The Gearification of No Words

I've always appreciated the diversity of forums on PN. There seem to be forums dedicated to gear, forums dedicated more to the aesthetics of photography, a forum dedicated to the philosophy of photography, to the more casual sides of photography, and all the genre-specific forums such as street, portrait, landscape, and nature as well as a forum dedicated to individual critique. I always appreciated the No Words forum because it was not gear-centric nor was it genre-specific. It only asked that No Words be spoken other than brief introductory remarks and notation of technical details and that a loose, if sometimes rather creative, adherence to the theme be maintained.

Today sees a change in No Words, and two threads have been started and intentionally allowed to stand that are themed around gear rather than subject, content, or style, which has traditionally been the hallmark of the No Words forum. I know many will disagree with me, and that's fine, but I think it's a shame that No Words is moving in this unfortunate direction. I don't know if Walt is still moderating or not. He used to be very effective at maintaining the No Words tradition and essence. He would close threads that limited posts to film or digital. He explained his reasoning well when he did so. Like so much else, here, those days are gone. Sure, change and progress can be wonderful. But sometimes things not broke don't need fixin'. No Words, as far as I'm concerned, was one of those things.

I don't know if this change is going into effect due to one person's sensibility and whether it was an official administration decision, but to my knowledge no consensus was taken. Perhaps a consensus would show that this is what's desired, in which case I would go along with it, thinking it was still a bad move but at least one wanted by most members. Right now, I just think it's a shame and bodes ill for No Words and the site.

No words.

Seems to me a Dictators bliss.

"Anytime you are dissatisfied with what I do as moderator, I encourage you to contact Admin or other moderators"

Okay.

I forgive you. Mostly.;). Chill.

My apologies, as well. I use the "view new posts" function to see what's happening since my last visit. I read the title of the thread but didn't take note of the sub-forum it was in; hence my discussion of lenses.

I promise to be more careful in the future!

Stay sharp,

Bob

wow over one film oriented theme? hahahahahahahaha chilax.

There isnt much you can do with gear... it all starts to look digital anyway.

oh is fixed focus gear oriented? ... yeah, they are taking over the place.

hahahahaha lets go back n sip some whine n chill on the beach.

Gotta love the intent to exclude under the guise of being inclusive.

Especially from folks with a history of nastiness toward other members.

Smells a bit of a personal agenda driven grudge to me.

Nothing wrong with the occasional thread to compare results within a certain baseline.

I find it very helpful to be able to compare results, for instance, of black and white film as opposed to software driven manipulation. Much better to do that now and again within an existing forum than to continually run around dictating what and where people you disagree with, should post.

But I certainly don’t whine about what others post.

The No Words threads are certainly in no danger of becoming “gear driven”.

I appreciate the job done here by the Mods.

I can accept being called names, having my personal Faith and politics attacked, and being the object of obscenities.

Lets me know where others stand.

But please, Dear God, Deliver Me From The Whiners.

Thanks to most who've responded so far. There does seem to be a consensus among those here.

There is additionally nothing in the sticky rules post that says you can't restrict the gear to some extent.

Bethe, if you look at the first thread in the No Words forum list, the Rules for Posting to No Words thread, (LINK HERE), you'll see this paragraph [the bold is my emphasis]:

Contributions to this forum should not be so specific a subject that it would be exclusive of members of this site. For example, do not start a thread with a title such as "Aunt Emily and her new dress holding an afghan hound in her arms". We want as many members as possible to be able to respond to the No Words Forum threads. Likewise, a post that restricts to just digital cameras would also be exclusive. And so on.

Rules can, of course, be changed. My preference, as I stated, would be to keep things as they were. Walt used to enforce this one vigorously and my post was meant to find out whether there had been an official change, whether Walt was still moderator of this forum, and to solicit the opinions of others while offering my own. It seems most would prefer the rule to be changed or not enforced. I can live with that, even though I think there were good reasons for including it.

After all, no-one is being forced to post in any of these threads.

I do not feel forced to participate in any No Words thread and don't contribute to every one. My question didn't arise from feeling forced to do something.

oh is fixed focus gear oriented?

