News DPReview was sold to Gear Patrol

[dirk]

It appears you wish for a GP/DPR failure in order for this forum to thrive

No, that is obviously not true. Just read again what I wrote above.

I just show very neutral what kind of options could be possible according to the information we have at the moment.

Nobody hinders you to use DPR. Choose whatever you prefer.

But we should be allowed to discus different opinions about the different scenarios that are on the table right now for the future of dpreview.

 

[Serge]

Hmm ) Just remembered a phrase in connection with the DPREVIEW story - "...but it was the ground squirrels who suffered the most at the Battle of Borodino. They never understood what it was all about".

 

[Roger J]

Some of the comments below the announcement are worth reading. Jordan chimed in to say he and Chris aren't going back, for example. Nice of DPR not to ban them!

My feelings are that DPR is over. People have moved on. As for Chris and Jordan, who some called "The Maple Leaf Boys," were, from what I've heard, although it maybe false, lost DPR Advertisers for some of their videos/reviews, and were bais to some brands over others. I don't know and didn't care. I didn't watch their reviews anyway. I don't think DPR wants them back. Interesting comment "Nice of DPR not to ban them!" ???
Bottom line, time to move on. I go between DPR Forum and L-Mount forum now.

Good Luck
Roger J.

 

[bgreg]

chris and jordan weren't a great drawing point for me. In all the years I have only watched a review on the camera I owned already to see what he had to say. I actually decided on my camera and gear from the forum created for that brand and model. You'll learn a lot more from a dedicated forum than a single review by someone who has used the camera for maybe an hour or two. Just not interested in reviews of gear I don't care about. yeah-so if GP/dpr doesn't do reviews-I'm good with that.

 

[Pete_W]

It appears you wish for a GP/DPR failure in order for this forum to thrive. That is sad.

No, I don't think that either. I hope DPR survives so that the camera reviews and news articles continue to be published.

I have my doubts that DPR's former brand independence that they enjoyed under Amazon ownership will disappear under Gear Patrol ownership because the latter will need to earn income from views and clicks and most likely from sponsorship too. That may influence what's written.

As a side-note, if you watch Chris and Jordan on PetaPixel now they have to do a sponsor's blurb at the start of their videos (and a longer one on their pod/vod-cast) and I find that it undermines my view of their independence in reviewing a product. Everyone has to earn a living so I understand, but it still does have an impact.

After visiting all the member forums of the photo-community network, I don't find them exactly bustling with activity. As for the DPR site not being intuitive , I believe thousands upon thousands of users would prove you wrong.

Like I said in my post above, I don't think the forums were ever the main purpose of DPR, no matter how many thousands of users and posts they had. They were merely a device to encourage engagement with the main site, and users were drawn there because they went looking for camera information. DPR forums were not the reason that DPR existed. Publishing was always the main game, hence the name - Digital Photo Review.

I remain skeptical that Gear Patrol will have the long-term desire to put resources into and bear the risk and pain of running these forums unless they can monetize them somehow. Doing that would be hard given that the forums have always been free. The moderators don't cost anything at the moment although it will require at least one GP staff member to co-ordinate the moderators and a few IT personnel to keep the old systems running. If they do find ways to monetize the forums, this will probably have a negative impact on users to some extent as these things are often intrusive in the UI.

I agree that these cardboard cutout forums- that everyone and their dog has are designed so that simpletons can easily navigate. The threaded view is a feature that puts DPR way ahead . As far as the ads and reviews go on DPR, I rarely read a review on a camera or gear that I did not have or had any intention of owning. I simply used the forums which no other forums come close.It is a good thing it is back along with image storage and challenges.

I actually think that threaded view at DPR is terrible. It's harder to navigate, doesn't make it easy to read, and doesn't necessarily keep sub-threads on-topic. It encouraged off-topic discussions and they weren't visible from the top level of the forum anyway - you had to open a post and be in threaded view to know a sub-branch existed let alone whether it was of interest depending on the title chosen.

Anyway, good luck to DPR and their new owners!

 

[Tom Caldwell]

chris and jordan weren't a great drawing point for me. In all the years I have only watched a review on the camera I owned already to see what he had to say. I actually decided on my camera and gear from the forum created for that brand and model. You'll learn a lot more from a dedicated forum than a single review by someone who has used the camera for maybe an hour or two. Just not interested in reviews of gear I don't care about. yeah-so if GP/dpr doesn't do reviews-I'm good with that.

That is basically the issue dpreview has become two separate business' the huge free forum that everyone loves to death is basically run by a team of unpaid, but dedicated, Moderators .

On the other hand the part that is supposed to fund the forum existence which is the news/review site that needs to sell a significant amount of advertising to fund the staff that it needs to provide even this basic amount of function.

The forum is that tail that is now wagging the dog that provides the basic funding for the forum (keeping the doors open) which otherwise relies on voluntary staffing.

I should not need to draw a diagram as to what the problem is. But if the forum members will not buy any of the advertised product then why should anyone place advertising. If they charge for forum membership then will the Moderators keep working for free? Even charging membership will not necessarily generate enough extra revenue to cover the news/review side of the business so that does not seem like a viable solution.

Amazon obviously had no solution for this and it remains to be seen how GP intend to deal with it.

Amazon probably had to guarantee a basic level of continued advertising for a set period of time to entice GP to take over the on-going liability.

 

[RBIV]

...As far as the ads and reviews go on DPR, I rarely read a review on a camera or gear that I did not have or had any intention of owning. I simply used the forums which no other forums come close.It is a good thing it is back along with image storage and challenges.

And how does that support this wonderful forum that you enjoy for free?

No personal insult intended, many of us were / are like that, myself included. But eventually there is a cost for production/maintenance/moderation, etc. -- and where does the money come from? If Amazon can't figure that out, then, I dunno. Maybe GP has an answer, but I bet it will involve some changes.

 

[coldcoffee]

I personally think GP have bought the name rather than everything that goes with it, I can see them closing it completely and re-branding DPR under their own portfolio - minus all the bits that don't make money.

 

[dirk]

I personally think GP have bought the name rather than everything that goes with it, I can see them closing it completely and re-branding DPR under their own portfolio - minus all the bits that don't make money.

That would be the worst case scenario. I do think that this (at least the moment) is not very likely. I assume that GP payed something for DPR. If I would be GP, I would first try to monetize dpreview somehow with affiliate links, massive banners and advertising etc., before pulling the plug.

Paying just for a domain name is in my view not worth it. The internet is too fast. In 6 months, nobody would talk about dpreview anymore, if they would delete the content of it. Additionally this would give them a huge shit storm on the internet.

If this would be their plan, they would do this very slowly, step by step so that people slowly get used to it, nothing from day one to day 2.

I do believe that Dpreview will be there for at least another 6 months and then we might have a better view about what they change and what not.

 

[wklee]

It would be a shame to see DPR go away entirely which would be where we were on April 11 2023, the supposed last day of DPR.