What's new
DPR Forum

Welcome to the Friendly Aisles!
DPRF is a spin-off of dpreview. We are a photography forum with people from all over the world freely sharing their knowledge and love of photography. Everybody is welcome, from beginners to the experienced professional. From smartphone to Medium Format.

DPRF is a community for everybody, every brand and every sensor format. Digital and film.
Enjoy this modern, easy to use software. Look also at our Reviews & Gallery!

News DPReview was sold to Gear Patrol

archer said:
Some people see a glass halve empty and some see a glass halve full. But I understand your feelings.
Click to expand...

Do not worry, I am neutral on this. Since we merged CI with DPRF, there is no downside for us with this news regarding workload etc. But I judge people by what they do, not by what they tell others in marketing announcements. Many users will be excited about this and this is good.

I do not want to be mean, but we should be realistic in a positive way. I think we do have to manage the expectations here. There was a reason why Amazon wanted to shut DPReview down. The industry is the same, the sales numbers are the same, the costs are the same.

As I said earlier, only time will tell. Not in 2 weeks, not in 3 months. If they really want to get this profitable with such a large forum, they will need a lot longer for this. If they want to run it without a forum, this would be a lot less expensive. I do not know their numbers. How much profit comes from the forums, how much from the reviews?

What do others think about it?
 
dirk said:
Do not worry, I am neutral on this. Since we merged CI with DPRF, there is no downside for us with this news regarding workload etc. But I judge people by what they do, not by what they tell others in marketing announcements. Many users will be excited about this and this is good.

I do not want to be mean, but we should be realistic in a positive way. I think we do have to manage the expectations here. There was a reason why Amazon wanted to shut DPReview down. The industry is the same, the sales numbers are the same, the costs are the same.

As I said earlier, only time will tell. Not in 2 weeks, not in 3 months. If they really want to get this profitable with such a large forum, they will need a lot longer for this. If they want to run it without a forum, this would be a lot less expensive. I do not know their numbers. How much profit comes from the forums, how much from the reviews?

What do others think about it?
Click to expand...
I do not know how much less expensive to run a site without forums vs. with forums. But forums provide much more visitors to the site wich is better for advertisement.
 
archer said:
I do not know how much less expensive to run a site without forums vs. with forums. But forums provide much more visitors to the site wich is better for advertisement.
Click to expand...

That depends on the software you use, the traffic you have and the people to pay to moderate it.

Someone here in the forum said that DPReview had 3-4 fulltime coders to keep up with the forum software, bug fixing, adapting to new PHP standrds etc. I donnot know the numbers. very high traffic is very expensive with forums. You need many servers, fast servers, expensive servers.

Static pages like the reviews are a lot cheaper and offer probably the best places for ads. You can use Wordpress for this. But this is all speculation as long as we do not know the exact numbers and their plan to integrate it into Gear Patrol. I do not think that both sites will run independently from each other in the long run.
 
Never heard of Gear Patrol. Bet they keep the forum going. My other hobby is Audio equipment. A lot of those sellers have started forums. The two largest 2nd hand websites Audiogon, and US Audiomart have talk forums. New multi brand retailer Drop and manufacturer PS Audio also have forums. Seems to be THE way to attract customers.

Thanks for the update,
barondla
 
dirk said:
That depends on the software you use, the traffic you have and the people to pay to moderate it.

Someone here in the forum said that DPReview had 3-4 fulltime coders to keep up with the forum software, bug fixing, adapting to new PHP standrds etc. I donnot know the numbers. very high traffic is very expensive with forums. You need many servers, fast servers, expensive servers.

Static pages like the reviews are a lot cheaper and offer probably the best places for ads. You can use Wordpress for this. But this is all speculation as long as we do not know the exact numbers and their plan to integrate it into Gear Patrol. I do not think that both sites will run independently from each other in the long run.
Click to expand...
We shall see.
 
Well, as I've said since the first announcement............ it's not going anywhere. That's good. Rampant speculation here, or anywhere else, on what may, might, could, should or won't happen - isn't going to change anything so I'll just observe and see how/what they do moving forward. I wish them only success in their new venture.
 
I do not know what other affiliates that Gear Patrol has. New terms grants them full use of all material posted to DPReview to all of their other sites. I did take a look at their site.

"Gear Patrol is the definitive buying guide for men. Our experts review and curate the best in cars, tech, home, outdoors, style and watches. The 2023 Outdoor Awards: The Full List of Winners"

I guess most of DPReview's following- is men.

I requested account deletion with removal of all my posts.
 
The Gear Patrol TOS:

"You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content for the Services that you post or upload; that such content is accurate; that use of such content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify us for all claims resulting from such content you supply. More specifically, you are entirely responsible for each individual item of content that you post, email or otherwise make available via the Web Site. You understand that we do not control, and are not responsible for, third party content made available through the Web Site."

Warrant that the content is accurate, and that injury will not occur to anyone using it. That should cut out DIY repair discussions.
 
Saw it. I've never heard of Gear Patrol before. It seems the Forum isn't going to change from what I read in the Comments.

www.dpreview.com

DPReview.com looks forward to a new chapter with Gear Patrol

We’re thrilled to share the news that Gear Patrol has acquired DPReview. Gear Patrol is a natural home for the next phase of DPReview’s journey, and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish together.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com

Shaminder Dulai (DPR Staff)
"The forums remain as they were. Nothing was removed, nothing will be removed, all the history and knowledge is intact and we're very happy to be able to say that today."
 
dirk said:
What do others think about it?
Click to expand...
I agree that it's too early to know what is likely to happen to DPR under the new owners.

My view has always been that the value of DPR is the publishing side, i.e. the reviews and news articles. It's what draws in the readership and ultimately forum traffic. Reviews and news looks to be the basis of the Gear Patrol website too so I can see the synergy in them purchasing DPR,

However I think the similarity ends there. Gear Patrol permits comments on their articles (same as DPR) but they do not have forums that I can see. And I doubt that Gear Patrol would have the same level of staff dedicated to a single product segment (i.e. cameras) so that would make DPR "over-staffed" in the current Gear Patrol business model.

Like any takeover, they will be looking to imprint their management and business model on the new organisation and find some quick savings. If they keep the forums, I doubt that Gear Patrol would be tolerant of the combative nature that goes on there despite the efforts of moderators as this is likely to drive potential customers away. I also agree that maintaining a custom forum software must be expensive so can't imagine them wanting to spend on that either.

So my guess is that reviews and articles will continue with new money-making links, and the forums may well be cast off at some point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top