Reading mode: Light Dark

Leaving dpreview

Go to last post
C

creid

Well-known member
Messages
154
Reaction score
0
Location
US
DPreview has been my photography home for a long time now. Years in fact. I've picked out every major camera purchase since i went digital using the reviews here and reading the forums and have been very happy.

But frankly im done with the site i think due to one silly thing. The search function. It may seem silly but if you think about it it means you only talk about whatever is in the current front page list of topics. If you're looking for posts on subject x it isnt really worth 3 hours scanning threads by hand looking for it. And its ridiculous to be expected too with todays servers (years ago this many users constantly searching might have cost $$). So effectively dpreview isnt of any use to me any more. And the owners dont seem to care as the site has become more and more 'pro'. As with auto,game, and other hobby 'publications' it becomes all about turning the ad revenue.

I'll still check back to glance at the forums. But some disturbing suggestions by users i trust re the reviews soured me on them. And frankly id rather be somewhere i can find the info i need and find the users talking about stuff i nead to know. Lets hope they listen and realise that the users are what makes the site successful. Not the advertisers begging for access to those users.
 
creid said:
DPreview has been my photography home for a long time now. Years in
fact. I've picked out every major camera purchase since i went
digital using the reviews here and reading the forums and have been
very happy.

But frankly im done with the site i think due to one silly thing. The
search function. It may seem silly but if you think about it it means
you only talk about whatever is in the current front page list of
topics. If you're looking for posts on subject x it isnt really worth
3 hours scanning threads by hand looking for it.
Click to expand...
I have several times suggested about a dozen more specific topics for additional topics for forums.

This would not completely solve the problem but may at least reduce the "scattering" of some questions among non-related other forums.

A recent example is someone just suggested a forum dedicated to camera-PHONES. I have already seen related questions in almost all the other forums; and I have to agree I could never find any of those previous questions. As quality improves in camera-phones .... I suggest there may be more and more related questions and I can see the value of its separate forum being more and more useful for a varitey of reasons.

I don't see what the big deal is about adding more forums .... but I am not the only one that has made multiple suggestions of many additional topics ... with no result.
creid said:
And its ridiculous
to be expected too with todays servers (years ago this many users
constantly searching might have cost $$). So effectively dpreview
isnt of any use to me any more. And the owners dont seem to care as
the site has become more and more 'pro'. As with auto,game, and other
hobby 'publications' it becomes all about turning the ad revenue.

I'll still check back to glance at the forums. But some disturbing
suggestions by users i trust re the reviews soured me on them. And
frankly id rather be somewhere i can find the info i need and find
the users talking about stuff i nead to know. Lets hope they listen
and realise that the users are what makes the site successful. Not
the advertisers begging for access to those users.
Click to expand...
--
Thanks for reading .... JoePhoto

( Do You Ever STOP to THINK --- and FORGET to START Again ??? )
 
And we know that's all that matters. LOL

Search is a joke... and even when it is working, it doesn't give you recent results... or the earliest results. All you have to do is type in your own name to learn that (assuming it's working).

And if you type in a search term that doesn't work well, you have to wait awhile before you can search again, so you don't break this fragile, overworked function.

Now that Amazon owns this site, perhaps we should be writing Jeff Bezos... can't get any fewer responses from him than I do from the current adminstrators.

Cheers,
Don
http://www.kleptography.com
 
... by Google and other top notch search engines. IF you're a Google user you should be aware of how its search engines and spiders work to make it work for you. Google is very up front about its inner workings.

The more popular a site is, the more often their robots scan it. One of my sites gets updated once or twice a day and it ranks 824,936 in Alexa compared to dpReview's rank of 1,113

Indeed a quick search on Google's engines for dpReview forums yields a document 16 hours old... this is without a specific term, just "site:forums.dpreview.com"

I'd take a 16 hour delay any day over a not so perfect built in search system. The dpReview search engine is not that reliable for me. From time to time, it yields too much or too little information. It is also not that powerful in terms of digging for just the info you want. I find Google a bit more powerful for deep searches.

Cheers
--
Manny
http://www.pbase.com/gonzalu/
http://www.mannyphoto.com/
FCAS Member - http://manny.org/FCAS
 
You have to repeatedly click over, and over, and over, and over, etc to go back only 1 year. It takes forever.
--
Tom

The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But you have to see.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/
 
.
JoePhoto said:
A recent example is someone just suggested a forum dedicated to
camera-PHONES. I have already seen related questions in almost all
the other forums; and I have to agree I could never find any of
those previous questions. As quality improves in camera-phones ....
I suggest there may be more and more related questions and I can see
the value of its separate forum being more and more useful for a
varitey of reasons.
Click to expand...
The quality of camera phones has a long way to go to warrant a forum.
--
Tom

The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But you have to see.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/
 
I've yet to find a reliable external search using Google or Hotbot (easier than Google as the site filter can be saved, at least on hotbot.co.uk) that can search on just one forum rather than all of dpreview's forums.
 
