Errr...wtfbbq?

Well I guess I'll just throw in my 2 cents here. I remember when I found TPS it was through the ol' vbskins site that Pank had and I bought a skin and asked what I needed to do/be to become a member here. I've just kind of been in the mix of things here and I wasn't like part of the "in" crowd but that's cool, my time wasn't heavily invested in this site as much as the other "old-schoolers" had invested.

I was also pretty much intimidated not having the skills in photoshop that others had. I mean seeing Pank's work and then trying to copy it somehow left me with headaches. And while I still lack some skill, it's gotten better.

But I made a comment years ago on this forum, and towards how Pank was running the forum. And it came down to leadership being the key in making things happen.

So there can be community, discussions on color theory, typography, critiques of our work, coding in php, css, or xhtml, and so many departments. But (and that's a huge "but") if there's no leadership flowing from the top, if there is no visionary over the site, then it'll fall apart.

Leadership causes us to unite, it flows from the top; someone who is influential and knows how to deal and talk to people on their level. It's not about re-designing, re-programming, or offering eye candy to our viewers. We have a group that can get that job done in no time at all. But to have some influence flow from the top is what matters. If it ain't flowin' from the top, it just ain't flowin'...ya know?

Therefore, leadership must be considered online and in real world practices where community is involved. So who's the leader?

So a word of wisdom coming from holy writ in Proverbs 29:19, it states, "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."

It seems like that's been the case here. And as I'm reading all the posts from old member, I too share the same feelings and just take a peek at the forums every so often. Just when I started getting comfortable with everyone here and things were flowing for me, Pank decided to sell and in the transition somewhere leadership faded out and so it is that the cookie crumbles.

I think before considering re-doing things first or asking about what can be done to salvage the site and/or forums, one must consider leadership, because leadership looks through the eyes of who it serves, not to be served. And that can only come from whomever is the one in charge of everything. Get my drift?

Cheers!

[QUOTE=Axiom]My first impression of the new layout of teamps.com was "Did the guy not pay the bills or something?". Seriously, the front page looks like one of those pages you get when someone decides they don't want to pay for their domain anymore and it comes up with one of those extra special search engines.[/QUOTE]

OMG .. thats exactly what I was thinking... I havent been on in ages, but when I loaded the main site, I panicked thinking the site had gone! It does look like one of those re-directed search engine sites.

To be honest a site about Photoshop really has to bring it on the main page. I remember when it was skinned in red - it looked so awesome but now it looks like someone learning Photoshop (no offense). To be honest when teh site doesnt look appealling, that is just one more reason for members to stay away at a time you need to keep everyone here.

Just wanted to say this .. thanks for listening..

I gotta say im a little suprised that you'd put the effort into another redesign rather than fix a few simple problems (alignment, formatting) with the current site.

If the majority want a better site that's fine with me.... i'll march in their parade. My help was a freebie, so the outcome doesn't make much difference. Im not really offended (malibu...etc) but im half dissapointed and half concerned. My concern being that extra efforts may be little more than a quick fix or that flashier graphics just might be a smoke screen for the underlying problems were having now. With this site's history of failed redesigns (and we just added to that), I guess im trying to say my faith in the site is fairly low, as is others.

*waves to all the TPS veterans out there* :D

Z:
I agree with you totally, there has been no leadership from me... Instead I just *****footed around trying not to disturb the politics of this site and trying to not offend the members.... Where did this get me nowhere.... So that goes out the window.

I have tried various initiatves but they have not been at all accepted by the community here... In this whole process of re-launch I will rethink what can be done. Part of the role of my new partner (should it be finalized) will also be a presence on the forums so that will help greatly.

Rodder:
I also agree that we could make some slight adjustments to the existing template and things would look a whole lot better. And if this fella does not come on board then that is probably the route I will go down. If he does however, he will be pretty keen on stamping his own mark on TPS.

I think we will know later today which direction TPS will take. :eek:

OK, arrangement has been made in principal.

I cannot emphasise how good this will be for Team Photshop.

So, initially what we have lined up will be first of all a complete redesign of the main site, we'll also be applying that design to the forum.

We are also talking about the direction of the site and we'll make annoucnements regarding that in due course.

For any tutorial fans, you can expect some more tutorials in the near future, again, I don't want to say too much at this stage, but I have a feeling they will be quite special and unique in their own right.

So what's the timescale for all of this... It's hard to say, but work is already underway on the template. Personally I am very excited because I have seen this guys work (and he has done various pieces for me in the past).

This month being my 5-year anniversary (wow, that sounds weird), I will be someone who will admit that it's not the same as it used to be. I found the forum when it was at the old site (pre-March 2001), and found the guys in the community to be very *loving and caring* or helpful and even fun. In the final months of the 2004 US election, we found out who belonged to what party, and the fun pretty much went away. This downhill trend started before the transfer of power from Pank to Rich unfortunately, and everyone (including myself) seemed to be in denial, citing reasons such as "winter slow season", then "spring slow season", then "summer slow season".

Previously, everyone knew the other people on a personal level. Everyone knew of my hairy legs (of which ended up in probably half of the conversations on here), everyone knew about Derek's hot (ex)wife, everyone knew about Axiom's issues at home, everyone even knew when MSZ's parents took him out of diapers.

I haven't talked to Dan or Derek on MSN in months, probably many many months. I almost never sit down at the computer that has MSN on it anymore. I don't play in Photoshop like I used to. If I'm in Photoshop at home, it's to edit photos, instead of creating. Of course, I have to use it at work (which probably coincides with my lack of usage at home). But on that note, I would have never gotten a job doing what I do if it wasn't for this place. I might still be working for the city street department as I was when I first joined up. I miss this place, I really do. I use to not be able to go an hour without checking the forum at work, now I go days before I see it on my shortcut bar.

It is a shame the forum kinda died, I think people just move on and it has been hard to get new people to post in a deadish forum.

As I have said before, the buck stops here. And once we have the new design online I will be more proactive using the rest of my network to push a few members this way. But we have to look right first.

Hi Mattboy! *waves*

Oh man, it's Mattboy! Do I have your MSN info? I'll IM you.

My favorite memory of the forum was just the IRC group. Paavo made all those crazy ass interviews and we just played trivia a lot and it was just awesome. Good times... *sigh*