A Sony Alpha Forum

demonsmasher · Jan 23, 2008

I made a forum dedicated to the sony alpha. If anyone is interested. Take a look and let me know what you think. http://www.thealphazone.com I also added a link back to this site.

skieur · Jan 23, 2008

Grammar and spelling mistake in your rules that needs to be corrected.

2. should read .............so do our users

skieur

demonsmasher · Jan 23, 2008

Thanks for pointing that out. I will get that changed.

skieur · Jan 23, 2008

The problem with your rules is that you need to strike a fine and delicate balance. It is very easy to characterize intelligent and honest disagreement as flaming, harassment, being argumentative, causing trouble etc. It has been done by moderators on other web sites and part of the problem was their egos were larger than their knowledge of photography and they objected to any member disagreeing with their limited views. Your rules point to a possible member attitude problem but sometimes members see a moderator attitude problem. In the end the mix of experience and expertise among moderators should support your ideal mix of members. So pick your moderators carefully when you get that far.

So, instead of emphasizing possible problems by the content and tone of your rules, try to emphasize your vision of what kind of web site you would like to have. How do you see the ideal potential mix of your members between beginners and experts, amateurs and pros, and young and old? What do you see as the role of your web site among photographers? If you totally discourage lively debate through rules you will end up creating a boring web site. You need to encourage new ideas and different points of view while keeping the lid on, so-to-speak. The unasked question you need to answer from potential members is "Why should I register to be a member of your web site?" A lot of rules with a negative tone does not a good answer make.

skieur

demonsmasher · Jan 23, 2008

flaming, harassment, being argumentative, causing trouble etc Is a standard in just about every forum that you use. Thats is mainly in there as default and I just added to apply to photography. I see what you are saying and I will look over some, but you can't make everyone happy all the time. The site is in the infant stages so changes will happen. Thanks for all of your input and please give me more ideas.

*Edit* How dose this sound?

Just wanted to say welcome to The Alpha Zone forums. Please remember this rules.

1. Commercial advertising - Commercial website advertising is not allowed, if you wish to advertise on the site contact us. It is ok to post commercial links if refers to items that are on sales from photography websites in the correct forum.

2. SPAM- Don't do it. I hate it and so do our users. You will get 3 warning the BANNED

3. Images of children - We absolutely do not allow any nude / semi-nude / voyeuristic pictures of children or links to such galleries. Anyone posting such images or links to galleries with such images will be immediately banned and may be reported to the authorities.

4. Nude/Voyeuristic pictures- Please DO NOT POST these in messages or links. We understand that the human body can in some ways have a beautiful shape in photography, but due to the range of age and users that we have. We ask that you do not post these types of messages, pictures and or links. We WILL DELETE these when we see them. Thank you for understanding.

5. Be civil - anyone being abusive, harassing/calling names or generally trying to stir up trouble will not be tolerated.

6. Off Topic - Please keep all photography related off-topic messages to the correct forum. Off Topic messages may be moved to General Forum.

7. For Sale- We will allow for sale items that relate to photography ONLY. Please post these in the right section. Also you will not hold The Alpha Zone, owner/owners of the forum/website and or admins/moderators liable for any wrong doings that may result in a deal gone bad or you not getting what you thought you were getting. Talk it out all the way with the person before sending money to them.

8. Bashing - Deliberately and repeatedly bashing the same brand, product or company is not good. If you have a complaint or comment to make then make it and make sure you have facts to support it.

9. Posting pictures - This is allowed. Hey this is a photography forum. BUT we do ask that you link pictures to off site hosting like flickr, imageshack ect.. Also please keep pictures to a reasonable size, large picture size posts can put a strain on server resources.

10. Software piracy - We do not allow the posting of serial numbers, cracks, warez links or anything related to the piracy of software. You post these you WILL BE BANNED.

