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Monolycus
Fanatic   Posts: 580 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 2/5/2009 at 10:53 AM |
A long time ago, I spent a fair amount of time thinking I'd been banned
from the site, so I stayed away until people told me it was safe to come
back. Every time I tried to pull it up, I would get an error message that
said "You do not have permission to access this site." I still get these
messages sometimes. Since I have gotten these messages on three different
computers on two different continents, I'm assuming it's a site problem and
doesn't have anything to do with my system.
I always kind of admired the fact that there was no micromanagement going
on... unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's much in the way of
macromanagement going on, either. The site is inaccesible 50% of the time,
the "best vampire badass" poll hasn't been updated in a couple years, the
chat is too buggy to use... and so on. I know that there is no way to
control user contributions, but I think it's time to do some site
maintenence or just pull the plug on it.
[Edited on 5/2/2009 by Monolycus] ____________________
"I believe that woman is planning to shoot me again."
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Starlight
Extreme Fanatic   Posts: 618 Registered: 27/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 2/5/2009 at 10:29 PM |
| I went ahead and logged in when I glanced at the site and saw a new pic
posted. French maid outfits...gotta love 'em. It looks like I've delayed
posting long enough for the karma script to nip me in the butt and put me
on probation. So, while I'm logged in, I figure I better make a post. I
suggest more new suggestable pics be posted by those with suggestible
persuasions...or something like that. ____________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never
tried before." ~Mae West
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Monolycus
Fanatic Posts: 580 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 3/5/2009 at 08:53 PM |
Pics are okay. There was one up of me for nearly a year that I never gave
permission to be posted in the first place and I'm glad it's been bumped.
The galleries always seem to be the hub of most of the activity, so that
would probably be the place to start a revitalization campaign.
I'd say forums/main page if the ego-stroking/pissing matches could be kept
in check... but I think we all know better than that at this point. ____________________
"I believe that woman is planning to shoot me again."
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Devin
Administrator  Posts: 317 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Online
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posted on 13/5/2009 at 01:33 PM |
| Over the last few years I have lost a lot of my motivation for maintaining
the site. I don't have much to complain about these days, and I've slept
with most of the people on the site that I wanted to. I know at least a
few others have as well. There are plenty of people to banter with nearby,
and it's hard to motivate to stay inside now that it's not raining and
gloomy where I am. If there is enough interest, I might be willing to put
some more time into it. ____________________
So Sayeth Me
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Psychopixi
Fanatic  Posts: 376 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 16/5/2009 at 07:13 AM |
| I'd love to see Shmeng return to its former glory - I pop in every now and
then, see that there's no new articles, and leave again. It would be
fantastic to see Shmeng 2.0 - redesigned from the ground up in web 2.0
style. I don't know if simply refurbishing the current version would
actually save the site itself. It needs more newness to capture the
attention of new users. ____________________
Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
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Schizo
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 897 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 16/5/2009 at 08:10 AM |
No offense, Pixi, but that is part of the problem. We pop in now and then,
hoping someone else has written something, and then leave again.
Another problem is that it seems that there are a lot of different visions
of what this site should be, and what behavior is appropriate to make it
this way. This tends to lead to drama. I've been involved in some. No
fun to be a part of, and probably no fun to read either. And the person
whose opinion about the site really matters is, by his own admission, not
all that motivated. And I personally don't think it's really fair for us
to expect Devin to fix things for us, if that's really not something he
wants to be doing.
The core of the problem is, I believe, that we all have other, more
important things to do these days. Lots of us have had kids in the last
few years, there have been marriages, divorces, moves, natural disasters -
all sorts of things that disrupt the lives of people who used to be active
here, and now use that time and energy elsewhere. It's a natural thing.
After all, this is the internet.
My personal spin on things is that this place was awesome in its day, but
it's pretty obvious that this is not its day anymore. I'd like to see some
sort of compromise between completely dismantling it, and clinging to lost
hope that it may be restored to its former glory. I'd be sad to see it
disappear entirely, because, on occasion, I do really like to go back and
read stuff. It's interesting to see how far I've come since my newbie
days, and there are also things that other people wrote that I like to go
back and reread to get insight or amusement or whatever.
