Has DVXUSER Jumped The Shark?

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Absolutely agree with you Ben (Post #37). I spent many years "on the other side" at DVInfo - which is a real names only forum. Joined that back in 2007 and after nearly 3,000 posts on there I no longer spend much time on it these days. Shame as it was a really good forum a few years back. There are still some highly experienced people who post occasionally on there (and some of those post on here too - and I find the discussions on things I'm interested in now seem to happen on here). I always try and be courteous and help people with info I think might be useful - whenever I can. It's the least one can do in return for the great knowledge that many share freely on here.

If there are to be changes then I think DVXUser should become a real names only forum - just so so you know who's commenting. That's just me being an old fashioned git! Feel free to ignore the idea!
 
Ben Scott said:
My very limited interactions so far back on here it all feels a bit more like an anonymous youtube comments bin instead of that helpful community of likeminded souls but we'll see.
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I agree and one thing I hear again and again is how we don't want toxicity in the forum. Just that kind of negative one-upmanship and taking out our stress on one another.

By the way, in case it wasn't clear - I wasn't referring to your FX6 owners club thread earlier in a pejorative sense but as an example of a nuts and bolts narrowly focused thread instead of the type of meandering thread that inevitably leads back to Kubrick.

Re:real names, I'd give anything to change my username to Abe Halpert from ahalpert. It must have been a holdover from my usernames at college
 
Oh I missed that completely so no offence :)

I started that thread so I could concentrate on the only thing of interest to me without it still being the 'people who aren't using the camera but are wading in their youtube opinions' thread.
 
andykwilkinson said:
If there are to be changes then I think DVXUser should become a real names only forum - just so so you know who's commenting.
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I don't understand the allure of this rule. How would "Jake Smith" make it easier to "know who's commenting" any more than "jdawg101"?

There are lots of reasons I can think of that someone would wish to remain pseudononymous while interacting with strangers from around the world.

And there is one big benefit to others: uniqueness, which isn't guaranteed by real names. What if there are two Bob Smiths?
 
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I'm torn on 'real names only', even though I am on some boards that are 'real name' forums. Being behind a screen name on the faceless internet opens up the door to all kinds of vitriol, hate, trolling, lies and general verbal diarrhea that can be spewed with little to no accountability and responsibility by those doing it. But on the flip side of that, it can allow people to speak freely or at least more freely than they would or could otherwise, especially on certain subjects. History is full of instances of people that used nom de plume's and other forms of anonymity that allowed information to be presented to the press and public that helped bring forth enlightenment, change and otherwise shine a light on the "unknown and bad things" happening in the dark places out of general view, that otherwise may not have happened because of the fear and consequences of reprisal.

There was also another, once popular, board that I'm on(and a few others here, as well) that added a sub-forum that was 'real names only'. Some members already used their real names and others didn't. If memory serves, if you chose to register your real name to be able to post on this specific sub-forum, you actually kept your existing screen name and it placed your real name below it(so that both were visible). Anyone could still view this sub-forum, but only the users that chose to register their real names could post in it. In the beginning, it was active, but quickly fell off by the way side and most activity continued on the rest of the forum that did not require real names.

My .02 on the subject.
 
combatentropy said:
I don't understand the allure of this rule. How would "Jake Smith" make it easier to "know who's commenting" any more than "jdawg101"?

There are lots of reasons I can think of that someone would wish to remain pseudononymous while interacting with strangers from around the world.

And there is one big benefit to others: unique names, which isn't guaranteed by real names. What if there are two Bob Smiths? In fact, for me at least it is harder to keep a distinct impression of those of you who use your real names. When I see roxics, I immediately remember his past posts and what he's like. But I can easily mix up two users if their names are everyday, even if two users' names are completely different (made-up example, "Bob Smith" vs "Steve Williams", harder for me to cement a distinct yet cohesive impression of them, because I mix up their posts with others). If someone has an unusual first or last name, then it works. I remember who Charles Papert is. Or if they have been around forever. I remember Barry Green.
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I have a very popular first name(at least for the time period when I was born) and sorta common last name. I know of at least five or six other people in this business, in other parts of the country and we all have the same first and last names and actually share some of the same clients and said clients have mixed us up on numerous occasions with travel snafu's, bookings and even payment. And on one of the 'real name' boards I'm on, there are at least two or three of "us".
 
This isn't the type of forum where one should need to hide about anything. We are neither planning a riot nor is it a forum for victims of crime.

It's a video production/camera forum.

Real Names promotes a sense of real humans on the other end of a conversation and subsequently, of community. Frankly, if I don't know anything about the person I am speaking to I am very unlikely to take anything they have to say with much more than a pinch of salt.
 
I would like to change my account to my real name. I can't. Don't require it but give us the option. This is part of the issue- a lot of the forum features don't work well.

