Firstly, A Happy New Year to all - (apologies that the sentiment is late- I work in the Oil and Gas Industry and we have been quite busy recently :) )
Now Housekeeping Q1-2010..
1) The Conference -
Yes it will happen. It was all but arranged to happen on the 7th March for I wanted to avoid what happened last year, a clash with Focus-in-Imaging. Guess what? Focus-in-Imaging moved from its traditional February dates to March 7-10th 2010. That, twinned with on-going uncertainty about the availably of the venue, sounded the death knell for any March conference. I am currently looking at alternative dates that fit with a lull in the Nature Photography Calendar - November is the most likely month, but it is still undecided. It will be in the East Midlands.
2) The 'Gatherings'
The new 'Gatherings' will be posted by the end of January. Whilst I have a few alternative ideas for venues I would welcome more. Obviously we have had a couple of very successful gatherings this year - however some have been less well attended. I would ask that if you do intend to come that you post your name on the thread simply as it is quite a long journey for some to travel only to find 1 other person there. A big thank you to all the people who freely give their time helping organise the forum gatherings.
3) Forum Growth. (New Members & some Leavers)
We have had a number of people leave us this year as they decided they could not continue to abide by the conditions they accepted when requesting entry to NPN - this is only natural as peoples aspirations and wants change and we wish them well in their future.
That said, UKNP continues to grow at quite a steady and rapid rate. The reason is that UKNP is the best forum of its type aimed at UK nature photographers. This growth is attributed to a number of reasons and one of the major reasons is the conduct of everybody whilst using this forum. A big big THANK YOU for the spirit in which you use this site and in keeping to the forum guidelines.
To all our new members this year - a big welcome, don't lurk for to long as participation is the key to get the best from the site.
4) Photographers page.
An apology for the confusion in the photographers page this year - I got my page revisions in a twist with Nicks page revisions. To ensure that this does not happen again we have decided only to do a quarterly revision of this page. If you have paid a subscription and want your name added to the photographers page please put your name on the relevant thread at the top of the forum before 20th Jan.
5) Growth and Moderation
A big thank you to Phil Kirkham who stepped down from being a Moderator in the past year.
The growth of this forum comes at slight cost as moderating this forum is becoming increasingly time-consuming for both Nick and I. The time issue is compounded when we are contacted about off-forum behaviour or external problems between people. Please don't do this as we are not interested and we don't appreciate people trying to get us involved in events that we did not witness and that happened off the forum! Please also don't bring these problems onto the forum as we have a simple, but effective, solution . The moderators refrain from discussing UKNP decisions with non-moderators so don't ask .
6) Altering Posts.
If you make a mistake in a posting please change it yourself. If you don't like what another person has civilly written (providing it does not break the guidelines) please contact them directly as they can alter it. Most importantly, if you feel somebody's else thread/post breaks the guidelines, or is a bit 'heated', don't react immediately but give them time to alter it in hindsight (say 1 hour); beyond that please report it and keep a screen copy of the thread as we may ask for it if the other party has deleted it. If a thread is locked, contact us if you must - but it is locked for a reason.
7) Representation
We have a small continued problem with people claiming that they formally represent UKNP or NPN. The only people who represent UKNP are those who are invested with moderatorship of UKNP or Jim/Donna - nobody else; we have informed the agencies/charities/organisations of that fact. Likewise we have people contacting us saying that they represent the views of others - we don't see it that way and will probably ignore what is said unless contacted directly by the individual or a member of staff operating in an official capacity.
8) Subscription.
The Subscription will remain voluntary and a big thanks to all that pay this as without it there would be no UKNP/NPN as it pays for server costs. All other effort associated with UKNP is voluntary.
Again, happy new year and we are looking forward to your continued support and the success of the UKNP/NPN forum/site.
Finally, remember to always put the welfare of the subject first, to leave nothing but footprints, capture nothing but light, mar nothing but time and please please follow the forum guildines .
