There are times I wonder if my opinions matter. Lately, it's seeming like, to some people, my opinions are not as important as those of others. I do my best to be open and honest, and for my efforts, I get, well nothing. I'm not talking about anyone who regularly reads and comments to my blog, but in Adam's last few posts about Version Vibrant (more information on those posts in a little bit), I kind of get the impression that my concerns are being dodged. That's not the way to show members their opinions are important. Adam's usually really good at PR stuff, but in this case, for Version Vibrant, he's left a lot to be desired in that department. Giving us only partial info and telling us what we WON'T be able to do with the "Spaces" blog system instead of what we WILL be able to do is not really selling many people on the change. In order to get more people like myself and those who use HTML for personalizing their MyOtaku pages, he's going to have to pony up a couple useful bits of specific information regarding things that we will be able to do on "Spaces". Unfortunately, I don't have the energy anymore to keep on him to provide that kind of concrete information for us if he's not going to do it on his own. that in mind, I'm banning myself from providing him with any feedback about Version Vibrant before it's launch from here on out. He wants my two cents, he'll have to ask for it directly.
As I mentioned before, we have some new information about Version Vibrant again. Most importantly, there is a tentative lauch window of "this month" (January) for Version Vibrant. Whether or not we see that happen is another story, but it's good to have even a general idea of when to expect it. My guess would be on late January for a tentative launch, but that's speculation on my part. Another piece of information from the linked post is that Cosplay will be held back and not relaunched with Version Vibrant, but it will come back later. As well as some photography related features coming to the site. There are some more details about the fate of MyOtaku coming down the pike as well, and what's being said about it brings up more questions. and if you haven't read the comments to Adam's blog on the e-mail notification system, there's a subtle clue about another feature that may or may not be coming to Version Vibrant.
In keeping the promise I made a while back, here's as complete a breakdown of Version Vibrant as I have available to me at this time. I've collected this info from comments Adam has made and information he's posted in his blog, as well as the promo "trailer". For links to relevant parts, you'll have to dig through my archives, I'm too lazy to do that association today.
- Site Look:
- Design change.
- "Spikey" returns with new appearance.
- Logo change.
- Site Features:
- Advanced sort and filter settings.
- New/custom emoticons.
- Block user feature.
- Comment reply button.
- E-mail notification system (pending confirmation).
- Photography related feature(s)[unspecificed].
- Thumbnails (fan art, wallpapers etc) will be larger and/or higher resolution.
- Avatars will be higher resolution/new size(pending confirmation).
- There are 50+ features coming with Version Vibrant.
- Some features will not be implemented at the launch, but come later.
- Cosplay hub:
- Will not carry over with launch of Version Vibrant.
- Will return in the future.
- Spaces (new bloggins system):
- MyOtaku customizations not supported or carried over.
- HTML disabled.
- Javascript disabled.
- BB code based input system.
- Youtube video embedding will be possible.
- MyOtaku sites:
- Sites will remain accessable.
- No word on continued/future customization support.
- Updates to post will continue to function.
- MyOtaku layout will be changing (left menu will be altered)
- Will be linked to Version Vibrant for update notification.
That's what I know so far, I hope I didn't leave anything out, and I hope nothing presented is speculative on my part, though much of it probably is. I'll correct any mistakes should they be brought to my attention. The nicer the correction is brought to my attention, the more polite and timely I'll be about correcting it.
Save all your data from your profile and your styles and your post styles as soon as possible cause when things change with MyO (the menu thing I mentioned earlier), there's the possibility that some data will have to be reinput. Hopefully nothing serious will be lost in the process.
For Non Version Vibrant related news, it snowed here in WV again, and I took a dive on my front walk. Not fun. I'm scraped, bruised, and sore, but otherwise all right. No seious injuries, I managed to catch myself the right way to avoid those. Also, on New Years Eve, I watched my friend play in a band to ring in the new year, it's really cool to see him play the drums. If the band gets a video up with him playing, I'll link to it here, or post it or something so you all can see it. I don't have their website link just yet either, but I'll have that soon too.
Comments
Magnus Lensherr:
Like I said, BB code is wannabe HTML that has no real benefits to the real deal, aside from locking people into a pseudo-proprietary situation where they are at the mercy of the input system. I've come across it in my day, and I hate it because there are things I can do on one BB code forum that guess what? The other BB forum doesn't allow it. That's what annoys me, theres no set standard for BB code like the W3C has for HTML. At least with HTML I know how to do the stuff I want to do without worrying about "is this tag supported by this system?" questions. Anything that supports HTML will accept the coding I use. The good news is that MyO will still be around, but how functional the backroom style features will be is still up in the air. It will be getting a face-lift of it's own, the menu bar on the left will be changing, but will that be for the better or worse, I don't know right now.
