Definitive answer given to why DPR is closing

[mfinley]

I know this sounds like an absurd question when you think about it, but has there actually been a definitive answer given to why DPR is closing? Maybe I missed it? Did anyone or any new media actually say they are closing DPR for "this reason" ?

It doesn't matter in the long run but it would be nice to have that for closure.

 

[robert1955]

I know this sounds like an absurd question when you think about it, but has there actually been a definitive answer given to why DPR is closing? Maybe I missed it? Did anyone or any new media actually say they are closing DPR for "this reason" ?

It doesn't matter in the long run but it would be nice to have that for closure.

not as far as I know

 

[Sonyshine]

Here is the published Amazon management speak guff:

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/update-from-ceo-andy-jassy-on-role-eliminations

 

[Ben Stonewall]

[No message]

 

[justmeMN]

Amazon is in the middle of a mass layoff program:

"Amazon will lay off 9,000 more employees in the coming weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff Monday"

"The cuts follow an earlier round of layoffs that began in November and extended into January, which affected more than 18,000 staffers."

- CNBC, March 20, 2023

 

[mfinley]

Here is the published Amazon management speak guff:

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/update-from-ceo-andy-jassy-on-role-eliminations

I have my doubts that DPR closing has anything to do with their layoffs of warehouse workers.

They are closing an entire enterprise (DPR) not laying off staff from DPR, which would be an expected cost-cutting action if they valued DPR and didn't want to close it down.

 

[mfinley]

Amazon is in the middle of a mass layoff program:

"Amazon will lay off 9,000 more employees in the coming weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff Monday"

"The cuts follow an earlier round of layoffs that began in November and extended into January, which affected more than 18,000 staffers."

- CNBC, March 20, 2023

See my answer above. You don't throw the baby out with the bath water unless you see no value in the baby.

They aren't closing Amazon.

If cost-cutting resulted in DPR closing, DPR must have been on life support for a long, long time.

--
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Mike
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[Tom Axford]

I know this sounds like an absurd question when you think about it, but has there actually been a definitive answer given to why DPR is closing?

I thought it was obvious to anyone with a reasonable understanding of business economics.

I will not explain because if it isn't obvious to you, you are most unlikely to understand my explanation.

 

[Mackiesback]

Here is the published Amazon management speak guff:

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/update-from-ceo-andy-jassy-on-role-eliminations

That's as much of an answer as you will ever get from a company the size of Amazon.

 

[Chris Wolfgram]

Money.

 

[sybersitizen]

I know this sounds like an absurd question when you think about it, but has there actually been a definitive answer given to why DPR is closing?

Yes: DPR is non-essential to Amazon's business, and the company is not interested in keeping it alive as a public service.

 

[justmeMN]

If cost-cutting resulted in DPR closing, DPR must have been on life support for a long, long time.

If you already know the answer, then why did you ask?

 

[Nielk Mike]

The only question asked in a restructuring is: Does a business add value, and if so, enough value. DPR did not. Gone.

 

[CarmelSoul]

25 years of focused forums, filled with questions, answers and ruminations. Take said data, feed all into your AI program, to get a chat bot that is knowledgeable and conversant in photography. Now that they have a kernel of knowledge to work with you can get rid of the chaff that is DPR…. Just sayin.

 

[Mark B.]

I know this sounds like an absurd question when you think about it, but has there actually been a definitive answer given to why DPR is closing? Maybe I missed it? Did anyone or any new media actually say they are closing DPR for "this reason" ?

It doesn't matter in the long run but it would be nice to have that for closure.

Amazon is in business to make a profit. What else makes sense than it was costing too much to maintain?

 

[John Koch]

A definitive answer would require access to the DPR financial records. Amazon is a public company with SEC filings, but the DPR operation is too tiny to be material to mandate specific disclosure.

Until recently, DPR attracted over 7 million visits per month. Apparently, the visits do not yield enough visits to advertisers' websites or consequent sales.

It is probably difficult to sell, or even give away, DPR to a successor. The user registration includes many "names" that are largely dormant. Some of the underlying people are literally dead. Others are fantasies. None are linked to physical addresses, purchase histories, or (better yet) credit card information that would make such information useful to a buyer.

Odds are that the decision had nothing to do with anyone's intrinsic like of cameras or photography. However:

1. If you look around, traditional cameras have become an oddity, sort of like buggy whips or antique typewriter.
2. DPR has an abundance of registrants who post mostly negative comments about photos, so maybe it is best to abolish the site to suffocate trolling and prevent further contagion of nasty attitudes.
3. A DPR poll indicates that half the participants would pay nothing do keep the site alive. Only a small fraction would pay $10 or more per month. That is a rather sterile field to plow.

 

[Sonyshine]

Maybe Amazon should have leveraged all their members and the enormous amount of data to attract more advertising from the photography industry?

The site is pretty low key for adverts, not that I would like loads of adverts but no one seemed to connect the members with the manufacturers.

They could have permitted tightly controlled manufacturer input, links to downloads, manuals etc, maybe direct helplines?

I think Amazon missed a trick. I bet the camera manufacturers are worried that DPR is closing. They will have to get onboard with other internet sites now. Or decline further.

--
Stupidity is far more fascinating than intelligence. Intelligence has its limits...

 

[chrisfisheye]

I know this sounds like an absurd question when you think about it, but has there actually been a definitive answer given to why DPR is closing? Maybe I missed it? Did anyone or any new media actually say they are closing DPR for "this reason" ?

It doesn't matter in the long run but it would be nice to have that for closure.

What is surprising is that they have 11 employees as far as I know..

Have they really studied alternative ? Fewer employees, sell dpreview (nobody was aware...)

My guess is that they had a large plan to cut costs, they can not study each case and they just decide quickly without worrying about the consequences.

Shame to them.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Some things are worth paying for even if they lose money.

DPR built good will for Amazon -- at least for some of us who knew that Amazon was paying for it. On the other side, there was a lot of questionable criticism of Amazon on the forums -- rather poor manners, I thought.

 

[BackToNature1]

Some things are worth paying for even if they lose money.

DPR built good will for Amazon -- at least for some of us who knew that Amazon was paying for it. On the other side, there was a lot of questionable criticism of Amazon on the forums -- rather poor manners, I thought.

How were most of the comments sections good will for Amazon. Or for that matter, helping the overall Camera Industry. If anything, it was more likely, negative.