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Jeffrey wrote:
I've become less and less pleased with one function of the presentation forums, especially the Landscape forum, with regards to its value as a place of learning, and the lack of knowledgeable constructive criticism, or more properly stated, the abundance of incorrect positive comments from unqualified individuals. There are many people who post their images there hoping to get good, sound advice from experienced, trained photographers in order to improve their skills. Sadly, there is a distinct group of members that spend most of their day at this site, giving glowing positive comments to images that clearly are not deserving of those types of comments. I find this not only annoying, but counter-productive to one of the main purposes of the forum. In fact, many people praise EVERY image posted. They may not have any idea what the value of a proper critique is, nor are they able to provide one. This habit is destructive to the progress of many new and young photographers who come here for advice, support, and valuable critiques.
Please, people, consider this before you continue to atttaboy everything you see. I welcome everyone's comments on this subject.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Sipress, Landscape Forum Moderator.
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Thank you for inviting my comments on this subject.
First, let's see if I've got it straight:
"Attaboys" are bad. They should be curtailed because they're a disservice to new photographers who are misled into thinking that they are better than they really are?
Unconditional encouragement in your words "is destructive to the progress of many new and young photographers who come here for advice, support, and valuable critiques."
How exactly is it destructive? Do people actually quit their day jobs, believing that they can support themselves as pros? Do they tie up scarce resources, leaving too few pixels for "trained, experienced or educated photographer(s)?"
You say that receiving undeserved kudos "only encourages the poster to continue making the same mistakes again, when there is an opportunity to make it a valuable learning experience." Are there serious consequences to those lost opportunities, chances that will never come again? The next Ansel Adams will be lost to humankind because he or she received encouragement instead of critique on the Fred Miranda Landscape Forum?
You see cliques flooding the forum with misinformation. Others might say that people are providing mutual support that motivates them to keep at it.
An online photo forum is not going to turn a newbie into a pro. Those who have significant potential eventually start to see that some photos are better than others. They'll pursue the reasons, take classes, and get interactive critique. But that's less likely if they never fall in love with photography in the first place.
As has been noted earlier in this discussion, giving substantive critique takes a lot of time and thought. I spent some time in the Landscape forum before writing this, looking at the comments of some of the folks in this thread who decry the attaboy-givers. I didn't find too many examples of insightful, constructive replies. Certainly not along the lines of the list from the critique forum.
In fact, there are many different learning styles. Those who are new to subjects generally benefit when the ratio of praise to correction is high. Getting/giving the attaboy reaffirms the posters' sense that they belong to a community, that their work is being looked at, and that their time is being spent meaningfully.
Sure, people would benefit from substantive critiques. But who's qualified to give them?
Good examples of critique are quite rare here and on most photo forums. By frequently modeling such critiques, you're likelier to effect change than by calling down those who are giving attaboys.
That's a more constructive approach than a patronizing stance or a series of restrictive measures. And one more likely to have a beneficial outcome.
Suzanne
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There might even be a sliding scale, so those with, say 10,000 or more posts might have a lower limit than those who are not as um, prolific.