Jun 16, 2:49:57PM @: we really do desperately need new blood
Jun 16, 2:50:05PM @: conversations have all been done
Jun 16, 2:51:51PM mistawook@gmail.com: Well, we know where we stand with one another, or at least we assume we do.
Jun 16, 2:52:04PM @: and therein lies the problem
Jun 16, 2:52:22PM mistawook@gmail.com: I just don't think people put much effort into the whole thing near the end
Jun 16, 2:52:32PM @: no, they didn't
Jun 16, 2:52:43PM @: but they sure did pitch a fit when it went down
Jun 16, 2:53:24PM mistawook@gmail.com: Yes
Jun 16, 2:53:58PM mistawook@gmail.com: The only thing that would draw in new people at this point is some kind of front-end content like a home page
Jun 16, 2:54:14PM mistawook@gmail.com: The forum needs to be wrapped around site that actually has stuff people are interested in
Jun 16, 2:54:19PM @: yes
Jun 16, 2:54:27PM @: absolutely
Jun 16, 2:54:30PM mistawook@gmail.com: and while there have been attempts, it's mostly based on what was on the forums
Jun 16, 2:54:56PM @: but nobody seems to be able to agree what that FP content should be
Jun 16, 2:55:44PM mistawook@gmail.com: Yeah, we're kind of working backwards here
Jun 16, 2:55:49PM @: very
Jun 16, 2:56:14PM @: i've been racking my brain trying to figure out what we can put up there
Jun 16, 2:56:31PM mistawook@gmail.com: It can't just be an art/design portal as there are already tons of those
Jun 16, 2:56:57PM mistawook@gmail.com: blogs are pointless
Jun 16, 2:57:11PM mistawook@gmail.com: unless people really want to invest the time to write something decent
Jun 16, 2:59:07PM mistawook@gmail.com: In either case, there'd need to be some backlog of content, so that the front-page isn't barren
Jun 16, 2:59:14PM mistawook@gmail.com: And I don't know where that stuff would come from
Jun 16, 3:00:04PM @: i think a huge issue is that there are tons of niche sites out there, and there's already TONS of re-blogging
Jun 16, 3:00:23PM @: that is, taking what 5 other blogs already said about your niche and putting them on your site
Jun 16, 3:00:42PM mistawook@gmail.com: Ew, web 2.0
Jun 16, 3:00:49PM @: so even if it were a sort of "everything we think is cool" kind of thing
Jun 16, 3:01:21PM mistawook@gmail.com: Nah, unique content should be our goal, and then distributing through the usual means is what comes after
Jun 16, 3:01:22PM @: it's still not a huge draw, cuz there will already be like 5 thousand of those exact same things
Jun 16, 3:01:36PM @: right, but what is unique
Jun 16, 3:01:38PM mistawook@gmail.com: True
Jun 16, 3:01:42PM @: other than what we make ourselves
Jun 16, 3:01:53PM @: which is art/writing/something creative
Jun 16, 3:01:59PM mistawook@gmail.com: That's what boggles my mind about something like the Something Awful Forums with it's 100,000 active members
Jun 16, 3:02:07PM mistawook@gmail.com: Eh
Jun 16, 3:02:16PM mistawook@gmail.com: I guess community content is fine
Jun 16, 3:02:22PM mistawook@gmail.com: it just needs to presented well
Jun 16, 3:02:29PM @: something awful has had an audience for like 10 years
Jun 16, 3:02:35PM mistawook@gmail.com: All of our old homepages were kind of weak in that regard
Jun 16, 3:02:39PM @: yes they were
Jun 16, 3:02:45PM @: but that's the thing
Jun 16, 3:02:53PM mistawook@gmail.com: Well, also throw in the fact that it costs SA members money to join
Jun 16, 3:03:01PM @: why 10 different home pages
Jun 16, 3:03:06PM @: why not one
Jun 16, 3:03:18PM mistawook@gmail.com: Bad direction?
Jun 16, 3:03:57PM @: well then one with one person editing? bu
Jun 16, 3:04:05PM @: but then who decides who gets to edit?
Jun 16, 3:04:10PM @: and who has time for it
Jun 16, 3:04:31PM @: who will actually put in the effort
Jun 16, 3:04:39PM mistawook@gmail.com: We could integrate a content management system or other back-end tool, choose editors for each section
Jun 16, 3:04:40PM @: and then who will put in the effort to make content
Jun 16, 3:04:55PM mistawook@gmail.com: Then it's a matter of other people coming up with content, and then having trusted members just pushing "OK"
Jun 16, 3:05:07PM mistawook@gmail.com: You only get out of it what you put in
Jun 16, 3:05:11PM @: right, but nobody comes up with content
Jun 16, 3:05:23PM mistawook@gmail.com: We do, just nobody wants to share
Jun 16, 3:05:24PM @: they all say "good idea" and then stick their thumb up their ass
Jun 16, 3:05:33PM @: except sniser
Jun 16, 3:05:45PM @: who has no filter and just throws EVERYTHING up
Jun 16, 3:06:44PM @: well then we all put content up, someone can be the "editor" (press the "ok" button)
Jun 16, 3:06:55PM @: and then we figure out another way to put things up
Jun 16, 3:07:05PM @: magazines have been done, but not necessarily to death
Jun 16, 3:07:39PM mistawook@gmail.com: Yeah, a decent magazine format with a theme could work
Jun 16, 3:08:12PM mistawook@gmail.com: I just keep thinking of things like Vice and other sites like that, where it's essentially the old E/N site format but with a touch more direction and quality
Jun 16, 3:08:21PM @: vice?
Jun 16, 3:08:24PM @: never heard of it
Jun 16, 3:08:26PM mistawook@gmail.com: Viceland
Jun 16, 3:08:40PM mistawook@gmail.com: http://www.viceland.com/
Jun 16, 3:08:55PM mistawook@gmail.com: They have a print version, but throw everything they have on the site
Jun 16, 3:09:48PM @: not bad
Jun 16, 3:10:55PM mistawook@gmail.com: Yeah, they touch on a lot of neat stuff
Jun 16, 3:14:05PM @: well i will bring it up
Jun 16, 3:14:22PM @: i think it's important we don't fall into the same trap as we did
Jun 16, 3:14:30PM @: cuz it makes the forums fucking boring
Jun 16, 3:15:06PM mistawook@gmail.com: Yeah
Jun 16, 3:15:27PM mistawook@gmail.com: It might also be worthwhile to link any interesting front-page stuff with a thread
Jun 16, 3:15:37PM @: yes
Jun 16, 3:15:41PM mistawook@gmail.com: so as to seed discussion, and point people to the forums

