Notice on the use of Beginners Forum

[Overread]

I'm seeing a lot of "What lens" "What camera body" type posts being made in the Beginners subsection and would like to remind users that this is not the correct place for posting such questions. If you want to post about equipment relaited issues please use the following subsections and not beginners, thank you:

Photography Equipment & Products - for general/any equipment retailed threads

Canon - for Canon specific questions (note section is split into lenses, accessories and general)

Nikon - for Nikon specific questions (note section is split into lenses, accessories and general)

Sony - for Sony specific questions (note section is split into lenses, accessories and general)



In addition I would like to remind members who are working photographers (be you highly experienced or beginners in the photography working world) that you should be posting all relevant threads/subjects on professional work in the following site subsection
The Business District


Thanks all :mrgreen:

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Good luck with that.

 

[Overread]

Oh if some refuse to learn I've always got the lock rather than the move control

 

[Netskimmer]

I'm seeing a lot of "What lens" "What camera body" type posts being made in the Beginners subsection and would like to remind users that this is not the correct place for posting such questions. If you want to post about equipment relaited issues please use the following subsections and not beginners, thank you:

Photography Equipment & Products - for general/any equipment retailed threads

Canon - for Canon specific questions (note section is split into lenses, accessories and general)

Nikon - for Nikon specific questions (note section is split into lenses, accessories and general)

Sony - for Sony specific questions (note section is split into lenses, accessories and general)



In addition I would like to remind members who are working photographers (be you highly experienced or beginners in the photography working world) that you should be posting all relevant threads/subjects on professional work in the following site subsection
The Business District


Thanks all :mrgreen:

I have noticed this as well but the problem is that this forum's target seems kind of broad. Basically, if it's a beginner/noob question most people are going to post here regardless of whether it is about hardware or software or whatever. Even if we were able to quantify exactly what should and should not be posted here and put it in a sticky the number of "why can't I/how do I post pictures" threads tells me that it probably won't do much good.

 

[quiddity]

you should remove all other forums and just have the one. make the ipad version of this site easier to use.

 

[marmots]

people post in this section because it gets the most views

 

[Kerbouchard]

Oh if some refuse to learn I've always got the lock rather than the move control

Yeah, you are right. Much better to kill this forum altogether trying to make it what you want it to be than going with the flow.

Facebook is a bit more popular than this forum and just managed to kill itself. With a little effort, you can probably accomplish the same thing. Good luck to you.

 

[Overread]

It isn't a case of "going with the flow" its a case of getting members (and not all of them new either) to post in the correct places on the site. No different than using any other forum structure and software. Locks only come out to repeat offenders since its unfair to expect mods to continue to move threads when the member has had more than enough reminders/time to know better.

As for the section, sure it gets a lot of views, but a large number of the regular site members already surf the site in "new posts" rather than section by section - so the post views isn't that much of a factor.

 

[Kerbouchard]

I only use the 'new posts' so I couldn't care less about the categories. For me, they are all the same.

But, I would still say that 'facebook' which was one of the most popular sites of it's day, has probably killed itself by making changes that weren't necessary in the first place.

You can make all the changes you want. That is your right as a moderator. Just don't expect the people who participate on this forum to 'jump to'. Some will go to another forum...just like the mass exodus of facebook.

 

[Overread]

But nothings been changed

 

[Ballistics]

I'm guilty of this, but to be honest, I never knew that there was a lens only forum.

What questions would be suitable in this forum regarding camera equipment? Because the first place a beginner would go to to ask "what kind of camera/lens should I get" would be the beginners forum.

By the way, I'm being sincere, even though obvious questions like these sound sarcastic or smug. But there does need to be a little clarity regarding proper post placement in the beginners forum. Also the fact that there are members who are experienced(some more than others) that help answer redundant questions keep people coming back to the beginners forums to keep asking questions. Rules are rules, and what ever they are I will do my best to abide by them, but the beginners forum purpose is definitely a vague one.

 

[Ballistics]

I only use the 'new posts' so I couldn't care less about the categories. For me, they are all the same.

But, I would still say that 'facebook' which was one of the most popular sites of it's day, has probably killed itself by making changes that weren't necessary in the first place.

You can make all the changes you want. That is your right as a moderator. Just don't expect the people who participate on this forum to 'jump to'. Some will go to another forum...just like the mass exodus of facebook.

I get what you are saying, but I don't think that the context of this thread is to the point where it's making drastic changes (...yet). However, I get what you are saying. Don't fix what's not broken.

 

[Ron Evers]

Why so many sub-sections that are not used? I tried some years ago & I may as well have posted on the back of an outhouse. The beginners section is a catch-all & has a sense of community.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Why so many sub-sections that are not used? I tried some years ago & I may as well have posted on the back of an outhouse. The beginners section is a catch-all & has a sense of community.

Yeah that....

 

[Overread]

Some of the subsections are under-used and others are somewhat in need of a reshuffle (yes the mods are aware of this and yes we do want to change things a bit to try and condense the forum structure *glares at the "digital" subsection* however its not directly in our hands (site admin only).

However the easy solution to increasing the use of various subsections is to promote the use of them, rather than allow things to fall into a single subsection, which not only messes up the forum structure but also quickly breeds an environment where threads not replied to fast fall of the front page (and thus are missed/ignored).