[Alan Scharf]

I find the concept behind Shutter talk quite interesting, but not delivered very well. It is hard to keep track of where one is going and find answers to questions that should have been answered in the first place (Eg: downloading) rather than becoming a joke. I would suggest that the site be redesigned for grossly better comprehension and simplicity by an expert over perhaps 3 months while Shuttertalk is off line. Then you would have something to be proud of while fighting of future competition. Wouldn't you like to be up to future date. By the way, I always thought that smillies all died 20 years ago.

Alan Scharf

[Barbara G.]

The site was originally set up by the ShutterTalk owner many years ago. The current admin has taken over the site recently and is making changes behind the scenes on some things.

What other positive suggestions would you have for the forums? I will be glad to send him a list of suggestions.

[Phil J]

Hi Barbara,

I think you'll find that 99.9% of members/users are rather happy the way things are.

This is one of the nicest forums/sites available and for a newish member to be that critical seems 'to me at least' to be somewhat disingenuous. If they take the time to learn the subtleties of the forum then at that point they might be in a stronger position to be critical. All new members of anything experience a degree of difficulty in getting to grips with things, it's the nature of 'a new learning curve', but it's not a good enough reason to change things just to accommodate the impatience of a 'newbie' over the requirements of more senior members. That is, members who 'have' had the patience to climb the initial learning curve involved. With this particular complaining member, I suspect they are in the lower quartile of age distribution of our overall membership, and as such have as yet to learn the merits of exercising a little patience.

Keep up the good work.

Best regards.

Phil.

[Barbara G.]

Thank you Phil! Appreciate your comments and thoughts!

[Rolf]

Hi Barbara,

I think you'll find that 99.9% of members/users are rather happy the way things are.

This is one of the nicest forums/sites available and for a newish member to be that critical seems 'to me at least' to be somewhat disingenuous. If they take the time to learn the subtleties of the forum then at that point they might be in a stronger position to be critical. All new members of anything experience a degree of difficulty in getting to grips with things, it's the nature of 'a new learning curve', but it's not a good enough reason to change things just to accommodate the impatience of a 'newbie' over the requirements of more senior members. That is, members who 'have' had the patience to climb the initial learning curve involved. With this particular complaining member, I suspect they are in the lower quartile of age distribution of our overall membership, and as such have as yet to learn the merits of exercising a little patience.

Keep up the good work.

Best regards.

Phil.

I agree with you Phil...happy with this site as is... but, like our photographic endeavours and aspirations, always room for incremental improvement when that is needed. I also seem to find myself in agreement with Mr Scharf - smillies are dead... long live smilies!

Kind regards
Rolf

[Phil J]

Thanks Rolf. It's good to have your contributions, 'and' your photographs are top notch.

Regards.

Phil.

[Rolf]

Thanks Rolf. It's good to have your contributions, 'and' your photographs are top notch.

Regards.

Phil.

Thanks Phil. I enjoy the Forums... and the debates that are generated. All good.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family

Kind regards

Rolf

[RobS]

I have little experience of internet forums and am still feeling my way on Shuttertalk, but I think I would favour at least gradual evolution so that we don't start to appear out of touch to newcomers. My one slightly radical suggestion would be to cast off those sections of the site that are not regularly updated. I was actually put off joining for a while because the home page gave the impression to me of an abandoned site. It would be interesting to hear about the changes that are already being worked on by the admin team. These might stimulate further ideas from members and, more importantly perhaps, some discussion about what it is we particularly want to protect. Rob

[Barbara G.]

I have little experience of internet forums and am still feeling my way on Shuttertalk, but I think I would favour at least gradual evolution so that we don't start to appear out of touch to newcomers. My one slightly radical suggestion would be to cast off those sections of the site that are not regularly updated. I was actually put off joining for a while because the home page gave the impression to me of an abandoned site. It would be interesting to hear about the changes that are already being worked on by the admin team. These might stimulate further ideas from members and, more importantly perhaps, some discussion about what it is we particularly want to protect. Rob

Hello Rob and others,

This is a great point to bring up. Since the admin has taken the site over, there has been gradually changes for everyone's sake (not to rock the boat and to keep healthy relationships with those who originally ran the site). Some of the changes which were made in the beginning, some members did not like - such as making the site family friendly and not allowing links to nudity, ect.

So, to keep the story short - there has been a time of transition with bringing in new members mixing with the original members. Since photography forums are more competitive than other types of forums, it has taken some time to build and add to the membership of the forums.

New members are coming and joining everyday although not all of them post in the forums. Many simply come and read information to gain new insights. Some of the content posted in the forums is more geared toward the experienced - some newbies at photography may not post much for this reason.

I can say the admin has expressed thoughts about the information on the home page. He does realize the information is older and has not been updated in a while. I am not sure how much traffic this section of the site gains on a regular basis. I have thought about writing up some new reviews, but I am definitely not an expert as many of you are.

So, would you like to see new reviews or information added to the home page? What other types of information would you like to see?

This will get us started here with those of you who feel comfortable to jump right in!!

We are hear to listen!! We value each and everyone of you!!

[Phil J]

Thanks Rolf. It's good to have your contributions, 'and' your photographs are top notch.

Regards.

Phil.

Thanks Phil. I enjoy the Forums... and the debates that are generated. All good.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family

Kind regards

Rolf

And to you and yours as well Rolf.

Best regards.

Phil.