Notice Some big changes coming to TP

Hi Marcel, while it is true that I don't post as much as I used to in here, I'm still a daily lurker so I will miss my teatime reading but I do understand your reasons for stepping down. I wish you and your family all the best and like others say, will say a huge thank you for many years of service.
 
sphexx said:
I’m not all clear how the site is or can be financed :(. There doesn’t seem to be any advertising. I see connections to Facebook etc are mentioned, which I’ve never seen/used

If I’ve understood, there seems to be 63,226 Members today and about 90 online today. Sadly people generally seem very unwilling to pay for any web content (or software etc :( ) if they can avoid it.
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I would be more than happy with a subscription although it would be hard to attract new people. Maybe free for most sections but pay to post in classifieds, message, business and community?

Sadly we take too much for granted and don’t know what we have till it’s gone!
 
Thanks for all your work over the years Marcel, you've certainly built a great community.
I'm on quite a few photography forums (currently 14 that I visit several times a day) & have seen several dwindle to next to nothing but Unlike some I used to visit regularly TP has remained active & I desperately hope it will keep going. I can pretty much guarantee to find something new of interest every day - a higher hit rate than any other photo forum.
I don't use Farcebook etc at all, so the links to that are meaningless to me. I have seen several forums fold completely & just become groups on FB loosing me contact with some very knowledgeable photographers.
I hope negotiations with new owners come through & keep this great com unity together.

One of the best features to me is this forum doesn't limit itself to one brand or type of photography. I use multiple brands, having kit in nearly all the common mounts & play with a wide range of techniques. A universal forum like this helps give me new ideas
 
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I started this post with ... I have only been here for 8 years but ..... then I looked at my joining date and it was 2008 :eek:

Anyway, sad to see the forum go, hopefully it won't come to that but after a few near misses I have come to realise that you only get one very short life on this planet so make the most of it. Your health and family are more important than a few pages on a computer screen.

On another note, if it's financial I am happy for you to delete my Pentax K-1 thread if you think it's too popular and hogging all the bandwith ;)
 
Just to echo what’s already been said, a warm thank you for all your hard work. I wish you well for the future and hope the forums can continue.
 
Another only occasional poster adding to the thanks and appreciation
 
Firstly thank you Marcel for all that you have done with this forum.
I've never found any forum that is as friendly as this with so many helpful users.
On meet ups I met some very experienced photographers and I am so grateful for the knowledge they have shared with me.
Two who come to mind are Marc and Tim Dobbs who are also really nice guys.
The knowledge they have shared has been invaluable to me.
I really hope a solution can be found and talkphotography will be able to continue.
I've been a member of many forums over the years but this is the only one I use on a day to day basis.
I have mental health issues and I know where you are coming from and you have to put yourself first.
I'd be gutted if the forum closes but fingers crossed that the forum will be able to continue.
 
Your own health and well-being must always come first, and I wish you all the best.

But I have learned so much here, and made so many friends, that I would be devastated to see it go. I am one of those who would be happy to see a subscription model (as long as it's not sold to the yanks!;) )
 
All the best to you Marcel and, to all the other guys and gals that keep this community going.
Another supporter of subscription-based membership here.
I've been a member on here since 2009 and, (apart from family holidays) log in at some point every day.
Can't imagine life without my daily fix of TP.
 
Fingers crossed TP carries on. When I started out in photography, this site was always my first port of call for information and guidance. It has never failed me yet.. I have learned so much on here and long may it continue. All the best for the future Marcel and thank you so much for all you have done..
 
I'm a bit gobsmacked and saddened at this announcement, but obviously people's circumstances change, and of course family have to come first. So I would like to say a massive thank you to Marcel, and the team of great moderators over the years who have done an outstanding job, of running probably the best photography forum on the net.

I started on here around mid 2006, I learnt so much off some great photographers here, for which I will be forever grateful when I knew very little. I have also been very fortunate to meet some great folk in person, on various outings we had, unfortunately due to ill health, I am not so active on here or with photography in general over the last couple of years, but it has always been great to know the forum is still here when you need that crucial answer to a question. So to Marcel, I wish you and your family well, and to the rest of the mods, thank you, and I really do hope someone with as much enthusiasm takes over, and may the forum continue for many many years to come.
 
Thank you, Marcel, for the best photography forum.
Look after number 1, we'll muddle through somehow :)
 
Pete Allen said:
Another supporter of subscription-based membership here.
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I would support this as well. Back in the day I use to subscribe to various photography magazines and this has replaced them for me
 
Firstly, thank you Marcel (and the moderators) for the great forum that you have produced. I have learnt a lot here, got out of my comfort zone, and met some great people on here. I hope through my posts Ive been able to give something in return.

