Will personal albums ever return?

[sjmurray]

Is  there a plan to re-establish our personal albums?  I have over 800 images which are now not in their assigned albums. 

[Sandy Vongries]

Best info I have is that we do not have an Administrator at the moment.  Until we do, and the individual is up to speed on the site and the new platform software, we are where we are now. Sorry!

[John Peri]

If and when it happens, we will then have to retrace our steps and place in the appropriate files all the work that we have added since the last change ... I wonder where they will be

[Sandy Vongries]

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
- Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

 

[samstevens]

My advice to all is not to spend too much time or expend too much energy on a PN gallery, even if the ability does come back. Given the last decade's experience, it will not be time well spent or a good investment. Pick a more established, more coherently run entity for showcasing your photos. Use PN for what it offers and consider it temporary and vulnerable.

[Sandy Vongries]

Frankly, I stopped adding to my Gallery during one of the previous relaunches and have always had all my images saved in two other devices.  I have to agree on expending time and energy until conditions have improved.

[John Peri]

With some comments, I cannot help thinking of Ukraine. In the long run, it's always worth fighting for a good cause.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas to all. 

[chris888]

I just look at my photos after many years, and realised the albums are gone. I stopped upoading after I was prevented from uploading without commenting. Some people are better at commenting and has more experience and words than me. I hope albums option returns. I changed my profile pic to this photo I enjoyed making.......have a good 2023 to all.

[John Peri]

Chris888, photography is a visual art. It speaks for itself, and if it doesn't, then you have nothing to say.

[Phil_Light]

Got to love those albums!

[Brian R.]

On 12/22/2022 at 1:37 PM, samstevens said:

... Pick a more established, more coherently run entity for showcasing your photos. ...

@samstevens Recommendations?

[samstevens]

11 hours ago, Brian R. said:

@samstevens Recommendations?

If you browse through recent threads in Site Help and Casual, you'll find some recommendations. Or start a new thread and ask the question. Or google. I'm not an expert so wouldn't offer a solution.

[Brian R.]

29 minutes ago, samstevens said:

If you browse through recent threads in Site Help and Casual, you'll find some recommendations. Or start a new thread and ask the question. Or google. I'm not an expert so wouldn't offer a solution.

You seemed to have a lead on some options so I thought I'd ask, thanks for your response.

[samstevens]

4 minutes ago, Brian R. said:

You seemed to have a lead on some options so I thought I'd ask, thanks for your response.

The only other site I have a little experience with, but not enough to recommend or not recommend, is Flickr. I know that many photographers who’ve left PN use it and some who remain here use it as well. They’ve been around a while and seem stable. 

[WJT]

There seems to be new activity with regard to album creation. For one, the Members Album category in the Gallery is now unlocked! Also, there appears to be a new administrator listed under Staff.

[Sanford]

I see no evidence that anything has changed.

[WJT]

14 hours ago, Sanford said:

I see no evidence that anything has changed.

Really? Then you're not looking.

[samstevens]

One thing I notice that's changed is that I no longer have the opportunity to EDIT my posts. I can still DELETE them, but the EDIT function, at least for me and at least for the moment, is gone. And I've lost the ability to register laughter, puzzlement, or sadness with reaction emojis. Instead, I'm limited to LIKE, YES, ON POINT, VERY NICE (not sure what the differences are among those, lol), and EXCELLENT. At this point, it's not clear to me whether some of the changes are intentional or just caused by accidents of tweaking.  It's certainly not clear that these two changes are the kind of "improvement" a lot of people were hoping for. Nevertheless, it's all terribly mysterious and exciting! I've avoided galleries so can't comment on changes over there but sounds like something's afoot. I'm sure I'll be hearing more on this and then some.

[Sandy Vongries]

I have been advised that a variety of changes have been made, the majority of what can be done has been accomplished.  It is a work in process with details and tweaks remaining.  There are some desirable things which cannot be delivered due to the nature of the platform.  If like Sam, you would report actual experiences vs. previous conditions or problems, I will be able to provide feedback on the work.  Please read the thread.  If your particular situation has been reported, please just add a "Like".

Thanks!

