2021-09-03 Club News

Gelezen.

Is it really four years ?
My, how the time has flown by ...

How do we spread the word about this wonderful place & the community here ? and then convert that into new memberships ?
A difficult question that WE need to solve ...

4 years,unbelivable..

Thank you for the update and your continuing hard work on behalf of the members. Anything that isn't essential and can be removed to save costs is a good thing. I find it somewhat strange the number of new members who have no photos but they have paid !!!! How to increase the number of members is a problem potential members get drawn to the well known sites their friends belong to. I wonder if there are competent members who could produce articles/ videos on photography we have many photos but very little mention of photography, I wonder how many have a camera capable of many things but have only ever used Auto.
In the UK the use of vintage lens on mirrorless cameras is becoming more popular, as is the use of film cameras

Could it be that some new paid up members just have no public photos?

Hallo Peter
Op mijn vier camera's wordt de stand Auto bijna nooit gebruikt!
Ik ken wel verschillende leden die de camera constant op Auto hebben staan-die de inhoud van andere standen te ingewikkelt vinden.

groet

Yes. And some people just come to view and maybe not even comment. Perfectly legitimate club use.

4 Jahre schon.....

In fact, four and a half years have passed since the founding of the Ipernity Members Association (IMA) on 27 February 2017 and the crowdfunding that immediately followed in March 2017.

For the newcomers among us: Back then, 548 committed club members donated 29,130 US dollars in 15 days to buy the heavily indebted website from the former operator and thus save it from the end. Since then, the ima team, which until the beginning of this year consisted only of photographers and IT autodidacts, has not only succeeded in ensuring an online presence of the website of >99%, but also in working off the entire backlog that had accumulated because the website had not been maintained since 2013.

Today, the website offers the best user experience in its history, with a contemporary homepage and landing page, as well as significantly improved presentation of the members' pictures. As a sharing website, it is aimed at dedicated photo amateurs who want to share their hobby with each other (see the mission statement in About ipernity). Ipernity is thus clearly positioned, which was by no means the case four and a half years ago. As an association, we have also built a solid financial foundation, as can be read in the Annual Financial Report for 2020.

⚠️ Ich habe dieses Statement in englischer Sprache verfasst, weil die DeepL-Übersetzung vom Englischen ins Deutche besser ist als umgekehrt. Dies gilt gleichmaßen für alle anderen Sprachen, die DeepL anbietet. Auf diese Weise steht allen Leserinnen und Lesern ein möglichst fehlerfreier Kommentar in ihrer Muttersprache zur Verfügung.

Ich war schon geschockt als ich hier von nur ca 1400 zahlenden Vollmitgliedern las - WELTWEIT! - und das ist noch nicht so lange her.
Aber der oben publizierte rasante Schwund - der mit "pandemiebedingten Störungen" erklärt wird ? - schockt mich noch viel mehr!
Der Hinweis, dass wir noch "deutlich" über der wirtschaftlich notwendigen Mindestzahl von 700 liegen, klingt wie das - wie man in Deutschland sagt - "pfeifen im Wald".
Sorry, aber ich höre da eher schon das Totenglöckchen in der Ferne läuten ...ach was - in der FERNE?!
Ich fürchte, die Zeit DIESER Art der Fotocommunity neigt sich dem Ende entgegen. Wir erleben nicht nur klimabedingte verheerende Fluten. Die Welt wird auch von Bildern überflutet. Wir ertrinken förmlich bald in Bildern, was die Aufmerksamkeitsspanne für einzelne Bilder - und seien sie noch so gut - zwangsläufig drastisch vermindert. Und es gibt wirklich verdammt viel gute Fotos und es werden immer mehr, aber das Herausfiltern aus dem anschwellenden Meer der durchschnittlichen bis belanglosen Bilder, erfordert auch immer mehr Aufwand.
Es gibt aber nicht mehr Zeit!!! Zumal vieles anderes mehr oder weniger Neues um unser aller Aufmerksamkeit buhlt.

