It may finally be happening... - DPChallenge Forums

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/14/2014 11:25:37 AM · #1

Yup -- another DPC is dying thread. Hadn't really believed it in all of the other previous threads, but when you look at the front page, and 8 of the threads are from today, 6 from yesterday, and 6 from two days ago (although it says 1 day ago, which I don't quite understand how that's different from yesterday, but it is...)

What's even more sad is that this morning the top 20 forums went out to three days ago.

I keep popping in to see what's happening and the answer is:

pretty much nothing.

I don't think the lack of entries and lack of voting will be the key to DPC's demise, I think it will be the lack of chatter. And it's not even the really quiet time +/- 3 days around the holidays. :(

We need some more chatter around here!

Message edited by author 2014-12-14 11:25:57.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

12/14/2014 11:35:46 AM · #2

I just find there's one problem with chatter
It's when people say things that don't matter
Or they pull someone's chain
Yet again and again
And we all go as mad as that hatter

PennyStreet

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 17mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko

12/14/2014 12:27:10 PM · #3

Voting and commenting is key here I think.
Checking scores and reading comments on my entries over the week is what I login for first.
Then I glance to the threads to see what's new.
I only have 50 some votes on the challenge that ends tonight and the score thread only popped up today. That is not going to inspire participation.

The problem is that, short of requiring a minimum voting or commenting standard, there isn't much that can be done about it. If those who want to continue entering here are not figuring out that we need more than just an image per challenge, this site will continue on its slide into oblivion. And where would we go?

I, for one, am finding myself not taking pictures regularly anymore because nobody cares and it's not worth the effort. Sad for me? Well I'm realizing that I need to find a different outlet somewhere if I want to stay active. Any suggestions?

Or wouldn't it be better to just bite the bullet and go vote and comment a few here? Anything to pick up the pace a bit.
Go out and shoot a plant... enter something you never would have suspected you would do! And then vote like your neighbors do:)
Please!

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED

12/14/2014 12:33:23 PM · #4

too late its already dead

tanguera

Nikon D750

12/14/2014 01:02:55 PM · #5

Originally posted by Tiny:

too late its already dead

And yet, here you are, insisting on nailing the coffin shut.

Seriously folks. If you check in on this thread, instead of posting another comment here, go to the one of the challenges in voting and post a photography-related comment on the image. Let's keep our focus and energy on photography and not so much on eulogies.

Sony Sonnar FE 2.8 35mm ZA

12/14/2014 01:18:08 PM · #6

The hope is that people will step up the chatter. Even If they get sucked in here, they might check on other things, as well.

I was also curious if people had ntocied the forums being really really really quiet. And if they had a thought on it. This one's worrying me more, simply because I've kept logging in for the past couple to days, just to log back out since it didn't seem like there's anything to really respond to.

jagar

Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+

12/14/2014 01:18:10 PM · #7

What is killing it, what can we do about it ? Maybe we should start a thread to find solutions or has that already been done ?
This is a challenge site where scores and comments count, I've been guilty of not commenting enough lately but I'll try changing that. The difference with a site like this and sites like Flickr is honesty, people get feedback at places like that and it doesn't depend on wether the image is good or not, it depends on how loud they shout and how many butts they lick. I no longer crave high scores but I do enjoy feedback from the people I admire here, i would be sad not to shoot for challenges but I would be even sadder thinking I was only getting feedback in a Facebook sickening kind of way.

12/14/2014 01:24:46 PM · #8

I'm here more for the comraderie than the feedback. Comments are fun, but never have been overwhelming. Its the forums that keep me involved. At least that's what I'm realizing now that they're quiet.

We just need some good discussion again.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

12/14/2014 01:25:39 PM · #9

So everybody should go create one interesting forum thread . :)

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

12/14/2014 01:42:57 PM · #10

I knew DPC had died when no mention of the Micheal Brown case (or subsequent riots) popped up.

jagar

Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+

Sony Sonnar FE 2.8 35mm ZA

12/14/2014 02:11:36 PM · #11

Originally posted by Cory:

I knew DPC had died when no mention of the Micheal Brown case (or subsequent riots) popped up.

What's that got to do with DPC?

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/14/2014 02:12:19 PM · #12

Originally posted by Cory:

I knew DPC had died when no mention of the Micheal Brown case (or subsequent riots) popped up.