11. Legal ownership - Each message posted is owned by and the opinion of the original poster. Neither thealphazone.com nor its owners or webmaster are legally responsible for anything posted on these forums. The webmaster reserves the right to remove any or all of your messages at any time and ban you if he sees fit.

12. By registering to use this forum you meet the above criteria and agree to abide by all of the above rules and policies. Happy Posting.

skieur · Feb 3, 2008

demonsmasher said:
flaming, harassment, being argumentative, causing trouble etc Is a standard in just about every forum that you use. Thats is mainly in there as default and I just added to apply to photography. I see what you are saying and I will look over some, but you can't make everyone happy all the time. The site is in the infant stages so changes will happen. Thanks for all of your input and please give me more ideas.

*Edit* How dose this sound? How DOES this sound?

Just wanted to say welcome to The Alpha Zone forums. Please remember this rules.

1. Commercial advertising - Commercial website advertising is not allowed, if you wish to advertise on the site contact us. It is ok to post commercial links if refers to items that are on sales from photography websites in the correct forum.

2. SPAM- Don't do it. I hate it and so do our users. You will get 3 warning the BANNED

3. Images of children - We absolutely do not allow any nude / semi-nude / voyeuristic pictures of children or links to such galleries. Anyone posting such images or links to galleries with such images will be immediately banned and may be reported to the authorities.

4. Nude/Voyeuristic pictures- Please DO NOT POST these in messages or links. We understand that the human body can in some ways have a beautiful shape in photography, but due to the range of age and users that we have. We ask that you do not post these types of messages, pictures and or links. We WILL DELETE these when we see them. Thank you for understanding.

5. Be civil - anyone being abusive, harassing/calling names or generally trying to stir up trouble will not be tolerated.

6. Off Topic - Please keep all photography related off-topic messages to the correct forum. Off Topic messages may be moved to General Forum.

7. For Sale- We will allow for sale items that relate to photography ONLY. Please post these in the right section. Also you will not hold The Alpha Zone, owner/owners of the forum/website and or admins/moderators liable for any wrong doings that may result in a deal gone bad or you not getting what you thought you were getting. Talk it out all the way with the person before sending money to them.

8. Bashing - Deliberately and repeatedly bashing the same brand, product or company is not good. If you have a complaint or comment to make then make it and make sure you have facts to support it.

9. Posting pictures - This is allowed. Hey this is a photography forum. BUT we do ask that you link pictures to off site hosting like flickr, imageshack ect.. Also please keep pictures to a reasonable size, large picture size posts can put a strain on server resources.

10. Software piracy - We do not allow the posting of serial numbers, cracks, warez links or anything related to the piracy of software. You post these you WILL BE BANNED.

11. Legal ownership - Each message posted is owned by and the opinion of the original poster. Neither thealphazone.com nor its owners or webmaster are legally responsible for anything posted on these forums. The webmaster reserves the right to remove any or all of your messages at any time and ban you if he sees fit.

12. By registering to use this forum you meet the above criteria and agree to abide by all of the above rules and policies. Happy Posting.

Some of your warnings could be worded less negatively and without the characterizations such as "Bashing" For example:

Posting and uploading to the Internet is legally considered to be publishing. This makes you responsible for ensuring that your posts and images comply with all the laws: criminal and civil related to publishing text and images. This includes but is not limited by laws on pornography, defammation, libel, copyright violation, etc.

Also by the way, be aware that there have been articles in magazines indicating that hosting sites such as Flicker have been used by others as a source for stealing images. I would not recommend hosting sites without a caveat(warning) in that regard or you might be viewed as indirectly responsible for facilitating copyright infringement in a law suit.

skieur

Cappahayden · Feb 4, 2008

Just wanted to point out that a huge percentage of Alpha users came from a Minolta background and to that effect there are already a few very well established forums covering Minolta / Sony Alpha line completely. These forums have huge followings. I don't mean to discourage you but thought you should know, it may take a while to draw people in. Good Luck.

http://www.dynaxdigital.com/

http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/default.asp