Commenting attitudes and behaviours in photographic sites

Colin don't worry, I use superlatives too sometimes, when of course the photo deserves them. What I wanted to discuss and smile about was the misuse of them. I'm really glad you noticed and read my article, that means you are an interested person.
By the way are you connected with the marine environment? A former Navy official maybe?

Thanks for your visit.

I'm glad I made you laugh (:-) well, as far as I have seen this site seems more "family oriented" with small groups, friends, etc., so perhaps there are not many abuses like in other point oriented sites.

Ah! Joan, we share the same view, but alas many people are not ready or willing to accept a constructive critique, actually they are not interested in learning. My policy usually is to first get to know well the person before writing a thing like that. I've had a lot of disappointing experiences...
thanks for stopping by.

An interesting observation on photostreamers' habits.

To my mind, the purpose of the site is to store my photos and provide a service to anyone else who may be interested in looking at them. I don't understand the obsession with amassing yards of comments beneath them, unless someone has a special interest in that place/subject and wants to know more about it or add some information of their own.

Just because I don't make many comments doesn't mean I'm not looking, and I usually do someone the courtesy of visiting their stream if they visit mine. But I'm generally the "click is enough" type. Clicking the fave button on someone else's photo means it will be randomly displayed on my home page and possibly bring them more views. Better than spending hours trying to think of something original to say and ending up with the banal 'nice shot or 'good capture'. There are other things to do in life.

Adding someone to one's contacts doesn't necessarily mean an offer of friendship. It's simply a way of bookmarking their photos to find them more easily. I don't feel under any obligation to add someone just because they've added me.

On that f*cker site, my photos would show up on the search engines and provide a service for anyone wanting to see pictures of a particular area or reminisce about some place they used to know. Unfortunately, Ipernity images are under-represented on the search engines, but I live in hope.

Everyone has their own reasons for doing it. Some are into the community thing, and some aren't. Whatever turns you on.

Dear Isisbridge,

thank you for stating your opinion and your attitude about the issues I spoke about in my article.

This is the first time I hear someone expressing this kind of motives or orientation in photographic sites, and even if I of course suspected that some people could think that way.

In most of the sites I have been (and still I am) this topic has been discussed, but never a person like you popped-up to explain his/her point of view.

First of all I want to stress that I meant to be purposely ironical here and possibly to rise a smile. I respect of course everyone behaviour granted it's not offensive. Not being English my mother tongue I don't know if I succeeded in being amusing. I'm glad however that I succeeded in forcing someone like you to come in the open. (:-)

You say:

"the purpose of the site is to store my photos and provide a service to anyone else who may be interested in looking at them. I don't understand the obsession with amassing yards of comments beneath them".

That is partially true. This site has been created both for storing photos and for sharing them with someone else, that is to have a kind of communication with other photographers. So your purpose is completely justified.

When I wrote this article I was not aware of this first purpose of this site, and I considered the matter only according of my knowledge of the other photographic communities I have attended, where the main purpose was that of exchanging ideas, opinions, techniques, etc, about photography and at the same time to receive a feedback about the quality and validity of one's photos and composition, and so in the long run to learn and to improve.

This goal has been achieved only partially because very few people are capable of assessing objectively a photo, and very few people really want to learn. The majority of those who post a photo here or in other communities are mainly interested in receiving a positive feedback, that is a praise for their works. That is very human, isn't it, and we cannot blame them, even if at length I find all that backslapping which is going on quite boring.

Anyway considering things both from the point of view of those who are interested in a sincere feedback or of those who are only looking for praise, the comments are important, they are a proof that other people appreciated your photos and you receive a kind of gratification from them. You follow me here?

What often happens, on the other hand, is that this commenting activity becomes an obsession, just like you said. And I'm not with that of course. I left some sites just because of that.

Now if you don't share this commenting attitude and you want just a storing place for your photos then why don't you simply select the option "visible only to friends" when you upload them? You can give the link to your friends who want to see them and in this way you are off the larger community which is comments-obsessed.

If your photos are posted in a group, that means - does it not? - that you want to show them to all the members in that group, and that implies that you are looking for a kind of acknowledgement, be it a comment or a fav. So if you receive comments but you never write them, it means that you want to receive without giving. Pure selfishness! (:-)

Yes, a click could be enough, and sometimes I do just that. But I still consider it a poor way of living if we don't use the most human of our capacities: speech.

Thanks again for stopping here.

You write very well, and I quite understand the humour.

No, I wouldn't select 'friends only', because I like sharing my pictures with the world, if the world wants to see them. What I mean is that I don't feel the need to collect loads of comments and superficial praise and then be obliged to reply to it all and make comments on theirs. All that would become very boring and take far too much time.

Nor do I post in umpteen groups to try to get more views. Just a FEW groups, so that people know I'm there if they are interested in the subjects I take. I also look through the other photos in those groups. So being in a group helps me to find the type of pictures that I like.

I didn't say I NEVER write comments. I do write occasional comments, and also fave quite a few. So there's no question of my being "selfish" or wanting to "receive without giving". I'm not bothered whether I receive any or not.

Different folks, different strokes. (Do you know that expression?) I don't agree with your philosophy that it's a "poor way of living" not to be talking all the time. I'm a photo-streamer, not a comment-streamer; and that is just as human.

Ah, what you say above change things and I have nothing to object to that. You shouldn't have taken my remarks too personally. At first I thought you were a real "lone runner" who often is a person who is either snobbish or a misanthrope. Clearly you don't seem nothing of the sort. The very fact that you joined this discussion proves that. (:-)

Different folks, different strokes. I didn't know that expression but I can easily understand it. Actually I feel to be quite different from the average commenter here or elsewhere. I like to write few but meaningful comments. Few because like you I don't want to spend too much time in front of a machine and meaningful because I don't want to feel like a machine.

Photo-streamer... this is really something I've never heard of and don't understand, must be a new computer jargon...

The Cambridge dictionary on line gives the following definition for "stream":

1) to move continuously in one direction
2) to listen to or watch sound or video on a computer directly from the internet rather than downloading it and saving it first.
3) to group and teach together school students with similar abilities who are approximately the same age

which one fits best with your term?

Have a nice day,
D.

'Photo-streamer' is just a word I invented for the purpose of my comment. I don't know if it has any other meaning. Each person's collection of online photos is called a photostream. So what I meant by 'photostreamer' is that I come on this site to stream (upload) photos rather than stream comments.

But now you use a word that I didn't know! I had to look up 'misanthrope' in the dictionary. No, I'm not a hater of humankind. Nor am I snobbish. I'm just not very good at the small talk (writing trite praise). Meaningful comments are much better, as you say. I will look at your photostream again and try to find something meaningful to say.

Have a nice day sailing, or whatever you do.

Skipper, I think there needs to be another type on your list -
the Obsessive Comment Collector.

These people like to amass yards of trite comments beneath their photos, and can be quite controlling in their behaviour, issuing orders to the effect that no-one must fave their photos without leaving a comment, and deleting those who transgress their rules.

They tend to be uptight, self-righteous types, who have difficulty understanding that the rest of the world may not be the same as them.