Suggestion: Decrease the number of galleries

[KmH]

To add to this suggestion, how about we move the Photo Gallery section in it's entirety right below the Foundations of Photography Section, above the equipment section. We need more involvement in the photo galleries!

That suggestion was made by a moderator 5 or 6 months ago.

Sub-forums, sticky threads, forum descriptions, and the FAQ page tend to get passed over by a lot of people.

It's my understanding a big part of the problem is that if forums get merged, or even have a minor name change, they become unsearchable.

 

[Ballistics]

To add to this suggestion, how about we move the Photo Gallery section in it's entirety right below the Foundations of Photography Section, above the equipment section. We need more involvement in the photo galleries!

I agree. However, it's up to the site owners; we mods aren't going to casually start moving things around.

Just know that the numerous Galleries evolved very slowly since 2003 when this forum was created. I think in the beginning we did only have about 4-5 Galleries - tops. There were also fewer than 1000 members back then. As the forum grew in size, so did the more specialized interests of many of the members, and these Galleries were created from member requests. I agree there could be a lot of consolidation, as people's interests ebb and flow - but that's the background. There is a lot of behind the scenes work involved in some of the forum headings, too, which help our web presence, so I don't know if that would willingly be given up. Again, that's a business decision for the owners to determine.

He((, I never even read the forum sub-heads; as I have stated on multiple occasions over the past two years, I read TPF via Active Topics, not by forum or sub-forum distinctions.

That's an unfortunate trend, as well. Again, there is discussion and intent behind the creation of all the forums, and you may find yourselves using the forums in a different way if you weren't blindly scrolling through Active Topics. That is not a criticism, btw, since Active Topics serves its own purpose, when people are just "swinging by" TPF. It's a quick & easy way to see what's going on. I just don't think it's the best way to always view TPF.

Regardless - I can make sure this thread and all these good suggestions are brought to the attention of the owners. We'll see how it goes, okay?

I understand that it takes an act of congress to make changes in some forums, and I expect that, to be honest. But I truly believe that consolidation would help this forum immensely. Here's why; when images were allowed in the Beginner's section, anyone at any given time could post an image for C&C and have the image viewed and commented on within the hour, and more often than not within 10 minutes. Fast forward to today, certain images can take days if not bumped and wind up at the bottom of the barrel very quickly. I attribute this to the New Post feature being used more than ever, and if a few threads have a heated debate, they stay at the top of the list, while threads with photos wind up off the list quickly.

I find myself meddling in conversations that I wouldn't normally bother with a few months ago, because I wind up getting bored waiting for someone to respond on my thread. I miss my images getting torn apart lol. That's how I grew as a photographer, and a lot of new members are missing out on that rapid interaction and in depth analysis.

 

[Ballistics]

To add to this suggestion, how about we move the Photo Gallery section in it's entirety right below the Foundations of Photography Section, above the equipment section. We need more involvement in the photo galleries!

That suggestion was made by a moderator 5 or 6 months ago.

Sub-forums, sticky threads, forum descriptions, and the FAQ page tend to get passed over by a lot of people.

Everything would remain the same, but instead of the gallery section being 3rd to last, it would be 2nd or 3rd overall.

What if you re-arrange

It's my understanding a big part of the problem is that if forums get merged, or even have a minor name change, they become unsearchable.

Maybe an archived section should be added to the bottom of the page then and if changes are made, move entire existing forums to the archived section where they can be viewed, but locked.

In other words, the black and white forum would be done away with completely, so it would be moved to the archived section.
The macro section would be merging with nature and wildlife, so macro gets dropped into the archived section and nature and wildlife would just be renamed Nature/Wildlife/Macro.

I truly believe consolidation will benefit this forum greatly.

 

[Derrel]

Again...most of the time when a GOOD idea is brought up, TPF powers that be bring up stuff like "searching" as an excuse to do nothing. This forum is plagued by excessive and minute sub-compartmentalization, and with some type of strange fascination with deciding exactly WHERE many posts must be "moved to" so that they fit somebody's preconceived notion of **precisely** where something MUST BELONG...almost as if a picture asking for C&C will somehow contaminate the wrong sub-forum.

Why not add a by-decade to the equipment sub-forums....you know...as in Canon, 1970's, Canon '1980's, Canon 1990's, Canon 2000's, Canon 2010-Present...it'd be sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Same for Nikon and so on!

Oh--so my idea is a dumb idea, to minutely try to control-freak EVERY SINGLE TOPIC INTO its very,very,very own pigeonhole??? Oh, my bad. Carry on TPF forum!!!

 

[SamSpade1941]

Again...most of the time when a GOOD idea is brought up, TPF powers that be bring up stuff like "searching" as an excuse to do nothing. This forum is plagued by excessive and minute sub-compartmentalization, and with some type of strange fascination with deciding exactly WHERE many posts must be "moved to" so that they fit somebody's preconceived notion of **precisely** where something MUST BELONG...almost as if a picture asking for C&C will somehow contaminate the wrong sub-forum.

Why not add a by-decade to the equipment sub-forums....you know...as in Canon, 1970's, Canon '1980's, Canon 1990's, Canon 2000's, Canon 2010-Present...it'd be sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Same for Nikon and so on!

Oh--so my idea is a dumb idea, to minutely try to control-freak EVERY SINGLE TOPIC INTO its very,very,very own pigeonhole??? Oh, my bad. Carry on TPF forum!!!

ROFL that pegged my sarcasm meter out , but in a weird way I like the idea it must be my fascination with having a very organized file structure.. Way too many years of messing with databases and AS 400 computers.. They see everything as an object..... :roll: