Forum Icons & EQTV Staff

[Key Gear 6,663]

I just wanted to step into this thread for a bit and say something that may seem to be a bit off-topic. (But, guess what? It isn't.) There is nothing wrong with offering constructive criticism of something. Everyone should always feel free to point out how something can be improved and to provide suggestions on future directions. This process is what makes any community a better place in the long run.

However... The tone of that constructive criticism matters. So many replies in this thread have been completely and totally acidic. To me, that is a shitty attitude to have. This is a pony forum. It exists for people to have fun on and to make friends. When criticism is made of a contribution that someone has freely made, it should remain respectful to the time that this individual dedicated to the task at hand.

Am I saying that criticism is wrong? No. I am not. As I said, criticism is a wonderful thing. Am I saying that every person's work is the greatest thing ever? No, and I don't think that anyone here is saying that. The only thing that is being said is this. It was a contribution that took a lot of a single individuals time. This individual should not be talked to as if they were some kind of dirt. That attitude and that way of communicating is, quite frankly, unacceptable. People should be respected, and a baseline level of decency should be maintained in *all* communication between sentient human beings.

Some people may think, "That's too bad, they shouldn't have made the contribution if they didn't want to hear what I have to say and how I want to say it." Let me tell you a story. I remember when I was working in retail, there was a wonderful local store policy about customers - you have to listen to their complaints, no matter what they were. Normally, it wasn't a problem, but I had one customer in particular that would take full advantage of this policy. Everyday she would show up buy something, for every perceived mistake, she ripped me into pieces. It sucked, and I really, really hated life during that time.

I would often think to myself... I wondered if she had any clue what it was like to be on the receiving end of that kind of criticism? Here's the funny thing. This same individual was a teacher's assistant at the local university. I was lounging about one day when I saw her get torn into shreds by an angry professor. She ran crying from her office. So, basically, you had a vicious circle. One person was an ass to one person, and the other person transferred that to the next. The buck stopped with me, because I don't carry my trash and throw it onto other people's faces.

Now, stop and think. Let's go all the way back. Pretend that you were the one that worked on something for three days. Pretend that you were the one that had something released and you were so excited about it. Pretend that you did this because you loved the community. Now, you put your stuff out there and everyone tells you that it's shit. How would you feel? You think that you'd feel fine? You're lying. You wouldn't feel fine. You would feel like crap.

You still think that there's nothing wrong with being a monster towards another human being? Well, stop for a moment and pretend that we were all face to face. Pretend that the anonymity of the Internet wasn't there. Pretend that we were all in a fucking room and that you were face to face with Silver, CD, myself, and everyone else on the forum. Would you say the exact same thing? Or is this a case of this? If you would still say the same thing, that's nice, but you should really examine what you're doing on a site for a show that is about friendship and magical horses. If you wouldn't say the same thing, then maybe you owe Silver an apology?

He stuck his neck out there on this. He shouldn't be beaten up for it. Look, constructive criticism is fine. Tearing someone up, being totally disrespectful towards the work done, not saying a single positive word. We all need to stop and take a measurement of ourselves as human beings when we smile and nod and either do this or stand by while it happens.

I am not making a judgement call. I have torn holes into many people before, and I have ripped worse holes than most here can even begin to fathom. I've made the mistake myself, plenty of times. I'm not saying that *anyone* here is any less of a human being. In fact, it *is* a good thing that you all care enough to comment. The only thing that I'm saying is that we were all beginners in something at some point, and we are all continuously on an uphill journey. Speaking for myself, I remember what it was like to get kicked in the teeth. It *still* happens to me. Do we have to be so harsh to each other? Just continuing the cycle?

Can't we all just be friends? Or, failing that... At least, be respectful?

[RockinRarity 1,605]

OH MY GOOOOOOOOSH THE CHANGE OF FORUM ICONS IS THE NEW EQUESTRIA GIRLS. MAKE IT STOP.

 

SERIOUSLY, why all the bullshit drama over stupid pictures?

 

What do you think would turn off new members from this forum, people? Icons on the front of the page, or mindless bitching from our members whenever something you don't like changes?

 

...

 

*inhale*

 

...

 

*ahem*

 

I think that the icons are rather cute, and add a little bit of spice to the front page of the forum. I agree with the constructive points about not having large images scaled down so much, because it is harder to see the detail in the image.

 

But really, other than that, I don't think that people are going to analyze the individual icons and let that be the deciding factor for whether or not to join a forum community.

[NavelColt 22,881]

What do you think would turn off new members from this forum, people? Icons on the front of the page, or mindless bitching from our members whenever something you don't like changes?

 

Bingo. Images and other superficial things can be fixed with haste should there be positive feedback with lots of constructive criticism to make an ideal environment for collaboration and getting things done. But bad attitudes generally remain bad attitudes, and that will do a whole lot more driving away from both the forum, and the fandom as a whole, than some silly images. I'm not at all impressed with any of the negative posts thus far in this thread, and have little to no interest in responding to any of them, partially because Zoop and Key have said most things I can think of. As far as I'm concerned, I believe Silver should take into account the points of all those people who bother to have any tact in their posts, and work with them to improve the icons, and that's it. That's an ideal relationship, and that's what should be promoted.

 

This is not going to turn into a retarded drama cesspool over icons. If you don't like something your fellow man made, I'd ask you to please have the maturity to relay it to him without the negativity and slash.

[Nas 2,873]

I'm not disputing that; he can dislike the icons all he likes, that's not what I'm arguing. I'm saying the manner in which he's articulating his opinion is really immature. Instead of constructively criticizing them, he's giving his opinion in a unhelpful, mean way. I thought this thread was to merely announce the icons, btw, rather than have people bitch and moan about it.

 

I actually read my earlier post just now, and I sincerely regret everything about it. I didn't realize where you were coming from. I wholeheartedly agree with your point, from overlooking it now. There are two kinds of negative reception, proper and improper. Proper, is stating that one does not like something, whilst giving necessary credit to the content maker for trying to make things better for the forum. Improper is just flat out dissing it, without even giving a second's thought to the creator's effort. Just because you don't like something, it doesn't mean you can't at least acknowledge whoever tried their best.

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

I think they look wonderful. They may not be perfect, but who cares? They're forum icons as in they have little to no purpose other than to make the forums a little more organized and pretty. That said it's better than nothing so quit moping whoever it is that's doing so.

[MatrixChicken 879]

Whaddaya know. I'm late. Again. 

 

WELP. I love having icons; it really gives more personality to the site. However... I think they could be a bit more uniform. As it is, there's a ton of different colors going on, and they're a bit jarring, to be honest.

 

I think they could look a lot better if they had an overarching color scheme/style. Like, if they were all just silhouettes in a color specific to that section. Or maybe it could be the exact same icons as now, but with the same color of outline. That way, everything would look a lot more organized, and less thrown-together.

 

...Or maybe I'm just spoutin' a bunch of hooey...

 

Either way, I'm sure I sound like a judgmental meany-pants by now, so I'll just be on my way. :3

 

~BAWK!!!

Edited July 8, 2013 by MatrixChicken

[Rainbow Dash Loyalty 1,275]

I absolutely love the icons IMO :3 The outlines are excellent, it really makes the icons stand out more so I can see them better, I like how you used the fitting pictures for fitting sub-forums and they're all colorful and look one hundred times better and more attracting than wooden signs ;P

I don't see how anyone can really complain about it, it's not like it ruins the entire forum.  You guys did an awesome job! 

[King 5,625]

Thanks marcato for the work you did man . I for One like what I see. I also can't wait for eqtv 2.0 to start off... Will be so much fun helping out there congrats to discordian too of course :3

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I don't see how anyone can really complain about it, it's not like it ruins the entire forum.

My thoughts EXACTLY. It's one thing if you don't like what you see. It is another thing entirely to be completely venomous about something so minor.

