Suggestion to open a critique subsection

I get what you are saying Derrel.

I too read the forums via the new posts tab, rather than going through every subsection. Doing so, sorta makes the forum effectively just one section. I feel that is an argument that this place has far too many sections.

I also agree that asking for lighting advice in relation to an image, logically goes in the "beyond the basics" section. But that speaks to where each individual feels their post belongs. First time using lighting... is THAT beyond the basics, or beginner stuff. Becomes subjective, and up to moderators and how much absolute control of content they want to police. Which my guess is that it should be minimal.

Your post makes me feel I probably would still view the forum via New Posts, and that renders a seperate forum useless.

Hmmm...
 
I just counted: there are 35 sub-forums, plus seven vendor forums...I just cannot keep up with 35 sub-forums...so I read Active Topics about 90% of the time....if nothing grabs my eye, then I will click on New Posts, to see if there's anything new that has not yet been activated...it works for me.
 
Hmm, yes ... I primarily click the "Active Topics" button, and scan the posts.

As someone who has not been in forums for a long time, I will provide my two cents ... I do not feel I am required to provide C&C if the OP does state that, and in some cases I have found that the OP did actually want it.
Now, having a C&C area would make it clear that the OP wants feedback ... and I also do agree with Derrel that there may be too many subs.


I also would scan all "Unanswered Posts" if there was a button like that ... in either case the Forum the post is in, would govern if I comment or not.
 
However new members to a site, or those who are not visiting on a daily/semidaily time line often will use the subsections to navigate around rather than just work in new posts. If forums as large as TPF in diversity of topics and membership numbers could work with 1 section they would. It helps forum structure and built to have some level of organisation. Furthermore TPF is always being spoken of as a group with a lot of subsections - if we discount the 7 or so subsections for the vendors and stick to the active member sections then the number we have here is not dissimilar to other larger, open topic photography groups online.

In fact the only photography forums I know with less are those with smaller communities and much more restricted subject types.

Also, for those viewing everything in new-posts, yes this will have little to no effect on your site navigation, but it affects everyone elses site navigation.
 
Overread, which is why I never became comfortable at PotN, the number of forums they have is daunting!
 
Personally I don't think its the number of forums that is daunting its the community size - outside of a very few its hard to feel like you can fit in because its so big it really does have many subcommunities working within it. I just mostly stick to the macro section and a few of the general help sections.
 
could be as simple as NSOP forums.

Have a critique section and a sharing section. One should be able to decide where to post from there. If not good luck in life I guess.

New School Of Photography Forum
 
Why not just have every post be available for critique unless specifically marked sharing?

And, most important, why not raise the image size limit at least to 1000?
800 pixels wide might have been appropriate 6 years ago but the vast proportion of monitors are bigger now.
It surely would improve quality of posts and C/C would be much more meaningful.
 
Why not just have every post be available for critique unless specifically marked sharing?

And, most important, why not raise the image size limit at least to 1000?
800 pixels wide might have been appropriate 6 years ago but the vast proportion of monitors are bigger now.
It surely would improve quality of posts and C/C would be much more meaningful.
Lew, I can't speak on the image size limit, but can put the question to the forum owners about it. For all I know, it's a default size - not sure.
 
I think we need a huge dose of tolerance on what is posted where, and on where a person asks for C&C. I'm absolutely sick and tired of the way a select few individuals constantly harp on people for posting something in what they consider the incorrect area, especially since these select few are often blasting newcomers to the forum who are 1) unfamiliar with expectations of TPF members who will be crucifying them and 2) rightly uncertain of the interpretation of the forum description blurbs, which do NOT SPECIFICALLY state, "do not ask for C&C". We had an instance last week that was just pathetic...and Terri is the one who hit upon what the issue really was. A relatively new member here, with his first set of studio lighting equipment (monolighrs, umbrellas, etc.) posted in Beyond The Basics, and asked for C&C of a studio-lighted portrait he had made. He was immediately jumped by two self-appointed forum police, and then repeatedly dogged, post after post, for his "transgression". And yet, the issue Terri brings up is that what most beginners want is "feedback". I simply do not understand why there are a handful of people here who are so,so insistent on trying to force their mental conception of where is it allowable to ask for "feedback" on an image when the request is made using the abbreviation C&C?

These repeated attempts to proscribe,limit, and force the posting behavior of potentially thousands of posters, many of them newcomers, is doomed to failure. And I have to ask, "Why? Why do you want to try and enforce your anal retentive posting behavior on the multitudes? is it so you can become some type of lazy C&C provider who can get his daily "fix" of C&C-giving gratification, all in one location,with no effort? Personal power trip? Having a justification backed up by rules so that you can ream out newbies who accidentally post in the "wrong" forum?

The forum has so,so,so many sub-sections that I do not even bother to read the forum by sub-section: I read and use it via Active Topics and New Posts. WIth as many sub-sections as there are, the chances that a new poster will make a posting "error" and be jumped on by a handful of regulars is pretty high. I think it is absolutely, totally asinine to limit C&C, or feedback, or comments about posted photos, to specific sub-sections of a photo forum. No, let me restate that: It is absolutely moronic to try and limit feedback, C&C, or comments about posted photos, to specific sub-sections of a photo forum. Asking for commentary on studio lighting in the Beyond The Basics forum seems perfectly legitimate to me. How is a person supposed to solicit feedback or C&C or comments on an advanced technique without posting a photo example? Why have so,so many sub-forums? Why try and limit and force the hand of posters? Why not go with the flow a bit more, instead of trying to channel the flow where it does not want to willingly go?
Thanks Derrel - you're my new hero. ;) You've hit on the unique issues that naturally occur when a forum reaches the size of TPF. I can honestly answer for how the subfoums and many Galleries evolved, because I've been here since month 5 in the life of TPF. The subforums are here because members asked for them. It was not difficult to gain a concensus and get feedback from a core group of active members a few years ago - even a large core group. Same thing with the Galleries, people asked for various subjects to avoid slogging through images whose themes did not interest them, in order to finally open one that did. Then we grew large enough to try to split off more seasoned photographers from absolute newbs - and we've gone through many variations of that. All the while, advertising increased and so did membership and our position on search engines.

