Splendid Ideas.

mrs moneypenny

As you can see, I'm a relative newbie (well in posts) and a novice photographer but I try to learn new things all the time and I've improved from taking photography up as a hobby. This maybe a very stupid idea as I'm a bit of a dizzy head as well at times:o.

Mrmac has posted an idea about Mentor system. Would it be an idea to allocate a Mentor for newbies whereby instead of the likes of looking stupid on open forum and asking what a cc is, this could be done via PM?:) Just an idea but as I've said I'm a bit of a dizzy head novice.

Dragan

humberklog wrote: »

Problem with that is that it could just end up as a random thread part two. Whereas if it's requested then the merit of the photograph has been awarded through a 2nd person's interest.
If it's just people putting there own up willy nilly it'd be a Random Photo thread now with added vanity.

Great refinement, i knew i had an issue with my original idea but i couldn't put my finger on it.

Must have something to do with looking at 800 photos in an hour. :eek:

GhostInTheRuins

I think I've mentioned this before but anyways...

How about a "Bargains" sticky thread. If anyone finds any good bargains in online/brick and mortar shops and would like to share them they can post about them in the thread. For anything and everything: remotes, filters, lenses, film, pods, memory cards, inks, paper, cameras etc, whatever you might come across that others might be interested in.

A bit like over in the building and upgrading forum

njburke

Heres a couple of suggestions for the sysadmins on boards, I'm not au fait with the underlying forum engine but I'm sure there's a scribe somewhere in the back room, perhaps way back, who is.

1, when someone uploads a pic as an attachment , but doesn't then insert the url for that image between the appropiate "/IMG" tags, could it not just be assumed that the user would want the image to appear inline and make it so?

2, the random photo thread gets pretty large, it can take me half an hour to go through a couple of days worth if I've been offline for a while. We're up to random thread part 11 now, must be 500 or more images in it.

My suggestion is, before the mod closes the random thread, it gets processed and say the top 10 photos with the most thanks get appended as the last post.
The assumption here is that when a user "" a photo in the random thread it is because they liked it, in some ways its a vote of thanks.
I'm not suggesting we make they thread competitive, it would just be nice to see the most thanked pics of the thread on a single page, kinda like match highlights or 'best bits' (if anyone other than me if familiar with that term).

Yes I know some organized group may conspire to get a picture of a lens cap as the most thanked photo, sure you'll get that sorta thing the big jobs.

mrmac

mrs moneypenny wrote: »

Would it be an idea to allocate a Mentor for newbies whereby instead of the likes of looking stupid on open forum and asking what a cc is, this could be done via PM?:)

Firstly - congrats on finding your voice, and welcome!
As for asking questions, and I'm talking from observation over a long time, there is no such thing as a stupid question on here! We all have to start somewhere, and, I guarantee it wouldn't be the first time that same question was asked.

If you wished to ask an off-thread question, by PM, you'll find the Mods on here are great - they don't bite - too hard!

If you don't want to contact one of them , feel free to PM me
I'm no expert, but I'll help if I can (same as anyone here).

njburke wrote: »

.... My suggestion is, before the mod closes the random thread, it gets processed and say the top 10 photos with the most thanks get appended as the last post.

.... it would just be nice to see the most thanked pics of the thread on a single page ....

I like this idea, but think it should be expanded to the top 20.

mrmac

AnCathDubh - could you highlight the "So you are looking for a new camera" sticky in yellow - similiar to the Adverts stickies - which may help to reduce the amount of these threads?

mrmac

njburke wrote: »

.... My suggestion is, before the mod closes the random thread, it gets processed and say the top 10 photos with the most thanks get appended as the last post. ....

Thinking some more about this, and wonder could we have a "Picture Of The Week", picked, in turn, by a Mod?

Not a contest, or prizes involved, just an un-biased congrats, who, in the eyes of the Mod, has produced a memorable shot.

njburke

Mrmac,
Rather than have the mod do the selection might it not be best to leave the selection process to the hundreds of users who are the posts anyway, best of thread, best of week, most thanked user etc are all possibilities. Again its not to make it competitive, just reducing a lot of images contained in 70 or 80 pages into one for convenience.

Could the mods lock this thread, discuss whats been mentioned so far and then get back to us? Then reopen (or make a new thread) so that at the end of the day we don't end up with a three page thread and nothing really gets done....

AnCatDubh

Thanks guys, you have given us lots to think about and I suspect there are lots more to come. I've grouped together what I think is a common theme below;

humberklog wrote: »

Often I'd see a pic on the Random thread and would like to ask more questions about it and often about the photographer. I don't like asking too much on that thread as it's best kept for what it is, plonking pics up and legging it.
How about a sub-thread where one could ask the photographer to move the pic from the Random thread onto the sub-thread for further discussion and analysis...a kind Thanks (but no thanks) invitational thread?

trishw78 wrote: »

was there an interview ask questions type thread here or was it in another forum I like your idea humberklog

humberklog wrote: »

There was...I think Dragan wanted to get it going but it didn't really take off. It was more photographer orientated though whereas what I propose is more picture orientated. This of course could develop into more talk by and about the photographer. It's kind of variation on Dragan's idea but starting with a picture.

mrmac wrote: »

Might put the frighteners on some folk, as maybe they're happy to leg it!
Or could prove dis-heartening if newbies don't get an invitation?

