Private Section for Members Only

[John Walker]

Following on from my comment on a current thread, I strongly feel that there should be a 'private' section on the alamy Forums.

 

Some items under discussion should not be available for customers and non contributors to read.

 

This section should not even be visible to anyone else other than Alamy and Contributors.

 

Regards

 

John Walker

[Phil Robinson]

I agree. Discussions about prices and licenses and complaints about about low fees should not be available to potential customers - or other agencies. I get rather bored with many of these discussions anyway and don't contribute details myself, but if these subjects are going to be discussed in a forum, it should be kept private to contributors.

 

In fact I can't really see why any of the forum should be available to non-members except perhaps potential contributors - though they might not get a balanced view of the business from a cursory browse through some of the posts here.

[losdemas]

Agree totally.  Personally, I feel that the whole forum should be for contributors only, but if Alamy would only be prepared to offer one private forum for contributors only, then that would do.

[wiskerke]

A private section would do for me.

Plus a couple of moderators to move messages that are too explicit over there.

 

wim

[Bizair]

^^ I agree. After all, it is called a " Contributor's Forum".

[Richard Coombs]

Yeah, I'd go with that suggestion to.

[Stokie]

Seconded.

[John Walker]

It's good to see others feel the same way on this matter although I did think there would be more members wanting this.

 

What I have noticed on other forums where there is strictly members only section is that there is little sniping or 'trolling'.  Alamy would benefit too as they would see genuine concerns from members without it being broadcast to potential customers.

 

John

[Alex Todd]

I was nodding in agreement

 

I'll add my +1 to the list though. I did mention having a private section for contributors with a certain amount of images against their name way back when the new forum started.

[losdemas]

It's good to see others feel the same way on this matter although I did think there would be more members wanting this.

 

John

 

I suspect that fewer forum members view this sub-forum on a regular basis - it's good to have this thread here as it guarantees being read by Alamy, but I suspect that perhaps a poll in the main section would gather more feedback?

[John Walker]

 

It's good to see others feel the same way on this matter although I did think there would be more members wanting this.

 

John

 

I suspect that fewer forum members view this sub-forum on a regular basis - it's good to have this thread here as it guarantees being read by Alamy, but I suspect that perhaps a poll in the main section would gather more feedback?

 

Thanks for the poll suggestion losdemas - I've just started one on 'Ask the Forum'.   John

[Alamy]

We've posted a response in the 'Ask the Forum' thread but will copy it here for reference:

 

-------------

 

Hello everyone! It seems a good time to step in here having read all the comments so far

 

Having a ‘closed’ or ‘private’  forum (or forum section) pretty much goes against everything we want to achieve here. We recently re-launched the forum and the format you see it in now represents how we believe it to be at its most valuable – open and transparent. Communities and social media in the modern era are a wonderful thing. The emphasis lies in openness and sharing. Excluding people from the conversation based on how ‘experienced’ they are or whether or not they have a certain amount of  images with us, or have made a certain amount of sales etc etc is not in our ethos. Even having an open forum with a private section will lead people to feel marginalised and how is it dictated what types of conversation belong in the ‘private’ section and which do not?

 

We've added features that we believe have improved the general atmosphere such as the link to photographer portfolios and the reputation system. The current format allows brand new and even potentially new photographers to converse and mix with others who are just starting out or experienced Alamy members – this is a good thing. Having a closed section could make those who are not ‘full’ members feel excluded from the full community. We don’t want that.

 

Much of the reasoning put forward in this thread here seems to be centered around the ‘open’ discussing of discounts, refunds and customer pricing. Some have questioned why we ‘allow’ photographers to discuss such things on our own forum. The answer is simple – we've got nothing to hide. We strive to get the best deals for photographers and often we are having to compete with quotes that come in much lower than ours from other image providers. Pretending that deals are not made or even having them behind a ‘closed’ door doesn't alter the reality and if anything, allowing new or potential Alamy photographers to get involved in these conversations makes sense. A fresh perspective is good. Look on the other side too. Look at the positive threads. Topics about good sales and spotting usages. Why would it be good to hide those threads away from non-members or inexperienced members? Having a closed off section introduces a number of extra steps for member validation, confirmation, development and general admin. Our efforts are better diverted elsewhere. Your first post here already has to be approved by us, but we feel that’s as far as we want or need to go in terms of ‘vetting’.

 

We’d like to thank you for your suggestions and we do always read them with interest, but we want to confirm that the Alamy forum will remain an open one.

 

Many thanks

 

James Allsworth

Social Media Manager, Alamy