Visitors' poll

Originally Posted by Unregistered

One forum known for such a ridiculing attitude sells their own line of products and immediately clamps down on anyone slightly critical. It's probably not a good idea to try and mix an "open" forum with marketing your own product.

Said forum has gone decidedly downhill the past year or so as many have noticed. It was always a forum with attitude and attacks on certain opposing ideas and opinions, but of late the attacks have taken a decidedly different bent. Innocent comments and actions by friends and supporters of the forum have been viewed and treated with great suspicion and paranoia along with accusations of malevolence. Given the host's age and the nature of the behavioral changes it's worth considering that all the attitude is not deliberate but might be indicative of a certain illness.

[Linda Ciallelo]

Thank you Cynthia and Sharon for your most kind words. I didn't realize I was already a member here. heh heh I tried to log in but had the wrong name. I will certainly be posting here in the future. The quality of work here is excellent and I greatly admire many of the posters. I agree that the experiences that I have had on some other forums have been somewhat traumatic recently. The effect has been that I have avoided posting altogether and have doubted my own perceptions. I greatly appreciate your kind words .

I am in the process of removing a wall to make a larger studio, and working full time, so don't get much time on the computer. I hope that when that is finished I will be able to post here more often.

Sharon, I hope you and your husband will heal completely and soon.
Linda C.

[Sharon Knettell]

Thanks for all your replies.

However I did not want this to end up being a critique of other forums.

Many people think we are too restrictive and rather snobby. You should see me when I am painting. I look somewhat homeless, only more raggedy.

I do think it is good to have guidelines and a sort of entrance exam, as, it were. I have seen so many other Fora disintergrate into nonsense and blather by artist wanna-bees, who write endless paragraphs of utter self-serving poems to themselves. Some are not painters but have found a home somewhat like those late night crazies that call up the chat shows.

[Sharon Knettell]

Linda,

Your work is certainly beautiful and we love having artists of your caliber here.

I look forward to your posts.

* I recall registering a few years back and received no reply
* Emailed again to follow it up, only to be given an excuse of receving the application.
* Then comes the questions regarding my work such as "did you do that yourself"? "who is the subject?".
* Silence again after my explanation replied in email explaining the required questions.
* Followed it up by emailing seeking a verdict => rejected by the judges panel.

......after persistence of about a month, and then being rejected, one starts to question if it's all worth it......

* I'm a lurker every now and then only to see 1 artist who seems to have disappeared anway (and I wonder why...).

Thanks for giving the oppotunity to assist your query.

Note: Some people may join just to liaise with other artists via private email instaed of posting (anyway..food for thought).

I am a registered member, but prefer to lurk around rather than be logged. The reason is that I am uncomfortable to talk about my art developing for the "whole world". The first year I participated a lot and enjoyed it very much, it is wonderful to be able to share and communicate with other artists. but I find it can be a strain to display your full identity at all times. Maybe I was not ready for this forum, I am a semi-professional portraitist, student, and have a job in another field too.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am a registered member, but prefer to lurk around rather than be logged. The reason is that I am uncomfortable to talk about my art developing for the "whole world". The first year I participated a lot and enjoyed it very much, it is wonderful to be able to share and communicate with other artists. but I find it can be a strain to display your full identity at all times. Maybe I was not ready for this forum, I am a semi-professional portraitist, student, and have a job in another field too.

That's exactly the reason why I am not joining--well, certainly not using my full name. I think this public forum may work well for some people, but for others, especially for those with another job in another field, putting one's artistic persona on the world wide web may not be desirable.

Another lurking member here. I wish part of this forum had more password protected areas for members only. there is probably not a forum better than this one , for the portraitist who has reached a higher level.
Big thanks to those who have courage to participate after running a search for their own name in Google.