come on people!!!

[bradg]

i know steve said not to post what should i buy posts, and yet, i have seen at least 5 in the last min.

what's up with that?

i think we should have a topic for what should i buy questions, what do yuo think?

am i crazy or am i right?

[slipe]

There are already more topics than any board I have ever seen. I agree that it would be nice to have a “What camera should I buy” topic, but only if a little used one were omitted.

Maybe a perpetual thread where everyone lists their choices by category or price – and why. Then whenever anyone asks what camera to buy they could be shuttled over to that thread to peruse through it.

[digcamfan]

I welcome our new forum members who ask...

"What should I buy?"

It means two things...

One, they are novices who seek some assistance.

Two, Steve's digicams forum members total is increasing!

Eyes on the distant horizon...

Two cents

[steve]

The center and bold green option on my main menu says "Best of 2003" and lists the best cameras in many categories... people just want someone else to make the decision for them :?

-Steve

[UrbanPhotos]

There are two kinds of threads I'm sick of seeing:

1) "Which camera should I buy?"

2) "OMG MY NEW CAMERA SHOOT'S TEH PIC'S AT 72DPI. WTF???"

I can only imagine how bad it must be in the "newbie help" section. I rarely venture in there.

[-jb]

Originally Posted by bradg

i think we should have a topic for what should i buy questions, what do yuo think?

All of the old timers would avoid that forum...

People would start posting WSIB questions in the other forums again...

We'd have the same situation with yet-another forum that would go unused...

-jb

[slipe]

Originally Posted by -jb

People would start posting WSIB questions in the other forums again...

We'd have the same situation with yet-another forum that would go unused...

-jb

Steve needs a moderator to move the things to where they belong. Good moderators on other boards keep people from doing things like posting questions on the wrong board.

Originally Posted by UrbanPhotos

There are two kinds of threads I'm sick of seeing:

1) "Which camera should I buy?"

2) "OMG MY NEW CAMERA SHOOT'S TEH PIC'S AT 72DPI. WTF???"

I can only imagine how bad it must be in the "newbie help" section. I rarely venture in there.

It seems you have as good a chance of finding posts from people who have actually done some research and just want advanced help on the Newbie board as on General. If somebody is really trying I don’t mind sharing my ignorance with them.

The ones I skip are the “I’m not going to tell you what I want to spend or give specific requirements. I don’t know anything about cameras and just want to take family photos. Tell me what to buy.” How would I know?

The other is “I have a $150 budget and want the best camera I can get for that”. By the time you get a charger and batteries plus a small memory card about the only thing left is a refurbished Argus 2Mp with no optical zoom. How would anyone who posts on this board know anything about that level of camera?

Maybe a standard answer like a link to Steve’s Best of 2003. Point out that they get a full review if they click on a camera and can get a good price estimation from the “where to buy” box on the first page of the review. Tell them to narrow down their choices based on features and price and come back with just 2 or 3 cameras.

I agree with digcamfan that we probably shouldn’t be above helping out novices. 6 months from now they might be adding advanced tips and know more than we do. Ignorance and stupidity aren’t the same thing.

[bcoultry]

Ignorance and stupidity aren’t the same thing.

They certainly aren't, but in this case, we may be looking at ignorance and interpreting it as stupidity. Way back when I was looking to buy my first digital camera (five years ago), Dave Etchells of Imaging-Resource personally brought me up to speed on what I needed to know in order to make a decent decision. I still bless him for that, and sitting here thinking about it, I'm wondering if maybe there could be a list of links specifically designed for newbies with "stupid" questions, links that would send them to articles that would teach them enough so any of their questions would be of the informed sort.

[mkoso]

You know, I really don't see the harm in people asking WSIB. Novices draw from more experienced users and, I really don't think that's such a bad thing. Aside from taking up some space here in the forum, I don't see what the the big gripe is. I mean, most of the time, you can see right by the subject that it's a WSIB thread and, you can skip over it if you're so inclined.
What I do think is worse are some of the people here in the forum who, are fond of a favorite brand of camera and, just push that upon someone regardless of their needs.

Mark

[Gandalf065]

at the camera shop i work at, i deal with this question ALL the time. because of that i really dont have any problem with answering a question, provided there is some sort of reasoning behind it and its not like slipe said with a question so generic nothing can help them.
so bring on the questions! i am sure some of us will find it in our hearts to answer as best we can