when last we left the-flipside, it was, in a word, shit.

we weren't doing anything. we were sitting here, jerking ourselves off, arguing about nothing because we didn't want to let the place just die.

and die it did. nothing was happening - ZERO. but people pitched a fit when the place shuttered.

and now it's back. thanks to wib, we have a new lease on life. (thanks wib!)

but here's the thing:

what are we going to do with that new lease? are we going to sit here with our thumbs up our asses, arguing about the stupidest shit imaginable?

this place NEEDS new blood. without new blood, we may as well shut the place down again and just sit a discussion group on facebook.

so here's a suggestion

we NEED to create a front page for this place. it doesn't have to be anything specific. it doesn't have to be art. it doesn't have to be writing. it doesn't have to be photography. but it has to be something. our suggestion is a little of everything.

there are a kabillion sites out there, and they all have forums, and they all have their niche. short of finding a new niche of external content (good luck), all we have to create a new niche with is our own stuff.

but nobody puts any effort into it.

i understand, we are all busy. but if we want to bring people into this site, we need to have something besides my amazing good looks and doggybag's yearly shaving ritual.

it doesn't take much effort to put something up. if your thing is to find some stuff from the web that you find fascinating, then do that. but please look around first, let's not be one of those re-blog sites that posts about something cool that 50 other blogs already posted about yesterday that someone posted on stumbleupon the day before (unless you have something new and incredibly interesting to say about it). and then we link from the FP to the forums.

so we put stuff up on the front page, and we figure out how to do it in an interesting way.

if there's interesting enough stuff, i will agree to be the "editor" (the guy who presses the "ok" button).

but a few things...

number one - no offense sniser, but you need a filter. i'm not going to put your rambling meanderings up on the site. i know you find yourself very interesting, but others do not. you are not a draw. do something creative, and i will put it up there. seriously. you're a good guy, but you babble, and nobody wants to see it on the front page.

number two - people have to put effort into it. if we don't have stuff to put up there continuously, nobody will come to the site. this means everybody needs to contribute at least one thing a week until we get a larger base. if there isn't anything for me to put up, i am going to lose interest VERY quickly. and i am not chasing you down to get your content.

number three - don't say you have nothing to contribute. sun, you take a four hundred and seven thousand pictures a week. i'm sure you can find THREE to put on the front page.

and then once a month, we take the best of the best and we put it into a magazine. available as a flash module or as a printable PDF.


if we can't do this, then this forum is pointless to me, and good luck to you all, see you on the flip....uh, facebook.

at least on facebook i can play scrabble.


so what's it gonna be?

