So, it's been about a month since I announced my plans to develop forums for PixlBit and I figured I'd provide you guys with an update so that you don't think I got your hopes up and bailed. Things have been coming along, albeit a bit more slowly than I hoped. For one, there's a lot of engineering required to get them built. Lots of scenarios to consider, lots of functions to create all from the ground up. Two, I've been a bit busy in general and it has significantly slowed my efforts. Compound that with having the flu for around a week and my forum development effort was slowed much more than I planned.
In any event, I'm not here to rattle off a bunch of excuses, I'm here to show off the forumy goodness that has been finished. Honestly, I'm not far from the end at this point - just a few things left to do. Need to add the reply box to thread page. Need to implement the Edit/Report/Quote functions and I need to add pagination to the forum and thread pages. After that I'll do some rigorous testing and release the new product to all you fine people.
Here's a few screenshots to show off what I've got so far:
Hope you guys like what you see - I can't wait to finish everything up and have everyone start using them!
Looks Nito. Because it's dead. Dark Souls puns are fun :D
In all seriousness, I'm all for this. It looks great and I can't wait for this site to devour even more of my life!
Dark Souls puns are good with me! Glad you're liking the look, I'll be even happier when they're done.
Can't wait for it to be finished.
Awesome - looking forward to seeing you in there!
I remember creating threads on 1UP and having to check them regularly for responses. Maybe that could pop up somehow in Messages?
I can probably do that. I'll see how I'm feeling by the time I finish up the work in front of me - if I've still got it in me, I'll roll out that feature in version 1.0 of the forums.
Cool.
Take your time sir, I mean everyone has been clamoring for forums for a while but I imagine it's hard. Hope you got better!
Definitely hasn't been a walk in the park, but it's a new challenge and those are always fun. Plus now I can say I've created forums from the ground up!
In any event, I'm 99% better at this point, though I've still been feeling a little crappy in the morning and at night.
Lookin' good! I might actually use these things. Egads, man!
I hope you do! You know, I've spent a lot of time thinking about how they're different from blogs, despite being very similar fundamentally and I think it all comes down to the scope of the topic as well as its longevity.
Instead of lots of blogs on one topic, forums condense that down to one thread that lasts for a really long time. It also makes topics a bit more conversational. Blogs on the other hand are much more personal and allow you to talk a bit more freely about life and the things specifically on your mind. It's cool how two very similar things are applied in a mildly varied way and end up so drastically different.
My desire to write online was born from forums, so I'm very excited to have them going here and to interact in this new way with everyone!
I'm sure I will use them. The main reason I've never been one for forums, I think, is that I don't like talking to people I don't know (that holds true for real life as well as the internet). And I've never "met" any of you fine folks here, I've gotten to know you all to varying degrees, so that really changes things. For instance, back after Shin Megami Tensei IV came out there were several of us playing it at the same time (Mothman and jgusw; seems like there was someone else too...Snee, maybe?) and whenever one of us would mention it in a blog, we'd have a little discussion in the comments about where we were in the story, what we thought of things, etc. It was really cool. A forum would have been perfect for that.
We both work too hard for jobs we're passionate about but underpaid for, Nick. I think we both need a Fuji apple. If that's not your thing, then a delicious treat of some other variety, perhaps.
That's how it goes, I s'pose. I think it all pays off in the end though - might not be in money, but making people's lives a little happier and having a place to belong is a pretty damn good trade off, I think. I'm very excited (as mentioned above) for these and though it's tough to do stuff like create forums, I think in the end I'll be happy that I took on the challenge. Also, a Fuji apple sounds nice 
.
Same way I feel about working the radio station. Beautifully worded. I had a banana as my fruit tonight, though. Which reminded me to tell that to myfitnesspal, thank you.
Looks good, can't wait to give it a try when it's released to us. Thanks for the hard work and making our piece of the internet more enjoyable!
My pleasure!
You the man, Nick!
*groan!*
If you have the Flu stay out of our forums. We dont want to catch it!
I'll be sure to bleach them before I let anyone in. Can't have people getting a virus from PixlBit!
Will there actually be a "ban hammer" icon on the forums? That would be neat =)