I keep making enhancements but would like to know what folks would like to see in the gallery side of things. Any feedback is appreciated.
Guth
Appreciative User
Wow, what a positive difference you have made — thank you for your efforts!
Today was the first time in recent memory that I had visited the gallery. (Shame on me.) Back when I was contributing images, I suppose that I felt a bit more vested in the gallery and so I checked in on it often. But after experiencing some major changes in my life, photography sort of fell by the wayside for me and rarely do I have anything that I feel is worth sharing. These days I tend to stick to the forum to take in the conversation and the various W/NW threads that I follow. But when I opened the forum’s home page today one of the random images grabbed my attention. That led me to the gallery and I am glad that it did. Thanks again @MP Guy .
Today was the first time in recent memory that I had visited the gallery. (Shame on me.) Back when I was contributing images, I suppose that I felt a bit more vested in the gallery and so I checked in on it often. But after experiencing some major changes in my life, photography sort of fell by the wayside for me and rarely do I have anything that I feel is worth sharing. These days I tend to stick to the forum to take in the conversation and the various W/NW threads that I follow. But when I opened the forum’s home page today one of the random images grabbed my attention. That led me to the gallery and I am glad that it did. Thanks again @MP Guy .
Richard G
Veteran
I think it is very good, but there is the resistance to doing something new. The likes in the threads has also been a great thing, not so we get to count our own likes, but to see what others whose opinion we value, think of something we might otherwise look past. It serves some of the function of the comments in the olde Gallery.
There used to be a limit on how many we can post in 24 hours to the Gallery. I think that should return. If I remember right it was 4 or 5. It makes us more selective and ensures a spread of photographers' work being seen in the top page of the Gallery in any 24 hour period.
An occasional post from you, just copy and paste, on what the Gallery offers and how to post a picture, three different ways, would help. It could be a 48 hour recurring post perhaps, so found on page 1 or 2 of What's new.
Finally I still can't work out how the Gallery is set up. Sometimes there's an array of pictures I've seen lots of times before, maybe a bit like your personal best picks of others' work? I don't know. To see comments you have to seek them out in the Photos drop down list.
A sort of RTFM post from you about all this might be helpful.
Well done and thank you.
There used to be a limit on how many we can post in 24 hours to the Gallery. I think that should return. If I remember right it was 4 or 5. It makes us more selective and ensures a spread of photographers' work being seen in the top page of the Gallery in any 24 hour period.
An occasional post from you, just copy and paste, on what the Gallery offers and how to post a picture, three different ways, would help. It could be a 48 hour recurring post perhaps, so found on page 1 or 2 of What's new.
Finally I still can't work out how the Gallery is set up. Sometimes there's an array of pictures I've seen lots of times before, maybe a bit like your personal best picks of others' work? I don't know. To see comments you have to seek them out in the Photos drop down list.
A sort of RTFM post from you about all this might be helpful.
Well done and thank you.
JohnWolf
Well-known
I’m more of an occasional viewer and enjoy it when I visit. I’m usually drawn by the thumbnails above the Latest Posts list, which often lead me to explore galleries. The photos display nicely and it’s easy to navigate.
I am personally very turned off by serial posters we have in some photo threads and note that it happens in the gallery, too. See today’s Latest Images, which does not seem fair to other posters or viewers. I agree with Richard on posting limits. I’d actually like to see the same for threads.
John
I am personally very turned off by serial posters we have in some photo threads and note that it happens in the gallery, too. See today’s Latest Images, which does not seem fair to other posters or viewers. I agree with Richard on posting limits. I’d actually like to see the same for threads.
John
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brusby
Well-known
I think you've done a beautiful job getting the Gallery in shape. Thank you very much!
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be very widespread use of the Gallery with the exception of a few members who post quite frequently and in pretty high volume. I try to contribute to the gallery from time to time, but usually when I upload a photo or two, they typically disappear from the recently posted image page very quickly due to the high volume of other posters. I don't want to discourage anyone from posting, but it is a little discouraging to have my images and the images of other members who post less frequently vanish into obscurity so quickly.
