A farewell post to members. Beta needs new blood!

[Goldknight]

After some soul searching & discussions, the admin & mods of this board are ready to pass the torch. We aren't leaving the hobby & will still lurk around, but new leadership is needed. Life has taken us in new directions. We're wondering if there's a member or members that are interested in taking the reins? I think this board could grow even more and become even more spectacular. Perhaps y'all would prefer to vote members in? Your choice.

I'm guessing other mods will post their farewells in this thread.

On a personal note, I want to thank all the members of Beta for making it such a great run. We've definitely had some interesting & fun times. Ups & downs. I took this on after David's passing never even considering it would last this long or become such a success. I think David would we proud at what we accomplished in his name. I hope that whomever takes over will keep the "roots" of the board in tact.

I apologize for the rambling post. I'm not nearly as articulate as DW.

[Keropi]

Aw...sorry to hear about this change, but I can understand it I guess.

I hope it will all work out fine for everyone concerned.

[Gonzai]

Well said Angela. I would love to say this is a hard decision for me, but frankly, its not hard at all.
I still love the hobby, but I really have nothing left to offer this board. There are so many others
that could add so much more and do some wonderful things with it. There are a few people that
come to mind, however, I will leave that up to the rest of you to decide where to go with it. Its
been fun, but its time!! Thanks all for all the great years - especially the early years when Beta
was in its heyday.

[sensei]

I am not versed in the techie side of maintaining the forum, dealing with external spam attacks, server crashes, etc. But I'd be happy to fill in with some of the social aspects (starting flamewars, banning members, generally making a public ass of myself, etc. etc.)

Which, by the the way, is something that we sincerely thank the outgoing moderators for NOT doing. At times, peace and quiet can be a virtue, when the alternative is unchecked wrangling, especially when the mods take an active role. While there have been some unpleasant incidents in the past, I believe that overall the moderators have taken a low profile and stepped in only when a situation has gotten visibly out of control.

[Shampoo]

I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say I'm really sad to see this post -- though I can
understand the position of the mods/admin.
AB was my hangout when I 1st started collecting and where I could chat with all my friends
in one spot. It was my online "home" if you will. Unfortunately, when you stay long enough,
you see a place change over the years and go through some really rough, nasty patches.
But in the end, here we are! Not many of us nor as much conversations as the beginning
years but it continues to move along and grow.

I hope you all continue to stay in the community, maybe not as mods, but definitely as members.

On another note, I vote for Keropi, Sensei, and JWR even if it's against their wills hahahaha!
I think it would be the new Beta mod dream team

[Goldknight]

So far Sensei & Kaona have expressed interest in moderating, but a techie is still needed.

[Keropi]

On another note, I vote for Keropi, Sensei, and JWR even if it's against their wills hahahaha!

Hey Shampoo.

Thanks for the kind thoughts, but yeah...being a mod is not really my thing. I've been a mod and admin at a few places, but they were all small boards. I'm not really the one to be settling disputes and such. I'm not a tech person either.

It's funny. The owner of one board asked me to be the admin because he didn't have the time to be checking his board all the time. One of the members who had been posting there for years, asked me to give him the power so he could attempt a remodel of the board and the restructure of the forum. He eventually became an admin (he had to be promoted by the owner) and HE was the one that was fiddling around with the board's structure and layout. I wasn't able to do that myself.

So on our tiny board we have ---- one owner, two admins and only one regular poster. The admins outnumber the regular posters three to one.

We used to have around 12 regular members and 5 irregular members, but that ten years ago. I've grown very used to posting there for 2-3 weeks without getting any responses back.

[jenn-b]

I've been running amok so much lately that this is my first chance to sit down and write out my goodbye. And I guess that speaks for itself. I have so much going on that it leaves little time or energy for Beta. I'm sad to say farewell…but it is not goodbye. I still visit here from time to time…although I am not nearly as vocal as I used to be! I wish all great success in your collecting future!

[zerospace]

A few years ago, I probably would have offered to take on the admin role, but sadly, I'm more in the same boat as the mods & admins passing the torch.

That said, it's kind of nice to see some mods who haven't posted in ages here

[star-phoenix]

So sad to see you all retiring from the mod squad!

I will ask my husband if he wants to do the techie mod role.

[hgeek23]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
You'll be missed

[JWR]

I would be willing to help as time permits.

i still have my duties as a Mod on RS

It would be nice to get some newer members involved as well. It seems this hobby that includes Beta is at a point where due to cycles of collecting a lot have tired or found their attention drawn to newer hobbies. I know myself I have gone thru collecting watches, signed 1st edition books, the original pulp magazines where H.P. Lovecraft stories were published, firearms in addition to the comic art and anime art we still do collect.

Beta has over time developed into a place where people who share a common interest have formed lasting friendships. That should not change as some step back and new members find this hobby and this family.

[sensei]

I agree with JWR: The anime art collectors' scene has changed, as I can see over on RS. With the greater threat of forgeries and the need to consider long-term conservation, the typical participant on forums like these is more professional and less of an extension of the anime fan base (which also has changed due to increasing accessibility). When I began, yes, it's true I had just crested the big 5-oh, and I was looking for something tht would get me back in touch with my inner adolescent. Anime art did that in a healthy way. But now it is less of an emotional release and more of a long-term intellectual enterprise.

Yes, with its peculiar pleasures, as you'll see with one particular heart-stopping item in the upcoming update. But it's no longer OMG OMG "That" A1 END OP cel from "That" super-hot series everyone's talking about! Rather, it's part of my maturing love affair with animator Ikuko Itou and my growing appreciation of what makes the works she supervised (e.g., Princess Tutu and the odd-numbered episodes of Asatte no Houkou truly impressive as visual storytelling. That's quite a different approach to anime art, which has developed over the past 14 years (golly, that anniversary is coming up, isn't it) rather than being a emotional reaction to anime per se.

And so, yes, the ways in which mods need to generate the needed excitement over here has to change with the times. I like the proposals put forth recently to revitalize the scene and generate more chatter, especially for the newbies and tweenies, who really are the most important part of the forum.

[Rekka Alexiel]

I've been meaning to post something here but always felt at a loss for words. This place has meant so much to me through the years that it's kinda sad and scary to see it come to this time of great change. I know I haven't been as active as I used to be back in the day, but it's still nice to see some of us first or even second gen ppl stil around.

If you come into a bind, I could try and help out with the techie side of things. I'm actually running my own message board that uses the exact same set up as it does here. That doesn't mean that I am fluent in the coding that it uses. I'm learning a lot through mere trial and error. I've already run into a huge spambot attack at my page but managed to keep them at bay recently by keeping registration as an approval basis. I'm not sure what the set up is like over here since we haven't had any huge hacks in a long time. Whatever it is, it seems to be working! <3

Anyway, again, if you come into a huge bind I could help out a little but I don't know how much time I can dedicate to main admin responsibilities. I'm also have a Drakengard 3 fan site on my own site and on Facebook that keeps me pretty busy, too. orz

But thanks so much to all the admins that have worked to keep this place afloat and fun for us members! It's been a blast and I hope you pop in from time to time!! <3

[cutiebunny]

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.