Leaderboard

Updated! Eval is underway!

I've mulled over this topic since it happened, and I just keep coming back to the same conclusion: forums are dead. Traditional forum software on the internet is few and far between now. Most communities have moved to "discussion"-style systems like Discourse (not to be confused with Discord) or Reddit. Not that every site should be reddit, but how ridiculous would reddit look if every person had an image signature? Or even a text one. Removing visual clutter makes it easier to quickly navigate the conversation. Images on the page, especially large ones, should be meaningful and representative. Watching 2-3 people discuss something in a conversation and seeing the same 3 images in different patterns is not particularly meaningful. It's excessive. I do agree it's nice for users have more customization/personality/whatever, but I don't think it would come from forums signatures. It would come from a organized and utilized user profile. Custom avatars are good. Banner images are better. Invision does a pretty good job of supporting both of those, but it's really base-level. Heavy text, low imagery. Very data, no flavor. Do I expect that to change any time soon? Ehh. Do I think reactivating image signatures is the right move? Almost definitely not.

Bear in mind I have no saying in this decision. However, I'd like to drop a few thoughts. First because it's an interesting subject. And second, but most importantly, The Coop has always been friendly and approachable. And I wish him the best! As someone like you who is known for using sigs as means of showcasing visual prowess, this change feels like cutting down a long time beloved tree, doesn't it? Still, you're very talented. And I do hope your involvement with DeviantArt and alikes has been filling the void OCR couldn't fill for you anymore. Unfortunately, it's been years since there was a present and consistent sig making community on these boards. All you could witness recently were a bunch of untouched "June is Boss Month" sigs and such, which honestly gives the forums a sense of lack of updates and abandonment. Sure, sigs used to be a huge thing in the past. But you can't say they've even been a thing in the past 6 years or so. You're aware that in the past, there was no such thing as custom avatars. Everyone had to choose one from a curated gaming/anime/TV-film collection. But now not only you can have your own custom avatar (which can be a closer artistic expression of yourself more than ever), but it can even be animated if you wish. By this perspective, don't you feel this is a fair trade-off? But you do post in another forum where its community, which fostered sig culture like no other, grew older and don't use sigs anymore either. And that didn't stop you from being a part of it. In the end, our primary way of strengthening relationships and camaraderie is the exchange of thoughts. Although I admit making new friends here throught my own sig skills, this alone could not provide such strengthening. You're right. This is a music site. And that's how you've been labelling it all the way. Which means it's not a sig site, nor a visual arts site. Sigs do, however, bring memories associated with its posters and to a certain period in time you've been here. With that in mind, newer posters won't be able to have the experience of shaping said memory like you or I. Yet, this is a completely new community now with these social media platforms (come join us in the OCR Discord server, Coop!) on the side. So OCR members might be shaping other kind of experiences lately and sigs haven't been a part of it. I'm as nostalgic as you, though. And I'd love to witness a new bunch of artists making neat looking sigs to new other regulars. It would give me warm goosebumps!

Wow.

Wow. It's certainly been a while since I was a sig maker... Anyway, what about two or three little buttons under our group and post count that can be linked to personal websites or social media profiles? Maybe with the ability to change the color/icon of each.

Yes! Thank you. It's a great album and the audio replacement pack is a great idea. I'll play this the next time I go through Q2.

I love how you went past the original soundtrack and included some from the expansions. I appreciate that.