|
Cynthia can correct me on this but I suspect that the number of views for a given thread includes views by nonmembers, who would not have had posting privileges to lodge a reply. So perhaps the fact that 36 people looked at the image and only 1 responded means only that of 5 of the actual members who viewed the image, only 1 felt that he or she had something useful to contribute. (Though it happens, this has rarely been a forum in which a long string of one-line "Way to go!" replies is posted. Usually there's an effort to either say something constructive -- whether positive or "negative" -- or nothing at all.)
I very often bring the Forum up just to see what's going on, even though I don't have time to contribute anything. The next time I come back, the little "light" isn't lit anymore, because the thread is no longer "new," and so I may never get back to a thread that I might otherwise have posted in, had I had the time. Truly -- I have not thereby adjudged the posting artist to be "unacceptable."
As to other matters, I can only reiterate that giving away so much of your own power and potential by investing so much of it in whether or not somebody else pays attention to you is a Mapquest search for Heartache, USA.
There's another phenomenon in play as well, though we're getting afield. There are members who have, over months and years, received literally dozens of elaborate critiques on their work (some of whom never changed a thing in response to them!), and yet never once themselves offered a critique, because they "didn't feel comfortable giving critiques." That's the nonparticipation that I find least defensible.
|