[Joe]

As a relatively new member I would urge....Please don't change the rules!

When I was about 14-15 I went along to a local photographic club. Their comp's were split into different 'ability' categories. with my Battered secondhand Praktica I bought b+W film and chemical with pocket money, so 'naturally' went into beginner level. I destinctly remember a pompus old fart, Leica around his neck advising me why I should be in in the category I was in. I didn't mind...until asking him about developer to use for a particular film, and his advice about composition improvements etc. What a Joke that was! To this day I think the Leica for guy in that club was the automatic 'pass' to enter your photos into the 'expert' level!
Last time I heard, I think that club no longer exists!

The fact that someone can sign onto this site, submit a photograph to see what others think is fundamental, not just to this excellent site, but surely to the photographs and photographers involved in general.
whether or not someone has just uploaded the one photo here, or uploads 4 every 24hours, earns a living from photographs, is a new starter, uses gear costing £50 or £5000, is totally totally irrelevant!
In the same way that a cracking photo can be taken with the £50 camera and a poor one with £5000, whether or not a pure amateur or pro takes the photo shouldn't matter.
Yes, by pure percentage of 'cracking' shots is going to be higher for the pro who takes several thousand a week....but shouldn't that be a spur to others who perhaps don't take that many to take more photos....particularly those using digi gear...afterall, without film costs it is much cheaper. No one need spend a fortune on travel to far away lands to get those photos either. To quote something David Bailey once said, "if someone takes enough photos of a mushroom in their back garden, eventually they might end up with a cracking photograph of a mushroom"
I'm never going to be the best photographer in the world, I would hope I also never stop learning new things. Presumptions about who a member is, what they do it for, or what they do it with shouldn't be a factor....the photo uploaded here is.
As a photographer I love seeing other peoples photographs, and anything that might discourage the number of people submitting photos or the number of photos submitted is surely a bad thing for all here????
Freedom of too many constraints is one thing that makes this website so appealing. please keep it this way.