So...should I renew?

I'm once again getting annoyed by pop-ups telling me that I "should" white-list Pnet.

 

I paid up last year to help Glenn pay for his "top tier programmers" yet the site is still buggy, and even more disconcerting to me is the fact that there's seemingly no visible administrator at least ATTEMPTING to make lame excuses for why things are as they are and vague promises that they will get better.

 

Since I'm told that the moderators forum no longer exists, I'm sure that a record of the lifetime subscription that Josh Root gifted me and several other folks no longer exists...and even if I could prove it who would I even mention to about it? I wonder if any of the active moderators other than Shun even remember Josh...or how many currently active members remember him.

 

In any case, can someone convince me as to why I should do one of the following:

 

1. Pay money to what continues to be a sinking ship

 

2. Employ more radical ad-blocking strategies-since I DO NOT allow site to run scripts on my computer whitelisting this site is not an option

 

3. Give the site the big middle finger and say my goodbyes to the folks I've enjoyed interacting with.

 

Honestly, considering that NOTHING seems to have been accomplished in the past year and I'm frankly pissed off both at seeing the "whitelist us please" begging and the fact that the Glenn-as much as I fought with him-was at least a visible and accessible face that we can no longer see here, I'm leaning toward option 3.

 

Someone convince me otherwise...and if the answer is don't let the door you on the way out, let them fly-I'm a big boy.

 

It just pains me to see what was once a great site-first under Phillip and then under some quite capable administration like Josh and a great volunteer team of moderators(Shun is the one who sticks out as me as having been here from the early days, and now that I hang out on the Nikon forum he's the only one I regularly interact with, even though I know he's not the only one) now die a painful death. From comments that Glenn made, it looks the writing is on the wall for unpaid users anyway... (if the site can even survive that drastic of a change).

 

And, in an ultimate bit of irony-I seem to be running into even more issues posting this. I guess that those "top tier programmers" still have a lot of work to do.

Of the 19 creative live courses currently being flogged at the top of each page on this photography site, only one is photography related. The other non photography topics include such scintillating titles as " How to Dress Better and Improve Your Life" Even if the ship is not sinking, at the very least it's adrift and the captain is either drunk or gone overboard.

Please stay, Ben. I admit the site has a lot of problems, but I'd really miss your posts.

 

I'm a member here, but then I don't post my photos and don't see all the problems.

Dear Ben,

Please stay, whether you continue to pay for membership or not. I like to read your comments, and find them useful. BTW, after many years, I stopped paying and it made me feel much less angry about all the foibles.

Stick around Ben - few left that make visiting this site and participating in the fora worthwhile. Employ option 2 - what's the point in seeing the same ads over and over again anyway to justify being bombarded with "whitelist-me pop-up" every few minutes? Even if those ads are considered "relevant" - if I haven't clicked on them after seeing them 100 times, what makes anyone think I am going to when I see them yet again?

Thanks everyone. I wasn't asking for folks to ask/beg me to stay, but both the public and private comments I've received are reassuring.

 

I will, then, pursue option two of the above.

 

I will reconsider subscribing IF I actually see some of the promised progress-and some indication that there's actually someone in charge would be welcome also. As it is now, the site just is too buggy and at times too inconvenient to use.

 

Also-if any administrators bother to read this-I have been forewarned that subscriptions have been known to auto-renew despite declining that option from the account page. It would be in your best interest to be sure that does NOT occur, as I will take any appropriate actions through my card over what would be an unauthorized charged.

Thanks everyone. I wasn't asking for folks to ask/beg me to stay, but both the public and private comments I've received are reassuring.

 

I will, then, pursue option two of the above.

 

I will reconsider subscribing IF I actually see some of the promised progress-and some indication that there's actually someone in charge would be welcome also. As it is now, the site just is too buggy and at times too inconvenient to use.

 

Also-if any administrators bother to read this-I have been forewarned that subscriptions have been known to auto-renew despite declining that option from the account page. It would be in your best interest to be sure that does NOT occur, as I will take any appropriate actions through my card over what would be an unauthorized charged.

I was auto-renewed earlier in December, although I thought I had turned it off. Now that I know where to look, I'll check it out. BTW, if you don't renew how much time passes before they consign you photos to the bit bucket.

I would like to wish the PN staff Happy Holidays but every time I think about doing it, I get soooo angry. The site was so functional before launch of new version. So much time has passed with so little done to fix the problems.

Well, in the time since posting this I've had a moderator try to shame me into renewing and claim that my with-holding $29.95 won't make a bit of difference...

 

I was also chastised for expecting some improvement after I agreed to pay what I saw as extortion money to get "top tier programmers" to work on this site(and those of you who were around know a year or so back know that I'm not making up that phrase)-apparently I should just blindly pay money to a blatantly FOR PROFIT corporation for the privilege of CONTRIBUTING to their website.

