| The Tipping Point | |
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| Topic Started: Saturday, 16. June 2012, 23:43 (3,083 Views) | |
| Tom | Saturday, 16. June 2012, 23:43 Post #1 |
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It's summer, and summer's a time where you usually see a lot of the networkers return to forums and mess around - create a forum or two and make their presence heard across the snowglobe. Now, it's really .. really not like that anymore. It's not like it was 2 or 3 summers ago .. and i'm afraid it really is for the worse. What, in your opinion, was the tipping point of the snowglobe that led it to come down to where it is now? |
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| Geoffrey | Saturday, 16. June 2012, 23:46 Post #2 |
 
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I think people that used to be around years ago are now years older (obviously) and those that were teens are now either in college or out in their careers, doing something that doesn't leave any time for forums and even less time for running them. There also hasn't been any new snow globers come in lately to make forums in their place and bring up the activity level again. |
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| Tom | Saturday, 16. June 2012, 23:53 Post #3 |
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That's the typical mindset of what really happened, but in my opinion .. it's really not. Back about 2 years ago, there was enough motivation around to keep even guests getting interested into what was going on around the forums. Now, forums just lack that factor. There's nothing really keeping them around for a reason, because there's nothing to be kept about. There are a lot of guests who come by and look at Outline, ZNR, etc. But they aren't really caring enough to start participating in the snowglobe. |
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| Chesterfield | Saturday, 16. June 2012, 23:57 Post #4 |
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I don't think there's a definite tipping point. Lots of things to factor when trying to figure out why there aren't as many new forums out there today. Here are a couple that I think led to where we are now: - Other forms of social networks began popping up. Forums are seen as old. Why join a forum when you could just hop on facebook and do everything a lot easier? - People left. There aren't the big leaders there were back in the day. I remember when there were forum celebrities, people that everyone wanted to know. There aren't those any more. - There's no big, mother board like there used to be. Boards like the TZ or ZNB where everyone in the snowglobe converged. - ZNB scared people from making forums. The criticism from everyone on every little mistake kept new boards from popping up. Everyone used to make board after board, trying new things until they got it right. The ZNB community started the tradition of bashing folks for starting multiple boards, and it ended by giving people the mentality that they had only one shot. |
| Cedric | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 03:08 Post #5 |
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I've been thinking ages of doing a board again, but it just wouldn't work out properly. Most people who kept a community interesting are gone. Hypes no longer work. And some administrators that were known for their great work have left. I no longer want to do it all myself.. |
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| Doug | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 07:39 Post #6 |
I'm kind of a big deal
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We can make a Justin Bieber fanBoard |
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Temporarily inactive from 17-6-13 to 1-7-13 due to work obligations. OUTLINE | where evolution is an understatement doug@outlineforum.com | In darkness, you are all i see... Twitter | Facebook | |
| Flavius | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 07:51 Post #7 |
Super Member
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The main reason for me is simple. ZetaBoards doesn't offer me what I need, and I don't have the money to pay for hosting, a domain and everything else. |
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Find my portfolio online at dribbble.com/fm http://graphic-force.com/index/ | |
| Xarina | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 16:03 Post #8 |
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<3 Jason
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Honestly, people are glorifying the past way too much. It was NOT that great. Looking back on forums a few years back, its like re-watching your favorite childhood Disney movie. You'll just end up with "Wait, why did I like this again?". It's called growing up. |
 ^^ By Louisa  | |
| Tom | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 16:35 Post #9 |
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Hmm? I learned everything I know now about design from the forums a few years back - I learned how to lead and work together with people in an online community before I became old enough for a job in real life, and that really helped. And honestly, what I know now about design is something I could use for a career, but it's just not one that I really want. So overall, I had a career's worth of education on forums and I learned extremely important ways to work with people. I don't know where you were for 90% of the "past", but please, speak for yourself. |
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| Xarina | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 18:26 Post #10 |
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<3 Jason
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What? There are people that can learn just as much now if not more :/ You make it sound like people can't learn online anymore. I learned to design and code back then as well, as a hobby. Doesn't mean it was better then compared to now. The tools to learn now, are better and have more to it. So you're saying you have a career now, based on only what you learned on forums back then? Your post don't really make any sense at all. People learn from all types of life experiences. There's no one period that is better than another, if it was, those things would still be around. |
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^^ By Louisa | |
| Tom | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 19:58 Post #11 |
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I don't think you get the point. Back then, the environment was actually motivating and inspiring. There were actual designers to look up to and try to portray instead of now where there's almost no one left to portray the current designers. Tools and inspiration are two completely different things. I'm saying that I have a career now - and it's a great job that involves the task of leading a team. Are you seriously telling me that you see a lot of potential around now? You see tons of designers willing to learn and develop their ability to design now? I don't know how more clear-cut I can be with my point, but i'm very sorry if you're still unable to understand any significant point of my post. |
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| Bluezone777 | Sunday, 17. June 2012, 20:47 Post #12 |
 
