ZBrushCentral

A Change noticed here at ZBC

Community
#1

I have only been a member since about 5 to 6 months now and I have to say that I have noticed a BIG change in the forum just over the past two months (actually since 5.1 came out).

It used to be that when a person posted something whether it was good, bad or indifferent, there were always at least 7 to 8 replies with encouragement and helpful suggestions. Now I see that the majority of posts get from 1 to 4 responses and that’s it. And only those who are offering something like zscripts, or have frequent posts with updates of WIP get any attention at all. It seems that most of the uploads are usually from all the same people, sometimes 4 at a time. So the thumbnails whiz by so fast that on average a picture only lasts up there maybe an hour or two in peak times and it’s gone. Once the thumbnail is gone people don’t bother to look at your work.

Also there seems to be a group of people who support each other and respond very little or not at all to any one elses work.

I wonder if this forum has gotten too big to serve it’s purpose. I wonder if perhaps it needs to be split into catagories with a different forum for each category, i.e. 2D, 3D & modelling, tutorials & zscripts etc., newbies, growing & masters or something like that.

I personally feel it is kind of fruitless to post anything now as I know I am going to be disappointed with the response and from what I have seen there must be others out there who feel the same way. I know the forum is large and the amount of posts is high so that no one could possibly get to everyone’s posts. But there must be a way to get back to the way things were.

Just my rant, I was getting a resentment so I had to get it off my chest.

:smiley:

#2

I do not think personally that a post must have obligatorily an answer. Some posts are there in order to inform or to inspire the others. You can post a creation without having return direct, but you will observe that your work will have inspired by another people.
all the questions which I see on the Forum have answer.
and it is the main thing.
I am newer than you on this forum, and I have always answer from other ( and thx !! :smiley: )

please be cool … and if you want a beer… or coca… or something… you are welcome.

:+1: :sunglasses:

#3

You make some very good point, Northstarr. I have also noticed, in addition to what you say here, that there is a decrease in activity on the forum. It used to be that I would come home from work and spend the next hour looking at the newly posted images and replies. Now, it may only take 20 minutes or so. I’m not sure what it is, either, but you are definitely right about the change in atmosphere.

Speaking for myself, I have gotten to the point that I don’t often look at posts that I have read on previous visits, unless there appears to be an update. I also restrain from commenting if my comments are too similar to the others already on the thread.

Separating the forum into smaller sections would be quite an improvement, IMO. Many other forums use this approach, and it seems to be quite successful. I’m sorry that you are feeling “disgruntled” so to speak. I think we all feel that way from time to time (I know I do).

Well, keep your chin up, and don’t stop posting. I always view your work, even if you can’t always tell.

Brian

#4

Maybe it is just that we are waiting for the update to 1.5. The demo users, who make up a lot of our number, are probably most anxious, because they are still on 1.23b. The there’s some Mac users who are waiting for a native OSX version of ZBrush. And for everyone else, they just want more features. :wink: Keep posting, because if you don’t, that’s one more person not posting, and that builds up! Let’s all post!! :slight_smile:

#5

NS, you made a great observation. It is true. I have been here coming up on a year and this activity comes and goes. Sometimes its out with the old and in with the new. Though the actual threads may not be commented on, they are viewed. You can find this out in the Tuesday night chats in irc. We sometimes discuss works that have popped up or are up on the forum during the chat. Though not many comments may be made back to the originating artist, rest assuredly the piece has been viewed.

For myself and the lack of commenting I was once doing several things have happened.

  1. Real world time restraints. I currently am finding very little time to comment on everything as I once did.

  2. I post a few pics here and there when I can make some late night time to work on them or to haggle out an idea from my brain cell.

  3. As was mentioned, the wait for the update is slowing some of my work down, but that is ok too.

  4. Another reason for my lack of responses is that like Slosh said, the comments I would make were already made by someone else.

  5. Overkill…I can sit and produce images pretty rapidly when I have Z time, and I personally think that type of flooding kills the forum. The audience gets burned out and so does the artist.

These are just a few of my personal reasons for not posting my brains out and commenting as I once was. But I do look at every piece put onto the forum, truly. Very rarely does an image pass by without me seeing it. Then I get brought up to date by another user via email talking about a piece that was posted…that way I catch anything falling thru the cracks. There is also an inordinate amount of tutorials being posted that require thumbnail space. One tut may have 5 images or more sometimes…so that shoots the thumbnail gallery to smitherines. My suggestion there would be to have either a tut’s posting area or to have those put into the sticky threads. Or to post tuts in the community forum where the thumbnail gallery isnt affected by image postings.

Hang in there though, things will pick up some more I bet when it really gets cold outside. That is when everyone lives on their computers day and night…good thread NS
:+1:

#6

you’re right , Northstarr.
I don’t always comment on someone’s work , but the reason for that is that I can’t stay online for long periods and loading pages takes a very long time. This is because of my 56k connection which make my phonebill go up in no time :frowning:
I’m going to try replying more often when I’m at work :smiley:

#7

Reading Nameks post makes me appreciate the stay online forever for “free” in the US.

It seems the posts go in waves of the same groups of people at different times.

All I can think of lately, is damn Marcel is amazing…

#8

I feel like the forum has become a clique for only a handful of members who post pictures and comments frequently…the same names constantly get 15-20 replies to posts, the others barely get 2 or 3…as one member said, not everyone posts to everything they see, but that select handful of members get posts to everything they do, good or bad.

I said my piece.

