- Joined
- Dec 11, 2006
- Messages
- 18,743
- Reaction score
- 8,047
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic US
- Website
- www.lewlortonphoto.com
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
I am an impatient, restless person and yet I have been relatively comfortable here on TPF and I thought my conclusions might be of interest.
I have visited a lot of sites for long enough to suss out the prevalent environment. The physical environment is important to me, I don't like sites where one has to click on every post to read the next entry so that automatically is a mark against many places. I don't like sites where the moderation is so tight that the atmosphere is like a religious meeting where everybody has to be absolutely polite and never say poop, even if they step in it up to their knees.
On the other hand, I don't like sites where incivility and discourtesy reign, where flame wars are de rigeur and it's survival of the fittest. Most of all I dislike boring places and places where people adopt a persona of 'photographer' and prance around in that costume. I like real people.
I was pretty active here on TPF for a year or so after I joined back in 2006 but the atmosphere here was much different. There were a lot of truly unpleasant @$$h0les who thought the world revolved around them and who really piled on like hyenas on a dying antelope so I left for a smaller site. I survived and grew there for quite a while, I actually was a moderator until about a year ago when a picture I posted caused an incredible discussion that revealed a lot of attitudes I didn't want to know - and sure didn't want to support, so I left.
When I came back here, TPF seemed to be on the cusp of a change. Several of the truly unpleasant @$$h0les had left and the attitudes of the mods towards destructive behavior seemed to have changed, so I hung around.
And actually, TPF has caused me to change.
My attitude was never to turn the other cheek but to fight back. I realized that was destructive to my own sense of well-being and happiness so I just started as much as possible ignoring things and people who might have aggravated me in the past. I realized it was not my job to step on truly unpleasant @$$h0les; that only got the bottom of my shoes dirty. I began to focus as much as possible on helping the people I liked and trying, with some effort, to improve the area around me.
'Let the jerks be jerks' was my silent motto and, unless someone really stepped in my way to be destructive and I was having a cranky day, I just shut up and let him/her be handled by other people. My personal life has been quite difficult and TPF is actually a sanctuary for me sometimes.
I think TPF is quite lucky to have the Admins and the Mods that serve.
They are generally straightforward, pleasant and honest. I may not always agree with how things work but, it's a tough job and TPF is better for the work they do. I have learned to appreciate and respect them and even to like them a bit.
The pluses of TPF are that we have an active, interested group of people who, in the main, want to be better at what they do. They aren't jaded and haven't gotten burnt out. The negative side of this is that many people just haven't gotten to the point where they can actually create anything, they are still learning. It would be nicer if the more experienced people would post more pictures to serve as examples and to enrich the environment for everyone.
Besides the mods and the site setup, the best thing about TPF is that every picture is available for comment and critique. That means that people don't get to post interminable strings of ugly boring pictures that clog the threads and nothing or no one ever learns anything.
What I wish for the New Year:
1) The experienced people all commit to posting more pictures and actually taking some chances with their work. Both of these acts would be great examples for new people and opportunity for a higher level of critique.
2) That everyone realizes that fill light or more equipment isn't always the answer to every question.
3) That people don't thread jack by posting their own images at the drop of a hat in any thread where it may seem remotely relevant. If you have an example, be polite and put a link instead.
4) That the admins and mods recognize that telling newbies how things work best improves the site and doesn't scare away people.
and last, that all the female members realize that older men are more diligent and take more time at the things that matter most - and act on that realization.
Happy New Year
I have visited a lot of sites for long enough to suss out the prevalent environment. The physical environment is important to me, I don't like sites where one has to click on every post to read the next entry so that automatically is a mark against many places. I don't like sites where the moderation is so tight that the atmosphere is like a religious meeting where everybody has to be absolutely polite and never say poop, even if they step in it up to their knees.
On the other hand, I don't like sites where incivility and discourtesy reign, where flame wars are de rigeur and it's survival of the fittest. Most of all I dislike boring places and places where people adopt a persona of 'photographer' and prance around in that costume. I like real people.
I was pretty active here on TPF for a year or so after I joined back in 2006 but the atmosphere here was much different. There were a lot of truly unpleasant @$$h0les who thought the world revolved around them and who really piled on like hyenas on a dying antelope so I left for a smaller site. I survived and grew there for quite a while, I actually was a moderator until about a year ago when a picture I posted caused an incredible discussion that revealed a lot of attitudes I didn't want to know - and sure didn't want to support, so I left.
When I came back here, TPF seemed to be on the cusp of a change. Several of the truly unpleasant @$$h0les had left and the attitudes of the mods towards destructive behavior seemed to have changed, so I hung around.
And actually, TPF has caused me to change.
My attitude was never to turn the other cheek but to fight back. I realized that was destructive to my own sense of well-being and happiness so I just started as much as possible ignoring things and people who might have aggravated me in the past. I realized it was not my job to step on truly unpleasant @$$h0les; that only got the bottom of my shoes dirty. I began to focus as much as possible on helping the people I liked and trying, with some effort, to improve the area around me.
'Let the jerks be jerks' was my silent motto and, unless someone really stepped in my way to be destructive and I was having a cranky day, I just shut up and let him/her be handled by other people. My personal life has been quite difficult and TPF is actually a sanctuary for me sometimes.
I think TPF is quite lucky to have the Admins and the Mods that serve.
They are generally straightforward, pleasant and honest. I may not always agree with how things work but, it's a tough job and TPF is better for the work they do. I have learned to appreciate and respect them and even to like them a bit.
The pluses of TPF are that we have an active, interested group of people who, in the main, want to be better at what they do. They aren't jaded and haven't gotten burnt out. The negative side of this is that many people just haven't gotten to the point where they can actually create anything, they are still learning. It would be nicer if the more experienced people would post more pictures to serve as examples and to enrich the environment for everyone.
Besides the mods and the site setup, the best thing about TPF is that every picture is available for comment and critique. That means that people don't get to post interminable strings of ugly boring pictures that clog the threads and nothing or no one ever learns anything.
What I wish for the New Year:
1) The experienced people all commit to posting more pictures and actually taking some chances with their work. Both of these acts would be great examples for new people and opportunity for a higher level of critique.
2) That everyone realizes that fill light or more equipment isn't always the answer to every question.
3) That people don't thread jack by posting their own images at the drop of a hat in any thread where it may seem remotely relevant. If you have an example, be polite and put a link instead.
4) That the admins and mods recognize that telling newbies how things work best improves the site and doesn't scare away people.
and last, that all the female members realize that older men are more diligent and take more time at the things that matter most - and act on that realization.
Happy New Year
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/35/35875-613296cbb015a9d4bc5b47aca161290e.jpg?1619737200)
