emd_SD_60 wrote:While on the subject of Railpictures.net, looks like LocoPhotos is slowly becoming RP's little brother. Ever since a few months ago when the new guy took over, it has slowly turned to hell. The guy running it has now put up a whole bunch of guidelines, such as not allowing pix of railroad employees riding locomotives on the outside, no shadows in frame, and only "roster shots" will be allowed. The previous guy who ran it was very liberal on this stuff. Now I don't have a problem with that, only roster shots allowed, that's what the site is all about, but the real killer is he's actually going back and deleting the old pics that don't meet his guidelines! And I had numerous pics that were taken off, that others had no problem with. As far as i'm concerned, i'm finished with Locophotos.com. Haven't uploaded a pic there since the end of last month.
I'm the new guy who took over LocoPhotos. I have to disagree with several of your comments Chris. LocoPhotos was slowly turning to hell when I joined as a contributing member, before I even bought the site. Quite the opposite, LocoPhoto's trip into the underworld has now been halted. LocoPhotos was close to qualifying as a superfund site when I bought it. It was a toxic mix of just plain cruddy photos that must have been taken with cell phone cameras, and excellent shots that people obviously gave some consideration to before the hitting the shutter release.
I didn't put up a whole bunch of guidelines, those guidelines were in place before I bought LocoPhotos. I was against any guidelines being added, and I stated so publicly in the forum. I argued to let the moderators do their job. But certain people didn't understand the guidelines. I suspect they didn't even bother to read them, so I clarified them when I took over. I did add the no people rule, and the shadow rule. I had to do so, because more than 35 years ago when I started taking pictures, these were the rules. But that was in the old days, when people understand what was expected of them, and performed accordingly, without having to be told. People and shadows do not belong in roster shots. However, to satisfy modelers and historians, I do allow shadows provided they do not create a distraction to the subject
As for deleting content that was on LocoPhotos when I bought it, it is my website, I paid for it, I pay for the hosting, and I spend my time working on the site. I choose what I will present on my website. I am under no obligation to continue to host material that never belonged on LocoPhotos in the first place. LocoPhotos has lost a lot of good photographers over the past 3 to 4 years, because of the way it was run and moderated. I have been in contact with some of those people, their opinions do not surprise me, in fact they mirror my thoughts, and the thoughts of others, exactly.
I am not concerned with whether people did or did not have a problem with material previously contained on LocoPhotos. Anyone that may have had a problem with it, left LocoPhotos years ago. My concern is that material on the site conforms to the guidelines, that people know that the guidelines are being administered and enforced fairly and uniformly.
Stan Lytle
"The New Guy"