posted
People come and go. Dynamism ebbs and flows.
Some dynamic people no longer post here.
Rearranging the number and titles of forums isn�t going to change that.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I think it is the coming part that is the problem, with some, I'll use Lee as an example, fading away, and very little new blood coming in, well, you get the idea.
At times a face lift does change attitudes, and can influence thought patterns.
Mars does bring up a good point on us being an open community in almost all respects, although politaics and certain a starship's length can be hotly debated.
Opening new sections and categories can not hurt, creating new items to talk about.
But, we have not heard from the bearded one, so, CC, what are your thoughts, opinions, angry outbursts, etc...?
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
You know...Irishman has a fantastic idea: A Gallery.
If we had a Gallery with a link to whatever thread the image originated with, we'd not only showcase our creative side, but also the refining process that is pretty unique to Flare and our community.
For example, some casual Google browser might be looking for info on the New Orleans class. He/She sees a cool image of a CGI version of the ship, visits our Gallery and gets a link to the thread where The Red Admiral get much feedback from the group... If there's one place we never bash, it's when asked for critique on artwork- it's always been a very constructive experience here (even if it's a Lego project or one of my models).
A Gallery would require us to be cool with our art on display (moreso than it already is).
As to attracting new members...so what? I'll take one new "Mars Needs Women" a year over a dozen of the adverage TrekBBS/ Subspace Comms rabble (not that both are not fine sites in their own ways- just not Flare). Quality over quanity.
Waaay back on page one of this thread, Shik quotes me comparing Flare to a 1920's gentleman's club (think original Hellfire Club) and I think that's a big part of Flare's charm (for me). Here I can socialize with a wide array of somewhat like-minded people, from a wide variaty of nationalaties, gender preferences, political views and personal tastes and I can call them all fuckos without someone looking down their self-righteous nose at me. I'm a fucko myself, after all, so it's all good.
Flare's relative secrecy is sort of a good thing you know? Like finding a great new bar, but while you want to to tell everyone about it, you secretly hope it never becomes the "popular hangout", because a crowd would kill the atmosphere.
Besides, the need for a "thick skin" is a kind of litmus test for new members- I recall one of my first threads someone pointed out various mis-spelled words and typos in an unkind manner, but I shrugged it off and said it would take more than that to run me off. Being able to take a bit of criticsm weeds out the nutjobs (Mountainman, anyone?) from a member that will be cherished as part of our strange and fascinating family.
CHERISH ME BITCHES! I know you all love me- deeep down.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
The original Hellfire Club was an English group of political dissidents back in the 1700s.
The Hellfire Club I've been to in New York had good music and good drinks, but was a little heavier on the S&M, bondage, and fetishism than the Hellfire Club we X-Men readers usually think of...
Now, swerving back on-topic (*GASP!*), a gallery is a wonderful idea, but what about writing? Essays, short stories, new series... Creative spasms like that, y'know?
And a location for in-the-works prjects, specifically to seek input, opinions, and collaboration would also be a good idea. Persoanlly, I'd like permission from the various UP3 contributors to take what's been written and re-write it so it all has a consistent "sound" to it. Promise I won't change anything important without consultation and consensus. I know how to do technical writing -- I've been a fan of the Jane's guides for most of my life. I have two projects already underway. The one I'm currently revisiting I've titled "Jane's Fighting Ships of the Federation Starfleet, A.D. 2380 Edition. I was about to start a thread in DAC or S&T, but this caught my eye.
It's like when the kids go off to college. You've got some space that isn't being used for its original purpose, so you need to do some minor renovating. I want to see the Trek section collapsed into only two fori -- Real-world stuff related to Trek (behind-the scenes tidbits, actor news, episode/movie discussion, etc.) and in-universe stuff (science, timeline, all the fictional stuff).
I'd like to see the "Sci-Fi" section renamed "General Sci-Fi", with fori for Star Wars, Doctor Who, BSG, Stargate, maybe one for literature, and one for vintage sci-fi -- old movies and defunct series.
Then the "Community" section would have the Officers' Lounge, the Gallery(ies), and a less incendiary Flameboard, perhaps renamed "The Soapbox" or "Hyde Park Corner" or some such...
And add a short FAQ that noobs have to read before they can post, or something to that effect. I took the time to lurk for a bit before I signed up and began posting, in order to get a feel for the place and the people inhabiting it. I didn't want to ask questions that had already been answered. I didn't want to post observations that had already been made. But, as we all know, not everyone is that conscientious about a new space they're entering.
And that's my three pounds, eight and sixpence, and three farthings.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I'm not a fan of divvying up the forae. There's another "geek" forum I "frequent" and they're crazy with the subdivisions. It's hard to tell where to post anything, so people wind up posting nothing. Especially considering the low post-volume it's probably better to have fuller catch-all directories than empty specific ones. That said, I do applaud the idea of a gallery.
Flare has made me a better geek. It is a special place to be sure. I think of it as a fairly unique community. Cliquish? certainly, and maybe a tad on the aggressive side for newbies, but not unfair. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but I really do think it's made me a better poster. You mean-old fuckers wouldn't tolerate a stupid question. I tend to do a lot more planning for a post not only here, but just in general. A lot less RTFM. On occasion I've done research. So, while Flare does tend to be a bit elitist, the people on this board are fucking smart and/or talented. It brings the game up, and I see that as a good thing.
