Robert M28897
Senior Member
Phil,
I spend as much time here as anyone, and I also have experienced the same inconveniences lately with all the traffic. I go along with the people who would rather not see this forum split up into too many categories, if we even have to have categories. I've seen at least one other website whose forums experienced a drop in participation and enthusiasm after imposing numerous categories.
The categories you have below are actually not bad, as they are rather broad...I suspect that most posts would still fall into the "General" category. And though I've never spent much time participating in "Challenges", I like what some of the other camera-specific forums have done with the idea. "Techniques" would be good for more of the digital art and images with heavy digital manipulation...but there don't seem too many people posting in that category. Then again, the talented few that do don't get many responses and quickly move off the first page...maybe if they had their own stage (like Robert Conn2), then they would be more noticed.
But what makes this forum special for me is the diversity of contributions, and the ability to find value and learn something from a still life, as well as a landscape, street photograph, or portrait, even if one does nothing but photograph flowers or family. That would really be lost by splitting up photos into categories.
There seem to be a couple of things that are moving posts very quickly to the second page and beyond....one is obviously the sheer number of people. But the other is frequent posts by new people who don't know any better, as well as occasionally by regulars (I'm guilty at times, though I try to police myself). Perhaps an informal limit of one post every 48 to 72 hours would keep things down (one post every 24 hours isn't enough to keep traffic down, IMO). It seems like at least once a week, a new or infrequent poster comes on and posts four or more images in a 12 hour period...this ends up being noise that disrupts the forum that could be addressed more directly.
As with everything else, I'd rather not see any rules or categories become too rigid or formal...I'd rather see the community police itself as much as possible. Less work for you, Phil, and more of a sense of participation on everyone else's part to keep the community running smoothly.
Thanks for listening,
Robert
I spend as much time here as anyone, and I also have experienced the same inconveniences lately with all the traffic. I go along with the people who would rather not see this forum split up into too many categories, if we even have to have categories. I've seen at least one other website whose forums experienced a drop in participation and enthusiasm after imposing numerous categories.
The categories you have below are actually not bad, as they are rather broad...I suspect that most posts would still fall into the "General" category. And though I've never spent much time participating in "Challenges", I like what some of the other camera-specific forums have done with the idea. "Techniques" would be good for more of the digital art and images with heavy digital manipulation...but there don't seem too many people posting in that category. Then again, the talented few that do don't get many responses and quickly move off the first page...maybe if they had their own stage (like Robert Conn2), then they would be more noticed.
But what makes this forum special for me is the diversity of contributions, and the ability to find value and learn something from a still life, as well as a landscape, street photograph, or portrait, even if one does nothing but photograph flowers or family. That would really be lost by splitting up photos into categories.
There seem to be a couple of things that are moving posts very quickly to the second page and beyond....one is obviously the sheer number of people. But the other is frequent posts by new people who don't know any better, as well as occasionally by regulars (I'm guilty at times, though I try to police myself). Perhaps an informal limit of one post every 48 to 72 hours would keep things down (one post every 24 hours isn't enough to keep traffic down, IMO). It seems like at least once a week, a new or infrequent poster comes on and posts four or more images in a 12 hour period...this ends up being noise that disrupts the forum that could be addressed more directly.
As with everything else, I'd rather not see any rules or categories become too rigid or formal...I'd rather see the community police itself as much as possible. Less work for you, Phil, and more of a sense of participation on everyone else's part to keep the community running smoothly.
Thanks for listening,
Robert
? ) would be able to concentrate on other things.
