Travel Forum Section....

[poker]

It has been brought up before. I still think there should be a section for travel here. I think travel/vacations and photography go hand in hand. It's has to be one of the top five reasons people even become photographers.

Do I have a show of hands??? Anyone, anyone???

The section should promote a location anywhere in the world that is accessible to the public.

Not included, "I'm from Los Angeles and I flew to my aunt's house in Arizona. Here's a picture of her dog in the backyard"

Included, "I went to Arizona and shot the Grand Canyon. It was 8AM when I started this photo friendly tour blah...blah...blah...etc."

Not included, "Los Angeles is a great place. I ate at the Magic Castle in Hollywood but it is exclusive by invitation only. Here are my photos...."

Included, "I'm a photographer in Las Vegas. If you come here, I recommend shooting the fountain in front of the Bellagio at this time but bring a tripod blah...blah...blah...etc."

Included, "I'm going to Florida in November....any advice from a photographer's perspective?"

I hope some will help me lobby for this cause.

[mjs1973]

I was in favor of a travel forum before, and I still am.

My only concern is, how much work it is for the people behind the scene? I have no idea how much time and effort it takes to create a new forum, and moderate it, and who knows what else needs to be done that we, the end users, have no clue about. If it's going to be a lot of work, with out a lot of participation, then it realy isn't worth it. But if it's a pretty simple task, with a good amount of participation, I'm all for it. I think that it would get some very informitive posts, but will it take posts away from other forums?

[poker]

I was in favor of a travel forum before, and I still am.

My only concern is, how much work it is for the people behind the scene? I have no idea how much time and effort it takes to create a new forum, and moderate it, and who knows what else needs to be done that we, the end users, have no clue about. If it's going to be a lot of work, with out a lot of participation, then it realy isn't worth it. But if it's a pretty simple task, with a good amount of participation, I'm all for it.

I'll try not to assume anything but being a programmer by profession, adding a forum should not take much work technically.

I think that it would get some very informitive posts, but will it take posts away from other forums?

This is a concern for the powers that be around here. I don't think it will take away from other forum but rather complement other forums. I think in the last "travel forum" discussion, people said just throw it in Viewfinder. Travel photography and the advice/stories inherit to the topic is an animal that would grow nicely around here. Travel photography gets lost in Viewfinder seeing that forum is going to hit 50,000 post soon. How will anyone find Loren's awesome series from Glacier National Park in Viewfinder:

Back from Glacier

A Travel forum will move specific threads out of Viewfinder which I think is a good thing. People are also embarrassed to show their "cliché" tourist shots but now there will be a place to show them. Like when I posted a Trevi Fountain Shot from Rome, someone else shared their version of the same location:

Which is better? (Trevi Fountain)

I think it is worth the effort and will help redistribute the topics.

[Loupey]

I think it's a good idea and it should be very useful/informative to the members.

My only observation is that each location should have just one thread and that everyone posting images of that location be included there. That way, people can easily access all info/images without having to track down 7 threads about "Billings, Montana".

People could still post these images in VF for discussion. But the same images in Travel would be more-or-less permanent.

[poker]

My only observation is that each location should have just one thread and that everyone posting images of that location be included there. That way, people can easily access all info/images without having to track down 7 threads about "Billings, Montana".

Some other forums end up working that way as well. For example, I go to audio video site sometimes to get info on my TV and stereo gear. They have ONE thread on the TV model that go on forever. The topics within the thread change every five post.

One other reason PR should consider this is that I don't think the other Photog sites have a specific topic for it. Imagine we have a strong thread on PARIS and the people doing research on traveling there end up on the PR site. They will get tips on how to shoot the location on thier vacation. AND, someone told me that site like these sites run off of CLICKS. PR can consider sell banner space of the TRAVEL forum for travel related bookings. (probably better than selling banner space to classmate location sites).

Heck I don't know how it works.....I just think it is a good idea.

