Art means different things to different people. It’s only natural that we will have different opinions about different images. With the new voting system you might be exposed to images in a genre that you aren’t familiar with, and it might be difficult for you to decide on a vote to give.

We have compiled a brief list of tips on voting to help improve your voting skills.

Be objective and be fair. Don’t simply vote a 0 because you are having a bad day, or feel that you just want to get the voting done. You won’t appreciate it if people give your images a bad vote without reason, so don’t do it to others.

Look at the image from both a technical (how difficult was it to create, what skills was used etc.) and artistic point of view (what does the image say, how does it make you feel etc.).

The technical aspects will differ from genre to genre. So if you have experience in that genre, you’ll know what it’s all about and which criteria to use.

However you don’t need to be a photographer or digital artist to be able to vote on images of that type. If you don’t have the technical expertise, consider the image for it’s artistic merit and vote accordingly.

In essence this can be viewed as:
Do you enjoy the image?
Was time and effort taken to create the image or is it simply a quick snapshot
Does the image have a story to tell, does it touch you somehow?
Is the image of high quality?
How difficult was it to create?

Voting Scale
With all that taken into consideration you can now think about assigning a mark.
The current scale works as follows.
0 - The worst possible rating. The author didn’t take any effort, and might just as well snap or draw an image in a dark room.
5 - The image is average. Almost anyone will be able to create something of similar value. It doesn’t have much appeal to you.
10 – This is an exceptional image. Professional quality, lots of time and effort went into it. This is an image you would be proud to hang on your walls.

Using those three scores as guidelines you can assign the score of your choice to the image.

Remember, the success of the voting system and the meaningfulness of the ratings rests on your ability to be fair and objective. By doing your best to assign meaningful values to the images you will helping to find and showcase exceptional images, and to help upcoming artists refine their art. It’s in your hands…

[This is a first draft and will be refined. If you have suggestions or comments feel free to share them]

Well i have made it as a rule for myself that if i vote low (1-3) i will leave a comment as to what imo would be needed to improve the image and the same if i vote high (7-10) i will leave a comment saying that i liked the image and why.

I have a comment on the 10 ; imo the time needed to make it doesn't matter to me , for me it needs to be origonal and creative .

An excellent set of guidelines. I hope you're all paying attention class!

Well, I actually vote somewhat along those guidelines but even if the image is pure crap, well I still would give it like a 2-3 for trying a little.

An excellent guide - everyone should read it as a condition of joining! I'd only add my own thoughts on extreme voting - if you give a 0 it should be because you can't imagine seeing a worse image, and a 10 should only be for something that can't be bettered. If you give a 10 for an image you like, it gives you nowhere to go when you see one you love.

Most of my votes hover around the middle of the range - pictures are good but not that good, or bad but not that bad (more of the former than the latter, I'm happy to say). That way when I do put a vote of 8 upwards or 2 downwards, it really means something.

Just my opinion :-)

I agree with your view of what constitutes a "10" score. Because of this, It would seem to me that the text next to the "10" in the voting pulldown should read "Excellent" instead of merely "Good." As it seems the general consensus is that giving a score of "10" indicates this image is much better than "Good."

You know what would be really nice is a comment field/post button in the voting booth. Save time and mouseclicks. :) Just a thought.

Excellent suggestion. I use that rating scale anyway - I figure that if it is zero to ten then the whole range is there to be used.

I agree with Si that if I vote 8 and above then it really means something special. I find that with the voting booth there are often images that I wouldn't normally have clicked on, but that is the whole point! I always try and evaluate each image as honestly as I can even if it isn't an area I have much experience of.

I agree with this: "If you don’t have the technical expertise, consider the image for it’s artistic merit and vote accordingly." After all, if you only voted on images that you had the technical expertise to judge, then we would hardly vote on anything.

I think this set of guidlines is good.

Great lesson...tks.