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Post by G on Feb 18, 2009 21:59:41 GMT -5
Thought I would write about the board being down and how things are proceeding while they are down. Maybe when the board is back up this will reflect some of the things that happened along the way. Maybe it's kind of corny, but it's much like it was when I first started this board....talking to myself!  |
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Post by G on Feb 18, 2009 22:30:25 GMT -5
At midnight 12:00am on February 18th, 2009, for the 1st time in its 18 month history, I put the Gotta Start Somewhere board into a non-user state known as maintenance mode. This mode allows only me and Underdog to log on. It's something I have been thinking about a long time. The board has gotten too slow and it seems to just be existing. I can handle it for a period of time, but this is getting to be way too long. My efforts to get anything started seem futile. It seems time to turn it off for awhile and rethink things and decide what I want to do. The board shuts down hours after Starbrand completes the last post, which is post number 5,129. I know even before I shut it down that Im probably coming back. The only way I probably wouldnt come back is if I turned it off and didnt miss it and liked the freedom of being away from it. I knew I would miss it and I did. It felt weird not having to put up the background cover of the day after 560 consecutive times of putting it up. The only time I didnt put it up was when I was away on brief vacations. In total, I probably only missed about 5 - 7 background of the days since I started it in late July of 2007. It felt weird not to put one up. I begin thinking I wanted to make changes to the board. I decided I wanted to start with a new look to the board. A new skin. I emailed the other behind the scenes moderator, Underdog and told him what Ive done and my intentions. I asked him to show me some message board skins so we can begin to make the changes. I also decided that I wanted to change the name of the board. Gotta Start Somewhere has been good to me, but it has served it's purpose. The board was started. I personally thought it got increasingly better and around June 2008, I thought it peaked. Since then it has spiraled to life support. It's time for the name of the board to more closely reflect what the board is truly about. The board is truly about comics and it's fans and all things related to comics that we all know and love. I needed a name that reflected that. I began letting names go through my mind as the day proceeded. Towards the end of the morning Underdog emailed me back and provided me a link where I could see changes. He also informed me he would be happy to help me. I dont care what anybody says, Underdog has always been a cool person. I remember when I started the board. I had no one here and the basic default design. I thought it was bland. I did what I could with the board and still hadnt had any visitors. I then went to the Proboards website and posted a link and asked for visitors. I seen a few visitors come to the board, but nobody said anything and left. Along comes Underdog. He joins the board and makes the 1st post. He offers to help me with it from the start. The board as we know it looks the way it does because Underdog made it happen. I was forever grateful. He has very little interest in the comic book market, but he seems to like helping people with their message boards. Anytime Ive asked for anything, he came through. He came through again when I asked him this time. I look at a multitude of skins and decide on one I want to use. There isn't a lot of themes to choose from that I felt comfortable with. A lot of schemes are feminine and pretty and stuff. I wanted something with neutral colors and easy to read. I think I have made a choice that will look good. I cannot wait to see it. As Im thinking of names, an idea for a thread area hits my head. Im going to use it. Between the time the board is down and it reopens, Im going to try and start some threads so when people come back, there is plenty to see. I also decide on a name. It may be kind of corny, but I like it. It seems to describe how I feel about comics. And I think a lot of my comic friends think the same way too. I mean, here I am in my 40s and still loving comics. Wasn't I supposed to outgrow this stuff? The name fits. It's because we are addicted, we cannot leave it behind. I google it and I yahoo search it. I cannot find a site by that name. I see one time someone used it as a name of a thread on their site. But as far as I can tell, its not currently in use as a name of a website. Im thrilled. After telling Underdog earlier in the day what I wanted, he writes back and tells me he thinks he understands what I want and will begin to work on it but it could take some time. I tell him not to worry and what I want the name of the board to be. As much as Im bummed at the board being down, Im excited about making changes to it while it is not operational. I've begun dreaming about the day the board will reopen. I cant wait!  |
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Post by G on Feb 21, 2009 11:16:49 GMT -5
Underdog agrees the changes I want to the design of the skin we are going to use are doable. Says he will need about a week to put the skin on his test site and tweak it then says we are going to put it on the site and see how it looks and adjust accordingly.
In the meantime Ive been working on the LCS review area. Not sure if this is a good thing for me to do or not, but I keep talking myself into keeping it. I feel it can only get better the more it is used. Probably lame as a start up area, but if people use it and especially add to it the more they go to comic stores, I think it will be pretty awesome if people get a lot of stores in there.
Trying to think of other things to do. Kind of want changes to come quickly. Kind of miss having the board around but I also feel this is a pretty healthy downtime. The board had gotten way too stale and it was high time I tried to do something about it.
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Post by G on Feb 28, 2009 11:53:24 GMT -5
Hopefully the new skin of the board will be up soon. Im hoping by the end of this weekend. If not, Im going to start working on it myself and see what I can accomplish with it. I put this one up but there was a few things jacked up about it and Underdog came and fixed it. So Im not afraid to tackle it again. I do miss the board. I knew before I shut down that I was coming back. I just wanted to change things and have a fresh start and also take some time off. I didn't like seeing 1 post here and there. Ive prepared myself to see the same things when I return. Nothing says I'll do better when I return. I just felt it was as good a time as any to start over. Now that Ive been away from it for 10 or so days, Im ready for it to be back. My ultimate goal is to have it back up by my birthday which is less than 2 weeks away. We'll see... |
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Post by G on Feb 28, 2009 23:59:18 GMT -5
I went ahead and installed the new skin myself as I just was itching to get something accomplished. Although I am happy I actually figured out how to put it up after a few trial and errors, there are some requests I wanted that may or may not be able to be corrected. I dont know if when I reopen the board you will see what I am talking about. Currently there are gray side curtains which look pretty decent. The only problem with this is it totally eliminates the comic background of the day. I know some people did not like the background of the day, but I felt it helped provide my board an identity. I still need to do some tweaks and the new board name and logo will need to be created and installed, but Im happy I did something to the board. I just got to where I couldnt stand it anymore! I had to do something. I hope that when I reopen the board, you guys will approve of the changes!  |
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Post by G on Mar 2, 2009 10:16:40 GMT -5
There was a couple of tweaks left that needed to be done to the board and they have been accomplished. I know you guys probably get sick of me saying it, but Underdog has been a great friend to me since the beginning of my board. Im proud to say I put this skin up and together. I think I did a pretty good job. The more I do this kind of stuff, the easier it gets for me. But there are still things I cannot figure out. So, I call Underdog to help and he comes through.
He introduced me to where I can choose skins and I chose this one because I liked the columns on it and the silver and black color scheme. I always thought the purple of Gotta Start Somewhere was nerve-racking. There was things that just weren't fitting right and Underdog helped get the remaining items in place. And finally, He was able to get the title piece made for me by his very talented friend Becca who is also the designer of the skin of this board. It's good people who make things happen!
Now all the work is just about done and Im about to reopen the doors and Im excited. One thing I do regret with the new skin is the comic background of the day will no longer work. I know of some who liked the comic background of the day and I count myself as one of those people. But I also know a few people who didnt care for it and like more traditional boards. Well if you're of the latter, hopefully you approve of the new design. And if you're of the former, hopefully we can still find topics to write about on here in regards to comics without the background of the day. I felt that kind of gave me an identity in the message board world. But I guess its time to move on.
I'm just about ready to reopen the doors! ;D
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