 Thom Schoeller |
WOW, 2 months and no new topics I see this website has clearly fallen off the radar. Last new topic dates back to 11/18 of last year. That's too bad.
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Monnie Ryan |
Well, some of us keep checking every couple of days, but the action definitely ain't what it used to be (unfortunately)!
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
I think the Forums "dried up" quite awhile back, relatively speaking, when it was removed from "free member" (and when BP free membership was eliminated) and then the Forums became restricted to just paid members. Back in the day, so much of the Forum activity/new questions came from folks who had joined BP on the free membership. Now, with only active members (who pay to join BP), I think you have a self-contained audience that over time, has fewer questions to ask in general! Members who are in classes have a classroom Forum to use for all their questions... Members who aren't in classes, either have fallen out of the habit of using the Forums, or, have had their questions answered, and have yet to develop new questions, perhaps!
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher  Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
That's probably true, Chris. Also there was some sensitivity on BPs side as to what we should or should not discuss, and that shut down a lot of the more argumentative or controversial threads.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Carolyn's always looking for an argument. There's a big group that's hanging out at Mountaineer Campground drinking beer and wine. It'll pick up when that party's over, whenever that will be.
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
Yeah, wanna fight? LOL
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Bob Cammarata |
I too miss miss the "juicy" debates. And sadly, very few people ask for real photography advice anymore. Maybe we all should grab a 6 pack and join the party. Bob
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Thom Schoeller |
I failed to elaborate in the initial post my innermost feelings.. Needless to say I'll disclose just a bit more to build upon to say the site has fallen out of favor with established photographers in the business. I'm sure I am stating the obvious. As far as the tools (SEO) provided the annual cost outweighs the usefulness. I've found a noticeable decline in customer service in regards to very specific issues that 2 short years ago they corrected for me and showed genuine concern. Too many other host websites have simply picked up the ball and are running with it now.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
The Q&A section never had very many established people to begin with. It had a lot of drop by people asking questions, that many came back or hung around when they saw they could get their questions answered by somebody who knew a little more or had been doing it a little longer. So now it's either take a class first or buy a gallery first, then start with the questions, as far as new people. Or a lot of people have gotten enough questions answered that they don't have any questions. It's never been that much of a place to talk about stuff associated with photography, or whatever kind of ball being run with that you speak of. Any discussions like hanging out and talking are probably done as part of the courses. The customer service, I've never really needed any so far. So I can't speak about what other people have needed or what they do with their websites and galleries. Off they top of my head I can talk about what others have asked for. Minor stuff like edit ability for post. Some unhappiness with the contest selections.
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Thom Schoeller |
Greg I'm implying the website in general. It's also odd that the forum is set up only as a place to ask questions, as opposed to a forum to discuss topics and exchange information now that you mention the Q&A. The ball I'm referring to is again not anything to do with their Q&A.. I'm speaking of a client friendly website a legitimate business person can operate their photography business from. Other than dazzling us with a handful of preset designs (wow) they have not acted on keeping up with SEO changes or trends. Over the spring I had one hell of a time adding hyper links in text to my print shop. They have it set up so I have to use THEIR encrypted code, not basic HTML. You cannot seamlessly integrate from another website to here, making BP an outdated dinosaur. My deal runs out in April thankfully, I'll be masking my domain name to send all active hyperlinks to my new homepage and be done here. I may just keep the basic exclusively for an additional web presence
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Well, you could have discussions and people did, just not like there used to be. You might like something like LinkedIn for discussion on topics. Although there isn't a lot of discussions that are all that interesting there either. Some, but not a lot. As far as legitimate business people using it, depends on how you want to use a website. What I think of when it comes to using a website, the first thing that comes to my mind is how people use websites like those hosted by Livebook. Other ways of using a website like being able to download different sized files for a fee, they've never been that way. Probably never will. They've always touted themselves as very simple and easy, low hassle. And even though they aimed at and attracted people who were looking for a place to just upload and categorize, it's really more similar than different than the kind of websites I usually end up looking through. Hyperlinks? I might be in a minority, but having a hyperlink or copying a reference and going to it in a new tab never made a difference. Practically all links that I see on photographers websites go to a blog of the photographer anyway. But people finding they need something else isn't unusual. People's taste change and their needs change.
