Sony section poll

[MatthewK]

I resemble your suggestion 100%, as I suggested something similar over on POTN recently, and some people got really angsty and bitter about it, like little children. POTN is one of the friendliest forums around, so it caught me a little off guard. Can't imagine suggesting something like this on FM, the melt downs and whinging there would be hilarious Great site for info and B&S, but the user base is terrible.

Over on POTN, there are sub-forums for each brand, but they appear dead or slow because there's so few Nikon/Sony/Fuji shooters (POTN used to be a Canon-only forum), so I suggested just consolidating down to a single "Sony Gear", "Nikon Gear", etc instead of "Sony Cameras, Sony Lenses, Sony Accessories" forum for each brand, to both centralize and boost activity, more like FM is laid out. I just think the problem is, like stated above, if there wasn't enough member activity, the site would appear stagnant. I feel you though, I shoot Canon occasionally, and there's little Canon activity to be seen here; I've never seen a Fuji post here on BCG either, but I don't care because I don't use it for wildlife

As to a solution here, maybe there's a way to set up tagging when a thread is created, and then allowing for sorting by tags? That way you keep the activity level high in the forum so as to attract users who won't fly away as soon as they see no recent posts (in a dedicated sub-forum), but also allow hiding stuff you don't necessarily wish to see. That way there isn't a need to create a sub-forum for each brand that may never see real activity.

 

[sh1209]

Thanks for opening up the discussion. It's been well handled.

Going back to the issue as stated earlier in the thread. There have been several folks I have talked to over the years in person and online that don’t shoot Nikon stating they don’t feel welcomed on this site. I can’t say whether that’s true or not and I certainly am not saying that is Steve‘s intention, but it is something people have conveyed to me over the years. This is also one of the reasons I am suggesting some sort of new features and I think it would be beneficial for Steve monetarily to have more members on the site

 

[sh1209]

I have a thread for Z8/Z9 Video issues/experience in the Video section — I have so much to learn about video but we have so much to learn about N-Raw and using our specific gear that this thread has been useful for me and others.

I think the video section has been a tremendous asset to the site personally. I think most of us have a lot to learn in the video department, and the addition of that is a valuable resource for people that want to learn.

 

[sh1209]

I resemble your suggestion 100%, as I suggested something similar over on POTN recently, and some people got really angsty and bitter about it, like little children. POTN is one of the friendliest forums around, so it caught me a little off guard. Can't imagine suggesting something like this on FM, the melt downs and whinging there would be hilarious Great site for info and B&S, but the user base is terrible.

Over on POTN, there are sub-forums for each brand, but they appear dead or slow because there's so few Nikon/Sony/Fuji shooters (POTN used to be a Canon-only forum), so I suggested just consolidating down to a single "Sony Gear", "Nikon Gear", etc instead of "Sony Cameras, Sony Lenses, Sony Accessories" forum for each brand, to both centralize and boost activity, more like FM is laid out. I just think the problem is, like stated above, if there wasn't enough member activity, the site would appear stagnant. I feel you though, I shoot Canon occasionally, and there's little Canon activity to be seen here; I've never seen a Fuji post here on BCG either, but I don't care because I don't use it for wildlife

As to a solution here, maybe there's a way to set up tagging when a thread is created, and then allowing for sorting by tags? That way you keep the activity level high in the forum so as to attract users who won't fly away as soon as they see no recent posts (in a dedicated sub-forum), but also allow hiding stuff you don't necessarily wish to see. That way there isn't a need to create a sub-forum for each brand that may never see real activity.

That sounds like a great idea to me

 

[Patrick M]

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

 

[Patrick M]

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[sh1209]

View attachment 62405

While that is an option. If you type in something for instance Sony A1, it’s going to pull up every wildlife post, gear post, and everything in between unless a person has added multiple tags to the original post. It would be a more efficient system if each thread had a simple drop-down filter at the top of them for brand specific information, especially the gear thread. Again it doesn’t really matter. It was only a suggestion, and most likely not going to happen.

 

[sh1209]

In my opinion, the gear post would be the only post or thread that would be beneficial to have a drop-down filter. I really see no reason to do that in any photography presentation group.

 

[sh1209]

It was the same kind of response whenever members like myself recommended adding a marketplace, video section, and a few other features. Obviously the site hasn’t melted down nor have there been any major disruptions for adding those suggestions. I really think adding a way to filter the gear section Isn’t going to have detrimental effects on this site. Just my two cents!

 

[arbitrage]

Some of those very users are here in this thread.

You bet I am....got a problem with that?

Have the guts to use my name next time as I just scanned all the users here and none other than myself frequent FM Nikon threads.

