What has happened?

Ralph, there is a sticky which has been there for more than five years,

"Just a few pointers about posting and commenting on images.

When posting please give some details about the image - how it was taken, why it was taken and anything else that you think will be of interest. Please be prepared for people to comment and also be aware that some will like and some will not like your picture.

When commenting please be constructive and respectful. Someone has invested time and effort in making an image that they want to share, so say what you find positive as well as what you think could be improved.

In all cases the discussion should be about the images and not about personalities. Most of the time this is absolutely fine, but if occasionally a thread descends into arguments then it will be locked and if necessary removed. This is very rarely necessary and in fact almost unheard of as this is a very friendly forum!

Enjoy the discussion! Best regards, John "

He was another member who created this troll. He got caught when he forgot who he was posting as.

Ken, thanks for pointing that out

However, based on the comments in this thread, perhaps that board (and sticky) is in need of a 'make over'. My question and offer still stands. Perhaps we could have a 'poll' on some suggested changes to the my photos board?

I think you are right. I was really wondering about the point of having comments in the gallery for example. I really dislike, it may sound churlish, having well meaning platitudes below my pictures.

Perhaps that would force the commentators to use 'your picures' instead? We don't want to make things too complicated for fear of discouraging posting. What do others think?

Absolutely. Comments there are pointless. It's a gallery, the clue's in the name

If I'm critiquing, it's as much as I can do to articulate what I'm trying to say. I don't want to have to rewrite it in some kind of specified structure and still manage to retain my meaning.

Just make 'nice' and 'great' proscribed words in the Your Photos section

I also think that it's important to remember why people post pictures:

Some want critique and comment so that they can genuinely improve
Some are posting to demonstrate a particular bit of kit such as the recent posts on the new TC
Some just want to show the world their work

There may be other reasons but these seem to be the main 3 on this forum. IMHO there should be 3 places for these:

A 'Critique board' for No1
An 'Info photos' bard for No2 (or perhaps these should be posted in the relevant equipment thread?)
The Gallery for No 3

With clear guidance on what goes where.
I agree that posting critique should not be complicated but some pointers on what to consider would help newbies as well as old hands

Thankfully I don't think I've been guilty of that with one of your pics Ken but I may be wrong. In defence of others though, that may come across a little harsh. I certainly wouldn't mind an admirer saying as much and you may have just killed the only chance i might get

Love and hugs

I think Aliengrove has already made the best suggestion.

There has to be a place for people to 'show off' their images and the gallery serves that purpose well. It's pretty clear to me that forthright opinion in the gallery is often not well received. So I think it is best left exactly as it is.

Then in the main body of the forum, some display images for critique or to canvas opinion with the aim of improvement. For those a critique section would be appropriate. Post an image there and expect forthright opinion, at least from some quarters Alan.

Others might post an image for a particular demonstration of equipment or for a discussion about the subject. Others will post their images because they think they are great and wish to hear just praise. For those then an exhibition space would be appropriate where constructive criticism is inappropriate. The purpose of posting would be pretty clear from the images and description.

A fair point, but I can't tell you just how much time us mods spend moving posts that have been put in the wrong place already! I think we'd be up all night.

If something is made complicated, only the keen ones show any interest and a lot of people just give up.

Just post pictures, enjoy sharing them and comment on ones you want to.

It doesn't have to be an ordeal or a test on where something should go.

There doesn't seem much point asking for opinions when the inevitable answer is we won't do anything about it.

Here we go, back in the "too difficult category" again

What happened to:

John we're trying to post suggestions for improvement after all, as the saying goes: If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you always got.

Is there no chance that anything we suggest will ever get even considered let alone implemented?

If you had clarified 'your what do others think? with a 'not that we are prepared to do anything' then we could have saved 11 pages of discussion.

I really don't see how having two sections instead of one is complicated. If someone posts a thread in the wrong section then tough fromage, maybe they would learn for next time.

+1

+1

It wouldn't take much to prize me away. A pentax sub forum on a UK based photography site.

I loath dpreview and my indifference to the US pentax board is insurmountable.