DPR will live

[Tom Caldwell]

The DPR "someday we'll close" period has been so long that quite a few visitors have shown up in PC Talk, had fairly complex matters discussed and problems solved by our remaining regulars. Might as well carry on until the end.

I can't see anything wrong with the reaction. dpr has always been a friendly site with many helpers who have given their time and knowledge freely. As much as I hope that this site will also do. Not so good were the stirrers of the pot who loved to be contentious to the point of disturbing the peace and good nature of others.

By the large they have left for greener pastures and it is rather amazing that the honorary moderators have all stayed at their posts (including myself) and have been able to stop dpr from turning into a wasteland of trolling in its dying days. For what reason? Perhaps habit, perhaps as a form of assumed 'civic duty'. We took up these time consuming duties voluntarily. Less work here on dprf as Dirk is whirlwind of activity - for what it is worth we should truly respect Dirk's initiative.

But dpr has had a long history by internet standards - as long as it exists and stays moderated I suppose some will hang around and help out.

A learned English Judge once described human nature bu likening it to: "Rats, Dogs, and Cats". He said something to the effect that "Rats will quickly leave a sinking ship, Dogs will follow their master anywhere, and Cats like best the place where they have always lived".

The Cats are still posting on dpr and will probably stay there until the ship finally sinks.

 

[Josep]

I can't see anything wrong with the reaction. dpr has always been a friendly site with many helpers who have given their time and knowledge freely. As much as I hope that this site will also do. Not so good were the stirrers of the pot who loved to be contentious to the point of disturbing the peace and good nature of others.

By the large they have left for greener pastures and it is rather amazing that the honorary moderators have all stayed at their posts (including myself) and have been able to stop dpr from turning into a wasteland of trolling in its dying days. For what reason? Perhaps habit, perhaps as a form of assumed 'civic duty'. We took up these time consuming duties voluntarily. Less work here on dprf as Dirk is whirlwind of activity - for what it is worth we should truly respect Dirk's initiative.

But dpr has had a long history by internet standards - as long as it exists and stays moderated I suppose some will hang around and help out.

A learned English Judge once described human nature bu likening it to: "Rats, Dogs, and Cats". He said something to the effect that "Rats will quickly leave a sinking ship, Dogs will follow their master anywhere, and Cats like best the place where they have always lived".

The Cats are still posting on dpr and will probably stay there until the ship finally sinks.

I doubt that cats remain (live) with those who do not love them. I would say that this attitude does more for a dog, who still loves his owner, even if he mistreats him.

 

[wklee]

Imaging Resource's Closing has made it to DPR's News. Sad.

Imaging Resource closed following acquisition by new owner

Imaging Resource grew alongside DPReview to chronicle the rise of the digital photography industry.

www.dpreview.com

 

[CatsAreGods]

A learned English Judge once described human nature bu likening it to: "Rats, Dogs, and Cats". He said something to the effect that "Rats will quickly leave a sinking ship, Dogs will follow their master anywhere, and Cats like best the place where they have always lived".

The Cats are still posting on dpr and will probably stay there until the ship finally sinks.

Not me!

 

[RBIV]

I think all this points to the probability that if we (photographic enthusiasts) want a non-commercially biased website to host a forum for our ideas and discussions we will have to pay a little each year for it. I'm not so sure that isn't a good thing actually.

 

[dirk]

think all this points to the probability that if we (photographic enthusiasts) want a non-commercially biased website to host a forum for our ideas and discussions we will have to pay a little each year for it. I'm not so sure that isn't a good thing actually.

I agree.

If everybody would pay only 50 Cents per month, this would probably be enough already.

But reality is, that only very few will pay something, therefore the donations need to be higher to run community forums. Even if you make the setup as low cost as possible.

 

[Downunder]

I think all this points to the probability that if we (photographic enthusiasts) want a non-commercially biased website to host a forum for our ideas and discussions we will have to pay a little each year for it. I'm not so sure that isn't a good thing actually.

IMHO this and the other other sites will probably die, fairly soon.

Supposedly there are 1200 members. Take a cold look at how many unique persons posted in some of the forums you'd think should be popular.
For example in the M4/3 forum as few as 6 have participated and to be honest I can't see much point in it.

 

[RBIV]

IMHO this and the other other sites will probably die, fairly soon.

Supposedly there are 1200 members. Take a cold look at how many unique persons posted in some of the forums you'd think should be popular.
For example in the M4/3 forum as few as 6 have participated and to be honest I can't see much point in it.

I dunno.... What's the point of any forum?

It may well be that volume hasn't grown to fill each separate DPRF sub-forum or category (whatever you call it) with enough participants to be worthwhile. Some slack here though, ok, since DPR's been around 25 years and this one since April... ?? And maybe there are too many of these sub-forums. I do see a lot of overlap in some instances. Whatever, that's for Dirk and crew to decide.

My point is, give it a chance. The good news is this particular forum isn't a "big business" owned entity that exists to push camera sales. It is a forum attempting to provide a platform for enthusiast photographers to meet and share images and ideas. It may require contributions from the forum population. Should that really be a problem? If all 1200 people contributed the cost of one roll of film each year Dirk would probably be happy. Meanwhile we talk about $6k Sony A1s and the new cheaper Nikon Z8, only $4k.

So, you may be right. Maybe all this won't work and this and other sites will "die, fairly soon." But I do hope you are wrong.

 

[dirk]

Do not worry, nobody will die

There are tons of forums out there who proved, that you can survive even not as a big forum as DPR. I have forums in other areas, very niche areas, very small membership and they do a lot better than bigger ones. The photo market is not attractive for community forums. Other markets are a lot better.

You have to start to think out of the box. Everybody only thinks at DPR. DPR 3 months ago was not the same as DPR 10 years ago. Forget the 1 million users. There might have been 10k-20k users 3 months ago with a valid email address at DPR. I doubt that there were more, if you look at the # of postings each day.

A valid email address does not mean they are active writers. Only 1% of the registered users are writing in a forum. Depending on the forum management, some of them are trouble makers and trolls, who attract a lot of conversations and fights. This is not something you want to have here.

No forum will die. In case there is a point that the other site will turn bad or you think it will die if noone helps, just leave me a note and I will merge it here in our forum (if Bob and Allen agree to that). Simple as that.

Therefore do not worry. Enjoy photography wherever you participate.

 

[JCDoss]

Dirk, do you have stastics on the number of users versus the number of contributors here? Is this site still growing?