I've only just started posting, but I'm letting you know I'd be willing to manage this site consistently and put the effort into making it active. While of course you shouldn't trust someone you just met, maybe you can consider my opinion and recommendations.
I'm more than proficient in web development to code anything the DaD might need, though my PHP is a little rusty since I moved on to another backend language. It isn't just languages I'm familiar with, I'm well studied in best security and user experience practices. My professional work has mainly been coding designer's mockups into sites for small businesses and that sort of thing. I try to take on larger open source projects in my spare time.
Here's what I suggest we do with the site. We are the Digiartists Domain, and we should focus on artists (including writers). Artists should be able to make their own profile and upload their Digimon related work. I'm not looking for a Booru-type site where we could upload any Digimon content mainly because that's harder to maintain and host. As a bit of a compromise however, we could have a section dedicated to other authors not present where we discuss and link to their work as hosted elsewhere on the net, even in other languages. The front page can have the latest activity from both these local and remote artists' uploads and discussions. That'll give an active community feel, while being a good window into the adult Digimon community as a whole.
The forums could use some change too. While I like keeping the history here, the number of boards makes scrolling the index page confusing, and looks extremely barren when there isn't an abundance of activity. I don't suggest we remove any boards, but we can move them into subforums so they are still accessible but not causing clutter. As activity grows we can move each back as needed. Also, I have ideas for a new theme involving displaying the boards in a more user-friendly way using visual hierarchy instead of a plain list. I feel any new theme should keep a similar color scheme, as this one seems pretty recognizable to anyone who's been here over the last 10 years.
And don't anyone say the community is dead. New art is being posted all the time on FA, e621, pixiv, etc. We can make an entirely artist-centric place that brings in discussion from all these places, and in turn inspires even more Digimon art and writing. Activity will follow to every part of the forums.
Whelp, this post turned out longer and more serious-sounding than I planned. Just so many thoughts I had to get down, you know?
I'm more than proficient in web development to code anything the DaD might need, though my PHP is a little rusty since I moved on to another backend language. It isn't just languages I'm familiar with, I'm well studied in best security and user experience practices. My professional work has mainly been coding designer's mockups into sites for small businesses and that sort of thing. I try to take on larger open source projects in my spare time.
Here's what I suggest we do with the site. We are the Digiartists Domain, and we should focus on artists (including writers). Artists should be able to make their own profile and upload their Digimon related work. I'm not looking for a Booru-type site where we could upload any Digimon content mainly because that's harder to maintain and host. As a bit of a compromise however, we could have a section dedicated to other authors not present where we discuss and link to their work as hosted elsewhere on the net, even in other languages. The front page can have the latest activity from both these local and remote artists' uploads and discussions. That'll give an active community feel, while being a good window into the adult Digimon community as a whole.
The forums could use some change too. While I like keeping the history here, the number of boards makes scrolling the index page confusing, and looks extremely barren when there isn't an abundance of activity. I don't suggest we remove any boards, but we can move them into subforums so they are still accessible but not causing clutter. As activity grows we can move each back as needed. Also, I have ideas for a new theme involving displaying the boards in a more user-friendly way using visual hierarchy instead of a plain list. I feel any new theme should keep a similar color scheme, as this one seems pretty recognizable to anyone who's been here over the last 10 years.
And don't anyone say the community is dead. New art is being posted all the time on FA, e621, pixiv, etc. We can make an entirely artist-centric place that brings in discussion from all these places, and in turn inspires even more Digimon art and writing. Activity will follow to every part of the forums.
Whelp, this post turned out longer and more serious-sounding than I planned. Just so many thoughts I had to get down, you know?