I need clarification about the "rate the critiques" scale. What does this mean and why are the managers so concerned that we use it? If I rate the critique as "unhelpful" I get an immediate response from management telling me to remove the unhelpful rating. If I don't rate the critique and it remains neutral, I'm told to please rate the critique. It seems the only acceptable behavior is to rate everything helpful (even when I don't feel that way). What is the point of a rating scale if only one rating is acceptable. Please clarify.

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From sheenawilkie/Administrator (0) on April 2, 2012 9:21:37 AM CDT Don we have an FAQ explaining the use of the critique ratings. Please read it. Helpful/Unhelpful. What does it mean? I understand that receiving negative ratings is difficult to shoulder sometimes. Try to focus on the words, not the number or colour of the thumbs. Please note that administrators do not require users to ever rate a critique helpful, however we do ask on occasion that people remove their unjustified unhelpful ratings. You can do that by choosing "no opinion". Cheers. Reply

From donschaeffer/Don (12,842) on April 2, 2012 10:22:19 AM CDT Sorry Sheena. I know that the ratings are useful. It's the ones that don't say much that I obect to. Some people seem to go around looking for things they don't like. Whenever I rate a critique with the "no opinion" rating I get a request asking me to rate the critiques. Your job must be very tough. I don't want to make it tougher. Reply

From sheenawilkie/Administrator (0) on April 2, 2012 10:33:01 AM CDT No worries Don. I know the system isn't perfect. You can just ignore the system reminder about rating critiques if you have left the critique at no opinion. It's a flaw in the system that it allows for that rating but doesn't recognise it as rated. Do you really think the two people who recently left negative ratings on your photograph go around looking for things they don't like? Looking at their critiques and participation in the site it seems they genuinely enjoy giving feedback to photographers. They behave politely and with thoughtful consideration. Both critiques made valid commentary on your photograph. Now certainly you may disagree with their opinions but personally I think they both made helpful critiques. Reply

From donschaeffer/Don (12,842) on April 2, 2012 11:09:13 AM CDT I didn't look them up. I think "this is a little bit dull" doesn't warrent 2 TDs. But ok. I guess I'm burned by a whole series of TD ratings lately. No offense intended to anyone. Reply

From del/Administrator (0) on April 2, 2012 12:05:28 PM CDT Don, have you made a monitor, camera, or software change in the past few months? I looked at your submissions back to late last fall and many appear to me noisy and pixellated due to possibly over-sharpening or over-zooming (cropping too small a segment, not sure there is a technical name for this). I once had a six megapixel camera (you mentioned you use one in a reply) and it was fine, clear and sharp, unless I cropped down too far. A change or degradation in monitor crispness could cause you to sharpen more that you should without noticing the extent. Some of yours would have noise that would only be noticed by pixel peepers, and I am not concerned about that, but many have noise and artifacts noticeable to my naked eye. Del Reply

From donschaeffer/Don (12,842) on April 2, 2012 4:25:16 PM CDT I moved to NY and changed to a laptop (Dell Latitude D600). But I've always had criticism for oversharpening and noise. Reply

From del/Administrator (0) on April 2, 2012 4:52:27 PM CDT I won't speculate on the move to NY, but changing to a laptop could have effects that you don't notice on its screen but are perceived differently to PhotoSig members on their monitors. You probably view your photos and PhotoSig on the same screen; I expect most of us do. With evolution of monitor technology, it is one explanation for a change in the level of tolerance for noise in your shots. Reply

From donschaeffer/Don (12,842) on April 2, 2012 6:39:31 PM CDT Thanks for not speculating on my move. I have the equipment I can afford. Reply

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