Thread: Thinking about growing the S.C. Network...

Originally Posted by thekeddi

i like us all mixed in one, I love looking at what cameras everyone is using and have found some gems in here that I would never have searched for in another forum. Breaking into too many will only make a thinning out I think, Keeping us all in the one spot is cool. IMHO of course! And what do I know, I'm just new here :-)

+1 again for me

Originally Posted by Amin Sabet

Even Flickr is very gear oriented. So many times I get asked on Flickr how I like some camera or lens. If I strip out the EXIF, people ask me what I used.

hehehe the only person who ever asked me about gear on Flickr is an SC member

Originally Posted by grebeman

I would like to see a means of filtering out the discussion of gear and the images.

on other sites that also use the server software on which this forum runs (vBulletin), the user can elect to exclude subforums. It may need an addon of course which might cost money. I suggested this in feedback post ages ago and Amin said he would do it. (here: excluding forums?)

If implemented, then one could easily exclude (say) the Fuji gear forum without missing out on images.

Of course we'd have to bar those endless "Photos from camera ABC" threads
All the photographs from all the various cameras look similarly good at the sort of resolution we all use here, so I'm never sure what the point of them is ...

Originally Posted by Amin Sabet

For me, S.C. is basically the mothership. I blogged here for years before there was a forum, and I love that it encompasses all types of cameras, so people who like the community don't leave when they switch cameras.

At the same time, my main system is Micro 4/3, and I enjoy spending time on a site dedicated to that system. I spend more time at Mu-43.com than anywhere.

I think a lot of folks like having a system-dedicated site, and TalkNEX is developing into a really nice place for NEX users. I'm not shooting much NEX these days, but I enjoy visiting there - great community and photography.

Now I'm thinking about adding two more sites to the "S.C. Network":

The first one is something I've given a LOT of thought to over the years, but I think it will take a lot of work to do right, and I'm not quite ready to go there yet. Basically it would be a forum for sharing images and discussion, and gear talk would be completely not allowed. No "what lens did you use?" or anything of that kind. Strictly for discussion of the images, etc. I know there is a need for such a place, but I need more time to figure out how to do it. It's something that I'm sure would fizzle out without the right start, because - frankly - people like gear.

The second one is much easier and something I could get up and running in a day or two. A forum/blog for Fuji users. I have been a fan of Fuji for many years (wrote this blogpost almost 5 years ago to the day), and I think they're absolutely nailing it with all of the X cameras.

A huge factor pushing me to start a Fuji X site is that many if not most of the friends I've met via Mu-43, S.C., and TalkNEX have become Fuji users, and I want to create a place where I can continue to hang with everyone. I know about Fuji X Forum. How is that place? Are many of you active over there? Do you think there is room for another dedicated Fuji site?

Would love to get some feedback/suggestions about these ideas.

Btw, I just bought xtogs.com - seems like a nice, catchy, short URL if I decide to do the Fuji thing. Was pretty surprised that domain was still available!

A non gear related forum would be the most marvelous thing to do IMHO! I agree with what you said about coming back here even when one switches gear, that is one factor that has attracted me here in the first place. I don't post in the gear specific forums or even sections anymore.

Take care :)

I am both a Fuji & M4/3 user so SC covers both areas for me and is my favourite. The two existing Fuji forums are very good for technical issues and for new users but I don't rate them highly for range of images (which is what it's all about). I would join a new Fuji forum but I still like seeing posts about different cameras and of course the image posts that are about the image not the camera. I would hate to see SC lose posts to more specific forums.

I had a name idea but unfortunately the name is taken by what I call fraudulaous business practices...

seriousphotos dot com

I don't know what the end product looks like or works like, but I like this forum interface. And I'm more into photos than gear. And I have some contacts on flickr that are DSLR users so I can't really invite them to any of my favorite SC forums. But if there could be an image based forum.....a place where like-minded people who enjoy photos of all types to sit around and "kibbitz (sp?)" about what makes them great (or what doesn't quite work)....that is a place I'd love to hang out.

For those who say that flickr is the spot.....it's not. And don't get me wrong....I love flickr. I've made some nice contacts...some I would consider friends, but they check in on individual photos and there can OCCASIONALLY be a back and forth, but mostly it's a passing comment. Even if you get a response, there's certainly never a "conversation" like we can get going here. It's tied into the user interface. Flickr has figured out how to give you a "feed" with new comments and the like. And the groups are an attempt to replicate this kind of extended conversation, but groups on flickr seem to be super specialized (Face-Down Tuesday, Bench Monday, Italian Pentax users, etc) or so OVER-generalized that there are a thousands who contribute their voice, but say nothing and then leave.

I'm mainly just rambling, but flitting back and forth between flickr and this website tonight it just struck me....I don't have the final solution, but I'm interested....... if anyone has some good ideas.

Amin, They both sound like great ideas! But being restrictive on the photo forum may not work (or be too much work). And the photog forum may need to take a different form. Think Flickr or something like that. Sounds ambitious. But done right it could be a great thing.

If you want to be cutting edge, a Hasselblad Lunar forum would stand out. It could be Serious Lunatics dot com. I think you might end up with every Lunar owner in the world--both of them.

The idea of a photography forum rather then a camera forum is a very nice idea. Unfortunately, the conversation is also much harder. It is easy to talk about gear, but much harder to get to the more metaphysical nature of photography (and there be dragons there). Even discussing the technical area surrounding the perception of images is really hard. I think one of the more successful forums that revolves around images is GetDPI. Especially in the Leica, MFD, and Sunset/Images to share sections of the forum. But GetDPI is populated with more professional shooters. I have found that unless I am working with a student and focusing on a problem, image feedback is pretty much pointless. You either have basically someone simply doing their work and following their vision, which is really above criticism, or you have someone struggling, but the answer is simply to shoot and figure it out. Criticism on the forum is just personal taste disguised as some sort of "right" answer. And unfortunately, we have so much baggage with the criticism model like "vision," "artistic intent," and "style." All empty bankrupt terms that do more to block the creative process than help it. What might be helpful is the internet version of the mentor system. But I shudder at what that can become--photographers can be an egomaniacal group and pedantry is a killer.

Photography is such a solitary art and a group of solitary people is rather a contradiction.