So what would you think?

[Asher Kelman]

OPF is now 10 years old and we celebrated with a wonderful exhibition of some of our most impressive photographs. The feedback was that our work garnished great interest. Folk lingered and asked questions about the individual works and the artists and would return and remembered the names. The reports back to the exhibit organizers from collectors and other artists was that OPF Gallery One presented a broad selection of interesting and impressive photography worthy attention.

However, a lot of praise is wonderful, but sales would be even better. I do like the idea of their being an outlet for our best photography, but we must find a way of doing it at a lower cost. At present, I have footed the entire cost of OPF. One of my burdens is going through the registrations each day and removing the spammers and advertisers that BOT-join each day.

ONE: New Members Fee: Now I am considering an entrance fee. It could be something as low as $5 as that would be no barrier to any serious enthusiast or professional. It could be higher, perhaps $15 per year, with everyone already joined, grandfathered in and would have no further fee.

What is a fair and a good idea
? I put out to you for comment.


TWO: Themed Photography competitions: Winners get to exhibit work free and get a prize of say $200 to $1000. Fee per picture $30

Any other ideas, I'd love to hear from you. But I think that a national photography competition with guarantee of winners being in an exhibition would be worth trying. Also it would bring fresh talent to OPF.

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

"So what would think?"

Well, sapient beings, I would think.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, Asher,

"So what would think?"

Well, sapient beings, I would think.

Best regards,

Doug

I was relying on you knowing that this was addressed to you, amongst other sentients. Siri edited my typing, LOL!

 

[Jerome Marot]

ONE: New Members Fee:

I understand your reasoning, but I am afraid that the context is not very good. The whole Internet is looking for a way to monetise users and subscription sites are not doing well. More important: forums have seen their participation go down regularly in the past years (all forums, not only photography). Times have changed.

TWO: Themed Photography competitions

I fear that this market is already saturated. There are quite a few competitions with famous names on the jury and prime exhibition space which obviously finance themselves from the entrance fees of the participants.

Any other ideas

About the spammers: lower the threshold for registration, but only let people post to a limited subsection for a week or for the first so many messages. Let registered users flag spam messages.

About the forum: the home page has news from 2009 and articles from 2008. Replace it by something more recent or simply make it a direct link to the forum.

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

I was relying on you knowing that this was addressed to you, amongst other sentients. Siri edited my typing, LOL!

You need to have Siri make an appointment for her spanking.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

ONE: New Members Fee:

I understand your reasoning, but I am afraid that the context is not very good. The whole Internet is looking for a way to monetise users and subscription sites are not doing well. More important: forums have seen their participation go down regularly in the past years (all forums, not only photography). Times have changed.

Not to monetize the website, but as a filter and to provide some contribution to upkeep, although the latter is not critical.

TWO: Themed Photography competitions

I fear that this market is already saturated. There are quite a few competitions with famous names on the jury and prime exhibition space which obviously finance themselves from the entrance fees of the participants.

Any other ideas

About the spammers: lower the threshold for registration, but only let people post to a limited subsection for a week or for the first so many messages. Let registered users flag spam messages.[/quote]

Well if a tiny entrance fee is charged, then the person could start in this new section and be approved by any one of a list of designated senior members.

[About the forum: the home page has news from 2009 and articles from 2008. Replace it by something more recent or simply make it a direct link to the forum.

Well said! Will get going!

Asher

 

[Sam Hames]

However, a lot of praise is wonderful, but sales would be even better. I do like the idea of their being an outlet for our best photography, but we must find a way of doing it at a lower cost. At present, I have footed the entire cost of OPF. One of my burdens is going through the registrations each day and removing the spammers and advertisers that BOT-join each day.

ONE: New Members Fee: Now I am considering an entrance fee. It could be something as low as $5 as that would be no barrier to any serious enthusiast or professional. It could be higher, perhaps $15 per year, with everyone already joined, grandfathered in and would have no further fee.