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
Interesting to read the recent announcement from BP this week, about returning to "the old style" of BP - where people can join for free---there weren't a lot of detail in that announcement, but it sounds like a return to how it was - where folks can sign up for free (gaining, perhaps, a small gallery, such as the "30 images" it used to be) and free access to contest & Forum...
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countryimpressions.net - Tammy M. Anderson Contact Tammy M. Anderson Tammy M. Anderson's Gallery |
Is that a good thing for those of us that pays?
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Thom Schoeller |
I've noticed a few basic changes in the background when I go into my control panel, mainly how things appear in the layout. There is a menu column on the left now.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Chris, I hadn't heard about the "return to the old style of BP." I wonder if we'll return to the days of 30,000+ entries and entertaining forum topics? :-) Thomas, I also noticed the layout changes to the front page of BP. Seems more intuitive. Now, it's easy to see the main pillars of BP...the courses, contest, and web sites. That should make it easier for first-time visitors.
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
Ken; below is the text of the email I received from BP on Wed: We are making several improvements at BetterPhoto. These include: * Simplifying our navigational links. That's right! We're going back to the way it was many years ago. We feel that this will help increase the pool of participants and increase the likelihood of new people winning the contest each month. While I have always believed that merit and excellence should be rewarded, regardless of how many times a person has won in the past, it WOULD be nice to open up the possibility of winning to more participants. So, the contest is now open to anyone who has signed up with BetterPhoto and confirmed their email address. More exciting improvements coming soon. Thanks, P.S. Since we are moving some links into the Member Center, some of you may be missing a particular link you really love. If so, please email bpsupport@betterphoto.com with a description of the link. If enough people request a link, we'll be sure to put it onto the welcome page that you see once you sign into the Member Center. Thanks very much and enjoy the contest! P.P.S. We still have lots of graphics and pages to change at the site... so if you see something that talks about the old way we did the contest, please excuse the dust, as they say... we'll soon update all the pages so everything says "Contest is open to everyone".
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
(Interesting side-note, re: Tammy's question---the notice doesn't say anything about whether "free" 30-image BP galleries would be offered again, as they were when I first joined 7 years ago. Perhaps just the contest will now be open "to all", and if you win or Finalist, great, your image is on the winner's pages, etc., but you won't have a gallery to show off your winners, unless you then pay for one? That could actually be an interesting inducement to get folks to buy gallery plans. (I also feel like "free" contest entry to all, as in the past, probably draws more potential students into BP classes...) Perhaps more details to come... I haven't gone exploring on the "membership" type pages yet, to see if any new details are spelled out there.) I have noticed, that when I'm viewing my Page 1 of my "Basic" gallery, the "Sign In" link no longer works... I have to go to BP Home, then Member Center link...
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Chris, I think new folks would get the free gallery. Unclear how many images folks would get, though. I logged out of BP then went in as if I were a first-time visitor...clicked the Contest page. Then, clicked the first option, Contest. Next, I clicked "Become a BetterPhoto Member today." That page had the following text "Join BetterPhoto - it's free! Every BetterPhoto member gets a:
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Monnie Ryan |
I did the same thing, Ken - hoping to find the answer to my primary question, which is how many photos "free" members will be allowed in their galleries. That seems to me to be quite an important question to those of us who've paid (even at the basic level). They're just starting to revamp the pages, so hopefully the benefits of free membership will be spelled out soon.
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ALLEN O. HOWARD |
I responded in a questionnaire. I added how I felt about the relevance of BP and the other sites that were closing in on it or simply passing it by. It has been a shame as this is where I learned what the camera in my hand was. It came to a point were everything I did was an editors pick but I very rarely received a finalist much less a winner. All of a sudden it seems as though they have gotten way behind here or they are scrutinizing differently. I am not saying better or to a higher standard, just different. I worked for a while judging on another sight (Which I shall not name) and while judging it became very easy for me to pick out the regular winners even though there was no name involved. Subsequently the challenge for me was to dig deeper and make sure I was giving everyone a fair viewing. Originally when BP started giving me all of these "editors picks" I thought my chances were improving. I mean I might get 28 editors picks in a month but that never changed finalists or winning for me. Now I have virtually no EP'S and that is okay by me If BP finds there way back. Relevance matters. Especially when we have Facebook and Google social platform. I truly love BetterPhoto and I hope that they can figure this out. We are in an age of compression where everything is moving faster and faster. BetterPhoto was the king.
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