- @


PS - will an admin PLEASE fix it so i can use my old name? i get a 3 character minimum bullshit.

im up for flash, php, webservers and stuff

Dude... I don't even care about a front page, much less to ramble in it, and even less about myself. WTF. Besides, anything remotely meaningful to me I write in German these days and more or less hide it. So I guess from my direction that'd be a hearty "fuck you, where did that come from, who do YOU think you are?", and gleefully ignoring any rules or commands.

Dont be so hard on the boy, he takes good photos.

yes he does, and i'd be glad to put them up.

They are already "up". Every pic I post here is straight off my custom made CMS, I don't need some coward sniper to press "OK" on them, thanks, but no thanks.

you're right, it's better we all sit here holding our dicks. just like the old flipside.

Your way or the highway, eh? Whatever. After all, you merely suggested to be the guy pressing OK... now it's OUR fault if there is no content? How about you write something fascinating about someone who is not you or completely made up, I'm sure that will bring us "fresh blood" by the buckets? I myself am perfectly happy to bask in my own glory, cheers. I'd break my back for a lot of things and a lot of people, but the moment you start giving commands I'm out.

edit: what more of a filter do you want? Now go ahead and do all the wonderful stuff you can do when I don't drown it in my ego.

ruhig mann, ruhig

Is this "let's run through all the crappy ways to reply that sucked the first time around and didn't get any better after years and years and years?" @ starts talking shit at me out of the blue and you tell *me* to be calm.... uh huh. Yeah, I was hungry when I wrote that, I would have worded it differently had I been not, but the content would have been exactly the same. Maybe in the form of a LOL smilie, but it would have meant the same. Correct situation, correct action, and now take your patronizing to someone who doesn't feel like washing his eyes with bleach after he read it. Talk shit to me, get shit back. Sissies.

What @ is trying to tell you cannot be said in a gentle way - your initial response to this thread proved his point more or less.

Nice if someone else would jump in here and state their view. @'s obvious irritation about Sni's posting skills aside, he's got some points. We need to produce some interesting content to attract more attention from the outsiders. Each from our own angle.

So what can I put in:

Youve got an on site qualified math teacher, electronical engineer and aspiring web developer/programmer with a flare for open source software and a sense of esthetics in nature, science and religion. Im not gonna write stand-alone interesting articles about stuff I dont know, but could easily try to present some of my interests in a readable and pedagogical manner.

What the flipside does have at its advantage is a cosmopolitan community. Members span several European countries, American states and one African bantustan.

I think the common thread among us is media - as a means of recreation or employment. Drawing on that we could as a collective provide perspectives on issues relating to our environments. I, for example, as a journalist could provide images and comment pieces on whats happening around these parts. (If that would be of any interest to anyone.)

P.S: my wife said we need a publicity stunt. I told her I didn't think that that would work.

END!

that would be of interest to me. now we just need more people coming back to the site and getting involved...

Shieet mann, youve got to be kidding

it's that south african crack, it's driving the kids to the streets.

hey d, how did you see the whole zimbabwe arms shipment thing? must have been interesting from the journalist's point of view.

What's interesting is that after our government billion rand arms deal - several submarines, corvettes and aircraft - the ship got lost en route from Maputo to Luanda.

More interesting is the establishment of refugee camps across the country to cater for the victims of the xenophobic attacks.

Throw in ANC corruption, foreign policy, crime and a Youth League president saying they are prepared to murder for Jacob Zuma and it looks like we're in for more fun and games.

END!

So here I am, holding my cock in my hand, waiting for someone to step up. @/Jesus, are you in charge of front end stuff? I'd like to be kept in the loop on the making of that, seeing as that would pertain directly to what I need to know for my computer classes.

Yeah.

I'll continue my tech tread about my linux installation, and soon others as I get new projects. What about the rest of us. Fuck, this board used to be helpful to me in the past. Now I fear that it will be a stillborn bastard child that nobody wants.

i'd rather be @, the jesus was cuz i couldn't put les than 3 characters in my name.

and i'm pretty much gonna let the board be what it wants to be and stick with the FP.

in charge of it? i guess so. since nobody's stepping up, i asked wib if i could do what i want with it. if you or anyone would like to help, PM me. not sure what i'm doing with it yet, prolly some flash stuff mixed with words and images. not gonna do much in the way of RSS, looking to kick some original content. the most with RSS will be maybe a small "our friend said these things recently"...

Go @ Go!

Ok I will be handing @ some FTP details later this week so he can play , If you want to get involved GET INVOLVED!!!!

Don't sit there and moan, get on the Bus or you will miss it.

p.s the forum took me and DB 15 mins to reinstate, This is not the flipside

Hi, would happily give all my skills towards this. I think we need to get this up to speed. A few of us should have a real time chat in some kind of message VOIP type thing.

good to hear!

i'm kinda busy at the moment, but it's not off my plate. it's just taken a backseat to things which, you know, pay my bills.

raw, when is good for you?