A Pyramid of Foxes

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18861930
I try to get a lot of conversations started, or rekindled, and very few folks are interested in adding to the conversation. . . . My thinking is, "since no one else seems to be commenting much, I'll have to do even more of it to get things going and keep things going."

Mine is "There isn't much talk around the photos that people post. I guess that's the norm around here. I'd better not say much about my shots, or I'll come off as a narcissist who likes to talk about herself." I do wish others would say more about the circumstances in which they got what they're showing. It may vary with the forum. (Most of) the Urban Fragments people sure don't introduce their images as much as (some of) the Birds people do.

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That's one thing I've always appreciated about Ian's posts - he always provides background material along with the images that he shares.


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Great pic Ian. I too am glad to see you back .

John

avondale87 wrote in post #18861934
I'm of similar thoughts.
There was a comment a while back on this in one of the threads and that ran counter to 'commenting'.
Some just wanted to see the posted photos, others enjoyed the comments too.

Interaction is good IMO. I 'like' peoples response back to my response mainly to acknowledge I've read it,as I did with your response to my comment on weaning.
Waffle ended now

Not quite. Keep posting. I too enjoyed your photos.

Thanks, I do drop by every now and then.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18861930
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That's an interesting take on the likes. . But you say you are active on Facebook, and FB is the king of likes! . I mean, they started the whole thing, didn't they? . If likes don't inhibit commenting on Facebook, then there is no reason why they would inhibit commenting here.

I agree with you both about the lack of conversation here. . I don't know how much the "likes" have to do with it, because most of my involvement here is in the discussion areas, not the photo sharing areas, and I don't think that "likes" affect discussions nearly as much as they do shared photos.

I try to get a lot of conversations started, or rekindled, and very few folks are interested in adding to the conversation. . Unless it's about gear (but why do people want to talk about that so much, anyway?)

Anyway, I guess we can choose to either be part of the problem or part of the solution. . My thinking is, "since no one else seems to be commenting much, I'll have to do even more of it to get things going and keep things going."

In short, I really miss the "old crowd" that used to spend a lot of time posting here, and wish we could get them all to come back and have things the way they used to be.

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Tom I for whatever reason do get seemingly lots of comments on my Facebook page. It's a bit different, as so many of the viewers are local and actually know me, and feel some kinship. I think the lack of comments on this site may just be the overall busy life we all lead, and folks are taking the quick and easy option. Whatever, I may be guilty of the same to some degree.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18862052
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That's one thing I've always appreciated about Ian's posts - he always provides background material along with the images that he shares.


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Thanks Tom, and OhLook, I do like that photos tell a story, and that's why I often post several shots rather than one,as it provides more of a storyline. But I agree, sometimes it adds to the story to provide the context of it all, the setting and where and how it all happened.

johnohio wrote in post #18862162
Great pic Ian. I too am glad to see you back .

John

Thanks John.

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CDMOOSE wrote in post #18861716
I very much have enjoyed developing friendships over time with folks like you, Captain Bob, Rog aka Ardeekay, and others, but that just doesn't happen anymore.

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Wallace River wrote in post #18861743
Funny, you mention the same names I enjoy carousing a bit with ....and yourself also.

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I really miss guys like "The Hoff", Canonloader (Mitch), Karl Johnston, Mike55, the "Flying Photog" (Jay), Frank Hollis, Brad Mangas, Artyman (Ken), and others from that era.

I have done quite a bit of 'reaching out', in order to keep in touch with those whose presence on this forum has faded away. . I send a lot of PMs to people who haven't posted in a while, just to let them know that their presence is missed. . Many PMs go unread, and I wonder if the person has died.

But sometimes someone from the past will return a PM. . Sometimes we even call one another and have a nice phone conversation and catch up on what we've been doing, photography-wise and otherwise. . Over the years, a lot of really extraordinary people and photographers have been a part of the POTN community. . Keeping in touch is important.

Here is a screen shot of the "title" lines in my PM outbox. . It is just from the past month. . You can see that I really do make an effort to keep in touch with everyone I knew from the past. . Each year I send dozens and dozens of messages to inactive users in an effort to keep in touch and maybe even get them to participate on the forum again.

Oh My! Ian that is a wonderful image; such a sight to see. Just beautiful!

Airedale1 wrote in post #18862359
Oh My! Ian that is a wonderful image; such a sight to see. Just beautiful!

Thanks! I have to go over and visit them again, but the last few days have been cold and rainy with the odd snow flurry. One day, spring will arrive!

This is Nat Geo stuff! Wonderful!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18862467
This is Nat Geo stuff! Wonderful!

Hey thanks much Jake.

First off, Ian, those photos are great.

Second, as regards likes and comments. I'm relatively new to the forum, though been a few years, and have only known the time since likes were introduced. I tend to make quite a few comments (enjoy the writing) on other forums (not photographic) but not so much on here.


Reason being that some areas of the forum e.g. birds, are continually being posted to with new images and it would be a full time job if you commented on many of them! Birds are a very common subject and unless the image is exceptional or the bird rare then in many cases there isn't much to say. I enjoy looking at the photographs and posting in that section and think that the likes option is good to have in sections like that. Photography is only one of many hobbies and interests for me and I tend to dip in and out of it so when I come on here it's usually for quite short periods of time and I don't want to be making loads of comments.


I think on other threads where less images are posted or it's a thread with one particular set of photographs, like this one of Ian's, then folks are more likely to comment and enter into dialogue which is great.


Chris

Wonderful images, Ian. Both worthy of that gold cup!

As to the Likes, they seem to be doing quite a bit of harm as they replaced comments to a large extent and without comments there is no real communication between people any more. I wouldn't mind to see the Like button go.

Chris L F wrote in post #18905598
First off, Ian, those photos are great.

Second, as regards likes and comments. I'm relatively new to the forum, though been a few years, and have only known the time since likes were introduced. I tend to make quite a few comments (enjoy the writing) on other forums (not photographic) but not so much on here.


Reason being that some areas of the forum e.g. birds, are continually being posted to with new images and it would be a full time job if you commented on many of them! Birds are a very common subject and unless the image is exceptional or the bird rare then in many cases there isn't much to say. I enjoy looking at the photographs and posting in that section and think that the likes option is good to have in sections like that. Photography is only one of many hobbies and interests for me and I tend to dip in and out of it so when I come on here it's usually for quite short periods of time and I don't want to be making loads of comments.


I think on other threads where less images are posted or it's a thread with one particular set of photographs, like this one of Ian's, then folks are more likely to comment and enter into dialogue which is great.


Chris

Hi Chris, thanks for the comments and nice to meet you. I see you’ve “only” been on here for 6 years. Makes me feel old suddenly! I understand what you’re saying, I really do. It just seemed more like a neighbourhood pub BL (before likes) where everyone knew your name. I appreciate what you say though, thanks again.

Levina de Ruijter wrote in post #18905616
Wonderful images, Ian. Both worthy of that gold cup!

As to the Likes, they seem to be doing quite a bit of harm as they replaced comments to a large extent and without comments there is no real communication between people any more. I wouldn't mind to see the Like button go.

Ah Levina, so nice to hear from you. Maybe like Chris said above it’s just the price to pay for getting big. I’m sure Pekka has measured all the pluses and minuses, he deserves so much credit for maintains such a global site.