As per your useless comments in this thread....they are the only ones that were dismissive and condescending. Maybe stay out of a Sony thread and take some of your own advice.

 

[sh1209]

You bet I am....got a problem with that?

Have the guts to use my name next time as I just scanned all the users here and none other than myself frequent FM Nikon threads.

As per your useless comments in this thread....they are the only ones that were dismissive and condescending. Maybe stay out of a Sony thread and take some of your own advice.

You hit the nail on the head here. This clown likes to do nothing but get on here and belittle people and talk down to them like he is superior to everyone. Everything He gets involved in turns into his condescending narcissistic remarks instead of trying to contribute something good to the thread he just has to try to bring people down.

 

[Wes Peterson]

You hit the nail on the head here. This clown likes to do nothing but get on here and belittle people and talk down to them like he is superior to everyone. Everything He gets involved in turns into his condescending narcissistic remarks instead of trying to contribute something good to the thread he just has to try to bring people down.

Awwww surely not EVERYTHING.....

 

[SandyW]

I would much sooner have the ability to ignore a specific thread I am not/no longer interested in.

I think the proliferation of specific brand topics ebbs and flows with whatever is most recently released, but that is my perception. It might be an interesting experiment to try different brand categories, but I don't know how much work that would involve. If Nikon discussions really overwhelm all other discussions, then a Nikon and a non-Nikon category might be the simplest split, but that could imply Nikon is preferred which would not be desirable either.

 

[Len Shepherd]

it’s obvious the forum is geared more towards Nikon shooters,

As a relatively recent participant I have noticed many comment on Nikon equipment - and there is a wealth of Nikon knowledge here.

Without a poll as to how many use which brand it is difficult to know if there is a specific Nikon bias.

I appreciate Steve seems to currently put Nikon a little in front of Sony - primarily it seems to me because many of Nikon's recent lens launches are ideally suited to wildlife photography.
AF seems 6 and 2 threes - with Sony and Nikon being excellent overall.
I expect pre Z9 launch Steve would have put Sony somewhat ahead of Nikon overall.

Off and on topic - the original dpreview site and the 2 successors combined seem to me to attract fewer quality gear threads than this forum - and hardly any wildlife images.

 

[fcotterill]

As noted already, the Sony evangelism and Nikon bashing on FM became intolerable. So a fair number of members left FM, a forum where one would be crazy to pay a subscription.

For some strange reason, judging by other forums (FM and dpr) the Nikon system unsettles certain non-Nikon users (at least they claim to be photographers!) These attacks and trolling tends to intensify with new product releases pending, and/or www rumours that the company is heading for collapse etc.....

BCG was heading down the same plughole until rescued by professional moderation, including clear guidelines

New Rule - No More Brand Bashing / Bragging Threads

Effective immediately: threads started with the sole purpose of telling others why you or someone else has either switched to one brand (or gotten rid of one brand) in favor of another will no longer be allowed. They inevitably end up starting a fight and they serve no real purpose. It frankly...

bcgforums.com

 

[fcotterill]

Going back to mid 2020.... The history of this forum continues to shape its Nikon emphasis, together with most of Steve's excellent educational materials. This cannot be changed. Equally BCG is centrally focused on wildlife photography, with some coverage of landscape photography. It will surely be a challenge to expand into representative engagement with other genres.

So there are indeed a quite a few of us here invested heavily in Nikon, who are settled into the products as a technical specialty. Economics for many of us dictates what some may criticize as a bias. So I'm unqualified and too hopelessly ignorant to contribute to brand dedicated forums elsewhere: to offer anything of substance. I stay out of those unless it's a general topic irrelevant to the intricacies of a camera system.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Case in point and you just made it crystal clear if there were individual forms it wouldn’t be an issue now would it?

Sound like you think I'm against it but I'm not. On the other hand it won't solve the issue that you brought up. Trying to design around human behavior is a fool's errand. Witness the messages above re.FM brand specific gear forums and how they get trolled. There are going to be Sony/Nikon/Canon trolls regardless of what you do. That's why I (and others above) suggest filtering tools rather than structural changes.

 

[sh1209]

As noted already, the Sony evangelism and Nikon bashing on FM became intolerable. So a fair number of members left FM, a forum where one would be crazy to pay a subscription.

For some strange reason, judging by other forums (FM and dpr) the Nikon system unsettles certain non-Nikon users (at least they claim to be photographers!) These attacks and trolling tends to intensify with new product releases pending, and/or www rumours that the company is heading for collapse etc.....

