The "steamroller" effect is one I've seen many times before on Internet forums and it's usually divisive and eventually destructive.
I can see it happening here and unfortunately, in the mini-challenges as well. In fact, it's been in place here for quite a while now, silently and slowly destroying the atmosphere and the fun. Don Ellis is the only one to have spoken up and said why he is leaving. Other long-time challenge regulars have dropped out quietly in the past couple of months....too many of them, and all of them went without notice.
So, what is the "steamroller" effect? In this case, it's the effect that one person who is a relative newcomer, has had by expecting everyone to conform to his tastes, adhere to his critiques and be amused by his humour. Rod doesn't like frames, signatures or any original presentations. For a while, I conformed by not posting my photos in my usual manner. Then one evening I was editing a potential challenge entry and I thought "Why am I doing it THIS way? This is NOT how I like to present my photos!" So I reverted back to my usual way. Why? Because I like them that way....the white border and drop shadow give my photos separation from the grey background and that is how I prefer to present them.
The galleries are not what they used to be. Once upon a time we had photos presented with original, colourful, silly and stylish frames....or no frames at all. It was fun to see the efforts and it was part of the learning process to do away with fancy frames and move on to a simple border or nothing at all. No one needed it rammed down their throats time and time again. And everyone presented their photos the way THEY wanted them to be seen. Rod says everyone is free to post their photos with frames if that's the way they want to, but he is also free to comment on them. True....and he does comment, over and over and over again. The "steamroller" effect at work.
And so it goes on with other "transgressions". The continual steamrolling because photos don't conform to one persons taste.
The "humour" is un-funny. Being told I took a good photo "for a sheila" is eventually insulting. If I grow a two inch appendage will it improve my photography? Seeing other peoples shots ridiculed as being "girly" shots is insulting to everyone. Being a female in a male-dominated job, I have to deal with this on a daily basis at work (although not from my male colleagues). In the interests of staying in a job I like and am good at, I grin and bear it. In my leisure time, I don't have to. The men in my life.....my husband, sons, workmates, male friends (both online and in person) treat women with respect and as an equal. Those who don't, or don't see the need to, have no place in my life. To the men in my life, I am no-ones "sheila", I am very definitely my own woman. And yes, being called a "sheila" is most definitely disrespectful. I've never had one of the Americans here call me a "chick".
One of Dons statements put my thoughts into words very eloquently. "I find the big things in life are fairly easy to take in stride -- you survive them or you don't. It's the petty things that whittle away your spirit and dampen your enthusiasm. We all have many things that we can be doing with our lives and we all make decisions on which are worth our time."
Yes, it's petty, it's whittling away at my spirit....and this week I've used up far too much mental energy thinking about it. The CTF challenges were once a lot of fun....fun to find out the new topic, think up some original shots, carry them through and post them in the galleries. The challenge thread banter and conversation was fun to take part in. I've learned heaps from everyone here....from why having a maid isn't the ideal way to get your house clean, right through to how to get equal sized borders on a tryptych. For that matter, I learned what a tryptych was!
It's now no longer fun. I post my images in the gallery and wonder if they are being silently ridiculed by Rod or anyone else who's been steam-rollered by his comments.. My enthusiasm for entering the CTF challenge has been severely dampened this week, although my enthusiasm for photography and sharing my images hasn't. I can do that elsewhere.
I wish the CTF challenge could revert to what it once was. A group of friendly experienced and inexperienced photographers sharing the journey together in a relaxed forum. With no one person buffooning and steamrollering their way through the galleries and threads. It's not going to for the time being, so rather than let the small sh*t get me down, rather than play a game that's no longer fun, I'll go find something else to do.
Cheers,
Gayle
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'We don't make a photograph with just a camera. We bring to the act of photography all the books we have read, the movies we have seen, the music we have heard and the people we have loved.' Ansel Adams
http://www.shot2shot.com
http://www.pbase.com/gayleknowles/ 
