Photo.net sold to NameMedia Inc.

Photo.net has been acquired by NameMedia, Inc (www.namemedia.com). NameMedia is located in Waltham, MA and specializes in developing and managing large enthusiast community web sites. They currently operates a number of these community sites, including Davesgarden.com which is the largest and most active gardening community on the web. To be honest though, the only one of their websites that I was very familiar with when I first learned about them was geek.com, a leading tech-nerd gadget site. Davesgardens was a website much like photo.net that was created and built mostly by one person, and that grew to be a leader in it's topic area. I don't think you would find members of davesgardens.com expressing the opinion that the NameMedia purchase changed their site significanty.

The acquisition happened this past spring and is now being announced. I have enjoyed working with the folks at NameMedia during this period. They are good people and I am excited about the new opportunities that will emerge through their connection with photo.net. NameMedia is committed to preserving the things that have made photo.net a valued resource for photographers over the past 15 years. I have had an opportunity to witness this commitment over the past few months and believe it to be genuine. Most importantly, from my standpoint, is that the acquisition will give us the resources to tackle many of the functional improvements that the community has been requesting over the past few years.

As we all know, Photo.net's success has been the direct result of the tireless work by the team of moderators, editors, writers, and programmers that maintain and enhance the site. NameMedia recognizes this and has not changed the team of people working on the site, they are only adding more depth and resources.

If you're wondering what major modifications to expect, there won't be many. Photo.net will continue to be the best community on the web for serious photographers to share, learn, and grow in their craft. Over the coming months, new features will be added to the site, but all of those improvements will be aimed at the continued fulfillment of (or redirection towards) the site's photography education and community mission. In the near future, we will be launching a newsletter and blog to share items of interest with photo.net and to help keep the community better informed of new developments.

So, while there are some (in my opinion, overdue) improvements on the horizon, for the most part it will be business as usual at photo.net.