Und je älter man wird ...um so wertvoller wird Zeit.
Und ich denke mit meiner Vermutung nicht falsch zu legen, dass die Zeit von der Alterstruktur unserer zahlenden Mitglieder her gesehen für viele zunehmend wichtiger wird.

Dringender - nein äüßerst dringender Relaunch der Webseite scheitert an finanziellen Mitteln wegen geringer zahlender Mitglieder. Und hier tröstet man sich, dass wir von der "Mindestzahl" noch "weit entfernt" seien.

Ich sehe keinen Sinn mehr darin, sich dieser Erkenntnis in selbstbetrügerischer Weise weiter zu verschließen. Sorry, für mich grenzt das an Eskapismus.

So, nun mag man mich mit einem Pessimismus-shitstorm zuschütten.

Habe mich auch erschrocken, wie die Zahl der Aktiven hier zurückgegangen ist. Mit ist in letzter Zeit aber auch etwas die Freude hier verloren gegangen, jeder Tag wird mit einer Flut von belanglosen H.. begonnen, wo sicher auch schöne und ansprechende Bilder dabei sind. Durch die Masse werden andere Fotos weniger gesehen, geschweige denn kommentiert.
Mir fehlt hier auch ein Forum, wo man sich mal über das neueste Fotoequipment seiner Kamerasparte austauschen kann, Treffen und Touren organisieren kann.
Alle Treffen nach Panoramio wurden hier außerhalb dieser Plattform organisiert und das finde ich schon schade (Hamburg mehrmals, Frankfurt, Dresden, Berlin,Hildesheim, Harz und viele mehr).

Ich weiß die Arbeit des Teams zu schätzen, sehe als Ziel aber nur das Erhalten der Seite, so wie sie ist, mit ein paar kleinen Schönheitsreparaturen, zu dem man in der Lage ist.
Besteht denn überhaupt keine Möglichkeit, neue Einnahmen für uns zu regenerieren? Ein Anhänger für die Fototasche/ Rucksack, die Kaffetasse in der Firma, das T-Shirt für die Tour...und man sieht auch mal außerhalb des Internets den Namen "Ipernity".

Gruß Uwe

Panoramio z. B. hatte eine Fahne:) Ich bekomme sofort ein schlechtes Gewissen, wenn von abnehmender Qualität der Fotos lese. Aber ich möchte mir keinen Stress machen: "Ist das Bild gut genug?" Ich bin froh, dass es uns/euch gibt. Dafür würde ich auch ein paar Cent drauflegen.
Danke an das team. Herzliche Grüße, Karl

Das sollst du auch nicht falsch verstehen, nur so viele attraktive Bänke, Mauern, Zäune etc kann es gar nicht geben, aber die Flut an Bildern drängt sich stark in den Vordergrund des Betrachters. Ich schau mir nur die Galerie an.
Ich hab noch Panoramio Aufkleber, die habe ich vom Bueli in Heidelberg abgestaubt :-)! Mein T-Shirt liegt auch noch noch im Schrank

Wau! Größtenteils stimme ich Dir zu. Es ist und bleibt eine langweilige Bildersammelstelle, mit Friedhof Charakter. Aber das ist auch bei Flickr auch so! Wer nicht für seine Bilder wirbt, stirbt. Das Problem hier ist auch das selbsternannte Sittenwächter und unreflektierte Globalisten das große Wort führen. Das alles in einen stupiden Blumen sonst sich wiederholenden Bilder Zirkus. Jemand schrieb mal, das hier Menschen alterbedingt unterwegs sinjd um etwas Aufmerksamkeit zu erhalten. Und sicherlich ist diese Motivation berechtigt. Nur wenn eine Plattform zu einem Bilderfriedhof wird und nur gegenseitiges Besuchen zu einem Stern führt. Oder verlogende Kommentare etwas Aufmerksamkeit generiert, dann gilt es sich selber zu überprüfen. Nein betteln ist nicht jedermanns-/frau Angelegenheit. Zu Chorona Beginn hatte jemand ein harmloses Bild zum Thema Globalisierung veröffentlicht, worauf sofort eine Beschwerde von XXXX -Menschen erfolgte. Nach einigen Hin und Her von den Denunzianten, denen ein ei Bild nicht ganz gefiel, haben viele ihr Interesse an so einer Plattform verloren. Es gibt noch einige andere Beispiele wo Zensur ein Grund war, diesen Bilderfriedhof zu verlassen. Oder: Eine Weisheit der Daktota Indianer besagt: „Wenn Du bemerkst, dass Du ein totes Pferd reitest, steige ab.“

