I'm just feeling a little frustrated. Is it only "pretty" and "cute" cakes that people comment on? I posted a cake we did this weekend for a 10 year old boy who was having a Fear Factor themed birthday party. The cake he wanted was a toxic waste can dumped over and spilling the toxic waste. He wanted it to be a little gross, but not too gross.

I think we did a pretty good job on this cake. We were happy with it, and more important than anything else, the birthday boy absolutely adored the cake. He even got the idea of the darker brown grass being dead, then it getting lighter til it was eventually green meant it was further away from the toxic waste. His loving his cake really is the most important thing, but I felt proud posting in on here.

I thought the photo would be intriguing enough for people to want to click on it to see what it was, but only 88 people since Sat, and not a single comment. I really don't think we did a bad job on the cake, and it certainly isn't intended to be cute or pretty. Am I expecting too much? Ok, done venting now, thanks for reading; I'm off to bed.

Well, I, for one, rarely look at any of the pics in the gallery. I pretty much use the forums and that's it. Also, there are literally hundreds of new cakes posted every day, resulting in each one only showing up on the home page for a moment or two. Don't worry. One day someone is going to be looking through the galleries for a cake just like the one you made and will find it and save it to their favorites and everything.

I have made lots of cakes that I think deserve views or comments, but alas, they don't get them.... I'm often shocked at what does receive 150 faves, though. But it really depends on who's looking, when you post, etc...

I'm often to busy to view cakes daily, but I try and view and comment on ones that catch my eye as often as I can -at least 3X a week. I'm sure you did a fab job, but it's probably not something I would have clicked on -no offense meant. It's just personal preference/taste- hard to say what it is that makes someone click on a cake. It's very subjective. But I guess some cakes just have that certain 'curb appeal' that attracts the common denominator.

I totally understand your frustration. I go thru some of the albums here and see lots of comments, hundreds of favs and thousands of views while mine have a couple of comments, might, eventually, make it up to a few hundred views with 10 favs at the very most. In my own private world people go crazy for what I make but they don't seem to get the notice I'd like on here. I've often thought of disabling the comments part of my album but I figure someday someone might actually comment on one of them and give me a momentary boost...so I leave it alone. In the meantime I enjoy the learning I'm doing here and how my work is growing by leaps and bounds. (((HUGS)))) it's rough on the ego I know.

Cat

I think most people look at/favorite/comment on cakes that they are likely to end up doing themselves. I've seen some fabulous cakes that just aren't something I'd ever have a reason to do.

Also, as someone else mentioned, there are tons of new photos posted each day. I posted my first picture lately, and was looking at other new photos roughly a day later, and I counted 23 pages of new photos since mine. There's 30 photos on each page of the newest pictures, so that works out to 690 pictures posted in a 24 hour period.

Some people try to look through the new photos, but how often do you have time to look through ALL 500-800 posted in a single day. When I try, I usually end up opening less than 10 per page... I just can't spend the time to do each and every one.

I really think that getting lots of favorites on a photos is a viral thing... let me see if I can explain:

Many people (or during busy times) only look through the most favorited photos of the day... it's a smaller # of pictures to look through, but it's less convenient because you can only do so through the scroll bar on the front page. It only takes 1 person favoriting a photo to get it into the most saved of the day list... but about half the photos on that list only have one. You have to scroll really far to get to the end, so not a whole lot of people make it all the way to the end of that list. A second favorite will therefore bump a picture about half way up through the most favorited list, and every favorite bumps it closer to the front. The closer it is to the front, the more people see it (because it takes less time scrolling to get to it), and therefore the more favorites it gets, and again, the farther up it gets bumped and the more people see it. By the time it gets to the top 6 and is there for everyone to view who opens the front page.

Hope that helps!

I try to leave as many comments a day as I can............so yes I get your frustration when its never reciprocated.....but I am convinced that there too many new cakes and I guess mine are either missed or non interesting lol who knows......I am gonna go check out your cake now.

I vary rarely get comments on my cakes so maybe people dont think they are any good but hey the recipiants love them and I love making them so thats all that counts really

Thanks everyone. And yes, I understand what you're saying about how many photos are posted each day and then how it works with the favorites bringing it more attention. Makes alot of sense. I really appreciate the feedback on here, and it was very kind of many of you who did go and post a comment. I really wasn't fishing for that, well, in a way I guess maybe, but mostly just trying to understand whether it was the type of cake. And it looks like, to some extent, that that probably is the case as well. I'm feeling better about it, and I appreciate what everyone has had to say. CC's are a wonderful group of people.

