"Come join Marcus Hawkins online"...

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by wavemachine

little or nothing is being done to maintain/develop a site that isn't that old.

Dave, there was a huge kerfuffle when the Digital Camera Magazine site was taken down to put this one in place. I hadn't been there that long, but I see this as a downgrade from the previous site. Longer term users abandoned in their droves. Those who stayed complain about it daily. Well, not on here, as you can see there are almost no posts.I think the impression I got about the change was that this is how it's going to be, get used to it.

Chris

[J A Mortram]

Originally Posted by karenoliver

I'd imagine its pretty hard to be enthusiastic about the site when half the time nobody even bothers to comment on photo of the day or news articles that they post.

Karen

Well said

[donoreo]

Originally Posted by karenoliver

I'd imagine its pretty hard to be enthusiastic about the site when half the time nobody even bothers to comment on photo of the day or news articles that they post.

Karen

I am going to make a special effort to do so. If only 10 of us did, it may make a difference and snowball into something else.

One comment on the news stories. I find them....too short and not enough info. I know they are trying to keep people with a short attention span looking, but I would prefer more in depth coverage. Being a man I know I have a shorter attention span but, I do still do better than my 4 year old daughters

[MattUK]

Sorry, but I fail to see the strength of this angle.

No other online journalistic site I'm aware of takes the stance of "well if you comment on our stories, maybe we'll be a bit more enthusiastic". If the mechanisms for interacting with some content aren't working (because they're too hard to use, or too hard to see), then change the mechanism.

Post news stories as threads or POTDs on the forum, linked to via the front page, and then see what kind of interaction you get.

[donoreo]

Originally Posted by MattUK

Post news stories as threads or POTDs on the forum, linked to via the front page, and then see what kind of interaction you get.

That is not a bad idea.

[Amy Davies]

Hi all,

Sometimes we do post links to news stories in the forum if we think they are relevant, but if you want us to do that more often then I'm happy to do.

It's interesting your point about news stories being too short - can you think of a specific example where this is the case? I know that tech stories tend to be longer, because there's more to say, while news about exhibitions and so on tend to be shorter as they let the pictures do the talking.

Marcus tends to spend a lot of his time interacting with our users on Facebook, while I try to answer the questions as best I can on the forum. I usually vote on the weekend competition (when I remember!) too. As you can imagine with lots to do on the site (not just the forum), we tend to divide tasks up to make them easier to tackle, but I will ask Marcus if he can drop in on the forum a bit more regularly from now on.

Please feel to drop me a line on your ideas for news stories and what you'd like to see.

Hope that helps,

Thanks,

Amy

[wavemachine]

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 .

Sorry you feel that way Dwane,

I think Matt has raised a valid point and ultimately does not want to give up on the site, this is a pretty good site with a good community of users but it does have some niggles.

I have had my work critiqued by Matt and feel he has a lot of good advice to offer and not once did I feel he was tearing it apart on the contrary I was happy he took the time and trouble to give me his opinion. At the end of the day it is just an opinion, if you present work for feedback on a public forum then you need to be prepared to take the rough with the smooth although people here do tend to be very helpful and constructive.

Also just to add forums are fairly impersonal so sometime feedback can come across not quite how it was intended, I read a response to one of my posts a few months ago and was seething but when I read it again realised I had misinterpreted it.

I will finally add I am just another forum member (not a friend of Matt) who like others is here to learn, I have a very long way to go and appreciate the feedback and advice.

[donoreo]

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 .

I read Matt's complaint as constructive, he wants to make things better. I think we all do. I quite like the people on here so I want to make the place better for everyone.

I have taken a look at Matt's posts, and I have seen him give very constructive criticism. Nor have I seen him "ruin" any competitions. He seems to know what he is talking about and it generally helpful to others.

I would take Matt over someone who has only posted 7 times in 5 months.

[OldBoy]

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 .

I think that's a bit rude and a bit below the belt.

[Jediboy]

I agree with donoreo and Oldboy. Matt is an active member of this community and I believe that he has raised this issue in the hope of making things better. That's something that we all hope for.
In my experience Matt often makes the time and effort to comment on peoples photo's. And he'd decent about it too. I think your attempt to discredit him is misguided and without foundation.