Thematic threads

Juano

In recent years, we’ve seen a significant growth on the number of thematic threads on the “other cool shots” page in particular. I’m not sure how or why this trend started, but now we have at least eleven different threads:

Water, Water Everywhere... Post your Water Pictures here
Post your Art photos here
Houses of Worship Thread
Door Stories - Post your door photos here
Reflections - open thread
Post your Rust Junkie shots here!
The Bicycle Thread
Food & Drink Open thread
Post Your Bokeh or Soft Backgrounds
Post your Urban Exploration photos here
Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs!!

While I respect the right of members to initiate a thematic thread, I find that more often than not, there is a lack of constructive criticism and the threads are a mix of excellent shots that would deserve an individual posting and shots that probably wouldn’t have been posted at all if such a thread didn’t exist. Personally, the few times I have posted in one of these threads I have disappointed due to the lack of criticism and commenting.

Lately, what I think is happening is that when a new member joins, they see the threads and think this is the status quo -how the forum works- and they go and create their own new thread, and it goes on and on. I propose to create a "thematic threads" page with a thoughtful sticky note on threads in general, minding the quality of pictures and the overall spirit of the forum as a place for constructive criticism and photographic growth.

Hikin' Mike

Some people DON'T want a CC. If you want a CC I would post it as a separate thread and say so.

Richard

@Juano said:

I propose to create a "thematic threads" page with a thoughtful sticky note on threads in general, minding the quality of pictures and the overall spirit of the forum as a place for constructive criticism and photographic growth.

Thanks for the comment and suggestion . The mods are kicking this around and should make a decision soon. Stay tuned.

Juano

Thank you for considering this.

sarasphotos

Cristóbal, thanks for bringing this up again.

I stand somewhere in the middle on this. I often post to these threads (heavens, I started one!) and when I do I expect no cc and am always pleasantly suprised when someone comments. When I am looking for feedback I post a solo photo or series and am equally thrilled when someone takes the time to comment - especially since over the last several monthsI haven't had much time myself to make comments.

In my opinion the "themed threads" are a valid means of expression in the forum. In addition to taking and posting pictures, I for one enjoy looking at others' pictures of theme that interest me and indeed sometimes learn things from looking at those theme threads, but I don't always feel the need to comment. And for some I think it presents a "safe" place to share.

But that being said, I do have an issue similar to Cristóbal's... I wish that there were a bit more self-editing going on, like "does the picture really fit the guidelines of the OP?" and "is this a picture that I really want others to see... does it have something to say about/contribute to the theme?"

Richard

We have decided to create a new sub-forum in the Challenges category for themed threads. It's open for business. Hope this is helpful.

Juano

I think you found a satisfactory solution. Again, thank you for considering this.

slpollett

Not that it 'really' matters (and I'm not complaining...I'm just curious), why did you decide to put the themed threads as a sub-forum of Challenges? To me, it makes more sense to have them as a sub-forum in Other Cool Shots. The themed threads aren't challenges of a sort are they? I thought they were just for sharing images? Did I miss something? Again...not complaining, just really curious. It just seems like an odd placement to have them in Challenges.

Sherry

Richard

HI Sherry,
You're right that it could have gone in either spot. Like all the other shots forums, OCS was meant for posting for comment and criticism, and we specifically discourage other people posting pics in someone's thread. Challenges, on the other hand, encourages people to post shots of a given theme in a single thread. So it's really a matter of the style of interaction. But I agree with you that it probably doesn't matter much, especially for regular visitors to the forum.