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It's hard to really discuss the past since we see so little of it and remember even less. I can say there were more people back then as opposed to now but there was the same amount of competent admins then as there are now. it might have been sunshine and roses in public but behind the scenes was a different story as it was rife with fighting, betrayal and leaking which was what brought down the resource board genre. This board is the only one to escape all that and is probably why it's the only truly active board of its genre left. |
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| Stacha | Monday, 18. June 2012, 15:27 Post #13 |
When you wear my flower, you make it beautiful.
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I disagree. What made forums so much fun for me in the past (going back about nine years now) was the variety of people that I met and could interact with. Today, that just isn't the case. There are still a few people around that I can chat with and become friends with, but way fewer than there were. I miss that. It's not that the past is over-glorified, it's that it was just plain better, for me and for a lot of others. And I still love all of the Disney movies. 
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In this world you can be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.  Add Me. | Ask Me. Arahna Excerpt - Critique is super appreciated. :] My life. | |
| Ferus Grim | Monday, 18. June 2012, 18:51 Post #14 |
"Ego sum aeternam"
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Our snowglobe is small. Zetaboards hosts a very vast variety of boards outside of us. We are an isolated community. And, like all civilizations over-time, the lack of new members has caused stagnation. The rich culture has mostly died out, leaving, really, only Outline. Outline is (along with Rapture, if they're still open) the last standing board in the Snowglobe. |
 
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| Geoffrey | Monday, 18. June 2012, 19:01 Post #15 |
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Rapture is dead. Still technically open (by being online) but dead. 
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| Thane | Tuesday, 19. June 2012, 03:39 Post #16 |
Manufacturing the future.
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To be honest, I do miss my own ambitions to create forums and spread goodness with simple services.. but I find the most success in exclusive and private forum boards where people pay for memberships or create wickedly good applications to join. Usually they provide a higher level of service such as "private tracker sites" for all those p2p junkies getting around the government now-a-days. I don't think general chat boards are even around now... local and world news websites have their own forums and ways of sharing and talking about hot information. However it is still no community... When we were younger, social media was really blooming and everyone was getting some of that myspace action. I think we all wanted to be known, we all wanted to be everyone's #1 friend on their pages, and have stories everyone commented on. We took our greed out on forum boards. All we ever wanted was a little of the spotlight. Then you have these anti-creative websites that suck you in and force you to use their simple structure and convenient software. Facebook. It's white with a touch of blue. No expression, just pictures of people's babies, and some farmville. Which you then get later made fun of. How can we make a statement without writing on your wall. I WANT ATTENTION. Perhaps maybe the shift into mobile phones, or smaller and compact laptops where creativity is limited to a small screen, and weak utensils is the cause. We should blame large hungry corporate media industry giants who all they ever want is money, enacting politicians to stop piracy and end privacy. Discouraging people to even use the world wide web. |
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| Bluezone777 | Tuesday, 19. June 2012, 11:39 Post #17 |
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There is no tipping point. I would ask what was there now that isn't here today? I see it and have seen it for a while now. Where's the passion? Where's all the imagination? Where's the sort of person who built the board that many others strive to build but couldn't? Where's the sort of person who built the board that no one seen before? Where are the leaders that the masses would aspire to be? That's what is missing but the good news is that we can always change things if we want to but it's never going to be easy. Then again, when was anything worth having ever easy? |
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| Scotty | Tuesday, 19. June 2012, 14:26 Post #18 |
adfbhfygjl;'
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People. There's less than half the amount of people that visit than there was 2-3 years ago and arguably forums only worked because there was so many more people actively posting back then. I don't get the same buzz visiting forums like I used to. I'd be surprised if anyone could change that.. |
 SCOTTY"He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it." | |
| richard. | Sunday, 24. June 2012, 14:32 Post #19 |
Board.up.the,housE
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Thisx1000 Back then kids were joining up learning CSS and design specifically because there were several people around who inspired them. Those people left an example to follow that led those newbies to become who the snowglobe was. Nowadays I can honestly say there is not a single person around ZB who inspires me. Everybody either quit theming, or don't bother to assist the new kids.
It was definitely better back then. Those things aren't around because the best of the best left. Those forums died. Without that air of elitism and the users who really tried to help newcomers, ZB is now doomed to stay as it is. Back then (1-4 years ago) we had a lot around here. People were pushing themselves to get better at theming so forums like this would prosper. It's a sad state now, I see maybe 2-4 good themes each year. There was humor everywhere, the drama is what caused us to strive, really. Everyone trying to outdo each other, that's what made us try so hard in the first place. Everybody had an idol they wanted to/did learn from. They wanted to be better, to pave the way for what we have now. But most of you just sit back and watch it die. Say what you will, you know there are/were people around the network that you became very good friends with, I'm still close to homies I met way back in the game. Simply put. We aren't glorifying the past. The past was where it's at and I'm very disappointed in what became of ZB, and this place while I was gone. You can't use 'being busy' as an excuse. I worked two jobs, obsessed over Call of Duty, and still had time to be a very active member all around the community, because it was my hobby. You just gave up because it's hard now, but it really isn't. It's easy now to make a good forum, because the ones around now are so dry and copypasta of old forums that it's ridiculous. Also, tipping point: death of ZNB. Argue about that all you want, but you know inside that without ZNB the network would've been boring as fuck. We can complain about the drama all we want, but at the end of the day, you know it's a big part of what drove you to stick around. 
Edited by richard., Sunday, 24. June 2012, 14:34.
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| Bluezone777 | Sunday, 24. June 2012, 19:42 Post #20 |
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I think the people who are only here to gain pleasure from other people's misery are gone and now you see who really was here to actually make and run forums and the people who just want to have discussions on said forums. It's only boring to the few who whine because they were never here for the right reasons and now need to go elsewhere to get their drama fix. I can't speak for others but I was far too busy running successful forums to care about the antics of overgrown children who couldn't handle running a forum without exploding into rage the moment someone doesn't like what they say or do. The reason why I am not a part of the staff team anywhere is because I just don't enjoy doing the work anymore. That could change of course but for now that's the reason why I haven't ran or staffed anywhere recently. Perhaps some could just learn to enjoy what they do have instead of whine about what they don't and they might actually find some joy in being on this network as it currently is. I done that so why can't you? |
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