal forum posts do. If some are concerned that it's just being used to bump up posts, why cant it be disconnected from the main forum post count? If it can't, just do away with all the post counts if it worries people so much! Being one of the individuals with the highest count, this certainly wouldn't worry me at all. It's not what I joined the site for, and I suspect most feel the same too..

Thankyou very much Alan I really do appreciate it , I was getting put off reading it all and I really missed commenting on images but I had made a decision not to comment anymore, but your kind words have changed my mind. Posts counts and stars are not what I joined the site for either but it was to share my pics and view others pics and also comment on them so why should I deny myself this pleasure.

[chunkychambers]

Originally Posted by Barbara

Please don't misunderstand me and I understand the reason for turning off the star ratings but comments like this surely are going to upset regular members and make them feel alienated, I don't know about them but I feel alienated at the moment, and comments about trying to bump up posts counts, what does it matter how many posts a member has, just because someone has more posts than another meember does not mean they are a better person. In fact I am going to ask StuDH if he can delete my post count because I don't give a monkeys about it, but all these comments about trying to bump up posts has actually stopped me commenting on any images. I feel very disillusioned with it all.

I am normally a laid back person, but each time I read this thread I am getting more and more irritated so I don' think I will read it anymore.

Barbara you sound so annoyed and upset, please don't.......
There are so many posts on this thread that agree with your point of view, including me, I have called it pretentious nonsense on an earlier post.
This is a wildlife site first and foremost and the photography is part of that, part being the operative word. It is not important, to me anyway, whether a photo is technically good or not, whether someone votes for their pals or not, or how many posts an individual amasses, and I can't understand why the same members keep posting here trying to patronise us into believing they are important!

If we are not careful cliques will develope and then the less knowledgeable will feel intimidated and stop using the site.
For goodness sake enjoy the site, this thread shows that the majority would leave things as they are but do away with the rating system, it will be interesting to see if the administrators reflect this feeling.

I'm a relatively new member and so far I love this site, but like Alan, who I think always talks sense, I will give up my post count happily if people see post counts as some sort of prestige.

Paul (aka Chunky)

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by chunkychambers

but like Alan, who I think always talks sense

Paul (aka Chunky)

Have you been drinking Paul.........
I agree with you...........hic.........

[chunkychambers]

Originally Posted by Jonny

Have you been drinking Paul.........
I agree with you...........hic.........

Only other peoples Jonny...........hic hic

[Chalk Downlanders]

I like the idea of a pannel of judges grading photos, but....

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE PM.

What the hell are you playing at. That photo was worth a 5 star rating. Why have you only given it a four. You gave your friend a five for a rubbish photo. Mine toolk ages to set up, it's worth a five. I'm not going to post any more pictures. You can stick them.........

This type of PM will be sent. The pannel who grades photos need to have their names hidden.

[DaiTheDragon]

Stuart, can you please make a decision soon as I think this thread is begining to do more harm than good. This is a fantastic site and the sooner we can get back to some sort of normality the better.
On a personal note, I don't mind losing the ratings and or the post count. One last thing, why do people congratulate other people for reaching a certain post count.

dai

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by chunkychambers

Barbara you sound so annoyed and upset, please don't.......
There are so many posts on this thread that agree with your point of view, including me, I have called it pretentious nonsense on an earlier post.
This is a wildlife site first and foremost and the photography is part of that, part being the operative word. It is not important, to me anyway, whether a photo is technically good or not, whether someone votes for their pals or not, or how many posts an individual amasses, and I can't understand why the same members keep posting here trying to patronise us into believing they are important!

If we are not careful cliques will develope and then the less knowledgeable will feel intimidated and stop using the site.
For goodness sake enjoy the site, this thread shows that the majority would leave things as they are but do away with the rating system, it will be interesting to see if the administrators reflect this feeling.

I'm a relatively new member and so far I love this site, but like Alan, who I think always talks sense, I will give up my post count happily if people see post counts as some sort of prestige.

Paul (aka Chunky)

Thankyou so much Paul it very kind of you to reply. Yes I was annoyed and upset this thread has been bothering me for a couple of days which is unlike me I don't normally let anything get to me, I think I have had a personality change over the last couple of days

Ever since day one I thought this was a fantastic site and have either posted pics or commented on pics on here almost every day, I even gave up researching my family tree which I had been doing almost nightly for the past two and half years all because I loved the site and got a lot of enjoyment from it and have learned a great deal from it also.

But in my opinion, the way the thread was developing came across to me as very unfriendy and I didn't think there was any call for it....... and how does it look to any potential new members who may be thinking of joining us, we don't want to scare them off do we.

