This forum had a great start

[Tom Caldwell]

I have to comment here as to what I think a forum is.

It is the modern day equivalent of pen friends. Only here you can converse with multiple pen friends at the same time and share common interests.
But with all of these social communications they need two way traffic. Likes are good but they are terminal. Unless a swag full of likes creates some form of adulation index, a form of "name on a pillar waiting for the statue to be carved", they are arguably socially stale and truly the end of the discussion.

Posting images is only part of the life of the forum - it is amusing to trawl through the images of others and see and appreciate the work but the "pen friendship" is really all about words.

Years ago I was on a site called "Harphampix" which was basically an image critique site where we posted to receive our peer group responses. None of us were expert photographers but we knew what we liked and could make comments. We quickly worked out that 'nice pic' comments were much the same as 'likes'. As much as caustic derogatory comments were not welcome either. So we developed a helpful considerate style of critique. Some newbies could not take any sort of critique whatsover however nicely put. But friendhsips lasting until this day developed - even though the site has long since gone. You soon get to understand that a fault that you have noticed but 'think' that nobody else will .... it never ever does not go unseen and is pointed out. And so we become more careful in our photography - it was of immense help to me.

But of course if we don't post images for critiques then preening our very best is ok but what do we then expect other than the satisfaction of accumulating 'likes'. But of course I love being liked as much as anyone else ....

But uploading images is only part of the social contract. We need to have discussions as well. Controversial if necessary, but nevertheless a true meeting of minds. This forum will only be as good as we the members make it by the content that we provide. It is not going to work if we all collectively wait for someone else to write first, or if after writing nobody responds.

We all have other lives to live and it is understandable that we cannot always find the time to type words. But a post every now and then can generate quite a lot of traffic and make the site interesting.

 

[dirk]

It is not going to work if we all collectively wait for someone else to write first, or if after writing nobody responds.

Well said.

 

[Blufftonian]

I have to comment here as to what I think a forum is.

It is the modern day equivalent of pen friends. Only here you can converse with multiple pen friends at the same time and share common interests.
But with all of these social communications they need two way traffic. Likes are good but they are terminal. Unless a swag full of likes creates some form of adulation index, a form of "name on a pillar waiting for the statue to be carved", they are arguably socially stale and truly the end of the discussion.

Posting images is only part of the life of the forum - it is amusing to trawl through the images of others and see and appreciate the work but the "pen friendship" is really all about words.

Years ago I was on a site called "Harphampix" which was basically an image critique site where we posted to receive our peer group responses. None of us were expert photographers but we knew what we liked and could make comments. We quickly worked out that 'nice pic' comments were much the same as 'likes'. As much as caustic derogatory comments were not welcome either. So we developed a helpful considerate style of critique. Some newbies could not take any sort of critique whatsover however nicely put. But friendhsips lasting until this day developed - even though the site has long since gone. You soon get to understand that a fault that you have noticed but 'think' that nobody else will .... it never ever does not go unseen and is pointed out. And so we become more careful in our photography - it was of immense help to me.

But of course if we don't post images for critiques then preening our very best is ok but what do we then expect other than the satisfaction of accumulating 'likes'. But of course I love being liked as much as anyone else ....

But uploading images is only part of the social contract. We need to have discussions as well. Controversial if necessary, but nevertheless a true meeting of minds. This forum will only be as good as we the members make it by the content that we provide. It is not going to work if we all collectively wait for someone else to write first, or if after writing nobody responds.

We all have other lives to live and it is understandable that we cannot always find the time to type words. But a post every now and then can generate quite a lot of traffic and make the site interesting.

Interesting Tom!

I‘m not sure I totally agree as personally I’m not very social; my wife, with several siblings, claims that I suffer from “only child syndrome” .

I participate in these fora because I enjoy seeing others’ photos, and others’ opinions and critiques, and I think I can learn from them and become a better photographer myself. I also do enjoy sharing my photos and information even though I consider myself to be far from an expert.

I am certainly all for making the sites I choose to visit interesting and successful though.

 

[RBIV]

Posting images is only part of the life of the forum - it is amusing to trawl through the images of others and see and appreciate the work but the "pen friendship" is really all about words......

...uploading images is only part of the social contract. We need to have discussions as well. Controversial if necessary, but nevertheless a true meeting of minds. This forum will only be as good as we the members make it by the content that we provide.

I agree with all you've said, but highlight this part because I think the "pen friendships" are critical to forum success and really take time to develop. That's difficult on a forum with few (relatively) participating members. Breaking the forum into camera make and photo interest sub-forums probably makes sense in a DPR sized forum, but I'm not sure it makes sense here -- at this time.

What's done is done, and I don't think subforums that have activity should be removed, but... I don't see any "general" or "more inclusive" options here, other than maybe DPRF cafe, but it seems more about discussion of everything, but not really about cameras and images posted including text maybe about the images or camera used and open to responses, verbal, not just Likes.

