DPChallenge is nearly 6 years old and has over 86,000 registered users. One of our main goals is to foster a community of artists of all stripes with a variety of backgrounds and points of view. We want DPC to be a fun, educational, and spirited place whose focus is on photography, but with a healthy dose of friendship and debate.
Lately we have noticed an increasing amount of derogatory comments and snide remarks in the forums -- and not just in Rant threads. Often these are intended to be funny or snarky, but frequently they just come across as mean. Many of our users have been here for a long time and forget how intimidating it can be for a newbie to leap in and join the fun. We forget that not everyone understands our own twisted senses of humor and that not everyone is in on the inside jokes. And although we know that there are a billion threads on topics like 800 pixels and stolen images and no titles on challenges and "why did this score so low?", remember that not everyone knows that.
We respectfully request that everyone think before posting. Read back through your post and see if it really says what you intended it to. Make use of the "Preview" button to make sure you have your quotes in order. And, above all, please try to remember what it was like for your first month here. Help the newbies and bring them into the fold.
The Site Council will be increasing our moderation of the forums in an effort to keep this a fun, friendly place for all. We are not out to censor opinions, but to encourage mutual respect and civility. We want to increase our membership and we need you to help make DPC the best it can be. Please play nice.
as a newbie here i was scared at first but i just ignored the bad and actually most was good all my first pics had positive comments or suggestions...even though i thought the photos were ribbion worthy at the time...lol see my lowest 2 rated lol now i finally got a good camera and am producing sme good shots all thanks to DPC in the next 3 challenges i am expecting some mid 5s to low 6s actually so well see...i also just started shooting raw thanks to dpc...and Rob, noone will ever understand our geek/photographer humor if we dont use it...people will catch on hopefully...
This is all because I said that Bear_Music was a Fozzie Bear Wanna-Be right?
lol..in all seriousness thanks for the kick in the collective seat to remind us why we all came here to begin with: to learn photography in a friendly environment while sharing our passion for the art with like minded people.
A fair message, and i have seen a lot of those "why did my entry do pants" and "can you please give me comments"- both of which are annoyingly incongruous.
But I didn't feel there was becoming a 'troll' culture in the forums really and I've still found the forums ot be helpful, but I think with so many new users trying to make a name for themselves they sometimes get clogged up with mess.
