Taking Care of Business

I just noticed something odd . . .

15 Jun 07 in TheBroth

Greetings to anyone who actually reads this - prepare yourself for a roller coaster ride of pure, unadulterated excitement.

Or not.

I'm pretty new here (visiting for about four days) and I've noticed something as I've been tripping the light fantastic in the gallery: people seem to rate their own stuff. It's a fairly consistent phenomena: just about everyone seems to do it.

This strikes me as odd. Maybe I'm just a crazy person (which is entirely possible) but it seems a bit ... dishonest to rate your own work. Like, of course, you're going to say it's good - you posted it up in the gallery in the first place! Obviously, you must think the art has some redeeming value or else you wouldn't have bothered posting it.

Of course, I was the girl who, when I ran for offices in school elections, wouldn't vote for myself either. I wouldn't vote for the other candidate, obviously because I wanted to win, but I wouldn't vote for me - I'd sit the election out and wait for everything to be tallied.

I don't blame anyone for rating their own work - people can do whatever the heck they please - but it just seems strange to me. I'm not going to be rating any of my own work here; I figure the very fact I decided to send the picture to the gallery should say what I think about it.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say on the subject and it occurs to me that this little post is getting a bit longer than I'd thought it'd be.

So, I leave you with a quote that's gotten me through many a hard time in my life: "Come on in, the water's fine. I'll give you 'til the count of nine. If you're not in by then, I guess I'll have to count to ten."

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Taking Care of Business

Comments

  1. Sugar Plum
    15 Jun 07
    Well my thought has always been that if you are confident that your art work is worth it why not vote for it, its like saying "no matter what anyone else thinks I think that is worthy of the gallery"
  2. Tame Swallow
    16 Jun 07
    Yes it is not a usual practice but that just is the way we do things round here! if everyone votes for their own work - its fair enough - you only get one vote after all!

    The thing which I find odd is how often people vote pictures with a negative but with no explanation. You dont know whether they just didnt like the content or the execution. I feel that if people have put some real effort into their work, even if you dont like it, it would be kinder not to give it a neg! Some people who are new and just getting used to using the techniques could do with some encouragement!
  3. xreko
    17 Jun 07
    Yes, we are a very odd bunch of people, you'll get used to it over time! :) Well, some of the work here is a collaboration, so if no one that participated votes and it is a great piece, it won't go up very high.
  4. Roman Centurion
    25 Jun 07
    I always vote for my own stuff. Gotta have something to balance all the negatives.
  5. rhain
    26 Jun 07
    i vote for my own stuff too but i think you are wrong when you say that "you're going to say it's good - you posted it up in the gallery in the first place" there is at least one picture i posted up because i was trying something out stylewise.. i didnt like how it worked but wanted some feedback from others. I therefore gave myself a - even though other people gave me +

    With the exception of collaboration works i probably rate my own pieces harder than anyone else would.. if we had a number scale they would rarely get about 50%.. but i like to see if the artist liked their own stuff or not
  6. Jumping Buffalo
    27 Jun 07
    I guess my confusion about it all was due to the fact that I'm used to an environment where rating your own work is considered a bit . . . gauche. I can see that that's obviously not the case here - this is a much more tightly knit group. And, after seeing what goes into the gallery, I can see where knowing if the artist actually likes their work would be nice to know :) I'm still undecided on whether or not to rate my own things (although, I *do* rate collaborations since they are not all my work) but you've all given me something to consider. Thank you all for being so kind to a rather long-winded newbie :D
  7. MorningStar
    28 Jun 07
    Jumping Buffalo, welcome to TheBroth. Go right ahead, vote your own stuff plus. If you don't like your own stuff, why do it in the first place! :-)
  8. Attention seeker
    9 Jul 07
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ is what we people at the broth like to see.. go ahead do it +

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