POTW is about give and take...

[autumnsky]

I have put off writing this for a few weeks. It is my observation that the climate of POTW as changed over the last month.There seems to be more folks just posting images, without providing comments and/or ratings. Maybe this is because folks feel they do not have the expertise to comment. From my perspective, I am not so interested in a person's expertise, but I am interested in a person's impressions about an image ... mine and others ... it is how we learn. Or maybe it is a language barrier. I realize that we are an international community and I am surprised that more folks are not writing comments in their native language. It is not a problem to translate as there are many translation sites. Here is a link to a decent translation site: Translation Resource

I would hate for the POTW community to move into smaller groupings, folks only commenting on the images of folks who will take time to comment on their images (as happens at many other sites). The problem is this breaks the community into little cliques. It is understandable, since time is limited. I know I am finding myself checking member profiles... if someone does not have an average of at least 1 post a day, I wonder about their involvement. The spirit of POTW is really about receiving feedback and giving feedback. Everyone has an opinion about the images they are viewing. If you are going to post images to POTW, then please be willing to rate and comment.

[JCW3]

Very nice comment Autumn, I find it very fitting and actually pleaseing to see this topic.

I know I use to average probably 30-50+ reviews a week over the winter and probably found more joy in reading others than I did my own. I find others comments to be supporting and very helpful. Its really a shame to seem those commentless comments.

I myself have still been spending a few hours a week here viewing, reading, and even commenting when I have time. I do wish I had the time to do more comments as I use to, but with spring/summer here, I find myself limited with computer time. Which in turns limits my comments. I think this actually may be happening as a All in general.

But if I take the time to comment I usually give a good honest view of it, that is unless its one of those Perfect tens, then the image will speak for its self. But even for one of those 10's, I always give supportive info that tells WHY I felt it was a 10 and what I liked most about it.

A commentless review is about as good as a empty water bottle in the desert in my eye. But we are a group here and thats not the way everyone feels. So we all compromise a little.

[northbeach]

I agree with you, autumnsky. I try to troll through,looking particularly for those folks in the back who might not get comments because no everyone looks at all of the photographs.

I'm also frustrated when someone leaves a rating but no explanation of how they arrived at their conclusions about a photograph. Someone once gave me a 4 and said nothing! I emailed and asked them and never heard back.

I think it's important to recognize not just the handful of people who week after week make the first page ~ it's everyone who posts that makes this site a success.

Sheila.