OK so, first of all, it's about time we finally had a discussion about this stuff. You guys were so damn silent for a while. On Sanctuary v1.0, I couldn't get people to shut the hell up. And now I can't get you guys to complain enough. lol
To pile on the abuse for a bit, there's been something that's on my mind:
Lay a brick every day, and eventually you'll have a wall. Seems obvious. Just work at something a little bit, regularly, and eventually you'll have something big, good. Perhaps even whole.
But there's also something to be said for focusing on the small, easy to fix details, and ignoring the big problems. Things like logos, and color themes, and catchphrases. Low-hanging fruit that is easily picked, and perhaps makes us feel good when we pick it. But we still have a lot more work to do. The big problems still remain.
Which are we doing here? Are we laying bricks, or choosing the wallpaper?
I've been hearing from you that we just aren't ready yet. When will we be ready? How many tiny tasks must be solved before we are ready? When will the perfect time arise? Will it? Will there still be anyone here when that time comes?
Let's just be careful that we aren't fooling ourselves by accomplishing the little tasks at the expense of the big, intimidating ones. We can have the nicest wallpaper picked out, but unless there's a wall of bricks to hang it on, it doesn't mean much.
Yeah, I do see what you're saying. I've actually been thinking about the same thing myself. For example, I wanted to do another talk video on why exactly the mobile phone was a terrible platform for AAA gaming, and to do another AMA on Reddit, and other things, but then I remembered that the site functions weren't finished, and the logo wasn't discussed, and the Resources tab was still closed and ehhhhhh... >_>
Here's the deal. We've advertised a lot before, but we weren't getting users to sign up really. OK, now we need to improve and try something new. But before we start advertising again, I want to make DAMN SURE this time that when people visit the site, they'll have their minds blown with what we offer. And we pretty much have to, as we're competing against
every motherfucker on the internet with a server. We can't afford to be average. We have to be the best, or I fear we'll just be forgotten.
There is a clear end in mind though. Don't worry. The itinerary is, we pick a focus (Done. Most decided on gaming.) We pick a logo. I work on the Resources tab (that'll take no time at all), we decide what content we wish to produce, and then we're off. We're getting so damn close to being totally "feature complete" and officially reaching v3.0.
This is in reference to Arnox' Post. Damn you Houseman! You and your Ninja ways!
True. But as you know, that is obviously not conductive when one is trying to grow a community. It is also not teneable long-term if and when those Users arrive. You also know that I don't think the Forum should stay as it is. I mean, in terms of it's spirit it should, but that's not a Subject Matter, which is part of what keeps us from producing content, most of us just clearly aren't interested in Freedom of Speech and Information as a subject, those are just things we want. In fact, while I won't speak for anyone else there, I'd have to hear specifics before I'd agree that Freedom of Information is a good thing by default.
But like I said, whatever, they fulfill the general function of a Logo. I just think it can be done way better, but that doing that now would be skipping multiple steps that must be fulfilled beforehand to actually make a good and meaningful Logo.
Hey, I agree with you as well. Sanctuary cannot grow on just being a general forum. There needs to be something else there. That's what we're working on.
Totse started by providing a service that wasn't met anywhere else on the 'net at the time. Most other popular sites got their start doing such as well. And that was the main mistake I think we made. We don't really... Offer anything specific enough. Once we get a lot more members, we can start generalizing the forum again, but for now, we need to focus and specialize at least somewhat.
As to freedom of information, yeah, we may drop that subtitle for sure. Or at least that one specifically. We may still offer server space for some rare files that come under legal fire, (like the Halo Online MS23 build) but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.