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What Can We Do About This Site?


Rod Sorensen

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After many years on photo.net, I am having serious questions as to whether I will continue here. I hate the new site! My main interest here is the nature forum, but I also look at the images, visit the classifieds where I have both bought and sold, and visit other forums.

I used to visit the active threads which usually included multiple different forums, but there is no longer a way to find them, at least that I can figure out. I have to take 15-30 seconds every time I come to the site to log in. Navigating is clunky. Etc, etc.

I am sure that there are things that are better, but I KNOW there are many things that are worse. I feel like someone just wrecked a good thing by unsuccessfully trying to make it better.

Can we please do something before a bunch of people go find a better place to spend their time?

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Posted Images

I love the new site, finding it easy to navigate and much easier to post images to. I prefer seeing images in the larger size now allowed.

 

There's a setting in Preferences, where I get an email whenever there's a new post to a Thread where I posted. In "More Options" you can also "Watch this thread..."

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Besides having emails notices, I look at the Forum front page, on the right and look at the dates of the most recent posts. I follow three or four Forums, like Canon EOS, Nature, No Words, General Conversation. When I see activity, I open that Forum to see if there's anything that I like. The only thing missing from the old forum is that look where it showed all threads, regardless of Forum.
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Folks, I am sure similar topics have been debates numerous times, mostly on the Site Help Forum. Whenever there are changes, some people will like them and some will not; that is inevitable. I have my share of reservations about photo.net 2.0, and I can only speak for myself. As far as I know, one main issue with the old photo.net was that it was written in TCL some 20 years ago. By now, the software is hopelessly out of date and very difficult to maintain. I have graduate degrees in computer science and have been in software development for over 30 years. My experience is that TCL is rarely used, especially in these days. It is not a programming language I am interested to learn since there is no demand and market for it.

 

In any case, I am afraid that the Nature Forum is not the place to debate this issue.

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(...) The only thing missing from the old forum is that look where it showed all threads, regardless of Forum.

 

When logged in, you can click on "new posts" and you get a list of ALL posts in ALL forums that have been posted since your last visit.

;)

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Folks, I am sure similar topics have been debates numerous times, mostly on the Site Help Forum. Whenever there are changes, some people will like them and some will not; that is inevitable. I have my share of reservations about photo.net 2.0, and I can only speak for myself. As far as I know, one main issue with the old photo.net was that it was written in TCL some 20 years ago. By now, the software is hopelessly out of date and very difficult to maintain. I have graduate degrees in computer science and have been in software development for over 30 years. My experience is that TCL is rarely used, especially in these days. It is not a programming language I am interested to learn since there is no demand and market for it.

 

Shun: I think I can comfortably speak for many of the 10+ year users when I say that we don't really care what the language is, or was, or what it was changed to or from. I am not a forum person but have followed this help topic religiously since the switch and what I see is that the vast majority of users are concerned about function. It's inconceivable to me that the programmers or managers or whoever didn't sit down with V1 and make a chart of the pages and functions before throwing out an untested new product and ask users to make lists of their preferences. I've said this before and have yet to receive a denial; it's my observation that V2 was promoted, planned, programmed and is now being retrofitted by a team that do not use the photo critique side of this site. If they were users this version would've never been released in such a sad state and they would've included all the functions of V1.

 

That said, the graphics are better and functions are slowly being added, albeit in strange places. I look forward to the finished (functional) product... Mike

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Shun: I think I can comfortably speak for many of the 10+ year users when I say that we don't really care what the language is, or was, or what it was changed to or from.

 

Mike, you and many other don't care about what programming language is used behind the scenes on photo.net because you don't need to worry about what is behind the scenes. You only care about functions, features, etc. In fact, I also don't really need to worry about behind the scenes either since I am merely a volunteer here. However, for those who own and run this site, it is a critical issue. Essentially the old foundation was very out of date, and was impossible to built on top of it. You either let the site get progressively out of date to a slow death or you update the foundation so that new features can be added.