[mikemorrellNL]

I still have to explore all the changes made. For me, the ability to create personal albums under the category 'Member Albums' makes a huge difference! So now we have two different categories of 'Albums':

- 'Public Albums' a.k.a. 'Gallery Categories' set up by admins, to which all members can post images and which can be viewed by all members

- Personal Albums in the Category 'Member Albums', for which the creator (member) determines who can add photos and who can view them

As far as I can see, there are (as yet?) still some limitations w.r.t  Personal Albums:

- there are (as yet) no member functions though which they move/share their existing images into their Personal Albums

- the 'Manage (Personal) Album' functions are limited to 'Report, Hide  or Delete'; and do not, for example, editing of access permissions, renaming or re-ordering of photos

- (as I expected) Invision Community does not support 'hierarchies' of Albums; So if any member want to create multiple 'Personal Albums', these will all be on the same hierarchical level under 'Member Galleries'

Given the current limitations, I suggest we agree some 'guidelines' for naming 'Personal Albums' on creation. So that (truly) Personal Albums can be identified with the member who created them. And also to avoid confusion between 'Public' and 'Personal' Albums with the same name. Unfortunately 'renaming' Personal Albums is currently not an available option.

Just as an example, I could create a couple of 'Personal Albums'. But I suggest prefacing the Album name with your name. So in my case (for example)

- Mike Morrell (Street)

- Mike Morrell (Landscape)

- Mike Morrell (Portrait)

In practice, I only intend to post 20-50 photos under 1 'Mike Morrell' Personal Album and certainly not hundreds of photos!

A question to @Sandy Vongries:  After many months of 'stalemate', I'm pleased that some changes are happening (and 'work' is being done that could only be made with 'Admin' privileges.  So on the positive side, somebody, somewhere - with Admin privileges - has taken the trouble to make some some changes to the PN configuration of Invision Community.  We can argue amongst ourselves whether specific changes are for the better or worse. But the fact that some attention has been paid is my main positive take-away. If you are in contact with someone who has 'advised you' of the changes and the 'work being done', perhaps you could discuss with them the possibility (and risks) of appointing other qualified 'Admins'.

My personal opinion is that that:

a) I understand the Invision community platform (both in terms of its benefits and limitations) for PN

b) From experience (like other PN members) , I understand that platform migration is all about finding the best 'fit' between the 'old platform' (and members' hopes and expectations) and the 'new platform'. But always within limited budget, resource and time constraints.

c) PN has currently little or no income. Even to cover operating costs, let alone investment. My guess is that our commercial 'spin-off' for courses, workshops, etc. is pretty much non-existent. So PN is IMHO just a cost burden and it generates neither direct nor indirect income. And somehow, members hope that it will continue! So @Sandy Vongries, my suggestion is that you (or others nominated by you) discuss with your 'advisers' how PN might become at least a financially self-sufficient forum.

FWIW, my personal opinion is that a committee of elected PN-members should negotiate a 'break' (URL, Hosting) with its owners, set up a not-for-profit organisation and manage its finances through subscriptions. This is IHMO always preferable to continually being dependent on waiting on 'the owners'.

IMHO, PN is - for the vast majority of (younger) digital photographers - still a 'backwater'. Google Analytics (which I have no access to) should show the number of 'returning' vs 'new' visitors, how they found PN, their 'visit' behavior and their demographics. So if PN is to continues to be 'sustainable', then IMHO we need to become less dependent on 'owners' and basically fund PN ourselves.

OK, rant over 😉

21 hours ago, Sandy Vongries said:

I have been advised that a variety of changes have been made, the majority of what can be done has been accomplished.  It is a work in process with details and tweaks remaining.  There are some desirable things which cannot be delivered due to the nature of the platform.  If like Sam, you would report actual experiences vs. previous conditions or problems, I will be able to provide feedback on the work.  Please read the thread.  If your particular situation has been reported, please just add a "Like".

Thanks!