PJ will respond eventually

[poker]

I just GOOGLE'd "paris and photography" and a Photo.net site came up first but I didn't notice any forums relating to it. I can imagine PR placing first...oooooh...that would be profitable

[Photo-John]

I like this idea. I think it would be great for the site. It's easy to add a new forum. However, my concern is always how much use a forum will get. If only a few people are going to use it, it just ends up making us look bad. So I have to be very confident it's something that more than 5 or 6 people actually want.

Let's keep talking about it and see what happens. Keep sharing your ideas about how it should work. Having one thread per location is a nice idea, but I don't see it actually working in practice. That was my original plan for the Dealer Feedback Forum. But people don't read the intro and post however they please. Pretty soon you lose the structure you had intended. Forums are somewhat organic in that respect. You can have all kinds of ideas about how you want them to be. But in the end they pretty much grow the way they want to.

[Loupey]

You can have all kinds of ideas about how you want them to be. But in the end they pretty much grow the way they want to.

The universe abhors a vacuum and loves chaos You're right - without a superhuman effort by the travel moderator of directing and enforcing the posting structure, I can see this happening on day #2.

That being the case, this forum would probably not be used as a "travel guide" for someone planning an extended trip to a specific location. But more like a "I'll have to remember to see that place the next time I'm in ____". Still a perfectly good reason to have the forum IMO.

[mjs1973]

Loupey is right. The Travel Forum mods would have to be on their toes to keep the threads together. I think that would be a lot easier to do starting out with a new forum and a proactive mod, or two. The mods could combine the threads as they are posted if need be, vs going back through a couple hundred old threads and combining them all.

[Asylum Steve]

Let's keep talking about it and see what happens. Keep sharing your ideas about how it should work...

I like the idea, and would certainly contribute. I'd would also be happy to keep an eye on it.

I really don't see where this type of forum would have to have any more structure than any of the other forums. The Help forum is a total mish-mosh of topics and threads, and it seems to work just fine.

We have thread search tools readily available to every member. The key is convincing people they should make their thread titles logical and more subject specific!

[poker]

********* TRAVEL FORUM GUIDELINES SUGGESTIONS *******************
********* TRAVEL FORUM GUIDELINES SUGGESTIONS *******************

Sticky: Travel Photography Forum Guidelines

Please read these guidelines and follow them when using the Travel Photography Forum

- Please post photos with identifiable travel locations accessible to the public
- With any new thread please write the location, city, and country in at least the first post
- Be critical of posting tight shots of still life or people (portraits) that do not clearly attribute to the location
- Describe the photos relevance to the location if unclear (relevant to previous bullet)
- If looking for a critique, consider posting in the Photo Critque Forum first
- Use the Travel Forum if you would like to see shots from other members of a location also for comparison to your own photos
- Consider adding your photos to an existing thread of the same location. Use the forum search feature to locate existing location threads
- Feel free to ask for travel tips to a location preferably related photography (e.g. Does anyone know if they allow tripods in Notre Dame de Paris?)
- Promote the photographic appeal of your hometown. So even if you didn't travel there since you live there, maybe someone else will.

********* TRAVEL FORUM GUIDELINES SUGGESTIONS *******************
********* TRAVEL FORUM GUIDELINES SUGGESTIONS *******************

Alright! Steve has stepped up to the 'moderating' plate!

Let's keep the fire buring until the Travel Forum gets on the list

[Didache]

Hi all .. I just came across this thread and want to register my support for a travel forum. If you look at the stuff I put in the critique forum you will see that 75% of it is travel stuff (Venice was the last one). I would certainly use it.

Cheers
Mike

[poker]

I like this idea. I think it would be great for the site. It's easy to add a new forum. However, my concern is always how much use a forum will get. If only a few people are going to use it, it just ends up making us look bad.

After you create the forum, consider searching viewfinder and/or photo critique for travel related threads and move them into the Travel Forum Section. It will give the new section a jumpstart in content. the idea is probably not new to anyone

bump

[MarcusK]

I'm all for this section, and here's my brainstorming contributions:

1- Regarding your fears John, i believe they are unwarranted... many people have already travelled and taken pics, many of us are planning one trip or the next... Plus, this attracts a different set of users, the ones who are a wee bit afraid to post and share, since they have , as manasca said, "touristic" photos...the numbers are sure to grow, and usage will sure be up there once its up and running...

