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Thread: On the Forum's Value

  1. #81

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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    Quote Originally Posted by tgtaylor View Post
    And each of those threads pertained to a real question that I had at the time and was not a troll for posts. In fact the minumun aperature thread was quite interesting (I thought) and generated 15 replys. I did need a #3 Toyo lensboard and ended up getting one from Adorama. The question regarding the bellows draw was (for me) a significant one since I was debating purchasing either a 450mm Nikkor or a 480mm apo-ronar and they Toyo-View website seeemed to indicate that the standard bellowws wouldn't support the latter. I ended-up buying an absolutely mint ronar that was never even mounted and came with the mounting screw in place! Now owning 3 dedicated 8x10 lens on 6" boards, I needed some way to store them and wasn't aware that photobackpacker sold 8x10 lens cases. I bought one!

    The last 5 of my threads compare quite favorably to your last 5 and if you looked at my 7th on the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, you will have found a link to free electronic download of the Exhibition catalog.

    Since you have made an issue of my posts, I am posting below the last 5 images that I have posted. Have you posted any images on this forum?
    My point was a lack of "more inspiring discussions on photography" on your part. Where are those "more inspiring discussions on photography" that you said you want to see? I just find it odd when people complain about the content of posts and expect that somehow it is other people's responsibilities to make it happen. If you want "more inspiring discussions on photography", then make it happen.

  2. #82
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    Quote Originally Posted by tgtaylor View Post
    It's interesting to note that Forum participation increased by at least 50% since this thread first appeared in November. In the years that I have been a member, participation ran about 50% of that on Aug. Now its running neck to neck with apug. For example there are 869 online on Aug and close to 700 on LF. Barring any evidence to the contrary, I'll have to take the credit for the sudden and spectacular increase.

    But the Forum still lacks stimulating discussion on a regular basis: too many threads are still unbearably frivolous. Let's have more inspiring discussions on photography.

    Thomas
    I'm assuming this is a joke right? # of members online varies tremendously by time of day and day of the week with the high point way back in 2007. I have seen it vary on any given day from about 50 in the wee hours of the morning when the US members are snoozing to around 800 when we are all awake and and at our computers in the afternoon. Real growth is more apparent in "Active Members" ie members who actively participate and have made at least one post in the last 6 months. That has remained fairly constant, hovering around 2700-2800 for some time after a high point in 2010.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  3. #83
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    On the Forum's Value

    Quote Originally Posted by tgtaylor View Post
    Since you have made an issue of my posts, I am posting below the last 5 images that I have posted. Have you posted any images on this forum?
    Number of images isn't the issue. Not everyone does work that can be shown, or that they want to show. That does not disqualify them from participating, or even from doing so helpfully. Nor does it preclude the sorts of intellectual discussions you suggest. We can't even define good photography when we try to, let alone use it as the basis for judgments of a participant's value to the community.

    The equipment threads you started were like all of them--they were important to you as the OP at the time. That doesn't mean they weren't in the "yet another..." category for someone else.

    And there are those who get really annoyed by the navel-gazing intellectual discussions, too.

    My own analysis of the participation data indicates the growth has been modest, but the average active poster writes more than used to be the case. There is nothing to support any particular conclusion, except that the forum remains healthy.

    But the advice to start the sorts of threads you would like to read is always worth following.

    Rick "please don't make it personal" Denney

  4. #84

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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    It's a paradox that I spend way more time on this special interest forum than I spend actually photographing or printing. When you consider it takes me about an hour to think of and write a post, it's a serious time sink.

    It'll be my New Year's resolution to do more camera and darkroom work, so I will be able to contribute more meaningfully.

    But I've always been this way. I can plan and scheme all year long for one week's outing with camera. Then I can spend several months developing and printing. Before the Internet came I would actually have more backlog than I have now.

    p.s. Thomas, I liked your Reds Java House the first time I saw it. Should have said so.

  5. #85

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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    Bill - there is no need to feel that you need to contribute more meaningfully. Everyone contributes in their own unique way. And it is all valuable.

    Thomas was trying to be clever in switching the topic from inspiring discussions on photography to image sharing because he doesn't think people like me who no longer shoot much LF have a place here. As if I forgot everything I know about LF when the nature of my photography projects dictated that I use a more efficient format (digital). The truth is I found this forum to be a great resource when I started with LF, and never found a reason to stop participating. I gained a lot in the beginning, and I always try to give back, in time, more than I take. If everyone gives more than they take, then the community will flourish.

    The true value of this forum is the diversity of knowledge and perspectives of all the members. That includes everyone from the "never ever's" to the most experienced. But that also means that there will always be more threads that aren't of interest to a specific person than those that are. Everyone's wants and needs will be vastly different. It is up to each of us to give and take from the forum what we can and ignore the rest.

  6. #86

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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Miller View Post
    Bill - there is no need to feel that you need to contribute more meaningfully. Everyone contributes in their own unique way. And it is all valuable.
    Thanks, I'll still make my New Year's resolution to shoot and print more.

  7. #87
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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Burk View Post
    It's a paradox that I spend way more time on this special interest forum than I spend actually photographing or printing. When you consider it takes me about an hour to think of and write a post, it's a serious time sink.

    It'll be my New Year's resolution to do more camera and darkroom work, so I will be able to contribute more meaningfully.

    But I've always been this way. I can plan and scheme all year long for one week's outing with camera. Then I can spend several months developing and printing. Before the Internet came I would actually have more backlog than I have now.

    p.s. Thomas, I liked your Reds Java House the first time I saw it. Should have said so.
    I'm the same way. But even when I have a period of activity, it's not that much activity. I can spend time on this forum when making photographs is not an option--sitting in hotel rooms at night, taking a mental break during the workday, checking out posts using Tapatalk while sitting in an airport lounge, sitting on a bench in the mall waiting for my wife to finish shopping, and so on. Participating allows me to keep my mental hand in the game, so that when I do get to do some work, I've filled my head with concepts and examples to inform the choices I make. Back in my ill-spent youth I raced cars for a time, and track time was so precious and rare for those of us on the lowest ranks of that sport that it was a requirement to rehearse the moves mentally off the track. I see forum participation as a means of preparing for those opportunities for getting that big camera out into the field. It's also a means of expressing things I've spent 40 years learning, though the state of my knowledge should be well-reflected by the fact that I don't post in a high percentage of threads I read, and I don't read a high percentage of threads that are started. I suspect that is true for most folks.

    Rick "whose backlog is enormous, but inaccessible during most times of forum participation" Denney

  8. #88

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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    tgtaylor, I want to point out a priceless post of yours.

    http://www.largeformatphotography.in...l=1#post649219

    This one post sunk in for me and I consciously think of it when composing landscapes... "include a little lagniappe"... for me it makes better photographs.

  9. #89
    Michael Alpert
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    Re: On the Forum's Value

    As a New Englander, I had not encountered the word "lagniappe" before. But the application to photography is clear. I think all good photographs include some quality beyond the image's subject matter. It's a gift, and it's a value that is somewhat indefinable. A lagniappe.

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