Discussion
0 repliesFirstly, A Happy New Year to all - (apologies that the sentiment is late- I work in the Oil and Gas Industry and we have been quite busy recently :) )
Now Housekeeping Q1-2010..
1) The Conference -
Yes it will happen. It was all but arranged to happen on the 7th March for I wanted to avoid what happened last year, a clash with Focus-in-Imaging. Guess what? Focus-in-Imaging moved from its traditional February dates to March 7-10th 2010. That, twinned with on-going uncertainty about the availably of the venue, sounded the death knell for any March conference. I am currently looking at alternative dates that fit with a lull in the Nature Photography Calendar - November is the most likely month, but it is still undecided. It will be in the East Midlands.
2) The 'Gatherings'
The new 'Gatherings' will be posted by the end of January. Whilst I have a few alternative ideas for venues I would welcome more. Obviously we have had a couple of very successful gatherings this year - however some have been less well attended. I would ask that if you do intend to come that you post your name on the thread simply as it is quite a long journey for some to travel only to find 1 other person there. A big thank you to all the people who freely give their time helping organise the forum gatherings.
3) Forum Growth. (New Members & some Leavers)
We have had a number of people leave us this year as they decided they could not continue to abide by the conditions they accepted when requesting entry to NPN - this is only natural as peoples aspirations and wants change and we wish them well in their future.
That said, UKNP continues to grow at quite a steady and rapid rate. The reason is that UKNP is the best forum of its type aimed at UK nature photographers. This growth is attributed to a number of reasons and one of the major reasons is the conduct of everybody whilst using this forum. A big big THANK YOU for the spirit in which you use this site and in keeping to the forum guidelines.
To all our new members this year - a big welcome, don't lurk for to long as participation is the key to get the best from the site.
4) Photographers page.
An apology for the confusion in the photographers page this year - I got my page revisions in a twist with Nicks page revisions. To ensure that this does not happen again we have decided only to do a quarterly revision of this page. If you have paid a subscription and want your name added to the photographers page please put your name on the relevant thread at the top of the forum before 20th Jan.
5) Growth and Moderation
A big thank you to Phil Kirkham who stepped down from being a Moderator in the past year.
The growth of this forum comes at slight cost as moderating this forum is becoming increasingly time-consuming for both Nick and I. The time issue is compounded when we are contacted about off-forum behaviour or external problems between people. Please don't do this as we are not interested and we don't appreciate people trying to get us involved in events that we did not witness and that happened off the forum! Please also don't bring these problems onto the forum as we have a simple, but effective, solution
6) Altering Posts.
If you make a mistake in a posting please change it yourself. If you don't like what another person has civilly written (providing it does not break the guidelines) please contact them directly as they can alter it. Most importantly, if you feel somebody's else thread/post breaks the guidelines, or is a bit 'heated', don't react immediately but give them time to alter it in hindsight (say 1 hour); beyond that please report it and keep a screen copy of the thread as we may ask for it if the other party has deleted it. If a thread is locked, contact us if you must - but it is locked for a reason.
7) Representation
We have a small continued problem with people claiming that they formally represent UKNP or NPN. The only people who represent UKNP are those who are invested with moderatorship of UKNP or Jim/Donna - nobody else; we have informed the agencies/charities/organisations of that fact. Likewise we have people contacting us saying that they represent the views of others - we don't see it that way and will probably ignore what is said unless contacted directly by the individual or a member of staff operating in an official capacity.
8) Subscription.
The Subscription will remain voluntary and a big thanks to all that pay this as without it there would be no UKNP/NPN as it pays for server costs. All other effort associated with UKNP is voluntary.
Again, happy new year and we are looking forward to your continued support and the success of the UKNP/NPN forum/site.
Finally, remember to always put the welfare of the subject first, to leave nothing but footprints, capture nothing but light, mar nothing but time and please please follow the forum guildines
The Mods