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Members drifting away?

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bassrock
 
Posts: 164

Members drifting away?

Post Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:49 am


Is it my imagination or are there fewer pictures being uploaded these days?
I suspect that since the upload problems a couple of months ago, many members have been drifting away from this site.
I know my daily hits have been declining. Although I don't trust the accuracy of the hit counter, I do think the trend is downwards.
And there are fewer pictures on PAD. The gallery shows about 16 pages of pictures but not many people are uploading daily. Looking at the 18th of Feb, only about 50 to 60 pictures were uploaded to PAD. I am not criticising anyone, and I have been tempted to give up myself and it becomes harder as fewer people are involved.
I do so wish the owners and admin would show a bit more enthusiasm themselves, and engage with their supporters and subscribers, and breath some new life into the site.
I have looked at alternatives but prefer the PBase layout, but I fear this site is slowly running out of steam :(

dw_thomas
 
Posts: 481

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Fri Feb 19, 2016 6:56 pm


Alas, best I can tell your observations are accurate. Dunno what else to say, other than the neglect and inattention is very disappointing. I suppose if the site were to be bought up by one of the biggies, we'd be seeing the last product we looked at on LL Bean or K-Mart being thrown in our faces as we cruised the galleries.

(Depressing, actually!) :cry:

DaveT

amoxtli
 
Posts: 3296
Location: San Diego, California

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:48 am


Hello,

I posted this message in the Show & Tell Forum today in answer to the lack of submissions to the last Show & Tell Competition and less activity on PBase. I think it fits in this thread well:

"As for activity on PBase declining, I think probably most of us who are active here can see that in the stats. Also many subscribers have left, including many that were active in this competition.
The Show & Tell Competition is not the only activity for photo submissions on PBase experiencing a decline, both the once popular Weekly and the Monthly Challenges on the PaD Forum have been suspended. At one point circa 2009 the Monthly Challenge had nearly 1,000 replies per month. This dropped to 37 replies in January, 2016. I was co-host of the Weekly Challenge for years and we often had 60 or more submissions per week, until interest waned.
Several factors have been blamed for this, lack of development of the PBase site, lack of communication by management, problems such as slowness with the PBase site, competition from sites such as 500px (where there is an active expat PBase community by the way) and the ease and number of views received by posting on social media.
These are just a few of my observations.
Best to you all,
Walter"
Walter Otto Koenig Architectural Photography: http://www.wokoenig.net

General Photography: http://www.wokoenig.com

Pacific Photographic Society: http://www.pacificphoto.net

fishit
 
Posts: 797
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Wed Feb 24, 2016 1:18 am


I am still posting when I have time, but doing more else where since they are a committed business.
The freedom of style sheets keeps many people, for $24.00 it is not bad, I worry mostly how long it will stay online.
That is why I only upload in PAD, I feel there is no real plan at PBase, slug could pull the plug tomorrow.

As for forum contest I have not had time to devote to the contest and judge a contest correctly.
Walter it is clear PBase owners no longer find the website is a priority for them.
As I had mentioned before their kids are older taking time as well as their jobs, this just runs most times.

richo
 
Posts: 247

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Wed Feb 24, 2016 6:10 am


bassrock wrote:Is it my imagination or are there fewer pictures being uploaded these days?
I suspect that since the upload problems a couple of months ago, many members have been drifting away from this site.
I know my daily hits have been declining. Although I don't trust the accuracy of the hit counter, I do think the trend is downwards.
And there are fewer pictures on PAD. The gallery shows about 16 pages of pictures but not many people are uploading daily. Looking at the 18th of Feb, only about 50 to 60 pictures were uploaded to PAD. I am not criticising anyone, and I have been tempted to give up myself and it becomes harder as fewer people are involved.
I do so wish the owners and admin would show a bit more enthusiasm themselves, and engage with their supporters and subscribers, and breath some new life into the site.
I have looked at alternatives but prefer the PBase layout, but I fear this site is slowly running out of steam :(


I just paid for another year and mainly because I have used the site for image linking. Also over the years have worked my way up to the top on Google search. However, I am already moving my images to a cloud storage with CDN. That will improve performance and allow me to reuse the image in my own sites. I just wish the owners would honor those of us who have been here from the very early days and gave support $$ even when it was not required. A post here or an email or even a service message would show that they are even still here and care. Sometimes I wonder if they still even own the site. Does anyone personally know them and if they are even alive?

jypsee
 
Posts: 1247

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:32 pm


I'm still here for two reasons: I like the layout wherein I can actually have a gallery that looks like a gallery, and I can't link a photo from Flickr thanks to the stupid way that site handles html when I use my iPad ... Besides, I have a family history gallery that took years to set up. If this site goes under my whole family will be pissed off. Hmmm...maybe I need to think about this...

fromtheheart
 
Posts: 98

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Thu Mar 17, 2016 12:52 pm


I've been with PBase for 10 years and have seen the quality of service come and go. It has become worse lately.

