If only four photographers have been throttled by the new restrictions, then my thinking is incorrect. My belief is that these are global changes, and not targeted. I have not noticed any out-of-place images since Kevin posted his observations. If you have evidence that others are still linking successfully, let's have it. I will also say that I have had very little time to pay much attention in the past week due to personal commitments, so I may well have missed something.

WRT Erik, he and I have followed each other on Flickr for several years, and we met a couple of years ago. He is a great guy, and puts a lot of effort into finding unique light, yielding incredible results.


I don't think that success on RP has anything to do with knowing somebody in the "circle" - I sure don't. Before coming here, very few people knew who I was, and I maintained a relatively low profile. After 20 years of only shooting as many rolls of film in a year as I used to shoot on a ten-day vacation, I just wanted to see if my stuff stood the test of time. Other than some banter here on the forums, I still do not have any "presence" here other than one or two postings most days. I'm pretty sure that Erik didn't arrive here because he was part of the "circle", and he certainly has flourished.

I also think you overestimate the amount of front page time I would lose. A lot of my stuff doesn't see the top 4, and my post yesterday is the only one to go to number one in some time. I'm quite content to see other's work in those spots, if they haven't been campaigned. As a matter of fact, I would be just fine seeing the top ten of the past 24 hours on the front page without some convoluted rolling formula to throw some photos out to get more exposure for others. That seems like a simpler and better solution to the concern about exposure for all that you have.

It is targeted - one, by one, hitting just four recently. As I noted - there are still others, just not to the same extreme - some campaigning, others simply prolific in sharing. I'm not looking to call any one specific person out - they may simply find it easier to post a link than the photo and a rewritten caption, though a swift ride to the front page is no doubt a well known perk when linking. Funny how no one links after the first 24 hours...

As for "knowing somebody in the circle" - that was not to be taken literally, rather, it was an analogy. You'll note a relatively exclusive circle of folks featured routinely in TRAINS and Railfan. The same started to happen on RP. It was not who you knew in the magazine, it was who you knew via links. In other words, it was no longer about good pictures.

When I first started posting to RP - I loved the fact there were no politics, no campaigning, no brown-nosing - it was all about the photo. You didn't have to "know" someone, you didn't have to "sell" your shot nor work to promote it. You just put it out there and let it speak for itself. The one hour idea was simply a way to promote linking to appease Admin ($$) yet allow everyone else with good photos an opportunity at the front page - without counter link whoring. I solicit images here and there to the periodicals, but for RP, just not interested in becoming an employee. It takes me long enough to write an informative caption! It's supposed to be fun, right? RP gets views, its patron's get seen. And it sucks when your best stuff does not get seen because there's a big random derailment (or link campaign) blocking the view the day you just happened to upload your best.

/Mitch

Doug,

You're fine. Just keep unloading L&C and other shots from the southeast!

While derailments/wrecks are not "Pretty", it is still a part of railroading and worthy of documenting and sharing, especially if its personal (involves a family member). Those shots usually garner a lot of views simply because they just dont happen everyday. One of my top shots was of a local wreck and it gained a lot of views and no linking was done as I only post here on RP and RPA. I have no other social accounts. The solution is simple, kill all linked views towards the count and let the picture speak for itself. That way RP still makes $$ from reaching other audiences via the links and us here on RP really know what the RP audience thinks of our accepted shots. I personally like when a shot of mine hits the top 4 (who dont?) and naturally, I want it to stay there for as long it can until my time is up and on to the next great picture....

Well pointed out Mike. I have appreciated your photography ever since "Steel Rails Across America" was published in 1989 and I declared the Americans have finally arrived! Returning to your comment, there are similar websites in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and I note that American involvement is rather limited. Indeed the European domination is probably more than US/ Canada domination on RP. But over time that might change. A regular US based contributor and voting member on one site left RP with his photos and told me how he has grown in his appreciation of foreign trains since he moved to the site.

I personally don't care much about awards or view data. Nor can I believe a significant number of viewers just look at the home page. The issue is that RP being what it is - a US based and biased site - will not be worthwhile or become too frustrating for many newcomers outside North America. The perception of harsher screening of photos of foreign trains by possibly every RP member/ viewer in this country means most give up and seem to have little interest in the site. That leaves a most miserly home audience. This thread started with the reputation of RP and this is another aspect of this debate IMO. I can't see this debate changing anything unless we, the customers, change our behavior (just like for any other business really.) If you don't like the bias or preferences here then how about showing appreciation of photos that you find so worthy? As much as I admire Jean-Marc for his passionate stand, I don't recall he has ever liked a single photo I have here. As Loyd well said, the faves tell the story. But it's not the story it should be. I appreciate the RP community but we are miserable! I'm not sure what the active membership/ viewership is now for RP but let's say it's 35000. With around 1% that in my following on flickr, my photos there fairly consistently get more faves (many times as many) also almost all from overseas from similar number of views. I have selected around 5% of whole RP photo database as favorites despite joining only 7 years ago. That's not nearly enough! I only realized in the last year that I should favorite the photos I add to albums to show appreciation to the photographers and hopefully encourage them to continue posting. I suspect that it's only with more viewer appreciation that we will see more screener appreciation for our photos and the continued international growth for this precious site.

I'll admit that I'm quite stingy with likes and comments on here. It has to be a shot that hits me in the feels, or is a technically difficult capture that is well executed. I'm not a guy with social media standards. :)

Loyd L.

Loyd, I feel the same way. I am probably more free with Comments than with Favorites. I have always reserved Favorites for images that I wish were mine....meaning they were photos that were better than mine, or photos of subjects I wanted to capture. These were images I would hold up and say: "This is where I want to be." That's still the case, but as we progress with our photography and (hopefully) get better, we raise the bar so to speak with respect to our goals.....better lighting, better composition, better processing, more technically difficult, etc. So, images that I might have favorited 10 years ago would probably not get the flag today.

But you are the nicest guy from Hinton, WV that I've ever met!

I'm safe until another railfan pops up from here :D

Loyd L.