FYI - WetCanvas

I also notice that WC finally wiped out the Debates forum. Honestly, it was no great loss; more like putting a sick animal out of its misery. The Debates were not what they once were a decade ago. I remember signing on in the morning before school and making a post on a particularly hot topic only to return after school to find 5 or 7 or 11 pages of new posts... pages! The Debates were home to many truly brilliant and interesting individuals. And no, it was not limited to debates on American politics... although such did show up. Unfortunately, there were more than a few who were unable to hold their own in such an environment and so rather than simply avoiding the Debates, they felt the need to dismantle them for everyone else.

I am fine with the lack of such a contentious forum here as Arty made it clear from the start that she did not wish to provide a venue for arguments. A good many years ago I was a participant on a wholly unmoderated Literature forum. There were lots of brilliant members: Grad School students, PhDs, professors, and authors... and many of the members went under pseudonyms which were actually more akin to invented characters. You quickly learned to hold your own. Simple insults or profanity got you nowhere. Such was just proof of weak thinking. Rather, it was wit that counted. It was like the film, Ridicule. Honestly, as a result of the increasing expectations in my job... thanks to ignorant politicians who imagine that they are qualified to make decisions involving Education... I don't have the time for such... not if I want to have some time for painting. Neither do I really have the desire to continually prove that someone on the internet that I don't really know is wrong. :rolleyes: :);)
 
I lobbied strongly there for putting Debates out of its misery. The old Debates was what I call a magic scene. In my life these usually were about the guitar. Some of them were just, well, magic. They coalesced on their own, flourished for awhile, then evaporated, or morphed into a pedestrian scene. Debates had a good run-- magic scenes usually don't last long.

You can tell this was a magic scene just by the look of all our faces. That's me standing center with Telecaster Custom and shades, next to Matt. His wife Susie is holding Ivon, the blind store cat. 35 Bedford St, Greenwich Village, circa 1971.

store_photo.jpg
 
stlukesguild said:
Just out of curiosity, I visited WC today. I was pleasantly surprised! They have a new format. Looks much more like this site. You still have to type your reply and then scroll down to submit but if they had used that format in the beginning, we might all still be there.

Are you still limited to posting a single image per post?
Click to expand...
I didn't check that David, I was just looking at the layout.
 
I was a rather new user on WC (made a account just a couple of months before transition), and after some serious tries to participate, gave up on it.
Apart from the horrible interface, that is (was?) bad enough, the real deal breaker imo was the loss of info.
The attractive part of the site was the wealth of knowledge and hands on experience accumulated there. When that disappeared (the search didn't work well, and most links turning up were broken), and participation was a ridiculous chore, there wasn't really any point in staying there.
I would be prepared to give it another try if things have improved.
But for now I like it here a lot, it's a smaller crowd, but that has its advantages, you get to know the regular
posters a bit, it's rather cosy...;)
 
I just wish they’d set up a way to see new posts/comments or at least when things were last commented on.
 
What I don't understand about the old Debates is how many people who never even participated, or did so only rarely, insisted on dissing it, as though those of us who loved it were a bunch of pariahs just because we enjoyed arguing about stuff other than art.

This means you, Bill Martin.

And including art. There was once a long thread called "The End of PoMo?" which I'm sure stlukes remembers. I learned a lot from that thread. And many others on various topics.

But like I said, magic scenes usually don't last long. Almost all the people who enjoyed the old Debates are long gone from WC. People change, get married, get real jobs, have kids, and the scene just dissipates.

If for nothing else, I owe the old Debates because I met the greatest platonic love of my life there. Over the past fourteen years she's become my littlest sister (she's sixty) in all but blood. She was one of the most brilliant of all the participants. Twice as smart as me, easy.
 
It's would be nice for you guys if WC got better. Then you can enjoy a bigger crowd, which this place isn't, of course. I would not be able to join you there since I was permanently banned from there, but I hope it works out better there if their interface got better. Sounds good. :)
 
E.J.H. said:
I was a rather new user on WC (made a account just a couple of months before transition), and after some serious tries to participate, gave up on it.
Apart from the horrible interface, that is (was?) bad enough, the real deal breaker imo was the loss of info.
The attractive part of the site was the wealth of knowledge and hands on experience accumulated there. When that disappeared (the search didn't work well, and most links turning up were broken), and participation was a ridiculous chore, there wasn't really any point in staying there.
I would be prepared to give it another try if things have improved.
But for now I like it here a lot, it's a smaller crowd, but that has its advantages, you get to know the regular
posters a bit, it's rather cosy...;)
Click to expand...

That was almost exactly my experience at WC as well.
 
Artyczar said:
It's would be nice for you guys if WC got better. Then you can enjoy a bigger crowd, which this place isn't, of course. I would not be able to join you there since I was permanently banned from there, but I hope it works out better there if their interface got better. Sounds good. :)
Click to expand...
I have no desire (and I suspect I echo most of the members here) to leave this site. We are a more intimate group and many of us have known most of the others for several years. I've been watching the numbers climb and for a tiny site that the owner didn't think would have 10 members, we are just about ready to celebrate our first 100 members! I think it is great that we can say we got in on the ground floor. :giggle:
 
Thank you Sno. I really appreciate that. Yes, I did not think anyone would join at all. I don't mind it being a small place, and 100 members is nothing to balk at. A couple of the members are test bots however, so I can't exactly count those, but it's nearly 100 now! ;) That's saying something from this labor of love. A few of you are contributing members and that is also very, very encouraging. It helps out a lot! :) Thank you. And thank you to everyone who has made this place so valuable already just by your great participation.
 
You mean there are other Art Forums? Well, I never. I knew life was taking a turn for the weird...............................................................
 
We're like two bubbles. (let you fill in the rest)

As somebody said, it is like the Truman Show. "Let us take another round. Slip it in the chamber, like so. Spin the wheel. This should make things a little more exciting."
 
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