Lieber Rainer, ich habe Dir Sonnabend leider nicht mehr antworten können, weil meine Sehkraft sich Stunde um Stunde verschlechterte, und ich in die Notfall-Augenambulanz musste. Mein Augeninnendruck fährt Achterbahn. Ich kann derzeit nur reduziert am Bildschirm arbeiten. Damit alle Anderen gut mitlesen können, antworte ich Dir nun ebenfalls auf Englisch.

I wouldn't say that the death knell is ringing yet. Our association is in the best economic situation ever since it was founded. The equity ratio is over 50%, a value that is not often found in business enterprises these days. By the end of the year it will surely top 60%. The financial position is very solid. The freeloaders have left us. The 'ipernity' brand is well established. The mission of our association is very explicit, not least through the slogan on the homepage and the recently updated statutes. We have a very lively community. The user experience of our website for desktop users has never been so good in the entire history of ipernity. The fundamental basics are excellent.

What we are suffering from is the very low public visibility and the resulting low inflow of new members. (See the additional information of the ima team in this blog.) The fact that old members die or no longer have the energy for their hobby is completely normal.

Already a year ago, the ima team pointed out the declining number of club members and called for help to turn the tide. This appeal was read more than 4000 times. However, not much happened. The ima team's urgent plea three months ago to help activate the facebook campaign also went unheard. That is why this campaign, which in principle was well prepared, could not start. (I myself cannot, because Facebook has identified me as a saboteur due to my many operating errors of the advertising console and has permanently blocked me. A Facebook agency I asked for help did not respond again after an initial consultation. It probably has more lucrative orders.)

What I cannot judge is whether this kind of photo community, as we maintain it, is generally dying out, i.e. whether the cake is shrinking in total. I simply don't have the comparative data from Flickr, Fotocommunity, 500px and all the others. But that shouldn't stop us from trying to make our share of the cake bigger by advertising on our own behalf. Hoping for a miracle without advertising is certainly the worst option in today's media landscape.

- - - - -

As far as reprogramming is concerned: we will have almost 30,000 EUR in the coffers at the end of the year. With our excellent equity ratio, we could certainly borrow against this capital. And with our surpluses we could also pay off a loan if we make sure that the membership does not dwindle further. A bank advisor will check this carefully.

But it takes a committed IT project manager on our side for such a project. I myself am out of the question because of my lack of IT competence. It needs someone who can communicate at eye level with the software companies that might be commissioned, or who can lead an internal team in a qualified manner. I consider myself a good turnaround manager and have proven it. But I am realistic enough to say in view of such a project: I can't do that, someone else has to manage this task.

dietje, open your eyes and ears, and above all, open your heart. This way, you are guaranteed to discover those contributions that are published here beyond the routine you disparagingly criticize, pictures that resemble precious pearls, and yet are easier to find than the famous needle in a haystack. But beware, every completed photo/work is a testimony to the past (topic “picture graveyard”), even if only a second has passed since it was taken/created — so yours too …

Which moral guardians do you mean?

In our only critical genre Erotic Photography, a woman who is above reproach (Helena PF ) is the administrator, together with the ima team. This genre is therefore permanently monitored so that only artistic erotic photography is posted, but no smut or porn.

