Not quite 4,000...

[mooimeisie]

[... or what is the best lens to use WHILE whining!

Ok, now this is getting just plain funny.:smileys:

 

[kundalini]

Chris, I like to leave options on the table so negotiations can continue. If mature sharp cheddar is not available, I will also have a strong Stilton.... as long as it's accompanied with a rather nice Port.

I think you have some reasonable grievences but I think one of the most needed sub-forum that was yanked is the Crit Forum. Let the Beginners forum run it's course, I don't feel qualified to post in the Professional forum, so that leaves a HUGE gap that's missing. We enthusiast, that want to share and learn advanced photography in which to take it to the next level. I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of us that has a couple of years under our belt could use such a venue.

There should definetley be a "sticky(ies)" where to redirect those What, Where, When & How questions that are flooding the top pages.

 

[manaheim]

Thanks for the kind words, dl.

kundalini... yeah, I think a crit forum (critical? critique?) would be at least a step in the right direction. I think that was the King's Tourney (or one instance of it, anyway) that I was referring to.

I also understand the whole position on "no stickies", but frankly I think it's a cop-out. We need to have some kind of section on this forum where some sort of objective analysis of the more common questions can be posted, commented on, edited, and then basically locked. Then going forward, anytime anyone asks the same question, they are pointed to the section.

Moderators... Chris? Anyone else listening?

What about it?

- A Critical Forum - more moderated- hell, dub a couple of us as moderators if you like and we'll take the burden
- A FAQ/Guides Forum - VERY moderated... someone takes on a subject, writes up an article, collects feedback for 15 days, makes updates, article gets approved by mods and is locked... re-open for discussion as deemed necessary by the moderators... again, deputize a couple of us if you need some more hands

I think these two things would help.

 

[kundalini]

Okay, third times the charm or I'm outta here. No cheddar, no stilton......

Gorganzola

With a Merlot or possibly a CabSav or ooooohhhhh a Zinfandel....... and don't forget the biscuits.......


Oi, any admins reading this thread? (sorry CoA, I know you have been) Please take notice.

 

[manaheim]

Okay, third times the charm or I'm outta here. No cheddar, no stilton......

Gorganzola

With a Merlot or possibly a CabSav or ooooohhhhh a Zinfandel....... and don't forget the biscuits.......


Oi, any admins reading this thread? (sorry CoA, I know you have been) Please take notice.

I can offer you some venezuaelan beaver cheese.

I dunno if any other mods are watching...

 

[kundalini]

I can offer you some venezuaelan beaver cheese.

That sounds interesting ......

When you mention beaver and cheese in the same sentence, to hell with the mods.......

AS LONG AS WE"RE TALKING ABOUT PROPER CHEESE.​

 

[manaheim]

Mods?

Chris?

Anyone?

 

[Chiller]

Mods?

Chris?

Anyone?

There are supposed to be something like 43000 members here. I think there are 2(?) mods. How much sense does that make? The Admin are just sitting back counting the $$ from the advertising.
Im on more then one forum....some are not photography related. Every forum Im on, has more then enough mods to monitor the threads, move them, ban the morons...but here, nobody cares. For example...one forum has 2000 members with 8 mods in different time zones. Not one issue(it is not a photography forum)
yeah, this place can be fixed, but do they really want to. I think not. I was one of the first 1000 members here, and we have put our heads together before, and ended up with bruises. Photography is not the number one issue here anymore. The place has been divided between beginners , pros, arseholes, wannabees, kids with cell phones...and blah blah blah. It is no longer a community of people sharing the same venture.
This place needs a complete overhaul, minus the pretty commercial skins that were put in place.

There should be a monitored Critique gallery, divided up into a few catagories(landscape, people....or whatever)
There should be a photo sharing gallery, with for the less serious, that could be divided into 3 or for general galleries.
There are stickies here, that are years old, some totally useless.
There are threads in the wrong galleries that need to be moved.
There are dead links(people who have removed their photos)
Get rid of the Mod interviews....who cares...they are all gone anyways.

I could go on, but.... Im going out shooting.

 

[Dagwood56]

Thinking out loud .....

Perhaps a way to keep beginners from posting in the more advanced gallery threads would be to require those members wishing to post there to take a breif quiz first, sort of like those given by a few of the stock photo sites. If you can't answer the basic photography questions, you're not qualified to post there and are denied access; which would limit many to the beginners board.

Perhaps some guidelines on the type of photos would help a bit -- a rule that cell phone photos are not allowed -period. I understand many people snap a quick shot here and there with the phone, but how interested in photography can they really be, if the cell phone is all they use?

Another thought --and I don't mean to offend anyone, a youth forum for anyone under 21, which I feel [showing my age big time here] would help with attitude adjustments, but it really wouldn't be fair to those kids here who are truly talented and obviously serious about learning photography [Phil Garber] comes to mind, but there are a couple of others also.

As for all the repeat questions - perhaps an automated response could be implemented which would direct the poster to all the threads already pertaining to "What lens..." What Camera..." and no one would be able to respond to the new question thread posted.

Just my random thoughts, but if they trigger a better thought from someone else, no harm done.

