Photo.Net's Future

[Julie H]

...........

... and you, John Stewart 1, would like to know how you can help make photo.net better? How you can help make it into an open and welcoming community tolerant and accepting of diverse points of view and ways of enjoying all kinds of photography? That will make those who are here want to stay and those who are new want to join?

 

Thanks for asking! Here's what you can do:

 

1. make more of an effort to contribute more good content to the site
   
2. make more of an effort to support those who are already contributing good and useful content to the site
   
3. report specific features or bugs that you think are harmful to the site to this forum
   

 

.............

[Sandy Vongries]

One tries to be supportive, Julie, but unless I'm mistaken, it is a business not a commune. A lot of us are paying customers.

[michaellinder]

One tries to be supportive, Julie, but unless I'm mistaken, it is a business not a commune. A lot of us are paying customers.

 

Quite right, Sandy. However, as I remember from the original site, there was an esprit de corps among the membership and members tried to contribute pretty much what Julie listed. Since my last communication with Glenn, I feel that we need to try our best to maintain that attitude.

[Sandy Vongries]

As Wavy Gravy said at Woodstock -- "There's always a little heaven in a disaster area." Not so sure, and a lot of the folks I liked have gone dark or left.

Esprit de corps requires LEADERSHIP -- that was then, this is now, and the corps is diminished.

I do what I can.

[wogears]

...........

... and you, John Stewart 1, would like to know how you can help make photo.net better? How you can help make it into an open and welcoming community tolerant and accepting of diverse points of view and ways of enjoying all kinds of photography? That will make those who are here want to stay and those who are new want to join?

 

Thanks for asking! Here's what you can do:

 

1. make more of an effort to contribute more good content to the site
   
2. make more of an effort to support those who are already contributing good and useful content to the site
   
3. report specific features or bugs that you think are harmful to the site to this forum
   

 

.............

I do post critiques and comments, but it's frustrating to do so. You find a photo you like. You click it. It then says "Click Photo". I just DID that. Then I have to click "View Comment" to see the EXIF, which may help me determine what is right or wrong. Then I comment. Now I have to click "Go Back", which takes me to some place it thinks I should be, rather than BACK, which means WHERE I WAS.

 

Oh yes, and after I wrote the above, I had to scroll to the top of the page to be sure I wasn't randomly logged out, because if I was, and I clicked "Sign In", I would be taken to my home page, and lose this post.

[Wouter Willemse]

The mere fact that people express discontent with how this site is going, is hardly a reason to berate them and tell them to do more. Many of us put in a fair effort in this site, sharing photos, experience, critiques etc., and are nonetheless leaving this site, already have left or are a lot less involved than before. Telling others they need to contribute more (probably without even knowing what that member contributed) is condescending, and is more likely to drive people away from the community, rather than back in.

 

Part of the deline already happened before the re-design happened: long threads from before the p.net v2.0 days on how this site should modernise, become more attractive and play its strengths better. The redesign instead effectively killed one of those strengths (critiques - apparently it's still possible, but visibility of the feature is beyond poor and ease of use is lacking). The decreasing partecipation also means the forums become much more of a rinse-and-repeat business, with always the same replies from the same people (I am guilty as charged on this count). This isn't caused by the redesign, but was a process already well underway before. Either way, 2 key areas where the community could improve the experience are degraded. People with much more contribution than any of us (in this thread) have left and are no longer contributing. One should wonder why, but it seems a bit too easy to blame it on insufficient contribution.

In addition, all other content sections, like the Learning section, are poorly maintained, yielding no additional content to drive new people in the community. The beginner's forum used to be lively with a quick turnaround in threads. Now it's stagnant. That is very telling.

 

The real problem is still that there are too little new people coming in and sticking around. This site used to have additional value thanks to critiques, thanks to a wide community of people getting involved and sharing. With that added value gone, there reasons to stick around are eroding; let alone be attractive to a newcomer. And whether one likes it or not, for an online community, a lack of new people joining is a lethal thing.