With regard to copyright infringements, * ઇઉ * monitors the postings in the gallery because it is one of the public flagships of our association.

With regard to all other possible incidents, our website has the legally required official reporting system Tickets , which is permanently supervised by our elected moderator Raingirl. as a member of the ima team.

None of these supervisors are 'self-appointed'. All are appointed by ima-team. If you have problems with other members outside of these organised supervisory functions, please deal with them directly. They are not acting on the instructions of the ima-team. If you cannot resolve a conflict, report it via ticket to William, who is the official contact point for complaints.

I hope that by now your vision has been stabilised , the most precious of senses. You shouldn't have to justify not answering something immediately wether it is a medical emergency or you just didn't feel like doing it. The majority of members appreciate the amount of work you put in on our behalf. You will never please all of the people all of the time and a few you will never please any of the time !!
Unless I have missed something in the translations there doesn't appear to be any Good Wishes for you after your answer, you can come to your own conclusion !!

Thank you Peter!
My visual acuity is reasonably stable thanks to strong eye drops. But the side effects are very unpleasant. Tomorrow I will be checked further so that the physicians can find the right operative measure among several possibilities.
I do not expect thanks. I do this job here out of passion. But I am just as happy about it as I am about your empathy. There is no such thing on Flickr and in other photo communities. That's what makes ipernity special.

Bernhard.
Buitengewoon naar en vervelend om te lezen over jouw ernstige oog-problemen. Ik hoop oprecht dat de doktoren een oplossing kunnen vinden. Ik wens je een spoedige en algehele beterschap.

Jaap, ich danke Dir für Deine Anteilnahme. Da mich die Ärzte nicht längst in den OP geschoben haben, sehen sie die Lage wohl weniger kritisch als ich. Das beruhigt mich irgendwie. Schließlich tragen sie die Verantwortung für eventuelle Kunstfehler.

Heute war ich zu einer weiteren Untersuchung in der Klinik. Man hat die Ursache für den plötzlichen Glaukom-Anfall bisher noch nicht gefunden. Mein Fall kommt Montag in die Chefarzt-Konferenz. Dienstag geht es dann mit den Untersuchungen weiter. Drückt mir die Daumen. Danke!

World Photography Day ...

Now, that has been an interesting development.

I agree. Perhaps going forward we can have some kind of quarterly or monthly event to preserve the excitement of World Photography Day's success.

I think a monthly event would probably involve to much work unless some one wants to take the job, for me the the best thing was the photo having to be taken on at the day not photos taken years ago

A monthly all club activity would indeed involve a lot of work. But the idea of some monthly, or maybe quarterly, all club something or other is appealing.

Perhaps we could have a montly or quarterly ima team Article that was some kind of information about photography. A 'How to', or a 'Perspecitives on photography' blog, or some type of 'photo hint'. This could happen if we have a few members who would like to organize this.

It the team approved the idea as a team article, I would be happy to be the one to get it posted. If that wasn't approved, we could find a different way to make it availalbe to everyone. Maybe a team group. Lots of possibilities.

To be realistic, I would suggest a quarterly thing.

Anyone interested in being a leader for this idea - please contact me directly!

I have no wish to get into a mud slinging match but as someone who helped to buy ipernity and have loaned money by taking an advanced subscription i feel there are things that Wilfred needs to consider we all see things differently it would be very boring if we all liked the same, members belong for different reasons for some posting a photo of whatever quality and commenting on their friends photo and adding a star is important to them you don't know their circumstances. Some members would find bird photos and old holiday photos of little merit.
It's called compromise essential for the success of any organisation
May be it's time for you to consider how you can help ipernity to flourish you didn't participate in World Photography Day, how about making a Youtube video or being involved in any project that helps promote ipernity instead of finding fault, CONSTRUCTIVE comments and ideas are always welcome

Thanks and congratulations to us all, and to our fabulous admin team!

