WELCOME TO THE EXCLUSIVE CLUB

Pistnbroke

I just clicked on the how to register for NR as my son in law wanted to join and was disgusted to find its more difficult than becoming a Mason. You need a recommendation from a member !!! This must surely put off may people and is not a productive process

PB_PM

Mostly likely done to filter excessive spam bots joining, but it does seem like an heavy handed move. I'm guessing this thread will be closed and deleted though.

Pistnbroke

.Yes PB PM that would represent an enlightened approach.

NSXTypeR

Didn't know that you had to do that.

I mean, short of actually meeting a NRF in real life, how could you honestly request for a referral?

Is there not a way to do a CAPTCHA to see if you're a bot or not?

PB_PM

Pistnbroke said:

.Yes PB PM that would represent an enlightened approach.

We are talking about the same group that made the forum invite only, so expect the unexpected. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a move to shut the forums down to cut costs. As Nikon’s market share drops, I bet interest in the site has as well (the lack new members being active here during the past 2-3 years, is kind of a hint), which means less ad revenue, which means more money out of pocket for the owner.

NSXTypeR said:

Didn't know that you had to do that.

I mean, short of actually meeting a NRF in real life, how could you honestly request for a referral?

Is there not a way to do a CAPTCHA to see if you're a bot or not?

I didn’t know this happened either, we’ve even seen new people post in the thread for new users until very recently.

There are, but the bots are getting better all the time, which means buying new software to keep up. I don’t think that software is cheap either, but could be wrong.

PB_PM

Or we could have just read the post made by Peter (The admin) dated July 23...


“Due to the large amount of spam, the only way to register for the NikonRumors Forum is with an invitation from an existing forum member. You can get an invitation by contacting me directly here:

https://nikonrumors.com/tips/

or by contacting any other forum member.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Peter”

Pistnbroke

I put some points to Peter and this is what I got in reply..

Yes, this how it is. You have no idea what it is to deal with all the spam and Russian bots creating hundreds of fake accounts every day.

CAPTCHA or question about Nikon eg "which Nikon camera comes after the D7100 " just change the question every month...

I did try the contact form and it said "error try later"

PS I noted at the bottom of the contact page that " donations are welcome" which I had not seen before and that the site "is protected by CAPTCHA " ???

mhedges

I believe Peter had been on record as saying he doesn’t really care for forums. Certainly the blog posts generate a lot more posting activity by means of the comments.

MrFotoFool

Interesting development. I am a new member but I guess I joined just before this policy was enacted. Glad I got in just in time because I am not sure I would bother if I had to get a recommendation. Though as I have stated elsewhere I find the inability to upload photos directly without a Flickr account to be irritating. I came from Canon Rumors (just switched camera systems) which has a very nice selection of photo galleries and categories, all inviting direct upload. Though I find my Nikon D850 superior to my Canon 5D4, I find the CanonRumors forum to be superior to the NikonRumors forum.

NSXTypeR

PB_PM said:

Pistnbroke said:

.Yes PB PM that would represent an enlightened approach.

We are talking about the same group that made the forum invite only, so expect the unexpected. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a move to shut the forums down to cut costs. As Nikon’s market share drops, I bet interest in the site has as well (the lack new members being active here during the past 2-3 years, is kind of a hint), which means less ad revenue, which means more money out of pocket for the owner.

NSXTypeR said:

Didn't know that you had to do that.

I mean, short of actually meeting a NRF in real life, how could you honestly request for a referral?

Is there not a way to do a CAPTCHA to see if you're a bot or not?

I didn’t know this happened either, we’ve even seen new people post in the thread for new users until very recently.

There are, but the bots are getting better all the time, which means buying new software to keep up. I don’t think that software is cheap either, but could be wrong.

I don't blame him, running any site is expensive and time consuming.

I certainly haven't been posting with the same regularity as I had before, especially with the changes with Flickr and hosting photos.

Capt_Spaulding

There was an announcement of the change a while back in which Peter explained the rationale and proposed some workarounds.

That said - if it leads to this forum's demise, I for one, will be the worse off. I find the people and conversation here, as well as the interstate and trans Atlantic acquaintances made, very rewarding.

Pistnbroke

Well I like Nikon rumors because its not full of newbies asking basic questions .In truth I have been thrown off most forums (nikonites nikonians) mainly because I was stupid enough to post in the wedding section and upset the clique.
I can understand that Peter does not like forums, his reply to my question on this subject and offer of help produced a reply verging on the rude.

