"Come join Marcus Hawkins online"...

[MattUK]

Just to clarify Karen: I do not think there is a problem with people viewing the front page! I think there's a problem with people rating images, commenting on articles and on POTD.

You made the point earlier that hardly anyone rates or comments on images - I'm supporting that by suggesting ways to improve the number of people rating and commenting by using the forum

[jimmyosram]

Originally Posted by dwanecolaso@yahoo.com

::pens mouth and yawns:::: MattUK if u aint happy move on bud!! nobodies making u stay here. Theres Hundreds of other sites online & they've tons of newbie photographers there so u can tear their work apart when they post there photos and community led competitons for u to ruin ... it'll be like home from home. ur work here is done .

In defence of Matt, he was only making a valid point, and I fully support open comments like this.

You on the other hand are a different matter. I suggest that as you clearly have a chip on your shoulder, you should perhaps "rest" your forum participation until you remove the sand from your vag.

[dan123]

I think matts idea is good, it would Definately make things easier, For me with my painfully slow internet, i cant get broadband so im on 'Mobile' interent from 3, and the speed is awfull, so commenting on things takes me ages, Integrating the forum and reducing the amount of pages and ad's that need to load would certianly improve my browisng on the site,

Dan

[Marcus Hawkins]

Hello

Thanks for all the constructive comments.

I guess, ultimately, what you're describing is a site which is more or less a blog, with the comments and discussion appearing in-line with the article. Interesting.

I've requested for CAPTCHA to be switched off, so there shouldn't be a barrier to commenting on photos/articles in the short term.

Integrating Facebook and PR is an idea that would make life easier, and would avoid duplication - many users post images and comments across both sites at the moment. Are you talking about logging in via FB to add your comments to PR? Would you want the comments you post on PR to be visible in your FB feed?

Marcus

[MattUK]

Something like that. Take a look at the way TechCrunch integrate FB for comments (thus helping to eliminate spam): http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/09/vesper/

It would be nice if either FB or the forum could be used to comment on articles, bringing both user bases closer together (and sharing content between the two).

At the very least though, removing the need for the separate article comment system by using the forum to post articles and comment on them would at least allow a single system to be used for photoradar.com users...

[Marcus Hawkins]

Yep, familiar with how Techcrunch does it. Rolling Stone uses the FB plugin as well. But do you want your comments posted here visible on your FB wall (if, indeed, you're on FB)? When I asked the same on FB, there were certainly mixed feelings - many people appear to like the separation between their personal feed and their other online 'personas'.

I do want to reduce duplication and make life easier for everyone (many members and I post across PR, FB, Twitter etc) - and using FB for comments is certainly a way to do this. Ultimately, not everyone likes getting involved in forums, and FB integration may be a way of easing this situation. In the short term though Matt, we won't be using the forums to host articles, but it's a consideration for the medium term. But I hope you can find the time to comment on articles as they stand.

[MattUK]

I'd probably want to keep it separate from my feed, to avoid spamming (or perhaps have the option of posting on my feed or not).

Shame it's not a short term solution - Amy has already started doing it by posting discussion topics in a couple of the forums...

[Marcus Hawkins]

Posting discussion topics is one thing, hosting articles is another. We can certainly continue doing the former.