Site Improvements I'd love to see

Formatted · Feb 4, 2011

Read the post, check replies so we aren't going over the same points

According to Cute Stats www.thephotoforum.com estimated worth and web stat from Cubestat the Photoforum is worth $116,683.20 with a daily revenue of $159.84 (Not including supporting members). Last month there were just over 100,000 unique visitors we are the 8,416 most visited site in the world.

Yet I believe we lack a few things that I if we were to implement we would encourage a larger viewing base and thus maintain our place as one of the worlds most visited photography forums.

- In dependent section for Video DSLR, with sub forums on editing, equipment and C&C forum.

Even if you don't like it DSLR video is here to stay, either with evolve with the times or we fall behind. This would encourage a DSLR Video equipment provider to sponsor the forum

- More social integration, twitter feed with hot topics, facebook and flickr group.

A-lot of forums these days use social networking to increase there ability to communicate between its users and the moderators. Something like this doesn't require a lot of effort to maintain and set-up.

- An Iphone and Android application for viewing the website in an easier format than web on a small device.

www.talkphotography.com have a fantastic iPhone app and its great when sitting on a bus, it uses less bandwidth than the web version so can be easily used. It even has a little ad bar at the bottom for a bit of revenue generation.

- Chat room

I don't know what everyones thoughts are on this, but almost every major forum I've been involved in had a chat room the largest site I can remember using was Reptile Rooms - Home (after the server got hacked it never really came back) but we had a fantastic forum, as well as a very populated chat room. Instant advice was easily available!

- Change the name from General Shop Talk to General Business Talk (or Discussion)

Since this is often interpreted as a general forum.

- Real prizes for competitions

This is a real bone of contention for me, this site receives a considerable amount of money daily and yearly, and it would be silly of me to think we could provide a huge prize each month. We obviously can't, but we can provide either a yearly or twice yearly prize. I'd really like to see the competitions start up again and something tangible for the winner would be brilliant. The money is clearly there but the will is not!

- More articles of interest

I'd love to see some more articles of interest!

Added on Request

Overread - Breaking down the Beginners Section

Like to see a breaking up of the beginners section. Its not that I hate beginners, but it moves so darn fast that many have their threads well onto page 2 or 3 by the end of a day without even getting a chance at being noticed, though no fault of the person starting the thread.

Overread - Galleries renamed into a photography categories section.

The macro section already operates very much like this with both photo threads and discussions running along side very smoothly and it would be great to encourage this in the other sections as well.

kundalini - Would like another photo edit option

It's OK to edit my photo if you ask first.

To conclude, this is a fantastic website, I've learnt so much, I've had a few laughs and I'd like to think I've taught some stuff to. But we need to evolve there is no point in standing still, because otherwise other websites will pass us by.

Overread · Feb 4, 2011

We had a chat (I think its even still attached to some older part of the site). Nobody used it and after the last few "old guard" exoduses its been - well - dead. Part of that though is that nobody knows its present on the site and that could be easily solved with a link in the site interface.

I'd also like to see a breaking up of the beginners section. Its not that I hate beginners, but it moves so darn fast that many have their threads well onto page 2 or 3 by the end of a day without even getting a chance at being noticed, though no fault of the person starting the thread.
Personally I think we need to bring back the old rule that photo threads are not allowed in the beginners section (thus pushing more people to use the galleries as well). Further with the vast number of "C&C" my photos threads I think we need to bring back the critique section. Yes it can cause drama - yes it can be a problem - but at present we have C&C posts - we have the drama and the problems already that come with it - its just all mashed into that mess that is the beginners section.
Breaking it off into a Critique section would be simple and again it removes pressure from one section of the site and allows a more effective use of the site and its resources.

So my view - stricter rules and enforcement in the beginners section
Remove photo posting threads from beginners and encourage use of the galleries
Bring back the critique section

Formatted · Feb 4, 2011

Remove photo posting threads from beginners and encourage use of the galleries

I contemplated putting this into my original thread so I whole heartily support this!

Overread · Feb 4, 2011

Actually to add I'd rather see the galleries renamed into a photography categories section. The macro section already operates very much like this with both photo threads and discussions running along side very smoothly and it would be great to encourage this in the other sections as well.

I know most places like to divide the two, but I feel that we've a lot of galleries/categories here on TPF, but we've also a far smaller population (than places like Photo Camel and Photography on the Net) so it does not benefit us to try splitting into yet far more sections (we've first not the population to support it well and also not the space really - the site would end up one massive list and too unworkable for many to get used to).

Formatted · Feb 4, 2011

Added to the list,

mwcfarms · Feb 4, 2011

Well thought out and simply put. Nice. I am guilty of posting in the beginners section most of the time. Because one, when I did put it in the appropriate section I didn't get as much feedback as I had in the beginners section and I filter through usually with Active topics. Its our own fault that no one uses the subforums lol. Guess that's just a push for us to start utilizing them.

Formatted · Feb 4, 2011

Its our own fault that no one uses the subforums lol.

Some like me, actively avoid the Beginners section and only use sub-forums. The move away from one big really active section would only improve the amount and quality of answers we could provide.

This would be a really positive change.

mwcfarms · Feb 4, 2011

Question though, so even beginners you would like to see move to the appropriate subject subforum? As I still consider myself a beginner but a bit more experienced than someone who is green off the street?

Big Mike · Feb 4, 2011

98% of members here are 'beginners'. There is no real reason they need to post photos in just the 'beginner's' section.
We just found that the idea of posting photos in categorized sub forums was too complicated for the newbs...so it was just easier to let them post there.

That's actually the reason for how a lot of things are around here. We've tried several different things and if it's even slightly complicated or requires adhering to any specific rules....people don't get it, and it creates way too much work to moderate etc.

Keep up the list, I do think there are some changes that could help and this is great input.

Overread · Feb 4, 2011

Mike if its putting too much pressure on the moderation staff surely that suggests that the staff needs a slight expansion to allow things to function. Even if its only a temporary expansion as a shift takes place and goes through teething.

Once its through teething and many are using the system peerpressure and site usage should come into effect. Many other forums manage to function with multiple specific sections for people to use so I don't see why TPF has to be an exception in this case.