Etiquette or just whatever goes

I've just recently started and I'm curious about how comments/favs are treated. Looking through the categories of images, commenting does not seem to be prevalent and the same can be said of favs. The forum seems a hive of activity with lots of interaction between community members. Images will have heaps of views but little else. Is there something I'm not understanding about the site? Is it mainly about the views an image gets or just to get an image out into a wider audience?

Thank you for your time.

Sandra

Hi, Sandra,

 

(Sorry - Sam !)

 

I post mainly in the No Words Forum (with occasional excursions elsewhere), mainly to show to a wider circle of people the results which I think are reasonable (I would never describe any of my images as good), and from any likes received (always more than I expect) to see other people's reactions (friends are usually more complimentary than 'a jury of my peers' !)

 

I also enjoy seeing other people's images, liking those that I wish I had taken (a broad approach, I know), and maybe getting ideas for my future photography.

 

Tony

Hi, Sandra,

 

(Sorry - Sam !)

 

I post mainly in the No Words Forum (with occasional excursions elsewhere), mainly to show to a wider circle of people the results which I think are reasonable (I would never describe any of my images as good), and from any likes received (always more than I expect) to see other people's reactions (friends are usually more complimentary than 'a jury of my peers' !)

 

I also enjoy seeing other people's images, liking those that I wish I had taken (a broad approach, I know), and maybe getting ideas for my future photography.

 

Tony

Haha !!! Thanks so much Tony for replying. Photo.net seems to be somewhat different to other sites. I've checked out the No Words Forum and the concept behind it is great so I will keep checking that one out. Once again, many thanks for your reply.- very much appreciated.

Cheers

Sam

Well, the focus may have changed somewhat. In the past, albeit over an extended period of time, some pictures accumulated tens of tens of thousands of views, actually in the hundreds of thousands in some cases, with a corresponding number of comments.

Haha !!! Thanks so much Tony for replying. Photo.net seems to be somewhat different to other sites. I've checked out the No Words Forum and the concept behind it is great so I will keep checking that one out. Once again, many thanks for your reply.- very much appreciated.

Cheers

Sam

 

Be careful - when they say No Words, that's what they mean ! There has been discussion of this elsewhere.

 

Tony

Sandra,

 

The site has recently changed. I used to spend a lot of time on my portfolio and on the portfolios of others, writing critiques and getting into interesting discussions on individual photos through the commenting section. Since the redesign of the site, about 6 months ago or so, I've found the portfolio side of the site to have too many software glitches to bother with. One can't easily reorder their photos, if at all, delete photos, keep up with comments made on photos by themselves as others, so I've put more energy into the forums, particularly No Words. That's been rewarding but a drastic change in how I use the site. I do see this as leading to a more social networking orientation and less photo-specific orientation. I think the world is trending toward social networking so it makes sense to keep up with that. What doesn't make sense to me and what I will always regret (and resent) is that with the added social networking dimension the actual photography-specific side of the site has been given short shrift and all but left for dead.

Fred,

To me the two elements need to work in tandem. One without the other dramatically devalues the site..

Absolutely.

Thank you to everyone who replied. It's always exciting to join a new community and share images because for me, that's basically what it's all about - sharing and learning. I'm not a professional photographer, just an amateur, so the community in one way, is what helps my photography. I will be honest and say I'm feeling a little disappointed with the interaction in the community when it comes down to the images. Views are fine, but when comments are few and far between, it leaves you wondering if your image was total crap or just not worthy of any comment. Photo.net must have been interesting before the site changed?

If you'll note when you log into the forum section there are about an average of 50 people logged on. That's not a lot of people to spend the time it takes to offer a meaningful comment on a lot of photos and as you've found out there's WAY far more photos than forum members. Which ones do the 50 or so people decide to comment on? Hard to say.

