Another site will be shutting down

Another side of me wonders if he's fishing for offers. I may not be remembering correctly, but I seem to recall he had some fairly sizeable offers for the site over the years. It may have been another site, I can't remember for sure. But with the general downturn in photography forum activity, they're simply not there any more. Time will tell I guess

I think the comments that were made were bang on. Younger people are, for the most part, interacting with social media sites, not forums, spot shares photos and comment. Cell phones pulled the majority of the population over for photo taking. Forums are now considered a bit arcane and quaint. While I enjoy them, that isn’t a business model that works for most. We’ll see more fall by the wayside. Being nostalgic about how things were…as I often do….with photo magazines throughout the 80’s and 90’s, and then moving to forums and social media, doesn’t alter the fact that the world has changed.

I’d add that for many Reddit provides the forum(s) of choice.

It was not my intention to insult anybody. By chaff I meant moribond low trafic sites and forums.

The last post in the Nikon forum here, was over a month ago. What's the difference?

None of us really miss this sort of thread which seems to be a gear forum mainstay.

Yeah, that was my point. POTN wasn't and still isn't a gear review site, I was curious about the difference NCV sees between here & there. POTN still has way more traffic than here, but still not worthy of joining, & considered chaff.

Edit -I'm personally not concerned in the slightest about brand specific forums, I shoot m4/3 & I think I'm yet to post in the m4/3 subforums here. A photo is a photo. Some are more sh!t than others, but I don't see that being related to the brand myself

I must admit I never really bothered to explore POTN in depth. So maybe I am wrong. It just seemed to be just one of many gear sites in decline.

As for this site, I believe the future is with threads and hopefully articles in the future about actually photographing things. Now that the playing field has changed somewhat after DPR's rebirth, I see that the image based threads are starting to tick over nicely. Now a lot of the agressive trolling of the early days has abated, I see this forum as something that can grow. Whilst the brand enclosures on this and the other gear based forums, arguing over which brand is best seems to be passing out of fashion.

Sites I follow like Nikon Café and Talk Photography, seem to be doing OK, as they are mainly about photography and not about gear. The numbers are smaller because people are not buying much new stuff anymore. Even DPR seems to have lost a lot of traffic.

I just see how we discuss photography on forums changing as our camera gear does not get obsoleted so rapidly, as in the past.

I'm not familiar with it, but I'll take your word for it, that it's a good site! From a quick glance it looked like a nice welcoming place, even though very dated in its appearance. If people there are interested in discussing images for the most part, don't hesitate to send em this way, if POTN really has to stop its operation. For whatever this site still lacks (and let's not pretend otherwise, it IS a lot) the C&C threads and a couple of other image discussion topics are nice, welcoming and relatively active. 👍

Good thoughts here.

When I look at the POTN site, it looks not only “old” (to me) but also “home brewed”. IMO, it will be hard for any site that has that look and feel to attract the next generation or two of photographers regardless of the strategic focus of the site - especially since they already have “corporately owned”, massive platform, modern-feeling alternatives.

Having more active members here would be great too. Hopefully some of the folks there will sign-up over here.

You're overlooking the primary factor that led to the collapse of the dedicated digital camera market: the user interface and user experience.

Smartphone cameras are intuitive. Give a smartphone to a child and they'll be making photos within minutes. Who takes a course in how to use a smartphone or a smartphone camera? Is such a course even offered? The visual display of icons and controls along with the touchscreen interface makes this intuitive experience possible.

Once the photo is made, it takes only minutes to open the photo in a viewing & editing app and process it to one's satisfaction. Then, open the social media app or gallery app where your photography is on display and publish it. All this is made possible by the vertical integration of the camera, image processing, and publishing software in the phone.

Differences in image quality are a minor issue for the vast majority of photographers when compared to the convenience, ease, and fun of doing photography with a smartphone.

This is why we the dedicated digital camera market saw seven years of steady, constant contraction until the pandemic. There's no indication the camera manufacturers have any intention of developing a product built around a similar interface or experience. That doesn't mean someone (Sony?) isn't working on it. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the product announcement.

