Because the regs have always been a tight nit niche that you need to pay homage to get into, right?

I honestly don't know what people are talking about when people say they don't feel welcomed here, when I joined I was welcomed with the openest of arms, which totally blew me away considering the mentality I had of newgrounds was basically what general is.

Sure when someone fuck's up on the first couple posts some of us get a bit overzealous and throw the book at them, but as long as you weren't a total dickcheese you get a pretty nice welcome and a few cups of punch and full access to the snack table.

At 11/21/10 12:15 PM, M-Vero wrote: Because the regs have always been a tight nit niche that you need to pay homage to get into, right?

I honestly don't know what people are talking about when people say they don't feel welcomed here, when I joined I was welcomed with the openest of arms, which totally blew me away considering the mentality I had of newgrounds was basically what general is.

Sure when someone fuck's up on the first couple posts some of us get a bit overzealous and throw the book at them, but as long as you weren't a total dickcheese you get a pretty nice welcome and a few cups of punch and full access to the snack table.

I didn't feel like people just started treating me as a buddy buddy right over night, but I didn't feel like I was being disrespected when I came here. I felt like I was generally welcome to hang out in the forums anyways, I just had a hard time getting comfortable. It can be a tad weird trying to get situated, considering all the regs seem to know eachother and have an easy time talking to and joking around with eachother, but it's not this elitist thing that everybody seems to make it out to be.

When a community is generally tight-knit, it can take a little while before you can become a complete part of that community. That doesn't just apply to the art forum, that applies to a lot of social situations in life. We don't shun new people at all (except the assholes), and I don't really get where that idea is coming from.

It's just like going to a new school, moving, what have you.
Just because it's on the internet doesn't make it any different, being the new guy is always awkward.

At 11/21/10 12:15 PM, M-Vero wrote: Because the regs have always been a tight nit niche that you need to pay homage to get into, right?

I honestly don't know what people are talking about when people say they don't feel welcomed here, when I joined I was welcomed with the openest of arms, which totally blew me away considering the mentality I had of newgrounds was basically what general is.

I'm not saying it's elitism, I'm saying that there's a group here, that comes here almost everyday, that are all familiar with eachother.

If you can't see that then I probably should just stop typing here because I feel it's inherently obvious, it'll happen in any place like the forums here on Newgrounds, there's never a forum without "regulars".

My perception of the regulars here isn't even negative, I wouldn't have come back if I didn't like the people here.

And that's even with my first toe-in-the-water here being me not reading the rules and posting only to be lauded for my lack of consideration. When I look back, I know it was a well deserved kick in the teeth and I thought of it always as tough love, otherwise you guys would have not welcomed me when I started following the rules.

Before I back-track any further I'm just gonna say that I am trying to be objective.

Elitism, New Users, the Lounge

I, and I'm sure the other forum mods and regs who post here, do try to welcome new users, you all know that in the past we've had discussions about being helpful to guide new users to follow the way we do stuff but not be insulting or throw the book at them unless they deserve it (art thieves and people who refuse to accept criticism etc.), it's just hard to get a foothold in a new community. I know that when I started visiting the Flash Forum, long before the Art Forum existed, I didn't necessarily feel unwelcome, but I did feel alien, out of place. It just takes a little bit of sticking with it, a little giving and receiving and being respectful.

Which brings me to the topic of the lounge.
You guys have made it pretty clear that you like the lounge and want to keep it around, I'm cool with that, I hope ReNaeNae and TurkeyOnAStick are also (I'm sure they are). The thing with a lounge in a forum is that, imo, it can be an alienating thing. You may have felt that way when you started coming here (if the lounge had already been established at that time), it's kind of hard to break into.

I'd kind of like to get a feeler out there to know how hard it is to get involved and feel accepted in the lounge. I don't think there's anything that can be changed to make people feel more at ease posting here, but if there is I'm all ears.

I just wanted throw in my two cents to this whole thing.

I like Sand. That is all!

At 11/21/10 01:00 PM, BlackmarketKraig wrote:

Which brings me to the topic of the lounge.

