Just wondering why Critique Galleries are closed for viewing by non-members?

I sent a friend a link to an image I posted in one of the critique galleries. They received a screen with the message: “You have reached a members only area.”

Certainly administrators can set whatever policies they want for this site, but in addition to not being able to share the post with a friend, potential members will miss out seeing what’s happening on the site, which might be a reason to join.

Should I post the same image somewhere else on the site in order to be able to share a link to it? It seems a bit odd to post the same image twice.

I actually don’t mind if people see the critiques of my images, but I guess maybe others might prefer they be more private.

I agree that visitors may be more likely to sign up as members if they get to see for themselves what a great asset the critiques can be.

Hopefully David will chime in, but I suspect just 2 reasons. 1. If the non-paying general public has the same access to all the images, what’s the incentive for anyone to pay? There should be some differentiating factors between non-paid and paid membership. 2. I have no idea the percentage, but as mentioned some members prefer not to have their images available in the public square and so may only post in the Critique galleries.

The argument that the admin could just shut off commenting while allowing sharing of the image… I think that still goes against a members wishes of having their image on public display, regardless of comments.

If I recall, the general theory was. You post your “in progress” images for feedback and discussion. Then, if you so chose, would post the “final” in the non-critique gallery. I really haven’t seen any examples that folks are actually doing this, but that’s the theory anyway.

my .02

Hey Tony, the reason was to keep critiques private among members so some people may be more willing to share work that may not be their best. The jury is still out if this is the best way to go, I may do a poll to see what the members think is the best way to go. It would certainly simplify things to have only one place to post photos rather than galleries vs critiques, we would instead use a tag to delineate if the poster wanted the image critiqued or not.

I post everything in critiques because I want feedback. Since the galleries are to be hands off for critique I suspect that those of us who want input on our craft (which I suspect is most all of the old guard especially) there’s little incentive to put in the effort to post in the galleries. Just my 2 cents.

Sound off, I’ve created a poll!