 

[JCDoss]

...Breaking the forum into camera make and photo interest sub-forums probably makes sense in a DPR sized forum, but I'm not sure it makes sense here -- at this time...

I agree. My MO when visiting this site is to first check my notifications indicated by the bell in the upper right corner. Then I go to What's New > New Posts to see everything that's been posted since my last visit. On the way out, I mark everything as read to reset the forum for my next visit. Since most everything that's getting posted here are image sharing posts, it doesn't make much sense to separate everything into camera-specific forums when a simple "Taken with my Pentax" line in the post would do. However, it is what it is and it was made that way to keep things familiar to what it was supposed to replace.

 

[dirk]

We should bear in mind, that the current domination of image threads is not a normal situation. This will change over the time. We need a structure, that is also robust for further growth and usually you will find more people asking questions or talking about gear than people who are will to share images.

The reason why we are more on the image size is, that I was always blocked and deleted, when I posted a link in the gear sections of dpreview. Other forums have been promoted and tolerated in the same gear sections. You can do the math why gear people do not know us yet.

But you can change this by using your signature with our link in it in the gear sections of dpreview. This is now officiall allowed by the administrator of dpreview. You can ask Tom and others about it. I have it in written (screenshots) from the admin there.

By the way: If you are at DPRF on the forum index page, look at the upper right hand corner. There you have an extra button for "new posts". One click less to do.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

I agree with all you've said, but highlight this part because I think the "pen friendships" are critical to forum success and really take time to develop. That's difficult on a forum with few (relatively) participating members. Breaking the forum into camera make and photo interest sub-forums probably makes sense in a DPR sized forum, but I'm not sure it makes sense here -- at this time.

What's done is done, and I don't think subforums that have activity should be removed, but... I don't see any "general" or "more inclusive" options here, other than maybe DPRF cafe, but it seems more about discussion of everything, but not really about cameras and images posted including text maybe about the images or camera used and open to responses, verbal, not just Likes.

Yes the site is still feeling its way and the activity is still mirroring the intrests of those that are actually visiting it. There was never going to be an instant replicaton of what dpr was offering and I doubt that that ever will happen. More likely the site will develop an aura of its own. But these are still early days and I would not see that there is any reason to worry about progress.

The main issue as far as I am concerned is a huge number of likes and not nearly as much chat. But I am aware that others may not have the time to do a lot of chatting so we all must do whatever they can reasonably manage. Whilst a like is a useful mark of 'seen and appreciated' it is not really an invitation to a conversation.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

We should bear in mind, that the current domination of image threads is not a normal situation. This will change over the time. We need a structure, that is also robust for further growth and usually you will find more people asking questions or talking about gear than people who are will to share images.

The reason why we are more on the image size is, that I was always blocked and deleted, when I posted a link in the gear sections of dpreview. Other forums have been promoted and tolerated in the same gear sections. You can do the math why gear people do not know us yet.

But you can change this by using your signature with our link in it in the gear sections of dpreview. This is now officiall allowed by the administrator of dpreview. You can ask Tom and others about it. I have it in written (screenshots) from the admin there.

By the way: If you are at DPRF on the forum index page, look at the upper right hand corner. There you have an extra button for "new posts". One click less to do.

View attachment 10328

One of the main differences on dpr is that the moderators are appointed by forum. That the moderators approve new members to full posting rights and that every moderator interprets the rules as they see them and this can cause differences in their rigorous application. I have no issues with how this site is set up but merely note that the experience of users on dpr forums might vary slightly by the Moderators in charge of them. That is just a side issue of their structure and in effect dpr moderators are mostly left to their own devices there, presumably as long as they do not 'go rogue'.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Interesting Tom!

I‘m not sure I totally agree as personally I’m not very social; my wife, with several siblings, claims that I suffer from “only child syndrome” .

I participate in these fora because I enjoy seeing others’ photos, and others’ opinions and critiques, and I think I can learn from them and become a better photographer myself. I also do enjoy sharing my photos and information even though I consider myself to be far from an expert.

I am certainly all for making the sites I choose to visit interesting and successful though.

You are not doing too badly for 'only child syndrome' ....

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Yes the site is still feeling its way and the activity is still mirroring the intrests of those that are actually visiting it. There was never going to be an instant replicaton of what dpr was offering and I doubt that that ever will happen. More likely the site will develop an aura of its own. But these are still early days and I would not see that there is any reason to worry about progress.

The main issue as far as I am concerned is a huge number of likes and not nearly as much chat. But I am aware that others may not have the time to do a lot of chatting so we all must do whatever they can reasonably manage. Whilst a like is a useful mark of 'seen and appreciated' it is not really an invitation to a conversation.

There are technical posts on the Adapted Lens Forum by CK Shene and Bosun Higgs for example which are as a result of a considerable amount of effort by their authors. Hard to make replies to them, but I note that they have received quite a lot of views which should be satisfying and show that there is some considerable amount of traffic for this kind of post already.