It seems most of the people on photography forums are snobs even to each other. I was on a popular one tonight and post after post you had people dumping on tread starters. Once the door is open by someone to dump it seems the rest flood in. Maybe it is just modded badly or these types of people don't play well with others lol. Here is the only place I don't see this kinda thing and still there is a nice pool of information and plenty of skilled photographers. People on war game sites treat each other with more respect than on photo forums.  

Maybe I should piss them off by doing a series on my guns for a week. Alright rant off for now.

samples?

I really think "pros" go on those sites to knock people down because they feel threatened.

I've noticed that as well.  I've been posting here, and pretty much just reading at the "other" forum(s).
Not that the other places are so bad to chase me away, but I've been on one as long as longer than here, and the whole tone of the forum has changed over the years.  Snarkiness is almost rampant.  Some of the people that were the most helpful left because of the changes.
Last picture I posted for C&C at another forum was slightly over-saturated.  I mentioned that, and that I had learned about how to properly expose that type of photo (sunset silhouette) and would make corrections on the next attempt, and asked for any other suggestions and comments.  Only posts to my thread were "Your exposure sucks", "It sucks because it's over-saturated", etc... not one comment about subject matter, composition, presentation, or shooting tips.
I actually received helpful critique on a C&C request here.

 

 

I posted once on DPreview and had a link for my picture to my website.  All I got was grief on how hateful I was because my site has a lot of anti Obama and Dem. stuff.  I was only looking for comment on a picture that was in line with the thread but libs couldn't leave it alone.  I havn't been back since.

Most other photo forums seem to have rules like our GD.

This site has technical forums which (usually) are more to the point and only frequented by a small subset of people who are actually interested in the subject matter. General photo forums don't seem to have that filter.

There is plenty of that here, too (::ahem:: HR), but just not as many viewers to join in on the nonsense (be it real or tongue-in-cheek) and build off each other.

Yeah, it seems like civility is slowly going out the door.

Very true.  And because of that, I only frequent one or two photo forums.  I think one of the friendliest photo forums on the net (other than here) is The Nikon Cafe.  Some would say the rules/moderators are overly stifling, but that is exactly what keeps the place friendly.  They won't allow any discussion on politics or religion, and they will quickly close a thread if people come anywhere near being disrespectful to each other.  

They are strict, but the result is a very nice place for us Nikon users to discuss photography.  

I'll have to check them out.  Are they "photo oriented"?  i.e. open to discussions, comments, critiques, and suggestions on posted photos?  Or are they more of a technical/ gear forum?





 

Both.  There are areas where you can post photos, and there are areas for discussions about cameras, lens, etc.  Unfortunately, the server is down right now, for some sort of testing (it was working this morning.....ignore the old date on the front page message).  Hopefully it will be back up soon.

Nikon Cafe

Thanks.  Yeah the site was down when I checked it a little while ago.  I'll pop over sometime later and check it out.
DPReview is a mixed bag of nuts these days.  Kinda like GD here at times, makes my head hurt to read some of the posts over there.  Gets tiresome wading through the flotsam to find the good info.
 
 
 
 

this, when most of those "pros" edit their picture to the point i could've just made it in photoshop. What i've found is most "pros" are wanna be's and the real pros can be extremely helpful and encouraging. B/c they share a true interest with someone else.

just smile and say "god bless your little heart" it gets them so hott they can't think straight.

The best is reading SportsShooter where they forget that the forum is public and their real names, addresses, phones, businesses are being represented by them and they're being judged. The real professionals realize that and refrain from posting or quietly remind the others. It's sad really as there's a lot of big names that are members there that have dropped off posting because the idiots are abound.

DPreview is notorious for its snarkiness.  I looked around there for a bit but never posted.  There are a lot better forums out there. I am a member of several and the only one that's similar to what you're saying is Fred Miranda, and they only get that way when people post the photography equivalent of "9mm vs 45"for the millionth time.

This is pretty much the only photography related forum I post on.


I read the others if I'm looking for information, but if I'm wanting input or opinions, I come here.