This Website is Dead. Just Let it RIP. Remember the Good TImes.

[yyy02]

La Reine Margot, many thanks for your tireless efforts on our behalf. Good to know.

[wulf]

La Reine Margot, many thanks for your tireless efforts on our behalf. Good to know.

I very sincerely second that thank you.

[Miss Belle]

I also thank you La Reine Margot.

Maybe people are missing Pedro's contributions, I enjoy reading his thoughts on things and he posts interesting gifs and gives a behind the scenes point of view to his films. I am kind of alone in my productions minus the cameraman and it's interesting to listen to someone who is so experienced.

[ZootieZootZoot]

I've been thinking about the "picture threads" vs "discussion threads" nature of the site, and some shortcomings of the nature of the forum software.

It seems like 90% or more topics are intended to be for posting pictures. By the nature of these threads there isn't a lot of interaction. If you see a really noteworthy picture someone might post "Nice picture!" but that's about all. I don't necessarily see a problem with that because I love seeing pictures that people post, but it does lead to a sort of "hit and run" style of using the site.

It would be nice if there were more discussion oriented posts. In the past I've tried starting some discussions, but they always seemed to fizzle out pretty quickly. Likely that's because the subjects that I picked were uninteresting, but I'd love if people who were more clever than me were able to start some topics.

One thing that I think the site is missing is an upvote/like button. I know that I've posted material to the Mainstream GIMP forum and gotten 5000 views, but not a single comment. That's likely because people really don't have anything to say about the post, but it would still be nice to know if people enjoyed it. In the past I've heard people complaining about taking a long time writing a story, and when the post it they get no response at all. It can be disheartening.

[Edukator]

^^ ZZZ, I think you perfectly summed up the situation. Nearly all the posts are mostly pictures-oriented and there are very few discussions/interactions between members. I (allmost) gave up posting text/discussion contents since they don't generate many feedbacks and die quickly. Nothing bad about this but in most forums the pictures are there to support/illustrate the discussions and not the other way around.

Also, I'm not very fond of GIF's which are used more and more frequently, they are low quality and I wouldn't like to see this forum become (another) video clips catalog.

And btw, why are there so few NEW posts started ?

I'm not complaining and like the forum very much the way it is but (like you) would be pleased to see more interaction between members, feedbacks and (even contradictory) opinions...

At least the (somewhat) provoking and controversial post started by theelectrician generated many (written) reactions and discussions, but maybe it was his intention ?

[gowron]

I'd say Internet forums thrived around 2000, maybe up to 2010, but then came social medias and they were forgotten as places to discuss ideas.

The debates were taken elsewhere and became superficial, polarized, with one extreme bashing the other with shallow ideas and preconceptions. Or fake news.

People got used to scrolling up or down, adding a "like" here or a short comment there before jumping to the next silly thing.

[wulf]

I've been thinking about the "picture threads" vs "discussion threads" nature of the site, and some shortcomings of the nature of the forum software.

It seems like 90% or more topics are intended to be for posting pictures. By the nature of these threads there isn't a lot of interaction. If you see a really noteworthy picture someone might post "Nice picture!" but that's about all. I don't necessarily see a problem with that because I love seeing pictures that people post, but it does lead to a sort of "hit and run" style of using the site.

It would be nice if there were more discussion oriented posts. In the past I've tried starting some discussions, but they always seemed to fizzle out pretty quickly. Likely that's because the subjects that I picked were uninteresting, but I'd love if people who were more clever than me were able to start some topics.

One thing that I think the site is missing is an upvote/like button. I know that I've posted material to the Mainstream GIMP forum and gotten 5000 views, but not a single comment. That's likely because people really don't have anything to say about the post, but it would still be nice to know if people enjoyed it. In the past I've heard people complaining about taking a long time writing a story, and when the post it they get no response at all. It can be disheartening.

To me the "picture oriented" nature of the forum is still the same as it was when I joined 2 years ago, and I'm not familiar with how it was before that. I think many, if not most, members & lurkers come here for a quick thrill to see a new pic or art piece, rather than getting involved in a conversation that requires typing time. I'm guilty of that too, and I haven't been posting images as much, because I felt my contributions were becoming repetitive and uninteresting. I do agree that the lack of a like button or some way to acknowledge a post plays into that as well. Even typing a "thanks for posting" becomes so automatic that it doesn't mean as much as time goes on. The best thing about this forum is that it gives folks like Frog, JD, yyy02, and all the others a place to share their work. And again, a way to show appreciation for their work would be encouraging for them to keep posting here.
I like a good discussion, like this one, as much as anyone. But the fact is I have become involved in other projects that limit my time here, so I tend not to get involved in them. I simply don't have time for it, and perhaps others have the same problem. Overall I like the forum as is, but I do think some material being posted is a bit too repetitive in content. But a "dead forum", no, not at all.

[yyy02]

...And btw, why are there so few NEW posts started ?


...At least the (somewhat) provoking and controversial post started by theelectrician generated many (written) reactions and discussions, but maybe it was his intention ?

To your first point about new posts, I speculate that the current range of posts encompass enough interest? Though I have yet to see a "Rack" category/post. To my estimation, that is a fertile field to be opened up?

And even though a lot of posts, mine definitely included, bring up older material, I think anything new would bring up immediate interest. Having said that, I don't visit the Producers threads enough.

To the second point, about theelectrician, agreed.

[localroger]

I'd say Internet forums thrived around 2000, maybe up to 2010, but then came social medias and they were forgotten as places to discuss ideas.

This is definitely the case, and it's not the forum's fault that it's a thing. But forums are better for some purposes. It's a TOS violation on most social media to keep multiple accounts; interferes with their marketing you know. But I don't necessarily want my coworkers and relatives to have what I write here in their faces all the time. This is true even though I haven't exactly hidden my proclivities, and I use the same username here I do on other forums. I figure that if someone finds this forum, puts in enough effort to find any of my posts and reads them, they are probably interested enough to be part of the conversation. That's not the same as having what I write here mixed in with my vacation posts for Dad and the last cool job I did at work.

They may not represent most of the traffic but we have had some fascinating discussions here and they continue to pop up occasionally. While I don't mind the pictures (I already have most of them LOL) it's the discussions that keep me checking the site out.

[MasterKav]

There are many here keeping this site, well and truly alive!