 

So, if that makes me a lesser person in the eyes of one particular moderator, oh well. I withhold what I actually think about those comments from that particular moderator, as they are not appropriate for me to say...

Might as well go the whole way - here are my two private comments to you - I'll leave it to you to post yours

 

This outside Moderator role - Member to Member, as a person with no business or financial involvement other than paying my membership ahead, and spending in a lot of hours trying to help PN succeed.

You seriously expect withholding $29.95 to change anything?

A chuckle on a gray day.

 

I thought more of you. I paid ahead with no promises made, other than one to myself of engagement in trying to move PN forward successfully. No more to say.

Alright, here's what I said to Sandy(and I didn't name the moderator)...you all can draw your own conclusions. I didn't say anything privately that I haven't said publicly

 

1.

I'm not the only one who paid up on promises of things getting better, and who is now renewing.

 

One person doesn't make a difference-many people do(and I'm not the only one who feels this way)...

 

 

2.

 

 

 

Sandy,

 

I don't know what to say. I've had promises made to me that things would be attended to and broken repeatedly, as well as flat out denial that problems I claim to exist don't exist. You've told me before to contact the administration with my concerns, but I don't know who that even is now!

 

You've been here 3 years-I've been here 12 and have seen what was ONCE a great site decline to nothing and have more and more great contributors drop off. In a sense, I HAVE "paid my dues"-in the past I've been a paying member on and off, served as a moderator, have written reviews(long gone) and I use to loan a LOT of equipment to Josh Root to write reviews.

 

Frankly, too, I don't know what to make of you these days. I watched you bite the head off another respected member in a thread the other day because you didn't agree with the respectful points he was making. To be honest, I was quite disappointed to see you do that.

 

If you choose to lose respect for me for not financially supporting a website that I've given a lot to(both in time and money) over the past 12 years because it has become a disaster, so be it.

You've been here 3 years-I've been here 12 and have seen what was ONCE a great site decline to nothing and have more and more great contributors drop off. In a sense, I HAVE "paid my dues"-in the past I've been a paying member on and off,....

 

Ditto (although I have been here for 16, albeit much less frequently the past few). It's really sad to see what has become of a once great site that was a thriving on-line community, and really, really sad to see all the goodwill that the current owners of this site have squandered. It's been evident to me for a very long time that they really don't care about the members that have contributed (for FREE) tremendous content to the great photography knowledge base that was photo.net. FWIW, I stopped paying subscription fees to the absentee faceless corporate owner long ago.

 

And yes Ben, I remember Josh Root very well (and Brian Mottershead before him). He and many other former photo.net Heros (remember that little recognition, now gone) are missed.

:(

Sandy, if your role as moderator is to disuade people from renewing their membership, you're doing a great job.

Ben, you've said as succinctly as it can be said. I don't see anyone on staff who understands the functionality that has been lost and what can be done to restore it. Instead, of fixing things that members enjoyed and used, the powers that be focus on adding piddling new little features that no one cares about. I've been around software and website development since 1971 and like to think I can evaluate a development effort. I find it totally unfathomable that the site has retrogressed despite the expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars during the past 5 years. Back in Josh's day and 3 administrators prior to him, I would regularly suggest potential enhancements to the site. It didn't always happen fast but eventually many of them were implemented and worked like a charm. I have tried to do the same for the new system at several points but the ideas are neither acknowledged or implement . So, now I check in once per month to see if the site is still there. It always is albeit, still floundering.

 

 

 

 

Alright, here's what I said to Sandy(and I didn't name the moderator)...you all can draw your own conclusions. I didn't say anything privately that I haven't said publicly

 

1.

I'm not the only one who paid up on promises of things getting better, and who is now renewing.

 

One person doesn't make a difference-many people do(and I'm not the only one who feels this way)...

 

 

2.

 

 

 

Sandy,

 

I don't know what to say. I've had promises made to me that things would be attended to and broken repeatedly, as well as flat out denial that problems I claim to exist don't exist. You've told me before to contact the administration with my concerns, but I don't know who that even is now!

 

You've been here 3 years-I've been here 12 and have seen what was ONCE a great site decline to nothing and have more and more great contributors drop off. In a sense, I HAVE "paid my dues"-in the past I've been a paying member on and off, served as a moderator, have written reviews(long gone) and I use to loan a LOT of equipment to Josh Root to write reviews.

 

Frankly, too, I don't know what to make of you these days. I watched you bite the head off another respected member in a thread the other day because you didn't agree with the respectful points he was making. To be honest, I was quite disappointed to see you do that.

 

If you choose to lose respect for me for not financially supporting a website that I've given a lot to(both in time and money) over the past 12 years because it has become a disaster, so be it.

Edited December 25, 2018 by gungajim