WOW!

[John Wright]

What a breath of fresh air! I came to this forum several days ago when a friend told me about it. The first thing I noticed was the requirement that members register with their real names instead of some itsy-cute screen name. The other thing I noticed is the lack of endless threads on the best way to clean a DSLR sensor. Those two things lead me to believe this is a serious, mature, professional forum. I have a feeling I'm going to spend a lot of time here...

[Asher Kelman]

Welcome John,

Thanks for joining our platoon!

That picture of the flower belongs in Macro someone will identify it and may have more. Very striking!

Number 9? Interesting, but is it a lion or a big dog?

Welcome and I look forward to sharing with you!

Asher

[John Wright]

Welcome John,

Thanks for joining our platoon!

That picture of the flower belongs in Macro someone will identify it and may have more. Very striking!

Thanks, I'll do that...

Number 9? Interesting, but is it a lion or a big dog?

Not a pose you would expect a Lion to be in... Check my "Zoos" gallery. There's a lot more Lion pictures.

Welcome and I look forward to sharing with you!

Asher

Thanks much for the welcome.

John

[Ken Tanaka]

Welcome, John! Yes, removing at least the appearance of anonymity makes a significant difference in the nature of topics and tone of discussions here. Nobody wants to let everyone else know that they're shooting with a shmutzed-up sensor.

[Tim Armes]

Hi John,

Welcome to OPF.

It's true that OPF has a rather unusual level of discussion. I also believe that the requirement to use real names plays a big role in the feel that has evolved. However, the real driving force behind the forum's good manors and intelligent discussions comes from Asher's incredible motivation and hard work (although he has the great advantage of never needing to sleep).

I don't think that OPF is for everyone (after all, we have far fewer members than forums such as those hosted by dpreview), however I believe that those who come are more likely to add to the richness of discussion that makes OPF what is it - a forum for those passionate about images (and not necessarily about the gear that we use to produce them).

Tim