Unlike other places I usually go, when I post something here in the gallery, nobody ever makes a constructive, or destructive, LOL comment. We do not have the option to ask please no comments like on the WOW. To me, receiving a nicely worded critique is a way of learning ,growing, improving. I wonder if we should have an option for members to check "Show my posting in the C&C gallery" so we would have a place were you know you will get your work, hopefully, C&C. Just an idea, what do you guys think.
C&C can be a touchy issue, preventing some people from posting. Not everybody wants their work C&C. Some people are just happy if the wife likes it, mine likes all my work!
I understand this might be hard from the software development point of view...
There's nothing to prevent us from posting the words "critiques and comments welcome" or something similar when posting an image in the gallery. My opinion is don't offer a detailed critique if the person doesn't explicitly state that they would like feedback. Otherwise, if you see a piece and like it then by all means say so. If you see something posted by a beginner then encourage them with positive comments. I don't know about others, but when I was a beginner I was mighty proud of my cat food bowls. The fact that they didn't fly off the lathe too many times was something to be proud of.
Regarding customized software that's out of the question. Our forum software is an off the shelf commercial product. XenForo software development is based on community wide requests and not individual user requests. Also, the pipeline for planned changes is at least two years long. While it might be feasible to have an add-on application, hiring a software development company would be a very expensive proposition for questionable return on investment and not something that the AAW would be likely to support.
Every woodturning forum has its unique "flavor" when it comes to commenting on photos of turnings. I think that Woodturners Unlimited is the only forum that has honest-to-goodness in-depth comments, but I think that much of the reason is that they are a relatively small community where the members know one another well enough to be frank (and respectful) in their comments. On the WoW forum there are usually several comments especially if it is selected as the photo of the day. My observation is that the comments are nearly all just positive compliments and rarely any critiques beyond something simple such as not liking a finial. I personally have a problem with the star ratings on this forum's gallery. It's easy to figure out what five stars mean, but what does one star mean ... terrible or a little better than no stars? And, has anybody felt comfortable giving somebody two or three stars? With the advent of social media we couldn't avoid the "Like" button. Does it reduce the number of comments? I don't know, but at least it indicates that people do like the piece. There have been a number of discussions on the WoW forum of this exact topic. The response is that most members of that forum didn't feel qualified to to offer a real critique since they didn't have the credentials of a real art critic.
A proper critique is constructive and should include both what the reviewer likes and recommendations for things that the reviewer thinks would improve the piece if they think that there are are any things that they would like to see done differently. Take into consideration that the creator of the piece has invested a lot in the piece and feels proud of their accomplishment. It may not necessarily be a work of art, but rather just overcoming one of the hurdles when learning to turn so put yourself in their shoes and think of your own development. Also, as a reviewer please state something about your own qualifications to put things in perspective if the person whose work is being critiqued doesn't know who you are. This suggestion may seem a little odd, but when doing a critique, spend some time studying it the way that one college art teacher suggested by "wearing the piece" the way that you would if shopping for a new jacket. That's a little hard to do when looking at a photo ... which puts the onus on the artist to have a decent photo. Looking at a photo doesn't come close to looking at the real thing so that is going to be a significant limiting factor in the quality of any critique.
One of the problems with critiques is that it can scare off new turners. There are several forums that I visit where the members are mostly brand new beginners. I sometimes see comments that they don't want to participate in the AAW forum because this is the place for experts only. It doesn't matter if that isn't true ... if one person says it then others take it as gospel and they repeat what they have heard. If a beginner sees some in depth critiques of high end art pieces it can be very intimidating for them to post any images.
By the way, there is no such thing as a destructive critique (destructive comments are simply somebody having poor manners) and anybody who feels the need to trash somebody's work or make personal insults will find themselves in the penalty box. Those who engage in such activities either have a very mistaken view of what a critique means or worse do it to inflate their own ego. A critique is a tool for helping other woodturners and being courteous and sensitive to where the other person is in their woodturning journey.
I hope that this doesn't discourage new turners from commenting on images in the gallery Having comments and questions from turners of all experience levels helps us all develop through sharing of information and ideas.
In a conference call that I had with Phil McDonald a few months ago one of the topics discussed was one of the long range initiatives of the AAW is to make the AAW more relevant to new turners. There are several things that have already been implemented, but one plan is to take advantage of the forum as one way to help attract new turners to join the AAW. This is good news because it seems like in years past the forum has been largely ignored.
