YouPic, why do photographers fall for these sites? Is their an alternative? Whats up with all the smut?

So, about a year ago I get a random message on Instagram asking me to join an "Elite community of photographers" where there would be multiple categories and you could enter competitions to be "featured". As fame and opportunity was presented, I signed up with YouPic and joined their site.

At first I was pretty pleased with the service, I could post a photo and within minutes I received the attention I desired for my photos. I was getting HUNDREDS of likes a photo. Over time, I found out a little dirty secret by design (as confirmed by YouPic) that you could "love" a photo over 50 times. According to customer service this was by design to "Give the user the feeling that they could love the photo an infinite number of times". Therefore, all the likes I received were only by a few people, potentially. In addition to this odd "feature" the site gives a rating system in four categories from Composition, Exposure, Creativity and some other one I can't remember right now. The site does not have any videos or explanations on what these categories are for. Instead it's passed down by tribal knowledge and the features poll results are skewed due to members not understanding it's purpose.

I purchased one month of the "pro" feature in promise that I would receive a proper website. What was provided instead was one hell of a hack-job page that an amateur could summon with Wix in 15 minutes. Over time, I became less and less interested in the program. Partly for the sham features, and partly because the feed started becoming inundated with smut that didn't belong on the pages.

I took a break for a few months from YouPic, and received an email stating that a client had left me a message. Naturally I logged in and read the message, it was a crappy add to be featured in a "photography book" if I would reactivate my subscription. While on the site (on my work laptop, and unknowingly) I started scrolling through my feed, and noticed that every damn picture was nude, erotic or just plane amateur smut. This is another site that has gone sour due to poor administration and filtering. I shoot landscapes, and time-lapses, you would think in this day and age, a computer algorithm would load up my feed with beautiful scenery or interesting compositions that I would find intriguing. Instead, I get a page full of erotica that hadn't existed a couple months before I logged into the site. After some digging I found a toggle in my profile that hides NSFW work, I find it unusual that this would be enabled, as I prefer to NOT view those photos as I enjoy visiting photography forums on my lunch break at work. This is an incredible oversight by YouPic. At least 500px allows you to moderate what you would like to see.

I have yet to find a robust community with features I would pay for. Or a site that your not losing your photographic rights to if you join a contest. To be frank, it seems to me that social media, and photography sites are getting inundated with material not related to the purpose of the site presumably due to Tumbler shutting down all blogs containing adult material.

Where can I join an authentic community that celebrates and critiques photographic art that I can also leave open on my computer? I have little time for photography as it is, therefore I usually peruse these sites from work, or in the afternoons when my kids are around.

Personally, I find the photography community increasingly difficult to participate in. Due to social media culture, you need scantily clad women, or some kind of eye popping nudes or even worse to get noticed. The odd thing is, photographers praise this behavior of other photographers even when the composition is lacking depth. It's almost as if most of the photography community has gone primal, and the community is largely made up of neanderthals who spend their time grunting over creating. In a world with millions of photographers, why are most photos simplified to few subjects? Is social media killing the craft?

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to delete my YouPic account, they have a long way to go before I will visit their site again. To delete the account, click the hamburger menu in the upper right hand corner, go to "account settings" and there is a hidden link to delete your account in the bottom right hand corner.

If you know a good SFW community I can join please let me know, I would love to find some forums and learn more about my favorite craft. It appears FLICKR has been on the steep decline over the last few years. 500px's algorithm is disappointing as they shuffle "popular" photos to the back of the queue. Thousands of pages back.