Visibility of No Words Category

[peter_daalder]

<p>I've just posted an image in a No Words forum thread under the theme title of "Reflections".<br>

However, I've since discovered that the category was "Street Photography".<br>

My mistake, of course! I didn't pay enough attention whilst selecting my file to upload.<br>

Is there any (easy) way of including the <strong>category</strong> on the actual No Words thread pages?<br>

Done a search of the PN help forum, but could not find an answer for this one.</p>

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[AJHingel]

<p>You rate right that the category only shows when you "post a photo" on the No Words forum. I agree with you that it would be better if one also sees the category when opening the thread. It could be shown between brackets after the title of the thread.</p>

[colin carron]

<p>Yes, that 'category' quirk is odd. I wonder whether doing away with categories altogether would be the easiest solution as many of them are rather exclusive. For example 'Canon EOS' or 'Nikon' etc. I cannot imagine how it can possibly add to any thread to restrict it to any particular make of camera. I imagine it grew out of the existing forum headings. And just leave it to the OP to specify what theme they want when they start the thread.</p>

[WJT]

<p>That's a good point Colin, but in many cases I could see where retaining the categories helps one to be somewhat more selective in their posting. It also helps in doing searches. It is sort of a double edged sword. I will bring this to the attention of the programming staff. Regards.</p>

[WJT]

<p>Update: I activated the visibility of the Theme's associated Category. I am open to opinions on this. Regards.</p>

[peter_daalder]

<p>Great job, Walter! Thanks very much!<br /><br /> It is a great improvement to <a href="../no-words-forum/" target="blank">this page</a> and will definitely encourage me to be more careful when selecting a No Words thread to respond to.<br>

I assume that the threads which are preceded by a colon : are simply those where the OP made no selection from the category drop down menu. <br /><br /> Cheers.</p>

[AJHingel]

<p>Great job. Thanks.<br>

I would prefer the categories behind the theme, in brackets, but anyway it is an clear improvement IMO.</p>

[WJT]

<p>Hi Peter and Anders. Yes, that is correct. Categories are not forced on the poster when the thread is created, so if one has not been selected it will remain in category limbo (uncategorized). When originating a thread it is a very good idea to select a category if it is applicable to the subject. For one thing, a category keeps the thread more focused on the subject, and it should also help with searches. Remember, we have over four million images in the database now!</p>

<p><br />Categories in the No Words Forum were always active, at least as long as I am familiar with the forum. They just were not very noticeable. When responding to a thread some people, including myself, may not have noticed that a thread had been categorized by the OP, the result being a response that was not quite in-line with the OP's subject. This should help in that area.</p>

<p><br />The ability to switch-on category visibility was previously coded into the software; I did nothing except to toggle it on. Doing this slightly alters the familiar look of the No Words home page and will take a moment or two to acclimate oneself. I ask members to be patient. Hopefully a more elegant solution can be found. Regards.</p>

[jsc]

<p>I fixed the code that was supposed to insert the category into the "breadcrumb" navigation trail at the top as well.</p>

[AJHingel]

<p>Walter and Jin, thanks for the good efforts. No Words forum is maybe one of the most creative places on PN. Something further could be build on it: A monthly elves choice of the best theme and the best photos of that theme to be put on the PN front page - for example.</p>

[WJT]

<p><strong>Jin</strong>...many thanks! <strong>Anders</strong>, hmmm...a decision for something like that would be well beyond my pay-grade, but I can say the idea does have merit. Regards.</p>

[gordonjb]

One of the great things about the no word forum is the fact that it is not a popularity contest PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not turn it into one.

[HuskyMason1]

<p>Having the category in front of the theme confuses the theme...it could be clearer if the theme was listed first and the category was second...thanks for your efforts</p>

[WJT]

<p><strong>Gordon</strong>, No Words will not be a contest, popularity or otherwise, as long as I am the moderator. I view the forum as a type of discussion not a competition. I think what Anders is suggesting is something more akin to the POW, which if carefully approached, could be worthwhile. <br /> <strong>Michael</strong>, this has already been mentioned. I would prefer to have the category as a suffix rather than a prefix to the theme, unfortunately the software does not presently allow for that. It is important, in any case, that the category the creator of the thread selects be fairly visible, previously it was not.</p>

<p>There are some issues on this site that currently are taking precedence over this problem, so the people that could make this change are pretty much tied-up for the moment. Be patient, maybe we can work it out. Regards.</p>

[AJHingel]

<p>I agree Gordon that we have enough competition around for comfort.<br>

What I suggested is only to profit from the very good no words threads and the many, many creative contribution and to give them more visibility. <br>

