Quo Vadis, Coffee Corner

[Rob C]

Since the banning of "shows" that either wake you up or put you to sleep, I get the distinct impression that CC has lost its way.

Frankly, it's now nothing but just another photo-based slot within LuLa, entirely negating its original function, to provide a space for alernatives.

Are we really so bland and blank there is no conversation left if it doesn't involve polling booths?

[Ivophoto]

Since the banning of "shows" that either wake you up or put you to sleep, I get the distinct impression that CC has lost its way.

Frankly, it's now nothing but just another photo-based slot within LuLa, entirely negating its original function, to provide a space for alernatives.

Are we really so bland and blank there is no conversation left if it doesn't involve polling booths?

I was involved in a Dutch photo website for years, being a moderator, writer and tester and had all the glory (haha) and all the shit over me. (I was burned to hell by the Nikon community after I published the D3 did not have the acclaimed 13 stops DR at all)

The Lula forum dynamics are familiar to me.

I made some attempt here on Lula to break open some discussions about photography and tried to add some ‘human’ content. I was not surprised yet disappointed to get no real reaction apart from some who are poked into their comfort zone and the one or two genuine reactions.

Lula’s fora suffer from same as other social media. Nobody actually gives a f*ck about the other. Apart from the few who meet in real and the other ones who worship the self chooses Lula God.

Poor street photography is praised because it is posted by long time members or as a return service for earlier received appreciation, other street work doesn’t receive one single reaction because it is posted by lesser members, or not according old self invented rules.

It’s all normal social media behavior and you can consider my reaction as a perfect school example.

[Rob C]

You have a point or two, Ivo, but they apply to the departments that are not the CC.

My disappointment is not with or in the normal image spaces, but in what has become of the CC: it's just morphed into another image section devoid of conversation, argument or intellectual stimulation. I hadn't really imagined CC would be about showing pictures, but for a much more diverse range of purposes - an outlet, a space if you wish, for non-photographic matters.

Funny about the Street department, too. A lot of enthusiasm, then it faded, much as if folks had rushed to show their three or four street shots, but that done, had nothing more to contribute because street is either not that interesting to them, or too difficult to do well - or simply too dangerous where they live. It isn't particularly dangerous here in Mallorca, but for me, getting to the city means a lot of driving and then parking problems, none of which are balanced by the value of the reward - if I get one at all. I really believe that to do street you need to live where it happens, not commute, as it were, just in case you get lucky.

Rob

[Ivophoto]

You have a point or two, Ivo, but they apply to the departments that are not the CC.

My disappointment is not with or in the normal image spaces, but in what has become of the CC: it's just morphed into another image section devoid of conversation, argument or intellectual stimulation. I hadn't really imagined CC would be about showing pictures, but for a much more diverse range of purposes - an outlet, a space if you wish, for non-photographic matters.

Funny about the Street department, too. A lot of enthusiasm, then it faded, much as if folks had rushed to show their three or four street shots, but that done, had nothing more to contribute because street is either not that interesting to them, or too difficult to do well - or simply too dangerous where they live. It isn't particularly dangerous here in Mallorca, but for me, getting to the city means a lot of driving and then parking problems, none of which are balanced by the value of the reward - if I get one at all. I really believe that to do street you need to live where it happens, not commute, as it were, just in case you get lucky.

Rob

Agree on all you say.

The street section suffers from the scornful reactions given on so called ‘not street’.
And your last line :

 I really believe that to do street you need to live where it happens, not commute, as it were, just in case you get lucky

Is so true.....

About the CC conversations. Don’t you exaggerate the romantic aspect of the intellectual conversation ‘brown pub’ concept? In reality it is a bunch of drunks who forget their world solutions day after.
After all, there is a difference between eloquence and intelligence.

[LesPalenik]

You have a point or two, Ivo, but they apply to the departments that are not the CC.

My disappointment is not with or in the normal image spaces, but in what has become of the CC: it's just morphed into another image section devoid of conversation, argument or intellectual stimulation. I hadn't really imagined CC would be about showing pictures, but for a much more diverse range of purposes - an outlet, a space if you wish, for non-photographic matters.

Funny about the Street department, too. A lot of enthusiasm, then it faded, much as if folks had rushed to show their three or four street shots, but that done, had nothing more to contribute because street is either not that interesting to them, or too difficult to do well - or simply too dangerous where they live. It isn't particularly dangerous here in Mallorca, but for me, getting to the city means a lot of driving and then parking problems, none of which are balanced by the value of the reward - if I get one at all. I really believe that to do street you need to live where it happens, not commute, as it were, just in case you get lucky.

