The Large Format Landscapes forum is a favorite of mine, but when regarding critiques and efficient use of space, I think it could be greatly improved. The relevant LFPF guideline reads:
Image Sharing (LF) & Discussion - Post your own large-format images (based on 4"x5" or larger format) for sharing and discussion. Critiques should only be offered if requested by the original poster.
There is a range of meanings for the word "critique", according to dictionaries, and in essence, it does not necessarily have to be negative. Most posters don't request a critique, so in these cases I would expect just the image to be posted and that's it, but there are so many comments that could be considered critiques, (e.g., great composition! love the mood, etc.) I figured the rule was not strictly enforced. Recently I made a short comment about an image being too dark, and the moderator removed it (and a similar one from another poster) because it was considered a critique, and the original poster did not request critiques. I am not upset about my post removal at all, but I wonder why the positive critiques are allowed, but not the negative ones.
A critique is nearly synonymous with "judgement", and although "judgement" or "being judgemental" usually has a negative connotation, a judgement in a court of law, for example, is positive for some, and negative for others. Maybe a photographer wants an image to be "too dark", and a comment saying it is "too dark" could be viewed as positive.
What is the difference between discussion and critique? Given the above, it would be hard to discuss an image without crossing the very vague line into critique.
Also, is there a bandwidth/file storage issue when an image is repeated many times in subsequent posts, due to comments below them in replies? Bandwidth aside, I find it tedious to wade through the same image many times to get to a new one, the ususal difference being a short comment below.
My suggested improvement is to:
1. Have a forum that allows critiques as a default, and substantial ones at that (both technical and aesthetic aspects), and careful editing of the replies to leave out the image, but reference it somehow. The original poster should name the image for reference.
2. Another forum could be for image sharing, with no comments at all.
3. Alternatively, clarify critique so that we know when the rules are being broken. This would take some thought and discussion from forum users, but is probably the best way to go about it.
This would require a big change, as the current LF image sharing forums would have to be closed to be efficient about it, assuming my concerns are valid or important enough to consider.
Before posting this, I searched the LFP website about critiques and read through them. There is some overlap but I think this one's unique enough to be a new post.
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