Change is afoot!

[gstark]

As of this morning, I've commissioned a new dedicated server.

I'm currently running some tests on it, but initial indications are that it should be way more responsive than using the shared server plus VPS that we've been using for the past two years.

At the moment we are assessing how we should move forward.

The biggest hurdle is the lack of forum activity though

[aim54x]

That is great to hear....

I guess one way of getting more activity is to have more activity. I was drawn in by get togethers and have continued to attend regularly.

[CraigVTR]

One of the reasons I like this forum is because there is not an excess of activity. Iam a memebr of another forum that I find very hard to visit because it will just chew up too much time checking out the posts. Here we have a smaller number of posts but the quality is always great. A faster response time from the server will always be a bonus.
Keep up the good work.

[Wink]

One of the reasons I like this forum is because there is not an excess of activity.

I recently looked at Ausphotography and was turned off by the amount of random stuff on there.

[surenj]

Great stuff Gary!

I guess one way of getting more activity is to have more activity. I was drawn in by get togethers and have continued to attend regularly.

Hopefully I can help.

We are having a sunset shoot this weekend + a Newcastle visit on the 18th.

[Killakoala]

Perhaps a zippier website will encourage more usage.

[biggerry]

At the moment we are assessing how we should move forward.

moving forward, moving forward, moving forward... that sounds like bloody Gilard

The biggest hurdle is the lack of forum activity though

for me, at the end of teh day - its gotta be more than just a forum with a bunch of photos, if thats all it is then its only one step above flickr, the key difference being the quality of critiques and comments.

Forum activities are key imo for making it more than a forum with a bunch of photos, the POTW and the regular meets make it feel more like a photography club/community, however you do need a minimum level of participation for it to work and I reckon at this point it is bordering on too few, take for example the 6th bday and teh recent pyrmont markets.

What about revamping the POTW, make it more of forum decision, get people involved, the bi-month challenges work well in encouraging participation, not only in getting images up but also in the voting process.

CraigVTR wrote:One of the reasons I like this forum is because there is not an excess of activity.
I recently looked at Ausphotography and was turned off by the amount of random stuff on there.

yeah, plenty of off topic stuff there, however there is no doubt they have a large community which has grown and has grown well imo, lots of meets with good attendence, there are lot of DSLRuser members over there and also members from other forums too, the lure of more exposure is certainly a draw card that DSLRusers does not have right now.

I have a couple of ideas for meets/activities that I think may work which would also help me learn and hopefully transfer knowledge both ways;

1) photo meet with PP session, add dinner to that all it would make a good late avro / night (or morning / lunch)
2) portrait meet with some people who know what they are doing and have the means to make it happen, lighting? studio? location? for example, how about a model shoot with a spanky plane for example...
3) another street shoot excerise like the newtown one

+ a Newcastle visit on the 18th.

thats gonna rock, I am pumped for it now

Here we have a smaller number of posts but the quality is always great

lets keep the quality as the baseline!

Check the following thread for why people visit here, might help..

Why do YOU visit DSLRUsers?
http://www.dslrusers.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=39304

also of course the much hyped Synthesis 3.0 plenty of good ideas and discussion here!

http://www.dslrusers.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=36865

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[biggerry]

DVEous, I suspect we are different pages, without even looking at the referenced thread I guarantee there would soemthing in there about a 'balance of elements'. With that said I also recall mentioning that maybe you could do quick review on that Tokina 11-16 which you had which I was lookign at buying at the time, that would have been useful to this forum, but you rather disappeared for 6? 12? months....

[sirhc55]

This forum has changed markedly from the early days, as have the people posting.

There was a time when I would be constantly perusing the forum and making posts but there comes a time when we all move on. I partake in very little photography these days and have reached the point of where I am considering selling my D300 and moving onto something a little more practical - maybe an Olympus EP1 or even a Sony NEX3. Of course, there are other things to consider and as per many other members of this forum I do have other interests that take a fair amount of my time.