 

For example, in the last 17, 18 years ago, photography has rapidly switched from film based to digital. Today, mirrorless cameras has taken over a fairly significant chunk of the market, but mobile phones is eating camera companies and camera stores' lunch. If you still have a business model selling film cameras, film, processing film and make prints, you would have gone out of business several years ago. In fact, a lot of camera stores cannot survive selling digital camera equipment any more. The likes of Apple, Samsung ... Amazon.com, B&H, Adorama ... are eating their lunch.

 

The point I am making is that keeping the old version 1 of photo.net was not an option. I am not going to comment on version 2 beyond my earlier point that it has it pros and cons, and I have my share of reservations about it. It is up to everybody to provide feedback to those who run photo.net to improve this site.

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Mike, you and many other don't care about what programming language is used behind the scenes on photo.net because you don't need to worry about what is behind the scenes. You only care about functions, features, etc. In fact, I also don't really need to worry about behind the scenes either since I am merely a volunteer here. However, for those who own and run this site, it is a critical issue. Essentially the old foundation was very out of date, and was impossible to built on top of it. You either let the site get progressively out of date to a slow death or you update the foundation so that new features can be added.

 

Shun: Not to belabor the issue, but you have missed my point dramatically! My point is that the programming language is not the issue, it's function. If the old language doesn't work anymore then fine, issue a new version in a different or new language; but don't reinvent the wheel and make it square. I am not advocating a return to V1, just a functioning V2. As for user feedback, V2 should've already contained all that was in V1 and discussion should be about how to improve on that, not how to fix a faulty product.... Mike

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Mike, I did not miss your point at all. Clearly you are not happy with photo.net version 2. However, as I said earlier, I am not going to make further comments about photo.net 2.0. There are already plenty of threads and comments about it and I am merely just another member here. It is up to those in charge of this site to answer your questions.
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Thanks Mike.

Glenn:

 

Ok, I'll accept your response as facetious and admit that my comment was a tad close to the belt. But flippant responses aren't going to get this site going. I worked for 35 years in an industry where schedules, plans, reviews and performance mattered and during all that time I found that the two most critical and volatile issues were lack of communication and time. No one, not the designer, not the owners, and certainly not the end users like being fed snippets of information and told to be happy about it; and on top of that there's time. Time is relative to each of us, but when the user who has an image to share and can't load it has to wait, when a user wants to respond to another member who was gracious enough to take the time to make a comment and can't even track those comments (without the aid of an outside email), and when casual browsing becomes frustrating because navigation is such a challenge; then time becomes a decision as to whether or not it's worth the effort. And that's where it becomes your problem as Project Manager or Staff or Testing or whatever.

 

The long and short of it is that, whether you like it or not, you're our face, our go to guy and let me offer without any hysterics, without undue emotion and without anything personal; you gotta take charge, communicate (like Leslie has done for you) and get this site functional; even if it means replacing your resources that aren't performing.

 

In the interim please accept my apology for the low blow, but be open to the cause... Mike

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Les

Glenn:

 

Ok, I'll accept your response as facetious and admit that my comment was a tad close to the belt. But flippant responses aren't going to get this site going. I worked for 35 years in an industry where schedules, plans, reviews and performance mattered and during all that time I found that the two most critical and volatile issues were lack of communication and time. No one, not the designer, not the owners, and certainly not the end users like being fed snippets of information and told to be happy about it; and on top of that there's time. Time is relative to each of us, but when the user who has an image to share and can't load it has to wait, when a user wants to respond to another member who was gracious enough to take the time to make a comment and can't even track those comments (without the aid of an outside email), and when casual browsing becomes frustrating because navigation is such a challenge; then time becomes a decision as to whether or not it's worth the effort. And that's where it becomes your problem as Project Manager or Staff or Testing or whatever.

 

The long and short of it is that, whether you like it or not, you're our face, our go to guy and let me offer without any hysterics, without undue emotion and without anything personal; you gotta take charge, communicate (like Leslie has done for you) and get this site functional; even if it means replacing your resources that aren't performing.

 

In the interim please accept my apology for the low blow, but be open to the cause... Mike

 

Leslie has been doing a fine job, I see no need to duplicate efforts there. She has aggregated my responses in 1 place. I have made over 500 replies since the sites launch and these are not my only duties. So take it out on me, thats fine Mike - I hope you feel better. My response above took 2 seconds. This one, took less than 60 seconds, incase you're keeping track.