2- A travel narrative could be included with every post, which will automatically include all required details (From equipment, to location map, how to get there, what is allowed or not, what were the prices, how difficult it was so on and so forth) This would truly enhance the experience to many who happen to be interested in photography without being photogrpahers (amateurs or pros) themselves...

3- In the guidelines you suggested searching for a thread of a location, why not have it as a must, and the locations will have to be titled by city...Therefore, Paris is Paris, and in it, i am sure many people will be going to different places, and see different places, hence the banner on travel and tourism that could benefit the forum (i love this forum ) the posts in each thread will include Date and particular location....

This truly has the potential of being the most fun section of the whole forum... and it will be considered the "Bank of Travel Guides" by which i mean, here people will share locations and their photographic qualities....it gives the photography enthusiasts out there a DESTINATION to go to.... I love travelling, but sometimes i really dont know where to go... or cant choose!

So yeah, i'm in, and whatever i can do to help...i'm into that too

Marc

[walterick]

Woo-hoo! I'm glad to see the Travel Forum idea revived!

I put this idea out in the VF a while ago, and there was an enthusiastic response. I think what killed the idea was other people wanted their forum ideas made too, like a Pets Forum and all kinds of things...

I still love the idea of a Travel Forum. Would it draw traffic off the other forums? Yes. But just like the N&W forum, I think the amount of new traffic it would generate would more than make up for the dilution in the other forums. Plus, PR is growing strongly, and pretty soon any dilution to the VF, for instance, might be a good thing...

If this were made, I would love to moderate it. At the time I made the original VF post, another mod had volunteered to help mod it as well. So, with Asylum Steve joining in that would make 3 mods already ready to do the dirty work.

Speaking of modding, I think the idea of keeping threads combined is a good one. It would be a really simple matter to move threads into each other. One of our "move thread" options is to move a thread into an existing one. That way all the Paris shots are together, along with Grand Canyon, etc. But not all threads would have to be combined, there would be plenty of trips and travelogues that stood as their own threads.

I am still behind this 100%. There were others that were, too, that haven't found this thread yet. Keep the dream alive, Eric

[MarcusK]

Eric,

Without mentioning again all the reasons as to why i love it, i do have somewhat of a suggesstion... we can set up a blog for test and post the link in our signature, and start posting pics there to show what we had in mind... we would keep the "touristic" and artistic ones, and have samples for people to decide if they would like to join or not... I think this would make for the best aproach to keeping the dream alive... and even more, translating it into reality....

Then again, all those who are already in favour of the Travel forum, could simply add this to their signature:

All those who are interesting in having a Travel Section in this Forum go to the following thread (we insert the following thread link here ) and throw in yuor comment!

I sure hope this helps and works out.... :thumbsup:
Marc

[Didache]

Once again, let me just reiterate my support for this one. I have two trips coming up this year and it would be really good if there was a forum for them. Plus I (an I imagine a lot of people) have images on file which just do not "fit" in the other forums.

Cheers
Mike

[poker]

Once again, let me just reiterate my support for this one. I have two trips coming up this year and it would be really good if there was a forum for them. Plus I (an I imagine a lot of people) have images on file which just do not "fit" in the other forums.

I'm going to Big Bear this weekend to see snow for the first time in years. I think my questions for the weekend would nicely fit in a Travel forum and when I come back I would sharing my trip's photos there as well.

Looking forward to seeing or hearing more about your trip Mike.

Hey Marc....I like the blog idea but I'll post something Travel related in my own Blog. I don't want to create a Blog I can't maintain......my own blog here is dead as it stands. I'll update my blog, I swear!

I also added something in my signature like you suggested....let's see what happens.

[MarcusK]

Ok Eric,

I added my own link to the Thread, and i will look into the blog maintenance thing... I'll have to try it here, and see what i can do.... I really want this Section to kick off....

[GB1]

Yes! Sounds like a great idea. People can post recommendations of great places to travel to and get interesting photos.

GB