 

I would not take this personally in regard to seeking rewards from comments on your photos. Let them just be and they will speak to whomever comes upon them and that happens more often in No Words. If you want to learn more about taking better photos there is a wealth of info already available here and online. In fact there's too much info.

 

A suggestion would be to post one of your photos as a new thread you have interest and maybe some doubts about what you thought went right or went wrong with specifics and word it in a broad enough way so it is not directly asking for a critique, maybe reference it within a theme you've wondered about. It should be an image that has made you think and feel a lot about and you should express as such in your wording so it makes it clear you're serious about what you want to get out of the thread.

 

This is to prevent those from just posting a picture and asking "Whata' Ya' Think?" and never return with a thoughtful response. There are old comment sections that are quite lengthy of members photos I have no idea what started the conversation or the attraction to the photo. Clearly there were some people interested enough to turn a comment section into an entire thread. Why didn't that happen to more interesting and compelling images? Maybe there was a click of friends who hung out on this site and only liked a certain number of member's photos. What's the difference between that and how it is now when only a few are given attention?

 

I don't seek comments nor am I interested in giving comments on individual photos because it takes a lot of time to look for photos I feel moved to comment on and then come up with something to write that's interesting takes even more time. It can get exhausting.

If you'll note when you log into the forum section there are about an average of 50 people logged on. That's not a lot of people to spend the time it takes to offer a meaningful comment on a lot of photos and as you've found out there's WAY far more photos than forum members. Which ones do the 50 or so people decide to comment on? Hard to say.

 

I would not take this personally in regard to seeking rewards from comments on your photos. Let them just be and they will speak to whomever comes upon them and that happens more often in No Words. If you want to learn more about taking better photos there is a wealth of info already available here and online. In fact there's too much info.

 

A suggestion would be to post one of your photos as a new thread you have interest and maybe some doubts about what you thought went right or went wrong with specifics and word it in a broad enough way so it is not directly asking for a critique, maybe reference it within a theme you've wondered about. It should be an image that has made you think and feel a lot about and you should express as such in your wording so it makes it clear you're serious about what you want to get out of the thread.

 

This is to prevent those from just posting a picture and asking "Whata' Ya' Think?" and never return with a thoughtful response. There are old comment sections that are quite lengthy of members photos I have no idea what started the conversation or the attraction to the photo. Clearly there were some people interested enough to turn a comment section into an entire thread. Why didn't that happen to more interesting and compelling images? Maybe there was a click of friends who hung out on this site and only liked a certain number of member's photos. What's the difference between that and how it is now when only a few are given attention?

 

I don't seek comments nor am I interested in giving comments on individual photos because it takes a lot of time to look for photos I feel moved to comment on and then come up with something to write that's interesting takes even more time. It can get exhausting.[/quote

 

Thanks Tim for your considered response. I'm getting a better understanding now of this site. Usually one is able to to gather information from a FAQ section, but in this case, the forum has been it's own wealth of knowledge.

Cheers

Photo.net must have been interesting before the site changed?

 

You may well say this - I couldn't possibly comment ! But only because I've only been on the site since the 'Change', so have no first-hand knowledge of what it was like prior to this. I enjoy the (limited) interaction available in the No Words forum, and find it interesting to judge (merely from the number of 'likes') how other people see images of mine that I thought were either slightly above average (very few !) or 'bread and butter space fillers' (most of them. Sometimes an image will appeal to several people, which means I can have another look at it and try to see why, other times something with which I am reasonably content (whether from subject, interpretation of the theme or just technical prowess), will be ignored, and again I can try to work out why.

I would encourage you to revisit Gallery Sort as a recent release should address most of your concerns.

