AuthorTopic: Pixelation's Future  (Read 16426 times)

Offline Indigo

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Pixelation's Future

on: September 01, 2022, 01:01:00 am
As you may have noticed, Pixelation has been on a downward spiral of usability.  It is my intent to summarize the current state of the forums and discuss the future of Pixelation moving forward.

The forums have spun out of control with spam, and despite custom tooling, plugins, settings, and hard mod work we are not able to keep it under control.  Most of the original administration team has departed, and our server admin also left amidst disagreements not worth covering in this thread.  Despite Pixelation being incredibly important to me, I personally haven't been able to stay involved with it as much as I'd like to between parenting and my job.  Yet I hold on to it out of obligation.  It's gut wrenching for me to even think about the forums in their current state. Mods have volunteered to help, and they have helped a lot, but there's only so much they can do.

On top of all this, forums in general are dying. The ones here reading this may not agree, but it's just a fact.  Social media has long ago replaced art forums like these.  We've talked about many ways to resurrect Pixelation in a new form, from extending this forum's features to rewriting a new paradigm from scratch.  Some work was put into making that a reality, but again, my time is limited and that task is daunting.

One of the realizations we've had while talking about this countless times was pixel art now lives and thrives on Twitter.  It's a vibrant community and has allowed the medium to grow in a way that I never thought possible in the early days of tight-knit forums.  Even without the focus on critique, somehow the talent within our medium has exploded and it's truly a wonderous sight.

So this leads me to the inevitable decision to shut down these forums. I am closing registrations, and switching all boards to be read-only shortly.  The forums will be a permanent resource for the knowledge that has accumulated here.

The future of Pixelation will carry forward on Twitter. Twitter has a new community feature we will leverage to retain some of the benefits forums provide while integrating closer to where the pixel art scene largely already is.  This will be a much more sustainable future for Pixelation and one that won't require as much dedicated attention to operate.  Will it be the same as what we've grown to love? Of course not. But is it the right choice? I'm convinced so.

You can join the twitter community here:
https://twitter.com/i/communities/1565124626883063808

the focus of this community will be critique as it always has been - something that is not commonly done on twitter.  Over time I will be formalizing rules and guidelines as we feel out this new venue, and I will be looking for twitter-active moderators to assist.

If forums are still your preferred thing, I advise you to go to PixelJoint, or LoSpec. Both are great options.

Pixelation and these forums hold a special place in my heart. I attribute my entire career to discovering these forums long ago.  It tears me up to see them go, but I also look forward to seeing it flourish in a new context.
« Last Edit: September 01, 2022, 05:20:45 pm by Indigo »

Offline hapiel

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #1 on: September 01, 2022, 01:56:06 am
Goodbye pixelation, you will be missed! Thanks for the wonderful times, I'm looking forward to reading more of your archive.

Offline Kable

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #2 on: September 01, 2022, 02:01:37 am
See you on twitter pixelation  :)

Offline Vinik

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #3 on: September 01, 2022, 03:36:49 am
Long live Pixelation! The words fail me while trying to convey the gratitude I feel towards this place of learning and teaching, of free exchange of critique devoid of social obligation to praise and yet always offered in good will by the best people you could ever hope to find in the art adventure of your life. The greatest (re)evolutions in the medium since it became avaliable to the public at large surely took place here: new forms of collaboration, new exercises, new trends, seminal art manifestos, codification efforts, later desconstruction and maturation towards an eclectic synthesis of the medium. All of this history happened here, setting the grounds for the current explosion of pixelart on social media. I am so glad and so thankful of having taken even a small part in this sweet corner of the internet, that I feel now exactly like moving away from a home I was born in and lived through my childhood: stepping out towards new things,  but with nothing but gratitude and respect for the spirit of the place. Thank you from the core of my heard.

Offline Khonjin

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #4 on: September 01, 2022, 04:24:35 am
Feels miserable that this is my first post here, but this site is a great resource and I sincerely appreciate all it has to offer. Hoping the transition is as seamless as can be.

Offline cels

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #5 on: September 01, 2022, 05:39:51 am
Sorry to see this happen but it seems like the best decision. Thanks for keeping it online as a resource.  :)

Offline Rosse

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #6 on: September 01, 2022, 07:34:33 am
This forum was in a big part responsible for forming my character (while being a teenager) and connected me with people who were able to support me in making a life-changing decision. Thank you everyone for these things and thank you for keeping this valuable piece of history and knowledge database alive.

so long <3

Offline HarveyDentMustDie

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #7 on: September 01, 2022, 08:28:04 am
I'm sorry to hear this as well, although I understand the reasons behind it. First time when Secret Santa was transferred to PJ it was clear that forum is on its last breath.

Hanging out here were some of the best times I've had with pixel art in general and I've learned some important things. So far I was never able to find similar "pixel energy" so I want to tank you everyone and to wish best luck to all who contributed in any way to this great place. :)

Best regards.

Offline Morganne

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #8 on: September 01, 2022, 10:14:49 am
Goodbye core memory, you will be missed. Haven't taken you off of my 3rd place bookmark for decades <3

Offline eishiya

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Re: Pixelation's Future

Reply #9 on: September 01, 2022, 11:18:42 am
While forums aren't necessarily my preferred medium for pixel art discussion, almost anything is better than Twitter =_= I don't use that service any more, and don't plan to return. The communities feature seems neat and I'd love to interact with the people who used to be here, but *waves arms at Twitter*. The community has gone to lands where I cannot keep up with it.

I'd love to use the PJ forums, but I feel like there's an obstacle to almost everything I try to do there, though I keep trying. And LoSpec is just too broad in coverage, its forum too disorganized ;_;

All that to say: Pixelation was the best place for me. Thanks for keeping up the fight against spam as long as you did. I miss this place, I miss the people I used to talk to here, and I miss having amazing guidance on my pixel-pushing path.

And thanks for leaving it up as a read-only archive!
Are there any plans to locally back up the various images from the crit threads? I've been keeping mine up, but image hosting sites inevitably crumble... Perhaps submitting this site to the Internet Wayback Machine might be the easiest approach?