Tony Rowlett

I've come up with a solution to this. For a long time my browser's home page has resided either on a LAN drive or my local C: volume, and it consists mostly of links to all the sites I visit. Since photo.net knows me as an administrator of the Leica forum, I don't have to enter a password each time I visit the administrator page like I had to in LUSENET. So I simply added links to these various functions to my browser's home page, and now I have my "control panel" look. This is definitely another advantage of photo.net over LUSENET! Works great.

Greedy selfserving policies? Where did that come from, Todd? photo.net is one of the best internet resources on ANY subject. I don't understand your harsh words against it.

<p>

FS/WTB posts are welcome as long as they're Leica items, that the subject line starts with FS: or WTB: or WTT (trade), that you're not a retail outlet, and, preferrably, you're a regular forum user. Todd, please post George's stuff here.

Just wanted to check in and query our group: How do you like our new

home? Have you had any problems, like logging in/passwords, etc?

<p>

The reason I'm asking is that I haven't heard one complaint from

anyone from our group. But over on the Large Format side, numerous

folks, including the forum's primary moderator, dislike photo.net so

much that they're about ready to cut out, and I have no idea why. It

makes no sense at all, and it's really quite rude in light

of the amount of work that Brian M. did to get their forum over here

to photo.net. Are large format folks that much different from Leica

folks? I know several (or maybe quite a few) members here in

Leica Land frequent the LF forum. What gives? Your thoughts will be

appreciated.

In the LUSENET world, we had forum statistics which showed the total

number of posts along with the most active contributors. Is that

function still around somewhere? I thought it was interesting and I

looked at it often.

The following commonly used links on the Administration page should

be grouped together in a more organized fashion so that they are

more easily found:<p>

<ul><li>Edit categories

<li>View all the alerts

<li>Add pattern

<li>Look at expired threads

</ul>

<p>

As it is, you have to scroll through the entire page and find the

links embedded within paragraphs of text. A "control panel" look

would be much easier.

Yes, that reminds me. Out of the 4,900+ members of this bulletin board, nearly 35 of you haven't paid for this month (monthly dues is $35) - a near all-time record for late dues payments. I won't name you here, but you know who you are. Please submit payment in full to me no later than June 24th so that I don't have to cut you off from this valuable service!

<p>

(just kidding!)

Todd, did you know that the management of photo.net made an exception to their Terms of Use policy just for us? In the part talking about soliciting stuff for sale. Because of our history over at LUSENET. Pretty accommodating, if you ask me!

Yah, but I'm kind of amazed at the high number of FS posts. I suppose it's not surprising, but I didn't really expect so many. It seemed to be OK when we were a part of LUSENET. It was more or less "occasional" as John refers. Gee whilikers, though. Maybe we ought to go to Fridays only?

<p>

John, let's give it a few months before we make any changes. Maybe as we all settle in here the forum will become more consistent in the types of posts we see.

I'm glad to see the Minox 8x11 on that list. They're truly amazing, precision machines, and, limited enlargability notwithstanding, they can take pictures that no other cameera can.

Hadji is right on here, guys... I'm not censoring the forum, I'm just trying to keep participants. Sometimes a person's job site is the only place to log on. If they get fired (bad) as a result of viewing a nude (not bad), then we lose their participation (bad). So for those who wish to post art that contains nudity, a simple warning (not bad) will cancel out the "bads" right?

To answer Ray Moth, I think as long as the lenses fit onto Leica cameras (LTM), then they are OK for FS and WTB ads here.<p>

To respond to Ivan, well, you're too kind. Actually, moderation has gotten a whole heck of a lot easier (really, man!) since we moved to photo.net. Before, I was removing so many bozo posts from our now-banned "you know who" (poor little guy, I feel sorry for him) that I was starting to get crabby, starting to dread checking my email to see the huge number of complaints I was getting.

<b>Addendum:</b><p><ul><li>The above policy is equally applicable to "Want to Trade" (WTT) and items that you intend to give away freely, which should be labeled as "FREE: (item)."</ul>

Please investigate <b><a href="/gc/domain-multi">the photo.net classifieds section</a></b>

After much pondering over this issue, I have come up with a policy

that I think will be acceptable to most of our members, most of the

time.

<p>

FS/WTB postings will be graciously accepted any day of the week

under the following conditions:

<p>

<ul>

<li>If you don't yet know about it, you are encouraged to learn

about and use the photo.net classifieds section. This service is

really better suited for facilitating the sale or acquisition of

your photoraphic items. There are a few people who resist using

this service because of the time required for jumping between fields

to fill out the on-screen form. If you are one of these people,

then you can use our Leica forum here.

<li>All FS/WTB postings must be appropriately labeled as such.

Example: "FS: Leica M7 in mint condition" or "WTB: 90/2.8 Elmarit"

<li>All FS/WTB postings must be categorized in the "For Sale/Waned

to Buy" category. Any that are not properly categorized will be

deleted.

<li>Only Leica (or Leitz) cameras, lenses, and accessories

(including projectors) will be allowed. No FS/WTB posts for other

brands will be allowed.

<li>All FS/WTB postings will set to expire 30 days after they are

posted. This requires an action by me to go into the post and

enter "30" in a blank. The benefit of this is that FS/WTB postings

will not clutter up the archives.

</ul>

For those members among us who are entirely against the posting of

FS/WTB ads, there may be some consolation in the possibility that,

after reading the above policy, the apparently high number of FS/WTB

posts will be reduced somewhat because some users may have had no

knowledge of the custom-built service on photo.net that is available

for this purpose. Also, it ought to be easier to skip the FS/WTB

posts if they are labeled correctly and placed in the "For

Sale/Wanted to Buy" category. That is why I must insist upon the

above regulations so that our two schools of thought can peacefully

coexist. Let's give this a try at least for the time being. In six

months or so we can revisit this issue if it is still a sore spot

for members. OK?

