THE FUTURE OF THIS FORUM - PLEASE READ

My vote is to photo.net. I use the medium format forum a lot with no

problems.

Another vote for photo.net provided that LF remains, as MF is now, a

distinct category. I doubt that many of us want to have to wade

through threads with no bearing on our LF pursuits, whatever their

merit or interest. Also, as things stand with the present forum,

even the most ambiguous thread title may be assumed to be connected

somehow with LF; but if lists are combined, we'd have to start being

a lot more specific in respect to both title and content. Somehow,

too, I hope, the archives will remain easily accessible. Nick.

Another vote for photo.net as a separate entity, such as the MF

forum. NO NO NO to Yahoo!! I agree that it's a major priority to keep

the present archived threads easily accessible.

<p>

Danny Burk www.dannyburk.com

I am likewise trying to negotiate with Photo.net to move the

Alternative Process, Film & Developing, and Printing & Finishing

forums to their server. I don't see any other valid option.

Hi all,

<p>

I think I can offer some help to maintain the phorum as follows:

<p>

1.- I own a small web hosting company that could provide hosting

space for the forum, the page or both.

<p>

2.- I could help installing ACS or whatever software you would like

to maintain the phorum in.

<p>

This board is so fabulous that it would be a chame to let it die.

<p>

Please let me know what I can help with...

<p>

Enrique Vila.-

evilap@yahoo.com

Tuan,

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Top choice: an independent server running the current software (not

just importing existing data). Ask us for money if necessary.

<p>

Second choice: separate forum under photo.net, as long as copyright

issues are resolved. This option is less desirable because of the

increasingly commercial nature of photo.net. Also, MFD seems

to attract a larger number of less professional/civil posters than

this forum does. Don't know whether that was the case before its

association with photo.net, so can't say if there's a causal

relationship or even a correlation.

<p>

Please not Yahoo or any other similar system.

<p>

Thanks for everything you've done so far, and thanks to Phil for

having made greenspun.com available until now.

A LF forum already exists on photo.net, I'd guess any arrangement

with them may involve uniting the two forums, check here to see

content:

<p>

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-one-category?

topic_id=23&category=Large%20Format

Although I haven't been a regular contributor to this forum, my vote

(if valid) would be to go to photo.net.

Michael, the url you posted takes one to a message saying the forum

cannot be found. It affers a link to a list of photo.net forums and

suggests looking there. I did so, and there's no LF forum listed.

To the user, the MF digest on photo.net appears very much like this

forum. (More so like it than any of the other forum formats I've

seen - almost identical in use, except you need to log in to post.)

Therefore I'd vote for that route (as a separate forum - NOT as part

of the general photo.net discussion!).

<p>

Cheers, and thanks to Tuan for the great job he does!

My vote would be for photo.net over yahoo any day of the week.

That said, I think an independent server would be the best idea,

even if it meant having to periodically ask users for a little

monetary support- I'd much rather throw in $10.00 every now and

then than see this forum lost. Another idea for funding if an

independent server is chosen would be to accept sponsorship

from a few LF-Related companies. Who knows, maybe

someone like Sinar Bron would help fund things if they were

allowed to put ads at the end of threads like Phil Greenspun's

articles are appearing right now.

First Choice: Move this forum in it's present configuration to a new

server. It looks like we have a couple of offers already.

<p>

Second Choice: Go over to Photo.net (can we move the archives too?).

<p>

Please don't: Go to Yahoo. The interface is awful.

<p>

Regards

photo.net is ok as long as we don't have to get past the moderator

hurdle.

This forum has been a tremendous help to me and I don't want to see

it die either. Yahoo is in the dark ages when it comes to usability,

and so are most other similar options as far as I can tell. This

software is terrific! Seems to me the best option would be to go with

photo.net unless one of the other offers appears to be solid for the

long run. The Web is very unpredictable on its best day re: providers

and servers staying in place, but we should find as reliable a home

as possible.I would not hesitate to pay a fee for the service if need

be. For something of this high quality we should be willing to pay to

find a solid and reliable home we can depend on. Many of the posts

above have talked about the quality as the reason they use the forum -

anything good costs money and takes time and effort.

seems like nobody asks the question as to why this site cannot be

maintained. Is it because of cost. then how about everyone who

likes to use this site pitching in to pay for it. long ago I learned

that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Where do I send the

check?

I would just add to previous posts about contributions. The only

problem is do you charge an access fee? If so I think you eliminate

the most important audience and that is the newbie to large format.

This site is invaluable for answering the many technical questions

about the format, but I fear that charging a mandatory fee, unless a

small one time registration fee would discourage those that get the

most use out of the forum. Remember, the more people that use the

format, the better it is for maintaining availability of film, papers

etc.

Sal, there is a LF forum on photo.net, but the link I posted is not

valid, it must be one of those addresses that changes with each post.

Try going to the main Photo.net page, then "community", "discussion

forums", "general photography", then scroll down the page to the

large format section. I'll try the link again, but if it's no good,

just follow the above.

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-one-category?

topic_id=23&category=Large%20Format

I just posted a suggestion to Steve Simmons on his current thread:

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http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=007EUq

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Why not have View Camera's Web site host this forum (software and

data). Perfect synergy!

First, I want to really thank Phil from the bottom of my heart. I

would be a much poorer photographer if I had never found this forum.

Thanks also to just about everyone on here for thier help, assistance

and for their generosity and willingness to share with others what

they know. A big round of applause for all of you. I sincerely hope

its not time to turn out the lights yet.

Michael, now I see what you're referring to. That's only a category

(currently holds 280 posts total) within the general photography

forum. I suspect that it relies on a poster selecting that category

when asking a question. Not even close to the value, depth and

breadth of what you find here.

Philip and I talked about this briefly over Thanksgiving when he

was here. I know there are a lot of people who hate to think that

they might be 'contaminated" by contact with small format, or ven

(go forbid) amateur photographers, even neophytes. well you

can choose not to have the "unifed or any other photo.net forum

come up on your screen. Frankly I think sticking with this tried

and true interface and model is the best idea so I think he is right

in his intent to pull this forum into the photo.net sphere. He tells

me that he will be taking a more hands on approach to photo.net

now that he has finished with the Ars Digita mess and is

returning from his sabbatical, the previous discussion was what,

a year and a half ago? As we all know circumstances have

changed.<P>To make it clear: ifyou go to a Yahoo! format, I think

a lot of us are going to lose interest in participating pretty quickly.

It seems like a proper poll may be in order if you don't get enough

interest in someone hosting off of photo.net. My personal concern

(shared by one other so far) is that I would like to continue to

download to Palm OS. If there are only two of us doing that, ignore

us, but there might be many. This is the sort of question which only

a systematic poll could evaluate properly.

So, pursue other offers to keep this format first. If that doesn't

pan out, then post another query asking what questions to ask on a

poll and then create a poll of needs/preferences. I've been with this

gang for a bit over a year now and I love it!

Luong,

What is the average volume of daily traffic on this site for the

combination of the homepage and the Q&A forum? Do you know

what the peaks are as well?