BCG was heading down the same plughole until rescued by professional moderation, including clear guidelines

New Rule - No More Brand Bashing / Bragging Threads

Effective immediately: threads started with the sole purpose of telling others why you or someone else has either switched to one brand (or gotten rid of one brand) in favor of another will no longer be allowed. They inevitably end up starting a fight and they serve no real purpose. It frankly...

bcgforums.com

Man, I’ve never been on here bashing anyone shooting anything I was just asking for an easier way for people to find and post brand specific information. I agree there’s no place on here for bashing and talking down to others and all that I’m only trying to offer suggestions to make the site better and that’s really all there is to it.

 

[sh1209]

Sound like you think I'm against it but I'm not. On the other hand it won't solve the issue that you brought up. Trying to design around human behavior is a fool's errand. Witness the messages above re.FM brand specific gear forums and how they get trolled. There are going to be Sony/Nikon/Canon trolls regardless of what you do. That's why I (and others above) suggest filtering tools rather than structural changes.

I absolutely agree and that’s the reason I posted earlier in this thread that we could even put a filter on the general section that if a person wanted to go to a brand specific section or a certain topic we might could have a drop-down menu at 10 or 12 items that a person could hit and go directly into that Area I mean it doesn’t have to be a completely separate thread. I mean they’re more than one ways to skin a cat, but I do think some things could be done to make searching easier than what it is.

 

[Lotuselite]

I think one problem with having all equipment in the one board is the speed at which your questions/comments etc disappear from the opening page.
I suspect that a lot of us look at the first page and move on with the result that your contributions/questions are almost archive material in a short time which leads to "Bumping" which I find a turnoff.

 

[John Navitsky]

just remember, the key to getting answers to your questions are having sufficient number of people that know the answer.

i run a group on fb for dog sport and dog action photographers. until we crossed, maybe 3k members i more or less had to answer everyone's questions

i'd say now that we have about 5k members there are enough people there that know the answers to people's topical questions (in this case, dog sport/action) that the questions get answered

each time you narrow the focus of a question, you reduce the number of people who know it.

in your example:

1) sony (narrows)
2) flash (narrows)
3) specific thing about flash or model of flash (narrows)

 

[sh1209]

I think one problem with having all equipment in the one board is the speed at which your questions/comments etc disappear from the opening page.
I suspect that a lot of us look at the first page and move on with the result that your contributions/questions are almost archive material in a short time which leads to "Bumping" which I find a turnoff.

My thoughts exactly

 

[fcotterill]

Man, I’ve never been on here bashing anyone shooting anything I was just asking for an easier way for people to find and post brand specific information. I agree there’s no place on here for bashing and talking down to others and all that I’m only trying to offer suggestions to make the site better and that’s really all there is to it.

My summary, above, is aimed at explicating a real risk to forums, hence the vital need of a moderation policy. Fortunately, at least IME I find BCG is quite a different, indeed special forum IMHO.
I think the issues you identify are valid, but it's more to do with the web tools and software search engines to filter and and find earlier Posts & Threads.
I find the existing search tools often struggle to find earlier threads, so I have built up a sizeable database of bookmarks to threads on many topics (!) Bags, safari questions, tripods, exposure etc etc let alone about Nikon products. This works well, but it's obviously parochial.

 

[sh1209]

just remember, the key to getting answers to your questions are having sufficient number of people that know the answer.

i run a group on fb for dog sport and dog action photographers. until we crossed, maybe 3k members i more or less had to answer everyone's questions

i'd say now that we have about 5k members there are enough people there that know the answers to people's topical questions (in this case, dog sport/action) that the questions get answered

each time you narrow the focus of a question, you reduce the number of people who know it.

in your example:

1) sony (narrows)
2) flash (narrows)
3) specific thing about flash or model of flash (narrows)

I definitely get what you’re saying, and totally understand what you’re saying. On the flipside of that, you have to understand that if you have x amount of people out there that perceive that country gallery is being Nikon centric that don’t shoot Nikon, those people more than likely are not going to get on here or join the forum. I have been told this by several people as I stated earlier in the thread. They don’t even bother coming on here because there’s no place for them to ask specific questions about the specific brand they shoot or at least that’s the way they perceive it. I mean, even from the monetary side of things regarding Steve Perry. I truly believe you would have more traffic on here whether that’s good or bad or not, is yet to be determined.

 

[NorthernFocus]

I think one problem with having all equipment in the one board is the speed at which your questions/comments etc disappear from the opening page.
I suspect that a lot of us look at the first page and move on with the result that your contributions/questions are almost archive material in a short time which leads to "Bumping" which I find a turnoff.

I agree with this. When someone asks a question I rarely provide any input once there are half a dozen or more responses. And certainly if there are already multiple pages of responses I don't bother. If I responded early on I will stay engaged as the discussion continues but won't likely join a thread that is already long.