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DPReview.com is closing April 10th


That's it, after 25 years.

DChan wrote: DPReview.com is closing April 10th


That's it, after 25 years.

It will be missed.  Learned a lot and very supportive community.  I started in 2001 looking for my first digital camera.  Almost ended up with a Kodak PS but found the Canon forum.  G1 and G2 it was.

I haven’t visited much until recently when I purchased the R6 MK2.  

Pretty shocking. DPreview has been a wealth of information for a very long time.

Too bad this news didn't come out on April 1!!!

Joe

I had no idea that Amazon owned it.... They are making cutbacks so I guess it't not surprising.
One company owns about half the country.. what could go wrong...

Dan Kearl wrote: I had no idea that Amazon owned it.... They are making cutbacks so I guess it't not surprising.
One company owns about half the country.. what could go wrong...

What they don’t realize is that they may be cutting their own throat by discontinuing DPreview. The reviews and product information probably contributed to many sales of different products on Amazon. That would be enhanced if they did  something similar to what Ken and Thom do;  adding links to Amazon to get more business.

Joe

For those who may have an idea even if a ballpark figure, how much $$ do you think it costs to maintain that site if they got rid of the staff who did reviews etc.? And just maintained the forums?

I remember when Amazon took ownership of DPR from Phil Askey a long time ago. This was before Amazon became the giant it is today.

It looks like Chris and Jordan have already landed a new gig for their videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6T3qWI2c-Y

E.J. Peiker wrote: It looks like Chris and Jordan have already landed a new gig for their videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6T3qWI2c-Y

Perhaps that's why in their video about dpreview's closing, they are all smiles

The news section, camera tests, comparison tools, tutorials, many articles and thorough reviews - the latter especially before they switched just to video clips - often have been very instructive and helpful over the past 25 years, IMO. Though the reviews and tests were not the only decisive factor for buying a specific camera, drone or lens, of course, they were ONE important source among others to make up one's mind for those who were looking for informations and comparisons. At least more useful than the youtube reviews of the social media influencer and marketing crowd that are prominent in the new age we're living in.
I'm especially shocked that all the content of the past 25 years will not even be archived but is lost forever before long. It's another proof that the big players don't care of the site content and interests of a large community - only of profit from ads and thus the money of the visitors. It's a very telling disrespect to the long-term audience (and efforts of the staff at DPR) and at the same time financially ridiculous that Amazon is not even willing to keep the site open for read-only, at least.

Definetely a very sad news, IMO

Wolfgang

WJaekel wrote: The news section, camera tests, comparison tools, tutorials, many articles and thorough reviews - the latter especially before they switched just to video clips - often have been very instructive and helpful over the past 25 years, IMO. Though the reviews and tests were not the only decisive factor for buying a specific camera, drone or lens, of course, they were ONE important source among others to make up one's mind for those who were looking for informations and comparisons. At least more useful than the youtube reviews of the social media influencer and marketing crowd that are prominent in the new age we're living in.
I'm especially shocked that all the content of the past 25 years will not even be archived but is lost forever before long. It's another proof that the big players don't care of the site content and interests of a large community - only of profit from ads and thus the money of the visitors. It's a very telling disrespect to the long-term audience (and efforts of the staff at DPR) and at the same time financially ridiculous that Amazon is not even willing to keep the site open for read-only, at least.

Definetely a very sad news, IMO

Wolfgang

Nothing on the internet is lost forever.  There are sites that archive everything - one such site is the way back machine and I'm sure there are others:
https://web.archive.org/

E.J. Peiker wrote: Nothing on the internet is lost forever.  There are sites that archive everything - one such site is the way back machine and I'm sure there are others:
https://web.archive.org/

Interesting - thank you for the link, E:J. I know that the wording "lost forever" was a bit exaggerated and driven by the fact that the site will be shut down completely and not even remain accessible anymore for read-only after April 10th. I didn't know about those archive sites though I'm aware, of course, that the internet basically "forgets" nothing.

For the near future, I'm not in need of any past review or specific information at DPR  but it's certainly not that easy and convenient as now to dig it out on those archive sites if you want to. I'm not familiar with the procedure and haven't looked into it further. But I guess you'd need at least the concrete URL (or/and date) the article or test was posted rather than just browsing the whole site or enter a keyword in the search box now. I also don't know if you'd need to pay for the access or a subscription model etc. As said, there's currently no pressure, though. Anyway, it's good to know about the existence of those archive sites "in case of emergancy" though it surely would have been much easier and better to leave the site online for read-only - be it only as a gesture of concession for the long-standing audience for 25 years (and respect for the work of the staff). I don't think that Amazon could not afford that or go bankrupt . But I obviously don't understand the rules of capitalism  

Wolfgang 

Update on DPreview closing:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/050790261 ... -an-update

Joe

Amazon is going to archive it as read only and while it's being archived it will stay open for posting. I think they had a lot of objections to what they had in mind to start with by just pushing a button. There's a lot of photographic history there for sure and a wealth of information.

The site seems to be "not-dead", yet. For example, it said this was published seven hours ago when I saw it today:

Leica M11 Monochrom sample gallery


Discussion forums appear to be still as alive as before.

SantaFeJoe wrote:

Dan Kearl wrote: I had no idea that Amazon owned it.... They are making cutbacks so I guess it't not surprising.
One company owns about half the country.. what could go wrong...

What they don’t realize is that they may be cutting their own throat by discontinuing DPreview. The reviews and product information probably contributed to many sales of different products on Amazon. That would be enhanced if they did  something similar to what Ken and Thom do;  adding links to Amazon to get more business.

Joe

The problem is even though they do stuff like this people keep buying from them.  The only way to impact them is not feed them. I made a conscious decision  a long time ago to not buy from them, I know they are a slimy octopus with arms in everything and own a lot of stuff, but the Amazon operation itself treats it employees very badly and I want no part of it.

Maybe dpreivew is not really dead after all?

DPReview: an update


Somebody is buying it??


https://www.43rumors.com/amazon-is-selling-dpreview/

The saga continues:

https://m.dpreview.com/site-news/829831 ... ear-patrol

Joe