THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL

Pekka wrote in post #19565433
Hello all,

POTN forum was started 2001 when digital photography was in its infancy- We have seen the great digital camera shooting boom, gear wars, rise or RAW, chimping frenzy, sensors getting better and better, faster AF and failed AF, new lens types, mirrorless cameras and eventually a steady decline of major camera manufacturers, sales dropping every year. There is no one reason for the decline of digital camera, there are several. Better mobile cameras killing people's interest to heavy and expensive systems like SLR with lots of lenses. Photojournalists use iPhones, photographers get less hiring opportunities , families and friends use mobile devices. Some special interest shooters like bird and wedding photographers, sports and action shooters can not really work with phones, but they are a minority. Image quality does not matter much to 99% of people, when viewed on mobile all is sufficient.

Gear has lost its appeal, but what about forums?

Facebook was founded 2004, three years after POTN. Twitter was started 2006. Instagram was founded 2010. Snapchat 2011. Discord 2015, Tik Tok 2016. All those multi-billion dollar companies have conquered the market, created the social media as we know it, intentionally aiming to addict by algorithms, put people into own bubbles, track you to target ads, lose content validity in short time so that new content gets created constantly. Some of them reduce message lengths thus directing young people to short attention span and think less about complete sentences. Photos are shared via social media apps, Whatsapp and cloud services. This trend has sped up in last few years, and AI will change it all again. Soon people won't have to write or create anything - it's all done for them.

Sad truth is that there is no place for conventional forums any more with the recent generations. Traffic is down. Enthusiasm is down. Mood is down. Discussion is down.

There are many old timer members who keep posting, but that does not sustain the site. New members appear, but they do not post much, just browse and like here and there. That is the reality. When everyone had only computers (PC or Mac), writing was much faster and easier - now tapping seems to be the main communication method.

Google delivers fewer and fewer ads in forums (most ad slots are empty, meaning we don't have even a chance to get anything), so for a long time I've had to pay most of the server costs from my own pocket, even with some occasional donations which I appreciate.

Even if financially this wasn't a burden, I do not have time or interest to code by request or set up servers (I've put thousands of hours for POTN during the years). Members can get vey demanding, there's no real joy in this "service" for me any more.

I do not really shoot photos any more, I have other interests and a profession in music.

I'm not getting any younger, health issues due to stress have happened.

What does all this mean?

I have decided to do the only logical option: close down POTN by the end of this year, exact date is to be determined.

POTN has been a big part of my life and I've always been proud of it and enjoyed the social aspect of the forums, this is not something I do lightly nor like it, but all the facts pointed to this inevitable solution.

I'm not planning to keep a "read only" version online, as it needs a rented server. So the only option is to pull the plug in the near future. What the exact date for closing is is not yet decided. I suppose 1 to 2 months after this announcement is sufficient so that people can collect data they need.

There are uploaded images you may want to retrieve (you have originals of course at home), to do that double-click/tap the image to get it to full window, then you can save it normally. They are .duck extension, change those to .jpg in order to view them locally. I can not make an utility to mass-retrieve the images, as it would exceed bandwidth limits and that is very expensive. Again, you already have your originals.

The only option to keep POTN running would be that it gets sold to someone who can manage it. Running it will not be an easy task, whole thing is proprietary (mostly procedural) code in PHP and Javascript, very complex data structures and databases, with specific server configurations and services. I have no time to tutor how to do that but I will help to get started. POTN data is in 14GB zipped backups (tons of databases + several Redis instances), then there are 240GB of images and other files plus server configurations and maintenance scripts which are required. I'll remove PM and mod areas from the package, and also IP database plus session logs. If POTN is sold it is not possible for me to use many parts of my own code for security reasons in any other projects - that will not be cheap. I'm realist, though, and expect no one is interested.

I thank Jake and all the mods for all the work they have done during the 22 years.

I apologize to our members (some have been here over 20 years) that the site can not go on, but nothing lasts forever. I fully intented to keep this running, but it's not a viable solution any more. All I can say I'm sorry for the situation and mourn loss of a great community. All things come to an end, and it is time to move on.

I bet there will be projects to scrape POTN content somewhere else, but I will try to prevent that. People have posted here under our rules and their copyright - copying it somewhere else is not ok. Also, as said, bandwith costs money.

You may comment on this of course, but please remain civil. I'm sure many of you knew this would happen eventually.

Sincerely,

Pekka Saarinen
Founder, photography-on-the.net

2cruise wrote in post #19570432
You have a R3 and R5, I hate you!

airbutchie wrote in post #19570491
I have been blessed with this forum from the start... From sharing info, posting photos, and buying/selling photography items from many, many forum members...

A "stadium amount of applause" to Pekka, POTN moderators, and members (both OG and new) for keeping this forum going for over 2 decades... It has personally helped me grow, not only as a professional photographer, but also as a human being... It will be a sad moment once all this is shut down, but I completely understand with today's influence with other platforms and sources... But I must say, POTN was a ground breaking, social platform that gathered photography-minded individuals to help one another improve and share our craft...

A MILLION THANK YOU'S to everyone who has contributed to this amazing forum... I wish everyone well on your photography endeavors!!! God Bless...

With much love and respect,
Butch

Inspeqtor wrote in post #19570516
Butch,

Very well said SIR!!!

What does OG stand for??

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19570528
I don't mean to play moderator or impose on anyone, but as a reminder, this thread was created by Pekka as an announcement about the site, not a thread to discuss alternate sites.

Just my opinion.

Tom

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19570528
I don't mean to play moderator or impose on anyone, but as a reminder, this thread was created by Pekka as an announcement about the site, not a thread to discuss alternate sites.

Just my opinion.

Tom

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19570558
You have a regular job, and they actually let you work overtime and pay you for it? Damn that must be awesome! I hate you ߤ

digital paradise wrote in post #19570526
"Old" group. It feels like it

I know that is not it but I'm pretty sure I know what what that is.