The Mod Is Tired, and the Memories Are Redone.
Hi gang!
It took about a week longer than I expected (so much for my two-day project), but the community memories have been completely re-organized and updated.
I have been, shall we say, completely and utterly ruthless. When I began, there were 692 posts in the archive. There are now 274, and that includes all the ones that I've been adding as I went along, since New Year's Day. This accompanies a change in philosophy.
grass_stained and I used to try to archive everything; now we're much more choosy. It's quality, not quantity, we're after. As such, every post in the archive is guaranteed to contain useful and, as far as I can tell, accurate information.
In some cases, I deleted comment threads from archived posts. This only happened when there was a long, irrelevant thread, such as, "OMG I love your icon, are you into this band too?" "Yeah, did you see their concert in Los Angeles?" and so on. Long conversation threads often made helpful information difficult to find, and I figured that as the conversations in question tended to take place six months to a year ago, no-one would particularly miss them. (And lest you think I am unfair, trust me when I say I deleted plenty of comments made by oneetoilepb! My, but she's talkative...)
Also, most tutorials not actually in
icon_tutorial are no longer being archived. There are (several) exceptions, but after having found literally dozens of links and fake cuts in our memories that led to journals that have been deleted, suspended, friends-locked, or moved, I've come to the conclusion that as a rule of thumb, they're more trouble than they're worth, especially when most of the effects can also be found in our own archive somewhere.
Any post that was not directly useful or did not have directly relevant and concise comments is gone from the archive (not deleted, just not archived). I am an experienced graphics-maker and a pretty smart cookie, and I figured that anything I found totally incomprehensible was likely to be gibberish to a significant enough percentage oficon_tutorial members that it probably wasn't worth jamming into an already cluttered archive. Posts that read, "kin u hlp ME i want 2 mk icons kthx!!!!!!" were most assuredly removed from the archive in favor of something written in a recognizeable language, usually English. (In addition, posts of that nature will not be archived in the future.)
Every post in the memories that linked to other posts in the memories has been removed from the archive. Duh. What on earth was I thinking when I archived those in the first place?!
In the future, questions about "where can I find..." will absolutely not be archived, although if a good new site comes up in answer to such I'll stick it into the resources posts. (There will be one post for font sites, one post for tutorial sites, etc, and they will be linked in the memories and in the userinfo.) They generally won't be deleted from the community outright, even though sometimes I really really want to.
Excessive apology and self-deprication drive mods crazy. If I see one more post beginning, "I'm so blonde..." or "I know I'm totally dumb," I am going to go all Cthulu on this place or possibly just eat souls. Either way, it won't be pretty. Respect yourselves and use your brains.
And a personal request: if you're going to post a lengthy, comprehensive, and useful tutorial, please host your images somewhere where they'll be around for a long time to come!! And if you're going to ask a question, for the love of toast please be thorough and specific and say what program(s) you are using!!
Over the next few days, I am going to be making new posts of resources (for the archive and the userinfo), a new "How to use the memories" guide -- sort by DESCRIPTION! And use your browser's SEARCH function! -- and a new FAQ. In addition, I'll be making some significant modifications (and clarifications) to the rules and userinfo. I hope to get these projects completed by January 9th, because on the 10th I'll be going out of state for 8 days with no access to a computer (including a trip to DisneyWorld with my boyfriend, *glee*); I apologize in advance if they take too long and I leave them half-finished for a week. I'll be making another post when those are through, with the strong recommendation that everyone check it out.
So please have a browse through the new and improved memories archive, and feel free to leave further suggestions. Especially if you think there's something I've missed!
In other news, this afternoon community just crossed the 4000 member mark. That's impressive! Keep spreading the word, and thanks to all of you for makingicon_tutorial what it is. :)
*Etoile
Co-mod and memories maven
It took about a week longer than I expected (so much for my two-day project), but the community memories have been completely re-organized and updated.
I have been, shall we say, completely and utterly ruthless. When I began, there were 692 posts in the archive. There are now 274, and that includes all the ones that I've been adding as I went along, since New Year's Day. This accompanies a change in philosophy.
grass_stained and I used to try to archive everything; now we're much more choosy. It's quality, not quantity, we're after. As such, every post in the archive is guaranteed to contain useful and, as far as I can tell, accurate information.In some cases, I deleted comment threads from archived posts. This only happened when there was a long, irrelevant thread, such as, "OMG I love your icon, are you into this band too?" "Yeah, did you see their concert in Los Angeles?" and so on. Long conversation threads often made helpful information difficult to find, and I figured that as the conversations in question tended to take place six months to a year ago, no-one would particularly miss them. (And lest you think I am unfair, trust me when I say I deleted plenty of comments made by one
etoilepb! My, but she's talkative...)Also, most tutorials not actually in
icon_tutorial are no longer being archived. There are (several) exceptions, but after having found literally dozens of links and fake cuts in our memories that led to journals that have been deleted, suspended, friends-locked, or moved, I've come to the conclusion that as a rule of thumb, they're more trouble than they're worth, especially when most of the effects can also be found in our own archive somewhere.Any post that was not directly useful or did not have directly relevant and concise comments is gone from the archive (not deleted, just not archived). I am an experienced graphics-maker and a pretty smart cookie, and I figured that anything I found totally incomprehensible was likely to be gibberish to a significant enough percentage of
icon_tutorial members that it probably wasn't worth jamming into an already cluttered archive. Posts that read, "kin u hlp ME i want 2 mk icons kthx!!!!!!" were most assuredly removed from the archive in favor of something written in a recognizeable language, usually English. (In addition, posts of that nature will not be archived in the future.)Every post in the memories that linked to other posts in the memories has been removed from the archive. Duh. What on earth was I thinking when I archived those in the first place?!
In the future, questions about "where can I find..." will absolutely not be archived, although if a good new site comes up in answer to such I'll stick it into the resources posts. (There will be one post for font sites, one post for tutorial sites, etc, and they will be linked in the memories and in the userinfo.) They generally won't be deleted from the community outright, even though sometimes I really really want to.
Excessive apology and self-deprication drive mods crazy. If I see one more post beginning, "I'm so blonde..." or "I know I'm totally dumb," I am going to go all Cthulu on this place or possibly just eat souls. Either way, it won't be pretty. Respect yourselves and use your brains.
And a personal request: if you're going to post a lengthy, comprehensive, and useful tutorial, please host your images somewhere where they'll be around for a long time to come!! And if you're going to ask a question, for the love of toast please be thorough and specific and say what program(s) you are using!!
Over the next few days, I am going to be making new posts of resources (for the archive and the userinfo), a new "How to use the memories" guide -- sort by DESCRIPTION! And use your browser's SEARCH function! -- and a new FAQ. In addition, I'll be making some significant modifications (and clarifications) to the rules and userinfo. I hope to get these projects completed by January 9th, because on the 10th I'll be going out of state for 8 days with no access to a computer (including a trip to DisneyWorld with my boyfriend, *glee*); I apologize in advance if they take too long and I leave them half-finished for a week. I'll be making another post when those are through, with the strong recommendation that everyone check it out.
So please have a browse through the new and improved memories archive, and feel free to leave further suggestions. Especially if you think there's something I've missed!
In other news, this afternoon community just crossed the 4000 member mark. That's impressive! Keep spreading the word, and thanks to all of you for making
icon_tutorial what it is. :)*Etoile
Co-mod and memories maven