<p>

I will go through the 300+ FS/WTB postings that are currently in our

archives and remove the ones that are older than 30 days.

I see that an exception has been posted in <a href="/terms-of-use">The Terms of Use</a> section under "No Soliciting." I don't know if this is a permanent policy, or if this will be in place just until we figure out how to taper down the FS/WTB postings.

<p>

If the former, then it looks like there are a few options placed on the table before us:<p>

<ol>

<li>Continue FS/WTB postings as the LUSENET Leica forum has historically done;

<li>Limit FS/WTB postings to a single day of the week (Friday) as the Leica Users Group (LUG) mailing list does;

<li>Stop completely the FS/WTB postings even with the special provision in the site Terms of Use policy so that we as the Leica group don't feel guilty about having a special privilege that other forums do not!

</ol>

<p>

If this exception is temporary until we can wind down our FS/WTB postings, then, well, maybe we should wind down our FS/WTB postings, and I am likely to hear further information off-line.

<p>

From a personal standpoint, I agree with Hal (and others) about allowing FS/WTB postings so long as they are labeled as such and that they are not posted by retailers of any kind (personally owned/used things only). Even with so many today, at least they were labeled properly and anyone who doesn't like to see them can <u>easily</u> avoid them by not displaying the threads.

While I like the "brotherhood" idea brought up by Hal, I want to make sure that we follow the all the rules of our new home. If that means no ads, then that's the way it will be. I will remove the FS/WTB category and urge our membership to use the photo.net classifieds instead. Actually, I think the photo.net classifieds will be a more productive venue due to the wider audience.

<p>

The latest string of "For Sale" adds got my attention as well. I wonder what gives?

For the benefit of new users of photo.net, or for existing users

among us, if you haven't yet done this, I highly recommend that you

do so: From the photo.net main page, select "Gallery" (left-hand

side, in the "What's Inside" box) and then click on "Top Member-

Rated" under "List Photographers" (on the right). The list is

updated hourly. This is probably the most eye-poppingly beautiful

collection of photography on the entire internet! Beware: You

might spend literally days and days going through it!

<p>

Here is the link:

<b>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/top-rated-

photographers">http://www.photo.net/photodb/top-rated-

photographers</a>

</b>

(Good idea TSW)<p>

Please place into the title of your post something like "Nudity

Warning" when applicable.

I myself have turned off the pull-down menus as well.

Bill, The Big Day was yesterday!!! Yeppers, I'z a hitched man now. Interesting that the timing was about the same as with our transition to photo.net.

Greetings to all Leica Photography Q*A Forum Members!

<p>

I am very

happy that we are in our new home here on photo.net, and I'm sure that

this will prove to be a positive change. One marvy benefit (among

numerous others) is our new ability to search the forum for specific

information. I would like to take this opportunity to urge our

membership - and of course new members as well - to use the search

function provided on the "Post a New Message" screen. You may find

your answer deep within our 60,000 messages (so far). This will

greatly cut down on the number of repeat questions and thus continue

to make our forum a better resource for information.

<p>

I would also like to thank you (our membership) for your patience with

this process and for your continued participation. We have a great

forum!

<p>

And again, I would like to thank all the staff at photo.net, including

Brian for all the work they have done to make this transition

possible. Thank you, photo.net!

<p>

OK!! Let's talk Leica Photography!!!!

I believe I speak for the majority of the membership of the Leica Q&A forum when I say that this is an exciting change and it will prove to be a vast improvement. I wish to extend my gratitude for the painful job this must have been. Bravo!! And Many Thanks!

<p>

Tony Rowlett, Leica Q&A forum moderator

Bravo!! Many thanks for your hard work. This is a vast improvement for our Leica Q&A membership, and I hope it proves to be an improvement to the photo.net service.

I've owned this lens for years, but I've only taken a few shots with

it because of a lack of appreciation for not only the focal length,

but for it's large size and small size of the frame lines in my

classic .72 bodies. Of the several shots that I can identify having

been taken with this lens, they're pretty good, i.e. sharpness, color,

edge-to-edge sharpness. I don't any shots to clearly show out of

focus (bokeh) area, as all my shots are either with flash indoors or

taken outside... both stopped down pretty much. Interesting that you

bring it up because I just brought it out yesterday to try it as a

portrait lens wide open.

Sometime in the near future this forum will be a part of photo.net, and I will continue to be its moderator. Further, I have volunteered - and have been selected - to be the photo.net Leica section editor, which makes me largely responsible for the content of the Leica section (presumably mostly product reviews and this rather lively Q&A forum).

<p>

Right now, the management staff of photo.net is looking for approximately one Leica product review each month over the next six months. They are looking to me. I, in turn, am looking to anyone here who may be interested in writing reviews. We will arrange for you to recieve a loaner from Leica so that you can use it for a month, write your report, and email it to me so that I can edit it and publish it to photo.net with proper credit to you, of course. I will nag you to get the reviews to me sooner than you probably would like, so you may end up disliking me very much over the course of our relationship. At least one member here has already written a review for photo.net: Kirk Tuck on the Leica M6.

<p>

If you are interested in volunteering your time for this task, you can respond to this thread, or write to me personally at <i><a href="mailto:rowlett@alaska.net">rowlett@alaska.net</a></i> and we can discuss the particulars.