As a business owner, I feel the problem is a general lack of commitment by the owners of PBase. That attitude does not usually end well for the owners or the customers. Seeing the writing on the wall so to speak, can anyone recommend a decent, customer-paid (that is, no ads), online photo database? I would prefer one with a migration service to recover my photos from PBase. I have a lot invested here. It's so disappointing.

paulsilkphotography
 
Posts: 70

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Sat Apr 02, 2016 11:41 am


Been with them since 2004 and just had the automated notice to renew, I do not think I will be renewing. Just like the owners Emily and Slug I to cannot be bothered any more.
Last edited by paulsilkphotography on Fri May 06, 2016 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Keep on snapping and catch the moment if you can.
Paul

http://www.pbase.com/paulsilkphotography

kstuebin
 
Posts: 1541

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Sun Apr 03, 2016 11:06 am


I'm still on here but I hardly ever post any photos any more. I like to comment and that became such a chore it wasn't even enjoyable any more. As for the owners, I think they've answered the many requests for support loud and clear and the message is "We don't care." I defy anyone to offer a different interpretation to the total lack of response. Whether it is because they don't need the income or they don't want to deal with the issues is a moot point now. They're not going to do anything. I will stay to the end I guess but I do think there is going to be one. I don't see any way this ends well.

alpiner
 
Posts: 27

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Sun Apr 03, 2016 2:22 pm


Why??? Why is this mystery happening? When I joined in 2006 it was wonderful..... exciting and so enjoyable. It was, and still is in my opinion, stylistically, the best of this type of websites. Super gallery designs and layout, and easy navigation. OK, there were times when things didn't work properly, but they were often fixed reasonably quickly, and, if not, PBase kept us informed about the problems. Now, I can't understand this silence from them, about anything and everything. Surely some communication from them , however bad the information, is better than nothing? It couldn't be worse than the depressing silence for months and months, which is disrespectful to their paying members, especially to those who are trying to communicate with them. Are they happy to see so many disgruntled members leaving, or just giving up posting and/or visiting? We are also losing much of the friendly, global communication it facilitated. Run properly couldn't it be a really successful site again, and who wouldn't want that? Please PBase, some acknowledgement and explanation of this situation, could help stop this, and perhaps an apology wouldn't go amiss as well.

helenpb
 
Posts: 78

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Mon Apr 11, 2016 12:37 pm


Well, I think the activity is down to dismal levels. Many of my Pbase friends are posting only now and then, and hits on pictures are lower and comments fewer. There used to be certain times of day when a lot of people were posting pictures; now my Favorites page can sit for hours with nothing new uploaded.

It's very sad because this used to be such an enjoyable place to be, but now it's just frustrating. I guess members are moving elsewhere, which I don't really want to do because I like the setup and the people on Pbase, but not sure how much longer I can take this. The lack of communication on the part of management surely hasn't helped anything; the slowness a while back didn't either. And this morning the site crashed and was down for maybe a half hour. It still isn't working properly, in particular Messages. I just have the feeling that something worse is going to happen soon...

laroseforest
 
Posts: 1898

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:42 pm


Just adding my two cents worth to the issue of people drifting away from PBase. I know many who have left, fed up with continuing problems, but more, they are upset with lack of communication from the owners of the site. There was a time when they were right on top of things and would let us know about a problem pretty quickly and then provide updates. Not any longer. I am still here for now, because I like the format of PBase, it has no ads, and I like the community of people I've met here on PBase.But the owners are doing a good job of encouraging members to leave. Today's problem with not being able to access PMails is another example of the ongoing frustration with PBase of late. At the very least, it would be courteous of the owners to give us an update, to acknowledge that something is wrong, let us know they care enough to fix it. And like Helen and others, I've noticed fewer comments and fewer visits compared to earlier days.

imorozoff
 
Posts: 1008

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Wed Apr 20, 2016 2:43 am


I'm grateful to the Pbase community for friendships and mentoring I received in when I was first joined and was actively learning. However, it became apparent that the owners lost interest after the big crash some years ago. What used to be an enjoyable place, became a source of frustration. All the while, other photo hosting sites were coming on board with modern interfaces, usable and functioning features and equally engaging communities. It was an easy decision to delete my galleries and move elsewhere.

amoxtli
 
Posts: 3296
Location: San Diego, California

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:52 pm


imorozoff wrote: equally engaging communities.


I'd like to know where Inge, I have not found that on flickr, zenfolio,smumug, and others. I'm also on 500px right now. Apart from a few ex-PBasers I have no interaction there with other subscribers at all, but here on PBase I have "contacts 984". I received my 150,000th comment here a few days ago, I don't know of any other site where I would get that much feedback, but more importantly the amount of regular interaction and friendships!
Walter Otto Koenig Architectural Photography: http://www.wokoenig.net

General Photography: http://www.wokoenig.com

Pacific Photographic Society: http://www.pacificphoto.net

alpiner
 
Posts: 27

Re: Members drifting away?

Post Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:24 pm


amoxtli wrote:
imorozoff wrote: equally engaging communities.


I'd like to know where Inge, I have not found that on flickr, zenfolio,smumug, and others. I'm also on 500px right now. Apart from a few ex-PBasers I have no interaction there with other subscribers at all, but here on PBase I have "contacts 984". I received my 150,000th comment here a few days ago, I don't know of any other site where I would get that much feedback, but more importantly the amount of regular interaction and friendships!


I agree, despite still being sad about the decline in communications from PBase, and the membership. I have had a good look at all these other sites and they seem to lack the level of community we have here, and none have the excellent display and navigation formats we also have. Which makes it more of a shame and a mystery as to why it seems that PBase is not being developed or administered properly, at present.

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