TWO: Themed Photography competitions: Winners get to exhibit work free and get a prize of say $200 to $1000. Fee per picture $30

1. I dislike the idea of having to pay to join a forum. I probably wouldn't have joined if there was a fee. The real value of a forum is the interactions between people, so anything that cuts down the number of people joining may have a serious impact on how interesting this place is (maybe I'd think differently if I knew how many spam registrations there were?)

As you say the money isn't critical but your time is valuable - so I'd prefer you started with something like Jerome's idea first and see how that works. On a more general note building a sustainable forum requires that the work be spread out around more than one person anyway.

2. I'm not a fan of photography competitions in general, and I don't know how well that would fit with how OPF actually works. I'd hazard a guess (I could just be projecting my own thoughts though here) that most of the current participants wouldn't have been attracted here by a competition.


On random site suggestions, maybe it's time to consider a cleanup of the forums and subforums? The number of forums/sub-forums/sections is a little bewildering, and it's hard to work out where I should even post stuff, let alone where I might go looking at things.

 

[Asher Kelman]

On random site suggestions, maybe it's time to consider a cleanup of the forums and subforums? The number of forums/sub-forums/sections is a little bewildering, and it's hard to work out where I should even post stuff, let alone where I might go looking at things.

Will attend to that too!

Thanks!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I invite anyone who can spare the time to map out their own view of how the forum should be split into sections. We have to restructure according to where photography is today. It's now hardly important what camera one is using unless one has a technical difficulty. Anyone here could produce like results to their own work with a new system.

Apart from very specific lens or pixel count needs, the choice of camera is less and less relevant. Also, OPF is progressively moving to a desire to make a better photograph for some stated purpose or else to share travel or social experience or the wonders of wildlife or, as Cem's industrial series shows, a window to modern life and subjects like the status of man versus nature. We also are keen observers, as Jerome's work with recent images of painted abandoned walls shows or Michael Nagel's documentation of the architectural beauty of Munich's underground metro system ....and so much more.

We want folk to be able to find their way around our vast treasure of such work!

So take all this into account.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

g

So when will the changes actually happen? Quite soon. The "black hole" for my time was rebuilding my entire kitchen down to the earth and that's done together with a series of sculptures, the first OPF exhibition and now polishing OPF Gallery One and promoting it.

Oh, I have to deliver a steel sail boat for a city as I foolishly submitted my idea for their sculpture garden and it won, LOL. So that's another promise I have to deliver on.

Still, the needs of updating OPF are very high priority and if you guys come up with wished and ideas, I will do my best to incorporate them.

There will be a live front end, updated sections, search for images and video, using photographs for panos of course.

(Also, I will test out interest in walk through virtual reality, 3D from pictures and scanning with infrared for 3D, as these I have been using for some time.)

Mostly, we need easy access to our huge store of photographic riches for us to discuss and enjoy as well as add to. One thing to consider is key words for significant images and individual galleries. I have had the space for this for some time.

Asher

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

I don't know what you pay to have this website online, but I cannot imagine it costs very much. My deal for 3 websites (only 2 I use) is 10.99 a month and I surely could find a deal for less expensive but I don't want to bother moving anything. What incentive would people have to pay to join here?

I like Jerome's idea of setting the forum as the front page as we are the 'Open Photography FORUMS' after all and the news page is seriously out of date.

As for competitions. For over 6 years, I moderated both an illustration and a photography forum and created several contests in each. I have a bit of insight here.

- these type of competitions are great for beginners as they help them by limiting what they are to shoot which seems to make it easier for them. If you say the competition is 'fill the frame', they have that as a starting point. It can help you shoot differently by forcing you out of your comfort zone, so if the contest is 'black and white flowers', you may never have touched that otherwise and now you might try.

That said, once you start to feel more confident and have a sense of what you like to shoot then these competitions are less inspiring as you want to shoot the things that you have interest in and then you only enter when its something along the lines of those interests.

One thing I learned is that people don't need money as an incentive to enter and actually you often get better work when there is no cash prize. People entering because they are passionate and want to learn is different from entering to try and make money.

