The forum is and was, for me while I was on staff, a place to learn and gleen hints for better skills. I felt the challenge, the different games played and the announcements of achievement/personal elations were s big draw. Every day I checked for something. I tried to find hints and links after Bruce left but with the backlog of the 7 galleries I stood over, and keeping the features active in each one, I fell short. Tom Dart and Jeroni threw in and filled out the form from time to time with threads that made the community respond, but no one seemed to want to perpetuate the discussions or initiate anything.  I remember posting questions in several forums I moderated about what types of things people wanted to see in the discussions. I asked for input for ideas I was developing to peak interest. Even when I ran the occasional contest in the forum, out of all the photographers in the community, I would be lucky if I got 30 voters stepping up to simply say "1, 2 or 3" as their vote.  The appathy is astounding.

I don't blaim it on anyone or anything, but, Rich, you are right. Our community is shrinking. The other day I found only 40 posts in the Photography Gallery were done in a 24 hour period. Only 2 pages archived for the day. I remember when 7 pages per day was not unusual in a day's time. Now it seems sad to see the few struggling photographers posting and trying to find someone who has the same passion; who  wants to reach out and say more than "nice photo," or "good job."

Flannel Knight's Photos
MrsLubner
Forum Moderator
______________________
"It please me to take amateur photographs of my garden,
and it pleases my garden to make my photographs look
professional."
                                          Robert Brault