Message to "all" recasters (RESULT Page 18!!!)

[Mercury]

As an older member (If 8 years ain't older, then what is?) I have to say that a lot of the other older members may well be forgetting what I forgot: Open registration was a thing when we joined too.

Now, times have changed and this hobby has become fraught with more and more ne'er do wells. They join, wait their time and then the crap starts. They use the JY as their eBay. A way to "avoid" being on the main screen of some studios. They then push their crap on people. Some folks receive the garbage, rally and the guys are banned.

Now, JY garbage is not exclusive to new members. We have lost some older members to bad deals as well.

Rollerboi, you can either side with Mic or Rylo. Mic says he hadn't really noticed a difference. Rylo sees it plain as day. I take it for what it is...not something I can control. So, I do not let it bother me much. I've railed over it, exchanged PMs with Art over this less than stellar idea. We agree to disagree and again, since he has the final say, I just shrug and move on.

I joined back when it was open as well. Back then is in no way comparable to now though IMHO. The board wasn't so well known and people didn't stumble on it by accident quite as often like they do now. That and the fact that people were a bit more hesitant to barge in and start laying down their idea of the law of the way things should be. I've voiced my opinion to Art as well and he does see some validity to the argument but feels the need to try and make it work. I was hoping that it might but to me it seems to be getting worse. Still, like you said above, Art has the final say and we have to shrug and move on.

 

[dualedge]

Qui, 8 years? Newb. ... sorry, just busting your chops.

Sith, I'm taking the philosophically easy road regarding the full-time open vs. open/closed cycles. There's pros and cons for each but I think they balance out.

Speaking from a strictly personal preference standpoint, I would stick with the old cycled approach and probably rely on word-of-mouth but make no mistake - that route has plenty of cons as Art pointed out rather nicely. As far as what's good for the forum itself, I think Art's strategy is smarter than that in the long run.

When we had the open/closed cycles that I advocated for pretty hard when we started doing that, we also weren't promoting the community as much either. As Art explained earlier, we kept the spidering of the site closed off for a variety of reasons (and none of those reasons were to hide anything of course.)

So, most of the influx of new users at that time were aware of the RPF through just word-of-mouth and our sister communities like the Dented Helmet, Bro-of-the-Bat or what have you.

Now with the RPF being promoted more, we're getting a lot more users than we ever did through the word-of-mouth channels so it's a little bit of a different beast.

On the one hand, you can't promote the RPF and keep registration closed, y'know? The bad news for crotchety old timers like many of us who want to protect our lawns is that we're going to see a big influx of not just new users but users that have not only not spent time at the RPF before but have also not spent time at any of our sister communities before either. That means they aren't going to understand all the policy stuff like why recasting a member's casting of a screen-used item isn't cool... and we wind up with threads like this that go on and on and on... and on and on and on some more.

I do think too much of that can have a negative impact on the old guard but as I've witnessed myself in this thread, we've also had some stellar new members speak up that probably wouldn't be here either. So, what do you do?

I don't think there's a single "right" or "wrong" in relation to this debate.

And for better or worse, the interwebz is still wide open. I've been a part of quite a few separate sub-forums over the past 10 years that in some cases complimented the RPF and in some cases contrasted it. That's always an option though from my experience, most truly "private" forums do have the nasty tendency to self-destruct over time.

So there's my overly wordy explanation...

 

[propologist]

lets all join hands and jump off lovers leap..

 

[dualedge]

lets all join hands and jump off lovers leap..

I resemble that remark. You know, you have a very crotchety old-timer soul for someone so newb.

(this is not a critique of the thread, just inspired by propologist's comment)

 

[propologist]

well get together and get dinner when i get back to hotlanta...have several friends that live there.

 

[rollerboi]

The recaster's hand.

 

[propologist]

The recaster's hand.

the only problem is that 666 isn't really the mark of the beast...as soon as I remember i will edit..lol

( uhhh religious talk , I think the thread should be closed

 

[rollerboi]

yeah yeah yeah it's either 666 or 616, depending on which variant you subscribe to.. it's all in here: Number of the Beast - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But that has nothing to do with the fact I posted a 666 image in post #666. Read into it what you will. :lol

 

[Art Andrews]

First, I am convinced some of you are just posting to compete with the Munson/Laamberry contest thread...

2nd, I really appreciate that while not all of you are in 100% agreement with permanent open registration that you are at least respectful about your disagreement. Not all of the previous administrations have enjoyed that amount of courtesy from the members when they disagreed with something and I really appreciate it. Just so you know, you do bring up very valid points regarding some of the issues with the influx of new members but you also have to realize that the site has yet to stabilize from the changes we have made. Google has yet to really stabilize us and we are still growing quite rapidly... which is not really "growing" as much as it is "catching up." I think you will find that before too terribly long we will peak and plateau and things will begin to stabilize with a small but steady stream of new people, but not like what you are seeing now. Regardless of permanent open or semi-open, we will always have a few troublemakers slip through the cracks and sadly, as we get older and newer generations are raised with a "whatever I believe is right", "whatever I want should be given to me", and "there are no consequences for my actions" attitude, we are going to continue to see more and more issues with new and younger members. This isn't an RPF thing or a registration thing. This is a societal thing and there is nothing we can do about it but deal with it as best we can. As I have said before, I understand your concerns and they ARE valid, but I refuse to allow the few rotten apples that come through our open doors cause us to shut those doors to the masses who love and appreciate what we do and from those handfull of super talented people who don't even know about us yet, but some day will find us and add to our own enjoyment of the hobby with their offerings because those doors were open to them.

