I am curious why you don't like telling others how you feel about their work?There are a lot of reasons to avoid it for sure. First and foremost, it's all too easy to upset the author by both intended criticism and perceived sleights. Not everyone welcomes the reactions to their comments. It's safest to only comment on images you like :)
Isn't that the very nature of learning, sharing ideas, opinions and insights?The act of writing a critique does, for me anyway, focus the mind on what I see in an image. The random thoughts that mill around when I first look at a picture don't however always translate to text that well. It's all too easy to fall back on purely structural comments (cropping, exposure, rotation, thirds) which most here appear to resent. In a way I guess they are comments on a picture that wasn't shown, rather than dealing with emotions to the one that was.
Both structural comments, along with comments on the "feel" of the image, may assist exhibitors in refining their work. Though I'm seizing the opportunity to practice commenting on others' work. Hopefully constructively, and without causing offense. Which might be a big ask with people from around the globe, and no body language clues.
&i (:
