Why do people leave?

[JHF Photography]

Traveler, I can't answer most of your questions, as I'm still fairly new here myself. I have not been a part of other forums, so I don't know why I would leave a forum if I did.

However, what I can say is that as to how this forum can keep good people here, I think it's on the right track. I have checked out a number of other photography forums, and found this to be (in my opinion) one of the best out there. Many of the people here are very friendly and welcoming, and that's one the things that drew me here.

I think Skieur was bang on in his post about the roll of mods here in keeping the board fresh and active. It's important to me, as a member of this board, to know that when things get out of hand or inappropriate, they will step in and do something about it.

 

[Garbz]

I like it here. And it interests me. But if you look at the vast majority of the userbase here (actually it would be interesting if the site admin could come up with the actual statistics here) you will most likely find that most of our registered members have either 1 post (spam advertising etc), <10 posts (ask one question and leave when satisfied), or no posts at all and just troll around, god knows what they need the account for.

Same happens to every online forum. I fully agree with the poisson distribution. If you include all users the alpha would be incredibly small though.

 

[JHF Photography]

(From a quick look at several member rolls, my guess is that the a graph of the posts by member would look like a poisson distribution.)

I fully agree with the poisson distribution. If you include all users the alpha would be incredibly small though.

What the heck is a poisson distribution!?

(Sounds a little fishy to me....... )

 

[Chris of Arabia]

I don't think I ever truly leave a forum, but at last count I was registered on 14 different ones, covering: photography, sport, various music related stuff, product manufacturers, computer, and one that is wholly unmoderated and can best be described as a place where you can go for a rant.

There's only one that I don't ever post on now, and is actually run by someone I sat next to at school - the tone of the place just doesn't sit comfortably with me.

 

[BEvaristo]

I'm pretty new to TPF and to photography as well. I'm more of a lurker right now trying to absorb as much information as I can. I try to do as much research on my own as I can before I bother anyone with a question they may have seen hundreds of times. That handy search button seems to do the trick pretty well 99% of the time. I'm a member of another forum related to flying. I am pretty young in my flying hobby as well so again, I'm there mostly to learn. I can learn so much from the pros on both forums. It's the same thing over there with the same questions being asked time and time again. The moderator there has put up a FAQ link on the main page and anytime anyone asks a question that can be answered there, the main contributors to that site do a good job of informing the OP they can find the answer in the FAQ's and if they have any further questions, they can come back and ask them.

I don't have anywhere near the amount of knowledge needed to reply to most questions or to critique anyone yet. I know my photos aren't great yet, but they are getting better thanks to reading many of the responses to other pictures then analyzing my own. Once I have something I think is somewhat decent, I'll post them. Until then, I'll keep reading and learning and attempting to apply that to my own photos.

All in all, I think this is a great site. The repetitive questions do get old very fast and I admire the patience some of you have with answering them over and over.

As for leaving, I would think that some of the members may have not stuck with the hobby. They were gung ho about it in the beginning, came here to learn, then another hobby came along or maybe other circumstances in their life prevents them from being able to follow through the way they had originally wanted to. This is pure speculation, as I haven't left a forum, yet.

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

I'm only a member of this forum and one more.

The other forum is HUGE and currently I don't have time (or interest) to visit all it's sections, but when I had just joined I posted all over the place until I found the sections I liked more. Maybe to the people who only visit the sections where I don't go any more it seems like I left.

Even the sections that I like I've "left" for some time, due to boredom, lack of interest, reading the same **** again and again and "user clubs" where you have to fit to be in the loop... or be ingored.

I've temporarily left TPF due to lack of time and due to lack of replies to my requests for feedback on images. I took some time off to rethink some basics, came back with some changes.

 

[LaFoto]

Sometimes, "life" comes into the way of online forums. Sometimes people get a bit "internet-weary". Sometimes the forum has served its function for member x and he's happy to move on.

On here, many of those members who come and go in a wink are spammers. We make them "leave" by not giving them access for much longer than it takes us to remove their spam-posts. Others try to work their ways round our bannings and come up with new names over and again ... so be it. We simply ban also those.

