What has happened?

To be honest David since joining this site it has always been blatantly obvious this site is made up of about three cliques, you have the folk who post and comment/critique in the Gallery, the folk who dwell in in the "Pointless Thread" and the folk who post on various forums. There of course is some crossover occasionally, although for example I don't recall the last time I saw yourself or Nigel or Smeggy on the pointless thread talking about beer, or a large section of the folk that post in the gallery posting images or leaving comment in the forums.
One of the things I notice over and over again on this site is when a member posts an image for c & c or just to share and gets nothing, no response at all, or at the very least if they are very lucky and honoured get a "nice" meanwhile images posted by other members before and after are getting stacks of comment and discussion, why, well its all about being part of this "clique", and it puts people off.
Someone mentioned this site has 15000 or whatever members, would be interesting to know how many active members there are, be they folk who post an image on the gallery occasionally or contribute to forums, my guess would less than 100.
For me if it wasn't for Smeggy's and Nigel's sometimes mildly heated debates, this site wouldn't be worth visiting most of the time.
I hope I haven't offended anyone with my thoughts here, its certainly not my intention, and as for being part of a "clique", well that's just human nature I guess.

Agree with Jim here. It's a bit Animal Farm at times- all pigs are equal and all that.

David

The cliques (as suggested) are free as in beer. Anybody can wheedle their way in. A kind of self promotion is needed, if you are that way inclined. Faces come and go. Anybody can post and if a conversation develops, great.

May I suggest a good starting point to get c&c is to be active in giving it. Or when you post an image provide your own view of what you've done. Sometimes I'm wary of being critical of an image as I don't want to scare anybody off. It is nice to know people can cope with suggestions or plain speaking and disregard them as they wish.

Like most of life, the more you put in the more you get out. A healthy disregard for the views of others helps, as like photography clubs, if you adopt what the committee say, you end up all looking the same.

I don't feel any member is more equal than any other. I do respect members based on their output ie. image or intellectual

I like the site in general, and use it on a daily basis. I do agree that at present it seems to lack a bit of life. Mostly equipment sales. I don't generally post images here. As I can post larger images elsewhere on the net. There I can reach a wider audience. When asking for critique, its not so important what brand of camera you exposed it with. I have to say I find the site tired and old fashioned. But on the plus side its about the people who contribute to it. I have found them very helpful and encouraging...

I think you're right, but it's not so much things going downhill IMO, it's a gradual change that's been taking place over several years.

Anything except people being super-nice is heavily stepped on; discussion of or comparison with anything non-Pentax is prohibited, and quite a few of the best photographers have gone to other brands.

It's not a recipe for animated discussion, controversy, direct feedback, or indeed an improving quality of images to discuss.

There are very few 'characters' here any more. The Smegster is one of the few I can think of that can always be relied on to post non-timid critique, and consequently there's way too much saccharine and nowhere near enough salt-and-pepper.

Since the gallery is an exhibition area rather than a C&C area, there's a strong disincentive to post anything other than anodyne compliments, and so the dross doesn't get called out as such. So there's no likelihood of improvement there.

Sadly, I think there's no particular prospect of change without some bold changes to moderation policy at the very least, and I don't see that happening.

To me from here its about the same as its always been, the usual folk talking about the usual things, now whether that's a good thing or not is another question. As for the gallery, I use it, both for adding my own work and for looking at other peoples, and like the forum I find its got a regular crowd. I like to add images to it so I have a body of work in there, for me it adds something to the whole experience. If fred Blogs is in the forum preaching to the choir I like to have a look at their gallery to see if they have the ability to backup their words, if you see what I mean.

Debates on these lines have appeared previously from time to time. In my very early days back in 2008/9 there was criticism of the banality of many of the comments, and indeed of many of the pictures, posted in the Gallery. It was felt for serious debate it was best to post and comment in The Forum.
I think the problem with The Forum is that threads are soon lost under pressure of new posts and unless you attract early comments your work is quickly submerged.
The Gallery is excellent for easily spotting worthy entries from the thumbnails, and if you're prepared to delve back a few pages, you can discover fine entries missed earlier but still worth a comment.
I think there are too many posts in The Gallery.
I know fully paid up PUF members are allowed unlimited posts but this can lead to the indiscriminate posting of several very similar images. I believe that if individuals were more selective and posted only the very best pictures from a shoot the quality of The Gallery would improve. And it would mean that everyone's photos would stay near the top of the queue
longer.
Personally I rarely post more than a couple per week although this is merely a self imposed rule, occasionally broken.

