The Future of Photo.net

[invisibleflash]

I hope the basic forum structure is maintained. It is the one thing about P.net that is different from places like Flickr and some of the other sites and is really the heart and soul of photo.net. I don't come to P.net to see photographs except as we share in the various forums. I tend to find sites like Flickr just contain a lot more good photography generally. Maybe you can change that.

 

Some of the big issues I've seen is that management and the tech department have been incredibly opaque. Most inquiries go un-responded to. I've known some of the past administrators that basically left in frustration because they themselves could not get responses from the operators or the techs and felt that basically the owners had abandoned the site and it was just running itself. It's not always the case, but it has been a nagging problem here for years.

As others have said, this has not been the ideal platform for photo sharing, but it is the best I've seen for discussing various aspects of cameras and some have made a real effort to promote discussion of photography beyond the technical aspects. But I think it's a real gem that you can go to a classic camera forum or other such forums here and people have lots of invaluable and I find interesting information about techniques and jurassic technology of photography that you won't find on Flickr or Instagram etc., and that should be preserved and supported, lest they disappear entirely. I think it really makes Photo.net unique. Though there are sites that specialize in such things, it's a real service to have a general site that is broad topic.

I do think it might be useful to have established professional photographers especially known people from the likes of Magnum or other well known photographers, to do articles or give input. But that's probably not so easily done.

 

Lastly, I'm glad you are talking about transparency. I'm hoping whatever platform changes you are planning to make you share how they will look and function before you implement them. I'm not saying that we users should dictate to the site owners how they should run their site, but some of us have been here a long time, and you might be interested on what people think about planned changes.

Thanks for starting this conversation.

 

I like everything as is.

 

Flickr banned me years ago.

 

FB banned me many times and gave up on them.

Tumblr shut down all 48 of my websites in 2019...deleted it all.

 

Bans from Peta Pixel, YouTube, Vimeo, tons of forums and on and on.

 

...but I seem to do OK here.

 

 

Just like I archive SPAM...I archive the bans!

 

 

 

Anyway, if the forum stays great! And if not, well I was happy to be on it while it was alive.

 

It is always nice to have a home and community.

[samstevens]

LINK

[JDMvW]

Flaws and all, there's really no substitute for Photo.net

 

If it is ever going to be 'tanked' please give us warning so we can download (e.g., by printing to pdf) our own posts and others of interest

[JDMvW]

For each forum here create a group elsewhere (Flickr, Facebook, etc)

 

I am NOT on Facebook, Flickr or any other such "etc."

 

[Niels - NHSN]

I have been active on Pnet since 1997 and although I also participate on 4 other photo themed forums, I aways feel this place has the more civil discussions and more thoughtful contributions - although activity is obviously much lower now than the early years.

 

I notice that the No Words threads are very popular, and although I don't participate much in those, it makes me think that they contribute a lot to the community.

Exposing yourself and showing your work is an act of confidence and strengthens the civil nature of this community - we get to know each other on a different level, I think.

It is supported by the "no words" format where sneaky cheap shots and brainless appraisal in not encouraged - as is the case on many SO-ME platforms.

As others have said, the knowledge buried in this site is vast and not least valuable as especially film photography is seeing a revival among people who didn't grow up with analogue photography.

 

What would I like the future to bring?

A more robust and functional UI. Too many small and big things are broken.

Maintenance of the knowledge in the archives.

As a photographer I am looking for a place where I can present a selection of my work to the public in a clean uncluttered manner (not a place to dump all my SD cards) and I don't mind paying for the possibility to present my things without ads.

I don't want to pay for unlimited storage or photo sales functionality or whatever. I just want a presentable place where I can show my selected work and decide if I want people to engage with the work or not. In the current photo hosting landscape, I don't think any of the providers offers something simple and reasonably priced - it would be nice if I could use photo.net for that.

 

I will hope you don't look at Facebook, Instagram etc. for inspiration - they are emotionally invasive and toxic, and their approach would ruin what actually works here.

[samstevens]

So, if Pnet goes pear shape what will you do?

Exercise more. ;)

 

Or watch more Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Showtime, and HBO,

[hjoseph7]

Thanks.