Ultimately, I would agree that we were focused on creating a forum for a smaller population, and the forum grew at lightning speed while we were bobbing around trying to create the perfect main page. :) That includes a couple of intense attempts, each different in concept, with Crit forums.

So, I'm kind of hearing from some of you that you don't even view the main page and look at subforums/Galleries and decide where to start browsing - you open up the New Posts tab. I would agree that this approach has the tail wagging the dog, so to speak. It also explains the mad flow in some forums vs others, at least in part.

So....any more specifics you'd like to offer up? You guys are still free to kick this around, up to and including your "sticky" description for a Crit forum. I've developed a more laid back approach, such as what Derrel was describing, and tend not to want to see folks ***** slapped over their forum(s) of choice when posting. That said, I'm here to try to help with guidelines if you believe they'd actually work.

Carry on. :)
 
I vote yes on this one, a loosly regulated sub-section for critique/feedback only. It would be nice if it would unclutter the beginers forum, and possibly make it possible to get answers to questions when you have them instead of loosing your post to thread after thread of snap shots. Just my 2 cents on the matter.
 
It would be nice if it would unclutter the beginers forum, and possibly make it possible to get answers to questions when you have them instead of loosing your post to thread after thread of snap shots.

Exactly. Maybe the answer isn't to make a uber crit forum, but to seperate the beginer forum into Tech questions, and a seperate beginner Crit forum.

That might help address the "dumping ground" feel.

The beginner crit forum would be "for those just starting out, wanting to learn more about composition, exposure, etc."
 
Yes, I think separating the Beginner's Forum into a "Tech" section, and a "Crit/Feedback" forum would be a worthy idea...in fact, it's one of the best specific ideas I've heard put forth. The umbrella of Beginner's Forum is simply too large: perhaps the forum ought to be sub-divided into one part for the discussion of photographic issues and lighting techniques and methods, and a second section devoted to imagery/post processed files/photographs.

My issue right now is with all the divisions and sub-categories TPF currently has. Sure, in the past it was easy to get a bunch of squeaky wheels together to suggest a new sub-forum, and to create it to please those squeaky wheels. When a few people get together and clamor for something, there's a great temptation to try and satisfy those clamoring for change. But, is it always in the best interests of the majority to listen to vocal,organized, dedicated "special interest lobbyists"? I think not. Anyway, as Bitter pointed out, there are basically Five Questions that comprise 90% of the Beginner's Forum posts...perhaps we could devote a bit more energy to working on answering those repetitive questions with some carefully-designed "Articles of Interest", or some mini-FAQ's. This year and last, the new things have been Strobist techniques, Off Camera Flash, Cheap Remote Triggers, and the all-important questions about 1) which intro-level d-slr? 2)which flash unit?, and
3) What macro lens should I buy?

I think what we're missing is something like: A) Lens Discussions. B) Studio and Location Lighting Gear and Techniques C) Cameras and Camera-handling issues D) Troubleshooting, Equipment Issues, and Diagnosing Image Faults and Flaws. I would say, add those four categories and remove other less-popular categories that would become redundant. These are the areas where I think mini-FAQs might be very helpful; perhaps we could have 5- to 10-member posts on topics like, in category A,lens discussions: which Canon 50mm for me? What are the Canon 70-200 zooms about? Concise teleconverter Summaries. Ultra-wide Lens roundup 10-24mm lenses listed by maker.

In category B) which is Studio and Location Lighting gear and Techniques, we could have mini-FAQ's on affordable monolight options; how softboxes mount and speedring FAQ; umbrella types; reflectors, grids,barndoors,snoots and accessories; affordable light stands; studio lighting basics; simple lighting setups. Category D, Troubleshooting, Equipment Issues, and Diagnosing Image Faults and Flaws could be done mostly in photos: shots of subject motion blur, camera shake, front-focus, back focus, flash shots with black bars from exceeding X-synch speed, over-exposure, under-exposure, flash shadows cast by lenses and lens hoods; BASIC f/stop/shutter/ISO chart,etc.

I dunno...it seems to me that Bitter's got the issue sussed: there are FIVE QUESTIONS (well, 20) that bog the whole place down, and they are almost all technical/equipment related. The beginner's forum would be a good place to take some action, to get the photographic basics and technical issues handled first, with mini-FAQ's and Articles of Interest, and then in the normal, daily TPF forum fashion, have a place where C&C, feedback, and improvement can be discussed, or where people can simply SHARE their pictures with other TPF'ers.
 
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Fully agree. Would love to see a separate C&C section. Perhaps hen beginners would have a section where they could post questions and get answers. There are several members who avoid the beginners forum because of all the C&C requests They request are not going away, It would be nice if they were in their own section.
 
OK, here goes.. How about having a beginners photo section right there in the foundations section. Most of the people who can't be bothered to look around for the right section in the first place might put there shots there if it were blindingly easy.

I know that the mods can't keep up with the mass of miss-placed threads and they'd tick off too many by trying to shunt them way down the page because "dad-gumit, I'm important and I need to know RIGHT now".

Anyway a critique section right next to the beginner's section with the notification that the beginner's section is Strictly for answering technical questions so please don't flood it with critique requests so that experienced members can keep track of the questions to make sure they were answered and the person with the question understood.
 

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