A farewell post to members. Beta needs new blood!

[zerospace]

I agree that Beta needs new members, or just a few that will stay around for longer than the initial couple months of excitement.

I really think the hobby needs to be more visible. Most people don't realize that artwork, even from some of the newer shows, is available and for sale. Maybe some incentives, like freebie cels and sketches, would help? Something, like a monthly column, on something like ANN, would be really helpful, even if most of those that read the column never flock to Beta.

Another problem is, at least among those that I hang out with, there's a big issue of not wanting to make their collection visible. While part of that is due to the risk of forgeries, another is that sketch/autograph collectors don't want any more competition than there already is.

I can't say I totally disagree, CB, but I also think part of the reason the hobby is "dying" is the lack of visibility of newer shows outside of Japan. Anime exploded here in the states for awhile, but it's definitely been scaled back a lot since then. Without as much interest in newer shows (especially for those of us who actually don't care to watch all anime subbed), there's going to be little interest in the artwork from those shows. A lot of my buyers of artwork even from older series' on eBay are people with extremely little knowledge of anime and artwork in general, which makes me think that they just aren't finding these sites (I've directed many towards RS and Beta, but none have ever requested an invitation to actually join Beta, sadly). They seem to be hesitant to go directly to Japanese sellers/dealers for anything, as well -- preferring the middleman.

That aside, forums don't seem to be the popular way to connect with people anymore *shrug*. With social networking sites (Facebook) at the front now, forums are starting down the road of the old BBS's (I'm talking about the BBS's before the world wide web became the "internet" -- anyone here remember CompuServe or Prodigy? ^^;)

[Keropi]

That's true that in the old days people were collecting more openly and talking about what they had and what they had acquired. It was fairly nice for awhile, but then came the arguments, the backstabbing and the distrust. Then after the computer colored anime came out the studios started to get strict on artwork leaving the studios. They made a big thing about it. The original license holders put pressure on the studios, etc. The hobby became more secretive like not revealing who was selling the production artwork to protect their sources/the dealer from getting into trouble. Instead of enjoying the hobby together and talking about it, collectors were split up into groups or separate individuals. It became harder to talk about the same shows after a lot more anime became easily accessible outside Japan after they were able to be downloaded and streamed.

Yeah, using forums is turning into a thing that older people participate in. They had a long conversation about this on the AnimeSuki Forum.

[sensei]

That aside, forums don't seem to be the popular way to connect with people anymore *shrug*. With social networking sites (Facebook) at the front now, forums are starting down the road of the old BBS's

True: Facebook groups do seem to be where all the chatter is now occurring, even among the Stenonychosauri like myself. But, as one group member noted just the other day, they exist in short-term memory only. Forums like this one are valuable precisely because old threads with information about conservation or forgery detection information are so easy to search and access. There is a "collector-specific long-term memory" available here that doesn't exist in the newer social media.

[ReiTheJelly]

Oh, I'm sorry to see so many original members stepping down as mods and admins! But I completely sympathize, as I have been MIA for almost an entire year...

[zerospace]

That aside, forums don't seem to be the popular way to connect with people anymore *shrug*. With social networking sites (Facebook) at the front now, forums are starting down the road of the old BBS's

True: Facebook groups do seem to be where all the chatter is now occurring, even among the Stenonychosauri like myself. But, as one group member noted just the other day, they exist in short-term memory only. Forums like this one are valuable precisely because old threads with information about conservation or forgery detection information are so easy to search and access. There is a "collector-specific long-term memory" available here that doesn't exist in the newer social media.

I would agree, but it just doesn't seem like the preferred method of communication anymore (forums). Even if everything is very short-term on sites like Facebook, that seems to be preferred by the younger bunch right now. It does make me sad, as I value the friendships I've formed with people I've met through places like this.

[sensei]

It may be that, for older, long-term collectors, a relatively quiet database of useful information may remain useful. For the "wassup" chatter, perhaps it would be good to have a Facebook page. I know an academic society to which I belong recently opened a Facebook page and discontinued the ancient email-forwarding message board (remember those) to good results. But that has a regular newsletter and meetings, which maintain the "deep database" that such an organization needs as ballast. Perhaps the forum could be maintained for such purposes, with links that connect it to the Facebook page and vice-versa?

[rallihir]

I've always liked the BBS format of communication as I deal a lot with computers and networks in some facets of my daily work environment and do not like to be continuously connected like many individuals nowdays seem to like. I like to take time to read the paper too! (though I have my share of tablet based books for long international flights...)

[glorff]

I just saw this, but I knew that Hell must be freezing over because I have started selling off some items. First time ever after almost 15 years. And then I saw this!

I thought it would be easy to slip quietly out of this hobby that I had not been doing anything with for the last five years. Doesn't work that way! This gets into your blood and you can never give it up completely. I understand the getting away and especially for mods. I was always glad I turned the request down all this years ago, but it also makes me appreciated those who have done it for so long!

Thanks for the memories and hopes for a bright future.

I will be around more, but not enough to do any more that bolster the conversations. I will try to not kill threads like in the old days, but I wouldn't mind if things got smarmy again occasionally.

[Trilogy]

Hello, everyone! I never was terribly active on Beta, but I really enjoyed coming here. Even though I'm pretty much out of it (though I don't seem to be able to give up my last dozen or so cels), I do pop in once in a while, even if I don't post. So I just want to say thanks. Absolutely everything I learned about cels, I learned from you all (not just the mods--all of you old hands), and I really appreciate it. Good luck with your future endeavors!

[Goldknight]

Sooooooooo no takers on the techie side of things? I'd hate to see the board close down completely.

[Rekka Alexiel]

Sooooooooo no takers on the techie side of things? I'd hate to see the board close down completely.

I mentioned that I have been running my own message board that runs off of the same engine, so as long as the techie bit doesn't get too extremely technical, I could help out. Much better than closing down the whole place. That would be too sad. I just don't know how much time I can dedicate to this place given my job and other prior commitments.

[sensei]

I*'m willing to learn some things to take pressure off the lead techie.

[Moop]

*sniff* End of an era. Dang, my oldest daughter was a baby when I joined this board, and now she's in middle school...which would make me...yikes, *coughmumblemumble* years old. Never too old to love the hobby, of course, but just so many things happening IRL that I no longer have any time to devote to it...so I can't say I'm at all surprised that our intrepid crew of admins and mods, already deeply entrenched long before I arrived, is ready to pass the torch.

Back in the days when I did have the time, this was by far the best, the most enjoyable board I ever had the privilege to hang out at.
A great big thanks to each and every one of you for all the years of dedication and fun.

[JWR]

I would hope that for the most part since Beta is run off a commercial program that there should not be that much day to day tech needed. Please correct me if I am wrong since I am not that tech savy.

If that is the case then I would hope that in an advent of an emergency such as a spambot attack or system crash that those who are well versed with the platform such as Magician or Zerospace or any others out there might be still willing to pitch in and help Rekka and any others that will make up the new tech team.

Hopefully these type of problems would be rare and that the new tech team will only need to deal with the day to day stuff such as backing up the system and such.

[Gonzai]

So correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds to me like we have our new admin team -
Sensei, JWR and Rekka. I would think that after we get things all turned over to
them, that they could do their own recruiting of mods. What do ya all think??