Time to re-focus the scope of discussions on Photrio

[Alan Edward Klein]

It is only visible to subscribers.
Actually, even when having had a subscriber status I did not come it across.

I'm not a subscriber? Do you mean I've been posting on his site for years and don't subscribe? I'm still confused. How do I become a subscriber?

 

[AgX]

By paying Sean some money.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Alan, I corrected jtk's misspelling of Mapplethorpe up above. It appears he jumped your ass without knowing what he's talking about. Now show some respect!

Oh. It's Mapplethorp. Thanks. He can stop rolling over now.

 

[BrianShaw]

Oh. It's Mapplethorp. Thanks. He can stop rolling over now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mapplethorpe

 

[mshchem]

I'm not a subscriber? Do you mean I've been posting on his site for years and don't subscribe? I'm still confused. How do I become a subscriber?

Subscription is a very reasonable price. Keeps this place alive. This is the most comprehensive photo joint online

 

[eddie]

It costs $2.00/month to become a subscriber. People need to ask themselves if they're getting $2.00 worth of information/entertainment from the site each month. If they do, they should pony up.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

It's probably obvious but I'll say it anyway: all topics, including photography, have a political angle. Just look at the reactions when someone posts about photographers who depict LGBTQ+ people in a positive light. The bully pulpits get instantly set up.

Still, as long as there's photography involved, I'm OK with politicized discussions/topics on Photrio. But only insofar as they concern photography: I'm also OK with you removing the soapbox, because it's just dead wood. The photo-political discussions may require moderation to avoid flame wars, but you will have fewer threads to watch anyway.

We've always been okay with discussions of the politics of photography, so long as they remain civilized and don't stray into other more general and incendiary topics like partisan politics of any particular country, gun control, global climate change apart from the toxic effects of photochemicals or maybe the changing landscape, etc.

 

[VinceInMT]

This plus those that post nonsensical stuff just to get their post count higher.

Yes, for some people most everything has to be a competition. That, IMO, part of the underlying problem. Throw virtue signaling into the fray and one can see how we got here.

 

[VinceInMT]

Regarding photography that addresses political, religious, racial issues, etc., I think it can be part of of the discussion but the conversation should be about how the artist addressed the topic such as whether the art was successful in conveying the point of view? What was missing? How could it be made clearer. NOT an automatic defense of one’s own political persuasion. It’s not about you.

Last semester I took an art history course that covered the history of women in art. It went back to medieval times and progressed through the 2nd phase of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s and looked at what is being produced today. That latter part of the course was extremely political but we were able to spend 90% of the time discussing the work, not the politics. The lack of anonymity in the classroom lends to better manners.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Where would I find your photos? Maybe I;m missing something but I only see one picture here posted. Do you have another site? Link?

When there is a way to post photographs and not have them copied [Read: Stolen]. I will again post my photographs, but not until then.

 

[pschwart]

We're working on this, with better tools in the new version which is close to launch. One thing we do not have resource for is to monitor an off-topic area full of bickering and fighting. It's not worth it. We couldn't control it so left it off topic, but it's gotten too much, it has to go.

I do think we should be focused on photography, but ... I have not tracked any of the unpleasantness mentioned. It's generally easy to avoid: don't frequent unmoderated forums, ignore obnoxious posts and block regular offenders. Serious offenses can be reported. One can always decide to visit photrio less often or even take a break for a while.

It's a reality that the internet can be a contentious place. We should strive to encourage civility, but some will still decide to disengage, maybe permanently. That is their choice. I don't see the point in endless postings bemoaning the fact that this or that individual has left but yes, I can avoid these too. My vote is for more photography and less drama

 

[Sirius Glass]

Perhaps I can provide something: Let the original poster, the originator, have ownership of the thread.

I reject this, as then a thread likely turns into a pure self-presentation of the OP, or a call to only discuss his special issue, as in a private councelling.

The merit of a forum to be of mutal (the OP vs. the community) benefit would then vanish.

I agree with AgX. In the past we have had some contributors start a thread and then demand complete control of what is posted. That cuts out all useful ideas and options. Those contributors left with little or no loss to the community.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have an Instagram account - that amounts to the same thing. But I think posting photos should be a more natural part of membership of this site. With even commenting not granted to regular members, and the fact that gallery access would go poof if you stopped subscribing, there's not much incentive to even look at what people post there.

