Comments/ Modes of Control

Comments are how artists interact with each other on PIL.  You must vote for 5 pictures before you are able to make comments.

Norms- The atmosphere on PIL is supportive and generous.  Artists online give positive feedback on each others work and rarely I see constructive criticism on artworks or ideas on how to improve an artist's next painting.

Sometimes artists will put up a half finished piece and ask the community for suggestions.  The artists who do this are very successful in getting feedback because they are continuously active members in the site.  The active members who seem to be online almost everyday, develop 'friendships' with one another.  These online friendships are built through support and interactive constructive criticism.

The comments are regulated by the administrator.  In the terms of service it outlines the rules for comments, you cannot use excessive capitol letters ("don't yell), excessive asterisks or exclamation marks, or obscenity.  The post comment button instantly censors the comments with excessive * and !.  

In my comments I've tried to add approximately 20 asterisks and exclamation marks to my comments and it automatically cut the number down to 6 each.  If you post a comment in all capitol letters the Web site automatically filters it to all lower case when you publish it.

That said, I was surprised when I posted a comment to a Romanian artist and I received this e-mail:

THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS. I ALSO CALL IT RETAIL BURN OUT. I HAVE WORKED IN RETAIL OVER 20 YEARS.

As Outlined in the terms of service, I did feel "yelled at." Although I was not offended because her email was nice and related to the comment I had made about her painting titled, "Burnt Out."

I tested obscenity on the Web site too. The f-word is not filtered right away when you comment on a painting.  So when I posted "I f***ing love this painting," I personally took it down.

I think people self censor themselves because the administrator gives himself full freedom to remove and censor anything on the site with out notice.  People on the website are also trying to share their artwork, or make a career for themselves in the art world.  Therefore there the atmosphere is respectful and somewhat professional.  Many people engage in artistic dialogue and, as the German artist told me, in depth art conversation via email.