I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short
Some time ago, a panel of forum members, myself included, was convened in order to address a number of problems that were plaguing the critique forum and galleries. I won't elaborate fully on what those problems were, as they were numerous and because I feel that they've mostly been remedied. We hoped to address them by restructuring the critique forum into two sub-forums, for general critique and for specific assistance with technical questions. The former was designed for serious critique of finished images and the latter for specific questions regarding things like composition, exposure, processing, etc. The two sub-forums we created are the ones that you see now. The panel was mostly spearheaded by Will (Motcon), Lew (The_Traveler), Matt (DigitalMatt), and myself. We had a lot of guidance from Terri (thank you
) and from Chase, who oversaw the restructuring of course. When all was said and done, two of us, Will and Matt, were selected as section moderators, having moderation powers only within those sections. I won't speak regarding Lew, but I'll endeavor to explain my situation.
For those familiar with my past here, which I'm sure most of you are, the board's active members tend to be relatively split between loving and hating both my style of critique and the general manner in which I engage other forum members. I've had my flare-ups, though anything serious enough to warrant censure is now well in the past with respect to my time here on the forum. This, of course, was a major obstacle to my selection as a moderator. There was a fear that my reputation for giving straight-forward, blunt, sometimes harsh, and unapologetic critiques would deter people from posting in our new critique sections, either for fear of coming under fire from me, or fear that I may refuse to step in when I see others' critiques turn offensive. They were both legitimate fears, especially given that my interaction with people here is generally limited to the affairs by which I've acquired my reputation. I did have some votes of confidence from other committee members and a mod or two. But understandably, the moderation team was not willing to gamble on how my appointment to a mod position would be received.
This is the reason I've posted this thread and poll. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes in the moderation forum, but I'd hope that someone has taken notice of the dwindling participation in the two critique sections and the lack of moderators. In my current situation, the moderation team will forever continue to err against me, on the side of caution, in selecting new moderator(s). If it turned out that everyone hated me or thought I would make a poor mod, then alright, that settles that. If, on the other hand, there was actually a good support base for me, then I just might have some legs to stand on the next time someone is up for nomination. The only way to find out was to ask.
The critique forums are currently, I believe, in a state of disrepair. Will (Motcon) appears to have left entirely, and Matt's (DigitalMatt) time on the forum has become more infrequent as of late. The critique forum moderators were appointed specifically to help alleviate the burden on the existing mods of dealing with the new sections. It makes sense, then, that with the absences of the critique mods, that the other mods can't often be troubled to deal with the section. However, there are problems with the sections as they stand, and several of them stem from a lack of people to moderate. I believe it's time that something was done about that.
There are several basic problems with the critique forum and its management that I feel need to be addressed.
The first is the matter of non-substantive posts. We often complain about brief, useless criticisms such as "I don't like it" or "It doesn't do much for me" without any additional qualification. I'm glad to see that those have been largely eliminated. However, the opposite is equally problematic, and if you nose through the threads you'll see it is rife. There are a lot of positive, but non-substantive responses given, and I don't feel that they do anyone any good. Remarking "I really like it...it's very cool" doesn't help the image's poster because it doesn't explain what's been done well. It's easy to let such seemingly encouraging posts slide, though I feel it does more harm than good.
Second is the matter of multiple image postings. It's been quite some time since I've seen a mod step in and ask someone to trim their post down to a single image. In fact, it's largely been ordinary forum members like myself making such requests, though we really have no authority to do so. One response I've gotten one more than one occasion is "well the rules say thematic series are allowed." Yes, the rules do say that. But when we wrote that rule we didn't intend it to be a blanket provision for multiple images. It was intended for actual series, not simply several photos from say, the same location. I believe that if you are going to post multiple images for critique, then they ought to be critiqued as a series as well as individually. That is, as if they were hanging next to each other in a gallery.
I don't know what to say about the Specific Technical Assistance section except that in my mind it's largely been a flop. There are twelve pages of posts in the General section compared to only two pages in the Specific section. During the restructuring, I felt (as I do now) that the Specific section was intrinsically pointless due to the fact that most people requesting critique were incapable of asking specific questions precisely because they do not know why their photograph didn't turn out how they wanted. Regardless of my logic, the Specific section has had a poor track record, and I would be in favor of seeing it done-away with.
I would also like to see forum members in general actively encouraging each other to post in the critique section. Every time I see the phrase "honest c/c please" in a thread, I immediately think, "this belongs in the critique forum." I could suggest that they think about putting the thread in the critique section, but I know it would be days before a mod got around to moving it.
So as for me personally,
Many people, regarding this subject, I feel are failing to make a necessary distinction, as Chris mentioned, between critiquing and moderating. To be clear, I have no intention of changing my critique style. However blunt you find it to be, it is not inappropriate in the critique section. In other sections, perhaps, but that is another matter entirely. I do not believe that my appointment as a critique mod (mind you, this only means mod powers within the critique section and not the whole forum), would somehow codify my critique style. As pointed out, I'm here either way. I do not feel that my ability to moderate, or adjudicate, or however you'd like to put it, has anything to do with my personal style of critique. Communication on the internet is a different animal altogether from communication in real life. The ability to revise what one says, in effectively real time, and to remove all benefits and obstacles of tone of voice and body language, has a significant impact on the way one is perceived in the online world. In real life, I probably would come across as a completely arrogant jerk were it not for my occasionally awkward and dorky body language, facial expressions, mannerisms, and random interjections of humor. As such, it's understandable why some people here might dislike my manner of "speaking," especially given my language (which could come across as elitist) and my tendency to debate (I was on the US National Debate Team). While some might argue that the removal of such integral parts of normal communication serves to reveal "the real you," I believe that it's really quite the contrary. However much I may "like" or "dislike" someone on the internet as far as I'm concerned has no bearing on their real character unless they explicitly reveal it. What I mean to say is that my reputation here, however good or bad, is separate from my ability to moderate. I'm no stranger to it. As I mentioned in my first post, I was an admin for a forum averaging 2-3 million hits per month. I'm certainly capable of handling a single sub-section of this forum with responsibility and fairness. Usage of the critique forums is on the decline, and we have nowhere to go but up. So I write this with the assurance that a gamble on me is not one you'd be likely to lose.
I hope that helps clear things up.
A little Southern slang and some levity amongst all this serious business.
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