Five years ago there were many names that posted constantly, MDH, Leigh, Glen, Kipper, et al and although some of these people still frequent the forum they have made way for a fresh and newer group to take the lead.

So it’s up to you new bloods to hold the fort until an even newer breed moves in.

[photohiker]

So it’s up to you new bloods to hold the fort until an even newer breed moves in.

There is a lot of truth in that statement. It is also beholden upon the old bloods to let them in.

My take is that forums either have a life of their own, or they die. Someone like Gary can manage the software and administration etc (thanks, Gary!), but there needs to be a core mass of active, posting, interested members for the board to reach critical mass. This place used to have that, but it seems to have been lost.

There is just so much choice when it comes to photographic forums, that perhaps it is better to stay specialist rather than generalist?

For me, I visit here less regularly than I used to, mainly because the speed has been woeful.

Michael

[gstark]

For me, I visit here less regularly than I used to, mainly because the speed has been woeful.

I'm hoping that this change will do much to address that issue.

What I'm thinking of doing is cutting the forum across later today - as in overnight. I need to do some firewall work so that I can get the db serving from the new box, and then I'll need to move the data across.

Once that's done, I can then point the dns to the new box - the current code base is already there - and then we should see some improvements

for me, at the end of teh day - its gotta be more than just a forum with a bunch of photos, if thats all it is then its only one step above flickr, the key difference being the quality of critiques and comments.

I tend to agree, but I was finding this discussion forum was tending to become a glorified picture gallery.

Actually, you're both saying pretty much the same thing.

I think people wanna learn and know stuff!

In short, less of a picture gallery, and more of a photography discussion forum.
Use pictures to discuss topics.
Not topics to discuss pictures.

And that's where my thoughts lie as well.

And I would like to have more regular activities too - social, but more oriented towards the educational aspects. Teaching post processing techniques, lighting ... or just casual get together where questions will be asked and answered.

That was a major part of the strengths that I think that we enjoyed.

[biggerry]

There is just so much choice when it comes to photographic forums, that perhaps it is better to stay specialist rather than generalist?

yeah, thats true, imo there are too many forums in aus and I reckon we are over represented in teh quantity of photography forums, I know of 7 odd australian photography forums

Actually, you're both saying pretty much the same thing.

nope, DVEous wants no pictures unless related to technical discussion, I want pictures with quality critique and feedback, without the excess of flickr or the like.

And I would like to have more regular activities too - social, but more oriented towards the educational aspects. Teaching post processing techniques, lighting ... or just casual get together where questions will be asked and answered.

yep - but right now, there is no one with good experience willing to put on stuff like this..

[Raskill]

Well, good luck with the move.

Personally, I post less here, and spend less time online as a whole.

Previously, speed has been an issue for me here, but not overly important. My internet connection isnt so fast that I have really thought this site was too slow to visit.

I think I have previously mentioned that I don't feel the need to post images here anymore, as I'm not after critiques. I am content with the quality of my motorsports work now, and I dont really shoot much else. Hopefully I'll be covering the V8's at Bathurst and Sydney this year again, so will post something in 'journeys' to try and explain why and how shots were taken.

[surenj]

I don't feel the need to post images here anymore, as I'm not after critiques.

Fair enough. It's not JUST about critique I guess. It's nice to have a friendly banter with friends etc. Also critique itself becomes much more meaningful when it's between friends/colleagues etc.

[gstark]

And I would like to have more regular activities too - social, but more oriented towards the educational aspects. Teaching post processing techniques, lighting ... or just casual get together where questions will be asked and answered.

yep - but right now, there is no one with good experience willing to put on stuff like this..

That's not quite correct. I believe that we have the correct people, and they are willing and able to do this.

What is missing though is the venue. To hold a post processing workshop we need somewhere that we can occupy for several hours. Likewise any sort of photographic workshop. Give us a venue and we can have the activities.

