Add a feature to the image forums?

Hi all. Something that I wanted to bring up here, and run past you all. Also run past Jim...

I have noticed that there are some people who comment all the time on the photos that I post. I appreciate these photographers taking the time to comment so often. I have heard from one person in particular that this person 'Looks at the name of the poster, not at the image'. Basically that this person comments based on the photographer, since these people often return the favor.

My question is...does anyone else see value in a 'My Favorite Photographers' list? What I envision this being is a list that a person can set up that basically retrieves 'All Photos by...' for a certain list of numerous people. Then they could all be displayed in an 'All Photos' manner.

The reason that I mention this is because there are some people whose photos I would like to comment on more, but I do not frequent the IC forums that they post in often enough.

Thoughts?

Nathan

I'd be game for that.

Hey Nathan, the pbase site has this feature and I like it. I have a number of favorite photogs that I keep track of. I think its a good idea, but not sure how much work it would cause for Jim to set it up.

I'd like to have a search feature that will bring up all photos for a certain photographer, but I would shy away from having it just to comment on certain people's work. I don't understand targeting the name of a photographer for commenting, instead of looking at the merits of the photo itself?? Perhaps I misunderstand, but aren't the merits/drawbacks of the image the reason for commenting, not the name of the photographer?? That's one reason I usually click on "all photos" and surf through the photos as they pop up. I don't see the photographer's name right away, and have a chance to look at the image first without being swayed by the name of the person who took it. I would use the feature however, to pull up all images by a certain photographer if I was looking for a certain image that was referred to by that person, or comparing other work that they have done.

On the flip side, if you got lazy with this new search feature you could also miss out on seeing the work of photographers that are new to NPN. There are several out there that joined this month that have been posting extraordinary work.

Mike Anderson
www.lightscapephoto.com

Good points Alice and Michael. I would like this type of a feature to be able to keep up on posting to the photos of people who support me. We are always talking about people who post photo after photo, but do not comment on anyone's photos. I would like to be able to 'scratch the back of a photographer who has scratched mine'. There are some great reasons to comment based on the merit of a photo too (but if we use that logic, then the thumbnails are a hinderance because people may skip over photos that are not 'popping' from their thumbnail).

Micheal, you are right, it is possible that a person would get lazy and miss out on some great photos.

Nathan

I don't see any good in that. It'd just make it easier to ignore all the other photographers who post. If I'm paying my annual dues, you bet I'd want equal opportunity as anyone else. I'm not selective on who I comment on, I comment on whatever I feel compelled to offer something so I'd expect the same of others.

Sorry if this is obvious......While this isn't exactly what Nathan has in mind, clicking the "All Photos by" link from the thumbnails will bring up all of a photographers picture. And by the same token, using the search box at the top of the "All Photos" forum will retrieve any image that a photographer has commented on or posted. I think these provide some of the function you're looking for.

Hello All,

Be carefull what you wish for, we might end up like PBASE. I'm a regular poster there, a great place to showcase all your images but a most pathetic place to get a honest critique. People have their friends list and no matter what their friends post is the greatest image ever. I'm afraid that's what will happen here, members only looking at their friends images and not others. NPN is the only site where you can still get your work honestly critiqued.

Hmm NO I don't think this is a good idea at all .I would go so far as to suggest that the name of th poster should not be displayed untill the image has been opened. As it is there is obviously far too much attention given to who the photographer is than to the image. Just take a browse through the image forums you will see images taken by different photographer which are just as equally good receiveing a disparate number of comments the only obvious reason for this is who posted it

Sorry if this is obvious......While this isn't exactly what Nathan has in mind, clicking the "All Photos by" link from the thumbnails will bring up all of a photographers picture. And by the same token, using the search box at the top of the "All Photos" forum will retrieve any image that a photographer has commented on or posted. I think these provide some of the function you're looking for.

David beat me to it! IMO, this provides most of the function Nathan mentioned and avoids the pitfalls mentioned above of having a "my favorite photographer" link.

BTW, this is sort of the opposite of having a "anonymous gallery" that some have requested too.

If there is enough interest in an "anon" gallery, one alternative would be the option of a user posting as "anonymous". Perhaps an option when posting a photo? The actual function of this could vary, from just not showing the photographer name with the thumbnail, to hiding it altogether. I don't know how much that would actually get used, though, versus the pain of adding it.

I tend to agree with Mike Anderson. We've been getting some new members over the past several months whose work is tremendous. I find them by serendipty while flipping through the "all photos". I'm also a little fearful that if people start using a "favorite photographers" list, we might begin becomming a bit "cliqueish".


Kent in SD

Sorry. I must edit the edit of my response. No, that's not a great idea.

Adhere to serendipity.

Looking at things you like may make you like things you look at.

I resist change as much, or more, as the next guy, but there is an element of wonder about nature photography that I can't ignore. Show me a fabulous scene, event, animal, vegetable, mineral, or anything else and I'll be glad.

regards - Pete D.

Different suggestion: There is an "all photos by..." link when browsing through the galleries. Could this also be shown below the comments people make? I often receive comments from a photographer & would like to see what he/she's photographing, and possibly "return the favor". I know that there is the "all posts" link - however, it's often a bit cumbersome to use if people comment often. You'll get loads of posts listed where they commented, and very few that contain their own photos.

Basil

I agree with Rodney, don't display the name of the poster until the image is opened.

Thank you for the thoughts and insights. I did not think through all of the pitfalls before posting this question.

Let me just point out that I did not mean that this could be a way to ignore new members, I post critiques to many new member images. I just felt that this would help me to not miss commenting on some people's images that I regularly miss. I will just work harder at it!

Thanks again.

Nathan

Hi Nathan,
I had the very same thought - to be able to follow some individual photographers work on a regular basis. So, a suggestion I have is, what I did to be able to do this, find the photographer you want to follow, click on "All Images" next to the image to see their page and flag one of their images, I picked one of the Editors Pick images because I knew that it would not get deleted. So when I want to follow their postings I just click on "Flagged" at the top of the page to bring up each flagged photographer I want to follow. While I still use the All Photo forum to view the new posted images, Im able to follow a coulpe selected ones as well.

George