Frustrated.

[hollywood]

Has anyone else been frustrated with the flashkit message boards recently? Does anyone else think that they are losing their appeal? I decided to post a thread about how I feel about a few certain message boards to see if anyone else is beginning to feel the way I do about Flashkit.

The Coffee Lounge

In the last few months I have noticed more and more posts about absolutely nothing. I have also been wondering to myself, “In the past eleven-months of being a Flashkit member, what have I gained from the Coffee Lounge? What has The Lounge done for me?” Absolutely nothing (Except seeing a giant crab get sucked into a pipe 1/10th of an inch wide ). The coffee lounge has become the biggest waste of time in my life. I do not care to see a picture of your computer, or of you, or to debate World Politics with a mob of unknown strangers who have no significance in my life. I do not want to take an IQ test and then compare my score with a bunch of people will lie about their scores so they can sound smarter than everyone. And for those threads about computer specs, just because you spent 5,000 dollars on a computer does not make you any cooler. Why are people attracted to The Lounge anyways? What motivates people to spend hours posting in this forum? It seems to me that most members are here so they can bring in more traffic to their website and or become the center of attention of this entire message board. It seems like members will do anything and act anyway just to become noticed among the 400,000 plus members. Since they cannot make friends in the real world, then they turn to the Internet.

The Site Check Forum

Most posts in the Site-Check forum are people who would like an honest critique of their website and of course bring in a little traffic. Usually members with eye-catching and appealing sites will receive allot of praise for their sites and receive a lot of positive feedback. Members with poor websites will get hardly any feedback and their post will drop down below all the other posts gradually losing any chance of anyone ever reading it. Then some of these people take this personally. They begin to curse Flashkit and do some really stupid things, in hope that they will raise enough controversy so they can bring some attention to their site. It can be really annoying. My favorite thing is when Gloomycus asks for a site check. There are a lot of people who hate Gloomy because of all the self-brought attention he and his website get. Then he gets responses from a bunch of members that seize the opportunity to tell him he is an idiot. I have lost all interest in ever posting in this forum again.

The FK Help Forums

They seem to be filled with awesome members and moderators who enjoy helping strangers with their computer for free. You may be the most dedicated geeks I know, but where would people like me be without people like you.

The FK Arena.

A way cool place where two artists challenge each other to an art-battle, have a friendly conversation, and be entertained by other battles. There just are not very many battles going on right now and it seems to always be moving really slowly. But that is the pace I prefer.

[SpockBert]

mate, you couldnt post a link to that giant crab thing could you?

gotta see that!

[jamble]

Has anyone else been frustrated with the flashkit message boards recently? Does anyone else think that they are losing their appeal? I decided to post a thread about how I feel about a few certain message boards to see if anyone else is beginning to feel the way I do about Flashkit.

400,000 members ain't too shabby. Don't forget FK is more than just a big message board. Most of the members don't sign up for the forums, they sign up for newsletters etc or to monitor threads or occasionally post a single help thread and nothing more.

The Coffee Lounge

In the last few months I have noticed more and more posts about absolutely nothing. I have also been wondering to myself, “In the past eleven-months of being a Flashkit member, what have I gained from the Coffee Lounge? What has The Lounge done for me?” Absolutely nothing (Except seeing a giant crab get sucked into a pipe 1/10th of an inch wide ).

The coffee lounge has become the biggest waste of time in my life. I do not care to see a picture of your computer, or of you, or to debate World Politics with a mob of unknown strangers who have no significance in my life. I do not want to take an IQ test and then compare my score with a bunch of people will lie about their scores so they can sound smarter than everyone. And for those threads about computer specs, just because you spent 5,000 dollars on a computer does not make you any cooler.

Why are people attracted to The Lounge anyways? What motivates people to spend hours posting in this forum? It seems to me that most members are here so they can bring in more traffic to their website and or become the center of attention of this entire message board. It seems like members will do anything and act anyway just to become noticed among the 400,000 plus members. Since they cannot make friends in the real world, then they turn to the Internet.

I agree with most of the points you mention and while you don't go into any detail about what you might suggest to improve the CL, I assume you have something to follow your observation with otherwise the status quo remains and you're bored again in two weeks.

What do you want from the lounge? It's not a site check forum, it's not a help forum, it's not a graphics or sound forum, it's not a scripting forum or even a cool sites forum - it's supposed to be something akin to a coffee bar where you can sit and idly chat to people who you share a common interest with (otherwise you wouldn't have joined right?)

