What should we do with the Photo gallery?

[Salome]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to check in with the community about the Photo Gallery. In 2007, some members of the forum donated money toward the purchase of photo gallery software from PhotoPost. This software was an add on (plug-in) to the forum.

With that purchase we get to have the photo gallery indefinitely and that‘s great… however there is a but… the license was only valid for a year and is expired. Without renewing to get a current license I cannot upgrade to the latest version. The cost of the yearly license is $129.00 USD.

Why does this matter? Up until the middle of this year, we were still able to add pictures to the gallery even though the plug-in was an early version and the forum software a later version. But with the latest forum upgrade it appears that has come to an end. The gallery is too outdated to work with the forum software. No new pictures can be added to the gallery because it can no longer recognize the forum log-in’s and registration.

Someone likes the gallery, because there have been over 4 million views… but do you like it? Do you want to use it? Would you use it if it were working? Vote and let us know where you stand :0) Comments etc. welcome as always.

 

[Salome]

For those who voted "I didn't know there was a photo gallery", you can take a look here
Belly Dance Photo Gallery -

 

[Shanazel]

I'm indifferent to the gallery. I enjoy seeing what members look like, but I'm not particularly interested in seeing dozens of photos of the same dancer or photos of people who don't participate here (unless they are connected with a member somehow).

 

[~Diana~]

For those who voted "I didn't know there was a photo gallery", you can take a look here
Belly Dance Photo Gallery -

Oh I never seen that. So many pictures to look at now.

 

[Mosaic]

I voted to support it, but I thought it was members own photo gallery. That particular gallery, in all the time I have been here I have only looked at it once, so maybe overall It doesn't matter about having it. I will support whatever decision is made
~Mosaic

 

[Lydia]

i liked it when i just joined the forum ...it was great to see everybody,but so many people come and go and now i never realy go there anymore.....

 

[tutankhamun]

I voted that I "didn't know there was a gallery" and I bet many people did not.

Which is a great shame because there are not many belly dance oriented galleries out there.

The question is: can you promote the gallery and monetize the traffic so that it makes you at least the licence fee? I see that you are not too keen on monetizing stuff... eeh, all creative people are that way :clap:

I think it would be nice to keep the gallery (only if you commit to promote it). And if you think $129 is too much, put it to sleep (erh... archive) and check PhotoPlog: The Lite Gallery - vBulletin.org Forum
It is PhotoPlog - not a great deal of software but still, it can be used with vbull. I gather that Lite version is free and the commercial is $35 a year.

And then there is the ever-angry Herr Joachim with his Coppermine Gallery that can be integrated too. I wouldn't suggest coppermine to my enemy because it has its own mind but there are people out there that love coppermine, so, yeah - you can always test coppermine or photoplog and see if you like it.

If I was you, I would keep the gallery and use it to gain more visitors to the forum.

 

[gisela]

I am unsure so I haven't voted yet. I used to look at the gallery a lot but i think I haven't ever since the forum got split from Orientaldancer.net. I forgot that it was there actually. I think there used to be some link to there from the forum? Or maybe I entered the forum through the OD site and by that I saw if there had been new additions to the gallery. If there's a link from here or random new photos shows at this site then I think I would check it out more often.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

*after seeing gallery* oO???

I thought you meant our personal photo albums in our profiles... -_-;;;;;;;; *facesmashfacesmashfacesmash*

owwwww... @_@

count me as one of those who didn't know... :redface:

 

[Amulya]

I like the personal photo albums on people's profiles, but I never look at the general one.

 

[Dhuma]

After looking at the general gallery, I say archive it. Personal albums rock.

 

[Salome]

Just to update a bit. We have recieved some donations and I don't want to name anyone without their permission, but you know who you are - thank you :yay:

 

[Reen.Blom]

I dont care for it. I like seeing pictures in the profiles of the members Im interested in.

Otherwise gallery many times is random pictures, so its like googling for 'bellydance' tag.

I would much enjoy some sort of fun avatars that you can dress up and get items for, as on some other forums, but I guess its 'heavy' and too involved, so too bad...LOL