Another side of these competitions are how are they being judged. Are there jury members? Do members vote? Who decides and how do you balance the jury to appreciate all types of photography and have people find that the result is fair. It's always a problem.

It would probably be more fun set as a challenge that instead of winning a prize, your image gets featured in a forum for a week until the next challenge comes along. OPF could probably share the image on its FACEBOOK/TWITTER page etc., and this might entice some to visit this forum.

Personally, I think just some fun suggestions of challenges would be fun without it being a competition ( I think even without any voting at all, just challenges because as photographers we like to shoot stuff and show our voice and vision throughout our work that shows how we see the world which will be different for each and every one of us. )

Earlier this week, a challenge was set for no other reason except for the fun of it. 5 or 6 of us turned in a photo that day. It was interesting. Even if nothing were to be featured, this could be fun to do and something I would enjoy. Perhaps not everyone would post an image every time but some of us would and that would help keep fresh content in the forums.

I think OPF should have a Google+ community where its members could post both here and there under the OPF banner. Make it public, so it's easy to find and invite photographers you find online to join.

Much of what happens online is in social networking. We have some very old links at the bottom of the forum myspace? Yahoo? Del.ici.ous? Wow, really? these are old and nobody shares there... Icons with sharing links are available for that and could be in the threads where people could share their favorites. PINTEREST/TWITTER/FACEBOOK/GOOGLE+ etc., Don't just share when you have a gallery showing. That ends up just like advertising and people can see it a mile away. You need to share all the time. Show them a great pic of a tulip by Rachel McLain, an industrial image by Cem Usakligil. Nicolas Claris had an exhibition of wineries -- talk about it. Your muse came to visit - another post. Short and simple but get people interesting in learning more.


We should also be able to share video (youtube/Vimeo)here directly inline in the forum. Is we start to share, people will find us and visit, otherwise we are a needle in a haystack.

enough for now.. /maggie gently steps down from her pedestal

 

[Asher Kelman]

Re: Art competition. I will get the help of the director of Photo Independant and Photo Contemporary in mapping out a competition. This way, just I risk the money outlays, so I might be able to substantially reduce costs for OPF shows. I'm told that it takes substantial presence, in consecutive shows to get name recognition. So there's a great motivation to continue as I believe in the quality of our work as a group.

Also, if I design things right, we'll get new blood here which will be a vitamin boost for our health! The competition will be advertised outside of OPF as well as to our group. But in truth I want to subsidize future work by this group being shown. Also we already have a substantial inventory of first class pictures for the next show. I just have to get us in, no small feat and then get prices much, much lower for wall space!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I don't know what you pay to have this website online, but I cannot imagine it costs very much. My deal for 3 websites (only 2 I use) is 10.99 a month and I surely could find a deal for less expensive but I don't want to bother moving anything. What incentive would people have to pay to join here?

I like Jerome's idea of setting the forum as the front page as we are the 'Open Photography FORUMS' after all and the news page is seriously out of date.

As for competitions. For over 6 years, I moderated both an illustration and a photography forum and created several contests in each. I have a bit of insight here.

- these type of competitions are great for beginners as they help them by limiting what they are to shoot which seems to make it easier for them. If you say the competition is 'fill the frame', they have that as a starting point. It can help you shoot differently by forcing you out of your comfort zone, so if the contest is 'black and white flowers', you may never have touched that otherwise and now you might try.

That said, once you start to feel more confident and have a sense of what you like to shoot then these competitions are less inspiring as you want to shoot the things that you have interest in and then you only enter when its something along the lines of those interests.

One thing I learned is that people don't need money as an incentive to enter and actually you often get better work when there is no cash prize. People entering because they are passionate and want to learn is different from entering to try and make money.

Another side of these competitions are how are they being judged. Are there jury members? Do members vote? Who decides and how do you balance the jury to appreciate all types of photography and have people find that the result is fair. It's always a problem.

It would probably be more fun set as a challenge that instead of winning a prize, your image gets featured in a forum for a week until the next challenge comes along. OPF could probably share the image on its FACEBOOK/TWITTER page etc., and this might entice some to visit this forum.

