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12/05/2013 12:13:10 PM · #1
Description: Take a photo of Langdon using our money to live a lavish lifestyle.
Expert Editing

12/05/2013 12:15:12 PM · #2
Beat me to it! I was going to go for a "Where's Lagndon" challenge :)

ETA: Langdon, if you see this please read this forum thread. A user really needs your help and no one seems to be able to get a hold of you. Once resolved, feel free to remove this challenge suggestion.

Message edited by author 2013-12-05 12:18:08.
12/05/2013 12:15:32 PM · #3
Honestly? This is pretty much one of the most tasteless, lame posts I have seen here in quite some time.
12/05/2013 12:19:24 PM · #4
Originally posted by kirbic:

Honestly? This is pretty much one of the most tasteless, lame posts I have seen here in quite some time.


It was a joke. But in all honesty we have a former member who has tried to pay for her membership not once but twice and has not received the service she has paid for. It would be nice for someone to help her. She's out $50.


Message edited by author 2013-12-05 12:20:05.
12/05/2013 12:20:15 PM · #5
you must have been away some time
12/05/2013 12:28:05 PM · #6
Originally posted by kirbic:

Honestly? This is pretty much one of the most tasteless, lame posts I have seen here in quite some time.


You are sounding like a politician. It's not OUR money. I t's Langton's.
12/05/2013 12:29:44 PM · #7
Originally posted by sempermarine:

Originally posted by kirbic:

Honestly? This is pretty much one of the most tasteless, lame posts I have seen here in quite some time.


It was a joke. But in all honesty we have a former member who has tried to pay for her membership not once but twice and has not received the service she has paid for. It would be nice for someone to help her. She's out $50.


And she was given some alternative ways to initiate contact.
FWIW, I don't disagree at all that it has seemed like no one is at the helm for extended periods, and that is unfortunate. The reality is that the site has shrunk to about 800 paid members, from a high of about 3,000. It's pretty much on life support.

The "joke" was still pretty tasteless. If you want action, don't insult the person you are trying to get action from. Were I in L's position, I would have been offended by the original post. Strongly.
12/05/2013 12:37:39 PM · #8
Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by sempermarine:

Originally posted by kirbic:

Honestly? This is pretty much one of the most tasteless, lame posts I have seen here in quite some time.


It was a joke. But in all honesty we have a former member who has tried to pay for her membership not once but twice and has not received the service she has paid for. It would be nice for someone to help her. She's out $50.


And she was given some alternative ways to initiate contact.
FWIW, I don't disagree at all that it has seemed like no one is at the helm for extended periods, and that is unfortunate. The reality is that the site has shrunk to about 800 paid members, from a high of about 3,000. It's pretty much on life support.

The "joke" was still pretty tasteless. If you want action, don't insult the person you are trying to get action from. Were I in L's position, I would have been offended by the original post. Strongly.


We are both entitled to our opinion. If Langdon is offended I am sure he will let me know. It was the risk I took by posting the challenge. I just know if I was in her situation I would be very upset and wouldn't mind someone trying to help me. The alternate ways to initiate contact haven't been working.

When you were on the site council how would you have handled her situation?
12/05/2013 01:13:05 PM · #9
Originally posted by sempermarine:

Description: Take a photo of Langdon using our money to live a lavish lifestyle.
Expert Editing


Has anyone ever spotted the exceptionally rare Langdon species in its native enironment? My understanding is its a timid beast, exceptionally reclusive and reticent of contact with humans.
12/05/2013 01:13:09 PM · #10
Originally posted by kirbic:

The reality is that the site has shrunk to about 800 paid members, from a high of about 3,000. It's pretty much on life support.

The "joke" was still pretty tasteless. If you want action, don't insult the person you are trying to get action from. Were I in L's position, I would have been offended by the original post. Strongly.


I love this place and would like to see it continue. If it's true that paid membership is down from 3,000 (when?) to 800 now, could it be that it's because there have been no improvements, new features, bug fixes for quite some time?
12/05/2013 01:33:11 PM · #11
Here.

This might give you some idea of what he's up to.
12/05/2013 01:47:24 PM · #12
Originally posted by Dr.Confuser:

Originally posted by kirbic:

The reality is that the site has shrunk to about 800 paid members, from a high of about 3,000. It's pretty much on life support.

The "joke" was still pretty tasteless. If you want action, don't insult the person you are trying to get action from. Were I in L's position, I would have been offended by the original post. Strongly.


I love this place and would like to see it continue. If it's true that paid membership is down from 3,000 (when?) to 800 now, could it be that it's because there have been no improvements, new features, bug fixes for quite some time?