Fully agree with the idea though, it'd be great if the technique and concepts could be discussed openly.

Perhaps people could put an * in title bar of their post, if they're open to invite?

humberklog wrote: »

Indeed mrmac but that'd be left to the discretion of the invited. Some may want to elaborate and others to keep it short (or not take up invitation at all).

As for newbies I think it could work in the opposite. As it would stem from the photograph then it shouldn't/wouldn't matter about how established they are on boards. For e.g I've wanted to ask Keps about one of his photos.

As for an * I think it'd be simpler that when you like a photo you could simply quote the post (not the photo...ahermm) and ask them if they'd pop it on the sub- thread.

RoryW wrote: »

I think it would be useful if people occassionally posted up how they got their photo to the finished stage rather than just post the finished article to the Randon Photo thread to which everyone clicks "thanks" and that is generally the end of it

If he doesnt mind his name being mentioned, I am constantly in awe at the consistent quality of the photos posted by Archipel and think that it would be great if he (or other people where applicable) did a "step by step" of what they did to get to the finished product especially in the PP and use of PS or LR so that the rest of us at all levels could learn etc

...provided they dont mind sharing their trade secrets with us that is...:D

Dragan wrote: »

I think it would be nice to have a thread much like the Random Thread, but you only post in there when you are willing to go into very deep detail about exactly what it was you did with the shot and why, both before and after the click.

Basically a place to generate a lot of deep discussion about an actual photograph or technique.

I'd like to get into more of the deeper why's, with the hows just being the starting point basically.

humberklog wrote: »

Problem with that is that it could just end up as a random thread part two. Whereas if it's requested then the merit of the photograph has been awarded through a 2nd person's interest.
If it's just people putting there own up willy nilly it'd be a Random Photo thread now with added vanity.

Dragan wrote: »

Great refinement, i knew i had an issue with my original idea but i couldn't put my finger on it.

Must have something to do with looking at 800 photos in an hour. :eek:

I think what i'm getting from all of these are that the random thread throws up some "stop you in your tracks" images and photographers would like a discussion area.

I have to say that of recent times (last week or so) much of the random thread is given towards light comment on the images (yes i've engaged myself) but it does defeat the value of the random thread and the cool work which goes on it there. It's a minor annoyance for me personally rather than anything i'd be too concerned about from the moderation perspective.

So the proposition to the forum i'm making is quite simple: A sister thread to the random thread - with a purpose for any / all discussion. Let's call it "Random Photo Thread - Discussions" (Original aren't I? :rolleyes:) Nobody is obliged to partake. By default you would be entitled / encouraged to post and ask a question about the image, about the technique used, discuss what is happening in the images, ask how'd they do that, etc...

In this default mode, discussion would have to stop short of being C&C type of discussion as the poster of the image being discussed has the option of not being C&C'd on forum. Otherwise it may discourage use of the "Random Thread" in the first place i.e. the discourse would need to be raised a level such that it wouldn't be a critique of the photograph but more a discussion of the type of photography. We would need to moderate on this point quite strictly otherwise random thread 'drop and run' would lose credibility - would that work for the forum users?

The original poster is in no way obliged to respond but may engage if they wish. Otherwise people can discuss away. This would be no different than if you posted a link to a photo on the front page of the irish times and had a discussion.

A second way into that thread could be an invite from one poster to another in which case with agreement the image can be dissected in detail and as agreed. In this case less moderation would apply to the on topic comments.

While this I think captures the essence of what is being suggested I'd appreciate people identifying any issues there may be with this as I'd hate if anything we did diluted the random thread or discouraged participation in any form.

Ok. back for me to read some more of those cool ideas. Keep em coming.

dakar

Sounds good to me. I was starting to find the babble on the random thread just at the level that I was beginning not so much avoid it as not jump straight in for a look when I logged in.

The random discussion thread would suit me fine. I never put stuff up for C&C but, (like most people here I suspect) I'd quite happily chat away about any aspect of my shots. I do dump and run, but I don't run far!

My 2c on this great idea.

ThOnda

Quoting allowed???
It was such a nice thread for a while. I am really against quoting already posted images. Everybody can just post a link to that specific post that carries the picture.
Please, consider my opinion and strong believe.