I see the lounge as important, because I think most of you guys are pretty cool and I think it'd be a shame if I could only talk about art and only art with you. I know there are places to talk about other things, but on the subject of getting comfortable in forums, I'm comfortable posting here. I don't want to have to get acclimated somewhere else just to talk about something other than art.
It also serves as a main lobby for the forum, so to speak. A large thread for many things amongst a large number of smaller threads with more specific purposes.

This is how I see the lounge. Others may see it other ways, but I think it's important to the forum.

On the subject of getting comfortable in the lounge, I've got nothing. It's really a thing that the regulars use, when it comes down to it, and it is admittedly difficult to adjust to and begin posting in it.
I think that the lounge, the request thread, and various others should be linked to in the art forum rules. On that subject, I think it would also be a good idea to create an "introduction thread" for people who are new to the forum and want to post in it frequently, which could be linked to in the rules as well. Just some ideas, nothing major.

I usually don't care about the lounge, or what goes on in it, and I only look at in on occasions, or when certain happenings are about, such as this.
Anyways, I don't mind random users coming in and wanting to hang out; It'd be nice with a few more people bopping in and out, and it's been fun with some of the new people that have sprouted up.

When I first came to the Art Forum back in '09, it was kinda rough. I was, well, younger, and my art wasn't a very huge topic. I remember that, and people picked on me for it, and it made me hate the forums.
However, in March or so, I really picked up my arting vibe and was really excited about art again, so I gave this forum another go. And, I must say, you guys were really nice. It seemed there had been a change of power, or, at least, no one that had picked on me last year had stayed around. Although the first time I went onto Stickam I was kicked >.>, overall it had been pretty friendly (in their defense, they apologized when they realized I was a NGer).
After thats, its all been history. I've been here for, what now, 8 months? And, personally, this is the best place in the BBS (although that may be biased). General is too hectic and, frankly, retarded. Flash, meh, I can't do Flash so that wouldn't be possible for me, but even if I could, Pinky is anoying :P. Animator and Collab Forums are even more vacant than this place, although the people in the Animation Forum seemed really nice when I popped into their Stickam for the day :) (And they have people from Iceland in there!!11!!!one!one!!).
On a side note, I'm really starting to not like some of the staff.

More or less, the lounge is basically for our general conversation, with some art topics thrown in every once and a while.
Which is basically what stickam is for, but not everyone goes to stickam

At 11/21/10 01:26 PM, M-Vero wrote:

Which is basically what stickam is for, but not everyone goes to stickam

Am I the only one who still looks at the facebook group?

At 11/21/10 01:31 PM, Knocturne wrote:

At 11/21/10 01:26 PM, M-Vero wrote:

Which is basically what stickam is for, but not everyone goes to stickam

Am I the only one who still looks at the facebook group?

I didn't really see anybody using the facebook group, so, while I joined it, I didn't really post anything there.

Probably

Eh... stickam is live video?

Self-conscious about my lisp.

You don't have to talk, hell most of us don't go on camera, text is fine.

At 11/21/10 01:36 PM, Knocturne wrote: Eh... stickam is live video?

Self-conscious about my lisp.

You don't have to broadcast video if you don't want to. Most people don't.
I don't think anybody will give a shit what you look like (though we know that, thanks to the pictures you posted while doing a piece for The Planet Pluto) or what you sound like or whatever, though.

So; I posted this in the garden art thread and Ill post it here again (in somewhat different words).

What bugged me and still bugs me about the whole event is not that the rules where changed or that they were changed into what they are now; What bugs me is that they were changed without consulting anyone that was even remotely involved with the art forum. I find it offensive that poeple write my reaction to that down to "over-reacting" or "childishness". That said, what has been done has been done, and Im not grievous at all over the actual rule change.
I always try to welcome newcomers, hell, there was a time when I welcomed newcomers because I was sick of the elitist bunch of fags that some of you had been acting like. No hard feelings, and I think everyone is pretty okay now, but ashman probably knows what im talking about and so do others. When I first came here I felt like I was welcomed with open arms (who wouldnt welcome someone like me right?) but yeah there has been a period where I thorougly disliked a lot of the art forum regs. Frankly, hearing poeple say that the reaction was against the rule change reminds me of that period a lot.