I've never explicitly tracked paid membership, but I was tracking unique users for some time. Here is a trend graph for unique users:

This graph shows the number of unique users (both paid and otherwise) that entered challenges in each calendar quarter. You can see that the peak occurred in mid-2006. Paid membership also peaked about that time as I recall.
Where we really missed the boat, IMO, is upgrades to the portfolios. Folks chose to go to sites such as pbase, photosig, flikr, smugmug, etc., where the storage and display capabilities, as well as the "social networking" aspect of photo sharing were well-implemented.
I don't think we ever wanted to become a mass-market photo-sharing site, and we consciously kept our well-managed voting system instead of a "popularity" system. The seriousness of the competition here put off some newcomers. The tightness of the community, often perceived by newcomers as "cliquey," put off more folks. When you discourage newcomers and don't work to retain current members, the writing is on the wall. We did nothing at all to change the direction, and we will have to live, and eventually die, with the fallout.
12/05/2013 01:52:51 PM · #13
$20,000 is not bad income for selecting a challenge every few days. I am sure there are other income streams that cover the hosting cost. Some people work long hours to get an annual income of this amount. Guess this is still small change compared to his full time job income or whatever ventures he has an interest in
12/05/2013 02:00:52 PM · #14
Originally posted by P-A-U-L:

$20,000 is not bad income for selecting a challenge every few days. I am sure there are other income streams that cover the hosting cost. Some people work long hours to get an annual income of this amount. Guess this is still small change compared to his full time job income or whatever ventures he has an interest in


You must really not have a clue what it costs to run a business, nor any inkling of how much effort was/is put in to code this entire site by hand and maintain it.
It is not L's responsibility to publish a financial accounting for DPC, however if he were to do so, and he included a reasonable hourly charge for his time, I am pretty certain DPC would be losing money hand over fist.
12/05/2013 02:03:50 PM · #15
Kiribic I run a successful web development company and I have an honours degree in Accounting and Finance so I think I do have a clue actually
12/05/2013 02:21:14 PM · #16
Originally posted by kirbic:

When you discourage newcomers and don't work to retain current members ...

... and fill the front page with negativity ...

... how about recognizing that Langdon has kept the site running and totally free to those who only want to learn (Tutorials section is not restricted) and are willing to limit their entries to Open challenges. Remember that the site's mission statement is to use the challenges as a format for us to help each other become better photographers, not so much as an end in themselves, and to that end we have a voting system that works, probably more fairly than many contest sites, and no prizes. Additionally we let people run their own "challenges" and even tournaments ...

I share many of the frustrations which have been expressed here (and in the other two threads currently at the top of the list), but I think continuing disparagement and insults of the site and its management (including myself) do nothing to address either specific problems (e.g. membership renewal) or the overall malaise -- how about instead of complaining, use that time and energy to go vote, comment, or take some pictures ... I'm sure it will feel more rewarding.
12/05/2013 02:42:40 PM · #17
Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by kirbic:

When you discourage newcomers and don't work to retain current members ...

... and fill the front page with negativity ...

... how about recognizing that Langdon has kept the site running and totally free to those who only want to learn (Tutorials section is not restricted) and are willing to limit their entries to Open challenges. Remember that the site's mission statement is to use the challenges as a format for us to help each other become better photographers, not so much as an end in themselves, and to that end we have a voting system that works, probably more fairly than many contest sites, and no prizes. Additionally we let people run their own "challenges" and even tournaments ...

I share many of the frustrations which have been expressed here (and in the other two threads currently at the top of the list), but I think continuing disparagement and insults of the site and its management (including myself) do nothing to address either specific problems (e.g. membership renewal) or the overall malaise -- how about instead of complaining, use that time and energy to go vote, comment, or take some pictures ... I'm sure it will feel more rewarding.


Yes, let's just ignore the elephant in the room. If we pretend nothing's wrong, all will be well.
12/05/2013 02:56:52 PM · #18
Originally posted by kirbic:



And she was given some alternative ways to initiate contact.
FWIW, I don't disagree at all that it has seemed like no one is at the helm for extended periods, and that is unfortunate. The reality is that the site has shrunk to about 800 paid members, from a high of about 3,000. It's pretty much on life support.

The "joke" was still pretty tasteless. If you want action, don't insult the person you are trying to get action from. Were I in L's position, I would have been offended by the original post. Strongly.


I used every alternative way to initiate contact that was given to me - at least as long as I was able to view the thread. Since that is a member's only thread, I am no longer able to ready any responses.

12/05/2013 03:03:46 PM · #19
Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by kirbic:

When you discourage newcomers and don't work to retain current members ...

... and fill the front page with negativity ...