Personally, I think just some fun suggestions of challenges would be fun without it being a competition ( I think even without any voting at all, just challenges because as photographers we like to shoot stuff and show our voice and vision throughout our work that shows how we see the world which will be different for each and every one of us. )

Earlier this week, a challenge was set for no other reason except for the fun of it. 5 or 6 of us turned in a photo that day. It was interesting. Even if nothing were to be featured, this could be fun to do and something I would enjoy. Perhaps not everyone would post an image every time but some of us would and that would help keep fresh content in the forums.

I think OPF should have a Google+ community where its members could post both here and there under the OPF banner. Make it public, so it's easy to find and invite photographers you find online to join.

Much of what happens online is in social networking. We have some very old links at the bottom of the forum myspace? Yahoo? Del.ici.ous? Wow, really? these are old and nobody shares there... Icons with sharing links are available for that and could be in the threads where people could share their favorites. PINTEREST/TWITTER/FACEBOOK/GOOGLE+ etc., Don't just share when you have a gallery showing. That ends up just like advertising and people can see it a mile away. You need to share all the time. Show them a great pic of a tulip by Rachel McLain, an industrial image by Cem Usakligil. Nicolas Claris had an exhibition of wineries -- talk about it. Your muse came to visit - another post. Short and simple but get people interesting in learning more.


We should also be able to share video (youtube/Vimeo)here directly inline in the forum. Is we start to share, people will find us and visit, otherwise we are a needle in a haystack.

enough for now.. /maggie gently steps down from her pedestal

All the above is helpful, Maggie! So a big thanks for the effort and substantial contribution. ?

Let me just divide competitions into two sorts.

The first, as you mention, is already part of our life and enjoyment and the entries in the almost "spontaneously" appearing, "Loose Change" thread, was so enjoyable. I was really moved by the diverse creativity harnessed so quickly out of nowhere!

So that we can do already.

What I am thinking of is my investment in a competition where the works are highly competitive and the best get shown for free at a large international show. That would attract a different class of photographer, those who believe they need exposure and a chance to get to collectors, decorators, new home buyers and galleries. Each applicant would have to submit their pictures in OPF. I would hire judges for a panel.

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

I don't know what you pay to have this website online, but I cannot imagine it costs very much. My deal for 3 websites (only 2 I use) is 10.99 a month and I surely could find a deal for less expensive but I don't want to bother moving anything. What incentive would people have to pay to join here?

I like your analysis on all points.

As for competitions. For over 6 years, I moderated both an illustration and a photography forum and created several contests in each. I have a bit of insight here.

- these type of competitions are great for beginners as they help them by limiting what they are to shoot which seems to make it easier for them. If you say the competition is 'fill the frame', they have that as a starting point. It can help you shoot differently by forcing you out of your comfort zone, so if the contest is 'black and white flowers', you may never have touched that otherwise and now you might try.

That said, once you start to feel more confident and have a sense of what you like to shoot then these competitions are less inspiring as you want to shoot the things that you have interest in and then you only enter when its something along the lines of those interests.

I am not sure what kind of competition is foreseen. If it is just a competition between members of the forum (as dpreview is regularly doing), we don't have the number of members to do that. If it is a competition open to all artists, there are quite a few already running.

I think OPF should have a Google+ community where its members could post both here and there under the OPF banner. Make it public, so it's easy to find and invite photographers you find online to join.

Much of what happens online is in social networking. We have some very old links at the bottom of the forum myspace? Yahoo? Del.ici.ous? Wow, really? these are old and nobody shares there... Icons with sharing links are available for that and could be in the threads where people could share their favorites.

Yes and no. Social media is actually one of the main reasons forums are disappearing. In essence, they are our competition.

Twitter, maybe. We could benefit from that as it would bring a possibility to interact with smart phone users that we lack.