Rob

Well said - very few creative projects are balanced by the value of the reward - that's why most of the image show threads get populated just with quick snaps.

[Rob C]

Agree on all you say.

The street section suffers from the scornful reactions given on so called ‘not street’.
And your last line :

 I really believe that to do street you need to live where it happens, not commute, as it were, just in case you get lucky

Is so true.....

About the CC conversations. Don’t you exaggerate the romantic aspect of the intellectual conversation ‘brown pub’ concept? In reality it is a bunch of drunks who forget their world solutions day after.

But I can't drink anymore after the heart attacks. Thing is, there have been some correspondents here who had things to say, that were interesting individuals in their own right, photography aside, but bit by bit they eased themselves away...

Some of us here met many years ago, and before LuLa, on the BJP site where we recognized a mutual sense of seriousness about what we did, and when the abuse and lack of moderation made visiting there a risky venture, we started another site accessible by invitation only. In time, that, too, ran into the doldrums; one member opined that the problem really was something apart from the individuals, that it was actually all about the concept of Internet conversation, that it had passed its time and, perhaps, had been a bit of a false promise at best.

I guess we can but try.

[jeremyrh]

A side comment - it has occurred to me that although there are people on fora with whom we violently disagree, we have in common something more profound, which is a wish to discuss the issue with strangers. On occasions when I have met my "opponents" in real life, we have generally got on very well, and continued to be friends.

[Ivophoto]

But I can't drink anymore after the heart attacks. Thing is, there have been some correspondents here who had things to say, that were interesting individuals in their own right, photography aside, but bit by bit they eased themselves away...

Some of us here met many years ago, and before LuLa, on the BJP site where we recognized a mutual sense of seriousness about what we did, and when the abuse and lack of moderation made visiting there a risky venture, we started another site accessible by invitation only. In time, that, too, ran into the doldrums; one member opined that the problem really was something apart from the individuals, that it was actually all about the concept of Internet conversation, that it had passed its time and, perhaps, had been a bit of a false promise at best.

I guess we can but try.

I think that one member was correct

[Paulo Bizarro]

I think that if the more interesting topics of a generic nature are not allowed, then there isn't much else to discuss in the CC that can not be addressed in the many other LuLa fora.

[KLaban]

I find it quite uplifting that the most popular Coffee Corner thread is image based and tends to deliver the most consistently admirable image content on the entire site.

It's the one thing I can't get down the pub.

[Ivophoto]

I find it quite uplifting that the most popular Coffee Corner thread is image based and tends to deliver the most consistently admirable image content on the entire site.

It's the one thing I can't get down the pub.

+1

[32BT]

I find it quite uplifting that the most popular Coffee Corner thread is image based and tends to deliver the most consistently admirable image content on the entire site.

It's the one thing I can't get down the pub.

Oh, you mean the cats and boobs thread? Or is that cats with boobs?

No, i think you're mistaken, it's primarily reiteration of previously shown images mixed with an occasional happy snap to stay within theme. It's neither consistent nor intellectually stimulating. It isn't even physically stimulating in the sense that people go out and make an actual effort to produce original contributions. (In other senses it may be for some people, but so is the local stripclub, which would be right next to that pub mentioned.)

[KLaban]

Oh, you mean the cats and boobs thread? Or is that cats with boobs?

No, i think you're mistaken, it's primarily reiteration of previously shown images mixed with an occasional happy snap to stay within theme. It's neither consistent nor intellectually stimulating. It isn't even physically stimulating in the sense that people go out and make an actual effort to produce original contributions. (In other senses it may be for some people, but so is the local stripclub, which would be right next to that pub mentioned.)

Well, I've put three images up on the current page of the cats and boobs thread that haven't previously been seen on LuLa or for that matter my website. As far as I know the only repeat images on the current page are by the instigator of this the Quo Vadis thread together with the only boobs.

The day I get my intellectual stimulation or physical exercise from creating original content for LuLa will be the day I hang up my camera.

[32BT]

Well, I've put three images up on the current page of the cats and boobs thread that haven't previously been seen on LuLa or for that matter my website. I think the only repeat images on the current page are by the instigator of this thread together with the only boobs.

