Community participation is the principal component of the selection process and accounts for approximately 80% of the overall result.

Members can support a photograph through:

The system does not consider only the absolute number of interactions. It also analyses their quality, their distribution over time and their relationship with the response received by the other photographs included in the selection.

Purely formal or repetitive comments, as well as comments posted by the author on their own photograph, may therefore carry a different value from authentic interactions contributed by other members.

Within this analysis, comments written by ARTFreeLife curators receive greater weight. Their contribution does not represent an automatic decision and does not replace the community’s response. It is treated as a qualified signal within the overall calculation.

The greater influence assigned to curators reflects their editorial role, their experience in evaluating photography and their responsibility for preserving the artistic identity and quality standards of ARTFreeLife.

The system therefore considers not only how many people interact with a photograph, but also the editorial relevance of certain evaluations. The balance between community appreciation, participation and curatorial judgement nevertheless remains fundamental.

Particularly meaningful and sustained engagement may provide the photograph with an additional increase of up to 8%. This contribution rewards the ability of an image to generate genuine attention, dialogue and participation.

The activity carried out by an author within the community before publishing their own photograph is also considered. Commenting, voting and participating authentically in the life of the site may generate a dedicated participation score. Only activity completed before the candidate photograph is published is taken into account.

The percentage displayed on each photograph is a dynamic Featured eligibility index.

It is not simply the percentage of members who voted in favour of the photograph, nor should it be interpreted as a definitive mathematical prediction.

The value combines and summarises multiple signals:

A high percentage therefore indicates that a photograph is moving closer to publication. However, its result may continue to change throughout the evaluation period.

The initial reference threshold is set at 83%, but this value must be regarded as dynamic rather than permanently fixed.

It may change according to the evolution of the system, the total number of photographs analysed, the average quantity of likes and comments, the overall level of community participation and the statistical distribution of the results.

If, for example, the number of candidate photographs or the average level of interaction increases, the system may recalibrate the threshold to keep the selection balanced, meaningful and consistent with ARTFreeLife’s editorial standards.

The percentage of an individual photograph may consequently rise or fall over time. Its result depends not only on the new votes received by that work, but also on changes within the broader statistical context in which all candidate photographs are analysed and compared.

The editorial team does not replace the votes of the community. Its role is to add a curatorial assessment that protects the identity, quality and artistic coherence of ARTFreeLife.

A photograph may receive one of the following editorial quality ratings:

Both the minimum number of likes and the minimum number of comments must be reached before any editorial adjustment becomes active. If more than one rating is associated with the same photograph, only the highest-priority rating is applied.

The editorial team may also recognise particular artistic value through a separate contribution of 10% or 20%. These two contributions are alternatives and cannot be combined.

When appropriate, an AI-assisted editorial analysis may apply a further 10% reduction. Every editorial intervention remains visible in the information panel of the photograph, allowing members to understand which elements contributed to the result.

There is no rigid division in which members select certain photographs while the editor independently chooses all the others. Every component contributes to the evaluation of each work.

The algorithm does not express an autonomous artistic judgement. It organises the data, compares the photographs and makes their progress understandable.

The community remains the driving force of the selection, the curators provide qualified critical insight and the editorial team guarantees artistic quality and coherence. No single vote, comment or editorial intervention can determine the final result on its own.

The voting period depends on how long a photograph remains among the latest 24 publications analysed by the system.

The coloured line beneath each image provides the same information at a glance.

Newly published photographs may initially display lower percentages because they have had less time to receive votes, likes and comments. A lower initial percentage should therefore not be interpreted as a negative judgement on the quality of the work. It simply indicates that the system does not yet have enough data and interaction history.

When the final row of the page is incomplete, up to two recent photographs from the Featured archive may appear to complete the visual layout. They are clearly marked as “Already published · Featured” and do not participate in voting.

The Recommended for Voting area provides a concise overview of the photographs that may deserve particular attention. It organises them according to three criteria:

The Activity Index compares likes and comments with the time elapsed since publication. It highlights photographs that are generating a particularly strong response, but it does not guarantee automatic Featured selection.

Candidates for Featured Selection is designed to be the most technical, analytical and statistically complex section of ARTFreeLife.

It may open slightly more slowly than other pages on the site because the system must examine a large number of elements. It collects publication data, compares votes and comments, recognises the qualified contributions of curators, evaluates elapsed time, applies any editorial coefficients and constructs a complex statistical structure that is continuously updated.

This page will therefore be an important resource for authors and for everyone interested in understanding how a Featured selection develops, which elements have the greatest influence and how community participation, curatorial evaluations and editorial decisions interact.

Featured publication is created through a balance between collective sensitivity and curatorial vision.

Members bring forward photographs capable of generating interest and participation. Curators contribute qualified critical insight. The system transforms these signals into a dynamic, readable and comparable percentage, while the editorial team adds context, responsibility and artistic coherence.

The final choice is therefore collective without being purely automatic, and editorial without being arbitrary.

It is the result of the meeting between community participation, statistical analysis, qualitative evaluation, curatorial contribution and the cultural identity of ARTFreeLife.

ARTFreeLife · Independent Fine Art Photography