Any updates on New Gallery requests?

SusScrofa

SusScrofa

Well-Known Member
Is there any sort of update on when new gallery requests and updates will return? Its been over a year since both new galleries have ceased being created and existing galleries/prefixes/maps have been updated with name changes, closures and other info.

I know users have been uploading new facility photos into their countries 'Other' folder and I have also started to do that because I don't want too much time to elapse between uploads and the date that I visited and took my photos; I want to at least contribute somewhat recent info to this wonderful global zoo database that has helped me with learning about various zoos in my area and around the world, big and small.

However those 'Other' folders are getting very cluttered and are hard to navigate and I feel useful zoo info on these facilities gets lost in there when there is no separation. I have and will continue adding photos from dozens of facilities into the 'United States - Other' that will total over 200 in number and I'm sure others will as well, so that folder will just get more bloated.

If the standard gallery request format isn't returning to the site any time soon or ever, would it at least be possible to create new folders for facilities that have already had a decent number of photos uploaded into the 'Other' gallery? I'm not talking about adding folders for pet shops, hotel lobby fish tanks or even places with just a couple of photos added, but rather the traditional zoological facilities that normally get their own galleries and that also have a decent number of photos uploaded. The 'Other' galleries for the US, UK and Germany in particular definitely have a fair few places that should get separated out.
 
While I also am eagerly awaiting the option for new galleries to be added, I trust that Simon and co. aren't doing this out of spite or forgetfulness, and hopefully there are legitimate reasons and solutions to fix this.

I know part of the reason galleries stopped being added was because a large number of them were being made solely for minor updates on news threads, leaving many empty galleries of obscure zoos nobody actually had media for. It is a bit frustrating that it seems as if those overeager actions of a few caused the feature as a whole to be disabled.

However, with all the new changes to the site, I trust that this hasn't been forgotten and rather Simon is just busy with more pressing matters as he updates the site in the short term.
 
I want to revisit the entire concept of what the galleries are for. With over 600,000 photos in them, they are becoming unwieldy and less useful due to clutter and the sheer number of galleries and photos being uploaded.

I won't be making any changes to the galleries until I manage to complete the site upgrade - and I don't know how long that's going to take.
 
Simon Hampel said:
I want to revisit the entire concept of what the galleries are for. With over 600,000 photos in them, they are becoming unwieldy and less useful due to clutter and the sheer number of galleries and photos being uploaded.

I won't be making any changes to the galleries until I manage to complete the site upgrade - and I don't know how long that's going to take.
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I appreciate the update! Just a couple of questions in light of this new info, I understand if you may not be able to answer them right now:

1. Are the sheer number of uploads effecting the site performance negatively in any way? Would it be recommended for users to hold off on uploading large amounts of new photos until the site is upgraded?

2. Regarding revisiting the concept of the galleries and clutter, will this mean there is potential that members may have their photos/ entire galleries deleted in the future?
 
Simon Hampel said:
2. I won't be bulk-deleting photos or galleries
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Does this also apply to the numerous empty/nearly empty galleries in the USA subforum as well, out of curiosity? Having many of those cleaned out would be really helpful when trying to find places that do actually have photos.
 
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Great Argus said:
Does this also apply to the numerous empty/nearly empty galleries in the USA subforum as well, out of curiosity? Having many of those cleaned out would be really helpful when trying to find places that do actually have photos.
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One one hand we have people clammering for more galleries to be created while on the other we have people requesting we delete galleries. Do you see the issue here?

FWIW, when we add a new "zoo" to the system, it creates three things:
  1. the gallery
  2. the thread prefix
  3. the zoo map entry (if coordinates are available)
So while there may be empty galleries - in some cases, there may actually be corresponding threads referencing the facility, which justifies its existence.

Empty galleries are far less of an issue than cluttered galleries full of repetitive photos, in my opinion.
 
I uploaded approximately 90 photos from Lopburi Zoo and 170 photos from Sriayuthaya Lion Park into the Thailand - Other gallery, specifying which zoo each individual photo is from because there aren’t galleries for the facilities.

