The state of the Anime Cel collecting community.

FYI, this is zerospace from Anime-Beta. Betsuni is the name my hubby and I used to use for our RS gallery.

I wasn't going to post here, but after reading the ugliness that this thread has become, I'm going to step in and say something grossly unpopular: Rubberslug needs to and should be replaced. RS has been a great site for the community, but as life has taken its toll on Jason, it's probably about time to say goodbye. You cannot demand that he work on it or demand that he pass the reins over to someone else. RS belongs to Jason at the end of the day. I offered years ago to help him, as I code in open-source cousins to the languages he uses, but he declined (politely).

What people here don't seem to grasp is that the community has no claim to Rubberslug or the code behind it. I realize how that sounds, but it is the truth. It belongs to Jason. He wrote it. He poured blood, sweat and tears into building and rebuilding this site over the years, and it should not be taken from him unless he is willing to give it. And even if he is willing, the undertaking that is de-constructing someone else's complex code is as massive as writing your own. It would be best for the community to start fresh and clean.

I have written web gallery software that is even more capable than what RS provides in terms of image handling, detailed information, category sorting, etc. That in itself was a massive project. I've spent years making it better after taking almost a year to build the original in my spare time (though admittedly, I keep intending to work on it, and I've made small changes and notes, but not updated it in awhile). I've thought many times about turning it into a community site. I never have in part because of threads like this one. The thought of being responsible for everyone's gallery data is scary to me. I sometimes find it hard to believe that people RELY on RS to store that information without having it stored anywhere else. (Crazy!!)

I would propose something different for a Rubberslug replacement, though -- perhaps it is time to ditch the free curated galleries model. Make Rubberslug's replacement a social hub for the community that links to images and collections curated on sites and services designed to handle the massive amounts of data (there are other ways to curate an image gallery than here on RS, ya know!). The modern web is all about social media. Everything is about sharing -- most services have ways to hook into data feeds from other sites. Let's use it! Link up to Facebook groups. Link to Anime-Beta (as in, pull data feeds from these sources). The community should get together and create something totally new!

I'm willing to lend my web expertise to something new. I might even be willing to code and host something, so long as it isn't just a replacement for Rubberslug. I'd like to see the cel community advance into the modern web era, because it's been stagnant for far too long. Let's move forward, people, not take a giant step sideways.

Hi Zero!

I agree that we need to start fresh it is something I have thought for a while now, and we are losing a lot of opportunities without a social media presence. The Facebook page that someone put together years ago is pathetisad, it hasn't been updated in years and no one interacts on it.

I can't help with code... basic HTML is where I live... I know enough to put together a basic gallery, with a code generator, and if there is something that comes up wonky I can go in and sometimes fix it, sometimes not. ^_^;;

But anything more advanced with forms, polls, etc. Is beyond me.

We should all think about going off of RS and work on creating our own galleries they do have more flexibility and it would be much easier to post all those sketch sets I've been getting as of late ^_^;; I've been having to cherry pick and separate sets into different entries which is no fun.

And then the idea of tying it all into a hub is rather brilliant, I like the idea... We could have the same community features but they would be enhanced by tying all the platforms together.

I would totally be onboard for this, and would help if I can.

Thanks for taking a step back and thinking about the future.
JD

I agree with Zero and JD. We need a new set-up and this is something that we've been dragging our feet on creating for far too long. Instead of relying on someone else to do it for us, we, and that means all of us, need to come together and make this happen.

My coding skills are non-existent, but if funds are an issue, I can contribute here. I also have a lot of time at work, so I'd be a solid tester. And I'm totally looking forward to a (hopefully) non-blocked work website..at least for now.

JD & CB, I can code. You guys know that ;). I can't promise to crank anything out super fast -- life is crazy sometimes for me, but I will definitely lend as much time as I can, if there are people willing to help with the load and the bills =P.

Why don't we get a constructive discussion on something truly new started somewhere. We need ideas & volunteers to help. You guys want to take this over to Beta & start a thread? I really dislike this forum format. >_

On it, and I will be quoting your post because it is VERY well thought out...

For anyone who would like to join the project that Zerospace suggested, please come over to the Beta thread, anyone not interested in helping please don't! Thanks!

http://www.anime-beta.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=30836