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Les

 

 

Leslie has been doing a fine job, I see no need to duplicate efforts there. She has aggregated my responses in 1 place. I have made over 500 replies since the sites launch and these are not my only duties. So take it out on me, thats fine Mike - I hope you feel better. My response above took 2 seconds. This one, took less than 60 seconds, incase you're keeping track.

 

This site has been both education and entertaining for over 10 years and it's sad that it's struggling because management is letting ego and personal pride run the show. No professional manager that I've ever encountered would reply to a customer as you just did. Do I feel better? No, I'm truly disheartened... Mike

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So, I am not thrilled with the new format. Why do I have to login every time. This is the only site that requires this. Too many categories. I really liked to see all new posts in one column. Too much moving around to find things. I will just vote with my lack of attendance here. There are easier sites out there.
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This site has been both education and entertaining for over 10 years and it's sad that it's struggling because management is letting ego and personal pride run the show. No professional manager that I've ever encountered would reply to a customer as you just did. Do I feel better? No, I'm truly disheartened... Mike

Sorry Mike - but to throw shots (and yes - personal shots) without knowing all I/we do is going to strike a chord. Maybe someday we can sit down have a beer and I can tell you all we do here in trying to migrate and ancient site into modern day if you cared to hear. Until then - making blanket statements like you did, will strike a chord.

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Sorry Mike - but to throw shots (and yes - personal shots) without knowing all I/we do is going to strike a cord. Maybe someday we can sit down have a beer and I can tell you all we do here in trying to migrate and ancient site into modern day if you cared to hear. Until then - making blanket statements like you did, will strike a cord.

Glenn: I'm going to save you a few seconds of time and retire from any forum posting, it's not something I usually do or enjoy anyway and now I see it's also counter productive for both of us... Mike

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Sounds good Mike - I appreciate your passion for the site and I know its coming from the right spot. What you may or may not know is that a lot of work (time and effort) has gone into updating v1 which was an antique by all accounts - into something that can be supported by modern day workforce. As you can imagine its disappointing to hear people being unhappy with it. Many take shots without giving it a chance or even trying to upload, but I know you have - so for that I thank you. What people don't see is that many improvements are behind the curtain tied to efforts to help with site speed, not necessarily adding functions which is what most users are on the lookout for. Speed is our primary need - but our list is long.

 

Traffic, revenue, features, functions all roll up to me. I'm SEO, Advertising Director, Community Manager and by default Scrum Master plus anything else that might be needed. If I could code the site - I would. I work 12 hours a day and I'm here to see it through. Some like me, some don't - its OK although I prefer to be liked (who doesn't). In terms of ego, na....I gave that up when I got married. What I do have is passion. Passion is what drives this site - and this is what we have that in common.

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Glenn, can you share any insight into prospects for continued survival of the site? I know the lights have to stay on, and that depends on certain performance parameters. Traffic and revenue (which is probably related (?)) are bound to be foremost. How are things looking? I've done my share of bitching, but things are looking way better from my perspective than they were at first.
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.... "until then - making blanket statements like you did, will strike a c[h]ord".

 

Enough chords are being struck in these columns to write a symphony. Let's just say that we are all on the same side and a little more understanding and encouragement is needed towards those that are trying to make this work.

 

There is no point in being critical, whereas there is one in highlighting the difficulties we encounter and letting the administrators decide what is needed and when. Some of the suggestions I have seen seem weird to me, others totally superfluous, as no doubt some of my ideas would also to others. They cannot please everyone at all times, but I have yet to see a genuine concern expressed that was not taken up and dealt with or placed in the queue for later.

 

Come on folks, a little more cool and patience … and how about a smile from time to time too.

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It is a big, wide competitive world out there. Go to DP Review or Fred Miranda to see two sites that are easier to use. I can get to forums easier in Luminous landscape. I have been a devotee of photonet for over ten years. As a former senior executive I know better than to get into defensive squabbles with the paying customers. Fix the site problems or die of non-competitive entropy. The old site was easier to use. Face fact not customers.
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