UnfinishedProjects

I stumbled across this link in the comment of another post, and thought it was super promising!

Someone mentioned something about in the US, this would be illegal due to DRM laws - not sure about the specifics of this, but regardless an open source printer seems like something we've needed for ages, as printers are something that always seem like way more of a headache then they need to be. It seems like such a simple technology that has existed for quite some time, but they are always such a pain to deal with. (Maybe it's just my bad luck with printers?)

Hey everyone, the attached link is my write-up about the plans for a new community I am trying to get established.
Since I know a lot of people don't actually follow links to read articles, I'll copy and paste some stuff here:

My ideal for this platform is to build a space that values creativity, learning, and working/tinkering at various projects - whatever that may be, from arts and crafts, to software development, to 3D printing, to scientific research. As the forum title suggests, "UnfinishedProjects" is meant to bring people together to share what they are working on, provide a network to collaborate and work together, and just overall enjoy the journey and make some friends along the way.

The forum is not meant to be a "hyper-niche" space, but instead a place for creatives and tinkerers (the kind of people who always have three half-finished projects sitting on their desk) to come together. While the forum has a slight leaning towards the open source and Creative Commons space, to support the "Libre" community - it's meant to be more of a general philosophy rather than a strict gate-keeping measure.

To initially get started, I am using a free hosting platform, but as soon as I am sure the community has enough members who are committed to the community, I plan on transferring over to nodeBB which has native support for Fediverse integration.

Also, addressing the questions of "why not just create a Lemmy/PieFed instance":

Let me start off by saying that I recognize that mega-forum platforms like Reddit, Lemmy, and PieFed exist, and serve an important function. While Lemmy and PieFed have yet to gain traction, I personally hope that they might eventually mature enough to replace Reddit - but as of now, Reddit is a central platform that allows users to find almost any sub for a random topic, and get questions answered from other people who are also interested in that specific niche. This is great, and I think this is where mega-forums excel.

However, I feel that individual forums (like this one that I am trying to create) have very much died off, with the exception of some already well established and long lived ones (BoardGameGeek, I'm looking at you). What I think a personal forum like this has to offer that mega-forums do not, is the permanence and commitment from its members - generally leading to a smaller but more tightly-knit community and network of individuals. On mega-forums like Reddit, it is so easy for members to move from one sub to another, and get lost in the "social-media" type of posts and memes that detract from the intent of any one specific forum.

Additionally, subs on these platforms are often hyper-niche, which can offer a lot of benefits, but a traditional forum may provide a better place to bring people together from various skill sets, interests, and hobbies to share and encourage one another.

If this is something that you think you might be interested in supporting, I kindly ask that you might be willing to join our community and help us build a place that we can all be proud to participate in.

I hope you all have a great day!
Stay safe in these crazy times ✊

-Anthony

Hey everyone, the attached link is my write-up about the plans for a new community I am trying to get established.
Since I know a lot of people don't actually follow links to read articles, I'll copy and paste some stuff here:

My ideal for this platform is to build a space that values creativity, learning, and working/tinkering at various projects - whatever that may be, from arts and crafts, to software development, to 3D printing, to scientific research. As the forum title suggests, "UnfinishedProjects" is meant to bring people together to share what they are working on, provide a network to collaborate and work together, and just overall enjoy the journey and make some friends along the way.

The forum is not meant to be a "hyper-niche" space, but instead a place for creatives and tinkerers (the kind of people who always have three half-finished projects sitting on their desk) to come together. While the forum has a slight leaning towards the open source and Creative Commons space, to support the "Libre" community - it's meant to be more of a general philosophy rather than a strict gate-keeping measure.

To initially get started, I am using a free hosting platform, but as soon as I am sure the community has enough members who are committed to the community, I plan on transferring over to nodeBB which has native support for Fediverse integration.

Also, addressing the questions of "why not just create a Lemmy/PieFed instance":

Let me start off by saying that I recognize that mega-forum platforms like Reddit, Lemmy, and PieFed exist, and serve an important function. While Lemmy and PieFed have yet to gain traction, I personally hope that they might eventually mature enough to replace Reddit - but as of now, Reddit is a central platform that allows users to find almost any sub for a random topic, and get questions answered from other people who are also interested in that specific niche. This is great, and I think this is where mega-forums excel.

