That makes perfect sense to me - so, no, it’s not just you.
As you pointed out earlier, there’s no way of knowing the nature of the connections in the personal network, whereas a visible section called ‘Favourites’, well, there’s no mistaking the nature of that, is there?
So maybe it would be great if the portfolio owners could have the option to have favourites visible to the public instead of the network… or just rename ‘personal network’ to something else… like… er… favourites 
.
Did you see Linda’s networks list? It’s huge!
Poor thing is too nice to turn people down…now I feel bad for her…
Another thing to consider:
The server load, bandwidth, and loading times are going to go substantially higher once this gets opened up to a wider audience. And the layout is going to get real ugly, real quick.
I’m on the fence about it. I hate the awkward social problems it raises, but there are some neat possibilities opened up down the line by having the groundwork laid. I think the best thing to do at this point is to better define what a network connection signifies – is it friendship? Professional acquaintance? Admiration of one’s art? Unrequited love? Let’s take it one step at a time:
Friendship
Would turn this place into more of a social club. It’s not a terrible idea, but one of limited utility. Some apps could be developed off of it, but they’d probably be more toys than anything.
Professional acquaintance
Probably best handled offline. The gaming and VFX industries, at least, have such peculiar internal politics that transcribing it down into digital form would be difficult and illusory at best. Some apps could be made off this, but I doubt they’d catch on. And honestly, 90% of the people using this system don’t have any professional connections to speak of.
Art admiration
Almost synonymous with “favorites”. This is the most obvious implementation, given that this place is set up already with lots of voting, gallery displays, and whatnot. Lot of overlap with the favorites, though. I say clearly delineate the difference. If this is the implementation the network is supposed to have, I say eliminate the network, as “favorites” is a better way to handle this functionality.
Unrequited love
This… I mean, I like you, Roberto, don’t get me wrong, but…
Given that #2 is fairly unlikely, given the audience, #3 is ruled out due to redundancy, and #4 is just silly, we’re left with the network really only being used to delineate friendship. It adds a bit more personal edge to the site, but its implementation is confusing, and it does bring up some legitimate concerns. I worry about the site becoming too myspacey. I’m also not sure it’s the direction y’all want to go (I mean, you guys shut down the Bonanza thread). So, food for thought.
Aaaand why not! It’s fun for us mere mortals to watch too…
Must say I really like bobby’s latest work though, that fuzzy toad thing. It’s so cute!
Having read all three pages i can now say something too?..
The all issue isn’t fixed if network isn’t there and just everyone’s favourites are just the visible artists “i like” list…?..only!
Meaning…i for one like very much Steven’s Stahlberg’s and many other very well known artists work…i admire their work…so i want them on my “list”…that doesn’t mean they like mine too…maybe they don’t want me on their " list "…out of courtesy though on my request i am there…but it’s not the same…i hope i make sence.
Anyway…i think most of us can use this in a mature way…but i think that when it get’s “ON AIR”…it will be a couple thousand of “out of the blue” requests who will drive nuts people.
So i would say …make visible everybody’s favourites and don’t make the one added…adding u too to his list…leave it to his choice to do so if he notices "my " work and wants to add me too…
And if i want to be very hard on myself …i would rather see myself added in someone’s list 'cuase my work has …“something”…
…and not because i am a nice guy…which …i ain’t …or am i?..(j/k).
If also u want “link” with someone u like also as a person…pm’s are nice …and …personal…meaning …well…if u don’t like someone…u don’t answer or…u cut connection with him in a polite way…yup…pm’s can work with people we admire excepet as artist…
Maybe it’s better this way …:shrug:
i think its the similar thing like the voting problem…
if you have alot of friends, your voting score will be always good, even if the images are going to get even more bad…
same with the network feature, if you´ve alot of friends outthere, you´ve a huge network also…
but in fact, i think the network feature is a good thing.
if there is the possibility to show just the first 5, and having a number and maybe a link to view the entire network, if desired.
greets,
fant
i think what dimitris is saying is a very nice option. By showing the favorites u get rid of the possibility of going to the procedure of “why u didnt put me in your network” " why u have this guy before me in your network" and the list of possibilities and mishaps is endless that can result in the blacklist option of the portfolio and this is going to be a shame.
i agree, a favorite -system does make alot of sense…
and much more if it is besides used as a ranking system, like deviantart.com for exmple
where you can browse artwork with the option “top favourites”
i also liked that feature from the earlier DA-system, that everytime you put a favourite on your list, a javascript popped up and shows thumbnails with similar images, statistical input from other visitors who have chosen them as favorite artwork aswell…
best,
fant
I’m personally against ratig and faovourites in that way, its makes cgportfolio to elitist with those elite artists trying to be elitist. I’d hate to msit out on a great artist simply because they never got the fan base to being with just because of awesome artists like Linda and Roberto, I mean that fact that in this thread there are a few common names already shows what the list will end up being like.
The other thign is that I don’t want stangers liking to mine without my knowledge. As soon as you go to someones page it builds a connection between the two, and thus people think we know each other and support each other even though I m ay think that person is a total twit. Promotions of others should be an agreed thing between the two parties involved, the unfortunate thing with that is the spamming involved for highly respected artists.
but why does the Networking/Favorites feature imply that you “know” the person. I actually don’t know anybody on CGTalk. But there are many people whom I think do good work and would like to keep up to date with what they’re doing. My opinion is that the Favorites and the Network are redundant features. Maybe only the Favorites list is necessary. I don’t think it then says that just cause I choose to link to someone else’s portfolio that I know them… it might mean that I think people who visit my portfolio will also like this persons work.
Personally I see the portfolios as a way of getting to know one another, of spreading the word about artists work we may never have otherwise seen. The favorites feature could serve this purpose quite well.
I don’t think the “Nework” concept of only connections to people you know is a good idea.
the ffavourites system as is is a personal list others won’t see, so yes its great for allowing me to keep track of artists I like on cgtalk, but people are suggesting that be made public and hte portfolio network be removed, but that means that the favourites now reflects sponsorship and connection rather then people I’d personally like to keep track of.
I have the same feeling, there’s something wrong with it, looking at some artist’s network list, seeing about 150 links… really makes it worthless… my choice would be to pick a top 5 or so, of people you want to be associated with and have the rest in a kinda page system or something… so people see 5 links, and can browse with little arrows to see the others or so… I dunno.
i guess i don’t get the point of the network feature. none of the nice people who allowed me in their network know me at all. there is no connection other than i asked if it was okay with them. i don’t think anyone will only use this for some real “networking” purpose but to show some sort of friendly respect for each others work. worthless? perhaps.
That pretty much covers a lot of what I feel is wrong with it. If it really was a question of networking, i.e. strictly related to people I somehow work with, then it would perhaps make sense, but as it’s implemented now, it turns into something entirely different and “unprofessional” (not comfortable with that word, but it’s the best one I could come up with in this context).
no you are not alone with that, made a similar comment to someone else the other day.
it all just feels really…wrong
yes but come on… it IS a nice way of surfing through the portfolio space. i have discovered so many peoples works via this feature. i don’t think the concept is wrong, just maybe the intention that it be people you “know” and this idea of it being about a personal connection rather than pointing out interesting work.
I think, once we have more users, it’ll die down somewhat, and you’ll start to see people networking responsibly 
I wonder
blending mine out in the meantime though, no offence ment to any that may be on there
