Comments

Good thoughts. The quality does seem to have taken a sharp upturn wIth less submissions from non premium members. 

I will try to be more subjective when rating pictures.  

I think my approach in future will be to give a 5-star rating only for those images which in my opinion are both technically correct (exposure, sharpness etc) and are also compositionally outstanding. This will probably mean that most of my future ratings will be 4-star.

I do not wish to give lower ratings than 4-star, and prefer simply not to comment on images which in my opinion are not special in some way (unless the photographer invites comments). 

I have in the past made comments regarding some picture descriptions, where I can see they have been clearly wrong e.g. incorrect place names, names of churches etc., but I think in future, the best way in these cases to avoid embarrassment is to send a private e-mail to the photographer. I do not wish to be a 'Smart Ar**',  but accurate picture descriptions are just as important as the image, particularly for visitors to England and for scholars. 

  I tend to agree as well and am trying to be a little bit more flexible in star ratings. I like Dave's idea should it be practical so as to remove any infuence from previous comments. John again brings up the subject of text and I think we all agree that some form of information is as vital as the picture itself- I think I have said before this was a discussion back in Cathyml's time and then it was agreeded that info should be encouraged.

         John, some pics do not always pick up a comment but I have found out of the blue a shot may suddenly recieve a comment for the forst time even after a year or so. I think the random picture display at the top is a very good idea keeping old shots to the fore and encouraging comments on what has been missed before. I would say James is a good example for this as I have had comments on really old shots from him in this way I reckon.

        Back to comments and like John I too am not the most technically quailified so my comments have to be aimed at the finished result and not so much how it was achieved.

         Whatever happens we have all been made to think a deal more and this is good for all of us.