Rating ball pythons

I like seeing other specimens! If I can't say anything nice than I don't post a reply!

I think the annoying threads are the "I didnt use the search feature or google. Why is my BP not eating?" Im just sayin...

I like it gives a beginner and experts a chance to enjoy other people's morphs and excitement for there animal.

lance

I did it because I was genuinely interested in others' opinions--whatever their opinion might be. I would hope people aren't rating high just to be nice, as that would totally defeat the purpose. I at least haven't seen evidence that most people are doing that.

The question wasn't 'is this an attractive snake'...it's about how well it represents the morph. Even a dark brown pastel is a beautiful animal, but that doesn't mean it's a good example of the pastel morph.

With most pets that people show, there are 'breed standards'--a guideline as to what a certain color/type is supposed to look like, which animals can be compared to. Nothing like that exists with ball pythons (nor should it, just yet), so the best we can do is find out what the majority opinion is on what these morphs are supposed to be, at their very best. That doesn't mean there is no room for experimenting to take a morph in a completely different direction. A Graziani line pastel doesn't look much like a lemon pastel, for example.

Let's face it--with as much time, money, and effort as we put into producing these animals, eventually we are going to want to actually show them. We will have standards for temperament, for conformation, and for colors and patterns for each morph. It will happen eventually--why not? It will be fun, and it will be another way to earn a little money as well, as most shows award prizes to the top ranking critters, in addition to the prestige they offer.

For most of the threads in the photography section, everyone posts their animal, and people reply with various innocuous comments like 'wow!" and "great looking snake!". The poll just gives people a way to express their opinion a bit more precisely, and probably more honestly, since the poll is anonymous. Someone who doesn't want to hear anything negative doesn't have to use that method, and there's nothing to prevent people from replying to the thread without participating in the poll, if that's what they prefer. (Though replying to the thread to complain about the poll is much more annoying at this point, lol).

I think it's a great idea to have a "hot or not" forum here on bp.net. Perhaps it could be set up in a way where the post isn't bumped every time someone votes on a snake. I also like to use the active topics to browse here and it does get annoying with all of the rating threads clogging it.

I'll grant you, the fact they bump to the top when someone votes could cause some clutter, but it looks like folks are actually having a lot of fun with it.

While it's slightly annoying to me, I understand the idea behind it. Most picture threads posting a Spider, Pastel, etc. are about as common as someone posting a normal. They don't get much attention because most people don't waste their time posting on a thread of someone's new animal unless they know that person or it's a super rare morph. I understand that several regulars do take the valuable time to do so, but not a fraction of the people using the polls do so. That being said, the polling is a simple and fast way to get someone's opinion on your animal. All in all, very slightly annoying, but I tolerate and participate.

Anyway, just my opinion.

I like seeing other peoples BPs. I don't like it when people try to see if they "got their moneys worth". IMO, if you want to show off your snake, show it off. People will leave comments regardless.

The rating doesn't bother me as much as other things though. I'm a pretty tolerant person, if something annoys me I stay clear of it.

I think the great thing about this site is that you can post whatever you want. If enough people like it, they respond in some way, and it goes to the top. If they don't, it gets brushed under the rug. Obviously there are some people who like to rate the snakes, or they wouldn't keep popping up to the top. I personally like to see people's pics.

I like the "Rate my snake" threads about as much as I like seeing the list of 28 snakes, 4 dogs, 3 kids and one "insert snide remark here" husband at the bottom of EVERY post someone makes on EVERY thread they reply to.

In my opinion, both are kind of childish.

IF you must do a rate my snake thread, do it before you buy it, so if people say it is the ugliest thing they have ever seen, you know not to buy it. If people love it, then buy it.

I would say, in lieu of rate my snake, just post a pic and sit back and enjoy the honest comments. Then, you will usually get the possitive comments and those that think it is hideous will usually not post anything, since this is the "Friendliest online community for ALL your herping needs!" Right?

Dave