[Discordian 6,015]

Triviality often breeds the most vocal responses and I believe it's because you can voice that opinion without having too many repercussions. It's a small issue thus there's nothing about it that can impact you, other peoples' opinions of you (much, anyway) or your overall way of doing things. Not much thought needs to be put into it so it's easy to have a decision on it rather than something more complicated like adding/deleting forum sections that might seem superfluous or redundant. <--That right there was probably redundant too. I like redundancy, it gets the point across.

[Klopp 2,050]

I have a few more things to add real quick, my intent was never to insult the artist, cause the artist did not do a bad job. As said before, individually the icons do lot look bad at all, and are actually pretty awesome. That is likely how the artist saw them before they were added to the site anyways. The problem is when they come together,and are placed on the site, which I mentioned before. Clashing colors, terrible contrast and whatnot. But in addition to just plain looking bad on the forums, there is a larger problem, which I mentioned but seems to have gone unnoticed by most.

 

The whole point of the icons is to add a little variety, a nice addition to make the forums look better. They are a totally unnecessary addition, but a nice one, if done correctly. The buttons themselves, however, serve no purpose then to mark an entire forum as read, a pointless endeavor on a forum which will immediately get a new reply in a few seconds, minutes if lucky, anyways. So pointless that there is absolutely no need to draw any sort of attention to them, and in fact, giving them attention is a harmful distraction, preventing people from seeing things like status updates, new topics and blogs, all that good shtuff.

 

The problem with the new icons is just that; they draw far too much attention to themselves. You know something is wrong when the two most prominent things on the index are an advertisement and a massive column of pointless buttons.

 

For the most part, the colors themselves are not bad, but the icons are too complex and WAY too bright. The brightness would be okay if they were smaller, but the size is not an issue if they were just lighter colors. They should be pastel, like the rest of the forums, to keep with the theme. (And make it look more pony in general) Also, keep them a minimum of two colors. Simple, simple, simple. No gradients, no effects, no shading, and no insane squiggles like in the mirror.

 

I swear, one thing these forums (And I'm assuming Poniverse as well) is really lacking is someone who actually knows a thing or two about design.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Klopp

[Dark Horn 430]

I think the icons look great, and perfectly alright. I don't see why so many people are hating on them.

 

They look just fine, and serve their purpose well.

[Flyssa 4]

I love the icons. They are nicely centered around the mid-section of the text area putting focus on them being visual identifiers for the subforums they represent. I love seeing the direct correlation between the text and the icon art and the color palette as a whole doesn't disturb me since I tend to scan horizontally as an image-text set rather than take on a vertical view of image-image-image views. I think that being drawn into the main forum is a good idea for first time visitors seeing as how first-time users can readily identify with forum portals that they readily identify with the most, therefore making them more likely to remain on the site after their first visit.
 
Blogs, status updates, and recent topics are all important features to the site, however I always felt that these sections were more niche features that regular posters would find more of use than initial posters visiting the site. The main forum in my mind was always a primary draw-in target due to enabling visitors to explore the areas they want to explore, therefore appealing to their interests whereas status updates, blogs, and recent topics tend to be more community driven focus topics for users who have decided to become a part of the community to share and to be there when other people have contributions to share.
 
The buttons should have a very basic lead-in option to the encompassing thread of the sub-forum it represents. The read and un-read feature doesn't strike me as being pragmatic or a feature that would be expected for first time users. As a visitor, the site can be a bit overwhelming and congested on first visit. I'm not sure if that's a plus or a minus feature, however I've personally been more accustomed to more streamlined boards where the main board took up the main page and the pull down menu was how I would navigate to blogs and other sub-sections. I personally enjoy the first-time minimalist feeling because it feels like the entire forum is mine to explore, while the pull down features which I often tend to miss/ignore on first visit are extra goodies that I can visit later on when I've gone through the sections that immediately interest me.
 
@Silver Marcato @~Chaotic Discord

Thank you. I think that any future patches to the art should address how to best capture the audience that you have in mind. If you are targeting artists then you might want to poll them for feedback on the site. Unfortunately I'm not an artist, but I do hope that you are successful in drawing in talent for future site improvements.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Flyssa