If I were designing the Gallery, one primary goal would be to promote and encourage current comment and interaction among active members. In that regard, I've noticed a very significant lack of comment on current images. It can sometimes be several days between new comments. Surprisingly, there seem to be plenty of likes and comments on older images in the Gallery, often ones posted long ago by members who are no longer active. I find it nice to see any comments, but commenting on older images of inactive members instead of recently posted images, while providing a nice historical perspective, doesn't help much with the goal of enhancing participation among active members.
So, my main suggestion for improvement of the Gallery is not directed to you, MP Guy but to other active members. I would encourage more participation of current members, including not just posting images but liking and commenting on other current members' contributions.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be very widespread use of the Gallery with the exception of a few members who post quite frequently and in pretty high volume. I try to contribute to the gallery from time to time, but usually when I upload a photo or two, they typically disappear from the recently posted image page very quickly due to the high volume of other posters. I don't want to discourage anyone from posting, but it is a little discouraging to have my images and the images of other members who post less frequently vanish into obscurity so quickly.
If I were designing the Gallery, one primary goal would be to promote and encourage current comment and interaction among active members. In that regard, I've noticed a very significant lack of comment on current images. It can sometimes be several days between new comments. Surprisingly, there seem to be plenty of likes and comments on older images in the Gallery, often ones posted long ago by members who are no longer active. I find it nice to see any comments, but commenting on older images of inactive members instead of recently posted images, while providing a nice historical perspective, doesn't help much with the goal of enhancing participation among active members.
So, my main suggestion for improvement of the Gallery is not directed to you, MP Guy but to other active members. I would encourage more participation of current members, including not just posting images but liking and commenting on other current members' contributions.
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Yokosuka Mike
Abstract Clarity
Very nice, John. Now that you've branded me as a serial poster, what's next? How do you feel about people that post the same pictures over and over again in the same and multiple other threads? We have members that have posted the same images dozens of times at RFF; does that "turn you off" too? Please let us know how we can make RFF more perfect for you; and the others that agree with you.
BTW, I've deleted most of my recent images from the gallery to free up more room for those members that need longer exposure of their pictures; but for who? Most people don't pay any attention to the gallery. When I first started posting my pictures here in the gallery this place was just myself and a few other people; just crickets chirping in the dark! And, now we frequent posters are suddenly vermin?
When you start asking for restrictions on how much and where and when members can post on a free and open forum... be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.
All the best,
Mike
mapgraphs
Established
I checked my meager offerings and was surprised at the number of views, quite unexpected.
I generally post images as samples of specific lens - camera combinations, mostly in threads, as samples.
The organization of the gallery offerings isn't really a draw for me. The stack approach to new uploads tends to reward serial uploads (which probably rewards snapshooters). I think I'd rather see limits of some sort. Personally, I don't have four compelling images a month worth uploading...
Who curates the gallery? The Featured Photographer section simply says Rangefinderforum identifies the photographer. Name the curator(s). Rather than presenting one photo, which when clicked on brings one to the Featured Photographer page which then requires one to click on the photographer's name and then a click on the Photos link to actually get to the photos - one click to the photographer's gallery off the Gallery front page would do it (user interface 101, or 40 years of design and construction - you loose interactions if you force the user to drill down to everything. Just a thought ; - ). I agree Ian_t's work is worth the attention so make it easy for people to see it.
Same goes for the Hall of Fame. Why are these offered as Hall of Fame. What's the criteria, who is the curator?
A side note, curating is a tough proposition, it requires a strong aesthetic bias and ability to self-critique. The safe approach is usually decisions by a rotating jury or panel. Everything is based on choice, a variety of opinions allows for a wider range of genre and offerings. The number of volunteers willing to do this kind of work is usually close to zero.
Most commented. Well, link to the comments! One click. And show all the comments,and not another click to show all...
The Gallery is a most generous space offered to the membership, which I need to spend more time perusing...
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
I spend time viewing the gallery almost every morning with my morning coffee; and again each evening with my bedtime cookie! It's good for my mental health!
I wonder if it serves any purpose that when I click on an image it first moves to the center; then has to be clicked a second time to view it. Why not have it come up for viewing on the first click? (A minor worry; I love the gallery.)
I wonder if it serves any purpose that when I click on an image it first moves to the center; then has to be clicked a second time to view it. Why not have it come up for viewing on the first click? (A minor worry; I love the gallery.)
Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
To be fair, back in the "prime" days of Flickr, it was not uncommon for groups to restrict users to a limited amount of images per day so that they didn't flood the pool. It's relatively standard behaviour, and far from censorship; it's just good management.
Same things happen in nature: sometimes you have to thin out a bush to allow other things to grow.
There's a few posters that match that description that are in my block list for that very reason. Especially bad are the ones who drop irrelevant photos and just walk away without adding anything to an otherwise interesting conversation. To me, that's no different from the spam in my email inbox, or billboards in the street. It drives me nuts, and I'm amazed anyone tolerates it.
As for the gallery: I like it, but I never interact with it. The fact it's relatively isolated from everything else in RFF means I have to consciously go there, and I rarely do. Often I find myself in W/NW threads instead, as I like the fact they're on a theme (whether that be lens-based or topic-based); I can look at the threads that interest me, and ignore the ones that don't. I can't really do that with the gallery - it's just a bit of a jumble.
I think the most potentially useful/interesting aspects of the gallery for me is the ability to sort by lens. Or, possibly, by film type. That's what film-centric Instagram clone Grainery does:
The problem, of course, is that the list of lenses is incomplete and messy (and there's no film type option at all). I offered a while back to go through and tidy the list of lenses up, but never heard anything back about that. Fleshing out the list, removing the duplicates, and making the whole thing coherent wouldn't magically assign the correct metadata to existing images, of course... but it might make things a bit easier for anyone uploading images in the future.
This is a common problem on forums. Members complain when their photos are pushed downwards due to more prolific posters. I know this first hand from my experience owning Fujix Forum for many years. It was the biggest complaint, with the second biggest being criticism over the lack of quality of posted images. Of course, the latter is completely subjective— one person’s masterpiece is another person’s junk—but it created a lot of tension nonetheless.
To address these problems we wrote some code that only allowed a limited number of photos from a member account to appear in the showcase in a certain period of time.
On top of this we had some moderator controls that would also remove a photo from the showcase, at the moderator's discretion. The photo would still be visible, just not showcased.
And of course moderators were also free to delete duplicates. Posting the same photo multiple times was verboten per forum rules. This requires more active moderation than we have here.
To address these problems we wrote some code that only allowed a limited number of photos from a member account to appear in the showcase in a certain period of time.
On top of this we had some moderator controls that would also remove a photo from the showcase, at the moderator's discretion. The photo would still be visible, just not showcased.
And of course moderators were also free to delete duplicates. Posting the same photo multiple times was verboten per forum rules. This requires more active moderation than we have here.
There is a way to do that here with the existing software, using tags. We did this on the Fuji forum. So it is easy to click on a tag and have it show all the photos taken with 35/1.4 Fujinon for example.
Not sure that will work there, there are just too many lens options, the tag list would be overwhelming.
Also had this for photo genres. So a photo could be tagged 'landscape' or 'portrait' for example. We had a fixed list. Can't let members create their own tags, it quickly balloons out of hand, with a lot of overlapping, tags with typos, etc.
Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
Yeah, if you look at the lens list currently available on the gallery when you upload a new image, there's a lot of glaring omissions, a lot of weirdly specific lens names, and a lot of overlap, with some things very badly categorised, suggesting that at some point people were tagging their own lenses.Not sure that will work there, there are just too many lens options, the tag list would be overwhelming.
Also had this for photo genres. So a photo could be tagged 'landscape' or 'portrait' for example. We had a fixed list. Can't let members create their own tags, it quickly balloons out of hand, with a lot of overlapping, tags with typos, etc.
For instance, I didn't have to go very far down the lens list to find this:
Merging the duplicates, rewording the names of a lot of lenses, and sorting them a bit better would go a long way to making this feature much more useable.
(@MP Guy, I'm more than happy to muck in on that if you need the help!)
Yes, user generated tags will always end up getting out of hand, with name variations and typos...
Guth
Appreciative User
I seemingly brought this thread back to life out of my simple desire to acknowledge the work that goes on behind the scenes here at RFF. I’m truly sorry for the friction this has caused.
