I thought the helpful button was a great addition to DPC2. I've changed my mind completely. I think we'd be better off without it. I think there are too many people hung up on leaving helpful comments. I think it would be more prudent to put a "PM" button at the top corner or "reply" or something like that. I think it would start bringing a little more honesty to the comment part of it if we quit keeping stats.
I liked it better before when comments were anonymous until the end of the challenge, for the most part. After the challenge was done, I'd get 5-10 PM's thanking me for the comment. That meant a lot more than someone just checking the box. Especially when some people check all the boxes, even the ones that say "nice shot" or something similar. If someone leaves me a 7+, that says "nice shot" enough to me. I don't think I need the pat on the back comments unless there is some aspect of the photo you find particularly intriguing or compelling. That's not helpful to me. I probably wouldn't respond to that either saying thanks for the comment. I give this kind of superficial comment to the exceptional photos, but normally I will put what I found was compelling / intriguing to me.
Overall, the "helpful" check is relatively meaningless. The only time I get concerned about it is when I'm writing critiques or exceptionally long comments. If I have a lot to say, then I want to know if it was good advice or not. As we progress, I'm not so sure it isn't a bad idea to show the comments to the voters during voting. I think it would turn ugly if we did though, for the record, because we are choosing a winner. But for the helpful-learning part that everyone claims to be striving for, it would probably be beneficial to the photographer.
Just my thoughts. - Bob
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