Anyone interested in setting up a 'Photo RAW' forum...

slackercruster · Aug 11, 2012

Anyone interested in setting up a 'Photo RAW' forum... low on censorship high on content?

No, am not talking about the endless RAW vs jpeg debate. I am talking about a photo forum where the members are free to post without the harassment of overzealous mods and stifling rules.

Now, we all need some rules. I am not talking No Rules. But the current crop of photo forums out there are not cutting it. Sure they are fine for the average tog. But for serious togs these forums are very poor. Too many rules and regulations to do any serious work here.

I've left the Pentax forum as well as a few other photo forums due to their censorship. I don't have hours of time to waste writing detailed and illustrated posts that you will have a hard time finding anyplace else on the web just to have them deleted.

'Photo RAW' is just a suggested name off the top of my head. Call it whatever you like. But it must have the following 2 things in its favor for me to make it my home.

1) No or very little censorship on full nudes. I don't really care what is in it. Just don't make it trashy and full of crap.

2) Allows the posting and discussion of other togs and artists work. This one rule alone is a big problem with virtually every photo forum out there. You cannot have serious work being done without the ability to discuss and show others work. Don't use the 'post a link' excuse either. Links die, every photo can't be linked. Who wants to click on dozens of links in one post to get through it? Pix on the other hand flow with ease.

There is nothing wrong with posting low res images of other togs work. Any of you ever shoot a billboard? Same fudging thing. It is nowhere comparable to downloading music. A low res image can't be used for anything every much. Maybe somebody can make a 5 x 7 out of it...so fudging what!! It is comparable to taping a jingle on a TV commercial with your old cassette player to let your wife hear it when she comes home from work. So get it out of your head it is akin to guarding nuclear secrets by disallowing the posting of other togs or artists low res work.

A couple of forums / blogs on the web to model the rules after are Tumblr and Deviant Art. Neither is a substitute for what I propose. While Tumblr is great on low censorship, it is a blog format and not a forum. Deviant Art is also lenient with censorship, but its forum format is VERY poor and hard to use. Esp for posting pix. So keep that in mind if you create a forum. Model it after easy to use classics.

Now, your forum can be all encompassing including art as well as photography if you like. I don't care. Whatever works for making it a viable option. If it works out I would be glad to remove all my photos from all the forums I have been on and transfer them to the new forum I feel it only fair to give back some of the same medicine the forums have dished out to me.

Drop me a line if you develop anything. I'd be glad to be a founding member. But I can only participate as a member, that is all I can offer. I'm pretty much done here and with all the rest...just don't have that time to waste guys.

Take care,

SC

[email protected]

Bitter Jeweler · Aug 11, 2012

Why can't you do it?

Hosting, domain name, and software license (often included in hosting packages) is cheap. Might take an hour to set up, and you're done. Then go spam other fora for membership.

480sparky · Aug 11, 2012

Bitter Jeweler said:
Why can't you do it?

Hosting, domain name, and software license (often included in hosting packages) is cheap. Might take an hour to set up, and you're done. Then go spam other fora for membership.

This.

MLeeK · Aug 11, 2012

I think your unwillingness to do this yourself speaks for the fact that you know it's really not feasible either as a forum in general and there may well be some legal issues there. That's not to say I think your idea or what created the idea is bad...

It's impossible to have a forum without mods and some type of control. If you did that you'd have total chaos.
Your #2 is going to cause you some REAL headaches and it will ruin your forum. Discussing is all fine and well and can be done anywhere, however when it becomes any kind of bashing it's going to turn into an all out brawl and could very well be an issue with defamation of character.

Posting of images belonging to someone else is a legal issue and you have to be very careful. It's not a forum thing, it's a legal issue. Pinterest is in huge debate at this point because of their TOS and pinning other peoples works. It's possible for it to work, but you had better consult an attorney who specializes in intellectual property or even better copyright.

The reason the site mods here and elsewhere remove an image lies in that legal issue. I guarantee you that if I posted a photo here and even gave credit to the photographer with links and all-it'd come down. For a reason-the owners of this forum are not taking any chances of being on the wrong side of legal.

In closing: I think you have discovered the same thing that all of the rest of us who have been around the block have done. It's rare to find any help for a higher skill level photographer in a forum. The forums are where the newbies come to start to get help learning. However, once you get past that point there is little left for you. That is the reason I am a member here and at PhotoCamel. Here especially. The guys here challenge me and teach me where any other forum I have been a part of really does nothing for me besides share what I already know. I love the fact that they'll tell me off in here if they feel I am being an ass-which I do occassionally. They'll tell me the dirty when other forums gloss over everything. PhotoCamel has some incredible talent and experience in it. It's a little less brutal, but the information there is PHENOMENAL.

ClickinMoms has actually done some leaps and bounds toward serving those more advanced photographers with their separate forums for CMPro. You don't have to be a mom or even female to be a member there. You do have to pass muster which is really rather tough to be a member of their CMPro forum. How much it's worth once you get there? Hell if I know. I am not even a member of anything over there. They do have some pretty known professional names over there, so it's possible that it's phenomenal. ILP has something similar with their different levels. I haven't found anything remotely useful at ILP, but their other forums that are paid and professional may well be worth it.

I think your ideas base is a good building block, but I think your key issues are going to be even bigger problems. I would love to be involved in something that is for advanced professionals should it happen, but I am not holding out hope either.

EW1066 · Aug 14, 2012

What you are looking for already exists. It's called REDDIT. For the most part it fits your needs to a "T". Total anarchy with tons of content to sift through and very little substance. That will be the end result of what you propose.

EDUB

rexbobcat · Aug 14, 2012

You do realize that unless you take another photographer's work, download it to your compute, and upload it to the actual site (which is soooo illegal), that every photo uses a link. So if the link dies, the photo that's posted dies, regardless of whether it's in link form, BBC code, or HTML.

But yeah, it's not hard to host it yourself for something like 5$ a month. And most hosting services have ways of installing forums into your domain. What exactly is it that you would need help with...

Bitter Jeweler · Aug 14, 2012

rexbobcat said:
What exactly is it that you would need help with...

Passing off legal responsibility?

zombiemann · Aug 14, 2012

4chan.org sounds like a place you would like to be. They have everything you describe above, including the inherent chaos of relatively unmoderated discussions.