I hope that TP can continue, but you must look after number one, health especially is something that no price can be put on.

Whatever you choose to do, and whatever format TP ends up in going forward, I wish you the best.
 
Another low-post but frequent-read user here, saying Thank You. It's easy to forget how much time and effort is involved in running a forum.

I'm old enough to remember when Usenet was the only arena where people could discuss areas of common interest on the internet. Then people moved to mailing lists, and when the World Wide Web came along, forums. Everything has a lifetime - these days it's FaceBook and Reddit, tomorrow it will be something else.

Your health is more important than any discussion forum.
 
My take on this . . .

All human activities have a life cycle and nothing lasts forever (or at least not in its original form) so, TP needs to either evolve or close.

Closure is a poor option because this forum has served us all very well for a very long time. Most other forums in the UK have closed and the few survivors that I’m aware of seem to be little more than advertising platforms that don’t serve the interests of their members. I have some experience of this, many years ago I was a moderator (and then an admin) on a very large site that was then sold on to an advertising platform, and the emphasis then shifted away from the interests of its members and became interested only in selling 10,000 new membership subscriptions per month, which of course also added to their advertising revenue. Honesty, good content and loyalty went by the board.

Not that it’s even easy to survive on membership subscriptions, everyone now seems to expect everything on the net to be free . . .

And of course, it’s impossible to compete with Facebook, where anyone and everyone can and often does set up a group that is unregulated, which often exploits its more naïve users with spam, deceptive advertising and misinformation. TP is regulated with a light touch (perhaps too light sometimes, especially in the Community Forums) but it offers so much more than any Facebook group can – but it IS regulated, and both the moderators and the software is generally wide-awake and effective.

So, Marcel is stepping away, like everyone else I completely understand this and thank him for everything that he has done. My view is that, if a new owner is prepared to take over then some changes will need to be made, but TP will need to continue to occupy and even expand on its established territory, whilst accepting that the trend towards far fewer new threads will continue (resulting perhaps in a smaller number of under-used sub-forums and some other reductions). It would, in my opinion, be a mistake to make radical changes that would inevitably impact the quality of the services provided to its members.
 
Thank you for all you've done. I am enjoying my time here and I hope that it will continue.
 
As everyone has said thank you to all involved for keeping this site going. It's a mine of information, helpful folk (mostly) and lots of humour and friendship.
Also the TP 52 has helped me keep going through the various lockdowns and made sure I get out and about.
I do hope something can be done to let it continue... if there is anything I can do, financially or otherwise I will be happy to contribute.
Good luck to you all.
 
Huge thanks for the work of yourself and current and past mod and leadership team. It's a great community here and nice to have a dedicated UK forum. There is something very short lived about similar content on Facebook groups, whereas I regularly find historical forum posts useful. Whatever happens, I'm grateful for all I've learned from everyone here over the last 10 years or so.
 
Firstly this has come as an unwelcome shock. :oops: :$ :(

Secondly a big thank you to Marcel and all the instigators of the Forum all those years ago, and all those who have worked, and continue to work behind the scenes to keep things running as smoothly as they do. :clap::clap::clap:

TP is one of my first ports of call everyday as I get onto the internet, and just looked, and it has been that way since 2007. :oops: :$ Where does the time go eh! :LOL:

Hopefully a way can be found for the Forum to continue, but we live harsh financial times, especially after the last year, so if the numbers don't add up for potential new owners, it will be what it will be. :( Health comes before everything, and it is totally understandable that this decision has been arrived at. I'm sure it has not been an easy decision.

BTW, I hope being bottom of the TP Fantasy Football League has not 'been the straw' that pushed Marcel to the edge. ;) :marcel: :LOL:

Seriously though, whatever happens, Marcel, and everyone who has been involved behind the scenes, can take pride in creating and running one of the best Photography sites on the internet for many years. :clap:

Fingers crossed a way can be found for it to continue. :thinking:
 
Been here for years although no where near as active as i used to be due to job and family now taking over.

Would be a great loss to loose the forum as if it wasn't for TP i would never of gone on to do many things in my photography career and meet many people who have become life long friends.

On the flip side i fully understand how much time commitment and strain it must be for yourself and the team that look after TP and would just like to thank all of you for what you have done over the years.

What ever you all decide you have my full support as always.

