Digital Photography Review has released an update about its impending closure, addressing the concerns from its readers about lost content and announcing an archival effort.
DPReview General Manager Scott Everett writes:
Dear readers,
We’ve received a lot of questions about what’s next for the site. We hear your concerns about losing the content that has been carefully curated over the years, and want to assure you that the content will remain available as an archive.
We’ve also heard that you need more time to access the site, so we’re going to keep publishing some more stories while we work on archiving.
Thank you to this community and the support you’ve shown us over the years
Scott Everett
General Manager – DPReview.com
PetaPixel learned early on that DPReview’s owner, Amazon, planned to take the website offline. However, that plan has clearly changed in response to the impassioned feedback from many of its longtime readers. DPReview’s YouTube channel has specifically never been mentioned through this process and it’s still not clear what Amazon intends to do with it, though at this point it would not be surprising if the videos remained online as well.
Within days of DPReview’s initial closure announcement, archival efforts by third parties began in earnest. In light of today’s announcement, it appears that external archiving may be unnecessary. However, DPReview’s original article about its closure still includes text stating that the website “will be available in read-only mode for a limited period afterwards,” leaving space for some speculation. This remains a developing story.
Everett also announced plans for additional stories to go live on DPReview while the team works on archiving the rest of its content, a move that flies in the face of the original plan to not update the website again following April 10, 2023.
In the weeks following DPReview’s closure announcement, the team has produced some great content geared toward longtime supporters, including a March Madness-style bracket, from which Jordan Drake — who has a new home on PetaPixel starting May 1 — emerged victorious, and a “by the numbers” look at DPReview’s legacy.
Ultimately, these same supporters are perhaps largely responsible for Amazon’s shift in approach to DPReview’s sunset. While the website is still slated to shutter, its content appears destined for official preservation. There’s even some new, unexpected content on the way to help the longtime photography website go out with a bang.
Image credits: Elements of header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
