Meta: The need for a sticky addressing "What camera should I buy?" questions.

charybdis

A casual look through the last month or so of posts of this forum has turned up the following posts:

• "Camera advise" by westwicklow
• "Good Starter Camera" by Scoobydooo
• "camera good value for money" by kevin216
• "Good Starter DSLR" by superfootyfan
• "Sony "DSLR 200K"" by Stephen P
• "Camera for daughter" by laurynsmam
• "Little Advice," by PowerHouseDan
• "recommend a camera" by Pinky Pixie
• "camera" by jebidiah
• "Help buying a Digital SLR" by ber2
• "Recommend me a camera for using at gigs"
• Upgrading current camera" by Pat Dunne
• "SLR buy today in Dublin" by clint_silver
• "Samsung Camera Thoughts?" by VonLuck
• "Camera for a Beginner?" by VonLuck (again)
• "Excellent Cameras" by I.P. Freely
• "My first Digital Camera" by Master of Nothing
• "Need help trying to buy a Compact digi camera" by Hogzy
• "Which digital camera to buy?? (Tips/advice please)" by Lolabugs
• "Buying a camera advice please.." by Makikomi
• "Best SLR Digital camera" by Bored-Stupid
• "Canon Powershot SX200" by con1982
• "Simple Digital Camera for an older lady" by steviecakes
• "What camera?" by ben bedlam
• "Rookie Camera" by Tallon
• "Good small camera" by lauratkd

Most are good natured, some verge on inane, but they all want the same thing: someone to tell them what camera to get based on some vague brief without enough information for anyone to offer an informed opinion about what might address their needs. I also find many of them obnoxious as they clearly show a lack of preceding investigation in the area of their inquiry and, I assume, expect the investigation and answer to be provided for them.

I am also surprised that this issue hasn't been addressed before and that people continue to entertain these questions. I'm very glad that people are so eager to help but these questions are categorised by their lack of clarity of purpose rendering them futile, or at least inconsequential. I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't ask questions about cameras they wish to buy, I just want to offer a framework for the process.

I realise we already have a comprehensive FAQ sticky that includes a "What camera should I buy?" section but I strongly recommend a dedicated sticky, outside the scope of the FAQ, that specifically addresses the manner in which these questions are asked.

Here is a draft version that I consider a reasonable example of what I'm talking about. I've refrained from talking about cameras themselves as it is beyond the scope of the issue, it is meant to be a terse guide to self-directed learning, specifically, about cameras.

Read this if you have a question about buying a camera.

The purpose of this information isn't to educate you about cameras or suggest ones that may address your needs; it's to show you that there are probably far better avenues of inquiry for your problem than blindly asking vague questions on a message board.

First and foremost: Google; you'll probably find an answer to your question much faster if you actually look for one as opposed to wait and hope someone provides one for you. Also, there is already a sticky called "FAQs - Read this before posting!!!" that contains much information you will probably find useful including the first item, titled "What camera should I buy?".

If you have a general inquiry about what kind of camera might be appropriate for your needs: there is already a huge amount of information available on what kind of camera may be right for you. At time of writing, the first two results are "How to Buy a Digital Camera" and "Should you buy a DSLR or Point and Shoot Digital Camera?"; this information probably addresses any sort of generic question you may have about buying a digital camera.

If you have an enquiry about a specific model of camera or about what model of camera may be appropriate for your needs and budget: consult Amazon. Amazon maintains a list of their most popular cameras and also offers information on and reviews of a vast number of cameras. If you want to know what others think of a camera: search for it on Amazon and read the reviews.

It is important to understand that there are a huge number of models of cameras, particularly smaller, cheaper, consumer-level cameras. It is very, very unlikely that someone who frequents this message board has had extensive experience with the exact model of camera you are considering buying and will be able to provide any information other than a cursory opinion on whether or not it may meet a specific requirement you have stipulated.

If you honestly believe you have reasonably exhausted several rational lines of inquiry your question is most welcome, but please try and make it as specific and informative as possible with regards to your existing knowledge in the matter, budget, and needs.

TL; DR.

Rb

Just fwiw, I spoke to AnCatDubh recently about something similar, that I thought something like this would work well in Photography and this could certainly extend to "what camera should I get" as well as a whole host of other questions people might be too shy to ask.

I agree that there's certainly a necessity to contain all the "What camera should I get" threads, especially as people never seem to be bothered even searching for the camera model they're interested in, but there is quite a few stickies as it is and there really can only be so many stickies per forum.

DaireQuinlan

There's already a sticky prominently marked "read before posting" that, presumably, people never do. IIRC there used to be a sticky actually entitled "what camera should I buy" or something similar. Everyone used to ignore that too. I think they're (unfortunately) of somewhat limited use. Its the very people who want others to do all their leg work for them who are the ones to completely ignore the stickified posts in the first place.

charybdis

I agree that those who are likely to ask these questions are most likely those who don't read the "read before posting" sticky but at least having a dedicated place to send them would hopefully contain their their threads to the initial post and a single reply rather than keep recycling them with attempts to help them heavily based on supposition due to the lack of information they typically offer.

If the sheer number of stickies is a concern: we could preface the FAQ with something to the effect of what I have written. This really isn't a preventative measure, I believe one is impossible in this case. It is a way of providing a generic response to a generic question so we can stop wasting or time with these questions.

I like the idea of a catch-all no-such-thing-as-a-stupid-question thread, I think it would have plenty of applications.

CabanSail

I did post a Sticky in the lead up to Christmas about this. It had a link to the DP Review selector. That thread was merged into the FAQ as we had to cut down on the number of Stickies.

My feeling is now that the "What camera should I buy?" threads will always be a part of life in any Photography Forum.

AnCatDubh

This was on my mind earlier. We had such a thing in the run up to Christmas and it worked reasonably well. We thought the rush was over so we let it float away from sticky land.

We need to appreciate that people will visit this forum without any prior knowledge of what a camera actually is or may be under the illusion that the more megapixels you have the better your camera is :eek:

The forum must also welcoming of such individuals (explicit in our charter) so we need to be cognisant of that in the approach. A consistent approach should however mean that only 'well founded' questions land on the forum.

The thread in the FAQ's which Cabansail mentioned is a good one as is the preamble suggested in the opening post of this thread. I'm thinking perhaps a merge and for posters in the first instance to be directed to that thread by those more seasoned on the forum unless they state that they have been through that thread and yet have a further question. This should at least yield informed questions on thread.

Rb

I suppose another idea might be another subforum? Perhaps on hardware review/discussion and leave the main forum for more general purpose? It'd be almost unavoidable when browsing I think, unlike Stickies.

robinph

Just an observation, but if you do end up with a sticky along the lines of charybdis' suggestion it coud probably do with a re-write, but not immediately after doing a trawl through the forum finding the problem "What should I get?" threads as it could do with being toned down a bit.

I don't think it's actually a problem that will ever go away though, but having some basic pointers as to where to go to find usefull info in an obvious place will always help a bit. However, whilst all the info is in the FAQ, it's possibly just got a bit too much there and after the first two links even the questions become completely unintelligable to someone who is just popping in here for the first time so they may not even notice the very first link once they have opened up that message as everything else in there will just be over most peoples heads.

coylemj

If it's any consolation, over on the GPS forum there's exactly the same problem i.e. almost every day someone (usually a recent joiner to boards.ie) asks the 'which SatNav should I buy' question. People just can't be arsed doing a small amount of research themselves.