Your terse initial response generated a rather sour (and therefore private) reply.
My question was not just rhetorical. I am new here, and wondered if there was some reason why some people seem to respond to most if not all pictures posted. Are they Judge for the Month or something?
My view is that if you can find nothing constructive to say, it is best to say nothing. Your response to the dinosaur post fell into the category of nothing constructive (praising exposure and sharpness on a shot like that is definitely damning with faint praise).
Those who only post to praise (or to offer useful advice) will surely not be seen as liking everything because they won't be responding to everything. What is not said can speak as loudly as what is said.
If somebody posts a picture, and nobody responds, I think they can assume it wasn't a great picture (in the eyes of those who saw it)!
I certainly don't think people just want positive feedback, but remarks like "just leaves me cold" are neither helpful nor encouraging, and those are surely the criteria that should apply to all well-meant criticism.
Best wishes
John
On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 19:01:20 -0500, frank theriault <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
John,
Why would you think it's better to just say nothing? I truly don't understand that.
The whole spirit of PAW (I think), is not only to share photos, but to comment on the photos of others. My personal feeling, is that I'm not being fair to the ones that I like, if I don't comment on the ones that don't move me. Otherwise, people might think, "Hell, frank's comments are meaningless, he likes everything!" Don't you agree there has to be a balance here, in order for me and my comments to have credibility? (such as it is <g>)
I think that Francis (and everyone else who submits PAWs) likely submitted, not only because he wanted to share the image, but because he wanted to know what others think - that's what PAW's all about, IMHO.
Francis did say, "comments welcome and very much appreciated". Did he really mean, "only favourable comments are welcome and appreciated"? I'm guessing "no".
I would actually be thrilled if an avalanche of posts followed mine, saying (either directly or indirectly), "frank, you're wrong, this is a great photo; you've obviously missed something here." So far, I haven't seen that. But if that's what people think, great! No one likes every photograph, or every work of art - this is all subjective. I love the process of debate, and I invite anyone here to tell me I'm dead wrong. Not only wouldn't it bother me, I'd be quite happy!
You know, I think that if I posted a PAW, and not one person commented on it, I'd be quite upset! I'd much rather people be honest, and tell me why something isn't working. I'd rather honest, well thought out constructive criticism much better than silence. We're all friends and colleagues here, for goodness sake.
I'm wondering, John, why you said, "sometimes it's better to just say nothing". Did you think I was being scathing? I sure as heck didn't think so. Certainly, my post wasn't a personal attack or anything. It was a critique, or more properly, a comment, and a pretty balanced one at that!
Sorry to go off so, but to be honest, you've really struck a nerve (can you tell? <g>). If you don't want to comment on what you don't like, I won't criticize you for it. It's your prerogative, just as it's mine to comment on ones that don't do much for me, for the reasons stated above. I'd like to think that people on this list know me well enough that I wouldn't personally attack anyone, and that a negative or less than enthusiastic comment on a photo is just that - regarding that particular photo. And, that it's just my opinion. What the heck is that worth, anyway?
Anyway, now I've got that off my chest. <vbg>
cheers, frank
"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
From: John Forbes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: PAW: Dinosaur, too Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 22:28:47 +0100
Frank,
Why do you feel you should comment on every PAW? Perhaps sometimes it is better just to say nothing.
John
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