I think as photographers we want real and honest feedback on our photos, thus I created ARSBETA.COM with my friend Kevin (CTO) and Cindy (COO):
How to use ARSBETA.COM
If you’re new to ARSBETA.COM, here is the instructions to use it:
- Signup for ARS with your Google Account. If you have any issues signing up, copy the link and open in a different browser such as Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari on your mobile device or computer.
- Upload a photo and ↑Upvote and ↓Downvote the photos of others.
- For every 5 photos you vote on, you can upload 1 more photo for feedback.
- Have fun: Keep up-voting and down-voting photos to give honest feedback to other photographers.
Why keep or ditch?
For our first BETA, we tried to keep ARSBETA as minimalist as possible, with the least amount of possible friction. Thus the simple ‘keep’ or ‘ditch’ functionality.
Needless to say, to truly judge a photograph goes beyond ‘keep’ or ‘ditch’. We are currently working on a comment functionality, but until then– we encourage you to signup for ARSBETA.COM and give it a go.
Keep or Ditch is fun!
To me, it is fun exercise! It is like a Gameboy with the “A” and “B” button. We can quickly judge and rate photos, channeling the inner-genius of our intuition/gut.
Not only that, but you can get honest and real feedback on your photos, done in an anonymous way (thus it isn’t a popularity contest or personal).
To me, this is a much more meaningful use of our human metabolism/time/energy/focus than mindlessly clicking ‘like’ on Instagram.
Let us know what you think!
You are part of an exciting new platform and community and we would love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas. Let’s build something amazing together.
For feedback and support, email ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com
Ars Beta: http://arsbeta.com
Story Behind ARS
Over dinner, good friends Eric, Kevin, and Cindy discussed our dream to build a ‘productive’ community to learn photography by giving and receiving real feedback.
We emphasize the word ‘productive’ because we do not want this platform to just be a mindless ‘consumptive’ platform. Late one night Cindy realized that she was wasting her brain power on the meaningless act of scrolling and clicking like/favorite on others’ photos. She realized that there were so many people around the world like her, who had to much to give but the platform was not conducive to channeling that feedback in a productive way.
How is ARS different from Facebook or Instagram?
The existing platforms for photographers to give and receive feedback are limited to Instagram and Facebook. However, photographers never actually receive feedback because how well a photo is “liked” is dependent on closed social media networks and popularity algorithms. In other words, currently on Instagram and Facebook the photo that you share is not evenly shared to everyone equally.
We – Eric, Kevin, and Cindy – want to change the way photography was shared, seen, and provided feedback. We aspire to revolutionize the photography community by going back to the core of photo making and photo sharing.
Thus, we built ARS. We want to make ART ours again.
Fair feedback on your photos
Your photo will be uploaded and shown to others anonymously. No hidden algorithms based on popularity, your posting time, or your social media networks. Others will vote on your photo honestly and you can use that feedback data to help you learn and understand whether you want to “keep” or “ditch” a photo.
Learning photography is difficult without a sense of feedback and understanding what makes a good photo. Of course, we should like our own photos, but giving and receiving feedback on our photos is a crucial part of the learning process.
BETA Testing
This is beta version one, with the simple act of just voting “keep” or “ditch.” We have big dreams for ARS, but also want to keep the beta version simple, because the simple feedback of “keep” or “ditch” is valuable information for photographers to learn and improve their photography and help other photographer’s understand their photos along the way.
Let’s learn and grow together as a photography community.
Eric, Kevin, and Cindy
February 19, 2018
http://arsbeta.com
ARS, Be Part of the Movement
We’re still iterating, improving, and experimenting. Join us by beta testing ARS and provide feedback to email ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com
ARS =
- MAKING ART, OURS
- ART REALIZATION SYSTEM
- AUTHENTIC RATING SYSTEM
- ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA
- A ROAD TO SEEING
- ART REVOLUTION SOCIETY
We have big dreams, and so do you!
(Update March 24, 2018):
On Cindy’s 30th birthday (February 19, 2018) we had an extremely successful beta launch. We received hundreds of e-mails from excited and enthusiastic users providing valuable feedback and suggestions of features to implement to improve community and user experience.
We have so many big moonshot dreams and visions to build up ARS as a revolutionary community of photography, photo sharing, and learning!
Currently we are looking for
- Front-end developer to produce a mobile version of ARS for iPhone and Android
- Investors and collaborators
- Ambitious, self-driven visionaries who aren’t afraid of Nay-Sayers
Please contact us with your 1) Resume and work experience 2) Innovative big moonshot ideas or collaborations with the subject heading: “ARS Work” at ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com
FAQ
Q. I received a “403” Error Message from Google.
A. Copy the link www.arsbeta.com and open it in a new browser such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, on both your mobile device and computer. Do not open the link in an embedded mobile browser such as Facebook Messenger or e-mail app.
Q. I do not have a Google account.
A. Currently our beta version only supports Google login. We apologize for the inconvenience and plan to implement more login options in the future.
Q. What are the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for using this service and uploading my photos?
A. Here are the full Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Community Guidelines.
Q. I have another issue or feedback I want to share to improve ARS.
A. We welcome all feedback, ideas, responses. Please let us know what you think and send Eric, Kevin, and Cindy an email at ArsBetaHelp@gmail.com If you have a technical issue, please send us detailed information on how that issue occurred (including device, browser, specific steps) so we could work to solve the issue as quickly as possible.
Q. I received an “Internal Server Error” on the signup page.
A. Currently our beta version can only handle ASCII characters (no diacritics, accent marks, non-Roman characters). We apologize for the inconvenience at this time.
Early Reviews of ARS
- “The simplicity is actually the strength of this new idea.”- Daniel Mitchell: Eric Kim’s ARS
- “ARS might just give people back a small platform to share their work away from the billionaires’ playgrounds. And for that, I have a lot of hope.”- Simeon Smith: Human Nature- Some first thoughts on ARS Beta