Should we open up the forum to cameras of all types and sizes?

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One thing that might easily happen with the addition of a whole bunch of new gear sub-forums is the further dilution and fragmentation of image threads.

As things are now, we have endless "Pentikolysonic XXX with YYY " threads which are filled with photographs indistinguishable from the photographs in the "Panakonolykon YYY with XXX" threads.

I never read them (it's why I would like an ignore subforum function) ... more specialised subforums could easily exacerbate the problem (I see it as a problem, other people will see it as a boon, of course)
 
I agree on the keeping the name but adding a dslr subforum thought. I agree that it's important to allow everyone to post all their shots, but I'd hate to see the compacts get snowed under in the long run, just like they are everywhere else.

I just can't imagine the compacts getting snowed under here. It's not in our DNA.
 
One thing that might easily happen with the addition of a whole bunch of new gear sub-forums is the further dilution and fragmentation of image threads.

As things are now, we have endless "Pentikolysonic XXX with YYY " threads which are filled with photographs indistinguishable from the photographs in the "Panakonolykon YYY with XXX" threads.

I never read them (it's why I would like an ignore subforum function) ... more specialised subforums could easily exacerbate the problem (I see it as a problem, other people will see it as a boon, of course)


+ 1,000,000 to this.......

I can understand a single long-running thread for a brand or a single camera. What I really find unnecessary are the endless new threads "Camera X goes to the beach" with 2 or 3 shots. First, those shots of the beach could have been taken with any camera, and secondly, if people enjoy beach shots, why not just put them in a thread full of other beach shots. I find it strange (and a bit disheartening) that when I visit a camera-specific image thread (and I'll just use Lecia as an example because I noticed it the other day when I popped my head in......but it is all of them) that the thanks beneath each photo are nearly all from others who own the camera. Think about that when you go to share your images in a camera-specific thread. You are sharing them because you want them to be seen......right? Sharing them in a camera-specific thread will likely get them seen by the handful of people who own the same camera that you do.

I don't know how to solve that problem. For me, I'd love to see every image posted and I can linger on the ones I like and fly past the rest of them. But all these little segregated groups of photos are kinda bonkers for those of us who are camera brand agnostic.
 
If we add DSLR forums, nothing much will change here. But if we open it all the way up and change the name, it will change some, I'm starting to think for the better.

One of the things I like about SC is that some of my favorite people from Mu-43 who stopped using MFTs hang here. Likewise for FujiXspot, TalkEmount, and LeicaPlace friends who stop using those respective systems. When I see Ray saying he'll probably post less here since it's a site for smaller cameras, or Boid saying he's holding back some of his pictures, it's not a good feeling. Seems like a totally unnecessary barrier to me.

I'm not keen on changing the name. the name is how I found this forum in the first place. Perhaps a tag line could be added: "A friendly place for photographers who travel light . . ." or some such.

Cheers, Jock
 
+ 1,000,000 to this.......

I can understand a single long-running thread for a brand or a single camera. What I really find unnecessary are the endless new threads "Camera X goes to the beach" with 2 or 3 shots. First, those shots of the beach could have been taken with any camera, and secondly, if people enjoy beach shots, why not just put them in a thread full of other beach shots. I find it strange (and a bit disheartening) that when I visit a camera-specific image thread (and I'll just use Lecia as an example because I noticed it the other day when I popped my head in......but it is all of them) that the thanks beneath each photo are nearly all from others who own the camera. Think about that when you go to share your images in a camera-specific thread. You are sharing them because you want them to be seen......right? Sharing them in a camera-specific thread will likely get them seen by the handful of people who own the same camera that you do.

I don't know how to solve that problem. For me, I'd love to see every image posted and I can linger on the ones I like and fly past the rest of them. But all these little segregated groups of photos are kinda bonkers for those of us who are camera brand agnostic.

Luke,

I'm fully in agreement with you, there are many threads started for images that could just as well be posted in a more cover all thread. I think it has to do with the increasing number of members of the forum. I think the same thing has happened to the m4/3 forum. I can't help but wonder if it's the feeling that if a person posts in a larger thread their contribution will somehow be overlooked and that to stand out from the crowd they feel the need to start their own thread.

Given that opinion of mine, I feel that the opening up of the forum to an even bigger, indeed photographic gear wide participation will sadly just exacerbate this aspect of the forum. Amin's forums have always been rather specific in nature, Serious Compacts having probably the widest possible number of participants gear options, and I don't see the need to widen it even further. Whatever anyone's thoughts, as usual I'm not sitting on the fence.

Barrie
 
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Streetshooter always said ……. "It's the image that counts"

but I like "gear" - as well ……….. and "man does not live by cardboard cameras"
 
I just had a look at the main forum page. It is clear to me that it is split into 2 main parts...... Gear and Images. The problem (such that it can be called a problem) is the multiple camera specific threads are always in the Gear section, rather than posting images in the appropriate thread in the Image Forum. I don't know what the solution is other than people just ignoring threads with a couple photos in them.
 