... how about recognizing that Langdon has kept the site running and totally free to those who only want to learn (Tutorials section is not restricted) and are willing to limit their entries to Open challenges. Remember that the site's mission statement is to use the challenges as a format for us to help each other become better photographers, not so much as an end in themselves, and to that end we have a voting system that works, probably more fairly than many contest sites, and no prizes. Additionally we let people run their own "challenges" and even tournaments ....


I hesitated responding because there seems to be a very strong emotional tie between site owner and some members. So just ignore this post if you have thin skin.

Ok. I think we may be losing sight of what this is all about. This is about a member who has not received a service for which she paid to receive. (twice) This is not a personal attack on Langdon. I actually voted for him for President!

I am a bit concerned that a former site council member and a current site council member are defending the financial practices of the site owner. There is no difference between 800 users and 3000 users in how they should be treated as customers. Secondly, the comments about "Free tutorials" is a little off base. Those tutorials are provided by members for non-members and members alike. I don't think any of them received monetary compensation. (Correct me if I am wrong) Therefore, at the very least it would be unethical for the site to benefit financially from their work. I would also argue that if you didn't "let" members run side challenges or tournaments the site would have a lot less than 800 members. I learn more form TPL and side challenges than I do from any comments I receive.

Assumptions I have made. Site council member are not paid and work hard. Several of them have solved issues for me over the years and I appreciate their efforts. I made the assumption they could help her, but it doesn't appear that a direct line of communication is established with the site owner.

Lastly, GeneralE feel free to lock this thread if you feel it's not in the best interest of the site. Just know I am a member and I can use my time on this site as I chose. Whether that is voting, submitting to challenges, or defending other members.

I generally have a great sense of humor, but this bothers me for some reason. Maybe because it reminds me of Obamacare. :)

Message edited by author 2013-12-05 15:09:35.
12/05/2013 03:06:34 PM · #20
Coming from Sempermarine, it works as a joke. C'mon, just take a look at his portfolio! :) I'd like to think L has the type of humor that wouldn't be offended by this challenge suggestion...

I think it's a great idea, and while I'm in the group that has let paid membership lapse, I didn't do so because I dislike the site, think the design is to dated, or bemoan the lack of direction.
12/05/2013 03:08:04 PM · #21
Originally posted by sempermarine:



I generally have a great sense of humor, but this bothers me for some reason. Maybe because it reminds me of Obamacare. :)


Great, just go ahead and spin this thread off its already shaky rails! ;)
12/05/2013 03:17:18 PM · #22
Originally posted by mpeters:

Originally posted by sempermarine:



I generally have a great sense of humor, but this bothers me for some reason. Maybe because it reminds me of Obamacare. :)


Great, just go ahead and spin this thread off its already shaky rails! ;)


Just wait until Art roflmao wakes from his drunken stupor. Then this thread will be locked for sure.
12/05/2013 03:18:22 PM · #23
Langdon sounds more and more like "Longgone" to me. ( Just a joke! )

Semper, play nice okay, you don't want me to get out of my wheelchair and ... uh .... well you don't want that okay!

Message edited by author 2013-12-05 15:22:19.
12/05/2013 03:18:48 PM · #24
sempermarine, you got most of it right - other than the compensation bit - I do believe that a one-month membership is given to anyone who publishes a How-To Tutorial here.

In the end, I have to say that Langdon has always been EXTREMELY fair with me in my dealings with him. He seems to be a genuine good guy, and I'm personally glad that he's making good money with this site, it is, for all it's flaws, a good place.

With that being said - of course it annoys the shit out of me too, but from everything I know about Mr. Oliver, he's very busy with his job, kids, and life - and sometimes really does just forget about us for a week or so. I suppose I can understand, but he really does need to reconsider hiring that community manager that was mentioned a year or so (two?) ago.....
12/05/2013 03:25:02 PM · #25
Originally posted by Cory:

sempermarine, you got most of it right - other than the compensation bit - I do believe that a one-month membership is given to anyone who publishes a How-To Tutorial here.

In the end, I have to say that Langdon has always been EXTREMELY fair with me in my dealings with him. He seems to be a genuine good guy, and I'm personally glad that he's making good money with this site, it is, for all it's flaws, a good place.

With that being said - of course it annoys the shit out of me too, but from everything I know about Mr. Oliver, he's very busy with his job, kids, and life - and sometimes really does just forget about us for a week or so. I suppose I can understand, but he really does need to reconsider hiring that community manager that was mentioned a year or so (two?) ago.....


Thanks for the clarification. Like I said, it wasn't meant to be an attack on him. Agree, a community manager might be the answer if he is too busy.
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