Changes for the site.

Yep - that's me - or my company anyway! Although that page is EXTREMELY out of date! Hmmm... Doesn't make me sound too efficient!

Anyway... I am one of the few guys behind Web Media Network. I've been around the net for about 6 years now... I'll be honest, I'm no photoshop expert, but I'm a decent webmaster and I'll bring my experience in other areas to develop this site.

Catch up with you guys soon - The sun is shining - A rare thing in England, so must go grab some rays ;)

I was sad to see Pank give his tps community to someone else, but if he stays around, it's all good

Hi and welcome to the new boss!

Hello and Welcome.

Welcome. I hope you can get the spark back to this place.

Hey,
I'm slightly sad to see this happen, pank, but I'm glad you're going to stay around. Atleast you won't be abandoning us. To be fair to Rich, I look forward to what he can do with the site. And yes, we'd like to get to know you Rich, so please provide some more details

Sad to see pank let this go, but if Pank picked you, he must have seen something, so, I will give you a shot. :p

Ok guys, thanks for the warm welcome!

So you want to know a bit about me... Well my work includes a decent size network of video game related websites - http://www.videogamernetwork.com - My best work is at http://www.supercheats.com where we have managed to increase the traffic by 50% over the past year (to 2 million unique users a month) by improving the content and the overall user experience.

On a personal level, I'm happily married, no kids yet! And currently live in Kent, England - although we are due to be moving to Spain shortly for some extra sun - As time goes by, I'm sure you'll find out a lot more about me, as I will about you guys...

...Anyway, here is a summary of my initial plans...

Initial Plans...

More visitors
Hopefully I will be able to attract some new visitors from our games network that are interested in graphics. I am aware however that many of the users of our games network lack the maturity of a lot of the members here, so I will be very careful not to draw in users which will degrade this well established community. I know a few of the guys at http://www.gamingupdate.com are big fans of this site. I'll also investigate the possibility of adding a link exchange system with other graphics sites.

Site improvements
The first area I want to work on is getting some publicity for our tutorials, and build up the database with a load of fresh ones. It's likely we'll try running some kind of competition to give people an incentive to write them.

There may also be a change in the site design, Pank has provided me with a great new template which I like the look of. So that may well come on-line in the next couple of months.

Don't Worry
I'm not here to bulldoze things and destroy what has been lovingly built up over many years, my job is to improve the site and get more people to visit.

Hey! I turn my head for a few minutes and this happens!
Pank, sorry to see you leave!! *he's not leaving moron!*
You better keep posting

Rich - nice to meet you. You sound like a nice guy Show us a pic of yourself?

First and foremost, Pank, thank you for making this forum. When I was just starting out, I had so many questions answered here, and this is still at the top of my forums list. When the influx of new members started dwindling, and there came a time when even the veterans slowed down on their posts, I still tried to visit at least a few times a week, just to hear from the people who I feel have become like old friends, and have taught me so much about technology and the design industry itself.

Unfortunately, my interests have taken me out of the realm or graphic and web design, and moreso into the arena of illustration, and fine arts. It has seemed for a long time that artwork of that nature did not have a true home here on Teamps, and for that reason, I largely scaled back my participation on this forum. I do hope though that with the promise of more members, there will hopefully be a greater diversity in the style of work that becomes regularly showcased here.

Obviously, this is by no means a death knell for the site, and Rich, I hope to see what you can do to increase traffic, and offer changes that would be mutually beneficial for both rookie members and professionals.

As this thread is for the most part a who's-who of senior members, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who's given me pointers, and who I hope will offer critiques in the future, as no one's work is ever perfect, and mine is certainly no exception.

For what it's worth, I would like to offer my help in whatever manner possible, as I think that I am one of the only moderately long-standing members who's training resides moreso in the arena of illustration rather than in the field of graphic and web design.

Perhaps one suggestion would be to subdivide the Showroom section into "Finished" and "In-Progress" sections, as well as further subdividing each into "Professional" and "Student" grade forums.

This might help establish a skill-set hierarchy whereby users can discern who's posts bear more relevance to their specific issue.

Also, it seems that the frontpage is somewhat bloated with items, many of which are similar technical subjects, that could potentially be rolled into one "Help" section.

Further, the pixel wars section has been HIGHLY underused. On many other forums, there are competitions monthly, weekly, AND daily, and even though they're all in good fun, it's easier to take an image more seriously, even if all you win is bragging rights for a couple days.

An incentive system here, even just a "medal" icon to be placed under a users' name, would be a cool thing to compete for.

I'm sure though that you've seen other forums, and have a list of changes you want to implement, but as you said, it will be a gradual process. Good to see though that things WILL be shaken up some. It's been pretty sleepy here lately.

Long Live TeamPS.



-Paul

The problem with pixel wars is more of an administrative issue than participation. It's a lot of work to come up with a topic or starting image, then setup the thread, keep people from talking in it, keep track of when it ends, start the voting, count the votes, etc.

And the current state of the forums wouldn't really support an interesting challenge anyway.

If the administration side could be more automated, it would be much more successful. Everyone always says they'll take over the pixel wars section, then burn out in about 2 weeks and stop doing anything. Then it dies again.