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Ipernity Groups
Let's look at the Groups on Ipernity via Explore
www.ipernity.com/explore/group

I joined Ipernity in 2013 and yesterday was the first time I clicked that link.

I had no knowledge of the groups and that must be because I wasn't inspired to look for them. The Groups I have joined have been by invitation and I joined them to be polite and friendly ( It is a good enough reason I suggest).

I have been 'promoted' to Admin of Groups and so far have done nothing about it. I have neither removed myself from the group or encouraged people to look at or join the groups.

I created one Group just as an experiment looked at for a while and the forgot about it. I think I should delete it.
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My thoughts on groups and more generally the sharing of photos with people I have not yet met:

When I first shared photos on Flickr. I shared local views and Landscapes of The National Parks in The Peak District and the Lake District and this resulted in more than sharing sharing a photograph and commenting on the view or the technology used! I actually got to meet people some just once or twice and then continued to share comments. Some people I am still in touch with on Social Media but due to personal circumstances (almost a decade as a carer that always took priority) I no longer see the people I knew. Now the Covid pandemic makes it seem there is no way back for now.

For an Ipernity Group to have real value it must be more than just a gallery of photos there should be an aim or something that provokes discussion and actions. Yes there can be Groups that are fun and primarily a social aspect like Happy Fence Friday but how many of that type can be sustained?

Now I look at my photos on Ipernity and wonder why so many of them are public as they can have little value to anyone but me.

I checked I have 16,105 photos on Ipernity with 3,455 of them Private. This seems wrong UNLESS Ipernity is the place to store all my photos ( I don't think it should be mass storage).

My aim in 2021 should be to review the photos and make a smaller number of the visible to Everyone. I wonder if this is important or not?
PLAN A: Make all but the most recent Private again then create new Collections and Albums eventually deleting those that are no longer required.
PLAN B: Start again with an aim in mind to create a collection that I will value (and some people may find interesting)
PLAN C: Do nothing with old photos JUST take more photographs and regularly post some on Ipernity


4 comments

Sami Serola (inactiv… said:

First of all, that particular Explore > Groups page is outdated:

www.ipernity.com/explore/group

I also only very recently discovered that the previous owner must have had some similar moderation to accept groups listed on that Explore > Groups page as there is for for the Explore > Gallery.

Do notice that you can not find groups created after spring 2014 on that Explore > Groups page. Unfortunately the moderation procedure for it is not documented anywhere. CR did not share any such details with us when ima took over ipernity.

Then when it comes to groups in general, I have shared similar line of thoughts for years. Some basic understanding and behavior is missing, on what comes to the concept of groups. Instead of causing some real group activity and club behavior, people ignore the group rules, and barely never actually visit the groups. They only dump their images into the groups. Only very few groups have managed to make their members to behave.

So, most of the groups are merely as shared albums. Collections of images on under some teams. However, such collections are sometimes more international than for example keywords. A group collecting pictures of cats provides what it promises, with no need to use other methods to try find images of cats.

More on this here: www.ipernity.com/blog/serola/4733574

In my opinion the biggest problems of the current ipernity groups are the missing tools to really administrate the group communication. For example the group discussions does not appear much anywhere else than under the groups. Group topics and discussions does not appear on the activity timeline under 'Following your comments'. Somewhat the only place is the dysfunctional and ignored 'Your Groups: News':

www.ipernity.com/group/0/activity

The group administrators does not even have an option to easily send iper mail to all group members. Therefore I have seriously considered to start using a so called "group moderator account", because recently ima allowed members to have multiple accounts.

The idea is this. One ipernity account is created particularly to make it possible to share posts and send iper mail to all group members. On the group rules one then asks all members to add that particular account into their contacts, to make sure they can receive notices sent, when necessary. Then the group moderator could for example to send a monthly letter to all members of the group.

An example here: www.ipernity.com/home/macrodreams
3 years ago

Colin Ashcroft replied to Sami Serola (inactiv…:

Thanks Sami, You have made many things clearer to me in your reply.

Maurice ( Happy Snapper ) is looking to start a Camera Club within Ipernity - As we were both in camera clubs in the past, were we met up for walks and took photos and shared them for comments or critique. The clubs also had themes and challenges and I think Maurice misses this kind on thing now.

The issues are around how to do this with a Group of 'Friends' so it will have to be iper mail I think but your idea would be a solution Other Admin challenges will have to be faced as well. I have said I will join in and try to help if I can.

Best Wishes - hoping for some good news soon.
Colin
3 years ago

Sami Serola (inactiv… replied to :

I am interested as well, to join such club. The challenge groups where I have been a member here at ipernity have not been open for any real feedback and critique. And in order to become any better, one should be ready to accept also negative feedback. Many times the best way to learn is by making mistakes. But in photography one often needs someone else to point out the mistakes. At least I am blind to my own errors.
3 years ago

Colin Ashcroft replied to :

we are all blind to our own errors but not everyone wants them pointed out that’s why critique should only be offered in reply to a request OR within the context of a club exercise or any user developed project that has such an objective
3 years ago