Thank you for the information Bernhard and to all for their activity and contributions to this great site.

Also a few comments re: the numbers and Explore:

Even though we inherited the Explore algorithm, despite its imperfections, it is the fairest way to showcase contributions since it is above all objective. It is also significantly smaller than Flickr's which for all intents and purposes is meaningless since unless photos are featured on the first few pages, they are completely drowned out. I believe we should take pride that one's subjective critique of another's photos play no role in their inclusion -- only comments, stars, and views do. Different people have different tastes. A photo one may not consider appealing may be very appealing to another. Everyone has a chance to make Explore, something we should cherish and be grateful for.

Also, the site has held up well during the pandemic disruption. When numbers are viewed, we experienced a 28.5% decline since 2017 with the majority of the loss since 2020 when the global community suffered significant economic losses and undoubtedly club members also suffered illness with some dying -- a tragic reality considering up to 18.2 million based on the latest excess death reports have already died around the world from COVID-19.

Next, when Flickr's numbers are viewed, we did significantly better because of our loyal membership and caring community atmosphere. In 2015 Flickr had 112 million paying club members. At the start of this year, Flickr has 60 million total members. A breakdown of paying members is not available and so if all 60 million were considered paying members, which is unlikely, the site suffered at least a 46.4% decline.

Also based on anecdotal evidence 500 PX has suffered a similar decline in pro memberships as Flickr with some former subscribers calling some its features "useless" with the cost of memberships outweighing the benefit of "licensing" your own photos.

Last, Ipernity remains profitable with the cost of operating the site such as managing server space highly efficient thanks to the efforts of Bernhard, Kiezkickerde and others who interact with our providers and manage our storage/capacity needs. Per Smugmug, Flickr remains in the deep red prompting its second membership fee increase in two years with warnings the site continues to lose tens of millions of dollars per year due to significant storage/space issues that have never been addressed by the numerous companies that have taken over and managed the site (Yahoo, Verizon, Smugmug to name just three). Presently, our survival is better assured since we are a site owned by, run by, and managed by members who have a better understanding of our needs and because our features -- PIPs, blogging with embedded images, visible Explore pages, translation ability, active groups, etc. Our key problem is getting better known since it appears multinational and American sites continue to enjoy an advantage since the top search engines are U.S. and multinational based.

Just some perspectives.

Thank you for putting this perspective out here. We are incredibly lucky to still be here.

