wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: Comments (was Re: WWP Late Edit and Final Push - 360+?)
Pat Swovelin 2007-Jan-03 09:00:00
Landis wrote:
>>> I suppose having a forum where viewers and contributors could easily
>>> discuss about the panos is very difficult to achieve but, well,
>>> Internet is at its best level only when there are exchange between
>>> peoples in both directions. Something more is to be found for that!
>> I second this! I brought this up earlier in the year, and think it
>> would
>> be hands-down the most needed important improvement left to the WWP
>> site.
>> Our audience certainly doesn't come here to the list to discuss, so
>> where
>> do we engage with the audiece? A simple discussion thread for each
>> posted
>> panorama would be awesome for the next round in 07.
>>
>> -R
>
>
> We are considering some changes in the near future, but the idea of
> 'comments' really needs to be fleshed out.
>
> As I see it the comment system can be extremely detrimental. Take a
> look at the comments on YouTube or Google Video. Obviously the WWP
> isn't ever going to be as popular as those sites, but they seem to
> really bring out the worst in people.
I second both of those statements. I feel that adding a comments area
would be a negative addition to the WWP. If people want to comment on a
particular pano they already have the e-mail link of that photographer
and can do so directly. To make your comments directly to the
photographer allows you to do so openly without worrying about what
others might think about them.
> I used to think that after
> people got over the excitement of "seeing their name in pixels"
> they'd get bored posting nasty, baseless, or plain useless comments.
> That never happened and it's just gotten worse over time. We'd need
> to have a way of patrolling comments, people spending time as
> moderators for all these comments, etc. This was all well outside
> the original scope of the WWP. Now that we're going into our 4th
> year, however, we can consider things like this, but it's not
> something that is just easy to turn on and make everyone happy. In
> fact, it could drive participation away.
>
> In a somewhat related vein, the idea of ratings also has a large
> downside that needs to be considered. We really don't want to turn
> this into a competition and/or popularity contest.
To add ratings to the WWP would be to make it competitive art. How can
you possibly say that one pano is better than another, it's too
subjective and will lead to bad feelings. Imagine that you kill
yourself to do the very best pano that you can possibly do for the
Atmosphere event and are so proud of it you almost burst ... until
people start slamming it either in the Comments area or the Ratings
area. Would you ever enter another pano in a WWP event?
I think not.
The WWP is a non-competative event that we all participate in for the
mere reason that we want to be a part of a world-wide group of people
interpreting a theme as we see it based on our life experiences, the
circumstances of what equipment and skills we have to shoot with and
what's available as subject matter within the event's shooting window.
It's done for fun pure and simple.
Please don't dick with it.
> Any ideas?
>
> -Landis
Pat Swovelin
Cool Guy @ Large