Thoughts on Improving the Photography Forums

[JManc]

OK. Got someone to do the technical stuff. Can someone tell me what it is exactly we're proposing; i.e., the regularly updating...so i can relay this to them?

[Okayyou]

Nice, I think there were a few options:

1. Move all threads that are updated regularly to a new section. Keep everything else the same.
2. Move all threads that are regularly updated, merge A-M & N-Z.
3. Divide the photo forums into new and old based on a given time frame e.g. 10 days. All new threads in one section, and once the thread is older than 10 days, it gets automatically moved. This way the regularly updated threads will remain in the old section as will really old threads that get bumped.
4. Map of photothreads?
5. Displaying threads as a grid of thumbnails instead of text. They can still have titles.
6. Thread rating, like option
7. Featured thread option

That's all I could think of off the top of my head.

[M II A II R II K]

Yea the automatic time move thing is key and from the time the thread was first posted, 10 days or maybe 14 or whichever.

And A-Z

[LSyd]

1. regularly updated threads section
2. threads older than X time section (6 months? one year?) i think 2 weeks is too short.

i like a-m and n-z, although there does seem to be a lot more cities with a-m names.

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[M II A II R II K]

If the priority is for new threads then it shouldn't be longer than a month, and it would only be feasible to have the threads automatically move to one place, so it would have to be A-Z, and the new threads section probably would only have a handful of threads in it at any given time.

[glowrock]

I personally have no issue whatsoever with combining both A-M and N-Z back into one thread, as long as the regularly updated threads have their own section. If having only one new threads section (I think a month is just fine for age) helps out with ease of programming, then I'm all for it!

Aaron (Glowrock)

PS: Thanks for the help in finding someone, JManc!

[flar]

Originally Posted by Okayyou

Nice, I think there were a few options:

1. Move all threads that are updated regularly to a new section. Keep everything else the same.
2. Move all threads that are regularly updated, merge A-M & N-Z.
3. Divide the photo forums into new and old based on a given time frame e.g. 10 days. All new threads in one section, and once the thread is older than 10 days, it gets automatically moved. This way the regularly updated threads will remain in the old section as will really old threads that get bumped.
4. Map of photothreads?
5. Displaying threads as a grid of thumbnails instead of text. They can still have titles.
6. Thread rating, like option
7. Featured thread option

That's all I could think of off the top of my head.

Thread rating
"like" or "thanks" button
combine A-M and N-Z


Not sure how one would identify continuously updated threads automatically (ie: without human intervention). Perhaps if more than half the posts are by the thread creator?

Don't much care for the old/new subdivision. Not sure what the point of that is, and people could argue all day about the length of time. I personally like old threads that get bumped. There are lots of classic threads that new users should see.

[M II A II R II K]

Whether they are updated or not, they get moved to the old section and it's very much still available for all to see.

[R@ptor]

Originally Posted by Okayyou

Nice, I think there were a few options:

1. Move all threads that are updated regularly to a new section. Keep everything else the same.
2. Move all threads that are regularly updated, merge A-M & N-Z.
3. Divide the photo forums into new and old based on a given time frame e.g. 10 days. All new threads in one section, and once the thread is older than 10 days, it gets automatically moved. This way the regularly updated threads will remain in the old section as will really old threads that get bumped.
4. Map of photothreads?
5. Displaying threads as a grid of thumbnails instead of text. They can still have titles.
6. Thread rating, like option
7. Featured thread option

That's all I could think of off the top of my head.

I like those suggestions. However the time frame for the new photo threads should be extended to 30 or 60 days.

[Okayyou]

Originally Posted by flar

Thread rating
"like" or "thanks" button
combine A-M and N-Z


Not sure how one would identify continuously updated threads automatically (ie: without human intervention). Perhaps if more than half the posts are by the thread creator?

Don't much care for the old/new subdivision. Not sure what the point of that is, and people could argue all day about the length of time. I personally like old threads that get bumped. There are lots of classic threads that new users should see.

The time frame kills two birds with one stone. The regularly updated threads' start date will eventually put them in the old section. So we could have a month for the new threads and anything that has a start date older than that gets moved to the regular A-M & N-Z or old section, depending on how things are organized.

The new section could be all new threads, A-Z.

[ChiTownCity]

Also being able to add tags to your photothread would also be great. I remember that that's how I first found SSC on google because threads had various tags that would bring it up to the first couple of pages on various search engines. This would also help when searching on the forum itself.

SSC has included a "Like this post" upgrade. I think it would be really nice if SSP had something like that too.

As far as merging the A-M and N-Z sections, I'm completely fine with them remaining seperated...

[flar]

Surprised people still want the alphabetical separation. That fragmentation was one of the downfalls of the city photo forum. Ironic because it was originally done because the forum was so busy.

You get a better community with less fragmentation, and I know for a fact that people don't always check both A-M and N-Z, thus decreasing the chances of your photothread being seen.

[Illithid Dude]

I don't think we should have alphabetical segregation, for that would cluster too many photo threads in once place, and end up doing more harm then good, allowing too many photo threads to go overlooked.

I'm also not the biggest fan of timing threads to go into an archive after a certain amount of time.

At this moment, JManc, I think the only thing we have agreed on is creating a separate section for 'Ongoing' photothreads.

[JManc]

Yeah, for the sake of avoiding clutter and photo threads disapearing to 2nd page oblivion even quicker, we should probably keep the A-M, N-Z break down as is. I put in the request to have something done about ongoing/ updated threads for now. We can make new changes as we go along...

[Mike K.]

These are some great ideas, guys. Dylan and I have been traveling and we are now back and ready to tackle outstanding issues.

[M II A II R II K]

There could be a newly created threads forum on the main page, with the older threads in a sub-forum under it to ensure that the new stuff gets the most attention. If the older stuff doesn't turn out to detract from the new threads, then it can be put on the main page as well.

[Okayyou]

Now that there's been some time from the merging of the my city photos section, how about working on some of the other changes? I still think the continuously updated threads are a menace; not all but most are just photo spam. Tucmanisfuture seems to be single handedly turning SSP into SSC.

The more I think about it, what really made this site thrive was an active community. When it comes to posting photos, the BBC format is incredibly cumbersome and frustrating. The My City Photos section has so much potential yet is presented in the worst means possible, text links that are sorted by how many comments a thread gets. Since the community seems to be a fraction of what it used to be, there isn't a lot of benefit in taking an hour + to put a thread together.

I really think a map like I discussed in the first post would help revitalize interest in the site and maybe draw in fresh blood. What would it take to put something like that together?
Also, what happened to the more interesting threads in the General Photography section? The contests seemed to be getting good participation but long delays between iterations seemed to kill any momentum. The Getting to Know thread is dead, dead, dead. I say open it up to anyone that feels like responding since the 5 or so members that were requested never got to it. Then start over with new questions.

I think the photo critique thread is a good idea but the participation seems to be on par with the rest of the site. Maybe a thread covering general photography tips might be worth while.

I really feel the photo area of the site needs some major changes to stay relevant. This isn't the same internet of 2001.

[SignalHillHiker]

I'm guilty of the updating thread thing... but I agree.

Something more visual would be wonderful... I'd love to be able to load a page with a small thumbnail of the first photo in every new thread, something like that.

[Doady]

I would like to see a darker, neutral grey or black background for the photography forums. The current light cyan background is not ideal for viewing photos.

[LSyd]

1. go back to A-Z
2. separate section for continuously updated threads. i've found the ones with good photographers/city guides on ssc to be great and what ssp is really missing because
3. this forum is plagued by homerism.

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