David
PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

I haven't been very active lately, mainly because I seem to have lost my desire to take photos.

It always remains a shame to me that so many post photos in the gallery, using it as free storage it seems, but never contribute to the forum. Some don't even realise there is a forum I suspect.

On the other hand I have never really posted my photos either on the forum or in the gallery, and I admit that, apart from viewing the competition entries, I rarely visit the gallery now.

I would love to get my inspiration back and start photographing again, but I can't force it. Even my recent trip to the UK for four days resulted in just 10 snapshots, none of which were keepers.

Hopefully Ricoh will come out with some new goodies to give us something to talk about again. It would be great if Tamron et al would acknowledge us and make a few lenses with a Pentax fitting occasionally.

Meanwhile I am looking at my collection of unused glass and contemplating selling most of it.

Well said

I see what you mean I think, although does that mean I need to have had a number one in the album charts before I can have an opinion on weather I like DJ Fat-slim-doggy-club-7's latest tune :

Jim.

A few months ago I was considering leaving PU, as my experience tallies with the sentiments Jim has expressed above. However, I am still here, mainly due to encouragement from Nigel, and partly due to looking at the Unanswered Topics section. Seeing the names of regular posters there, suggested to me that a dearth of responses probably did not mean that someone, his images, and his opinions, were being actively excluded by the other regulars.

I am always grateful for any comment on an image, however brief. Suggestions for improvement are especially useful but I wouldn't expect more than a sentence or two from someone who is freely giving their time to reply. Even a "Nice" from anyone is helpful, and particularly from an obviously experienced member, as it suggests that the photography might be on the right track.

Sometimes I get the impression that members who are experienced and perhaps professional photographers forget that photography might be a relatively new hobby for others, including myself, who perhaps come here with much lower experience and skills, and hence with a desire to learn more. Constructive criticism is valuable, sometimes essential, and does not need to be sugar-coated, but posts that come across as just dismissive, pompous, or arrogant are of little use to anyone.

Just a minor point about the forum content - it annoys me wading through all the ads to find the photography. So one structural change that would improve the forum for me, would be to separate the New Posts section into two - New Photography Posts and New Classified Ads.

Cheers.
Philip

When I took up digital SLR photography just a few short years back, I found Pentax User helpful in numerous (mainly obvious) ways. I have found it less interesting/lively recently, but I'm unsure whether that is me or the site. Rather like magazine subscriptions, after about 18 months the same topics tend to resurface (alongside some new ones), and what was novel becomes rather tired. It was always thus of course. But what has certainly happened is that a number of photographers whose work I particularly admired have left Pentax and, so, also the site. There are some very talented folk left, fortunately.

As with all 'open' sites, there is a huge variety of interests on display and some posters devote generous slices of their time to contributing, but, naturally, there is no editorial control and that means that not every prolific poster is prominent because of his or her (but usually his) wealth of knowledge and wisdom.

As for posting photos in the Gallery, I'd echo David Trout's feeling that (in this instance) more can often be less, and that greater self-selection is no bad thing. Whether any individual photo gets much noticed depends partly upon its own qualities, but also on how busy the traffic is, which sometimes simply means multiple not-very-varied photos from one source. The etiquette appears to be not to offer serious criticism unless the poster makes it clear that that is what is desired. Criticism is all part of the game, though, and we worry excessively sometimes about giving mortal offence. One place where criticism is required -- and given -- is in the Competitions. On more than one occasion I've read a critique of a shot of mine and thought it wrong-headed only later to come to see its validity and to be grateful for it.

That sounds like a good idea

I think the discusions ,posting,photos on this forum are always changing ...the better weather means pentax users are out taking photos and not sat at home glued to the computer .....jeff....

What ads? The forum relies on adverts to function, but that doesn't mean you have to see them - if you use Adblock Plus as a plugin on your browser you will no longer see the ads.
If you mean the adverts from members it is really no problem to swiftly scroll through the recent posts until you find something that appeals to read. The classifieds from members normally clearly say what is for sale in the title - so if you don't need what is offered scroll onto the next topic listed.

Gwyn, I did not say there was a problem. I started the paragraph with a "minor point" about something that "annoys me" about the forum. To clarify, I would prefer not to have to scroll down all the members' new classified ads (unless I want to buy something) to find the photography posts. That is why I suggested separating the two sets. I am entitled to express an opinion and make a suggestion - if you disagree, that's also fine by me.

Philip