It’s funny how online forums seem to fall into two categories. They are either dominated by a good friendly tone, or by a negative snarky or even close to hateful tone.
I recently experienced a Facebook group for photographers that seemed to be split into a camp that absolutely loathed smartphone pictures and a camp that didn’t care what camera were used to take the picture.
Usually I would side with the camp that didn’t care, but I more or less stayed out of the flame war as it were quite predictable where it would end.
There smartphone loathing crowd started being really rude against any pictures taken with a smartphone, and as it were a Facebook group there were many. And yes, some were bad.
The battle culminated with the exclusion of a group member and a notification from the group admin stating that all kinds of photos taken with all kinds of cameras were allowed.
So far so good.
But it didn’t end there…
Now the smartphone crows started posting pictures like crazy, all being very explicit about the fact that this “wonderful picture” had been taken with a smartphone, seemingly just to rub it in.
That was when I had enough and quit the group.
There is no need to waste any time on a group that promotes negativity instead of positivity. If you experience such negativity, just go away. Leave the group/forum and move on.
Getting involved in a flame war will make you a loser, along with all the other parts involved. Why waste time on that, when instead you could be spending time on forums where you could be contributing in creating a nice friendly environment, where both experienced an new photographers (or members in general) could benefit from each others experiences?
And, for photography forums in general, you should try to be a bit more critical about what pictures you post. Is that latest photo REALLY that great, or is it just you who would like it?
Be prepared for critique, even if you didn’t ask for it.
And always remember that we all are at different skill levels. If someone posts a shitty image, maybe tell the poster WHY it is a shitty image, instead of just stating that it is shitty?