DaireQuinlan

Ricky91t wrote: »

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=60896497#post60896497

Ok,I'll be the first to ask a question,I got Alot of thanks on this post could people give me some info as to which they liked most..Cheers

I also chose to go with Thonda's idea,It's a better thing to do i think

I didn't think the idea was that people could invite discusion on their OWN photographs ? I mean you can always open a C&C thread for that if you want. I was under the impression that this was so you could invite OTHER people to discuss their images if you had specific questions you wanted to ask.

AnCatDubh

TBH, I hadn't thought of people asking about their own photo as it hadn't come up in the discussions on the ideas thread.

However, it was a posting to the random thread so albeit the OP of the photograph inviting discussion on their own image - as its resulting from a reaction gained through the random thread, i'd be happy enough that it is in the spirit of the idea.

Ricky91t

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

I didn't think the idea was that people could invite discusion on their OWN photographs ? I mean you can always open a C&C thread for that if you want. I was under the impression that this was so you could invite OTHER people to discuss their images if you had specific questions you wanted to ask.

You'd get fairly sick of seeing C&C threads from me if that was the case,No need for block capitals I can read...I posted three images which where quite different in terms of photographic techniques I didn't think they'd go down well here,But after seeing quite a few people clicking the thanks button I was intrigued to see of it was the "frozen" action shot,Or if it was the panning shots that a lot of the members seems to always prefer due to the feeling of speed they give you...

DaireQuinlan

Ricky91t wrote: »

You'd get fairly sick of seeing C&C threads from me if that was the case,No need for block capitals I can read...I posted three images which where quite different in terms of photographic techniques I didn't think they'd go down well here...

All the more reason for a C&C thread. I don't think anyone gets sick of C&C threads, particularly if, ironically, the shots are good (as these are). On the off-chance that they do then the threads slip quietly off the front page without reply anyway. The point being that you can start off your own C&C thread with your own images. You obviously can't do it with someone elses images and invite comment (well actually I guess you can but it'd be a bit rude to say the least :rolleyes:) hence this thread. It looks like AnCatDubh disagrees with me anyway so I'll let this one lie so.

humberklog

This came up on the suggestion thread too.
If people are going to post their own it's just going to be another Random Thread This Time With Extra Vanity. It should be invitational.

AnCatDubh

The idea was put forward to have a photo of the week thread which would highlight one selected image of excellence by one of our forum users.

So were going to give it a go - the way it will work is as follows;

The moderators will review the random thread and select an image based on the popularity of the images over the week in question.

The week in question will be a week in arrears in order to be fair to images posted in the latter part of any given week.

The moderators discretion will be applied to the selection such that the image should have photographic merit - this to account for images posted which may have comic or other merit and receives a lot of popularity as a result (but perhaps little photographic merit).

Images must remain accessible (published on flickr / pix.ie / etc.) i.e. if an image which has popularity is no longer viewable from the forum at the original address, the moderators will move on to the next most popular image.

If a post has more than one image in it, the moderators will select that which they feel is the best of those within the popular post.

Popularity is measured by the 'thanks' recorded on the individual post at a particular moment in time when the moderation of the forum review the random thread.

If more than one image has the same popularity then the moderators will select one or choose to provide a joint award.

The moderators will post a new thread for each photo of the week with the picture in it.

The assumption is that should your image be selected as the photo of the week then by already having submitted your image to the random thread, you have no difficulty with it being posted in a 'photo of the week thread'. You may not be aware of it until it happens (should it happen for you). The random thread rules will be updated to reflect this.

Your boards persona (username) will be given credit to the image.

Obviously, the above in no way interferes with your rights to the image and doesn't yield any rights to boards.ie, the moderators, etc... Essentially, it is of course still your image 100%.

So - look out for our first photo of the week which will feature week incorporating 22nd - 28th of June inclusive.

Thanks.

MartMax

Hi all - just another idea.

Having recently got the house broken and a number of things taken away including few lenses (a 70-200 f4 L IS too!), has come to my mind if it'd be a good idea for a specific thread to report stolen, lost & found photography related equipment.

Maybe it could be also some sort of a register of equipment with serial numbers, etc where one could refer to when buying second hand goods off ebay, adverts, etc.

Off topic, Still having bit of a mourn after the incident, living in a shock that I have somehow to start it all again! Hopefully my insurance will sort this out.

Cheers,
Mart

AnCatDubh

I like this idea for a number of reasons. A major strong point would be that Google indexes boards many times during the day so if you accurately post the serial number of a lens or camera that has been stolen then if at any stage into the future someone google's it, they will invariably come across the boards posting. Try google a thread from earlier in the day. It's slightly scary how fast they get their hands on the boards stuff.

mrmac

Stolen - Lost & Found

Great idea! Perhaps a sticky for the front page?

gary82

A thread with no horizontal width restriction! Maybe a 800px height restriction.

I've done up quite a few panoramic photos recently and I see others are playing around with it too. When these are are shared on the random photo thread, their impact is lost in the 800px restriction, you just end up with a strip of an image.

What do you reckon?