Yes. I meant to mention in the OP that, historically, Fixed Focal Length Friday was the sole exception to the rule. I always thought it a bit strange that this was the one exception and felt the thread could have found another home, but as it was part of a long tradition, I accepted it.

I too was disappointed to see "No Words" threads appearing that restricted participation to specific gear. I've never really seen much point in sharing photos based on the type, brand or model of camera or lens. But other members obviously are, and that's fine.

I just hope that it doesn't become a trend in the 'No Words' forum.

I've always appreciated the diversity of forums on PN. There seem to be forums dedicated to gear, forums dedicated more to the aesthetics of photography, a forum dedicated to the philosophy of photography, to the more casual sides of photography, and all the genre-specific forums such as street, portrait, landscape, and nature as well as a forum dedicated to individual critique. I always appreciated the No Words forum because it was not gear-centric nor was it genre-specific. It only asked that No Words be spoken other than brief introductory remarks and notation of technical details and that a loose, if sometimes rather creative, adherence to the theme be maintained.

 

Today sees a change in No Words, and two threads have been started and intentionally allowed to stand that are themed around gear rather than subject, content, or style, which has traditionally been the hallmark of the No Words forum. I know many will disagree with me, and that's fine, but I think it's a shame that No Words is moving in this unfortunate direction. I don't know if Walt is still moderating or not. He used to be very effective at maintaining the No Words tradition and essence. He would close threads that limited posts to film or digital. He explained his reasoning well when he did so. Like so much else, here, those days are gone. Sure, change and progress can be wonderful. But sometimes things not broke don't need fixin'. No Words, as far as I'm concerned, was one of those things.

 

I don't know if this change is going into effect due to one person's sensibility and whether it was an official administration decision, but to my knowledge no consensus was taken. Perhaps a consensus would show that this is what's desired, in which case I would go along with it, thinking it was still a bad move but at least one wanted by most members. Right now, I just think it's a shame and bodes ill for No Words and the site.

A beautiful sunrise

Enjoy the beauty

Forget the physics

Jeez.

Enough bellyaching about what other people do.

Greetings! I have been busy with Christmas preparations and have not had the time to visit here as much as I would like. I just now saw the thread that has caused the commotion and I have closed it to further replies. As it is very clear in the sticky posting guidelines for the NWF, the thread in question excluded members from contributing and I will not allow that. I am still a big film shooter myself and I can well appreciate a member wanting to have a thread that celebrates that media but it can't be done in the NWF. Regards.

And that settles that !

Greetings! I have been busy with Christmas preparations and have not had the time to visit here as much as I would like. I just now saw the thread that has caused the commotion and I have closed it to further replies. As it is very clear in the sticky posting guidelines for the NWF, the thread in question excluded members from contributing and I will not allow that. I am still a big film shooter myself and I can well appreciate a member wanting to have a thread that celebrates that media but it can't be done in the NWF. Regards.

Thanks for the explanation and clarifications. Glad to hear you're still around.

It seems most would prefer the rule to be changed or not enforced.

Since writing that, the consensus seems to have changed and there appears to be more of an even split. Bottom line, the policy is staying as is. Thanks again to most of you for voicing your varied opinions and/or making them known through LIKES.

so stupid, thin skin paranoid complainers. close it down instead of enjoying the responces the theme got?... sheesh, no one is breaking anyones arm to participate in the nw themes.

make such a big deal over nothing.

fixed focus... most people dont use primes!... its gear related! ... get rid of it!

monochrome monday excludes many peoplel... get rid of it!

tractors.. who the hell in nyc has a tractor?... get rid of it!

corner stores?.... those poor people living in rural areas will be excluded... get rid of it!

books?... no one reads books anymore! get rid of it!

night shots?... too dangerous to be out at night!... get rid of it!

whats next????

bitch bitch bitch!

one lesson learned from living in a big city... if ya dont like your neighborhood, move!

i think photonet is done.

see ya later... im sure ill find another site to play on.

I encourage you to contact Admin or other moderators.

I've asked you several times and you've never bothered to answer...

Who are these mythical "administrators" to whom we can complain? I certainly don't seem to see any around these days. You've invited me to complain to them more than once, but never answered my question...