What has happened?

[quote:3496ace15f="DrOrloff"

It may be enlightening to find out from those Pentaxians who have moved on why they have done so and whether they have gained because of it. I think that the forum ethos of stifling discussion of other brands is a bit counterproductive too. It seems to me that Pentax kit is certainly capable of great photography and that aim should be encouraged much more than it seems to be.[/quote]I would love to tell you on the forum jut when I have my posts have been deleted and I've received a warning from the moderators or aessage from moderators.

It's sad really as Pentax don't currently offer what I need but I can't wait to get back to Pentax which is bizarre in itself. I can't even talk about the brand I've gone too and the faults with that brand as to why I want to go back to Pentax.

From the people that leave Pentax very few seem to come back yet my discussion as to why I want to come back is stifled despite me being positive about the Pentax brand.

Unfortunately most users questions abouty current thoughts are through flickr and one images rather than on the forum...

I've told you once.

It sounds childish to me. I don't shoot landscapes of wildlife but I know whether an image turns me on or not and If I can convey the reasons in a manner of constructive feedback then I'm qualified to comment. Even someone who doesn't shoot anything can be qualified to comment if they give constructive criticism



There's an aroma of paranoia about other brands wafting around on this forum which is unhealthy. Follow your nose.

The other Pentax forum has a section called Non-Pentax Cameras: Canon, Nikon, etc. -- It's highly common for people to have more than one brand of camera and the other forum recognises that and serves it community well.


You can easily block adverts with Adblock PLus. I have an advert free internet life. I hate the damn things, they are brain rot.

As a test I just opened the forum front page in IE ( I normally use firefox ) where there's no adbblocking and there's SEVEN adverts!!! YEEEEUUUCCCCCHHH!!!!

Get yourself adblock Plus and regain some sanity

Ridiculous isn't it? There's absolutely no rationale for that.

can we even talk about *not being allowed to talk about* it?


David

On the positive side of things I expect the moderators are at this very moment holding an emergency meeting to discuss what can be done to change things for the better after all this valuable user feedback.

On the negative side of things I expect the moderators are at this very moment holding an emergency meeting to discuss which members to ban for daring to mention anything negative about this site.

As for those who have the nerve to mention canon or nikon you are almost certainly barred for life.

On a diferent note although in some way related, thanks to David Storm for you comments on the images I uploaded the other day, much appreciated.

Jim.

Most of the time I do but occasionally I visit the site using my iPad or iPhone and the options for adblocking are very limited on ios. Which, of course, could be solved by using tapatalk or some other forum based app if it was available.

I understand that the forum gets revenue from the ads but it also gets revenue from subscribing members. I paid for last year and saw no discernible gain for my money. As such I haven't renewed as I see no point. I am happy to pay and support something worthwhile (and I do think this site is worthwhile) but there has to be another reason other than sheer altruism.

I just checked and one of the bonuses for being a 'plus' member is Special shop offers. Currently these are:
Cokin Fluo Red Grad Filter A665 - £5.00 suitible for up to a 62mm fliter ring. I had to stop myself running for my wallet
JumpStart Guide Pentax K100D DVD - £2.50 and JumpStart Pentax K100D Super DVD - £2.50. really up to date that one
and that's it.

The discounts would be useful but the 10% off at SRS didn't apply when I bought my teleconverter or K3 battery grip for some reason

The 'multiple upload' into the gallery would be worthwhile if the gallery was worthwhile. It has already been discussed here but a basic wordpress site can produce a better gallery experience than what's on offer here without even considering 500px, flickr, google+ etc. etc.

I feel that the forum is still stuck in the 'Hoya' days suffering from a bit of under investment.

I'm sure you're right about underinvestment, though I'm not sure it has much to do with Hoya. Magezine [sic] Publishing Limited, which owns the site, presumably has little incentive to upgrade the experience, since it is such a niche site with low levels of traffic. MPL also owns Ephotozine, which I suspect absorbs most of its attention and the lion's share of any investment there is to be had.

When Pentax has nudged Canon and Nikon out of top position I'm sure things will improve.

When that's the case, and users switch brands, they seem to inundate that section with images from their current chosen brand and post none from the brand for which the marque was set up. I've seen it happen on two other supposedly 'Pentax' forums, one posts images from a Nikon D4/D4s, hardly similar capabilities to any of the Pentax range.

It's my impression that this forum has become more or less a Pentax 'Exchange 'n Mart' with few interesting topics in between. What's more annoying is that Joe Public creates a login to snap up a bargain before us regulars have a chance, then they're never heard of again.

I think new users should be made to wait a number of days before making any posts/purchases, even if they get around the current 30 day restriction by asking someone to PM them first.

Also, users tend to be lazy and ask questions that have been answered countless times before, all they have to do is put their question to Google or a similar search engine.

Does it matter?

The other pentax forum has a sub-forum for non pentax brands. Inside this sub forum are dedicated threads showing images from all sorts of non-pentax brands. Many snappers have more than one brand while being priarely Pentax owners/users.

This sub-forum in no way detracts from that forum being a Pentax Forum. In fact it enhances it as it recognises the community of it's members aren't compartmentalised.

The good thing about sub-forums is that if you aren't interested you don't have to open them.

The emphasis should be on those who remain Pentaxians to take more and better photos.

Most of the changes required to improve this forum require absolutely no investment whatsoever, it just requires a change in attitude by whoever calls the shots or is allowed to call the shots and a few mouse clicks.

I run my own forum, which has way more traffic than this one, and it cost about £3 a week to run it. Changes to allowable images sizes, the organisation of subforums, etc are all a couple of mouse clicks away. The rest is a change in ethos.

The latter I suspect, although costing nothing, is probably the most difficult area.

By far the most erudite and succinct comment so far.

I'm not normally one to critisise but:

is the most blinkered and patronising comment so far and I am really disappointed that it was made by a moderator and someone that I respect the opinion of.

This thread has highlighted a lot of reasonably discussed and well founded issues that member have with this forum and that one response has demonstrated a poor regard for all the other points raised.

Maybe that wasn't the intent but that's how it comes across to me.