Loqutos

#9

Edit - Sorry

#10

i make my rounds in replying to people BUT i keep them few but allways steady because ill get lost if some one replys to me because my browser messed up i don’t know whats old and whats new far as topic.
i look at 99% percent of EVERY thread in here.

i really can’t say whats on my mind but ill keep it short
:large_orange_diamond: Moderater are to Senative if i say Dag it sounds to much like Damn , sorry un called for conduct! :roll_eyes:

   :large_orange_diamond:  memebers wanting to want every one to look at there work but will ralley reply to any other's        :roll_eyes: = conseeded

what comes around goes around and when there out back Kicking that little Red Ball around by there Self then maybe reality will slap them in the face from being conseeded.

i seen more replys from some one runing a fiber brush threw a sphere then half of my post of mine on getting replys,

i see to much buttering up in here :roll_eyes:

and i know for a Fact i seen some upper memebers get up and walk out on some of the stuff i said above.
:large_orange_diamond: i seen new people come and go but it allways seem like you see the same faces.
i been here for a while and not much new people and if they show up they dont stay long…
there’s about 30 people at the most that seem to be full time here and thats not good out of 3000 memebers or allmost 3000
that goes to show you Houstin we have a problem.

:large_orange_diamond: Basic Fact there trying to run a bussiness of this forum as part of it and they don’t want new veiwers coming in seeing post that might make them turn away.

you walk the line they make you walk on or walk the other way

#11

Way to go EZ!
Bravo! :wink: :+1:

#12

This is a very interesting thread for several reasons, but mainly because the N man has started a thread that is on most members minds. I have been a member here since July last year, but never posted anything until the first part of October. Over that period of time I have noticed that there is a lot of activity after a new update and then it slows down dramatically. I was once told by a member of the forum not to expect any replies to my posts and I would be a lot happier. However, we are all human with feelings and emotions, and it is difficult to see some members getting a lot of replies and others very little, that is a fact. For that reason I always try to reply to posts especially those of new members to try and encourage them. A lot of members do this. However some members reply or comment to no posts at all or if they do so rarely that it does not matter, when, as EZ wrote a little encouragement for those individuals could be so inspirational to both new and other members as well. A friend of mine and I started a similar thread some time ago and it was wiped out, so you have got to be on pins and needles as to what you say if you wish to stay here.
Personally I have slowed down because I was happier with 1.23b than I am with 1.5.1. I am still coming to grips with it and hopefully when everything is working right all the activity will start again.
I must add that the members of the forum were very vocal when this new version did not come out when it was supposed to. If we had been a little more considerate things might be better now, as the team at Pix would have had a lot less pressure put on them.
The above is just a few of my thoughts at
this time.

#13

Hey a solution!
Let’s just post on each other like crazy, come on it’ll be fun! :smiley:

#14

lol Grub

That’s a valid point though NorthStar. I think it’s largely due to the end of summer. I for one am going back to school, but unlike a lot of members, I find time to go on ZBC. I honestly think that membership termination might be a good Idea after, say, three months of no posting without notifying ZBC beforehand. That would make ZBC a little smaller like it was before 1.5. Maybee, someone could set up another forum even. I hate to think that ZBrush central is becoming one of those huge forums where nobody know anyone else’s name. That’s the thing that we’re beginning to lose, I think. Nobody knows anybody else’s name. I think one of the best things that’s happened to the forum is the ZBC photoalbum that was posted a while ago. I think it really helped members match screennames, names, and faces. I heard a while ago that there was a ZBrush chat on tuesdays or something, and I think that’s a great Idea. Or maybee we could set up a contact list of email addresses, and and Instant Messaging service screennames.

Thank you for bringing this up.

#15

I admit I’m guilty of not posting comments a lot. When I do though, I don’t just comment for “friends” I comment on what I like. Although there are many times that I like a picture, but can’t think of anything to say beyond “thats nice.” or “I like it.” My brain is dead and my imagination is just gone.

I think everyone has to remember that the “regular crowd” the thirty or so regular posters, have lives as well and although they enjoy the artwork, they can’t post every time. One pic might not generate a lot of comments, another might. I’ve had pic’s slip by with barely a ripple (they could have been really bad ~G~) others I’ve had lots of comments. Even one is a bonus to me. Quality always out weights quanity… at least to me.

D… the babblier.

#16

Like everything else in life ZBC re-invents itself everyday with new and the old. It has weathered alot of storms, trolls, fakes and liars and yet it remains a friendly and non-threatening place to show and share your art. People will come and go as interest and time wax and wane but in the end this is the best place to come to see Zbrush Art Even thou I very seldom have the time anymore to take the considerable amount of time to comment as I used to I think I am only one among many that visit the forum everyday to see what is new and cool.

#17

We live the Golden age of communication.
ZbrushCentral as the rest of the Net.
It’s evident that’s an exponential situation.
So profit now, after it will be to late !
Regulation will be natural -Darwin- :slight_smile:
Good luck if you find something to canalize it :slight_smile:
Pilou

#18

im giving it all i got captain… she dont have the power… no seriously i try to post a reply on everything i see but lately i cant too much going on… however i do my best to contribute… dont feel bad because i have over 3000 post and sometimes i only get a few replies… aint to biggey.

#19

I hate to see sites become clones of others, however I think the view counter they have over at renderosity is a good idea.
I have no idea how difficult it would be to implement but how about this:

I think this might help to put some people’s minds at rest a bit.
Mik

#20

Hi Mik
And it’s not depressive if you have 0 view ? :confused:
With only Reply you keep some hopes :smiley:
Pilou