 

When the site was redesigned a number of years ago, the gallery side took a big hit, so our portfolios and mechanisms for critique and interaction have suffered terribly ... to the point where I haven't bothered updating my portfolio in a while and rarely try to critique. It used to be that it was easy to communicate to others about their photos. If I critiqued someone's photo and they then responded to my critique, I would be notified of their response. Many great photographic dialogues used to ensue. That doesn't happen.

 

Also there's little interaction between the forum and the gallery side of the site. I go to a member's portfolio and their screen name is often different from the one they have in the forums. If I find a portfolio I like, and want to send a PM to that photographer, keying in the name I see on the portfolio very often doesn't get me anywhere since their name for the PM system is what their forum name is.

 

Those are just a couple of things. My best advice to you is this. Start a portfolio of your own and try to participate both as a submitter and as a critic, with intention of interactivity with other photographers as your goal. Take a couple of months at least to do this before redesigning anything so you get a good feel for what features you'd find helpful and what features are currently lacking.

 

Another way to gain insight is to navigate the site carefully, noting all the out of date instructions and features that no longer work, such as Photo of the Day and Week. Note how many "benefits" of premium membership are no longer viable, and how many dead ends you encounter with links sending you to the wrong place or nowhere at all, for instance trying to email management. Try getting email notifications. Most if not all don't work.

 

I think the best way for management to move forward is to be part of the community, in order to best understand it and know the ins and outs. When it used to be like that, things ran much more smoothly, especially if tech personnel were readily available.

I agree, the redesign of the wild and wacky, but extremely popular Gallery sucked the life out of this Forum. That and all the technical problems encountered during the migration of the new site which maybe scared a lot of Users...

[Niels - NHSN]

Exercise more. ;)

I was told pear-shaped is much better than apple-shaped - no need to panic and go to those extremes ;-)

[AlanKlein]

Develop a zero-tolerance policy for personal attacks. And yes, it happens all the time by certain individuals.

+1

[AlanKlein]

Basically, there is.

 

 

 

Who and when? Examples please.

 

Moderators don't read everything published on PN.

 

All ad hominem attacks I have seen published, or which have been reported to me, have been dealt with directly.

 

I reckon that's the same protocol followed by all the other Moderators.

 

WW

Thank you.

[michaellinder]

Develop a zero-tolerance policy for personal attacks. And yes, it happens all the time by certain individuals.

 

Indeed, personal attacks on a PN member should never be tolerated. Fortunately I honestly can say that I've never encountered them. This doesn't mean they don't happen.

[michaellinder]

I, for one, abhor social media. To me, the site managers introducing "likes" when it comes to an image posted for critique is an unwelcome move in that direction. I also miss several of the features that weren't brought over to PN2 - e.g: photo of the month.editor's picks, and photo contests.

[michaellinder]

Welcome. A chief c0mplaint over the years has been a lack of communication from management, especially when the site goes down. Volunteer moderators have tried to do the best they can, but it often falls far behind what I see on other forums .Many former participants, including myself have stopped our financial contributions, because we failed to see needed attention to the site. Having said that, and I'm sure others who are more active than me, will weigh in, I generally review the posts on a daily basis and occasionally contribute if there is something worthwhile I can add to a conversation, or photo topic. At one time the site had a number of toxic contributors, but most of that has gone by the wayside..

 

A big DITTO!

[michaellinder]

Thankfully, one of our more fabulous (and humble) members has been facilitating a POTW thread that is member devised and run. And thanks for your regular participation, by the way. That having been said, it would be nice if it could once again come under the auspices of that special feature that used to give it more visibility and a little extra oomph. Actually, several members have stepped up and tried to pursue threads and forums of community interest, such as weekly-themed No Words and Street and Doc threads. But whatever the new administration can do to bolster these and give them more prominence on the site would certainly be welcome.

Hi MJ, P.net is important to me and I would be more than sad to see it go. I know a lot of people have stopped paying the subscription for very valid reasons due to the lack of support the site has been getting for many years. I have chosen to keep paying in the hope that some support might help keep things going. This would be a good time to offer a thankyou to the sterling work of the moderators. P.net is unique in the fact that is a place to hang-out with people who's names you recognise and who's views you can accept or disagree with in the knowledge that they will be around again tomorrow. You must do what do what is needed to keep your bosses happy but please don't (or let them) throw the baby away with the bathwater. BR GC.