 

 

Sandra,

 

The site has recently changed. I used to spend a lot of time on my portfolio and on the portfolios of others, writing critiques and getting into interesting discussions on individual photos through the commenting section. Since the redesign of the site, about 6 months ago or so, I've found the portfolio side of the site to have too many software glitches to bother with. One can't easily reorder their photos, if at all, delete photos, keep up with comments made on photos by themselves as others, so I've put more energy into the forums, particularly No Words. That's been rewarding but a drastic change in how I use the site. I do see this as leading to a more social networking orientation and less photo-specific orientation. I think the world is trending toward social networking so it makes sense to keep up with that. What doesn't make sense to me and what I will always regret (and resent) is that with the added social networking dimension the actual photography-specific side of the site has been given short shrift and all but left for dead.

Hi Sandra - like anything in life you get out of it what you put into it. If you become active and comment on others photos they will in turn view your portfolio and likely comment on your portfolio. Those that upload a decent sized portfolio and comment on others significantly see more activity. Those that don't upload a significant portfolio (I see you have 4 photos in your photo.net portfolio) and don't comment on others work - will of course see less activity. As with any community site redesign there will be a contingent that does not like or agree with the changes made and I understand this - there were many reasons we had to update the site which have been discussed at length in other threads. But the previous site went largely unchanged in its 20 year existence - and could no longer be supported with the tech workforce available in todays marketplace. Asking a tech crew to support TCL run on AOL server was not something we could continue - no one would support it. No owner of the site wanted a site that could not be supported - thus the change.

 

I've just recently started and I'm curious about how comments/favs are treated. Looking through the categories of images, commenting does not seem to be prevalent and the same can be said of favs. The forum seems a hive of activity with lots of interaction between community members. Images will have heaps of views but little else. Is there something I'm not understanding about the site? Is it mainly about the views an image gets or just to get an image out into a wider audience?

Thank you for your time.

Sandra

Views are fine, but when comments are few and far between, it leaves you wondering if your image was total crap or just not worthy of any comment. Photo.net must have been interesting before the site changed?

Photo.net has had a long history (over 15 years) of pro and amateur photographers and enthusiasts posting meaningful and helpful info, but you have to do a search and know by what specific search terms to enter on Google.

 

I've been here about ten years posting on subjects I know about by experience (not long winded theory) like say what type of lights should I be viewing my printed photos under as an example....

 

lights to view prints photo.net - Google Search

 

But you, Sandra, wouldn't have known what search words to use to get those Google results. That's the problem with new members on any enthusiast website seeking info but at least you know that Photo.net is being indexed by Google.

 

The site changing its design has no influence on finding helpful info through a Google search.

Glenn, I am certainly not asking to go back to the old software or design, and I think most people have received that message loud and clear, so you might want to more fully try to understand the kinds of complaints you're now getting.

 

Any of us who have large portfolios and have been active for many years can tell you that we don't get as many comments as we used to and the reciprocal nature of commenting on others' photos and getting comments in return has not been happening for quite some time, well before the site redesign. It is NOT the case like it once was that you get out what you put in. There are a lot more photos being posted that are going uncritiqued no matter how much effort the poster gives to others' photos.

 

I, for one, am no longer concerned with how the redesign looks or many of the changes that were made. I'd be happy to get used to them. But I still get shut out by the server for 8 hours at a time when I've made more than half a dozen posts in a day and still get error messages whenever I go to my portfolio or the portfolio and galleries of others. I was not having to log in every day for a couple of months and, suddenly, for the last couple of weeks, have been having to log in sometimes more than once a day on both my iPhone and iPad. So a lot of us are just asking for basic functionality, nothing all that special, and no longer complaining about the actual redesign except for software glitches.

 

I appreciate your having told us about the new gallery sort function and plan to see if that works as it should within the next couple of days. Thanks for that info.

Tried it earlier first three moves worked, thenr back to Whack a Mole. The sort images are pretty small, if the sorter worked well, it would be good if they were a bit larger.

I would encourage you to revisit Gallery Sort as a recent release should address most of your concerns.

Just took a romp through gallery sort and it does address the ordering issues as far as I can tell. Thanks. The server error telling me I've reached my limit for the day is still a major stumbling block to my using the site.