If you put in the site then the name of the forum then the search term it works very well, and it updates very often - overnight at least.

I fail to see why this is a reason to leave. A wise person learns to work w/what he has. I've been using Google "site searches" exclusively and have never been let down.

Nor do I see why everyone has to announce that they are leaving. Does anyone really care? Will anyone really miss them? Is it useful information? Is it photography related?

I would say the DPR has 10 times the info and activity of any other site, so if you want to give that up . . . .
 
gonzalu said:
just come back under a different alias :-)
--
Manny
http://www.pbase.com/gonzalu/
http://www.mannyphoto.com/
FCAS Member - http://manny.org/FCAS
Click to expand...
--

25 years as a freelancer,(news,magazine, wedding photography) camera equip. over the years: Practica MLT, Canon A1, Minolta 9xi, 7xi, Dimage Z1,Fuji 5200,Canon S2,Pentax K100D,Olympus 380(see my Z1 shots at http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Buckl/ the COMMUNITY album was done with the Z1, and most of the photos in the album:Other were w/the Z1)
 
tbcass said:
.
tbcass said:
A recent example is someone just suggested a forum dedicated to
camera-PHONES. I have already seen related questions in almost all
the other forums; and I have to agree I could never find any of
those previous questions. As quality improves in camera-phones ....
I suggest there may be more and more related questions and I can see
the value of its separate forum being more and more useful for a
varitey of reasons.
Click to expand...
The quality of camera phones has a long way to go to warrant a forum.
Click to expand...
I don't argue the "quality" ....

BUT ... there have already been MANY posts in MANY other forums concerning them. IF you wanted to see them; it would be impossilbe to find them all.

Indeed; many/most of them have been about the "quality" (or lack of it); but they do "exist" and serve a purpose. They will become more and more significant as EVERYONE today has one.

There will very soon be "more" photos taken with camera-PHONES than with dedicated cameras.

Even professionals (or advanced amateurs) will sometimes be without his camera and his camera-phone will be his only option available to take a necessary photo.

For that reason .... I do want to know which is the "best" of the choices available; and how to get the "best" out of its (limited) capabilites ... if/when necessary.

But the POINT is that I simply used that as an example that more forum-topics will REDUCE the requirement of the search feature.
tbcass said:
--
Tom

The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record
what you are seeing. But you have to see.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/
Click to expand...
--
Thanks for reading .... JoePhoto

( Do You Ever STOP to THINK --- and FORGET to START Again ??? )
 
In 4.5 years posting only 107 times is hardly contributing to the betterment of fellow photographers.

I have numerous lengthy documents on various photographic subjects by copying and pasting post of interest. That way I do not have to have a hissy fit if search does not work.
--
Bob,

'A good photograph is knowing where to stand.' - Ansel Adams
Sony R1
Canon Pro1
Casio Z750

 
Bob Blount said:
In 4.5 years posting only 107 times is hardly contributing to the
betterment of fellow photographers.
I have numerous lengthy documents on various photographic subjects by
copying and pasting post of interest. That way I do not have to have
a hissy fit if search does not work.
--
Bob,
Click to expand...
Hello, while I do not see the point in manifesting someone's departure from DP Review, what does a number of posts have to do with anything?
Rgds
 
Bob Blount said:
In 4.5 years posting only 107 times is hardly contributing
to the betterment of fellow photographers.
Click to expand...
I often agree with you, Bob, but not this time. Quantity has nothing to do with quality -- often they're in inverse proportion to each other. Frankly, one good post is a contribution.
Bob Blount said:
I have numerous lengthy documents on various photographic
subjects by copying and pasting post of interest.
Click to expand...
But if you only adopted that approach after months or years of posting, you'd have to locate your old posts to add them to your new organizational system.

I tend to bookmark interesting threads or threads where I've had more than usual to contribute, but it doesn't take long to get overrun with bookmarks. A better search system would be welcome.
Bob Blount said:
That way I do not have to have a hissy fit if search does
not work.
Click to expand...
We caught you in one of those moods, didn't we? LOL

Cheers,
Don
http://www.kleptography.com
 
Do an advanced search in google. It will get better results.

Its not always the search function that is the issue. If you understand SQL you'll understand that poor results can be as much the searcher if anything more than the search.

I feel so sorry for you. Your going to miss some interesting stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top