Ipernity possède généralement tous les éléments dont un photographe amateur (ou avancé) a besoin pour partager ses photos :
- Un mur
- Albums
- Blog
- Groupes d'affinité
Et d'autres choses comme :
- Créez une base de données de votre arrière-plan photo (vous pouvez télécharger et télécharger des fichiers en taille réelle)
Que pourrais-tu vouloir de plus?
- Il a une interface moderne
- Qu'elle dispose d'un nombre remarquable de partenaires
- Être stable
Mais en quoi Ipernity est-il différent des autres plateformes de partage de photos ?
Ipernity est un club de photographes. Ou du moins c'est ce qui est indiqué à partir de 2017 dans ses statuts.
L'IMA a lutté pendant 4 ans pour maintenir le site avec quelques chocs (et je ne dirais pas qu'ils n'ont rien à voir avec COVID) qui ont détérioré sa projection.
Les réseaux sociaux jouent contre la propriété intellectuelle car la base d'interaction est à peu près la même : les stars, les likes et les commentaires : toute photo que je publie sur Instagram (le pire réseau de tous) a une poignée de visites et de likes de plus qu'Ipernity. Est-ce important ? Je dirais que pour la plupart des jeunes (qui devraient être l'avenir du club) c'est important. Il n'y a pas plus de photographes catalans sur Ipernity que moi. Sur Instagram il y a des milliers de photographes catalans qui partagent des photos : des jeunes, des moins jeunes et des moins jeunes, avec qui je peux partager des photos de mes Pyrénées ou des montagnes en général.
Je ne veux pas évaluer d'autres plateformes comme 500PX ou Flickr. D'autres membres du club l'ont déjà fait et je pense qu'ils ont globalement raison.
Donc pour moi, l'avenir d'Ipernity n'est pas garanti. Aucun jeune ne s'inscrit, et c'est l'un des problèmes.
L'autre problème c'est la fiabilité : après l'automne 2020 et 2021, je ne veux pas avoir ma base de photos sur un site à renouveler, mais pour l'instant, et je ne sais pas combien de temps, il ne l'aura pas .
Un autre problème, dû à la même stabilité, est que les nouveaux ordinateurs avec les navigateurs les plus courants, qui utilisent des filtres de sécurité récents, ne lisent pas la page Ipernity. Je peux moi-même parcourir Ipernity en utilisant une ancienne version de Firefox (une version de novembre 2020) car les versions ultérieures la lisent en blanc.
Je comprends alors qu'il y a plusieurs problèmes à résoudre :
- Un nouveau site internet (Nous devrions le payer parmi tous les membres du club). C'est extrêmement urgent. Vous ne pouvez pas attendre deux, trois, ou je ne sais pas combien d'années. Je suis prêt à y mettre de l'argent, mais je ne veux pas attendre trop longtemps.
- Une réflexion approfondie sur ce que signifie un club de photographie, en essayant de le différencier des réseaux sociaux les plus classiques, avec lesquels, peu importe à quel point nous sommes bons, nous avons tout à perdre.
- Ipernity doit être différent, et si nous n¡ont pas notre propre projet différentiel, il va mourir lentement.

You have inadvertently made a comment that may help some Polish users get access back to ipernity. Many do not have any issues with new browsers - I, for example use the most updated Chrome browser, and while it gives a message the the site in not secure on the pages that are public (all login pages etc are secure), I can view the site no problem. So thank you for that information.

I agree that re-programming is essential. This has multiple layers to it. We need the money, we also need to find the right people to do the re-programming. For this project to move forward we need a project lead/manager. There is a small group of members attempting to move this forward. We are on discord. If you would like to join in that converstation, and/or if you would like to be the project lead/manager, please let me know (by ipermail please) and I will show you where to connect on the discord platform. Everyone is welcome to paticipate.

I agree with you completely on almost all points. Even the fact that as a photographer from a small country (Austria), and in a very specific genre (mountain photography in my case), it's hard to find like-minded people. I take satisfaction from the fact that I can enrich the overall presentation of ipernity with my content by filling a gap. At the same time, I am in the comfortable situation that all visitors see my images when they search for mountain photography. I only have to share this unique position with a few others. Oh, what a lucky man I am!

But I disagree with you about the browsers. Other than for Raingirl, my favourite browser is Firefox. It reads all the content from ipernity without any problems and displays everything completely correctly formatted. Only the message regarding site encryption is disadvantageous and also incorrect. because ipernity is not insecure. All private data is secured because it runs via encrypted pages. Unfortunately, the browsers do not differentiate this and thus damage our reputation.

The ima team wants to and will gladly change this by having ipernity reprogrammed as soon as possible. Financially, this goal is getting closer and closer. As reported, 30,000 euros will be in the account by the end of the year. But we still need a project manager with IT skills. He/she does not have to programme himself/herself, but he/she must be able to keep the external programmers in line. As soon as she/he raises her/his hands, the planning about the realisation can begin.

Dear,
It is not a question of whether or not you agree with the issue of browsers. Is it like that. So hard to believe? Buy a new Imac and run Safari. will load Ipernity blank. Install Firefox and the same will happen to you. My wife's iPad has no problem with Safari, but if you install Firefox it won't read the Ipernity page. Is it like that. I already warned about this issue more than half a year ago and no one at the IMA has stopped to think that at some point this may happen: the IMA’s conclusion is that this is exclusively a problem of mine. So I thought about it for a few months, until I discovered that an older version of Firefox might solve the problem. And indeed, despite the slowness of the version (and the constant warnings of updates that obvious), now reads Ipernity. But the problem persists for those users who have recent hardware and software scrupulous with security protocols.

