TrekEarth has a New Owner

[Davids]

Henk,
stealing from TE is harming the site, because people are leaving.
In this thread more questions have been asked; clean databases, get the something back etc.

If you look at the numbers, TE still grows.
But TE doesn't improve. Less and less newer members get involved. The number of active members has dropped a full procent -from 6% to 5%- and is still dropping.

TE can grow in numbers OR it can grow in quality OR in both.
Or not :)

[CliffW]

People are stealing photos from ALL photo sites. There is no way to stop it from the server side, whether it is TE, Flickr or PBase. There just isn't, period. The issue is in the browser and even, as has been said, Windows screen captures. When all that has to be done by a user is Alt-printscreen, what exactly is supposed to be done by TE admins to stop that? Even if Microsoft, etc redesigned internet browsing today, it wouldn't matter. The Genie is already out of the bottle. I still have a netscape browser installed on one of my PCs from nearly 10 yrs ago because I like how little it tries to do for you, in case I need to test something for max compatibility.

Or is it everyone is just asking Adam to put in the time to develop something that pretends to stop the problem, rather than actually working on something around here that improves things? We've called that "IT therapy" in some of the shops I've worked in. The guys who are explaining it know what they're talking about. This really isn't about emotion or feelings. In computers, something either works or it doesn't work. It's either fixable (this isn't) or needs replacement. Up to you on that one, but don't think a silly popup that might fool you is fooling anyone who knows even a little bit about computers, such as how about how to make a simple website. So why would anyone who *did* know better spend time developing that silly popup? My vote is against.

PS, I don't think the inactive members % has anything to do with pic stealing, but that the number of signups grows daily, most with pics not worth stealing. And then they don't come back. More inactive member growth than active member growth drops the % eventually. And I've been considering dropping recently, but it has more to do with critiquing culture and nothing to do with pic stealing. Could be more that have their own reasons?

[oochappan]

http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.AgencyHome_VPage&pid=2K7O3 R1VX08V

likewise could be so easily done on TE now so visable in google ranking that pirating risks are increasing .... the overlay logo dissapears when logged in.

[Davids]

'I don't think the inactive members % has anything to do with pic stealing',
I know Cliff, I was talking about the other issues.
And you're right, it's about quality.
Good intro by the way :)

[iamback]

Logo? What logo? All I see is a big "Click here to download plugin" box - that's Flash (which I don't use).

I've said it before, a watermark could discourage photo downloading - but that doesn't require Flash. Photos don't require Flash. If TE goes Flash I'm outta here.

And then again: watermark disappears when logged in? What's to prevent people from creating an account just to steal a photo? A watermark should be there when users opt in for that, and then be there at all times otherwise it's still no protection at all.