About other social media:
Facebook main obsession is to keep all users inside their system, so they are our enemy. They are also a financial black hole for all small associations, because they want quite a lot of money from you when you start to have followers.
Google+ is a failed Facebook (sorry!), with the exception of Youtube. I don't see how we could use Youtube.
Photo+ (Google), Flickr, Instagram, etc... are simply our competition.
Reddit: I don't know, maybe like twitter.

There is also a strong geographical component to social media, while we are international. Many social media systems are only popular in north America, because they have been designed for the peculiarities of life in north America. Systems like Quype, Yelp or Foursquare, for example, are far less useful in Europe than in the US.

 

[Jerome Marot]

On random site suggestions, maybe it's time to consider a cleanup of the forums and subforums? The number of forums/sub-forums/sections is a little bewildering, and it's hard to work out where I should even post stuff, let alone where I might go looking at things.

Good idea. We could simply start by deleting or merging the least active sections.

But there is one thing we have and the selection of sections should reflect that: we are quite unique amongst photo forums in that we discuss more "art" than technique. How to take a more interesting picture instead on what new camera is out. I think that this is a strong selling point and the forum sections should reflect that.

 

[Sam Hames]

Good idea. We could simply start by deleting or merging the least active sections.

But there is one thing we have and the selection of sections should reflect that: we are quite unique amongst photo forums in that we discuss more "art" than technique. How to take a more interesting picture instead on what new camera is out. I think that this is a strong selling point and the forum sections should reflect that.

Yes, definitely along those lines. Just merging the sections into a single sub forums would be a great start. And also the dominant focus on photography is the main reason I participate here.

If I get some time in the next couple of days I'll draft a reorg of the forum layouts.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Yes, definitely along those lines. Just merging the sections into a single sub forums would be a great start. And also the dominant focus on photography is the main reason I participate here.

If I get some time in the next couple of days I'll draft a reorg of the forum layouts.

All help, ideas and encouragement is appreciated!

Thanks!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

Maybe this could be an idea for the layout:

Main section: Gallery and art discussion

GALLERY ONE (with subforum OPF GALLERY ONE at the Photo Contemporary Art Fair 2015)
The Amazing Stories Behind Pictures: Places, Events, Poetry, Works of Art
Art Theory: Idea workshop.
Interactive Artist Showcase
Pro-business Forum and Sales, Exhibitions, Web Presence
Asher Kelman's Public and Private Art

Main section: OPF discussion Hall

Introduce Yourself
Breaking News, including software and equipment news, local photoshoots
Layback Cafe
OPF Look, Feel, and Vibe

Main section: Camera Discussion

Imaging Technology: Theory, Alternatives, Practice and Advances. [This is a brand independent discussion of theory, technology, underlying physics, process or device. Ignore this forum unless this matters to you!]
Small sensor cameras [Point and shoot and even cell phone.]
All interchangeable lens cameras, Rangefinders and Four Thirds [All DSLRs including Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Pentax, Olympus, Sony (A and E mount), Leica M and 4/3 Systems. Digital and Film.]
Medium Format & Large Format Cameras [Digital and Film] (no subforums, suppress the present ones, which are really old)
Gear Support: Bags/ Cases/ Tripods/Transport or anything else needed for a shoot!
Digital Darkroom: Image Processing and Workflow, retouching, Printing, Storage, Color management.

Main section: Photography Discussions (digital and film)

Riskit!
Still Photo: Approaching Fine Photography , Photography as Art.
Nude figures, The Human Form As Art
Portrait, Natural Light and Studio, Still Life, Lighting Equipment and Technique, Continuous and Strobe Lighting.
Fashion - Glamour - Product - Advertising
Wedding and Event, Photojournalism - Street - Documentary, performance and music, Sports and Dance with subforum: Private Forum for Portrait and People Photography outside North America to lean towards the European roots of Street Photography of Strangers.
Art from Found Photographs
UV/IR Thermal or Xray Photography, Medical-Forensic-Scientific-Legal-etc
Landscape - Travel
Wildlife and pets
Architectural - Industrial
Close-up & Macro
Provocative Thoughts and Images: May be offensive NSFW, Nudity/moral/political issues! and Photography of Strife, Disaster, Rescue and Hope: empathy, yes, but no propaganda!

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

I like your analysis on all points.



I am not sure what kind of competition is foreseen. If it is just a competition between members of the forum (as dpreview is regularly doing), we don't have the number of members to do that. If it is a competition open to all artists, there are quite a few already running.




Yes and no. Social media is actually one of the main reasons forums are disappearing. In essence, they are our competition.

Twitter, maybe. We could benefit from that as it would bring a possibility to interact with smart phone users that we lack.

About other social media:
Facebook main obsession is to keep all users inside their system, so they are our enemy. They are also a financial black hole for all small associations, because they want quite a lot of money from you when you start to have followers.
Google+ is a failed Facebook (sorry!), with the exception of Youtube. I don't see how we could use Youtube.
Photo+ (Google), Flickr, Instagram, etc... are simply our competition.
Reddit: I don't know, maybe like twitter.

There is also a strong geographical component to social media, while we are international. Many social media systems are only popular in north America, because they have been designed for the peculiarities of life in north America. Systems like Quype, Yelp or Foursquare, for example, are far less useful in Europe than in the US.

Jerome,
I do agree that social networking is killing forums but it is where people are and if you want to attract them here, it may be the evil competition that you have to use to get them here.
About facebook I included it because I know that OPF is on there, but I am not, so I had no idea about the fact that you have to pay if you have too many followers.
As for Google+, I am on it and have been for a couple years. I started with several other people but only used it to bring people to my blog when I posted. It would attract my followers to come and visit my site only.

Around then, it was quite quiet (and as you say a failed facebook but actually, now, more and more people seem to be joining it.

About a month or so ago, I joined a few photography communities. Not many but started posting an image or two to them. In the last 2 weeks, I have been invited to join other communities that are private photo communities. One appears to be Spanish, 2 are German and 1 posts in several languages but I think it is French. In these few weeks, I've gathered about 100 new followers by doing nothing but just sharing some of my work. I wake up every morning to several comments both on my profile and in other communities. and people sharing to others on their personal profiles. They help spread the word or the work.

And unlike facebook I'm not sharing to every Tom, Dick and Harry that I know, not telling them that my cat was ill or that I bought new shoes, but to people that love art and photography, just like me - just like you!

The thing with Google+ is that you actually can write more than 140 characters and you can have a mission statement, continually inviting interesting photographers to join and link them to this forum; encourage them to come and discuss the art of photography and not juts the gear. MAKE THAT DISCUSSION! The reason they want to come and join. It's easy to comment on a great photographer's work and say, Love what you are doing? Are you interested in a forum which where we discuss the art of photography?

So, yes, social media may be our competition but we can use it to our advantage as free publicity, share our stuff, encourage like-minded individuals to share and discuss with us. Do you have any other ideas how to encourage people to visit? I don't.

As for Reddit - they tend to frown on over-sharing of your own website's stuff. They allow a little but more than once in a blue moon, you get to be considered spam. Also, members can be very rude to posters - so I'm a little ambivalent about what I would post there.

As for youtube - it is not to bring people here, but to bring this forum into the new millennium. There should be no reason why we can't post videos in this forum. I've created videos that I would like to share. Nicolas Claris has also. I even did one for Cem, that I would have loved him to have shared here - but we can't. A small screen in the forum is an incentive to look - to be curious. A link; meh - maybe not so much.

Anyways - these are, just my opinions, to be, perhaps, taken into consideration. If they are not considered useful, then that's fine too.

sans rancune,
Maggie

 

[Robert Watcher]

As for youtube - it is not to bring people here, but to bring this forum into the new millennium. There should be no reason why we can't post videos in this forum. I've created videos that I would like to share. Nicolas Claris has also. I even did one for Cem, that I would have loved him to have shared here - but we can't. A small screen in the forum is an incentive to look - to be curious. A link; meh - maybe not so much.

INLINE VIDEO
I agree totally with you on this Maggie. I post on several other photography forums (none of which are that busy any more to tell the truth) and on most am able to post INLINE VIDEO. People - including myself - simply do not click on links to videos. Only possibility is when there is a photo included as the link (difficult for many how to figure out how to do). Go to any website or forum where video is sitting right there to click, and I always look at them - only on occasion, clicking to go to the Youtube site itself.

UPLOADED IMAGES
Something that used to always stop me from posting as well, was forums that did not allow unloading of INLINE images to their server. Because I have my own servers, I have to go to the extra effort to upload them there and provide a link to the forum. I am used to it, and simply just use the same link to include in all my posts on different forums. But I would think that not being able to upload images from within the forum, is a huge issue for most who follow the site. And so would presume that there would be far more activity - especially in posting images if that is what the intention of the changes is - - - if that were allowed. I haven't seen a forum in years that doesn't allow image uploading from within the editor - - - except for OPF. I mean with such cheap server space that allows for large amounts of compressed jpeg images - hosting image files is no where near the issue it may have been back in the early 2000's.

Don't know if these suggestions will make any difference to traffic, but they are both issues that have bothered me with the OPF forum since signing up several years ago.

FORUM SUBJECTS
As for the confusion mentioned on the main page with the forum subjects - I totally agree that there needs to be a major overhaul to streamline and delete certain areas. On my iPad, I have to scroll and scroll to find the sections. In reality when I visit - the only place I check 90% of the time, is the "Recent Posts" page. That is a handy feature.


HOME PAGE:
Why not scrap all of the stuff on the Home page that is so outdated and totally irrelevant and make it something like a large image photo gallery containing approved images from the forum visitors. Personally I have never looked at that page other than when I signed up and when it was just mentioned in this post. But it holds no relevance I would say. If it was used as say a gallery of top images that the editor changed say once a week or bi-weekly, I would then have to check it out and see what is new or has been chosen. As well, a link to that page from other websites or social media sites, would be worth clicking on possibly.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Maybe this could be an idea for the layout:

Main section: Gallery and art discussion

GALLERY ONE (with subforum OPF GALLERY ONE at the Photo Contemporary Art Fair 2015)
The Amazing Stories Behind Pictures: Places, Events, Poetry, Works of Art
Art Theory: Idea workshop.
Interactive Artist Showcase
Pro-business Forum and Sales, Exhibitions, Web Presence
Asher Kelman's Public and Private Art

Main section: OPF discussion Hall

Introduce Yourself
Breaking News, including software and equipment news, local photoshoots
Layback Cafe
OPF Look, Feel, and Vibe

Main section: Camera Discussion

Imaging Technology: Theory, Alternatives, Practice and Advances. [This is a brand independent discussion of theory, technology, underlying physics, process or device. Ignore this forum unless this matters to you!]
Small sensor cameras [Point and shoot and even cell phone.]
All interchangeable lens cameras, Rangefinders and Four Thirds [All DSLRs including Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Pentax, Olympus, Sony (A and E mount), Leica M and 4/3 Systems. Digital and Film.]
Medium Format & Large Format Cameras [Digital and Film] (no subforums, suppress the present ones, which are really old)
Gear Support: Bags/ Cases/ Tripods/Transport or anything else needed for a shoot!
Digital Darkroom: Image Processing and Workflow, retouching, Printing, Storage, Color management.

Main section: Photography Discussions (digital and film)

Riskit!
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I really like your suggestions Jerome. The only thing I wonder is why camera discussion would be above photography categories - - - after all it's about the photography and not the camera right? When I am looking for sections to post threads in, I prefer when it is accessible near the top and not having to scroll down to search for the category. Maybe even above "OPF discussion Hall". I mean who really cares much or uses Introduce Yourself, Breaking News, including software and equipment news, local photoshoots, Layback Cafe (basically just a catch-all), OPF Look, Feel, and Vibe? That section can easily be placed at the bottom of the forum page. I think with the direction Asher is wanting to go in promoting an art aspect, the "Gallery and art discussion" section is appropriate as the first point of entry on the page.

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[Asher Kelman]

This discussion is exactly what's required to be able to have structure follow function and function follow needs.

A great start!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

Anyways - these are, just my opinions, to be, perhaps, taken into consideration. If they are not considered useful, then that's fine too.

They are useful, Maggie. For example, you prompted me to re-check google+, which I have never really used. You also made me realise that we probably used very different processes to find this forum, so your idea about attracting new members see a different facet of the problem.

 

[Jerome Marot]

HOME PAGE:
Why not scrap all of the stuff on the Home page that is so outdated and totally irrelevant and make it something like a large image photo gallery containing approved images from the forum visitors. Personally I have never looked at that page other than when I signed up and when it was just mentioned in this post. But it holds no relevance I would say.

As you said yourself, you looked at the home page when you signed up. That is why it is relevant: prospective new members get to see the home page before they see that the forum is active. I think that some see that everything is dated, consider that the web site is abandoned and go. I know I almost did that myself.

There are plenty of abandoned forums on the Internet (and blogs as well).

 

[Jerome Marot]

I really like your suggestions Jerome. The only thing I wonder is why camera discussion would be above photography categories

I simply re-used the current layout. For me the order of categories had no implication of relative relevance, I only focussed on their grouping.

 

[Doug Kerr]

For what it's worth, I guess I saw the OPF home page fleetingly the first time I logged on, but I have never seen it since except by very rare accident.

I almost always access the forum with a "favorites" item that calls up the Recent Posts search:

http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/search.php?do=getnew

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

As you said yourself, you looked at the home page when you signed up. That is why it is relevant: prospective new members get to see the home page before they see that the forum is active. I think that some see that everything is dated, consider that the web site is abandoned and go. I know I almost did that myself.

There are plenty of abandoned forums on the Internet (and blogs as well).

Yes, Jerome, you're correct. It does look like the place is abandoned when we have an ancient date on the landing page. The page is coded in PHP and is not simple done by WYSIWYG dialog boxes. It was run from Bordeaux originally and then with Nicolas traveling and his assistant have a road accident, it was hard to continue from Bordeaux. Sean, until his tragic circumstances, was working on a new front end but now is beyond our access!

I will reactivate the front end. First I will consolidate the categories as I can do that myself and get that old date removed.

Asher

 

[nicolas claris]

Yes, Jerome, you're correct. It does look like the place is abandoned when we have an ancient date on the landing page. The page is coded in PHP and is not simple done by WYSIWYG dialog boxes. It was run from Bordeaux originally and then with Nicolas traveling and his assistant have a road accident, it was hard to continue from Bordeaux. Sean, until his tragic circumstances, was working on a new front end but now is beyond our access!

I will reactivate the front end. First I will consolidate the categories as I can do that myself and get that old date removed.

Asher

The only date that survived my visit to the PHP thing this morning is the "today's date" on the right hand column.
On the left hand column, I just kept the month(s).
Still the so called news are old!
I don't have time for now (maybe next Sunday…) to write here my thoughts, but I'm mostly with Jerome…

 

[Asher Kelman]

It's obvious that the landing page could be the layout of the forums. However, I really like the front page, faults and all. All this will be redone.

The main thing is to provide your wishes for the entire website user friendliness and changes will be made one time to everything as needed.

I plan to go over any recommendations for forum fusion shortly, so let's focus on that. Still, if you have any other ideas, they are all welcome too.

Thanks, everyone for your openness in giving frank opinions. Everything offered will go into the final rebuild.

Asher

 

[Rachel McLain]

From my perspective, layout of forums is only helpful if people only read specific fora.

I read a few specific fora at first and then I just started clicking the Recent Posts button whenever I come here. If most people read that way, then the fora divisions and titles may not be useful.

I vote for fewer headings and more general titles. Every time I post I have a really hard time figuring out where it goes.

If you want people to contribute to the upkeep of the forum, then a paypal donate button somewhere would probably be all you need. Those who find it useful would no doubt be wiling to drop a few bucks your way from time to time. (And thank you, Asher!! It's a wonderful place and I appreciate the work you do in hosting it and making it happen!)

Rach