An observation, and a question.

[Lunar]

Huh. I never considered this angle. Now I feel old and crusty.

You know if you showered that'd probably clear up.

[MixedMyth]

That there is proof that I either have the best or worst possible timing imaginable. And I'm not sure which.

[Cope]

Huh. I never considered this angle. Now I feel old and crusty.

You know if you showered that'd probably clear up.

I can't do that, I've grown sentimentally attached to this crust after all these years

[Jim North]

Pretty glad now that I stopped going to the chatroom a long time ago. Drama makes my ass twitch.

[Grabmygoblin]

Pretty glad now that I stopped going to the chatroom a long time ago. Drama makes my ass twitch.

truth.

bbs simply isn't used as often as it was 5 years ago, I personally haven't posted on any other boards in a year or so. there is a facebook group if anyone is interested, it's nice to see how other CGers are doing who haven't posted in awhile.

as for newbies, I do agree that we are pretty harsh here, but that's always been the way things are. DRAMA.

[Dracomax]

WHat ive noticed since I started here is this: we haven't really gotten stricter on rules, and most of the people who acted like real snobs and jerks have kind of stopped hanging out here.

However, the atmosphere isn't as wlecoming, and there aren't really as many opportunities to really become part of the community as there used to be. Jams used to be a way for newer people to get involved. Now, If anyone starts a jam, they get yelled at because "jams should start naturally" whatever the hell that means, and if they reference any f the in-jokes, they get yelled at about being to derivative, and not new.
There really isn't much of a way to transistion from newbie to the in-crowd, and that has hurt from the standards of getting new people.

Add in the segregation of the boards, which tend to mean that the new people coming in looking for help wioth their comic don't tend to enter the non-comic related forums, and you see the effects of a dwindling population.

Personally, I don't post as much as I used to because I've started thinking about how people would take my posts, and then often letting them go in the interest of not starting a fight.

[Jesusabdullah]

You are all bitches.

Also, I'm glad it's not just me.

[Rkolter]

I think that the slump will last, more or less, indefinitely. Webcomics are not "new" anymore. Remember ten years ago how companies like CodeHammer were doing neat little animations for different seasons and holidays and they were all the rage? Remember Frog Blender? Well, webcomics are like that. We were once exciting and the thing to get into; now we are another part of the maturing landscape. That's not to say there aren't new comics, or new comic artists! Just that we hit our peak and are now in a more stable stride. We're losing older folks, and only slowly gaining "regular" new folks.

Add to that, forums are also no longer the big thing out there. With wiki pages, twitter, facebook, myspace, and so on, it's increasingly easy to skip forums entirely.

And webspace isn't what it used to be either - five years ago it was harder to set up a comic than it is today. There are a dozen places that offer automation of one form or another now, where before there were one or two.

We also haven't done much to attract new blood or differentiate ourselves from the crowd. The last big thing was what... pogs? the newsbox? the Wiki never really hit its stride. The front page that Joel helped work on hasn't really changed in the last couple years now. What have we done to really shine amongst the growing field of webcomic hosting sites?

Finally, we do have some things that may be outmoded. Our forums are pretty heavily segregated, which worked well when we had two pages of active threads. But now it only serves to limit the growth potential of the community. Nobody knows who the moderators are; 2/3 of the admins all but never post anymore. Even the little things like forum titles that change as your post count grows have fallen by the wayside.

We aren't an unfriendly place. We just aren't the most happening place anymore.

[Corgan_dane]

Chat Drama

Wow. My morbidly curious side thanks you for posting that. It seems thing did finally boil over in there, and now I understand why it's so relatively quiet in the chat now. I had wondered where some people had gone.

That there is proof that I either have the best or worst possible timing imaginable. And I'm not sure which.

Both, I think.

There really isn't much of a way to transistion from newbie to the in-crowd, and that has hurt from the standards of getting new people.

I think this holds a lot of distilled truth...

We just aren't the most happening place anymore.

...which combined with this sets us up for the current situation.

Ah, well. Such is life.

[McDuffies]

I completely agree with Rkolter.

And now that you've read most of the event, you might notice that the community and people within it took themselves way too seriously. The drama and internet politics just aren't worth it, and if you don't like things, find like minded people move on. It's what everyone else did.

Oh well. Last time I visited keenspace chat (a few years ago) it was already pretty messy, most of people who were forum regulars already left the place and formed smaller chats and majority of the rest weren't forum visitors, I might have as well entered a random chatroom 'cause I'd end up in a room of people I didn't know, and who didn't know me.

[IVstudios]

Pretty glad now that I stopped going to the chatroom a long time ago. Drama makes my ass twitch.

truth.

bbs simply isn't used as often as it was 5 years ago, I personally haven't posted on any other boards in a year or so. there is a facebook group if anyone is interested, it's nice to see how other CGers are doing who haven't posted in awhile.

as for newbies, I do agree that we are pretty harsh here, but that's always been the way things are. DRAMA.

As annoying as it is, I think drama is good for the forums (to an extent). It gets people's attention and gets them posting, even if it is about something asinine. Eventually the drama ends but the people stick around and have actual conversations.

Hey, maybe we could pull a McD/Neco and generate some fake drama.

Jim, your [insert personal belief here] is stupid and your should be punched for believing it!

[Jim North]

Jim, your [insert personal belief here] is stupid and your should be punched for believing it!

Yessir.

[McDuffies]

At least from this perspective we can look at past forum and webcomic connunity dramas and laugh at how ridiculous some of them were.
Except for the spiky hair one. That issue is relevant even nowadays.

[Killbert-Robby]

When it comes to things like dramarama, I prefer shakes of the head and the occasional facepalm when someone says something REALLY stupid.

[Dracomax]

Jim, your [insert personal belief here] is stupid and your should be punched for believing it!

Yessir.

Hey! Jim's [whatever beleif we are arguing about] is [vaguely similiar] to mine! I declare war on Mcduffies, because I hear that he's[tangentially connected to ] IVstudios!

[Ahaugen]

I hate you all! I'm leaving! FOR EVAH!!!




Hey guys! I'm back!

[IVstudios]

Jim, your [insert personal belief here] is stupid and your should be punched for believing it!

Yessir.

Oh that's so like you Jim. I try to have a serious discussion about how stupid [that thing you like] is and you just brush it off. How childish.

*Looks down his nose at Jim*

Hey! Jim's [whatever beleif we are arguing about] is [vaguely similiar] to mine! I declare war on Mcduffies, because I hear that he's[tangentially connected to ] IVstudios!

I want everyone to know I'm smarter than you, so I will tell everyone that I'm ignoring this post because it's irrelevant. That's why I'm quoting it and responding to it.

[Killbert-Robby]

I hate you all! I'm leaving! FOR EVAH!!!




Hey guys! I'm back!

[McDuffies]

I hate you all! I'm leaving! FOR EVAH!!!

Go away already! Noone will miss you!

Hey guys! I'm back!

Ahaugen! Yeeey! Oldbies are coming back!

[Terotrous]

I think some of what created the "boom" that we had about 5 years ago was the fact that new registrations were closed for about 8 months, then a huge group of people joined at almost the same time. That made the forums very active for a while and the amount of fun in the forums was enough to keep new people coming in until things gradually slowed down.

Since then, things have been slower, and that also means less new people will come in. It's like a snowball.

Somehow, we have to make things fun again. Doesn't anyone want to start an awesome jam or get married or some such?