What is the purpose of this forum?

[Almark]

When I first joined this forum I saw an AV by Barry Beckham. I did not know who he was, or anything about him. I pointed out two things that I saw and thought could be improved on. BB came back and said, "well seen, I missed that" and thanked me for me comments. Since then I found the forum to be a source of wonderful examples of AV work. Viewing other peoples work can be inspiring, and then reading the constructive feedback by others, makes me watch the show again and consider the comments made.

I often give detailed feedback, and simply comment on what I like, don't like in the hope that folk will take such feedback as simply information. Take it and use it, or bin it as you wish. Human Nature, being what it is, tends to make folk respond to individuals AV's if they have taken the time to do the same for them.

I must say that I have gained a lot from this forum, but I am concerned about many of the recent posts, that may be considered banter, or just for a laugh. (Or perhaps vindictive, malicious, intent on stirring up debate.) This is not what I joined this forum for.

So what do you think the purpose and priorities of this forum should be?

[Lin Evans]

Hi Mark,

Perhaps we should not limit this particular "part" of the forum to a critique and "help" session. Though I totally agree that when the poster solicits C&C that your comments are spot on; sometimes people post shows for totally different reasons. Many are interested in improving their skills as audio visual producers, but other create shows to simply impart information about a particular subject, or perhaps to demonstrate a particular technique or ask for help in trying to achieve a specific effect.

Maybe the suggestion could be made that if one wants constructive criticism they should say "C&C welcome" at the end of their post or link. This is a common procedure on photography forums. Then if this isn't done, the assumption could be made that the poster isn't interested in opinions about what other think about the technical or artistic aspects, but was just imparting information about their subject matter or demonstrating a special effect. The issue is, that it's very difficult to understand the myriad reasons why one might want to post.

Photographers may just want to demonstrate their art or craft. Educators may want to present information. Technicians may want to demonstrate techniques or effects. Fortunately, we have all of these different types of personality on the PTE forums. It could be that the forum management might want to consider splitting the "Slideshows Created in PTE" into two parts: one for comments, suggestions, criticism, etc., and another for simple demonstrations or educational purposes were viewers would be welcome to comment on those specifics, but not on the "artistic or creative" aspects of audio visual presentation. We could go off for hours on rather controversial subjects such as, whether or not to include portrait versus landscape orientation, borders, multiple transitions, include video - all things which are, in the opinion of many, simply opinions based on personal preferences rather than "cut in stone" rules and regulations....

Just some food for thought....

Best regards,

Lin

[Conflow]

Good Morning Guys,

Mark I am inclined to agree with Lins' comments for the reason that the vast majority of people simply use a modern tool

"The Digital-Camera" ~ to take photos of persons/groups/things purely for archival purposes to show to family & friends.

Its a modern-convenience whose product does not require processing and if the photos can be shown on TV thats even better.

The general public couldn't care less as to how it works nor who designed it nor about the software to put it on TV.

Appreciating that simple concept everything else thereafter is either subjective or objective depending on the product usage.

The use of the 'Digital-Cameras' falls into a vast range of applications ranging from: AV-Utilities, TV-Utilities, Medical, Security,

Architectural, Traffic, Aerial, Marine, Fisheries, Energy-Applications, Engineering, Transport, and Forensics just to mention a few

where each and every one has its own unique disciplines and applications.

Forgive me for making this point;- When I hear someone saying I'm a Professional-Photographer...am I supposed to be impressed !!

Considering my previous comment I certainly am not impressed because to me that person is one who makes money by taking

Photographs (per-se) and who who tends to forget the thousands of Engineers & Technicians whose work is embodied in that new

Digital-Camera (in his hands) and those contributions made it possible for him to take 'binary-images' where before this epoch he

had to do the entire processing himself from taking the Photograph to Developing it, Fixing,Drying,Proofing,Enlarging and Mounting it.

That 'old-boy' was the true Professional a fact which the Royal Photographic Society and others Associations tend to forget in their

efforts to plagiarise the modern "Photo-Optics Industry" as if it was their own invention....it certainly is not !!

,

The point of my argument is this ~ There are very few genuine Photographers left on this Planet so for all intents and purposes we are

all convenience users of a machine called a Digital-Camera ~ no creativity needed ~ excepting those who compose a nice Photograph

as an Art-Form (just like an original Oil-Painting) whereas everything else depends on the whims of Technology whether that be modern

AV-Productions or Video-Productions or android PhotoShop-Productions....etc,etc.

"There are no adaptive methods nor rules chissled-in-stone"....Just the current available Technology and for that convenience we all should

be thankful to our Engineers (irrespective of nationality) for they are the true modern Photographic-Experts...not us, nor the R.P.S, nor the

new breed of IT (pseudo) Professionals whose job would not exist except for the work of Computer & Software Engineers alike.

All I can say is thank God for the creativity of the Forum Members who use the PTE-Slideshow and to the Technicians and Administrators

who help them to achieve their goals in this new Creative-Science because thats exactly what it is....pure scientific technology. AV is only

a tiny part of this Industry and it sure gives pleasure to very many people. But there are those who want to control this Media for personal

and corporate profit which include Associations and Governments... These are the people we should worry about.

After that I'm going to have another cup of Tea ~ at least thats chissled in stone...

Brian (Conflow)

[dpletts]

I must say that I have gained a lot from this forum, but I am concerned about many of the recent posts, that may be considered banter, or just for a laugh. (Or perhaps vindictive, malicious, intent on stirring up debate.) This is not what I joined this forum for.

I have found some, what I can only call 'strange' posts, recently on this forum, and can't understand what it's about. I am sorry to say there are also some posters who appear to favour their own ideas very strongly, and seem to disapprove if an AV doesn't meet their self-imposed standards. I think that all three, so far, contributors to this thread have important points to make, and have made them clearly, concisely and tactfully. Food for thought, indeed.

It is also good to see how those people who have a second (or more) attempt at producing a show improve their presentation, obviously benefiting from the helpful comments they receive. Yes, this is a good forum; let's not spoil it.

David P

[fh1805]

...but I am concerned about many of the recent posts, that may be considered banter, or just for a laugh. (Or perhaps vindictive, malicious, intent on stirring up debate.) This is not what I joined this forum for.

Mark,

I, too, share your concerns on this point. However, I think part of this "problem", if it is a problem, lies in the technology. With the widespread use of broadband connections and PCs that are "always on", it has become possible to use forums such as this in a manner similar to chat rooms. Such use, by its very nature, will tend to have a different tone and emphasis compared to the more traditional use.

Is such use of the forum wrong? I don't have an answer, I'm afraid. Having given the users a tool (the forum), I think we must then accept that different users will use it in different ways.

To my mind, the strength of this forum lies in the depth and breadth of knowledge held by the experience PTE users, and their willingness to share this knowledge freely and in a friendly manner with those who come here wanting to learn more about this wonderful product - a product which we, the users, deploy in so many different ways whether for business or for pleasure.

Truly, variety is the spice of life when it comes to PTE usage.

regards,

Peter

[Almark]

Thank you all for your feedback, like David P above I have also come across some 'strange' posts (very politely put). However I take on board all the comments made: I fully agree with Lin that perhaps folk that want feedback should ask for it, (I have amneded my first post to reflect this). I can also see Peter's point about social networks broadband and so on. (I use the messaging service within facebook for all my text messages and it is now almost replacing my email.)