kabojnk
01-23-2006, 03:35 AM
I know this isn't exactly a request for a new forum, or an improvement to a specific forum, but this is still related to the forum to a certain degree.
Due to the fact that this forum is getting older, a lot of links to various content have now become dead. This is especially annoying when you're parusing the stickies of a topic looking for tutorials or other resources. It's not really the fault of the forum in anyway, just more of the lack of foresight for the many different people hosting tutorials on their websites which sooner or later become defunct. On top of that, it's not the authors' fault because they can do whatever they wish with their websites.
With that said, I was hoping to propose the idea of creating a centralized online repository for tutorials and other useful resources. The idea would be to have any willing contributors to populate and/or mirror this repository with their articles, tutorials and reasonably-sized utilities (MEL/MAX scripts, shaders, et cetera). I also think that this would be a realistic compromise between having an entire tutorial/resources forum and keeping tutorials and links to tutorials/resources organized within their respected categories.
I'm guessing that the main obstacle for something like this would be bandwidth costs, so perhaps it could run off of user donations, or perhaps limit several tutorials (i.e. video tutorials) to users to pay for access. And then there are other issues as well, including the possibility of standardizing layouts, creating a CMS for users, integration, et cetera. And then there's the issue of how easy it should be for users to post their stuff, because there're always the issues of bogus submissions, viruses, exploit attempts, and the consequent staff moderation that would have to ensue.
I can't really suggest much in the way of means to overcome these problems at the present moment, other than ask the question whether or not the community would support such an idea.
Anyway, so far it's just a little idea I've had in the back of my head these past few days while rummaging through old threads only to find mild disappointments. And I know that several sites exist where you can find several of the resources you need. But even then, some of those sites can change their entire infrastructure causing changes to the URLs for those resources. But I wasn't exactly thinking of something on such a grand scale that would require having one universal source for all of the related resources in the world, just perhaps a place where people can put tutorials within the context of thread conversation while having the piece of mind that the tutorials might outlive the lifespan of their current website.
And again, I don't quite know what kind of a financial strain this would put on things, given the fact that there is a LOT of members here on CGTalk. So, I just wanted to toss out the idea and see if it's feasible at all.
And if it's been shot down in another thread (I did try searching, but I will admit I didn't try digging too deep), feel free to openly flame me as I probably deserve it.
Anyway, thanks for listening to the idea.
[edit] I am seeing a lot of polls in this forum, so I decided to add one. I hope it's not too annoying, but maybe it'll fish out some comments from those who don't feel like responding with a post.
Due to the fact that this forum is getting older, a lot of links to various content have now become dead. This is especially annoying when you're parusing the stickies of a topic looking for tutorials or other resources. It's not really the fault of the forum in anyway, just more of the lack of foresight for the many different people hosting tutorials on their websites which sooner or later become defunct. On top of that, it's not the authors' fault because they can do whatever they wish with their websites.
With that said, I was hoping to propose the idea of creating a centralized online repository for tutorials and other useful resources. The idea would be to have any willing contributors to populate and/or mirror this repository with their articles, tutorials and reasonably-sized utilities (MEL/MAX scripts, shaders, et cetera). I also think that this would be a realistic compromise between having an entire tutorial/resources forum and keeping tutorials and links to tutorials/resources organized within their respected categories.
I'm guessing that the main obstacle for something like this would be bandwidth costs, so perhaps it could run off of user donations, or perhaps limit several tutorials (i.e. video tutorials) to users to pay for access. And then there are other issues as well, including the possibility of standardizing layouts, creating a CMS for users, integration, et cetera. And then there's the issue of how easy it should be for users to post their stuff, because there're always the issues of bogus submissions, viruses, exploit attempts, and the consequent staff moderation that would have to ensue.
I can't really suggest much in the way of means to overcome these problems at the present moment, other than ask the question whether or not the community would support such an idea.
Anyway, so far it's just a little idea I've had in the back of my head these past few days while rummaging through old threads only to find mild disappointments. And I know that several sites exist where you can find several of the resources you need. But even then, some of those sites can change their entire infrastructure causing changes to the URLs for those resources. But I wasn't exactly thinking of something on such a grand scale that would require having one universal source for all of the related resources in the world, just perhaps a place where people can put tutorials within the context of thread conversation while having the piece of mind that the tutorials might outlive the lifespan of their current website.
And again, I don't quite know what kind of a financial strain this would put on things, given the fact that there is a LOT of members here on CGTalk. So, I just wanted to toss out the idea and see if it's feasible at all.
And if it's been shot down in another thread (I did try searching, but I will admit I didn't try digging too deep), feel free to openly flame me as I probably deserve it.
Anyway, thanks for listening to the idea.
[edit] I am seeing a lot of polls in this forum, so I decided to add one. I hope it's not too annoying, but maybe it'll fish out some comments from those who don't feel like responding with a post.