Monday, October 3, 2005

Stuff

The last week has been interesting. I think I had a bit of an epiphany. Because of my position within this network, I think that I tend to try to be relatively polite about certain things, because I feel that I have to set an example. But it's funny, it's a position that is kind of restricting me in some ways. This week I came to understand that I should not simply put up with certain things because I don't want to make waves. Someone said something very simple to me, along the lines of "it's your site and you can do what you want with it". It's such a simple thing but it's easy to forget. This week I have kind of put myself back in control a little bit more - I have been a bit more direct and a bit more honest about how I feel on certain things. It doesn't mean that I'm going to suddenly turn into a tyrant or someone who isn't easy to get along with. It's just that there are various people who have relied on me in the past - who have taken and taken and left me with nothing in return. It may be time for me to shake these people off and cut the strings. Let them survive on their own and let me get on with my own business. I know that in itself is probably a little cryptic, but it's something that's on my mind right now. There are people who really do deserve the leg-up; people who are really genuine and who appreciate what they've gained from assocations with me or the network. And there are people who simply aren't like that. Basically, I think I've just realized the obvious - I have the power to create the environment that I want to create. Others would say the same about their own ventures. If there's one weakness I've had in the past, it's that I've been far too slow to react to people who have simply been leeching from me in one way or another. I'm going to attempt to be a little quicker to react to those things in the future, I think. Anyway, as I said, that's just something that's been going through my mind lately. I had a good long talk to Annie about it recently and that helped to clear my head a lot - much thanks to Annie for that. ^_^ I'll get straight to my responses, because I don't have much else to say right now. Alan: Yeah, I think you have a better understanding of my intention now. In regard to myOtaku...I think again we have to make some distinctions about "serious" bloggers. As I mentioned, I'm sure that there are plenty of people who are serious about blogging, but who will not be able to set up their own site. For such people, there are many choices. myOtaku's main attraction for bloggers is the portfolio system, which I think is a significant element. For myOtaku 3.0...I can tell you that we will support many advanced features. That includes a permalink option. We will therefore provide all the advantages of standalone blogging technologies, while simultaneously providing user-friendly features for those who do not have coding knowledge. On the IE/Firefox thing...yeah. We are now on the same page, haha. indifference: Well, a lot of people are happy to use what comes with Windows, because they simply don't know better. Or they don't see the benefits of moving to another browser. I mean, there are users who don't like Firefox because it displays some of their favourite sites oddly. This is not the fault of Firefox itself - however, the user doesn't care who's fault it is. They only want the site to display correctly. This is a fundamental concept that I was trying to convey earlier. Yes, I think the arguments about IE being awful and so on are all entirely valid. But most Internet users aren't aware of that - and even more don't care at all. At the end of the day, I think it comes down to a basic concept for users: "I don't care how it works, as long as it works." It has to be like magic - nobody cares how you do it, as long as the end result is what you're looking for. Of course, people who are programmers and designers are perhaps more interested in the enthusiast side of it. And that's fair enough. But my interest - and my real goal - is to think about Internet users who are unconcerned and uninterested in such things. I keep being reminded of what my aunt was saying about the Internet. I may have mentioned what she said when I showed her Art of Otaku...but her general comments interested me. She talked about using Google and coming across sites that have pop-ups and she doesn't understand what they're for. She talks about being led to sites that she didn't ask for and about how some sites use language that is too confusing. Her complaints are irrelevant to someone like me (and many of you), because we are comfortable with this environment. But she's only been using the 'net for a couple of years and she has absolutely no history with computers. But so many sites are designed by designers, for designers. Or by programmers, for programmers. That's cool, but it would be great to design something that is as useable as any other everyday item. There are some designers who are very good with this type of thing and I am looking to them for inspiration I think. I like the fact that I studied graphic design rather than web design or programming, at times. Learning about the fundamentals of visual communication really opens your eyes...and so much of that can be applied to the web. Of course, there are many people who are much better at design than me (many, many people). But my hope is simply to have the right goals in mind and to get closer to those goals each time I make the attempt. As long as I'm doing that, I think it's the most I can ask for. Aaryanna: I am glad that the discussion was informative for you! And I really appreciate your response. Actually, the same goes for everyone who responded - I appreciate the time you've taken. Your responses are always very enlightening, especially from those of you who are not very experienced with the web. As a matter of fact, I may have a job for some of you less-experienced folk at some point in the near future. A bit of an experiment, maybe. I may talk about that soon. SunfallE: I appreciate your reply and what you said does strike a chord with me - I primarily use IE, even though I am 100% aware of the benefits of other browsers. Yes, I do have Firefox and Opera, but I rarely ever use them. Part of this is because I do want to see our sites through IE and I want to have the same experience that our users are having. But also, changing browsers is definitely difficult, especially when other browsers don't display things as I like. But again, that relates to what I mentioned above. Anyway, my hope is that the new myOtaku will be easier to use than this one. I think this one is easier to use than many sites of its type, but...we can always always do better. For one thing, the menu and divisions on the new site should be a lot easier to understand. So myOtaku 3.0 will be a good experiment in relation to this subject. But I think OB will be an even bigger one, because I really have no restrictions with that. It's also much smaller than myOtaku, so I feel more comfortable taking bigger risks. Apologies if any of my above post is rambly or incoherent - it's very late here at the moment. I just felt the sudden compulsion to update the page.

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