I launched my own forum (motorcycle specific) more than a decade ago. While I have taken into account plenty of feedback over the years, ultimately the rules that govern the forum have been set by myself and my moderators. I have never accepted money from others in support of the forum in order to prevent any sort of conflict when it comes to such things. Of course there have been a number of members who weren’t happy about this, many who chose to leave. For a variety of reasons, these days my own forum is but a shell of its former self. Of course nothing is forever, but I point this out in hopes that those who still appreciate this place can try to look at the bright side if things — to me RFF remains a beacon of light in a time when online forums are largely a thing of the past.
I don’t doubt that on any forum there are always those who feel that the sheer volume of their participation, the amount of time they have been a member, or the amount of money they have donated warrants an upper hand in terms of the value of their feedback (note that I am not directing this comment at anyone here). But at the end of the day I figure that the way things are handled pretty much comes down to how to the person owning the forum wants to run things. Whether the owner bases their decisions on the input of the moderators and/or the members is up to them. Regardless, I remain very grateful to @CameraQuest , @MP Guy , and anyone else involved behind the scenes that keeps the lights on here.
I launched my own forum (motorcycle specific) more than a decade ago. While I have taken into account plenty of feedback over the years, ultimately the rules that govern the forum have been set by myself and my moderators. I have never accepted money from others in support of the forum in order to prevent any sort of conflict when it comes to such things. Of course there have been a number of members who weren’t happy about this, many who chose to leave. For a variety of reasons, these days my own forum is but a shell of its former self. Of course nothing is forever, but I point this out in hopes that those who still appreciate this place can try to look at the bright side if things — to me RFF remains a beacon of light in a time when online forums are largely a thing of the past.
I don’t doubt that on any forum there are always those who feel that the sheer volume of their participation, the amount of time they have been a member, or the amount of money they have donated warrants an upper hand in terms of the value of their feedback (note that I am not directing this comment at anyone here). But at the end of the day I figure that the way things are handled pretty much comes down to how to the person owning the forum wants to run things. Whether the owner bases their decisions on the input of the moderators and/or the members is up to them. Regardless, I remain very grateful to @CameraQuest , @MP Guy , and anyone else involved behind the scenes that keeps the lights on here.
Darthfeeble
But you can call me Steve
How complicated would it be to make pictures posted in the forums go to the poster's gallery? That would certainly up the gallery count.
Jonathan R
Well-known
I like the idea that the Gallery addresses an audience that is already interested. And as audience, I have found some wonderful images there. But I don’t very often browse it because it is so very large. Generally I go there because of a passing reference in a forum thread, or because of one of Today’s Picks.
I already have a website for my own photos. To be frank I prefer to ‘curate’ them there, and don’t see much sense in duplicating them in the Gallery. An illustrated catalogue of RFF members’ websites would be nice. Perhaps it already exists?
I already have a website for my own photos. To be frank I prefer to ‘curate’ them there, and don’t see much sense in duplicating them in the Gallery. An illustrated catalogue of RFF members’ websites would be nice. Perhaps it already exists?
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
I don't visit the Gallery often per se, but rather, look at photos from the Homepage "Random pics from the gallery". If the photo is interesting, I will go to that photographers gallery and dig deeper through their catalog.
Some, I feel, are real gems (often from members who are no longer active but nevertheless, deserve some recognition) - and I post those in the "Best of Random Gallery Picks" thread:
www.rangefinderforum.com
Some, I feel, are real gems (often from members who are no longer active but nevertheless, deserve some recognition) - and I post those in the "Best of Random Gallery Picks" thread:
Best of Random Gallery Picks
Random Gallery Picks are one of the greatest features of this site IMHO - because every now and then, a real gem pops up from years ago that you would never notice otherwise. Unfortunately, they're also a bit transient - next time you load the site, your random picks are gone, and you can't...
www.rangefinderforum.com
BernardL
Well-known
Congratulations for the new Gallery design. I had given up on the old one. Thank you!
+1. There are a few threads that are like "my very own flickr"; I know them and don't waste my time. But if the same members flood the Gallery that is another matter. One picture per member per day should be more than enough; come on, do you produce more than one keeper per day?
Rick Waldroup
Well-known
The gallery is much better than before. I just loaded a photo there and it was very easy and fast. I think it had been over ten years since I last loaded a photo in the gallery. Also, it looks much better and is a lot fun to go through and see all the wonderful photographs by some remarkable photographers we have here. Thanks.