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I've never felt remotely guilty or "wrong" about posting images I've made from any source here,

But that might be because I am a sociopath, of course
 
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Having posted in camera-specific threads, I understand the points being made but I do think that there is some benefit to them:

- when a new camera or lens is introduced, it's a place where someone can get a quick survey of what the camera is capable of.
- people who have an affinity/fondness for a particular camera (i.e., my first camera, my favorite camera, one that got away) have a place to gather
- people researching a new or used camera purchase have a single place to go.

On the other hand, I do see the benefit of the subject-driven thread. But my experience is that sites that are primarily photo-oriented don't have as much activity or liveliness as one that talks gear as well.

I wonder if there's a way to achieve both? Maybe tags? So if I post in a subject-driven thread and tag the post with the gear used, someone else can search for that tag and see my post among others for that tag.
 
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One advantage to posting a thread with just a few images, eg "___ camera goes to the beach" is that we can feature the thread. It's not technically feasible to feature a single post on page 4 of a mega thread.

Another thought I had was just making the forum index the new home page: Cameraderie

That makes it pretty obvious what makes this site different. We could have a tab for "Featured", which would effectively be the old home page.
 
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If Serious Compacts adds a forum for DSLRs (and other cameras), it's not like the place is suddenly going to be over-run by Canon vs. Nikon arguments. I imagine that very likely it would remain more or less the same except that current users would start to share images made with their "dirty little secret" big cameras. And obviously, slowly new members would find the place out and either assimilate or move on.

People come together on forums to be around like-minded people and if this place has long established roots as a place for people who enjoy good images and generally prefer smaller cameras, I think a DSLR user who stumbles across the group because they are searching for a compact to use alongside their DSLR, they will either have a mindset that meshes with the community or they will move along until they find a community that better reflects what they are looking for.

Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I think it would play out.

No, it won't get overrun right away.

Over on mu-43, however, the forum there has slowly grown to lots of discussion about high end compacts vs mFT and mFT vs APS-C DSLRs and Sony Mirrorless. In most cases the conversations are pretty civil, but some of them can get downright nasty. I don't think its an issue with the current resident members of the forum here, but new formats will attract more people. Some might not be as civil in those discussions.

Just food for thought.
 
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One thing about SC and Mu-43 is that they are and always will be moderated. People who want to be nasty can have a much easier time of it at DPR, Photo.net, or any number of other sites. Quite a few times I've had people leave complaining of "overmoderation", and in each case I've thought "good".
 
+ 1,000,000 to this.......

I can understand a single long-running thread for a brand or a single camera. What I really find unnecessary are the endless new threads "Camera X goes to the beach" with 2 or 3 shots. First, those shots of the beach could have been taken with any camera, and secondly, if people enjoy beach shots, why not just put them in a thread full of other beach shots. I find it strange (and a bit disheartening) that when I visit a camera-specific image thread (and I'll just use Lecia as an example because I noticed it the other day when I popped my head in......but it is all of them) that the thanks beneath each photo are nearly all from others who own the camera. Think about that when you go to share your images in a camera-specific thread. You are sharing them because you want them to be seen......right? Sharing them in a camera-specific thread will likely get them seen by the handful of people who own the same camera that you do.

I don't know how to solve that problem. For me, I'd love to see every image posted and I can linger on the ones I like and fly past the rest of them. But all these little segregated groups of photos are kinda bonkers for those of us who are camera brand agnostic.

I guess I'm pretty guilty of this. I don't do it that often, but usually if I go somewhere and take a bunch of pictures and have 5-10 pictures to post, I'd rather do that in a dedicated thread in the proper subforum than in a dedicated Lens, camera, or sticky themed forum. If its just a single shot or two, I'll post them in that dedicated thread. I do this more over at mu-43.com than I do here though because threads get pushed down really quickly over there.
 
+ 1,000,000 to this.......

I can understand a single long-running thread for a brand or a single camera. What I really find unnecessary are the endless new threads "Camera X goes to the beach" with 2 or 3 shots. First, those shots of the beach could have been taken with any camera, and secondly, if people enjoy beach shots, why not just put them in a thread full of other beach shots. I find it strange (and a bit disheartening) that when I visit a camera-specific image thread (and I'll just use Lecia as an example because I noticed it the other day when I popped my head in......but it is all of them) that the thanks beneath each photo are nearly all from others who own the camera. Think about that when you go to share your images in a camera-specific thread. You are sharing them because you want them to be seen......right? Sharing them in a camera-specific thread will likely get them seen by the handful of people who own the same camera that you do.

I don't know how to solve that problem. For me, I'd love to see every image posted and I can linger on the ones I like and fly past the rest of them. But all these little segregated groups of photos are kinda bonkers for those of us who are camera brand agnostic.