 

[Sandy Vongries]

7 minutes ago, mikemorrellNL said:

I still have to explore all the changes made. For me, the ability to create personal albums under the category 'Member Albums' makes a huge difference! So now we have two different categories of 'Albums':

- 'Public Albums' a.k.a. 'Gallery Categories' set up by admins, to which all members can post images and which can be viewed by all members

- Personal Albums in the Category 'Member Albums', for which the creator (member) determines who can add photos and who can view them

As far as I can see, there are (as yet?) still some limitations w.r.t  Personal Albums:

- there are (as yet) no member functions though which they move/share their existing images into their Personal Albums

- the 'Manage (Personal) Album' functions are limited to 'Report, Hide  or Delete'; and do not, for example, editing of access permissions, renaming or re-ordering of photos

- (as I expected) Invision Community does not support 'hierarchies' of Albums; So if any member want to create multiple 'Personal Albums', these will all be on the same hierarchical level under 'Member Galleries'

Given the current limitations, I suggest we agree some 'guidelines' for naming 'Personal Albums' on creation. So that (truly) Personal Albums can be identified with the member who created them. And also to avoid confusion between 'Public' and 'Personal' Albums with the same name. Unfortunately 'renaming' Personal Albums is currently not an available option.

Just as an example, I could create a couple of 'Personal Albums'. But I suggest prefacing the Album name with your name. So in my case (for example)

- Mike Morrell (Street)

- Mike Morrell (Landscape)

- Mike Morrell (Portrait)

In practice, I only intend to post 20-50 photos under 1 'Mike Morrell' Personal Album and certainly not hundreds of photos!

A question to @Sandy Vongries:  After many months of 'stalemate', I'm pleased that some changes are happening (and 'work' is being done that could only be made with 'Admin' privileges.  So on the positive side, somebody, somewhere - with Admin privileges - has taken the trouble to make some some changes to the PN configuration of Invision Community.  We can argue amongst ourselves whether specific changes are for the better or worse. But the fact that some attention has been paid is my main positive take-away. If you are in contact with someone who has 'advised you' of the changes and the 'work being done', perhaps you could discuss with them the possibility (and risks) of appointing other qualified 'Admins'.

My personal opinion is that that:

a) I understand the Invision community platform (both in terms of its benefits and limitations) for PN

b) From experience (like other PN members) , I understand that platform migration is all about finding the best 'fit' between the 'old platform' (and members' hopes and expectations) and the 'new platform'. But always within limited budget, resource and time constraints.

c) PN has currently little or no income. Even to cover operating costs, let alone investment. My guess is that our commercial 'spin-off' for courses, workshops, etc. is pretty much non-existent. So PN is IMHO just a cost burden and it generates neither direct nor indirect income. And somehow, members hope that it will continue! So @Sandy Vongries, my suggestion is that you (or others nominated by you) discuss with your 'advisers' how PN might become at least a financially self-sufficient forum.

FWIW, my personal opinion is that a committee of elected PN-members should negotiate a 'break' (URL, Hosting) with its owners, set up a not-for-profit organisation and manage its finances through subscriptions. This is IHMO always preferable to continually being dependent on waiting on 'the owners'.

IMHO, PN is - for the vast majority of (younger) digital photographers - still a 'backwater'. Google Analytics (which I have no access to) should show the number of 'returning' vs 'new' visitors, how they found PN, their 'visit' behavior and their demographics. So if PN is to continues to be 'sustainable', then IMHO we need to become less dependent on 'owners' and basically fund PN ourselves.

OK, rant over 😉

 

Thanks for your input, it will be passed on.  Lets first figure out and wring out the new features available.   IMHO Walk first, then skip, jog, etc. 

[Sanford]

I can find nearly 300 pages of my "Content". Here's the problem, when I click on a photo to see a larger version of that photo and the click on the left or right arrows on THAT photo, eventually it opens someone else's photo.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Sanford

[samstevens]

3 minutes ago, Sanford said:

when I click on a photo to see a larger version of that photo and the click on the left or right arrows on THAT photo, eventually it opens someone else's photo.

We are the world. 

[Sandy Vongries]

7 minutes ago, Sanford said:

I can find nearly 300 pages of my "Content". Here's the problem, when I click on a photo to see a larger version of that photo and the click on the left or right arrows on THAT photo, eventually it opens someone else's photo.

Double click your Avatar, select Images, then large previews and scroll down or select a particular page.  Will see what I can find out about the Arrow.

[WJT]

2 hours ago, Sanford said:

I can find nearly 300 pages of my "Content". Here's the problem, when I click on a photo to see a larger version of that photo and the click on the left or right arrows on THAT photo, eventually it opens someone else's photo.

Yes, this is true. Your photos must be in an album for the arrows to function as you expect. So, create an album and put your photos in it; the arrows will maintain the view within that album. I agree that this is not an ideal method but it is what it is (for now).