23: Farewell - TheRatRace

Farewell

Please find my new work here.

9 comments so far...

15°C plus September 27, 2014, 11:31 AM

oh! That's a real shame :( But yes it has changed on here, I think most people notice. Your photos have always been one of the ones I liked to see best on here - going to miss that!

mramshaw September 27, 2014, 05:31 PM

Thanks for posting this - most people just disappear.

Yes, the quality has really fallen-off since the emphasis
shifted to video. And the servers have been very flakey
for the last few weeks.

I can't really complain as I am not a paying subscriber
(I hardly post any pictures but I do try to contribute with
helpful critique at least). But I find Flickr is simply too
much. And the same with 500px. I really like 23 as a
low-volume service - but it really does seem to be dying.

Creeksong September 27, 2014, 05:33 PM

My Picasa uploader also stopped working about 6 months ago, and now the time it takes to upload any photo has quadrupled. I was thinking it might be a Picasa problem, but now I wonder if it's a 23hq.com problem. If the staff here doesn't address that, I might consider following you elsewhere.

Spelterini September 27, 2014, 09:31 PM

Ja, so silent here - but too busy there. What shall we do? Any suggestions?

TheRatRace September 29, 2014, 11:15 AM

I agree that Flickr is too big, too crowded and too market oriented -- and I will miss the more "off the beaten track" ambiance of 23. But I need a publishing platform that *works*: photography is a hobby for me, albeit an important one -- and I can't waste the little time I can devote to it battling with things that don't work...
So, no suggestions to give -- I'm not happy with what I'm doing either...

TheRatRace September 29, 2014, 11:17 AM

P. S. I tried to stay a paying subsciber, but their billing system won't accept my credit card -- and nobody answered when I tried to raise the issue...

mramshaw September 29, 2014, 03:39 PM

This is not the only website that is slow these days.

Sometimes I use the HTML uploader, sometimes the Flash
one. They both seem rather slow, not much between them
in my experience.

While there may be maintenance problems here, I think the
bigger issue is the Net Neutrality one. For any U.S. people,
please make your voices heard.

There is also PBase (which a photographer friend used to
nag me about joining - personally I am just a hobbyist and
kind of felt like it was overkill).

Sadly, it is a lot harder to post comments with Captcha
and I feel this may have scared a lot of people off. On the
other hand, the comments may be slightly better as it is
no longer a simple effort to say 'Nice picture' (not very
much of a useful compliment but welcome in any case).

helen birch October 18, 2014, 08:44 PM

I'm late seeing this :-(
I'm really surprised 23 haven't been in touch with you. I've always found them SO helpful and friendly.
I'll come see you on flickr - I'm there too: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29346165@N00/
If Flickr is the momma of photo sites, 23hq is the friendly little sister and I intend to remain pals with it.

mramshaw October 18, 2014, 10:43 PM

23 has stuff broken down into pages (also PBase) whereas
everyone else has these endless (and endlessly re-loading)
pages where you are seduced into spending (wasting) huge
amounts of time. This format is pretty old-school but I like it
better than the alternatives (that I've seen anyway).

Anyhow, 23 have been working on their servers lately, which I
take as a very good sign. So i hope there's life in the friendly
little sister yet.