Anyway, the Soapbox. Discussing religion, politics, social issues, etc., is not the problem. Those are things that should be discussed, can benefit people by discussing them. The problem is how insulting and belligerent people become. There are truly insulting personal comments sitting around in all corners of this forum - they don't seem to get deleted. Why is that?

Good point. The belligerency arises because some have seen that there are no moderators to stop them so the act out. Then seen that nothing happens, the build on that.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Bravo...this is addressing the offenders, who abuse topics, both photographic and non-photographic.
My own feelings closely mirror those expressed by Sirius Glass...a few children pee in the pool, and the need to control them is the rational approach, rather than closing the pool..

Nicely stated. Sometimes it has become necessary to use colorful language to get moderator's attention that there is a bad actor damaging the thread. I noticed that after reporting a bad actor on a thread, of course this includes in and out of the Soap Box, the bad behavior continues and grows.

 

[Cholentpot]

When there is a way to post photographs and not have them copied [Read: Stolen]. I will again post my photographs, but not until then.

If people feel my work is good enough to steal then I'm flattered.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

Why is it necessary to eliminate political thought or disagreement?...

Because Alan Edward Klein is not the owner of PHOTRIO, Sean is. And Sean has from the very beginning banned political/religious discussion in the regular forum categories. Perhaps you'd like to start your own photography/politics forum and let things go wild. That would be fine.

...I think the issue is personal attacks. As long as we're debating ideas, even political ones,s, there' no harm, no foul. It's when people start to attack others personally that it becomes a problem...

Many of the so-called political ideas that get injected into regular forum category threads are personal attacks. Perhaps not on any persons participating in a particular thread, but on others in the political sphere. The days of civilized politics have been over for a while.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If people feel my work is good enough to steal then I'm flattered.

It is a loss of income for me. Flattery is cheap.

 

[Don_ih]

The days of civilized politics have been over for a while.

That's not true at all. The majority of political interactions that take place in the world are civilized. When people spit insults at each other, they're not talking politics - they're spitting.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

...The days of civilized politics have been over for a while.

That's not true at all. The majority of political interactions that take place in the world are civilized. When people spit insults at each other, they're not talking politics - they're spitting.

It's most certainly true in the U.S. A small minority of the many political figures here whose politics are obvious attacks on the persons they look down upon maintain a veneer of civility. Don't be fooled by it.

 

[Don_ih]

It's most certainly true in the U.S. A small minority of the many political figures here whose politics are obvious attacks on the persons they look down upon maintain a veneer of civility. Don't be fooled by it.

The political sphere is very very large and encompasses everything from unions to police departments to city halls to county governments to regional governments to state governments to international relations. The vast majority of interactions that take place within those realms are the very definition of civility.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The Soap Box has been bought under the microscope because a new member with about 60 posts, Doucheman started firing up people on the Canadian Truck Drivers' strike by antagonizing the other posters with his antivax comments. He knew by reading the earlier posts that some members has lost love one prior to vaccinations being available, and yet he trolled to get people pissed off. After a number of members knocked down his arguments he started posting gifs attacking Boomers. That resulted in the thread being closed and either he quit and had his posts removed or the moderators who should have moved in sooner has deleted his account.

Leaving the Soap Box completely unmonitored is the root cause of the problem.

 

[BrianShaw]

My crystal ball shows Sean’s thread headed to the…

 

[Sal Santamaura]

It's most certainly true in the U.S. A small minority of the many political figures here whose politics are obvious attacks on the persons they look down upon maintain a veneer of civility. Don't be fooled by it.

The political sphere is very very large and encompasses everything from unions to police departments to city halls to county governments to regional governments to state governments to international relations. The vast majority of interactions that take place within those realms are the very definition of civility.

Look at some of the online video documenting U.S. city council meetings, county government meetings, school board meetings, etc. Then reconsider how much "civility" you've seen.

 

[Sean]

This thread has definitely run its course and is turning into a case in point. For some, politics is a massive part of their existence, almost all consuming. They are in a constant state of being wound up, looking for the opportunity and ready to pounce on the enemy at the first opening to do so. Sadly, it's the nature of the internet these days, and I think it's worthwhile to minimise it here as much as possible. As mentioned, there are 1,000s of venues to wage war on, it doesn't need to be a photography venue.