After Edward Lever pointed it out (thanks Edward) that it would be better if members weren't forced to leave a rating whenever they made an image comment,  I've since taken a look and managed to alter the system so that members can now make an image comment without having to rate it too. You simply leave it on the default top option of 'Please select a rating (optional)' if you don't wish to leave a rating, though this may not be that intuitive so I may add an additional option of 'No Rating' if people think that would be better? Let me know.

Cheers,

Chris

My point about the mandatory star rating applied primarily to the case of the photographer replying to a comment on his own picture. It seemed odd having to rate your own picture if you wished to reply, since no photographer should be obliged to rate his own work.

There have been times when I wanted to reply to a comment either out of gratitude for a kindly comment or perhaps in answer to some technical point. The only option hitherto was to assign yourself a 'one star' rating out of modesty, in which case the comment did not show in the 'Latest Comments' side bar. 

Thanks, Chris, for looking at this issue. 

P.S. I just checked out the optional 'no rating' process on a recent photo of mine. It works as you say, but unfortunately a comment made in this way doesnt show up in the 'Latest Comments' side bar, but Hey-Ho, this is a first step.