Dear Homaris, please understand that we, the IMA, are not a software company. We are only photographers. The ima team is a small group of 4 persons only, elected by the ipernity members, i.e. also in your name or by you.

If there is a problem with a new Safari version, we would first have to buy the new Apple hardware with this operating system to test and verify it. We don't have the money to do that, because we are all just working on a voluntary basis. We invest many hundreds of hours of our free time every year without receiving a single cent.

Our website runs with all browsers under Windows and so far also with all Safari versions. We can say that for sure because we know that some members use Apple products.

If you now have problems with a new Apple product, you would first have to check yourself in the settings of the operating system to see if everything is adjusted correctly. Next, you could communicate with other Apple users in the community. There is bound to be a solution. Because we can't imagine Apple launching products that are not backwards compatible.

Nevertheless, we don't want to turn you away. We understand that you are frustrated and want to try to find a way to solve your problems together with you.

As far as we know, you live in Catalonia. You could contact Xata, for example, who also has an Apple computer. She lives in Monte Gordo, Portugal and is very well versed in languages. So you could certainly communicate well. Maybe it would be possible for you to have a zoom meeting with each other in which you check the different browser options together by using Sreen-Sharing? Until now, it was always possible to set different security levels in Firefox. It should also be possible with the new versions, because there are still 30% of the websites worldwide that are not yet encrypted.

Ik heb de allernieuwste high end Chromebook en op mijn desktop de laatste update van Windows 10. Bij beide kan ik zonder problemen Ipernity lezen.

Zie mijn antwoord aan Homaris. Zowel met Chrome als met Edge en Firefox kan ik zonder problemen Ipernity zien. Mijn high end Chromebook wordt voortdurend van nieuwe versies en updates voorzien, moderner dan dit is er niet.

To make the discussion about the development of the number of club members more transparent, we would like to give you some additional information. It is an update of our information from September 25, 2020. (At that time we already drew attention to that matter. See Newsflash 2020-09-25.)

Here an update of that chart:



One should not consider the maximum of 1441 as a reference. This was the result of two measures [b] and [c] taken by the ima team. The more realistic reference value is the number of club members after the expiry of the two-year subscriptions offered by the former Ipernity S.A. in 2016 as a low-cost promotion campaign [a]. This reference value is 1093.

Unfortunately, both measures were only moderately sustainable. From [b] only one third renewed at normal conditions after one year, from [c] less than 20%. This confirms the old merchant's wisdom that bargain hunters rarely become regular customers. Moreover, this also means that all imaginable possibilities of gaining club members from the inventory of registered accounts have been exhausted.

On the other hand, we are very pleased about the high commitment of many club members to sign multi-year club memberships [d] and [e]. A quarter of all Club members thus show a high level of confidence in the future, in some cases until 2025. The slight decline since the beginning of 2021 is normal because the offer has ended. We have so much liquidity in the coffers that there is no longer justifiable to continue this offer.

The correlation with the Covid-19 pandemic is obvious. Because until March 2020, the number of regular members (shown in green) was stable. Admittedly, there are also other influences. For example, the remaining paying Esperanto members have left us. But there were not many. Most Esperantists had free memberships and were more of a burden than an advantage to our community. The same applies to the freeloaders with very large upload volumes who had abused ipernity as a cheap cloud. Their departure is actually a financial gain for us. The introduction of Basic memberships was, contrary to what was desired, not an advantage at all. It has not led to increased bookings from guest members, nor has it attracted members from Flickr, where some were very angry that the cheap Grandfather rate was abolished.