Then there is the large number of members who join and still don't want to post anything. Well, with those also I wonder (same as garbz) why they registered at all? You can read as an "outsider" any time, there is no need to create an account.

And hey, I am one of those silly members who don't know what a poisson distribution is, but what I know is that out of the 16.000 registered members (at least one third of who got banned for spamming immediately) there are only about 300 who regularly post and also stay.

And some are very enthusiastic when they start out (my personal example for such kind of enthusiasm is our Member-of-the-Week feature where people asked to be put on the list, "pleeeease!"), only to never being around any more when it would have been their turn. But with many it is "life" that gets into the way. Which I find reassuring. For living one's life is more important than spending hours on the computer (says who often has to spend HOURS on TPF moderating away ).

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

Also I post less now because all those "Newbies come and give wrong advice". Or "I'd like a real critique" after I wrote something.

I guess I still "have to learn" before I can give my opinion

 

[LaFoto]

When did that happen to you, that you wrote a comment and people then said in reply to your comment "I'd like a real critique", Krueger? I would not want you to leave, I expect you to at least stay on until you'll have been to the big North-Germany Meet-Up!!!

ALL of you, that is!!!
I still hope that our community here is so strong that that meet-up is going to be a really international and big thing (unheard of in the area). Stay and help me make it so! (A bit of "most unselfish" hijacking, heehee. Sorry, Lew).

 

[SYKES3]

I think the long time members get tired of commenting on others photo work and get no reciprocation on theirs. Old timers don't post their work a lot, you have to go to their sites to see what they are doing. Most new photographers just show their work, get kudos and never even look or comment on anyone elses.

I also find that those who do not fill out their profile page are often only here for a brief time. (Not all)

I am a daily visitor to the sites I like. I'm just getting a feel for this one. So far I have encountered impatience. But I do understand it. It's been a long time since I was a beginner at something. I think I'll be OK here, once I read some more and get to know some of you. SYKES3

 

[Mike_E]

The Poisson distribution arises in connection with Poisson processes. It applies to various phenomena of discrete nature (that is, those that may happen 0, 1, 2, 3, ... times during a given period of time or in a given area) whenever the probability of the phenomenon happening is constant in time or space. Examples of events that may be modeled as a Poisson distribution include:

• The number of cars that pass through a certain point on a road (sufficiently distant from traffic lights) during a given period of time.
• The number of spelling mistakes one makes while typing a single page.
• The number of phone calls at a call center per minute.
• The number of times a web server is accessed per minute.
• The number of mutations in a given stretch of DNA after a certain amount of radiation.

The "law of small numbers"

The word law is sometimes used as a synonym of probability distribution, and convergence in law means convergence in distribution. Accordingly, the Poisson distribution is sometimes called the law of small numbers because it is the probability distribution of the number of occurrences of an event that happens rarely but has very many opportunities to happen.






Thank you Wikpedia! :hail:

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

When did that happen to you, that you wrote a comment and people then said in reply to your comment "I'd like a real critique", Krueger?

Well, not directly quoted, but the message was there. Like I said I'm not leaving, just posting less until I feel comfortable making a better critique.

 

[The_Traveler]

I've temporarily left TPF due to lack of time and due to lack of replies to my requests for feedback on images.

On one previous forum (where I still post), I have a couple of 'friends' whom I can PM when I wanted/needed a critique and one or two sensible responses usually encourages others. They of course can PM me for a starter response.

Anyone who reads this should feel perfectly free to ask me to comment; even tho LaFoto has said that all the real critics have left, I will try to fill in with unreal comments until more qualified people come along.

RE: a Poisson distribution typically looks like this
number of posts by number of users

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

On one previous forum (where I still post), I have a couple of 'friends' whom I can PM when I wanted/needed a critique and one or two sensible responses usually encourages others. They of course can PM me for a starter response.

Yep, I know I can count on that and I've done it in the past. Thanks, BTW.

 

[The_Traveler]

Yep, I know I can count on that and I've done it in the past.

Of course, you can't depend on the response to be intelligent, correct or polite.

:lmao::lmao: