There are far too many different forums and given that at present the site is still pretty slow participation wise (relatively), stretching out the participation so much IMO is a waste. The FM forums have a pretty perfect distribution of different forums, I would use it as a template. Use their distribution of subjects but with the unique blend of attitude and incredibly high name moderators to really make this forum shine.
Hi Ben,
Your comments are even more pointed made me look again at FM. There is, BTW, no place there for MF or LF, since they don't, AFAIK, cover these cameras. They also have no forum for Sony, Olympus or other fine DSLR's outside of Nikon and Canon! Still, the tightness of the FM choices is exemplary.
We have different emphasis. FM is set up to sell the Photoshop actions designed by Fred and the folk there are pretty lens collection and nature-landscape orientated. For finding data on adapters of foreign lenses to Canon cameras, FM is a great resource.
OPF, by contrast is richer in the creative transfer of ideas to delivered image (using probably a broader variety of cameras. Our community, it seems is valued as a nurturing place for people who don't hide behind aliases and are particularly well mannered. People seem to like the fact that we are not censored, are pretty patient and don't have gurus. We really try to give daring and useful feedback. We even extend to discussing social issues which other places, having no coherent filtration system, are able to encourage. Above all we are about the delivered work even though the technical resources here are way above many other fora.
So we need to focus on our strengths. We are about individual creativity! There are uniquely OPF creative areas we need to foster:
Still Photo: where the background ideas to fine photography are approached. This is the forum to go to in planning a new camera for a special purpose or approaching an artistic challenge, especially in relation to the masters. This is the loosest serious forum on photography in OPF and something of an incubator. Threads from here may be moved if there's a better fit.
Riskit!: The unique forum hosts a photographer's individual journey, almost a blog, on a new idea being worked out, with all of our community already to give continuous feedback. This prevents the photographer having to keep making closely similar new threads where we get lost, not knowing whether or not we have dealt with a point previously. Having everything related to one topic in the same thread allows us to follow the photographer's personal path and reactions to our well-intended contributions. If the photographer is indeed creative and passionate, we all get something out of this.
Human form and nudes: We want to encourage studies using the human form as the center of our art. This is moderated but not censored and some threads may end up in Glamor or in controversial Images.
Photography as Art: Here we discuss the best works as candidates for "fine art". So post here, but the thread may or may not be used as a basis for discussion. The idea is to collect a body of work that is valuable for those making fine art for exhibition and sale. The work must go beyond being a record or a family memory, although these are not excluded. The do however need to have enough uniqueness and stimulus to reaction and thought to merit discussion in this particular forum.
In order to make these fora grow, we need to consolidate others. "Riskit!" should help. Moderators will to be on the lookout for sibling threads on the same general idea that can overwhelm other topics in "Recent Posts". Now we need to look at 2 areas for further consolidations. We should consider 2 super fora:
1. Digital Darkroom and Printing: Everything needed to go from the latent image to the digital print.
2. The Gear: All equipment from CF cards, hard drives, Mac and PC computers, digital storage devices and software for them. Lighting is covered in studio as lighting requires technique related to studio work.
These two super-fora would replace 4 separate fora each and would cut down 8 fora to 2! By adding key words, searching will also be easier.
If there's enough interest, we'll eventually have a place for Wet film processing.
So let's have feedback, and no one think this is the end of the world, 'cause it isn't! We all want a more coherent organization, so we are going to have to make hard decisions. Still we'd like your feedback and support.
Asher