I guess the phrasing could have been more apologetic, but I wouldn't be too harsh with them - navigating (presumably prolonged) limbo states like this well from a PR POV can be anything from difficult to impossible.
Maybe we can keep enjoying the reviews, specs, news, etcetera on DPReview, but much of the "discussion" will shift towards websites like this one. I certainly hope that they keep up with the Studio Comparison Tool, as that is the only existing resource I know of that can give you raw files of the same scene with careful exposure normalization.
What's the obsession with DPreview? Lots of you sound like jilted partners who have never gotten over their first boyfriend/girlfriend. What's with that?
It's interesting to note that the archiving is not mentioned in the latest update.
If it is complete then the clear implication is that there are things going on in the background there to maybe keep dpreview and the forums afloat and running.
I'm sharing an account there now so it will be interesting to see what happens there.
Not so sure. They've lost quite a few regular visitors, Chris and Jordan have taken their popular TV channel elsewhere, split their forum following between multiple competitive sites and damaged their reputation. If downsizing was what they wanted to do, it's a destructive way of going about it.
Heinz in the UK once announced they were dropping their 'Salad Cream' product, sales jumped and they cancelled the cancellation. I don't think the DPReview closure was handled in the same manner.
I agree. I don't think the shutdown was a gimmick. It was serious, and it has scattered members to the four winds. Possibly though that brought out someone with deep pockets or friends with them, to make an offer. Thus the "as there are updates to share" message. This reflects very poor decision making on the part of Amazon since they could have shopped the site before breaking it like they did. Peter Forsgard posted his thoughts on this yesterday, and some interesting thoughts in a prior video that I was unaware of until today. Peter Forsgard on latest DPR update
My main concern is for the long running thread that I have helped keep going for the last six years. If DPR stays, do I move it back? I think I'm going to need to poll the posters on that one. I can always link back to the prior 16 years on DPR if the site stays up. But it is maddening.
It is quite possible that after Amazon announced DPR's closure, someone came forward to buy at least part of it. They may be interested in keeping the old articles/reviews just to attract traffic and then actively promote the forums to explore sales opportunities. It has to be a site that has lot of online sales, like eBay for example.
If some arrangement comes out of it, it's not going to be the same DPR as before.