What the no words forum promotes as approach to photography is to develop a broad portfolio covering many themes and categories of photos, which I think is positive for most photographers here on PN.<br>

Let is stay in the possible-improvements-box of PN until someone finds time to work on it. </p>

[joshroot]

<p><strong>The idea of giving some NW threads more attention via the home page or some such thing:</strong></p>

<p>Not a bad idea in my book, but I'm not going to be able to work on it right now.</p>

<p><strong>Moving around the category display as a suffix vs prefix:</strong></p>

<p>Also nothing wrong with that, but it's going to have to wait until some day in the future as it's not the kind of thing that I can pull people off of other projects to address.</p>

<p><strong>Changes to the site in general:</strong></p>

<p>It's frustrating to have to triage all the time. But that's life. We all have to do it in one form or another every day. The slow economy is making that worse than normal for most of us (including businesses like PN). But I'm aiming for slow and steady. So if Walter or any of you can keep it in the back of your heads and bring it up again in a few months, maybe we can come up with something. My apologies and my appreciation for your patience, but that's where we are at.</p>

[AJHingel]

<p>Thanks Josh. Patience we all have, I'm sure. Meanwhile we will go out shooting.</p>

[WJT]

<p><strong>Josh</strong>, many thanks for taking the time to respond here. I do know how busy you are! Regards.</p>

[peter_daalder]

<p>Thanks for all your time and efforts, Jin and Josh!<br>

I often think that you should still display this quaint PN icon, next to your names.</p>

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[JDMvW]

<p>On the whole an improvement, I think. There was no way that I was going to edit a picture for posting, and then quit because the subcategory was wrong. If we can see it up front, different story.</p>

[Mike Marcotte]

<p>I really enjoyed this forum, I don't think it was broken, I don't think it needs fixing.</p>

[WJT]

<p>Hi <strong>Mike</strong>. The No Words forum is essentially the same forum that you have been contributing to; the only change is an attempt to keep the threads on-topic. Most threads in NWF are started with the original poster specifying a category to the theme. This has been like this for a long, long time. In some cases, the themes are unavoidably left uncategorized because a suitable category does not exist in the selection menu. The problem that was occurring was that, now and then, a responder to a thread did not notice the original poster's desire to keep the thread within a category. I fell into the same trap myself more than once!</p>

<p>An example of this can be seen in the <a href="../no-words-forum/00X7vt">Solitude thread</a>. You yourself contributed to this thread. The category for this thread was <strong>People</strong>. A couple of responders (not you) did not notice that and posted somewhat off-topic images. They were fine images and nothing was wrong with them, but they depicted a solitary state of a non-human condition, contrary to the original poster's intent. This is the problem that I am trying to correct, with the goal being to keep the threads true to the original poster's theme.</p>

<p>It goes without saying that I welcome your posts in NWF. If what I have done lessens your enjoyment of the forum I can only ask that you be patient and try to understand the problem. Regards.</p>

[WJT]

<p>Just a little more background information. Here is a link to a <a href="00Wq4v">previous thread </a>on this subject. This was written in the interim of Jim Kazan's leaving and my coming on board as NWF moderator.</p>

[gordonjb]

<p>I am with Mike on this one. I think James had it right regarding the categories and the spirit of the NW forum. </p>

<p> Enforcing more rules and making it much harder to navigate the NW forum by putting the categories in front of the subjects are prime example of fixing what was never broken while sucking all the fun out of what used to be the last place at Pn that was fun. We were better off without a moderator.</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>The presumed benefit of the categories is to keep threads "on-topic". </p>

<p>However, the enormous downside of enforcing categories is that it inhibits flexibility of interpretation of the title. Often, this added (a) a different take on the subject, (b) insight into the mind of the person or people who responded with a alternate interpretation, and © often a bit of photographic humor / play-on-words. To me, these aspects of NW were its strongest appeal. IMHO, removing or minimizing them by enforcing categories will (to use someone else's phrase) suck a good of the blood out of that forum. </p>

<p>That being said, I've never had the task of moderating the forum, so I don't know for sure what fraction of the posts were inappropriate and done with malicious intent rather than for the good reasons that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. However, I monitor that forum several times per day and rarely see a posting which is intentionally disruptive, malicious, or utterly clueless.</p>

<p>I'm with Gordon and Mike on this: I don't think it was broken and thus, doesn't need to be "fixed". Lex (in the thread cited above) also seems to favor ignoring categories.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

<p>PS - I tempted to launch my rant again on the utter futility of attempting to categorize photos vs the multi-dimensional description that keywords provide, but suffice it to say that, IMHO, comments along these lines would fit in as nicely here as in the recent discussion about categories in other parts of photo.net.</p>