PB_PM

The irony of those comments coming from the same person who complained about the forum being becoming invite only is simply golden.

NSXTypeR

Capt_Spaulding said:

There was an announcement of the change a while back in which Peter explained the rationale and proposed some workarounds.

That said - if it leads to this forum's demise, I for one, will be the worse off. I find the people and conversation here, as well as the interstate and trans Atlantic acquaintances made, very rewarding.

I think it's great to bounce ideas off people. Facebook groups are terrible, you just get trolls everywhere. I was very late to the game, but Google Plus was also a great community of like minded people where you can expect honest answers. I got to use it maybe a year before its demise unfortunately.

spraynpray

Pistnbroke said:

I just clicked on the how to register for NR as my son in law wanted to join and was disgusted to find its more difficult than becoming a Mason. You need a recommendation from a member !!! This must surely put off may people and is not a productive process

The reason for this is simple: Spammers. It got to the stage where I was having to vet up to 70 applicants a day to find the occasional one genuine applicant. As I am the only moderator around here I was not prepared to spend that amount of time (for free!) on NR. I approached a couple of people to help out but they were unable to help so this is the only workable solution until an update/upgrade can be done to the forum.

I am surprised you didn't PM me @Pistnbroke - I could have told you the reason without all this hoo-hah.

Pistnbroke

Its not hoo-ha its genuine concern as you can see from the comments of other respected members.

spraynpray

If anybody is concerned enough that they want to help out, they are free to PM me.

Pistnbroke

I already offered Peter my help..maybe we want a membership sec to revew applications via a revised more "difficult " application form

WestEndFoto

There may actually be a strategy here. Why not make it an exclusive club and promote that. The current members can be grandfathered. We might attract high quality members.

Peter, are you listening.......

manhattanboy

We should make an exclusive club card. Maybe a picture of a Nikon camera with a lens and in the lens reflection it says
Nikon Rumors Forum
Exclusive Member


In all seriousness, not having new members is going to suck. How else are we going to be able to tell people how to spend all their money!

Pistnbroke

Having let some time pass and given it some thought this I think is the situation.
Clearly spray n pray is not anti forum or he would not give his time for free .I looked at the other Rumors thinking they all had forums but no only L mount has a forum and the registration is very simple..fill in the details and you are in. I was once global moderator for a Nikon form called Nikon Zen ..it lasted about 18 months because after about 6 months you went to the site each day and nothing had been posted , so you stopped bothering and so did everyone else. If you restrict membership eventually it dies. One way to stop spammers is to have there first 5 post vetted. I have offered my services but no response. So I conclude the "problem" is Peter . He is the one making money out of it so he has the last say.

NSXTypeR

Pistnbroke said:

Having let some time pass and given it some thought this I think is the situation.
Clearly spray n pray is not anti forum or he would not give his time for free .I looked at the other Rumors thinking they all had forums but no only L mount has a forum and the registration is very simple..fill in the details and you are in. I was once global moderator for a Nikon form called Nikon Zen ..it lasted about 18 months because after about 6 months you went to the site each day and nothing had been posted , so you stopped bothering and so did everyone else. If you restrict membership eventually it dies. One way to stop spammers is to have there first 5 post vetted. I have offered my services but no response. So I conclude the "problem" is Peter . He is the one making money out of it so he has the last say.

I wouldn't call it a "problem", more of a preference. Of course he has last say. It's nice to have a place to come to for gear discussion/advice, all for free. Of course all this could be done for way cheaper on Facebook or some other public social media too, but from my experience, Facebook is way too accessible and becomes a cesspool of trolls and 10 year olds posting memes that have no business being there. Google Plus was nice in a similar way in that it was a large group of like minded people and obscure enough that people not in the know wouldn't be there.

OnTheRopes

My first visit back here in a long long time (years) glad to see Im still a member of an exclusive club. I still shoot Nikon so guess I am justified to be here.

manhattanboy

It looks like there is no longer a link from the main page to the forum when on a mobile browser. Is anyone else seeing that?

Edit: nevermind. I googled and found the forum and then after logging into the forum I see the link again on the main page. I wonder if the forum is being hidden from non-members or it's just glitchy HTML.

Symphotic

I’ve seen this myself on occasion.

spraynpray

If you can't see the forum link on your mobile, tap the red NR symbol then look again and it will be there.