 

Amen . . .

[michaellinder]

Ultimately, I'm looking for substance over form. Having been a long term member, I really miss the give and take that often occurred in critiquing images. There still are several other members who regularly critiqued my images; in PN1, a member was limited to posting no more than 2 images for critique per day. If current management brings this feature back, I get the feeling that the critiquing process not only might become more popular; it also might become more meaningful. There still is one such member who not only helped me become a better photographer but also taught that authentic cliques were not for the faint of heart. You know who you are.

[JDMvW]

So, if Pnet goes pear shape what will you do?

 

There are a few similar sites, but they are less kindly to my style of posting and don't favor things like my little "essays" and reminiscences.

 

More adhd and narcissism

[Tony Parsons]

Might this be one of those instances where, instead of trying to improve and enhance the existing site (which I am sure many would suggest needs doing), a completely new approach is needed and thoroughly tested before (hopefully seamlessly) being rolled out to replace the current version ? I am sure many members would be only too happy to provide input (as indeed, many have already) as to how they would like to see the site altered for the future - maybe they could be persuaded to act as Beta testers for the new Photo.net ? Having said this, the current version seems to work well enough for my (admittedly limited) needs.

[samstevens]

I was just reminded by another of many such posts in Site Help that there is currently no way for a mamber to close their account. We understand that our posts are her for Internet eternity and can delete photos in our galleries, but people understandably still want to be able to close their account so it’s no longer active. Right now, they have to publicly request their account be closed, met with a moderator response that the only mechanism in place is to ban them. The ridiculousness of both the process and outcome is, hopefully, obvious. A fix to the situation with a clear way to close an account in a more respectable manner would be a welcome feature.

[Allen Herbert]

[c_watson1]

PN's become a ghost ship.

[Sandy Vongries]

I was just reminded by another of many such posts in Site Help that there is currently no way for a mamber to close their account. We understand that our posts are her for Internet eternity and can delete photos in our galleries, but people understandably still want to be able to close their account so it’s no longer active. Right now, they have to publicly request their account be closed, met with a moderator response that the only mechanism in place is to ban them. The ridiculousness of both the process and outcome is, hopefully, obvious. A fix to the situation with a clear way to close an account in a more respectable manner would be a welcome feature.

Factually, no, though it is an awkward method thought up by the remaining moderators, nothing about it needs to be public. It can, and has been done entirely privately on quite a few occasions through Conversations, I would / will welcome a better method when it becomes available, Without the improvisation nothing else can happen till there is another tool for the job, and previous requests would have remained open.

[samstevens]

Factually, no, though it is an awkward method thought up by the remaining moderators, nothing about it needs to be public. It can, and has been done entirely privately on quite a few occasions through Conversations, I would / will welcome a better method when it becomes available, Without the improvisation nothing else can happen till there is another tool for the job, and previous requests would have remained open.

Awfully sorry I wasn’t more factually explicit, so thanks for filling in the blanks. My main point was to ask for a better method, and you seem to suggest that you’d welcome a better message, so I’m happy to have brought the subject up. While, as you rightly note, many private conversations have taken care of things, it’s also painfully obvious that those using the public forum might not have known who to contact privately and how, so they did it publicly, as the many public requests would seem to indicate.

[arthur_gottschalk]

I must say I preferred PN the way it was before the revamp. Much more action back then, and more specific information. And I do think the mentally ill should be banned.

[samstevens]

[Don't want to repeat what was said.]

Hmmm. Some of the most wonderful people in my life have mental illnesses. I would welcome any and all of them here with open arms and hope that a lot of us would.

 

denis

[inoneeye]

Aurthur's comment reflects the sort of nastiness that a few have told me keeps them away from PN - understandably. It's thoughtless & humorless at best.

It is ironic for this thread discussing how to move ahead for a better PN.

 

If As a personal attack I crossed a line with this comment, ... please remove it.