Category: the fora

all that stuff people say online

Holding: serious jello

Posted on Posted in as written, da net, old bones, the fora 
holding onto jello
the past becomes your mistake

anger is an anchor that pulls you under so far you can’t understand
digital in a chemical forum… 
in a decade it becomes the most used image tool of the same group

One person changes over time on one of the original chemo-photo forums.

the mod takes umbrage, feels insult from the newcomer… he makes this serious.

A newcomer seeks kinship thru conversation about a chosen camera. They bring an opinion of what photography, large format photography is. Google or friendly link blogs sent them to the “place” of repute. Too bad: dispute arises, to the point that they are called a “troll,” that notorious disturber of early internet spaces. Trolls asked questions not for answers, but for induced dissension. Almost every newcomer seems trollish even though they’re just not accustomed to the customs… they don’t know who and how to bow. Over time, they usually leave.. the non-troll. The NT realize they are asking the correct question of the wrong people. Perhaps the wrong time.

Seriously, this forum did discuss things in the “lounge” the members only area that goog/bots don’t browse. Why topics are brought into the large open net isn’t known to me. In the case of this forum of declining membership, they began allowing small format, even digital postings as long as they didn’t involve ‘technical’ discussion. This should mean that they are only allowed to discuss imagery; no tech talk. Sure enough these threads have exploded in length, however, as you should expect, the discussions are about the lens, camera, filter, software… that is, they are technical. These members stumble over anything other than process or purchase.

Their tastes don’t change even though their techniques do. They make the same pictures they always did. They see the same no matter the camera. Their pictures came from the 50s; were perfected before they hit their fifties and can’t change now that they are in their endings.

Blocking others also blocks yourself.

Forum Follies

Posted on Posted in as written, the fora, the metaTagged , , 3 Comments

The take away is more than one, you say. What do forums do… they seem to wonder what they do well; paticularly after they’ve been running a long time. Even the simple questions lead to toxic shock.

Summary: You can’t talk about the meaning, nor the nature of photography. You also can’t see it on the internet, therefore, you are wasting your time and their bandwidth showing pictures on the web. Further, talking tech is pretty much wasted since you can’t tell what the pictures will look like. Even worse, you don’t know if the person offering their instruction is capable of anything other than web boasting. The circle seems complete. Actually, it seems like a spiral. Smaller and smaller.

So, you can offer to buy and sell. That, at least is about as far as we’ve gotten. Except, how do you trust in this circle. After all we can’t know if the words or the pictures of the items are correct either. Do we?

crits are tough. they do require shared language. not necessarily what can be brought from experience as an insurance inspector.

—

Note Mr Katz’s sig asserts his presence on the forum has been since 2008. Membership claims have meaning beyond the factoid they’d seem to have.

They hold desire, and need to belong. Why else would he return.

trust the print, if you have seen it.

web should display what print showed from trusted source

only way to know is to know ahead.

shades of communication theory and post-modern death

perhaps they are headed to a post-forum internet.

Which leads me to a wayback time. Laura Gilpin asked CCA to match a color litho that had been made of her “Rainbow” — it, of course couldn’t be done as a type-C. It would have been very difficult to do as a dye-transfer. One form doesn’t complete an image, nor does it make it less useful.

Gilpin: Rainbow. Amon Carter attempts to show the print. Greyscale on side provides uniform meter for those who try.

“The proof print we sent you of the rainbow more closely matches your original than the litho does.” [12/68]

Even her original wasn’t what she wanted after seeing what a lithographer could/had done with the image.