Gallery Comments?

[inmotionfotos]

When I pull my own gallery I see that is says there are several comments. Are there actual comments, or just ratings? If comments how can I see them?

Thanks,

Mark

[Ian]

When I pull my own gallery I see that is says there are several comments. Are there actual comments, or just ratings? If comments how can I see them?

Thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark, these will be image ratings. Text comments are not available on the gallery. The thinking behind this is that the forum is the place for comments and discussions while the gallery is the place to browse the pictures. We're working on easier ways helping people to select pictures from the gallery and show them in the forum so that they can be discussed there.

Ian

[DennisP]

Sorry Ian to keep on about it, but yet another person who feels as I that it would be nice to be able to leave a comment about a picture that appeals rather having to make submission to a critique forum.
Time for a review of the policy ???

[Ian]

Hi Dennis. I am sympathetic withyour point of view, but as you know, I can't please everyone at the same time. So far, the policy you clearly disagree with, seems to be working. Both the forum and the gallery are growing steadily. If you look at some other sites with both a forum and a gallery, the forum is a poor relative and the gallery comments are so spread out that it's difficult to keep track of them and benefit from the advantages of a forum for discussion.

I can possibly see a time when the forum is very well established and we are receiving hundreds of visitors a day (we currently get between 45 and 70 registered members logging in per day) when in-gallery messaging could be enabled.

I hope we can agree to disagree on this for the time being.

Ian

[Stephen]

May I also add that comments you might put on the gallery can also be added to the critique forum when pictures are put up there. Indeed you could even add a picture yourself so others can comment/critique.

The more people that comment in the critique forum the better, and in turn this will encourage more people to post their own pics and comment on others work.

[Bearface]

My own understanding regarding the benefit of restricting gallery comments (and encouraging critique via the forum) is this:

If someone merely wishes to convey a brief opinion without committing to an in-depth review of a given photo, they can do so very easily in the forum. Comments can either be left in a thread established by a photographer seeking feedback on a given image, or by copying/pasting a link into a forum post and typing a few words. Both approaches give the user the freedom to make their feedback as basic (or as in-depth) as they choose, which to my mind removes the need for an additional comment facility in the gallery.

However, if an individual decides that they wish to anonymously "score" an image in the galleries without having to commit to a forum post, they can simply use the rating system provided to rate the images of their choice in the gallery.

It's important to remember that this is a community in which there are members who need considered and constructive feedback in order to hone their knowledge and skills. Posting "nice shot" type comments in the gallery is all very well, but I think most people would prefer the established format and the fact that it encourages more detailed comment and more importantly, discussion. By restricting written comments to the forum, the site is encouraging interaction and communication between members, which from any point of view has to be a positive thing.

Just my thoughts :rolleyes:

[chryslerchick]

ok stephen & bearface didnt i just do what you suggested in photo critique & now im told it may not be correct thing to do ???

http://dpnow.com/forum2/showthread.php?p=8448&posted=1#post8448

[Ian]

Ah - you are referring to commenting on someone else's picture in the gallery via the forum.

I think it would be polite not to reproduce someone else's picture in a forum post unless you had contacted them and asked if it would be OK. But I'd also encourage anybody to do this.

If you don't have time, it's best to post a link to the page in the gallery that the picture is displayed in. But it's till a good idea to drop the owner a short email (you could use the forum private mail system for that).

Ian

[chryslerchick]

cheers ian :) but after id read this post & read bearface comments on it ,i read that its ok to do that but upon re-reading then re-reading again he actualy meant post the PAGE link not the photo link didnt he ???? but isnt it one in the same thing though? your still posting their pic even if its via a link & then writing a written comment on it ?? & sorry personaly i cant see the prob after all if you put your pics in the gallery & ask for comments on it isnt it the same thing ??after all if someone in gallery rated my pic very low or *crap *crap basicly i'd like to know what was wrong about it & the current system doesnt allow that,its ok all while you get good t-up t-up ...:\ :\ any how we now know what not to do dont we .:(

[Ian]

OK- food for thought! I may ask gallery contributors if they would mind their pictures being reproduced in the forum by other members - if only to gauge interest.

After all, this would only be possible by registered forum members, rather than any Tom, Dick or Harriet :)

Ian

[chryslerchick]

:) ok thanks for understanding what i was saying :) i have also left an apology to bearface on his pm & one on board,as it was my mistake for reading his comments wrong.

[Bearface]

:) ok thanks for understanding what i was saying :) i have also left an apology to bearface on his pm & one on board,as it was my mistake for reading his comments wrong.

