Because of several co-conspiring forces, I don't see membership here growing, especially since (as Olaf stated) no matter what creative pathways admins have put into place, the site remains largely technically oriented. So then it comes down to who pays for it? I come here because it is the only semi-active place for larger than 35mm based full format sensor imaging and there are much more active places for my other camera types, Nikon, Leica and of course, film. I look at the ads for medium format gear because they are of interest to me.
I don't really participate on forums to post or view work, I prefer more traditional and curated methods to experience viewing photography. But I feel the site admin's pain. I think photography as an online community sense is going to go through another dramatic change and that is due to the co-conspiring forces I alluded to above. One is simply AI. Even though photo enthusiasts claim they do it only for them selves, they seem to need that photo-fentanyl fix of getting that like or congratulatory nod from their peer group. As AI makes more and more people value photography as an area of human mastery less and less, this will seep into the notion of the efforts of those who are purely hobby centric in the medium….some will simply say why bother, why spend all that money? Other forces will be aging of these current groups and younger generations being pulled away from photography to other areas in which they can retain genuine authorship of their ability in a craft. Why strive to make images in an area in which increasing numbers of people don't believe what they see? If you don't believe what you see, hear or read, then you inherently value it less.
Sure, there will always be those who can make a stand and have a following, but that will be their talent and method of protecting it that will allow for that, especially ones who have established very real and face to face community relationships with those audiences. I think those who shoot film, darkroom print and keep a very limited public web presence will do well here but those who continue to use digital means will also be ok, if they are truly talented and are smart about protecting it.
And to me, that is what photography and anything in the arts for that matter have always been about. That we get to celebrate and look forward to sheer mastery that stands out in the arts. This should not be something that anyone can do easily, by the click of a button or with a clone tool in photoshop. But forums don’t thrive on this, now do they. They thrive on the technical, the latest firmware update, the latest gear. They thrive on the small groups of people who are polite and who will not say anything bad of a just OK picture.
I don’t know what the answer is here anymore than I know the true fate of photography as a whole. But I do know that writ large, changes in photography are here and more are coming. I hope online photo communities survive these changes but I will not be surprised if they do not.