For years I found cinematography.com to have the best information but that also was because I wanted to learn 16mm. I was part of the group that was drawn to dvxuser when the F35 was "rediscovered". The early F35 post had an unspoken rule that you shouldn't post unless you had something new to contribute. And for a while the discovery was fascinating and fun, it was the only place you could find out information on the F35.

Now the F35 forum is dominated by repeat conversations. How many times will new users ask what the proper 7Q firmware is for the F35. I blame a lot of this on the poor search function of the forum. I use google to search dvx because the built in one is extremely frustrating, and it shouldn't have to be that way.
 
Ben Scott said:
This isn't the type of forum where one should need to hide about anything. We are neither planning a riot nor is it a forum for victims of crime.

It's a video production/camera forum.

Real Names promotes a sense of real humans on the other end of a conversation and subsequently, of community. Frankly, if I don't know anything about the person I am speaking to I am very unlikely to take anything they have to say with much more than a pinch of salt.
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No, we're not talking about national security, but with the way that clients and employers scour the internet today for information on their hires and employees, I'm sure some would not like to lose out on a job or employment, because of something they may have said on an internet forum that someone else may not like(for whatever reason) or may be taken the wrong way by someone who's sole job it is to "dig for dirt"?

Even though I behave professionally and I would never purposefully spread lies, troll or "dish dirt" or "talk trash" about a client or person by name on a public forum, because I just don't think it's in good form, I'm glad I have the option on here to go by a screen name(and anyone who even half-way knows me, can figure out who I am by my screen name).
 
I doubt I have ever worked for someone who would a) know about or b) care about or c) ever visit this place.

But being responsible for what you say is something I'm quite on board with.
 
combatentropy said:
Lots of words, Ben. Zero sense.
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Huh? Isn't Ben just saying clients don't care about dvxuser? Now, I'm not sure that will always be true if someone says something really bad on here. And Brawley before he got canceled mentioned that he gets vetted for being an internet troll before he gets hired on big shows, so I bet if he cyber bullied someone here, it could cost him work.

Anyway - Ben mentioned that he soured on the forum years ago on account of negative commentary. Maybe there's a more positive way to disagree with him or ask him what he means? Let's keep the family growing :)
 
I don't think it matters if clients care about or even know that DVXUser exists. My point was across the board, that if someone makes a post in their real name on a public message board on the internet and someone is tasked with "vetting" someone, in part, by searching the internet for them, then their posts are probably going to turn up. Now, of course WHAT they turn up is entirely dependent upon what that individual posts(unless they find the wrong person).
 
NoFilmSchool went "real name" about six years ago and promptly died. It used to have comment sections per article three pages long. Now - and I disclose that I have only scrolled it this time - there are articles with zero comments.

Red User is a real name site - where Run & Gun and several other DVXUser posters also participate - but it's a much higher end gear board. And the discussions are quite stifling. The Red management, obviously, wanted real names because it's their product but I rarely even lurk there.

And I have a lot of respect for some of their frequent posters with a long line of actual credits. But it's still no fun.
 
combatentropy said:
Lots of words, Ben. Zero sense.
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No idea what this means.

I use my real name here, on Reduser and on just about every forum I can.

One of the best ways to not get found out saying trollish things when being vetted for work is to not say trollish things in the first place.

Just my opinion but I am really not into protecting people's anonymity just so they can behave badly online with impunity.

NoFilmSchool is a content aggregator that had a short moment in the sun and shouldn't really be mentioned in the same sentence as here.

Reduser is a place where you can talk in much more depth but you have to remember the slightly fanatical undertones if discussion veers towards any other camera system. That said people there genuinely helped me advance my craft.
 
Ben Scott said:
... NoFilmSchool is a content aggregator that had a short moment in the sun and shouldn't really be mentioned in the same sentence as here.
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NFS has solely original content and quite a bit of it too. Its comments section was a big wild - one could actually comment using the existing poster's name - but it was lots of fun. Ryan then decided that it was too much fun and that he wanted a "real name" comment section, listing all the reasons you had. And it was an epic disaster.
 
I'm not going to waste breath listing why I have so little regard for NFS but if this place was anything like it I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

Just chiming in with my thoughts. Not expecting everyone to either agree with them or enact them. In the end I don't what the people want this place to be. I just know what would great for me.

I'd also take a place with 20 experienced professionals over a place with 20,000 people who talk a big game.
 
DLD said:
NFS has solely original content and quite a bit of it too. Its comments section was a big wild - one could actually comment using the existing poster's name - but it was lots of fun. Ryan then decided that it was too much fun and that he wanted a "real name" comment section, listing all the reasons you had. And it was an epic disaster.
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LOL NoFilmScool steal content from other creators on a daily basis and I’m happy to say so using my real name.
 
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