John Mitchell Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 When Alamy locks a forum thread, it would be helpful if they could give some information about why they decided to do this. I was under the impression that just about anything that does not deal with Alamy's competition was a fair topic of discussion on the forums. Thanks, -John M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Todd Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Yes, there is always someone with a bee in her (or his) bonnet. But that's a potential hazard in any discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I think there has been a change in the Forum. We used to be able to yammer on and on until we were exhausted. As I post this I worry about whether it displeases someone. The only part of the Forum that is still relaxed and and fun for me is the Challenge. I do still feel very positive about Alamy itself. I appreciate the opportunity to upload the images I like myself and have them accepted as long as I'm careful about the technical quality. I have been here long enough to see Alamy institute changes that we asked for. Altogether it is a good thing in my life. But the Forum doesn't feel right anymore. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 I think there has been a change in the Forum. We used to be able to yammer on and on until we were exhausted. As I post this I worry about whether it displeases someone. The only part of the Forum that is still relaxed and and fun for me is the Challenge. I do still feel very positive about Alamy itself. I appreciate the opportunity to upload the images I like myself and have them accepted as long as I'm careful about the technical quality. I have been here long enough to see Alamy institute changes that we asked for. Altogether it is a good thing in my life. But the Forum doesn't feel right anymore. Paulette Interesting comments. The old forum started to deteriorate as well after a while. Perhaps it has something to do with the law of entropy. Come to think of it, I should have posted this topic in "The Forum" subsection of "Suggestions and Ideas" rather than in the "Alamy" subsection. Sorry about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrioticAlien Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 My personal view of a forum should allow us to express our view and/or views/ask/concerns/joy etc (aslong they are within reason) without things just being locked. However if they are in the wrong section why not just move it to correct section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holmes Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 When Alamy locks a forum thread, it would be helpful if they could give some information about why they decided to do this. I was under the impression that just about anything that does not deal with Alamy's competition was a fair topic of discussion on the forums. Thanks, -John M Agreed. The latest example certainly gave the impression of heavy handedness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Forum have ups and downs . . . like life itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamy Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 As I post this I worry about whether it displeases someone. Sorry you feel like that Paulette, there is no need to! Much of the forum moderating goes unnoticed and behind the scenes. With so many posts and members, it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge getting the balance right but overall the Alamy forum is a nice place to be, much nicer than some other places anyway! If we lock or delete a thread, we'll usually send a private message to the topic starter to explain or we'll leave a closing statement before the lock. If we don't give an explanation it's usually because we feel that the latest comment in the thread made a great closing point and the thread had run its course. Sometimes it's obvious why we've deleted or locked something - it could be that the thread has gone wildly off topic or that the topic starter is continually making the same point but over different topics. We don't automatically lock/delete threads that talk about competitors. There is no need to call Getty "G" or Corbis "C" - it makes no difference. We will only lock or delete a thread that promotes our competitors. This is an Alamy forum, so it wouldn't be right to allow users to promote those who we are competing with. John - your thread was locked yesterday because you make many topics and posts about QC waiting times and we've continually given you the same stats and advice - the pass rate is high and the only way you can influence your wait time for failures is to continually send us technically high quality work. The QC pass rate monthly average is consistently over 90%. People who fail QC are in the strong minority, so flooding the forum with threads about long wait times is misleading for new visitors and not relevant to the majority of contributors. There were already three open threads on page one alone where you could have posted your question. Hopefully this clears things up. Cheers Alamy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 The new forum seems friendlier than the old one, IMO. Some of the regulars used to bang on and on about their particular bugbears, convinced that if they said the same thing often enough, they might change the minds of their fellow contributors... My own contribution to the ambience is not posting when drunk... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I suppose I have become much too paranoid about all this. When my thread about the red arrows was locked after two replies I tried to start a thread about the premature locking of threads and that was completely removed so quickly that I'm sure no one saw it. It was quite disturbing to me and I am glad this one has been allowed to continue. I thought John's thread about his QC problems was locked too soon because he was actually asking a slightly different question and still hadn't heard from anyone who had succeeded in getting back on a good track after many difficulties. He could have used some encouragement from the members and I don't think he was being critical of Alamy. He is obviously good enough to be making sales and is struggling to get his images on the site. I'm glad you didn't just lock this. I appreciate being able to express my point of view. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Thanks, Alamy, for your reply. Sorry, I hadn't realized that I've been overloading the forum with posts about QC waiting times. As Paulette mentioned, I thought the question that I posed was one that had not been dealt with previously and hence might be of interest to contributors. I do agree that the thread was going off-topic. However, I don't think that was my fault. I was trying my best to steer it back on track, which is not always easy. Have a nice day, -John M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamy Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Thanks John - try not to take a locked thread too negatively (appreciate it's easier said than done!) A locked thread doesn't always mean someone has done or asked something wrong, it just means that the thread has run it's course and has come to an end. Keeping things neat and tidy in one place helps keep things constructive. Cheers Alamy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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