I started out posting on http://www.fredmiranda.com. There's a lot of good stuff on there, but also a lot of rubbish, which makes it pretty time consuming. I don't post there anymore, prefering to devote my energy to my own blogs and reading and looking at other's individual blogs.

I have an article on my own blog about Flickr, a website I really think is the pits. I'm quite happy to be wrong in this, but my time spent there made me shiver. Talk about poularity contest…

Anyway, good reviews Lawrence, and I second altphotos as a place for great photography. But personally I don't like their system of commenting, as I prefer a more personal indepth review of a shot than a simple 2 or 3 star rating.

As for photonet … the experience has been the reverse. At first I wasn't thrilled with the format, etc. Now I'm beginning to enjoy it because the feedback is much more precise and useful. Also, the quality of some of the photographers is very high level and it is nice to get positive comments from such proficient and creative artists. I haven't gotten into the site deep enough to say how much vote and comment swapping is going on, but for now it isn't noticeable to me.

Lawrence, youre aware of my thoughts on this topic (as do Jude and Chuck)and it's good to hear others' views.
Dpchallenge and photo.net are pure pain and Chucks words are so true here and certainly raised a chuckle.
I do have a free account with flickr and there is much higher quality posted there than pbase but I rarely post. I think it was something to do with the layout.
There is also deviant art, which is just far too 'fields of the nephelim' for my tastes although there is some marvellous stuff there amongst all the fantasy landscapes of Zordoz and all those partially clad elven types.
I've just paid for another year on pbase which didnt break the bank and my mum likes lookin at my pictures there. The layout is good and clear and there are is still some interesting work being posted.
Alt art is one I'll definately have to check out.

I'm not interested in community. I will say the best thing about Flickr beside the fantastic array of talent there (talent which pbase doesn't even come close to) is the fact that I can go weeks and weeks without commenting on people's work, yet I get comments all the time. It loads slow so I find it hard to comment.. I tend to "favorite" photos instead.

I know.. i rambled.. so what? :P

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/From-the-Big-House.shtml

Some points worth considering in relation to critique sites.

I don't think any photo site with any kind of rating/critique/community behind it is going to be able to suit everyone's requirements perfectly, but then I've only ever used Pbase and I've dabbled with Flickr, so I'm merely speculating.

The standard argument with PBase is that it's cheap and it can look good as a showcase for your photos if you want it to. I think about the amount of time I spend on it and the pleasure I've had from discovering some people's work and I'd have been happy to pay way more if it had been necessary. You may be able to learn more in a shorter space of time elsewhere, but I doubt it'd be as much fun. Who knows though?

But, yeah, agree with anyone that says it does have its faults. Commenting is a double-edged sword I keep managing to impale myself with. I find myself inspired by some images to write something about them (that I at least think's interesting), but I do find myself prostituting words like "cool abstract" etc. all over the place. Probably should start writing "shit abstract" on random photos for a month or two just to balance out the praising heh heh.

(Or, more simply, cutting down and saving it for the photos that matter.)

A yes/no system would be interesting to try though for a while.

Anyway, I have a flickr account just so I can use http://www.yesterdayslife.com/photofront – I saw Jude's and thought it looked superb for a freebie showcaser. Thought that deserved a mention here. But really, Flickr: What's 'tagging' your photos all about? Ridiculous website.