I think this is a potentially big discussion in it's own right, and maybe deserves it's own thread...

My personal policy (well, not really so formal as a policy, but you get my drift) regarding posting photos has changed quite a bit over my time here.

Early on, I was just getting back into photography and was pretty enamored of what I could do with all of this digital gear, and I tended to post damn near anything with any excuse, anywhere it looked like it might make sense. And if I didn't see a good place to do it, I'd just start my own thread. Over time, I've grown less enamored of my own stuff (although it's probably better than it was back when I loved it all - I've just grown more discriminating). Now I generally look for the appropriate place to put something if I want to post a few shots. Mostly I go by topic in the image forums, and usually try to append my shots to a long running thread if there's on that's even remotely on point. But sometimes I feel an obligation to a particular camera and also post shots in that camera's "sample images" thread. I tend to do this almost any time I shoot something worth sharing with the Nikon Coolpix A, because that camera gets relatively little love and keeping the sample image gallery going is a good way to keep bringing some small amount of attention to it. And, much more rarely these days, if I do some extensive bit of shooting on a holiday or occasion that I feel is out of the ordinary enough, I'll start my own thread about it. I've done a few of these for extended shooting trips that went on quite a while and seemed quite well received. When I spent a month in New York in 2012 and a month on the Amalfi Coast of Italy last summer, I kept long running threads with a few images almost every day. People seemed to like them both so I kept them going through the ends of each trip. But I do less and less of that, as I haven't done anything like it in a while. If I do another trip like those sometime in the future, I'll probably try a similar approach and see how it goes...

For example, I was at the shore for nearly all of July. I posted a lot of material, mostly in various "sunrise" or "sunset" or "clouds" or "beach scenes" threads - whatever already existed that I thought an appropriate place. A few of them I also put in a particular camera's sample gallery. And I think I may have started one dedicated thread on a bunch of shots I did over a couple of days in Atlantic City, although I don't actually remember if I did here or not... Just yesterday I had a few shots from a walk at my local agricultural perserve and I posted them under "color shots of nature" or some such long running thread. When I have a few new street shots, I'll put 'em in the very long "real street thread" or whatever it's called these days.

And what I've found is that when you just stick a few photos at the end of a long running thread, just a few people see them, usually those who have been contributing to that thread pretty regularly. There's usually very little if any direct response. On the rare occasion I start a new thread about a particular photo shoot I did, whether the images are good or mediocre, it tends to get a lot more looks and a lot more comments. I don't like to start these very often though because having done a lot of them early on, it started to feel like an attention hog move after a while. So I do it rarely these days and much of what I do post is somewhere here for posterity, but is basically lost and largely unseen. Which is all OK, but that experience runs sort of counter to the idea of limiting the new thread to just show a few new photos of "camera X does flowers" or something like that. Although I've tried to stop doing much of this myself, I do tend to open those threads more often than some of the longer running topic specific threads or some of the camera specific threads.

I don't know if there's a solution to this problem, or if it's even a problem. But it's something I've thought about and tried to change how I approach. And I'm ok with not getting much attention for my shots by doing it this way. But I have learned that on the off chance I have something I really want to get out there, I have to start a new thread for it to get it seen. I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices this...

-Ray
 
One thing about SC and Mu-43 is that they are and always will be moderated. People who want to be nasty can have a much easier time of it at DPR, Photo.net, or any number of other sites. Quite a few times I've had people leave complaining of "overmoderation", and in each case I've thought "good".

Amin,

I agree wholeheartedly. I suppose that maybe that my post beat around the bush a little. I'm not a moderator here, but if I'd have to guess, opening the forum to other formats will increase moderator activity or involvement down the road. It just can't be helped.
 
My post about image threads and how people share their images sounded more rant-y than I wanted it to. And I agree with Ray's post and how he posts and shares. There is no one right way.

And John is right about the usefulness of camera-specific threads.

I wish I knew the best way to digest all the images. To Ray's point about sharing images in long-running threads getting lost or not seen by as many (or at least not being commented on by as many) I see that same issue, but can't see a way around it. I view the "Dog" thread every time I see a new post. Because I love dogs. And I see the usual dog lovers posting images and adding thanks. Every once in awhile, someone new will peek in. I'm not very into sunrise and sunset photos so I rarely go in there. Of course, when I do, I find a bunch of really nice photos. But by and large those long running threads are limited in their viewership despite the fact that there are good photos in them.

I wish there was a way to just view random photos that were added to any image thread on a given day. Like looking through the "new releases" section at the record shop (or video store, or book store) instead of going through the whole store and flipping past a bunch of records you already have to find the new ones. Sometimes, you want to just see the new stuff and sometimes you want to browse by subject or camera brand.

I'm just thinking aloud here so maybe someone can come up with a new solution (or maybe just explain a way to use the current set-up that I'm not thinking of).
 
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