The main problem really far too few new members are joining us. But this is not surprising given the very low level of awareness of ipernity. There are hardly any articles about us. The French Wikipedia has even deleted us because of this.

We would like to add one more information. It is the survey of the natural fluctuation:



As can be seen, the exodus of the 2007 to 2010 cohorts is particularly striking. However, these are mainly very aged members who have either already died or no longer pursue their photo hobby due to declining physical strength or other motives. This is completely normal. In fact, it is very positive that our community has so many long-standing members.

The loyalty of the cohorts from 2013 to 2015 is also impressive. Most of these club members are former Panoramio members.

What really worries us is the low number of staying new members, even though the user experience of our website is better than ever.

We know that there are many dissatisfied users on both Facebook and Instagram. Not least because of the announcement by Adam Mosseri (Head of Instagram) on Twitter that hobby photography will be given less prominence in the future. (German article about this matter on: www.futurebiz.de)

However, we are very sure that the billions of users of these large platforms are completely unaware of the existence of ipernity. Changing this is our greatest opportunity.

In the uk even before covid all clubs and societies were struggling with a reduction in membership numbers often after several decades many having to close because they were no longer viable..
With new members not staying would it be worth after say 3 months sending them a questioner asking what they expected from ipernity and has it come up to expectations. Reading previous comments in this thread at least one seems to have expected some pixel peeping elitist organisation.
They are possibly many members like me who have a free unused Flickr account it may be useful to delete old photos add some new ones with a link to ipernity

I am considering ipermailing new club members personally and asking them how they found us. So related to what you are suggesting, but about how people find us instead of what they didn't like.

You idea to add photos to old unused Flickr accounts via a link to ipernity is good. I do that on rare occassions. I didn't have a very large following on Flickr, but everything helps and I will do it some more.

I know that the discussion feature of groups can be hard to keep tabs on, but it owuld be nice to group suggestions like this into the discussions of 'Promoting ipernity' group: www.ipernity.com/group/advertising

You can see there in this discussion: www.ipernity.com/group/advertising/discuss/195284
Someone relaying why someone left ipernity and went back to ipernity. Not sure what we can do with that information except help us know what type of person we should be targetting (not the type who is just interested in a huge amount of 'views').

You can add you ideas to the appropriate discussions.

I have a big sticker with my travelling photoclub site address in my car and it works : they received calls from people who saw it, describing my car.
Maybe an idea?

A great visibility idea. Please see this discussion in the 'Promoting ipernity' group and add the idea there. Maybe you can research the place I found that makes things and ships internationally? See the latest comment in the discussion: www.ipernity.com/group/advertising/discuss/196998

Bernard will be thinking of you as you deal with the health of your eyes! Positive healing energy going your way. :)

Be Well - Be Happy - Laugh Often

Hello
Merci à toute l'équipe pour tout ce travail formidable !!
Qui aurait cru il y a 4 ans qu'Iper survivrait ?
Je ne suis pas du tout douée ou alors mal voyante , , je n'ai pas trouvé le fameux bouton " A voir " ( Worth Seeing)
Est-ce que quelqu'un peut m'aider ?

These photos can be found under the 'Explore' tab (at the top of every page), and then choose 'Noteworthy'. When french is your ipernity language, it is called 'Explorer' and 'Remarquables'.

www.ipernity.com/explore
www.ipernity.com/search/photo?opt=amb&fr=ex&view=0

Let me know if you still can't find it.

Oh Merci beaucoup
J'avais trouvé effectivement les " Remarquables "
Mais comment propose -t- on une photo que l'on trouve remarquable ? Est-ce que c'est bien dans le groupe " Images ambassadrices " , ou je me trompe ?

When you join the group IPERNITY - Ambassador pictures (IPERNITY - Images ambassadrices), you can suggest images (not your own!) that you think are good ambassadors for ipernity. The group's editorial team will choose from the suggestions once a week.

merci beaucoup