Critique / Comment problem.

[Keitht]

I don't believe that the vast majority of those who post what should really be a comment as a critique do so maliciously. The default setting for Critique / Comment is "Critique". Couldn't most of the problem be removed by the simple expedient of changing the default setting to "Comment"?

[bstreeck]

Yes Keitht, yes! Thank you, I've had the some thought, but didn't act on it not wanting to be the one to pick on the rules again.

But yes, from an honest critique I would expect both positive and negative aspects mentioned. I've received (only) 55 critiques, and of those ONLY EIGHT (8) contained a suggestion on how I could have done something better. Those are the critiques I really appreciate. Possibly if the default was comment, people would start thriving to go beyond just writing a comment and wanting to critique, so maybe before switching to a critique they might add something useful.

Adam? What do you think of the idea?

[Keitht]

I had a response direct from Adam. He said the suggested action would "create a number of problems" although he didn't go into any detail of those problems. He suggested creating a list of 'good critiquers' which I feel goes totally against the intent of the site. I don't want to limit the number of people I interact with.
At the end of the day it's Adam's site so the only decisions that really matter are his. The quick response was appreciated though.

[bstreeck]

Hi Keith, Hi Adam,

I agree, the purpose of changes can't be to limit the number of critiquers, but rather to encourage useful critiquing... I'm guessing following idea would need some major code changes and would be a big break in the history of TE, but if your (Adam) intent was to create a critiquing/learning site rather than a portfolio site, then this may be something to think about:

A picture is posted.
A comment/critique is written, but the points assigned by the author, are not awarded and not publicly displayed.)
Other users can mark the critique/comment as a "useful critique".
If five users have marked the critique/comment as useful, the points given by that critique are awarded and displayed.
This way, a kind of peer review of the critiques takes place, and unless someone actually marks a comment like "great POV, like the DOF, TFS" as a "useful critique", this could lead to people wanting the points they assign awarded, and so they may actually write a real critique to achieve that.

Just an idea...

[Davids]

Benjamin,

It's not a bad suggestion, but besides the obvious advantages, it also has some disadvantages. Not a lot of people mark notes and comments as usefull. friends would help friends, but not nescesarely 'strangers'. New members would have an even harder time compared with now.

I think your intro sais the rest, 1 to 2 smilies (can't make up my mind).