Iwerk
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by Iwerk on Oct 19, 2006 12:32:16 GMT -5
This forum has 303 members and very little activity. The whole idea of a forum is for people to interact and discuss issues that are relevant to the subject. Something needs to change or this forum will cease to exist. We need suggestions from everyone on how to make this work.
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Iwerk
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by Iwerk on Oct 19, 2006 12:37:04 GMT -5
I'm thinking that there are far too many categories to put things in. It would be much simpler, if the categories were more generalized. General chat, new ideas or products, film cameras, digital cameras, lenses, etc. I personally don't like to open up a lot of boxes to see what's inside.
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Post by Larry N. Bolch on Oct 19, 2006 14:33:52 GMT -5
I am a member of a lot of forums, and this is actually one of the livelier ones considering the number of members. With some 300+ members, only a few will ever post. Most people who join forums just lurk and never uncloak. Others just lurk until someone spams, misspells or commits a perceived breach of netiquette and then they get a chance to rise in righteous rage - before slinking back to lurking again. I think it is a sign of the times. In the early years of digital photography, forums were very busy since everything was new. Every day there were floods of questions from those with their first digital camera, and loads of replies and discussion. Now a lot of people have half-a-dozen years of digital shooting or more behind them and problems have been long since solved. Forums thrive on questions! I am still moderator of a CP990 forum on Yahoo with 1852 members, and while there has been some traffic this month - 28 messages - last month there were only three and it could have been one spam and two people wailing that they found spam in their forum. I am in a couple of other Coolpix-specific forums that saw no traffic at all. It seems the same holds true for a digital darkroom forum. There are currently 3859 members. Traffic peaked in December 2003 with 707 messages. Last month there were 15 with 17 the month before. A scanning forum with 1952 members seems to generate 50 to a bit over 100 messages per month. There is a printer forum that I also read that is quite lively at the moment. HP announced a new photo printer early last year and it is just now starting to ship. The participants are mostly from the UK, and they are loudly whining about how long it took to get to market, the lack of supplies, great problems with the first machines and the high cost of supplies - when they are available. I get the impression that many had greatly inflated expectations of the printer - that it would miraculously turn them into great photographers surrounded by hot, moist little groupies. If the members are angry, I guess, the forum becomes lively. There is a great temptation to be a troll, but I mostly resist. It seems that forums that are mostly about the nuts and bolts and how to twist them, now generate little traffic. Once you have mastered the camera and know how to process the images, there is nothing much to ask. If there are no questions, then no answers follow, so the forum is dormant. On the other hand, I own a Yahoo forum where photographers meet to discuss photography and their lives as viewed through a photographer's eyes. With only 403 members, it is incredibly lively. In May of this year there were 1735 messages and there are 623 so far this month. Equipment is only peripherally mentioned - it is mostly about the experience of being a photographer on every level from beginner to pro. Discussions are not limited to photographic topics, but since everyone participating is a photographer, photographic viewpoint is everything. There is a busy files area and attachments are allowed, so this too is material for discussion. I moderate in great moderation - mostly when spammers show up. In the past I banned them. Now, when they set their accounts for "No mail", I change the account to receive "all messages" and block their right to post. Now we spam them. While people are still very interested in the experience of photography, new technologies have lost their gloss. Digital is as mainstream as the old InstaMatic was, and film has dwindled to a fraction of what it was just a couple of years back. There is just not a lot to discuss.
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Post by andrew7 on Oct 19, 2006 15:09:11 GMT -5
I agree that there may be a few too many categories, for example the lens categories could simply be 'nikkor lenses', 'third party lenses' and 'dx lenses'. Member's posts are spread too thin over so many categories.
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Iwerk
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by Iwerk on Oct 19, 2006 18:16:16 GMT -5
Glad to hear from you guys, Larry and Andrew. Larry, I live about three hours from you, in the outskirts of Calgary.
The main reason that I haven't posted so much lately, is that my D70s has been back and forth to Nikon for the last two months. They finally changed the image sensor and everything is fine now.
I also frequent many forums but most of them are very active. Lots of ideas are being shared. Digital photography is relatively new to most people because it hasn't been affordable until the last few years. Prior to that, the image quality was nothing to talk about. The internet is a real help for most people but without knowing what they are looking for, then they wouldn't know what keywords to google.
The average person wouldn't know what to look for in an image. Terms like vignetting, exposure compensation, pincushion, depth of field, moire, bokeh, interpolation, gamma corrections, color spaces, circle of confusion, bracketing, chromatic aberration, barrel distortion, etc, etc. Many of these terms are new to most people. Without ever hearing these words, they could not research them.
When I started in photography, I pointed the camera and pressed the button. My Sony Mavica camera made me look like an excellent photographer. When I bought my Nikon D70s, the rules changed because I only shoot in manual mode and I do this to learn as much as I can about how to make the photos look better.
When I hear a new term, I look it up on the internet and I start to notice more problems with my photos that I once thought looked great. As a result, my photos are starting to look better and better because I can now see the problems because I am aware of what they are and what causes them.
I get most of my information from participating in forums and then following up by using the internet to research that information. The internet is responsible for educating millions of people. It is a great tool. The camera is also a great tool but it will take some time before most people can master it.
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Post by All Nikon - Chris on Oct 19, 2006 19:31:11 GMT -5
The reasons for the amount of categories is to keep the forum organized, and plan for the future when there is more people. Just image 500+ messages a month, it would be this long list that would carry over several pages. Though don't get me wrong I too have thought about the amount of categories. I will see what I can combine or do with out. What I do is to check the bottom of the page, and click the recent 20 posts. That way you don't have to go searching into all the categories.
In regards to the little activity, it is actually increasing in the amount of activity, based on messages. You have to realize that it is only 2 and a half months old (average of 120 members a month), and I have been trying to promote it based on word of mouth at the same time designing a new design for the forum and news / review site. I am asking for others to try to help promote it by telling others who are Nikon owners (or non Nikon owners).
I do thank you Iwerk for the frequent posts, more than other members. Every once in a while I message some of the members to get them back to the forum, but I don't want to bug them too much, lol.
Larry N.... That is a good point about having more of the personal experiences a photographer has had through his or her life, and share them. Like the business aspect, and others. I will have to take some time to see what I can add to help out our members, and visitors.
Thanks, this is the critiquing that will help the forum in the viewers experience... Keep them comming
-Chris
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kt
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by kt on Oct 21, 2006 14:13:04 GMT -5
I think (hey what do I know..but) there are far , far FAR too many catagories on the front end, Ya have to scroll 3 screns for the bit you want, maybe trim it..........just my opinion
Steve
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