Gallery clutter

[duluthboats]

There have been some additions to the gallery that have nothing to do with boats. I don’t want to present myself as an editor but this is a gallery on the boat design site. I enjoy this gallery very much; I don’t wish to see it as just another catch all gallery. Maybe those who have posted these non boat related pictures would consider removing them. PLEASE!
Gary

very true, when i came to the site i went to look around for pics, i almost thought this site was a joke when those pics came up, and almost left. But being the only forum for boats that i know i stayed

[Jeff]

I removed the off-topic landscape and cartoon images which were added in the last couple of days. As Gary says, I don't want to offend anyone, but there are lots of sites like where people can post general-interest photos -- Let's keep our boat design gallery for images related to boats.

Anything about boats is great and very much appreciated - design images, renderings, models, fast boats, slow boats, wood boats, sailboats... ships, construction, you get the idea. Any images that anyone would be willing to share related to boats and boat design are very much appreciated. But let's keep it related to boats.

Thanks everybody.

[Jeff]

I liked having photos show up the instant someone posted them, but if there are no objections, I think it would probably be more wise for me to approve new photos before they show up in the gallery so I can weed out any pictures of things totally unrelated to boats or anything inappropriate in nature.

I'll try to approve new gallery photos as fast as possible, usually within a few hours, and I don't think it will be a problem for anyone to have a slight delay between posting a picture in the gallery and having it publically accessible.

But if anyone objects, please post your thoughts here and I'll reconsider.

I certainly don't want to stop anyone from posting images in the gallery as I really enjoy all the great pictures and renderings that everyone has added. But otherwise I'm worried the non-boat-related clutter will increase as our site continues to grow, or worse, someone unknown will take advantage of the gallery to post inappropriate material. And this won't affect anything you post in the forums... only the gallery images will need to be quickly approved before appearing.

[Tohbi]

i'm just a new member but i think the flip side of disallowing anything not boat related discourages the camaraderie that grows up around our correspondence; people like to share their thoughts with those whom they've grown to know.

of course, off-topic comments can get out of hand but i wouldn't be too restrictive.

[Willallison]

On occaision Tohbi, that may be true - but as Jeff says, you can still post other images within the context of a thread.
The only downside I can see to your suggestion Jeff, is that it will mean (even) more work for you!

[Jeff]

Actually the gallery has been changed to require images to be approved (vs. instantly appearing) since around 2-15-03 (this thread started a long time ago). I don't mind approving the new photos at all -- I enjoy seeing them anyway every day when new photos are posted. I only feel bad sometimes when a timezone difference results in a delay. Ultimately what I would like to do would be to have new members (less than 20 posts or photos uploaded to the gallery) require approval before the photos go live, but have photos appear instantly with no approval required for our regular members (20 posts or greater). I haven’t been able to put this in place yet though.

Also there is always this “Open Discussion” forum where members are welcome to start threads. If there is demand, we could even create an “Off Topic” forum And as Will says, as far as community and camaraderie , it’s probably better to have any off-topic photos in a thread where the poster is more encouraged to tell about them than standing alone in a gallery where they look out of place.

P.S. Welcome to the forum Tohbi

[mmd]

A slippery slope, to be sure. Rigid adherance to boats-only rule makes for predictable & topical viewing, but might also keep us from seeing an off-topic photo that the majority would enjoy. As a compromise (and to make moderating an easier task) would it be possible to have the viewers rate the appropriateness of a photo, in the form of a Yes/No hot-button beside the image, and have Admin delete the image if the majority of viewers vote against in in, say, the first 48 hours of posting? Of course, Admin should retain ultimate authority regardless of voting and timeframe to be able to deal with truly distasteful postings, if any.