Yes, that was one of the causes of the collapse, but it wasn't the main one (note that in dedicated cameras you can choose from full-auto mode to manual, via semi-automatic and various scene modes).
Most of the industry's customers just wanted to capture images with some quality and had no other alternatives, so inevitably it was going to lose market share, but I never thought it would be so abruptly.
One thing is certain at the moment: a smartphone is no substitute for a dedicated camera and a dedicated camera is no substitute for a smartphone.

It depends on the " photography" that the " photographer " wants

The user interface and user experience were the main reasons for the decline of the dedicated digital camera market. Most people who use smartphone cameras for occasional snaps and develop an interest in doing more photography stayed with the smartphone camera platform. These were photographers who, in the early 2000s, were buying point & shoots. Starting in the late 2000s, they opted instead for their smartphone cameras and the bottom fell out of the P&S market.

But the smartphone didn't stop, there. Sales of digital interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs) steadily declined from 2013 to 2020. As happened with P&S cameras, new enthusiast photographers began opting for the smartphone platform. In recent years, serious amateurs and professionals have been choosing to do photography with smartphone cams rather than ILCs.

What's abrupt about a decade-long decline in sales and market share? The erosion of the dedicated digital camera market has been ongoing since 2013. There are a large number of smartphone photographers who do work at a high level and would disagree with your statement that the camera they've chosen is no substitute for a dedicated ILC.

The vast majority of the world's photographers choose the smartphone cam.

I can only state my own case.
I wanted to take photos of the dogs at a breeder's place. So I got my phone out (which has a reasonable spec camera) and started snapping. Very quickly I was missing shots because of sunlight on the screen or just not being able to see the shot properly. Sure I could shift my body to shade the sun but not always. Composing was often difficult. I soon realised I needed a dedicated camera. So I bought a compact. The bug has since bitten me and I am really enjoying photography as a hobbyist.
I can't for the life of me understand how a "professional" photographer could rely on a smartphone to ply his trade. Not saying a smartphone couldn't compliment one's gear list, but really, after aquiring just a mid range compact, I don't even think of using my phone if I don't have my camera. Such is the difference to me of having a tool that allows me to adjust settings, compose, and see clearly what I am going to get. I guess a real estate / used car salesperson, or a landscape shooter, could get their shots, but that's just a couple of specific use cases. I have a fair idea now, what camera(s) I want next, and I wont be making calls from them...
To me, the camera market has shrunk because part time users have found a phone can suffice. The mass market who don't care if the camera they bought ends up gathering dust in a cupboard, now use their phone. The social media mob who never see their pics full screen.
And for similar reasons photog web sites and magazines will shrink. The market will stabilise and most likely rationalise, but please don't tell me a phone can supplant a dedicated camera...

Funny how different things seem important to different people. I've been a member there for coming up 13 years, & never once in that whole time thought that the presentation was lacking, missing anything, or looked old. I only noticed the content, which, by and large, was excellent. It (the forum) was easy to navigate and manage, easy to link & upload photos, if I had to complain about anything it would be the image size restrictions. Which, due to being privately owned, I can understand the reasoning for that.
Sure, you got your range of shots from beginner to working professional, but to me, content was king. And there was plenty of content there for sure. Not laboratory tests or scientific testing, but tons of real world user experience. Which generally makes for interesting viewing. For me.
But it seems like times are changing, & technicalities and technology now seem to hold greater importance. In forums anyway. For the worse I feel. but maybe I'm just getting old. Certainly not resistant to change, but not interested in change just for change sake. Anyway, it is what it is, see what plays out over the next 10 years.

This^^^^^^^^^^^ Phone ergonomics are utterly horrible. Disgraceful. An abomination. I'm forever getting my fingertips in the shots, dropping the damn thing due to trying to hold onto it with just your fingertips, accidentally pressing virtual onscreen buttons, getting bad camera shake, and so on, and so forth. If you tried to design a worse item for capturing photographs with ease & comfort, I don't think you could. I take photographs for enjoyment, there is none of that when using a phone. For me.

Exactly...