When the site is revamped, then hopefully new galleries will be created for those two zoos. I don’t know of any prior visits to those locations and therefore my photos are valuable items for ZooChat. I also have many additional photos from Southeast Asian zoos that have never been documented on this site. @twilighter and I just wrapped up a 59-zoo SEA trek.
 
snowleopard said:
I uploaded approximately 90 photos from Lopburi Zoo and 170 photos from Sriayuthaya Lion Park into the Thailand - Other gallery, specifying which zoo each individual photo is from because there aren’t galleries for the facilities.

When the site is revamped, then hopefully new galleries will be created for those two zoos. I don’t know of any prior visits to those locations and therefore my photos are valuable items for ZooChat. I also have many additional photos from Southeast Asian zoos that have never been documented on this site. @twilighter and I just wrapped up a 59-zoo SEA trek.
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I've faced similar issues with having photos of a collection without a gallery, though unlike you I was reluctant to post them on the other gallery. It would be great to have an update on the progress of the new version of the website and when we might expect things to improve.
 
Is there a way to see which user photos were deemed "repetitive" by the mod team? I've just had hundreds of mine deleted from the site without a way to tell which they were, to update my personal collection appropriately. A bit of warning wouldn't have hurt, no?

And to add to this - can the people that took the photos be the ones to determine which is kept, at least? If I have six animal shots that absolutely need to be narrowed down to one, I'd prefer to pick which one stays myself
 
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biggiesmalls said:
Is there a way to see which user photos were deemed "repetitive" by the mod team? I've just had hundreds of mine deleted from the site without a way to tell which they were, to update my personal collection appropriately. A bit of warning wouldn't have hurt, no?

And to add to this - can the people that took the photos be the ones to determine which is kept, at least? If I have six animal shots that absolutely need to be narrowed down to one, I'd prefer to pick which one stays myself
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It wasn't "hundreds", it was 60 photos. You had uploaded, for example, 14 photos of the same two hornbills, 9 of a cassowary, 8 of a polar bear, etc. Numerous other photos were basically the same shot except the animal had turned its head or moved a bit to the side.

See number one in the photo guidelines thread: Reminder - photo guidelines
Arizona Docent said:
1) Please do NOT upload several photos of essentially the same thing. This seems to be the biggest problem and a few users do this consistently. Two or three different angles of an exhibit are plenty and one or two photos of the same animal (from any given zoo trip) are plenty.
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You can easily determine which photos are kept by simply not uploading 10 photos of the same animal - just upload one or two of the best ones.
 
think having some kind of quality control for photo uploads would help a lot. Instead of uploading every photo or 10 nearly identical shots of the same animal, it makes more sense to select just one or two of the best ones. That way, galleries stay more organized and useful. Of course, it could be hard to manage without a team reviewing uploads, but it would improve the experience. Personally, I upload most of my photos on Facebook so people can see the full collection there. Here, I prefer to only post the best or unique ones, especially of animals not already featured in a gallery. Just my take!
 
@Simon Hampel

I know you said you won't be adding new galleries for new zoos, but how about a new country?

Nicaragua does not have its own gallery on zoochat, even though that country has zoos as well.

I just visited one, the zoologico Nacional, and would love to post some photo's as this zoo seems to be little visited. In fact, I can't find little information and zero photographs for this zoo on zoochat. I wouldn't be surprised if I am the first zoochatter to have visited this zoo.
 
ralph said:
@Simon Hampel

I know you said you won't be adding new galleries for new zoos, but how about a new country?

Nicaragua does not have its own gallery on zoochat, even though that country has zoos as well.

I just visited one, the zoologico Nacional, and would love to post some photo's as this zoo seems to be little visited. In fact, I can't find little information and zero photographs for this zoo on zoochat. I wouldn't be surprised if I am the first zoochatter to have visited this zoo.
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There is a recently created gallery called "Other countries" for countries which don't have a gallery.
 
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