 

[dualedge]

the only problem is that 666 isn't really the mark of the beast...as soon as I remember i will edit..lol

( uhhh religious talk , I think the thread should be closed

Hey, you got #667 - the neighbor of the beast.

 

[teecrooz]

Great post Art. :thumbsup

 

[SithLord]

On the one hand, you can't promote the RPF and keep registration closed, y'know?
......

I don't think there's a single "right" or "wrong" in relation to this debate.

It is true that, if the goal here is to expand in some way (many ways?), being open all the time for business is the logical course. That will make it a different place. But different doesn't have to mean less appealing or enjoyable. What is interesting is how everyone from all walks of life can somehow can find a niche here. Although I think about how many people do we want on the forum? 10,000? 30,000? Is there a goal here?

My view is that everyone has something to contribute, and the learning curves will be different. Presenting ideas is part of the game. I think debate and discussion are healthy as long as they are executed with a genuine purpose. So often in the past threads were locked so quickly with the reason that they "no longer served a purpose" or something to that effect. But who decides? I'm frankly surprised this thread hasn't been locked since the basic points were made long ago. But I've always been a proponent of discussion even if there is debate, and we'll always have a cross section of views from a broad spectrum of experience or knowledge.

 

[Art Andrews]

It is true that, if the goal here is to expand in some way (many ways?), being open all the time for business is the logical course. That will make it a different place. But different doesn't have to mean less appealing or enjoyable. What is interesting is how everyone from all walks of life can somehow can find a niche here. Although I think about how many people do we want on the forum? 10,000? 30,000? Is there a goal here?

For clarification, the "goal" is not to expand. The "goal" is not to get bigger. The goal has nothing to do with size at all. Have we learned nothing from Yoda? :lol

Seriously, I know some think that my purpose is to make a big site or to get large numbers. That is NOT the goal at all.

Growing in size and growing in number of members is simply a incidental RESULT of the true goal which is to provide the best and most stable environment we possibly can which is conducive for people from all walks of life and all corners of the earth to interact with one another and share their love of props, costumes and models. If we do our job well, the site will grow as a result and from time to time, yes, we do gauge our progress by those numbers, but reaching this number or that number is never the goal as it is a very close-minded approach to success. Our success is truly defined by whether we are serving the greater prop community and providing those who love props with a venue for which to interact with one another. Perhaps this definition of our purpose better helps you understand why I feel so strongly about open registration, even if you still don't agree with it. I feel that open registration serves both the existing community (by providing new talent) and those who would like to be a part of this community but don't even know that such a community exists yet. I feel keeping those who love props locked out via closed registration is not serving them and is instead a disservice.

 

[SithLord]

Thanks for the clarification, Art. Yes the question about expansion was more rhetorical than looking for a specific number. Ideally if everything goes well the forum can serve its mission just as well with 30,000 members as it can now with however many we have at the present time, at least I hope so. Opening things up does let the forum breathe a bit more, and I guess there will be the occasional cough or wheeze. I just hope we have enough tissue, nasal spray, and breath mints. :lol

 

[knightone]

...the neighbor of the beast.

The stuff great metal songs are made of.

 

[tommin]

This thread could use some more cow bell.

 

[dualedge]

This thread could use some more cow bell.

Waitaminit... Are you telling me that beatiful woman is named Cow Belle?

Now I'm going to post some smiley emoticons As though I had never before seen such a lovely lady. With nice guns. Handguns I mean... Not "guns" as a cheap euphemism for her breasts.

:love :love :angel and last but not least, the ever telling leering emoticon :love

 

[propologist]

hey Art got 669..way to go...beyond that I got nothing

 

[Charles Kline]

Of course, Art. We're fine on a personal level and I agree 100% that we just don't agree on this point.

I also think we're getting a good glimpse of that new membership you're talking about; those who are stepping up to replace those who have moved on. Some might even suggest, a number of those who are stepping up are motivating some to leave.

Look, there's no denying the mood is indeed different, here. We're seeing a complete rehash of dead topics and zero respect for an established membership that has skin in this game. Many of us have dedicated years developing the climate of this forum.

Having periodic membership separated those who really wanted to be here from those who now join on a wim. It once took a little vigilance to join the RPF. One had to care to some small degree at least to become a member here.

A tempered membership allowed more time for the new guys to mix with an established forum. It made for a smoother assimilation. With no gap between old and new members you'll see more and more threads like this. We're seeing a swarm of people who really don't understand what this hobby is about.

This is overwelming and tries the patience of such a close, established community.

There's zero adjustment time for this many new members and the playground logic permeating from some of these threads is insufferable.

Again, I hope it all works out. :thumbsup

-Rylo

As a relatively new member (in contrast to the 10+ year veterans), I can say that I see what Rylo is talking about 100%, when I joined it was after reading a lot and getting to know the hobby and how the site worked.
The number of 'worthless' threads and posts has increased ridiculously in the past few months, I think its a direct result form the constantly open registration.
Yeah, maybe 2 or 3 times a year was too few before, but constantly open doesn't seem good either.

In summary, I agree with Rylo on all counts on this one.

 

[propologist]

why can't we get rid of the OT all together. granted I enjoy the OT just because of the stupidity of it all. while hearing about someone's divorce , death, dog dying, truck getting fixed , or the endless stupid MM threads are all fun , they have nothing to do with props...but that's just me.