Is Gr A Sinking Ship?

Okay, so let me start this by saying that I've been here at GR basically since the beginning. I joined when llamaman first thought this thing up. "One of the first 10,000" if you will. Check the join date. Yeah, I've been around for a while.

I've been on and off GR for many different reasons over the years, but I think it's fair for me to make some observations about today's GR versus how it's been in the past.

There was a time when this place was so active that you couldn't refresh the page without somebody posting SOMETHING. Could be a tutorial, could be selling something, could be requesting something, could be a render. It was really tough to keep up with, but that's what made it so interesting. All the activity. And I'm not saying that this had anything to do with the change of ownership. I've got no dispute with people making investments. Especially unique investments like online forums.

But then activity started slowing down, so the new administration started adding all these fancy new IPB plugins and upgrades, thinking that would liven things up. Forget about the fact that none of this new stuff matches the UI of the forum. After all, this forum was an investment. All of a sudden, it had to be run like a business. The people paying for ads (as well as the people [person?] who bought the forum) need a return on their investment. So all of this shiny new interface worked really well for a while. The forum was as active as ever, from what I knew about it.

While all this is going on, the admins are playing some kind of twisted game of musical chairs with the staffers; nobody knows who's a mod of what forum and all sorts of new staff positions were created and the entire leadership team changed up about every couple months or so. Back in my day (lawls) every member knew exactly who the staff was because we had legitimately GOOD staffers who did their jobs. Nobody needed to be rotated or switched out. They didn't need to create new staff positions for no reason. In some ways I think this confused many members and sort of "poisoned" the air of the board. People don't know who their leaders are, they get confused.

All the while, due to some certain series of events (not really sure what those events were) someone repeatedly decided it was fit to add more and more censors. Maybe this plan came around when the forum got new management. Maybe they thought it would be more 'family-friendly.' I don't know. But it seems like now, every other word on the forum is just a series of dashes. I'd venture to say that this turned many users off. People want to be heard, even if they are saying ugly things.

My last point of contention is one that's not necessarily the fault of GR: the gfx forum 'market' is a crowded one. There was a time when everybody and their mom thought they were cut out to start a forum like this. Eventually the web hit a 'critical mass' of these forums and there simply weren't enough users to sustain every one. Though this one has lasted, the others have fallen apart and their users have moved onto bigger and better things.

But what about the current age demographic? Surely we can get some new talent on these forums. Gfx isn't dead, by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, nobody has done anything new in a while, but that doesn't mean we have to keep recycling the same old worn out ideas. We just need to bring the people back.

So in conclusion, I have to level with the community about something: I've been reading the thread on GRv4 and I'm utterly unimpressed. It's more recycling the same old ideas. Trying to 'patch up' the sinking ship, if you will. Why don't we start GRv4 by cleaning up the interface of the current GR? We don't need a complete overhaul. You administrative types could start by just cleaning up the white on the edges of the smileys. That's not too hard right? How can a worthwhile gfx forum such as this one leave white around the smileys? It's tacky, to be honest with you. Also, the visual elements around the posting options are so bright it's painful. This whole wysiwyg style editor for posts is way overrated to begin with, but if you have to do it, can we at least get some matching colors? I'll write you some CSS for God's sake. I'm certain that it's not that complicated.

So, there you guys go... Take this for what it's worth. I'm sure it'll get buried/forgotten so I went ahead and put it in the spam forum, but it's just a string of thoughts I've had since I've been back. Feel free to tear down everything I just said. I won't be offended. It's one man's opinion. n_n

 

Your views are so horribly skewed its ridiculous. I am not even going to waste my time correcting your statements.

This is coming from a member who was on the original PHP boards, and one of the first 1,000 members to register on the new IPB boards, been a staff member for a long time, and an active member in the community for a long time.

 

too lazy to read it aside from the title.

here's my short responce
LOL

here's my long response
not really.

 

here's my way long responce.
the mods back tehre basically just weeded out bad behavior. THere's a lot of long defered forum mantainence to do. thousands of "broken posts" and if you look at the render section quite litterally OVER 9000 misplaced threads(non gaming renders in the gaming render area)

 

Thanks for posting a brick wall of stupidity.

Want to say anything else thats absolutely retarded while your at it?

 

because the able deckhands drank too much rum and had to walk the plank

 

hey, you're allowed to say I'm wrong/tear me down. that's why it's one man's opinion. it just seems like since someone bought the place, it's been about getting a return on the investment. nothing wrong with that, but it could explain the lack of activity... how else would you explain it?

and don't make the mistake of saying I'm h8n on GR. I'm really not. I rather like the place, even if it is far slower. I'm just making some observations.

 

Yes, this forum is going in the toilet because of white-edged smilies. You are completely right.

 

i told shaggy that a black background would be racist

 

Whoa, easy. I get it. Nobody thinks their kid's ugly. Point taken.

 

Firstly, you went from talking about how bad the User Groups of the Staff are to the skin interface.
And your conclusion for this massive piece of text was about the smilies being have the white stripe around them???!?

The staff usergroups are fine, Community Staff is so staff can basically judge them if there worth being promoted into higher staff. Its basically a training. The rest has been there since even you started posting here. I will agree that the skin interface isn't great. But really...its not a big deal.

GR v4 is acually a great idea, and will bring the real artists out of people, start setting futures for people, and actually make GR a ----- website on Graphic Design. Where Graphic Designers can get ideas, learn, create, and get better at what they do. just like depthCORE.

And not just where GFXers can make siggies.

 

I think this thread sort of proves the point I was trying to get at.
Post some meaningful piece of art and you might get 5 replies over the course of the thread if you're lucky.
Post something negative about the state of the forum and you get nearly 10 unique responses in under an hour.

That's interesting even if you completely disagree with what I said.

 

Sorry, most graphics forums have a more active community section than graphics section.

 

its like, the middle of the school year, with summer on the horizon..



maybe GR should have nudity >_>

 

It is a fact that nudity IS the key to a successful community. dA is prove of that.