 

[NateS]

I'm going to throw out a couple ideas on how to improve things...they may be good, may be bad ideas.

1. Add more mods....BUT, have newly added mods designated to take care of specific sections (1-2 per mod) that way each mod IS able to check all or near all of the posts in their section(s).

2. You can't add stickies because you don't want 2-3 pages worth of stickies at the top of each forum. SOLUTION - Add a FAQ sticky at the top of each forum. THen...go find all the good posts worth being stickied and add them to the FAQ stickied thread....for example, a FAQ in the Beginner's forum which contains links to useful posts about D40 vs. XS, or Canon vs. Nikon, or which lens should I buy, etc..... Then each time somebody makes a stupid new post asking about Nikon or Canon, a moderator can just post the link to the FAQ section and lock that thread.

That seems like a pretty simple solution that would require a little help from current members (by becoming moderators) and from the sounds of it....quite a few people would be willing if it helped the forum get back to it's old self.

Edit: One step further. Give each new mod about 2-3 sections, but overlap them so that each section has about 2 mods, but with them "staggered" (i.e. not the same two mods for the same 3 sections). This way if one mod is gone there's a chance that the other one is there to do something.

 

[Dagwood56]

NateS - I agree with you about more mods, each having their own forum to take care of. Very good idea! :thumbup:

 

[Chris of Arabia]

I'm still here and still listening. I am also trying to encourage a debate on some of the suggestions so far. I'm actually very limited in the ability I have to implement some of the suggestions made. The only one I can really act on is to trawl through the old stickies and unstick as necessary. One way or another, we will get there.

Again though, I would urge you to report problems as they arise using the

icon. Just so you know, not one post has been reported in the last 24 hours, not even spam.

I don't think I can help with some of the cheese though...

 

[Chris of Arabia]

OK, I've weeded the stickies a bit - 50 minutes of non-stop clicking to get that done. Really wish better connections were available in Saudi

 

[benlonghair]

You know, I didn't even think about this until I read this post. I'm about as much a noob as anyone here (accomplished forum troll, but photographer not so much) but I see what Manaheim is talking about.

I understand about not wanting 3/4 of a page of stickies, but some might be nice. Like a user pro/con of entry level DSLRs. Some nice person (read: sucker) would need to volunteer to put it together, but it would be nice if there was a reference in the beginner forum.

For example, when I bought my D60 I spent about 2 weeks deciding which camera to buy. Many the reviews I read said "OMG 3fps until you fill the memory card."

Not true. You can get a burst of shots 5 in RAW and 8 (I think) in large JPEG. I am extremely disappointed that I didn't know this before I bought the camera. Nothing like panning with somebody on a jetski and just as you get to the shot you really want the camera stops clicking for seven or eight seconds. Not a single review talked about this limitation.

Had somebody told me that the 3fps feature wasn't exactly 3fps (I don't know if any DSLR is really 3fps in RAW), I might have looked at another camera. If somebody had told me that the noise after about ISO 400 is high, I might have looked at a slightly higher priced unit.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is a ton of info here if you have the time (and the knowledge of how to search this style of board) but if you're a bit of a luddite or are looking for a quick answer it's difficult. This could even be dealt with as a sticky of links to interesting/useful older posts.

 

[NateS]

You know, I didn't even think about this until I read this post. I'm about as much a noob as anyone here (accomplished forum troll, but photographer not so much) but I see what Manaheim is talking about.

I understand about not wanting 3/4 of a page of stickies, but some might be nice. Like a user pro/con of entry level DSLRs. Some nice person (read: sucker) would need to volunteer to put it together, but it would be nice if there was a reference in the beginner forum.

For example, when I bought my D60 I spent about 2 weeks deciding which camera to buy. Many the reviews I read said "OMG 3fps until you fill the memory card."

Not true. You can get a burst of shots 5 in RAW and 8 (I think) in large JPEG. I am extremely disappointed that I didn't know this before I bought the camera. Nothing like panning with somebody on a jetski and just as you get to the shot you really want the camera stops clicking for seven or eight seconds. Not a single review talked about this limitation.

This is because you don't have a fast enough SD card. Spend about 100-150 on the fastest sandisk card and you'll get the maximum shots. My D90 will go to 11 frames at 4.5 fps...but I only get about 5-6 because I'm limited by my class 6 Kingston card.

Had somebody told me that the 3fps feature wasn't exactly 3fps (I don't know if any DSLR is really 3fps in RAW), I might have looked at another camera. If somebody had told me that the noise after about ISO 400 is high, I might have looked at a slightly higher priced unit.

You could have searched flickr for sample shots at different ISO's.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is a ton of info here if you have the time (and the knowledge of how to search this style of board) but if you're a bit of a luddite or are looking for a quick answer it's difficult. This could even be dealt with as a sticky of links to interesting/useful older posts.

See, but by needing a quick answer and asking on here instead of searching (for those simple questions that have been answered 1000 times), the noobie poster is basically saying that their time is worth more than mine/ours who they want it to be answered by. That's a pretty big disrespect and a big part of why so many noobs on here leave a sour taste with the "older" members.

see my responses above