I didn't mean to blame anyone for it, especially not you. It is what it is, but i believe the idea that it "delivers the most consistently admirable image content on this site" is bordering the ridiculous, to put it mildly. Admittedly, the threads that do qualify for that have all but dried out.

[Chris Kern]

Are we really so bland and blank there is no conversation left if it doesn't involve polling booths?

I, for one, enjoyed the political threads, although I understand why the moderators eventually decided to shut them down to control the rancor.  But for me, one of the best attributes of an international forum is the ability to learn about the perspectives of participants in other countries—not just regarding Donald Trump or what is happening here in the United States, but Brexit, the spread of nationalist and populist sentiment in many previously "liberal" democracies, differing perceptions about climate change, the transition to post-industrial economies in North America and Europe, etc.

[Rob C]

I may be mistaken, but I'd fondly imagined that the CC was for things that would consist of other than photographs; the "Chain" thread could fit perfectly well into the general swim, for example, under the Critique folder, just as do WP and the Abstract threads.

Street got its own slot, wisely,  because it means that people with an interest that is only in that direction needn't bother looking at the cats and kittens, the cuddly puppìes, the obligatory travel shots, the rare tits or anything else that isn't street, if you see what I mean.

As for the pubs, I don't go. The single one that I did frequent when live music was playing lost its music licence and, with it, the band I used to snap. Bars hold no other interest because there is nothing that I find enlightening or the least bit pleasant about watching a bunch of expats drown their sorrows in pint after pint. And no, I wouldn't expect to find much photographic conversation there either. And that would be no different were I living in the UK right now; even more so, since I have never seen any violence in any of them out here - but then I don't live in Magaluf or Arenal, and bars I would go to are all Spanish, anyway, not themed Irish, Scots or anything else. I often wonder why folks who seek those out leave home in the first place.

But yeah, specialist threads don't get a heap of traffic either; few give a damn about photographc history or its greats; music, either good or otherwise, may usually just as well be being played to the deaf.

I suppose the wonder is anyone expected anything else.

[Rob C]

I, for one, enjoyed the political threads, although I understand why the moderators eventually decided to shut them down to control the rancor.  But for me, one of the best attributes of an international forum is the ability to learn about the perspectives of participants in other countries—not just regarding Donald Trump or what is happening here in the United States, but Brexit, the spread of nationalist and populist sentiment in many previously "liberal" democracies, differing perceptions about climate change, the transition to post-industrial economies in North America and Europe, etc.

CC was perfect for that, and had it not been for a handful of extremists (who could have been hoofed out), probably still would be. Some kept on repeating their mantra that political theads could be "enjoyed" on other sites; I don't know - I never have searched for one such - but this is LuLa, and it was reasonable to expect that its members were more than index fingers on a button, and were willing and capable of enjoying horizons other than just the photographic.

Baths, dirty waters, babies and drains.

[Rand47]

Since the banning of "shows" that either wake you up or put you to sleep, I get the distinct impression that CC has lost its way.

Frankly, it's now nothing but just another photo-based slot within LuLa, entirely negating its original function, to provide a space for alernatives.

Are we really so bland and blank there is no conversation left if it doesn't involve polling booths?

Hi Rob!

OK, let's take it up a notch.   What is the meaning of life?  What are essential components of a world view?  I'll kick it off with essential components of a robust world view:

Congruence with observed reality. (Empirically Adequate)

Internal consistency. (Views cannot be self-contradictory)

Existentially Relevant. (Speak directly to how we live our lives - not merely "mental assent")

Rand

[Alan Klein]

Hi Rob!

OK, let's take it up a notch.   What is the meaning of life?  What are essential components of a world view?  I'll kick it off with essential components of a robust world view:

Congruence with observed reality. (Empirically Adequate)

Internal consistency. (Views cannot be self-contradictory)

Existentially Relevant. (Speak directly to how we live our lives - not merely "mental assent")

Rand

Good try.  Not controversial enough, though.

[Alan Klein]

I, for one, enjoyed the political threads, although I understand why the moderators eventually decided to shut them down to control the rancor.  But for me, one of the best attributes of an international forum is the ability to learn about the perspectives of participants in other countries—not just regarding Donald Trump or what is happening here in the United States, but Brexit, the spread of nationalist and populist sentiment in many previously "liberal" democracies, differing perceptions about climate change, the transition to post-industrial economies in North America and Europe, etc.

The section has become safe, like pasteurized milk.