Hey, it's perfectly okay - no problem at all :D

Reading my comments just now, I could've probably made my point more clearly. Don't worry about it ;)

[chryslerchick]

cheers 4 that bearface.......in future i will read everything twice i think as my brain gets a bit slow on functioning some days...l.o.l

[Dyvynl]

I'm totally confused. Ian mentions numbers in the gallery section are actually image ratings. If that is the case, I have 9 image ratings that I haven't a clue to where they are or what they look like. What I really want to know is the following. How do I go about soliciting comments without putting them in the Photo critique section? If I have 20 photos posted, I certainly don't want to do 20 Photo critiques...Please, will somebody just point me in the right direction and make it as simple as possible. I mean after all, don't we all post our photos to get some kind of feedback and not just send them out into the vacuum of space never to be heard from again? If that is not true, then I'm in the wrong place.

[coupekid]

Sorry Ian to keep on about it, but yet another person who feels as I that it would be nice to be able to leave a comment about a picture that appeals rather having to make submission to a critique forum.
Time for a review of the policy ???

With respect Dennis, the poster is merely enquiring where to see the comments, not making a stament about leaving messages:

[quote]When I pull my own gallery I see that is says there are several comments. Are there actual comments, or just ratings? If comments how can I see them?

[quote]

In my opinion, I agree with Ian, I like the way it is, I do like the idea about being able to post peoples pictures in the forum, however, I do feel it should be once permission has been given. Maybe this idea would work in quite nicely with what I discussed with you on PM?

[Ian]

I'm totally confused. Ian mentions numbers in the gallery section are actually image ratings. If that is the case, I have 9 image ratings that I haven't a clue to where they are or what they look like. What I really want to know is the following. How do I go about soliciting comments without putting them in the Photo critique section? If I have 20 photos posted, I certainly don't want to do 20 Photo critiques...Please, will somebody just point me in the right direction and make it as simple as possible. I mean after all, don't we all post our photos to get some kind of feedback and not just send them out into the vacuum of space never to be heard from again? If that is not true, then I'm in the wrong place.

I perfectly understand your point, but there is plenty of evidence on other sites that points to an unhealthy competition between a forum and a gallery in terms of which is the place for discussion and which is the place for viewing. In many forums, gallery comments tend to be perfunctory and. much of the time, meaningless, like "great shot" or "could do better", etc. There is much more exposure to images posted in the forum and the quality of responses is much higher.

Admittedly, it does mean that the number of images that get reproduced on the forum is much less than the gallery. And, yes, there are images in the gallery that don't see the light of day on the forum.

This is not perfect, but I feel it's better than letting the forum and gallery compete in a destructive manner.

The solution is for more images to be posted on the forum for comments. To help this, from this weekend I will be regularly featuring an article highlighting a pick of the week's newest gallery images. I hope this will give deserving images more of the spotlight and so encourage them to be appreciated by more people.

Ian

[DennisP]

to CoupeKid - Why might I ask are you quoting something I posted weeks ago when you are replying to something posted by Dyvynl only 5 hours ago. ?
I have only just seen Dyvynl's post and have certainly not replied to that posting, although now having seen his query I would re- iterate what I said in my post on the topic several weeks ago.

[Dyvynl]

Ian: Based on your comments I guess this site is the wrong "forum" for me to be a part of. Thank you for the opportunity to post my photographs here but I'll remove them immediately and be moving on...

[coupekid]

to CoupeKid - Why might I ask are you quoting something I posted weeks ago when you are replying to something posted by Dyvynl only 5 hours ago. ?
I have only just seen Dyvynl's post and have certainly not replied to that posting, although now having seen his query I would re- iterate what I said in my post on the topic several weeks ago.

I didnt even notice it was weeks ok to be honest Dennis! my apologies.

[Ian]

Ian: Based on your comments I guess this site is the wrong "forum" for me to be a part of. Thank you for the opportunity to post my photographs here but I'll remove them immediately and be moving on...

I'm really sorry that you feel the need to leave. We've worked hard to make the forum easy to show images from the gallery for rich comment, including one-click insertion into forum messages using the My Pics (Advanced edit mode, under the smileys).

There aren't that many other sites that have such a closely integrated forum and gallery.

But anyway, thanks for being here and please feel welcome at any time in the future.

Ian

[Jocelyn Walker]

I agree with the point made here about not just posting our photos in a gallery to exist in a vacuum & noone even look at them! For some reason, few of the pics get looked at....hardly any comments made...& others only just get a sideways glance from one or two people, possibly when they come up in random column! If we are putting pics in categories, could there not be some form of perusal of all pics in that sub category, somewhat like 'digital camera' photo contest shots that are categorized for that reason ...perusal & ratings etc? Just a thought though as I am really glad we have the forums for critique, discussion etc etc but one can only submit one pic now & again for critique!

[PJPhoto]

I was confused by this "comments" area as well in the gallery. Why not just call it "ratings"?

A newbie here but i'm getting the hang of the place! :)

Thanks!
Philip
www.philipjamesphoto.com