Forums and why I'm leaving all of them

There are any number of forums out there for internet using photographers to indulge in and I've decided to drop out of all of them. Why?

Because I'm an argument addict. I cant help myself, I have to put my 2 cents into every argument and this stops me thinking clearly, forming whole thoughts and articulating my ideas even remotely sensibly. I have tried to step way from the gear oriented talk and focus on the images but good intentions are often swamped by realities and before I know it I'm feeding the gear talk addiction. So thats it, I'm getting out. I say 'getting' because right now I'm trying going cold turkey and making sure I can survive before actually cancelling my membership.

So what am I hoping to achieve by getting away from compulsive forum sponsored gear talk? Really I'm hoping for three things, one immediate, one medium term, one longer lasting acting:

The first, immediate, effect I'm hoping for is that by passing on participating on every petty little speculative debate on the past, present and future I'll spend less time, thinking more about far reaching issues and actually keep my blogs running.

The medium term effect I'm hoping for is that by staying away from the froth and bubble of camera talk I will focus more on images. I suspect this is the modern photographers lament, or perhaps the modern enthusiastic amateurs lament, and that I am just another voice in the chorus but so be it, I'll add my voice.

Finally, in the longer term I simply hope to recapture the wonderful, positive feelings I had when I started this journey into photography. I'm no Sony fanboy, I shoot Sony, I hope for the best but I am also painfully aware of the limitations of the system and the errors Sony has made along the way. However, I recently posted on one forum that I felt it was becoming a "sinkhole of negativity" and that has rubbed off on me. So thats it, I'm out.

I dont advocate others to follow my lead. I cant know if you share my problem and therefore whether my fix is your fix. But I'll keep you tuned on how my withdrawal goes.

Dyxum - I used to love you

Dyxum, an A mount forum and information source on the net (probably THE) internet resource for we Minolta and Sony users is brilliant. It has great features like the lens review databases, fantastic forums free of the worst of the obvious trolling of DPreview and generally a friendly and helpful community feel. Oh, and I should also add a really good photo sharing vibe for when talking about gear gets you down.

And yet I'm not feeling the love any more - what went wrong?

I think the constant moaning has simply left me feeling withered and dry. The forums seem to be littered now with a never ending stream of angst and woe. If I want that I'll get off the net and watch tv designed for teens (like Skins - is that the worst series ever made?) Its like all the posters have turned into 15 year olds with a serious case of "the normals" whining about how terrible their utterly fantastic lives are.

And that the harsh truth. If you own a modern DSLR, and I dont care if its a Canon, Sony, Nikon, Pentax, or Olympus its a brilliant camera. If you've bought good quality lenses, and I dont care if they are name brand, Sigma, Tokina or Tamron you have some of the best lenses ever made. Whatever brand you have, your stuff is almost certainly wonderful.

And yet right now I suspect there are people on DPreview or Dyxum wringing their hands over the fact that the new Sony A500 doesnt offer some mode that the Nikon D90 does or that the A850 has half a stop more noise at ISO 6400 than the Canon 5D MkII. So I've pretty much given up.

Not completely, I'm not leaving the forum, I'm not handing over my registration, but I havent posted anything for a few weeks and I dont know when (or if) I will again. Perhaps when some of the whiners actually bite the bullet and leave, perhaps when someone says something so stupid I just cant hold back, who knows.

But I am sad that I feel this way.