Flare is a specialty store. It's anti-Walmart.
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Guys, it's not just about attracting new blood. (I still see this as essential for a board that wants to continue for the long haul.
It's also about preventing current blood from leaving. Not coming back. Like Jay said "some dynamic people no longer post here". Yes, and we are poorer for it.
Many of the suggestions I made were focused as much on keeping people INTERESTED as on drawing new people here.
Repeat this mantra with me:
"not all newbies are wastes of bandwidth"
We can help return the thrill of knowing that every time I log onto Flare, I'll find something fucking COOL to check out.
Glad you like the Gallery idea. Maybe make the Gallery contents show up on Google?
-------------------- This is just fun...it's not life...keep this in mind and we'll all enjoy it much more
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
yeah...the Google thing already allpies sometimes (I find) during searches for more exotic (mostly Trek-related) subjects.
Mostly, I'm with Andrew on this- nothing's broke.
I visit here mostly for the Flameboard and Officer's Lounge. I used to visit mostly for the Trek discussions, but that's mostly played out (unless it pertains to someone's own design or story idea). Now, I'm more intrested in the community and what Flarites think of certain stuff- (for example) Jay's endless posts about whatever the day's outrage is really make me think, and so I look for reasons to support my viewpoint and then post.
Some of our debates have gotten incindeary, but always thought out and smart...as noted, it makes you a better poster (to have to defend your viewpoiint with something besides "I heard it somewhere" or "it's in TEH BIBLE").
I would NOT change the Flameboard in any way- if new folks are shocked by it (which I doubt) they can abstain.
Officer's lounge is just that- a place for regulars and longtime friends to lounge. It's not restrictive, but it's homey.
Anything else may be tweaked to suit the whims of the populace, but Flameboard and Officer's Lounge are what make Flare unique.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
I like the gallery idea as well. There's some really great stuff there, and it would be a way to bring in some new people. The only thing I don't like about it is that we'll get mostly Trek fans. I like Star Trek sure, but I don't like being surrounded by it. Just about all of the artwork in the creativity section is Star Trek. It'd be nice to see a broader variety of science fiction genre's here.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
My impression of Flare, and the reason that I signed up in the first place, is that this is the best place for sci-fi analysis. Case in point, the whole Wolf 359 discussion. Not only did we have some great discussion here and actually getting results with it, but people on other boards were actually referring others here for information.
Since Trek is done (for now), I think we need to dig our claws into something else. Like trying to find out how many Vipers were destroyed in the first two seasons, or something. Of course, it doesn't have to be current, either. The Wolf 359 discussion took place years after the episode.
quote:. Hmmm, I wonder where Darius and Dax have gone??
I know yer talking about the original 'DAX' but i wanted to put my 2 cents in ... I still come around and read.. and post the odd time... But i, too, have been around for 7 years - and i find myself comeback here more and more lately..
But, I haven't seen Darius in a long long time.
As far as a redo of the forum... a redo would be fine.. but as some have already posted here - puting some forums up with Active shows that are on - like SG1, SGA, BSG .. could bring the membership up..
I would hate to see this place go away.. Flare has gathered some of the most intelligent people .. it'd be a shame to loose the connections to these people..
posted
Being relatively new here, I have to say that I can see some of both sides of the discussion. Flare is not, it has to be said, the most welcoming place for new posters. That's not to say that the people here go out of their way to make new folks feel unwelcome, but I do think this place takes a little more getting used to than most other forums out there. To be sure a thicker skin, a sharper mind and a bit of thought before hitting the post button are required here a lot more than they are on other boards. Not a bad thing.
Speaking purely for myself I don't recall ever being made to feel unwelcome - I just lurked for a while, snagged the first discussion that caught my interest and went on from there. I've never been bullied...there was a very quick exchange at one point with Lee that wasn't particularly warm, but that was very quickly sorted in a commonsense and straightforward way...helped along by a little bonding over Doon McKichan! To be honest I think this place is like anywhere else, in real life or on the web - you only get trouble if you go looking for it.
As for the dynamism of the forum, never having been around in what seems to have been Flare's heyday I don't think I can comment too much on that. I have to say though that just because Trek has retired from our screens for the moment doesn't mean there isn't more than enough to talk about. In fact with shows like BSG and DW churning out quality episodes and books, webcasts, fanmade stuff and games all over the place science fiction is more alive now than ever and it strikes me we should have plenty to think about. Attracting new blood for Flare will, by the nature of the place itself, be a long hard job, but I wouldn't like to see it change too much. I'd rather a limited supply of a quality product than an abundance of substandard stuff.
I'll leave the debate for the soul of this place to those who have been here longer and remember it from years gone by. All I will say is this: relative newbie I may be, but I'm here for a reason...and changing this place too much will remove the reasons I started posting in the first place. And speaking of which it's off to general sci-fi for me!
FD
P.S. Gallery is a good idea. Granted I'm about as artistic as a tree stump, but it would be cool.
-------------------- Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by FawnDoo: a bit of thought before hitting the post button
You do realize that you made a funny right there, don't you?
Flare's hey day, that is kind of funny too, but in a saddish way. Aren't we talking about reviving enthusiasm and making a hey day?
So, now, the telling thing, whatis the buzz in the Admins/Mods corner?
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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To be honest I think this place is like anywhere else, in real life or on the web - you only get trouble if you go looking for it. 
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