We created the Photography Life forums to be a healthy and welcoming place to discuss photography. To that end, here are a few rules to help keep our forum as useful and open as possible.
- Be respectful. People come here to learn photography and share their work and opinions with other photographers. If you denigrate people’s approach to photography, their photos, or their camera equipment, we will ask you to stop. If the issue persists or rises to targeted harassment, you will banned. We refuse to be a website where new photographers are scared to make mistakes or post their photos.
- Avoid plagiarism and AI posts. You will be banned if you publish any content that you do not own or have permission to publish, or if you pass off someone else’s work as your own. When you quote an external website or book, you must make it clear that it is a quote. Posts generated by artificial intelligence cannot be published unless you provide context that it is AI-generated. Illustrations generated by artificial intelligence cannot be presented as photos taken by a real photographer.
- Stay on-topic. Threads that drift off-topic and are no longer useful may be closed or deleted. Members who consistently post off-topic threads (especially non-photography-related threads) may be banned. When you create a new topic, make sure to post it in the relevant sub-forum. Sometimes multiple sub-forums could apply – say, Open Talk, Canon, and Landscape/Travel Photography for a question about fitting your Canon gear on a plane. In those cases, you can post it in any of the relevant sub-forums, whichever you prefer.
- Keep your critiques constructive. When people post photos, unless they say otherwise, you are free to discuss what you like and don’t like about the photos. However, if you choose to provide constructive criticism, focus on the “constructive” side of things. Needlessly harsh criticism is cruel and unhelpful. Meanwhile, if they ask for no critiques, respect their request, or you may be banned.
- Avoid commercial and spam posts. Photographers are allowed to post links to outside websites, but anyone who is posting affiliate links, promoting products they are affiliated with, or otherwise monetizing the Photography Life forum may be banned. The same is true for highly repetitive posts and spam posts in general. Spammers will be immediately banned.
- Keep political posts on-topic. We recognize that photography can be very closely tied to politics, world events, and documentary work in general. As such, we will not ban political discussions if they explicitly relate to photography. For example, you are allowed to discuss viral photographs of a newsworthy event, or disinformation from AI-generated photos. Likewise, you may post your own photos from political rallies or other newsworthy moments. (Please do so in the “Documentary and Street Photography” forum.) However, overt political discussions or political name-calling will be deleted as off-topic. Remember, this is a photography forum – if you’ve come here to discuss politics rather than photography, you may be banned.
- Don’t post graphic photographs. Photography Life has a wide audience that includes young students and children. Images with gore, graphic nudity, violent messages, and other highly inappropriate content will not be tolerated. We understand that the lines here can be subjective, so photos posted in good faith generally will not result in the poster being banned, even when we delete the photo.
These are the most important examples of behavior that can result in a ban from Photography Life, but other forms of dragging down the community could also result in a ban. In general, we will send at least one warning message prior to taking the drastic step of banning a member of the forum, but there are exceptions for people posting deliberately cruel, illegal, or spam content. Please reach out to me, Spencer, or any of our forum moderators if you have questions about whether a post will cause a problem.
Sincerely,
Nasim