Shame after all this time and with so many loyal members you couldn't do a yearly subscription to keep it going.

Best Wishes.
 
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This thread just shows the importance of this site, so many of us have frequented over the past decade or more and have learned a lot from the experience. Would be a damn shame were it to close, really hope someone takes it on and keeps it running without too much of a change [can see someone take it over and litter the place with sponsors/advertising, which wouldn't be awful so long as it stayed open]
 
Maybe in the long run a reboot might not be the worst thing in the world.
Nothing lasts forever and change can be good, but wouldn't want it to fold.

I do hope whatever happens those who just come here to be a pain in the arse with no interest in photography are sent packing.
 
Another big thank you from me Marcel for all the hard work and commitment you and the various team members have given willingly over the years. TP has become a big part of my on-line activities, and if it were to disappear completely it would leave a big hole in my bird photography life! It's a great learning resource and a tremendous medium for building relationships with other like-minded toggers.

All the best for the future and your current decision making.

Russ
 
I would like to add my thanks too. I had never really given a thought to how this all started or what was involved behind the scenes, but I do know that I have learned a lot here, and enjoyed chatting and during the last year the TP52 challenge has helped to keep me sane.
 
Having seen the message this morning, I've had a long walk and think about how TP compares to other photo sites. While there are other photo sites I visit, this is the only one I regularly participate in, especially the F&C section. That's pretty much because the site has been so well set up and run by Marcel and the team over the years, and it's just a real pleasure to be here and interact with other like-minded people, a few of whom I've been lucky enough to meet. I can't think of any other site I would say that about, so massive appreciation for getting it so right for so long. :clap:

What's not in doubt though, is that Marcel's health is far more important than my participation and I wholeheartedly support the need for change in order to preserve his health. Clearly my preference is for a sale/buyout and the site carrying on, and if I had any skills to offer in assistance I would happily do so, but I haven't a clue what's involved in running a site like this. However it pans out, I hope @Marcel realises how much we owe to all he's done for us.
 
I joined TP forums in Jan 2009, over recent years I've hardly posted anything, so logging on today to read the news comes as a bit of shock. I can only imagine the work that comes into running a site like this. I really hope your health improves Marcel and wish you all the best for the future.
 
Very sorry to read this, i wish you good health and hope someone can step in to save it if needed
 
Wow, this was very unexpected to hear. I love talk photography and frequently go on here at least a couple times a day, keeping up with what's going on in the various threads etc. Thank you for eveerythng you've done for us - and I sincerely hope it will continue for many more years with your blessing!
 
Sad news. Your health is more important than anything. I hope you can find a solution with others continuing the forums. Best of luck for the future.
 
Wow, not what I expected but health comes first, enjoyed my time here and many, many thanks to you and all the others who have made it possible, I hope TP will continue but if not it will leave some not inconsiderable spare time in my day.
 
I hope all of this praise for Marcel and the team on how great and loved this forum is, doesn't add unwanted pressure for a solution to try and satisfy us members.
 
Thanks for all your efforts, Marcel, always been fun chatting to you with a bit of banter regarding our various regional food specialities!!

All the best and your health is the most important thing!!

Regards, George.
 
Thanks for all the support for us behind the scenes, particularly Our intrepid leader
It's very much appreciated and if we can find any possible way to keep going, rest assured we will (y)
 
Cobra said:
Thanks for all the support for us behind the scenes, particularly Our intrepid leader
It's very much appreciated and if we can find any possible way to keep going, rest assured we will (y)
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Taking nothing away from Marcel’s contribution, I do think it’s worth saying the Moderation is managed with a degree of sensibility and good humour when it must often be a tiresome task.
 
sphexx said:
Taking nothing away from Marcel’s contribution, I do think it’s worth saying the Moderation is managed with a degree of sensibility and good humour when it must often be a tiresome task.
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Thanks Richard :)
 
Bloody Nora, wasn’t expecting this!
I’ve been here for a looooooong time, and while I’m nowhere near as active as I used to be, I’d be devastated to see it go.
This amazing forum and it’s members have taught me everything I know about photography. The hobby for me has taken a back seat in recent years for several different personal events, but I’m desperately wanting to get back into it, and TP will still play a part in my hobby, I sincerely hope....

@Marcel
I know how much work you have put into this place buddy, I’ve always been in awe of your commitments to TP.
I understand and respect your decision, it must have been bloody hard for you to make it. Good luck pal, stay safe and take care of yourself and your family.

If in any way, shape or form I can play any part in maintaining the future of the forum, please let me know
 
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