From the New Moderators:

It's about time for us to introduce ourselves. We're the new

moderators of the LF Forum, Rob Barker and Neil Poulsen. I'll include

my note below; Rob will follow in a separate EMail.

 

This forum is the vision of Tuan Luong, who began the forum as part of

his Large Format Photography webpage at www.lfphoto.info. I think

that it's a first rate resource, especially considering the depth of

knowledge of the people who participate. View cameras have no bells

or whistles, automatic exposure, intrinsic light meters, or auto-focus

features. Photographers who can use view cameras effectively know the

fundamentals of photography backwards and forwards. This has been

demonstrated again and again in the responses and queries that

participants have offered.

 

This forum has international participation, and I believe that it

plays an important role in the continued success of large format

photography. For example, I've been struck by the generous nature in

which seasoned photographers on this forum offer advice to beginners.

This is really good, because we need new people in LF photography.

As educational resources for LF photography fade, we will need to

learn from each other. This forum facilitates that exchange.

 

With all that said, the mediators on this forum have the following

responsibilities.

 

>> Guide the Direction of The LF Forum: I will publicize a set of

guidelines for participation in a separate thread that are

very much in keeping with those established by Tuan. They will also

be consistent with those provided by photo.net. These guidelines will

be documented in the "About" link connected to the LF Forum so that

they are always available.

 

>> Perform Routine Maintenance: Sometimes titles need to be

adjusted, threads that are out of date (e.g. announcements) need to be

deleted, or categories need to be updated. For example, following the

advice of Sal Santamaura, the number of uncategorized threads have

been reduced from about 1800 to less than 75!

 

>> Maintain a Professional and Courteous Environment: In heated

moments, sometimes threads take an unfortunate turn. It doesn't

happen very often, but when this occurs, the moderators will insert

themselves in an appropriate way.

 

I think it's very important that this forum persists. It's too

valuable not to. I will do whatever I can to make sure that occurs.

 

I look forward to being a moderator and participating on the LF Forum.

I would appreciate any input that people have regarding this forum.

I think it works best when people operate as a team.

 

Neil

"...the number of uncategorized threads have been reduced from about 1800 to less than 75!"

 

Wow Neil, thanks for that major effort. I hope everyone follows the guidelines so you won't have to do this again in the future.

I'm happy to report that the final uncategorised thread has just been sent packing to the secure happiness and warmth of a proper category. New threads will be monitored as they're posted and categories assigned where needed, so things should stay in good shape.

 

I think we should all raise a glass to Neil who has done the vast majority of the work here and recategorised a good 1400 of the 1500 or so threads that needed attention. I had this pegged as a 6 month project and reckon Neil's been staying up all night working to get it done so quickly!

 

I wholeheartedly agree with everything that Neil has said in the message above. This is an amazing resource and that is due to the great people who are prepared to give their time and share their knowledge by taking part in it. I see our role as Neil does - to discretely maintain the friendly and positive atmosphere of the forum.

 

I should add that I, too, will always be open to feedback about the way the forum is being moderated.

"but when this occurs, the moderators will insert themselves in an appropriate way"

 

Ye gods! That's enough of a threat to keep me quiet...

 

:-)

Bravo to the two of you, Long Live The Forum, in peace and happiness to and from all of us that participate.