Yes, there have been a number of threads here in recent of dubious quality and some members intent on being jerks, alas, in such a large community you're going to get it and the CL mods work hard to keep it to a minimum but some occasionally slip through the net.

In keeping with the lounge spirit, it is somewhere to discuss politics, your computer etc etc. The idea of internet forums is you "meet" new people who you would never get the chance to speak to in real life and often people build friendships from that, I would suggest that if you keep spending several hours a day on a site full of people who you don't care anything for then it may in fact be you who has the difficulty in making real friends!

...and yes, of course people want to stand out, it's no different in real life, it's often how you make friends or meet new people in a busy place. You do get traffic from your footers etc but many regulars here often link to news items or other websites than their own (check out Gerbicks footer catalogue!)

The Site Check Forum

Most posts in the Site-Check forum are people who would like an honest critique of their website and of course bring in a little traffic. Usually members with eye-catching and appealing sites will receive allot of praise for their sites and receive a lot of positive feedback.

Members with poor websites will get hardly any feedback and their post will drop down below all the other posts gradually losing any chance of anyone ever reading it. Then some of these people take this personally. They begin to curse Flashkit and do some really stupid things, in hope that they will raise enough controversy so they can bring some attention to their site. It can be really annoying.

My favorite thing is when Gloomycus asks for a site check. There are a lot of people who hate Gloomy because of all the self-brought attention he and his website get. Then he gets responses from a bunch of members that seize the opportunity to tell him he is an idiot. I have lost all interest in ever posting in this forum again.

It's a fine line in the site check forum, it's tough to tell someone that something truly blows, even with the anonymous nature of message boards. You often don't know if it's someone who is brand new to web/flash design and while their work may not be up to scratch, you must offer encouragement as well as a critical review. It's tough and that's why not many people reply to the threads where it's a bad site. It's much easier to review a good website or piece of work!

The FK Help Forums

They seem to be filled with awesome members and moderators who enjoy helping strangers with their computer for free. You may be the most dedicated geeks I know, but where would people like me be without people like you.

The FK Arena.

A way cool place where two artists challenge each other to an art-battle, have a friendly conversation, and be entertained by other battles. There just are not very many battles going on right now and it seems to always be moving really slowly. But that is the pace I prefer.

The help forums are the main driving force behind the FK boards and the mods and members who spend their time there are excellent. You seem happy with the help forums, as I'm sure most people who have had a problem solved in the past do so there's not much to dwell on here other than to offer the thumbs up to the people who spend their time helping other members here.

The Arena is still a relatively new forum here and I agree, it has slowed down recently. It's a difficult one, there are some members who like quick fire battles and others who may not be expert when it comes to graphics and it's a good learning tool as well as a fun way to spend a few hours.

It's down to the members who participate in the battles how quickly they want to play and if you're looking for a fast paced match, say so in your thread and there is normally someone who will oblige

[Markp.com]

Yeah what James said

I think this thread would be better in the Feedback forum

[hurricaneone]

The site check forum isn't that great. Just people looking to offer lukewarm critiques on your work if you'll do the same for them. Sounds to me like there's nothing more than ego stroking going on there.

As for the help forums, there are many talented, generous people there and I thank them each and every day. They don't know it, but I do.

The Battle forum? I've never been there, as when I work PS I do it for work, so I never got much joy out of just playing around, so no comment.

And as for your comments for the CL, if you don't think much of the forum, the threads, etc., DON'T GO.

And this would be better in the feedback forum, like Markp said.

[serpent star]

my fav food is deep fried butter on a toasted stick of butter...








BOARDROOM RULES!!!!


word

[Saint Benedetta]

There aren't really a lot of topics that interest me in CL - but I do stay there and I occasionally refresh the screen to see if there's anything new.

As for the Arena, I enjoy that place and I love battling and watching other battles and I do agree that it has been a bit slow lately, but there are a few new battles going on so it's kinda picking up.. In the past, there was a lot of participation and new battles and all that (especially if it's something like mods vs members or AUS vs US battles) and it was fast paced. There are a few people that I haven't seen for a while battling in the Arena like mx_kid or BlueSamurai or serpent star

[serpent star]

Tries to liven up Arena a smidge...

[gerbick]

Despite all of the good PR I could possibly pour forth to say that FK is the place that got me back into 3D after so many years of letting my skills neglect, and actually getting me to a point where Flash started to make sense to me for once in years since I first touched it's labyrinthine workflow - which, compared to Photoshop, I still loathe - and what not...