I "skip over" cakes for a few main reasons (and I'm guessing many other CCers are similar!):

1. It is a cake design I have seen 100 times before, so I don't think it has anything new to show me. (Someone's Thomas the Tank Engine cake may be terrific, but if on the thumbnail picture it looks like everyone else's Thomas the Tank Engine cake, I'm not going to click on it.)

2. Poor picture -- dark or too "wide angle" a shot so that I don't think I'll see the details, etc.

3. (AND THIS IS THE BIGGIE) I don't think I will ever personally USE that photo as a reference for cakes I think I might make myself, in the future. So if I don't think I will ever be called upon to make a toxic waste dump cake, I'm not likely to click on a picture of one. Doesn't mean it isn't a fabulous cake; just that I have no personal interest. Because time is limited, I can only view a certain limited subset of the 1,000s of pics on CC, so I MUST make choices.

Your cake is great -- don't get discouraged (or assume it has anything to do with your cake's quality) if it doesn't get much measurable attention. Just keep on cakin'!

If I see a cake that really strikes a chord with me, I'll comment. Otherwise, no. I don't see the point in making a comment if it isn't genuine.

Someone else posted that your satisfaction with the cake and the fact that the birthday boy was very happy with his cake should be validation enough and I agree.

I'm not trying to be ugly, but honestly there have been so many threads on this subject and sometimes I feel like we're all getting these little hand slaps from our fellow CC-ers for not commenting on every cake and I'm beginning to resent it.

LMAO. Have you had a chance to make the toilet bowl cake yet? Yes, that would be funny. Can you give me the link for it so I can see it?

I remember when I first saw the litter box cake I thought it was done so fantastic and with such realism I knew that with having 3 cats, I just couldn't bring myself to make it and then eat it.... lol Know what I mean?

I have noticed that sometimes a cute or simple design will get lots of attention just because the cake looks easy enough for anyone to do.

So you are right. There are lots of factors in what makes a cake popular. Sometimes it just has to be cute or easy to do or a subject that appeals to lots of people.

Don't ever be discouraged. Just one kind comment means that someone looked at your cake and considering how many are uploaded each day, even that should mean a lot.

We all like encouragement from our cake decorating peers but as has been said before, no matter what we do we get slammed. I've been accused of being insincere in my comments because I leave so many. What to do??

There used to be a committee that tried to comment on every picture but it is understandably very hard when hundreds upload each day.

I love getting comments but at this point I know that it might be a random search that someone finds my cakes.

BTW I think you did a great job on your cake and everyone needs validation from time to time.

Honestly when I post a pic. of my cakes I do it to maybe help someone else with an idea. I dont post them to get acceptance.As long as the person they are made for is thrilled then I'm ok with that. I am just a hobby baker. The cakes I make are for free and I make them cause I love it. I hope this doesnt come across as being "snotty" cause its not. I look at pics on here almost daily and if the cake doesnt intrest me then I wont open up the thumbnail to look at it.I dont have the free time to look at ever pic that gets loaded~if I did I would lose my job and never get any rest. My 2 cents is dont worry about if others are commenting or saving your pics on here as long as the person getting the cakes are happy then thats all the confirmation you need.

I just posted on a similar thread last night...but I do cakes to please my customers. I have alot of cakes that made my customers ecstatic that got little to no recognition here. But it really doesn't matter...I made my customers smile and that's fine! Anything here is just a nice extra bonus.

This site is too large (its a good thing) for everyone to get the recognition they want.

I've been thinking about this so much now. I think in the back of my mind I had an older thread stored away when someone was asking why people weren't clicking on their thumbnail photo. I remember them being told to be careful of cropping their photo too much so that people couldn't see enough of the photo. That you wanted to show enough to intrigue people enough to click on it. I've kept that in the back of my mind since then with every photo I've posted. Clearly, I'm now having one of those "DUH" moments when I'm realizing that isn't the only factor involved. And I've gotten so much good information from this. It was frustrating, and I do thank everyone for "coming to my rescue". I'm understanding so much more now and that is always a good thing.

I think I am amazed every single day by the new things I learn in this site, from information like this, to technique, to ideas, to gaining confidence....... This is a wonderful site with so many wonderful people, THIS really does amaze me, and this is my "comment" for that.

prterrell, that does make alot of sense.

Speaking of the litter box cake, I made one for my son's 10th b-day a couple of years ago. The looks of parents dropping off their kids was priceless. Also, my little girl, who was 2 at the time, sat under the table crying, "I don't want to eat the kitty poopoo!"
BTW Your cake is awesome. I rarely get comments too so I understand. But, the people who get my cakes love them and that is all that matters.