XtremeCamera

I just spent the weekend, along with the rest of the Admins, going through the last month of photos in the Member Gallery and reading each and every comment and critique. By Noon Sunday every Admin was depressed, disappointed, and defeated. I mean, seriously, what’s the point of trying to build a real community of photographers whose real goal here should be to become a better photographer when in its current state its just a popularity contest with 5 star votes/ratings begin given out to even the poorest of the photos? What’s the point?

So, I have to ask…. Why are you?

Seriously, ask yourself why you are here at XtremeCamera. There are hundreds of photo sites on the net, and with our small number of active members our sandbox is tiny. There are dozens of places you can go if all you want to go is meet up, gossip, hand out ratings, do drive by commenting, and generally piss off any member here that actually signed up to improve their own work in photography.

And why wouldn’t a photographer that joined us to become a better photographer be pissed off? Why should they waste their time being here if you’re not going to get worthy feedback while they see others are being handed out generous ratings and critiques (critiques that should have been comments) on photos that aren’t half as good as some of the ones being completely ignored?

This has to stop. This will stop. Today. Right now, we, the Admins, are embarrassed by the clique behavior that is apparent to anyone that takes a few minutes and browse the Member Gallery, we’re embarrassed by some members ignoring the critique guidelines, and we’re especially embarrassed by seeing 5 star ratings being handed out for no other reason than its “fun”, or “because he/she gave me 5 stars”.

We have suspended the two worst offenders for a month. There will undoubtedly be more in the coming days as we go through the rest of the gallery. I have no doubt that some members will be outright terminated. I’m also sure that many members will decide to leave, or not come back. And, well, to be honest, unless you are here to learn from others, be inspired and be inspiring, to contribute in a meaningful way, well, you know where the door is.

If, after taking these actions, we lose half the membership, what we will gain will far outweigh the loss. Visitors to this site, of which there are many, will see that we are trying to become a unique photo site, one in which the photograph is more important than the personality behind it, where cliques won’t be tolerated, where ALL members are treated equally, and where becoming better photographers is everyone’s goal.

Finally, we are posting this the Daily Snapshot in order for the visitors that come here can see it, read it, and believe it. And for the many members that go unnoticed, who post a photograph and get ignored and don’t return to post more, so that they too will see that we will no longer put up with this type of behavior.

Like I said, there are plenty of photo communities out there where you can go and play. Since we don’t depend on advertising dollars we all feel a small community of members that want to get something out of XtremeCamera is much better than becoming another pageview-whore site where anything goes and the more pageviews the more ad revenue.

You want to become a better photographer? Then stay, contribute, be respectful of ALL members. Write good critiques, leave good comments. Want to gossip, complain, and run in a clique? Leave. Period.

John Manzione
Julia Barnes
Steven McBride
Gail Perry
Robert Thorne
Cynthia Shane-Smith