That is what I expect. I wish they were honest about the reality of what is driving the change. I don't buy their number on threaded vs flat. I don't see a need to constantly be tinkering with code other than to make it more palatable to twitter/facebook types, or other platforms I have no time for or to add more ads.
I have a feeling of despair at the moment. When they hired Matthew Anderson I suspected something was afoot. Something of this nature to be exact. The lack of transparency at this site continues in my opinion.
Andrew
Much about predictable coming priorities and goals has been pretty inferrable since the site's most recent ownership change, from basic research about the site's new owners after the DPR was purchased (which, we'll recall, did enable it to continue).
More indicators of future priorities and goals is indicated in the researchable professional bio, of DPR's new "Community Manager," as well as his statements here, in the long intro thread on his arrival. Weirdly, DPR's announcement did not include a writeup on his professional bio, and nor does the "Staff Profile" page here, which contains only a couple of sentences and his "Gear Patrol" email address. Which is odd, because a summary of professional history is usually a basic. But it's public information, and there's indicators there.
Mr. Anderson is not just a specialist at interface with site members and the public. He is a site content
brand development and brand enhancing specialist. He was hired to develop content that will help develop and enhance
the DPR brand in a manner aligned with "broader company strategies," i.e., as desired by DPR's new ownership entity.
In the long intro thread for Mr. Anderson at the "Open" subforum, he shared:
>>>That he and DPR have "a long-term plan to attract more community members who love talking about digital photography."
>>>That he and DPR will "work together on running content creator programs, influencer engagement, events and contests, livestreams perhaps, and all that other fun stuff."
>>>That he and DPR "want to reach out to younger demographics and draw them here as well if we can[.]"
Put that together with basic research on DPR's owner entity and you have indicators about what priorities are driving changes. This has been foreseeable since the ownership change. It's just taken a while for things to get going.
In my professional experience with re-vamps and re-designs in media contexts as well as as a forum user at different sites, they're gonna do what they're gonna do. All you can do is watch and wait. After which you get to decide if the advent of "content creator programs" or "influencer engagement," or whatever, is a deal-breaker for you. It might be or it might not be.
In my experience with these forks in the road, a lot of eye-rolling changes are easily ignored, and enough enjoyable core features remain that you can "Take What You Like and Leave the Rest." Not always. But often enough to hold off on pessimism and see how it goes.
R Putting the platform on a more sustainable basis makes sense, but I hope the design is driven by outcomes and expertise not the whims of a team.