I think the idea was to increase chatter, not ranting.

pixelpig

Sony Alpha a55

Sony DT 1.8/50mm SAM

12/14/2014 03:15:55 PM · #13

I have noticed the lack of activity in the forums also. There was a period of months, maybe almost a year, when I was putting every other thread on Ignore because of the comments from people who seem determined to obliterate with disrespect any photographic style that does not match their own. I call them fundamentalist photographers. I am one of the people they seem to want to obliterate & annihilate. Rub out. Drive to extinction on some penal colony, like Deviant Art. I don't belong there, either. I realized I don't belong anywhere. It got to be very depressing. So, I got tired of putting threads on Ignore & just quit looking. About a year ago I lost interest in entering & commenting in general. I did not loose interest in photography, though, I no longer share it with anyone.

I wanted this site to encourage me to practice & develop my skill with the camera, & also with PP. But there are about a million tutorials online. Anything I want to know, I can find a bunch of tutorials. I wanted to have interesting discussions in the forums about things like framing the shot, why the focal plane counts for so much, how to get the most out of blur, how to tell a story with one photograph, how to get the right exposure for a lily in the sun, how to see a composition in life before I pick up the camera. Didn't find much about that here, but I did learn how to find it online. I read up on the history of photography. Looked up all the great photogs. And so on.

For a while I amused myself with the game of attempting to enter a good shot that would get last place. But now I'm becalmed. I know that my entry will be on the last or next-to-last page with a score of 5 or so if I'm lucky. Sometimes I get some good comments. Sometimes I get a fav. Once I got a wish-list. I have faced the fact that I am an unremarkable photographer, which is pretty much where I started.

So why did I write all this? I like Wendy. I like reading her photographer's comments & always go back after a challenge ends to find her shot so I can read them. Wendy, I think you are a good story teller. You should write a book. Or a blog. People would read it.

Why am I still here? I am a fan of all the photogs I faved on my Profile. I follow their work, those few who are still active. I look thru my faved photos for inspiration. Sometimes, I still look in the forums.

PuppyDogMom

Canon EOS R6

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

12/14/2014 03:28:27 PM · #14

Don't enter challenges much; don't vote much; don't comment much; don't much contribute to threads. Could be that I am one of the contributors to the dearth of activity. I find that I check in less and less, and when I do nothing seems to have changed.

What can I do to help improve things? Perhaps enter more challenges (but they're often too difficult for me); start voting again; make comments; and post in threads or start them.

Don't want to see this site end. So, if I'm part of the problem, then I need to change.

PuppyDogMom

Canon EOS R6

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

12/14/2014 03:31:52 PM · #15

Originally posted by vawendy:

So everybody should go create one interesting forum thread . :)

Has anyone seen the sun in Wisconsin? Been missing for awhile. Have to learn how to take pictures with nothing but grey skies and clouds.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/14/2014 03:46:37 PM · #16

Maybe it's time to revive the Just For Some Laughs thread ...

Garry

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

12/14/2014 04:14:33 PM · #17

Getting rid of the obvious non-member trolls who don't contribute anything but negativity on this site would be a step in the right direction, too.

tanguera

Nikon D750

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED

12/14/2014 04:15:28 PM · #18

There are several things at work here. We all came here because of our passion for photography. Sometimes that interest wanes, shifts to other activities, is interrupted by real life issues like family, illness, etc.

We cannot do anything about those things.

However, we all seem to want the same thing from DPC: more comments, more voting, more chatter. So that isn't the issue. The issue is we are all waiting for someone else to do it.

Neas flash: we're all that "someone else". So, BE the change you want to see. Start a thread. Make comments. Etc.

As for the forums, yes, for a while it was nothing but ranting and rudeness. Everything became a personal attack. I truly believe that had a lot to do with members leaving.

When they asked me to join SC, I indicated that forum civility was my area of interest and a priority. Yeah, I'm mostly the one behind aking people to mind their language and stick to the topic. I'm also all for discenting opinions, but believe we are all capable of expressing our views without rudeness towards other people and their view. There IS a place on this site for even that, however: rant.

I hope you've noticed that the tone has changed (for the better, Lol), and if you are still in touch with distanced members, invite them to come back and check it out.

If you are someone who simply cannot express yourself without insults or demeaning someone else, or can't help yourself in doing so, there are many options:

Learn a new way of sharing your ideas while on DPC
Ask to have your access to the forums restricted
Find a site that is more about "freedom to bash each other up" than about photography.

12/14/2014 05:19:23 PM · #19

One things for sure, that threads like this help not.

12/14/2014 05:21:42 PM · #20

one

12/14/2014 05:21:50 PM · #21

bit