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[biggerry]

Ummm, nope... didn't say that at all, actually.
I won't be quoting myself, because it can be found above.

merely differentiating your position to mine which I feel is different.

rather than waste your 'spare' time on comments like above, maybe you can educate myself on;

Use pictures to discuss topics.

even better, kick start it

There has clearly been a crapload of posts discussing the things that would make this place better and move it forward - quite frankly, talk is cheap, nows the time to do.

That's not quite correct. I believe that we have the correct people, and they are willing and able to do this.

What is missing though is the venue. To hold a post processing workshop we need somewhere that we can occupy for several hours. Likewise any sort of photographic workshop. Give us a venue and we can have the activities.

done, at the worst you can hire a hall, for example one in Newtown for $38 bucks an hour. The venue is teh easy part I reckon., I would even say come to my joint, however my new roomie has taken over the spare room

[gstark]

done, at the worst you can hire a hall, for example one in Newtown for $38 bucks an hour. The venue is teh easy part I reckon

No, not really. With what you're quoting, we're already costing $150, without munchies, and with difficult parking. I prefer to not have members pay, although that is sometimes unavoidable; unfortunately, the facility in Balmain that we've used a few times is no longer available to us. That venue was great for shooting, but I don't think it would have worked all that well for a post processing workshop.

For post processing or lighting workshops, we also need relatively easy parking access so that we can schlep lights, computers, monitors, etc back and forth, and we need that parking for longer than the day will run so that we can bump in and out, and clean up. That's not an easy ask in areas like Newtown.

[biggerry]

Gary, that was the first off the cuff place I thought of, if we want to get into specifics, that cost comes down for not-for-profit orgs, maybe suggest a suburb and then go from there, community halls are always around and are not really that expensive, as I said, thats a worst case scenario. For another example, take Marrickville Town Hall, $21 bucks (p/h) for not-for-profit orgs (its $10 bucks for local ones!).

It would be also helpful just to canvas peoples network of friends and see what turns up

[gstark]

that cost comes down for not-for-profit orgs,

[quote] For another example, take Marrickville Town Hall, $21 bucks (p/h) for not-for-profit orgs (its $10 bucks for local ones!)./quote]

And while it looks as if we might be a not-for-profit org, we're not.

The forum has no legal presence; there's no legal entity. We're just a group of people, hanging around the internet, and occasionally in the same place.

I seem to recall something from my insurance days where the term "riot" was technically defined, and thinking at the time that the definition was very loose. My recollection is that it was basically saying that three or more people walking down the road could have fallen under that description; that's us.

I've already looked into trying to get rooms, for instance, at Mill Hill, from Waverley Council. They have similar sets of conditions and rates, but there was also a security component, necessary because we'd be wanting our rooms on a weekend day. Effectively we would need to cover the full cost of a security person for the entire time that we were using the facility, because we were out of normal business hours. That made it untenable from my point of view.

Please don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to discourage this sort of thinking, but rather, we need to ensure that it's a viable proposition. I think that if we're going to have to share any costs, those costs should not exceed around $80 in total. Anything greater than that means that we need greater numbers than what I believe would be desirable or sustainable.

So, if we want to go down that path, we need to fully understand the conditions and constraints.

I'm always open to suggestions, but I expect that most councils would follow the Waverley model that I've seen, if for no other reason than they need to cover their own interests.

[radar]

And in this topic from last year, I also stand by my comments that photography can be a very personal "thing".
Who honestly cares how somebody else might have treated your shot.
And, isn't hindsight wonderful?
Hindsight alone makes the whole critique and comments concept flawed from the beginning.

sometimes hindsight is actually a very good to have and to have pointed to us. I agree, the photos are a personal "thing" but sometimes with the suggestions that some will put up for discussion will actually help you take a different look at how you took the photo so if you happen to be at that location again, you may try from a different angle.