Perhaps there is a way to preserve this as a sort of static archive. I
don't really see a reason to continue to keep the option to post new
material. Right now, the only people really posting are bots. Those of us
who want to communicate with others are already doing so through other
means. Maybe, at the most, it would be cool to leave active member
profiles updatable, so we can keep current contact information in case
someone wants to get in touch, maybe let others know what forums we
actually are active in, and what handles we go by, so if someone likes our
style, they can continue to interact with us in another web community.
I also think it's important to remember that Devin is not the only person
capable of taking care of this issue. I don't see why anyone can't get
together a site of their own, if they really want this kind of community to
continue, and see if they can recreate the magic. If Devin doesn't feel
motivated to do this on his own, then someone who does feel motivated
should pick up the torch. There are plenty of site builders out there,
even for those who don't do code. I've thought of taking this option
myself, and was starting to study HTML on my own for this reason, until my
computer crashed. I intend to get back on it when my life calms down a
bit. I don't expect my site to ever generate the interest that this one
has, of course. But then, I don't expect Shmeng to ever be what it was,
either. Just glad to have been there when it happened.
But most of all, nothing is ever going to change if we keep expecting
someone else to fix it. If you really, truly want to see more activity on
Shmeng, then become more active. Otherwise, you don't really want it. ____________________
"You can tell by the scars on my arms and the cracks in my hips and the
dents in my car and the blisters on my lips that I'm not the carefullest of
girls." - Dresden Dolls, "Girl Anachronism"
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Psychopixi
Fanatic Posts: 376 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 17/5/2009 at 01:36 AM |
"No offense, Pixi, but that is part of the problem. We pop in now and then,
hoping someone else has written something, and then leave again. "
You're right Schizo, but it's hard to feel motivated to write something
when it doesn't look like anyone would be interested in reading it. Heck,
I'm not even sure it would be moderated and posted or returned! I know
that, for me at least, that's particularly depressing considering how
active with quality content this place used to be.
I'm fair-to-average with web design, and I'm not sure whether I'd have the
time or the skill to create a site on a par with this one, but if Devin
were willing I'd be happy to take a look the code for Shmeng, and see if I
could at least get rid of the bots and keep them out. ____________________
Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
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Schizo
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 897 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 17/5/2009 at 08:30 AM |
I think we all feel that way, Pixi. I do occasionally have an inspiration
that makes me think "hey, this would make a good article for Shmeng,
maybe." But then I figure, why bother? Kind of why I've started thinking
about starting my own site, so I can write shit down and get it out of my
head without any pretenses that there is going to be anything but the sound
of crickets in response. Yeah, I could always start a blog somewhere, but
I don't know - I think I really would like the challenge of building my own
site, just to see if I can do it.
I honestly think this place has been around too long for its own good.
Hate to get all historical, but when Shmeng started out, it had a higher
proportion of good, solid members to noisy idiots/trolls/etc. Then came
the deluge of me-too-ers who just wanted to be a part of something that
looked cool, but didn't have a clue how to actually add anything, with an
occasional newbie that actually added something. The awesomeness just got
diluted, and then came all the arguments about what to do about that
dilution. And then everyone got sick of it all, or busy with something
else, and stopped adding. So mostly only the noisy ones were left. And
then they all went away, too, like moths with no light to fly around. And
then there was nothing. It's a natural progression.
I don't think you can recreate the early awesomeness without recreating the
conditions that produced that awesomeness. And that would be to turn this
into a fresh new site, with vitally interested members, and vitally
interested people in charge.
However, if there really are others who want to perform CPR on Shmeng, I
might be willing to add a little of my own effort to the mix. Just to be
warned, my life is more than a little insane right now (I know, I know,
what's new) and it's very uncertain how much I'm actually going to be able
to contribute. But at least I'll put it on my to-do list, and I might be
able to squeak in an article or something every so often. ____________________
"You can tell by the scars on my arms and the cracks in my hips and the
dents in my car and the blisters on my lips that I'm not the carefullest
of
girls." - Dresden Dolls, "Girl Anachronism"
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