Getting notified via e-mail is a great idea, I check my e-mail first when I get online anyway, and I get on really late in the day anyway, so a daily digest type of format would suit me fine, and I'm sure others will find it useful as well, particularly those who can't or don't get online every day.
Given the change he's mentioned to MyO, yeah, I really think he should have looked at MyO and built that up instead of just pushing it off to the side. He wants to limit "hacking" (I still hate that term being applied to site personalization), then disabling JavaScripts as well as limiting the area which CSS will affect to prevent the whole layout from being altered (it can be done, DeviantArt has that set-up) but allowing users to still customize their blog space could be done to the existing structure of MyO without taking away users ability to use HTML in their posts. I don't understand his madness, and I'm seeing no method to it other than to try to aggravate long time members who've used HTML for some time. What good with that do?
All I can tell you right now is to go with your gut, and we'll have to see what happens.
Tenshihoshino:
You too.
Alphonse122:
I knew in early February with the Anime FF thing that it was going to be a hard year for me. I didn't realize just how bad till I was reflecting on it the other day. I know a time is tough when my art suffers, and last year it did that royally. Hopefully we'll both see a brighter more positive 2008.
This is somthing he's had on the back of his mind since at least 2005, so it is long overdue, and it's going to be major if the hints are any indication.
You too.
AngelBest Dream:
I'm never funny on purpose, but glad to know that point was amusing.
That's what I meant by Adam's PR of Version Vibrant being poor. He's put a lot of attention on the negatives of "Spaces" the blogging system, but has said little to nothng about the other features at all. From what I understand though, the art system is in no danger of being adversely affected. I'm assuming the Friends list will be ported over as well, but then again, there's nothing saying it will, there's nothing saying it won't. More questions than answers is hardly good PR for a major site revamp.
BB code should be left to those quack "out-of-box" Message board programs. It should NEVER be used to format blogs.
I got three major projects done, so the others should be cake from there. I'll update my long forgotten project table and see where things go. I've decided to drop a few non-essential projects, the "surprise" one I was going to do for here will come in that guise, but it'll be one of my other projects pulling double duty, I had something planned for dA as well, I think I'll just post a story or something there instead. I'd be curious to see how others respond to my writing rather than posting more artwork. I don't get a lot of attention for my photos over there either.
Success is hard work, and I'm finding that out the hard way with this novel. I hate to have to put anything like that aside, but I may have to move on to other projects and come back to this one another time if I don't see any inkling of progress in the path I'm taking it.
Yensid:
Right now we've got a "This month" being January target date. Not really specific, but it's better than nothing at this point.
As you can see, I don't do anything "radical" with my page here either, most of my code just makes the blog look all nice and professional with indented paragraphs, and text wrapping images and so on. I don't like to mess with the whole layout because new members to the site can't find the links as easily that way, and if you forget to put one on the page somewhere, that makes them all the more confused. I like to have my text the way it is, and I really like to wrap text around images, I don't need a whole lot of fancy stuff, just what I have now and the ability to enhance or add on to what I know when new things come along that help me present myself in a clean professional manner. It don't take much to make me a happy dragon when it comes to blogging, at least we'll still be able to update here on MyO. As for SomeGuy and Adam. I know Someguy's big on the written word, but Adam, not so much given his anti Articles and Reviews attitude. All the more reason I fully intend to donate several copies of my novel when it's published to TheO with the stipulation they be prizes for a writing contest.
I like the notification system cause there are times of the day when this page is a real pain to load up (5:00AM to 9:00AM Eastern time - every single day), and knowing that there's no need for me to be on the site fighting with with the server lag will be a plus to me. Hopefully he gives us some options other than an on/off switch, being that basic would be annoying.
if it turns into dA ¼, I'll be using it a lot less myself, probably won't blog on a system like that at all, just comment and get under people's skin like I seem to do these days. It's your choice to delete that site, I have found it to be a help to my artistic skill. By now everyone here should know how I feel about passing on knowledge, so I'd hate to see all that effort go to waste by just being gone. Hopefully you can provide those tips and resources somewhere. I'd share my own creative abilities if I were better at what I do, and eventually I will be writing a woodburn tutorial (for the adventurous with no feeling in their fingers), as well as a walk-through of the publishing experience when I am published for that insight to be relevant. I've said many times over the years that those of us who have knowledge in an area really must pass that on to those who seek it.
I hope it's an easy year all around, 2007 was probably the worst I've been through to date, and I hope I can say that for a long time to come. May 2008 be positive for all.
Iruka Sensei:
Thanks, I think of all the people I know here on MyO quite often. Come again when you can, and hopefully have more time to do so.