All that aside, I think it would be a good idea if the rules discussion we had a few pages back would be taken account by nae, kraig, ben and rob and used in a discussion/conversation about new art forum rules..

as for the lounge:
I think there is a place for the lounge as general art forum talk; personally I dont care two bits about what everyone did during the weekend, unless they visited a museum or something. (I do care, just dont need to read it here). I think it still deserves a place as dump for thoughts/ideas that dont deserve a thread (yet).

Well, went and made a stickam account, it's so foreign I don't know what to do next http://www.stickam.com/knocturne <-- the account.

At 11/21/10 02:05 PM, Knocturne wrote: Well, went and made a stickam account, it's so foreign I don't know what to do next http://www.stickam.com/knocturne <-- the account.

The latest room is generally posted in the Art Group Activities thread, check the last post. It should take you right to the Stickam room. Good luck!

At 11/21/10 02:14 PM, BlackmarketKraig wrote:

At 11/21/10 02:05 PM, Knocturne wrote: Well, went and made a stickam account, it's so foreign I don't know what to do next http://www.stickam.com/knocturne <-- the account.

The latest room is generally posted in the Art Group Activities thread, check the last post. It should take you right to the Stickam room. Good luck!

Muchos gracias

Ok, I can't get stickam to work on my computer to save my life, wtf?

At 11/21/10 02:27 PM, gmanthesandwhichking wrote: Ok, I can't get stickam to work on my computer to save my life, wtf?

Update Flash Player?
Idk, but good luck...
Sometimes it will be bitchy,, but when it does, bitchy for all of us.

At 11/21/10 02:27 PM, gmanthesandwhichking wrote: Ok, I can't get stickam to work on my computer to save my life, wtf?

It might be your flash player or perhaps you could try using a different browser?

At 11/21/10 02:31 PM, J-qb wrote:

At 11/21/10 02:27 PM, gmanthesandwhichking wrote: Ok, I can't get stickam to work on my computer to save my life, wtf?

It might be your flash player or perhaps you could try using a different browser?

Well, I'm pretty sure that I have the latest Flash Player and i am using firefox.

Where the hell are those Sammiches? I'm starving!

At 11/21/10 01:00 PM, BlackmarketKraig wrote: Elitism, New Users, the Lounge

I'd kind of like to get a feeler out there to know how hard it is to get involved and feel accepted in the lounge. I don't think there's anything that can be changed to make people feel more at ease posting here, but if there is I'm all ears.

Well I feel kinda awkward when I try to interact with anyone cause i feel like you have to constantly be in the stickam room to understand anything going on around here. Therefor, because I am not on stickam ever, i find myself in situations either where its awkward or people dont care what i'm saying cause they don't really know me well enough. And maybe thats just me too, cause i think too much, but thats what I get out of it.

SANDWICHES FOR EVERYBODY!!!!!!

At 11/21/10 02:33 PM, gmanthesandwhichking wrote: Well, I'm pretty sure that I have the latest Flash Player and i am using firefox.

try chrome then?
idk, but chrome has never failed me

well, once, but that was a looong time ago :/

At 11/21/10 02:39 PM, Spaghetti14 wrote:
Well I feel kinda awkward when I try to interact with anyone cause i feel like you have to constantly be in the stickam room to understand anything going on around here. Therefor, because I am not on stickam ever, i find myself in situations either where its awkward or people dont care what i'm saying cause they don't really know me well enough. And maybe thats just me too, cause i think too much, but thats what I get out of it.

Yeah, I don't often go in stickam personally so I miss out on a lot of the community interraction that happens there, I don't really get a lot of the in-jokes that originate there, etc.

I want the lounge to feel really inclusive, and that hard because it's intimidating to see a 300+ page thread where everyone knows everyone else and has been relating to one another for a long time. It's like walking into highschool and just sitting down with an established clique. It's not easy.

so does anybody use the facebook group, because I am on there right now thinking about sending a request to join.

At 11/21/10 02:51 PM, BlackmarketKraig wrote: I want the lounge to feel really inclusive, and that hard because it's intimidating to see a 300+ page thread where everyone knows everyone else and has been relating to one another for a long time. It's like walking into highschool and just sitting down with an established clique. It's not easy.

Yeah I think in that sense it might be better to just get rid of the lounge and be less strict on topics of other threads.
I do frequent stickams, but I dont think that is where a lot of the inside jokes originate; I think a lot of them just happen here on the forum. But well, its hard to tell.