Hi, it is sad that this forum does attract so many negative, mean, small-minded and insecure photographers. The really sad thing is that these particular people will not attribute what you have said about meanness to themselves so will not even consider changing, assuming they were capable of doing so. The people who behave in a mean way don't believe they are mean, they will simply think you are talking about others. Perhaps if it was pointed out who you are talking about, which is not usually done by most people, they will then get a direct clue. Additionally perhaps if we all simply blocked these people then they would be unable to continue with their meanness. I'm trying to wean off this site not only for the mean people but because it seems to now have been taken over by peommsple who continuously ask inane, meaningless questions, at least that is my personal take on it. There are other forums that actually focus more on the subject we are all, I think, most interested in: photography.

There definitely are poorly constructed or ill thought out questions. There really are some stupid questions. We can all do those things occasionally, but I agree that there seems to be proliferation of people that want to ask questions merely for the sake of provoking discussion, not seeking information for themselves. That's not an invalid approach in a classroom / teaching situation, or a debating chamber. However there are a small number of people that are doing this on a very frequent basis which can be very disruptive to the normal or at least historical functioning of UHH. When done with excessive frequency it becomes much harder to ignore and dilutes the value of the site, it feels to me as though we are being harvested, but it isn't clear to my why. It's like a very loud and socially insensitive person at a gathering, it can spoil the whole party. Such behavior is disrespectful to the community and sometimes causes lasting damage or at least a permanent change to the quality of the situation.

I'm sure we all have people whose personal style irritates others, I resemble that remark myself, but if one is going to be mean then there should at least be a good reason, and probably only to those that are obviously mean to others. " A gentleman is a man who never insults another person,.... unintentionally!"

Perhaps if we strove to improve somewhat in each coming year things could get better. It would be sad if UHH lost some of it's strong contributors as a result of excessive meanness, loudness, or lack of consideration of other people's time, effort, and knowledge.

Once again, it is Christmas, supposedly a season of goodwill to ALL, perhaps we can all contribute to that lofty goal.

I was a very early member of uhh and what happened in the beginning was that there were a few snarky people and the others were constantly complaining about photography related threads were being hijacked by people tossing in political and religious comments so the "Chit Chat" section was started so those who wanted to discuss issues other than photography. That didn't stop the problem but Admin made a few threats and actually kicked a few people out of uhh, some of whom returned under another name, but a little later when "Chit Chat" got to be too nasty for the mildly people with nasty attitudes "The Attic" was opened so those who really want to be nasty would have a place to do their thing. In the meantime, those who regularly post images in the Photo Gallery were able to appeal to Admin to outlaw any kind of criticism or negative comments about the photos there unless the person who posted them specifically asked for criticism. Further complaints led to the opening of the specialty sections we now have like "Macro," "Photo Analysis," "For Your Consideration," and all the other sections that relate to photography and all of that was an attempt to push out those people who cannot keep a civil tongue in their mouth. It hasn't worked but it may be better than it might have been.

The man who started the forum admitted that he had only just bought a camera within a year prior to deciding to open uhh and was therefore not really in a position to moderate the subject of photography but rather was a marketing specialist and that the forum was definitely set up as a for-profit venture. Of course, as it is with many other attempts at marketing, the fees charged advertisers are based upon how many people will see an advertisement so the larger the number of members, the higher the income from advertisers which is why you haven't seen an opportunity to "quit" uhh. It's kinda like being a lifer and admin has every reason to not intervene in argumentative stuff and in fact, does almost nothing to encourage civility and in fact, may very well profit more when there is a good deal of upheaval and conflict among the members - as in, "a little controversy never hurt anyone but it attracts a lot of attention" and it may even be good for business because it attracts even those who only want to be nasty. Others take it upon themselves to make sure everyone knows how smart and informed they are and hence go around correcting everyone in what they think and say.

There definitely are poorly constructed or ill thought out questions. There really are some stupid questions. We can all do those things occasionally, but I agree that there seems to be proliferation of people that want to ask questions merely for the sake of provoking discussion, not seeking information for themselves. That's not an invalid approach in a classroom / teaching situation, or a debating chamber. However there are a small number of people that are doing this on a very frequent basis which can be very disruptive to the normal or at least historical functioning of UHH. When done with excessive frequency it becomes much harder to ignore and dilutes the value of the site, it feels to me as though we are being harvested, but it isn't clear to me why or to what purpose. It's like a very loud and socially insensitive person at a gathering, it can spoil the whole party. Such behavior is disrespectful to the community and sometimes causes lasting damage or at least a permanent change to the quality of the situation.