I won't.

Hell, being helpful here at Flashkit has landed me at least in one book, with two others I've turned down. Among other good contacts I've built up from being here; however, lately, it's been on a downturn, but I've been here long enough to know that the CL goes through those cycles.

Out of all of the aforementioned madness, I've probably added to a lot of it.

And as much as it pains me to say otherwise, I agree with you Hollywood.

Guess we all, as a community have to make it better.

*don't mind me... I'll be in the forums I mod in. the others, they'll be ok. the mods are competent enough for me to not mettle there. toodles.

[SeaWolf]

I know you all have it right on the tip of your tongues but just can't spit it out. It's been because I haven't been in here to stir up any trouble. Muahhhhh.
Anyways, I just wanted to say hi to those I can remember. So hi to GD, Cliffy, Jamble, Gerbs, Gloomy, Tallguy, and what was the name of the guy who thinks we should solve all of our problems with war, oh ya, starkey.

Now I thought that was the perfect use of the CL. What an awesome tool.

Late

[gerbick]

:wavey:

dude, it's been a looooong time since I've seen you.

should stick around more man.

[Hiperion]

hmm i think we all know that there are other ways to fill our free time

but the choice what to do with it lays with ourselves

you may think of it as a waist but if you look at it from that point of view a majority of things on the internet are a waist of time

flashkits remains my fav 'hangout place' in cyberspace
i'm kinda happy the way it is

grtz
d

[SeaWolf]

Originally posted by gerbick
:wavey:

dude, it's been a looooong time since I've seen you.

should stick around more man.

Well gerbs I appreciate the offer but you see (and I am serious about this) after seeing how knowledgable you and others on this board are about all of multitude of web based applications that I decided to go back to college and try to learn more about the great www and see if I could make something out of my life. So I have been busy trying to keep my head above water in studying (man, it sure is hard to go back and train your brain to use it again). This semester I am in a C, C++, database (sql), and believe it or not a flash course. Actually, we haven't had much flash programming, just a lot of readings about cognitive loads, dual-coding, text, animation and such. Anyways, good to talk to you. I'll pop in and see if I can raise some feathers soon.
Late

[CNL83]

I would say just dont come in the coffee lounge. Hang out else where and dont spread that kind of moood around. Your depreciating FKs reputation when doing so.

[RazoRmedia]

if you hate the pointless posts in the lounge and want a more adult and educated response to your posts. have a nip over to the boardroom, its got a good crowd and we've just started on the first boardroom project.

[jstarkey]

Hollywood, what's up with the title? Did you run away from home? You're not a Mall Rat now are you, signing on from the library? Don't start decapitating the homeless down there.

[indivision]

well.. in one sense i am flattered because i was the one who posted the crab video. here's a link to it (not sure how long it will be up so check it out quick!): http://jeremedia.com/fun/crabvspipe.mpg

anyway, if you look at your first paragraph of criticisms and regard all of the sentences that start with 'I', you're left with the question; 'who knows'. And who would know why you are or are not interested in those things unless you explain? I think your point is that all of those subjects are very trivial to you. But why have you returned to view them so often? That seems like the most imperative question that you personally need to ask yourself.

For me, I have enjoyed the debates in the CL because it's valuable to me to learn what other people around the world are thinking about major world events. It helps me to realize where I stand specifically and sometimes changes my mind on things. It also serves as a safe outlet for me to discuss political matters that I would rather not get into with people I work with.

AND the threads have been a great source for laughs.

[hollywood]

Originally posted by indivision

AND the threads have been a great source for laughs.

None of which you can really share with anyone in real life.

[fospher.com]

im in a hardcore punk band right now - i go skateboarding almost everyday, go to a ton of concerts every week, where i start pits, and crowdsurf around the place. but what do i do when i get home? i write little bits of code, and hang out in the games lounge, where i help kids write a function, or post questions myself. im pretty sure we all have a dork living inside of us - fk is just helping the guy out. if it wasnt for flashkit, i wouldnt be even halfway where i am now - im taking AP programming classes, thanks to the members helped me with back when i first joined. the coffee lounge is just a place to relax when you're tired of writing that long game, and to to see a crab get into a little hole.

[tiGRAN=-2001]

WHY WOULD I BOTHER READING THIS!
OR POSTING!
ITS THE COFFEE LOUNGE AFTER ALL!!I WONT GET ANYTHING FROM IT!!
















im just kidding,...really