Ratings: Dare I ask?

[quote]But isn't that what the feedback thing is for? You can be completely anonymous there, too, just don't enter any real information. I think the rating comments thing would be used about as often as the feedback link. And if it were mandatory, you'd get a whole lot of useless comments from people who don't want to say anything.[/quote]

I agree that making comments mandatory with ratings would probably lead to a lot of junk comments, but I think it would be a nice option. I wouldn't send someone critical feedback unless they'd requested it; I'd be afraid of annoying or upsetting them. But turning on ratings with optional comments would be implicitly asking for other people's opinions.

Alternatively, maybe we could use a "constructive criticism welcome" button :)

I toggled off the ratings pending a gallery redesign and switched it on again some months later.
I see its carried through the ratings done previously. Will there be a "recently redesigned" function?

Hmm. Just so I'm clear, will the 'feedback' link still be there? It works both ways-- while the feature may generate extra feedback from people who only want to rate galleries, we don't want to lose feedback from people who don't want to rate galleries.

Yes, of course. Boy, this seems to be a hot button issue. I'll attach some kind of feedback form to the ratings page sometime this weekend, assuming nothing catches fire between now and then.

(side note: naturally, I use "catches fire" as a metaphor, but would you believe part of my apartment ACUTALLY CAUGHT FIRE last week? The whole third floor a few buildings away actually went up in a big whoosh of fire and stuff at 3 AM, it was really scary.)

Ouch! Home catching fire sounds bad!
Was anyone hurt?