The only thing DPRforum/community has that's missing here is the red square indicating new posts in a participated thread.
Threaded view on DPreview was nice, but their web hosting got so slow that I stopped using it.
Otherwise the set-up of this DPRevived forum is the best yet. It's a bit like Pixls.us but better structured.
When will the trolls, spammers, post-bots, supercilious, and insulters find this forum? So far they're sticking to the old one. It takes a human to reprogram a post-bot, and trolls probably feel there's not enough activity here.
I found the forums at DPReview to be a noxious addiction. Getting banned for life from there improved my relationship to my photography and my photography gear.
Same thing here, but a bit different:
Press on that and it takes you to the first unread post.
There's a thread view coming along - won't be the same as DPReviews, but lets you do the same things.
Glad some people feel like that. It's got a lot going for it when you learn how to use it.
Previous forums I've run have been trolled and spammed from day one, even though smaller than this. For some reason, we haven't suffered yet. Let's hope it stays that way.
Others made some good points. I want to add a couple of my own thoughts.
"if making an alternative to DPR"... but nobody is really trying to make an exact replacement, nor did they claim to do so. In fact, one other site that had some potential of aiming for it closed down recently.
bobn2 clearly explained what this site was meant to be. Photography Life co-existed with DPR for a long time. Their focus was limited, with dedicated readers. They never tried or claimed to be a DPR alternative.
My feel is that you're judging all these sites for something they are not, like criticizing a tourist bus for not being a cruise ship. That was never my expectation.
But how many think they are a cruise ship but in reality, are nothing but a school bus?
Me thinks DPReview is stalling on closure in order to figure out a monetized subscription based site...
Evidently, according to Richard Butler, all the personnel (writers and editors, for instance) are still in full swing, writing reviews, and so on, but those that have wanted to leave the ship have done so, and the freelancers are gone, too).
No fixed closing day (after the original one) has been announced, so it seems a smaller crew keeps the boat afloat for the foreseeable future.
It's still a huge crew for a photographic website. I do wonder how long it's sustainable in that form without Amazon support. I would guess its outgoings will be in the order of $1M per year plus, even in its present form.
I think that they (had) 11 people on staff. 2 - the video folks - have left. Assuming that there are 9 remaining earning, on average in Seattle, $80k plus benefits (30%) it’s likely $1m in salaries alone.
Current staff list shows 10 - and doesn't include Chris and Jordan. I don't think they were ever 'on the staff', just freelancers with a running arrangement. That's why they were able to jump ship so quickly.
On the staff, they lost them and Rishi, but seem to have gained Shaminder Dulai, whose name appeared on the latest review, and I didn't recognise. He seems to be a pretty serious journalist, and has been there for about a month. So he actually joined after the official shutdown on April 10th. I'm guessing form his CV that he's essentially retired and working there part time.
I also noticed that today. When Amazon was interested in the site, the cost of hosting on their on servers was probably marginal, so they used the fastest service. Now who ever owns it wants to save money!