Yes I agree the less knowledgeable could feel intimidated and get frightened off, I myself am not very knowledgeable but after Alan, Beryl and yourself have kindly replied, you have given me the confindence to carry on posting and not let it bother me whether someone is clock watching my post count or not

[Alan]

Originally Posted by DaiTheDragon

Stuart, can you please make a decision soon as I think this thread is begging to do more harm than good. This is a fantastic site and the sooner we can get back to some sort of normality the better.
On a personal note, I don't mind losing the ratings and or the post count. One last thing, why do people congratulate other people for reaching a certain post count.

dai

I agree with you Dai. Time to put an end to matters.

The congratulations aspect is just a small part of building up the community aspect of the site. Being one who always takes part in this, I think it's no more than a bit of fun, but it does give some the oportunity to recognise the efforts some people put into the site, especially gallery editors and mods.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by Barbara

Thankyou so much Paul it very kind of you to reply. Yes I was annoyed and upset this thread has been bothering me for a couple of days which is unlike me I don't normally let anything get to me, I think I have had a personality change over the last couple of days

Ever since day one I thought this was a fantastic site and have either posted pics or commented on pics on here almost every day, I even gave up researching my family tree which I had been doing almost nightly for the past two and half years all because I loved the site and got a lot of enjoyment from it and have learned a great deal from it also.

But in my opinion, the way the thread was developing came across to me as very unfriendy and I didn't think there was any call for it....... and how does it look to any potential new members who may be thinking of joining us, we don't want to scare them off do we.

Yes I agree the less knowledgeable could feel intimidated and get frightened off, I myself am not very knowledgeable but after Alan, Beryl and yourself have kindly replied, you have given me the confindence to carry on posting and not let it bother me whether someone is clock watching my post count or not

Here here.Well said Barbara. I some times think some of this thread is a littl hostile and I have now been put off uploading and posting comments. But we must soldier on and try not to let it bother us.

[Alan]

Do you think maybe we could all now stop posting on this thread, as I'm sure many of the useful comments made have been taken into account and will I'm sure be considered.

Cheers

Alan

[matt_xyz]

It's probably about time this thread was wrapped up. It started off simply as a notice about turning the ratings system off. I haven't spoken to Stu about this so I'm not entirely clear on his reasoning for removing the rating system, but I myself had noticed some strange behaviour by some individuals. However, I would like to point out that I had never noticed this from you Barbara. Also, I for one have always valued your comments in the gallery so again please do not let any of the above discourage you from making comments. I fully accept that you are not concerned about your post count, like the vast majority of us I suspect.

I would hate to discourage anyone from posting comments in the gallery or indeed from uploading images. Yes, we have to have a minimum quality requirement but this should not discourage anyone from trying. It is only a small minority of shots that are rejected. The real strength of the WAB gallery is the large number of people who upload, view and comment upon images and I don't think any of us want to do anything which limits that.

I wouldn't oppose some kind of 'photos of the month' section but I am not keen on the idea of editors rating images, for precisely the reason outlined by Chalk Downlanders above. I would dread to see my PM inbox each day!

Matt

[Tormentil]

Can't someone just lock this thread. A sure fire way to stop any more postings.

[StuartDH]

The thread is now closed. The ratings will stay switched off, but this doesn't affect anything else on the gallery. Pics will still be moderated the same as they always have been, and comments will still be available.

As mentioned before, we may add a 'pick of the week' choice to the gallery, but gallery eds won't be rating pics as they already do a massive amount of work running everything behind the scenes.

The fact is, we do have some members who have recently cut and pasted a single sentence into 300+ posts within a very short period of time, just to get their post count up. Some have been rating hundreds of their friends images with 5 stars (regardless of qualtiy, subject etc), so their friends rate theirs with 5 stars too. Some members continually upload hundreds of very low quality/out of focus/very grainy/very dark images. We certainly don't expect professional quality images, but we do have a minimum standard on the gallery and yet some members virtually ignore all requests by the gallery editors to stop uploading the same pictures that have been refused many times before.

These are just some of the difficulties that we face in trying to run the gallery smoothly. We're fortunate to have an outstanding gallery, and its success is due entirely to the massive amount of work that the editors (all volunteers) put in to keeping it in great shape.

Personally, I'd love the ratings to still be on, the gallery editors have spent a very long time building the gallery and it's very fustrating to see a minority ruin it for everyone else. Once we've got the gallery ratings/pick of the week feature sorted out we'll hopefully keep these facilities available, and we'll just switch the above members off instead

Stuart