However, I feel that individual forums (like this one that I am trying to create) have very much died off, with the exception of some already well established and long lived ones (BoardGameGeek, I'm looking at you). What I think a personal forum like this has to offer that mega-forums do not, is the permanence and commitment from its members - generally leading to a smaller but more tightly-knit community and network of individuals. On mega-forums like Reddit, it is so easy for members to move from one sub to another, and get lost in the "social-media" type of posts and memes that detract from the intent of any one specific forum.

Additionally, subs on these platforms are often hyper-niche, which can offer a lot of benefits, but a traditional forum may provide a better place to bring people together from various skill sets, interests, and hobbies to share and encourage one another.

If this is something that you think you might be interested in supporting, I kindly ask that you might be willing to join our community and help us build a place that we can all be proud to participate in.

I hope you all have a great day!
Stay safe in these crazy times ✊

-Anthony

With the new Discord changes and the controversy causing people to leave the platform, I decided it was a great excuse for me to finally try to ditch discord. I mostly used discord for my creative endeavors through the years (collaborating on projects, help with software - looking at you Blender and Godot, and etc) but now I really only have my small community that I was trying to start back up based on my board game project.

As someone who drifts from project to project, and often tries to find other people who want to participate in projects - this forum is meant to fill two needs:

‣A communication and contributor hub for the various open source and creative commons projects I am currently working on, as well as a centralized location to access information and assets for said projects.

‣ A place for other creative individuals to network, collaborate, and share their own projects - or even simply chat and meet like minded individuals.

I am a huge advocate for the creative commons, open source software, and the overall Libre community that counters the capitalist models that are so prevalent in the online space. While members of this community don’t need to share these same ideals, I would like to foster a community that can lift up and encourage others who contribute to this space. It would be nice if we could create a community where people help and contribute to each others creative endeavors and improve the FOSS/CC community.

And honestly, I kind of miss the days when forums were the primary form of communication, before discord - so I am excited to see if this community can take off at all.

The community is extremely sparse at the moment, but if any of you would be willing to check it out and stick around for a while to see if we can grow - I would be greatly appreciative. If anyone has feedback for improvement or ideas for direction of the forum, I would love to hear any and all constructive criticism.

And to get ahead of the "Lemmy/Piefed is a forum" comments:
I personally think there is great value in mega-forums like Lemmy, PieFed, and Reddit, and while there are subs for niche topics, the idea of a standalone forum for my specific purpose seems like it has more of an opportunity to create the “small, close-knit” type of community that doesn’t seem to fit within the sphere of these mega-forums.

I could totally be wrong, and maybe its nostalgia, but something about a good old forum seems to bring something different to the table in my eyes.

With the new Discord changes and the controversy causing people to leave the platform, I decided it was a great excuse for me to finally try to ditch discord. I mostly used discord for my creative endeavors through the years (collaborating on projects, help with software - looking at you Blender and Godot, and etc) but now I really only have my small community that I was trying to start back up based on my board game project.

As someone who drifts from project to project, and often tries to find other people who want to participate in projects - this forum is meant to fill two needs:

‣A communication and contributor hub for the various open source and creative commons projects I am currently working on, as well as a centralized location to access information and assets for said projects.

‣ A place for other creative individuals to network, collaborate, and share their own projects - or even simply chat and meet like minded individuals.

I am a huge advocate for the creative commons, open source software, and the overall Libre community that counters the capitalist models that are so prevalent in the online space. While members of this community don’t need to share these same ideals, I would like to foster a community that can lift up and encourage others who contribute to this space. It would be nice if we could create a community where people help and contribute to each others creative endeavors and improve the FOSS/CC community.

And honestly, I kind of miss the days when forums were the primary form of communication, before discord - so I am excited to see if this community can take off at all.

The community is extremely sparse at the moment, but if any of you would be willing to check it out and stick around for a while to see if we can grow - I would be greatly appreciative. If anyone has feedback for improvement or ideas for direction of the forum, I would love to hear any and all constructive criticism.

And to get ahead of the "Lemmy/Piefed is a forum" comments:
I personally think there is great value in mega-forums like Lemmy, PieFed, and Reddit, and while there are subs for niche topics, the idea of a standalone forum for my specific purpose seems like it has more of an opportunity to create the “small, close-knit” type of community that doesn’t seem to fit within the sphere of these mega-forums.

I could totally be wrong, and maybe its nostalgia, but something about a good old forum seems to bring something different to the table in my eyes.

With the new Discord changes and the controversy causing people to leave the platform, I decided it was a great excuse for me to finally try to ditch discord. I mostly used discord for my creative endeavors through the years (collaborating on projects, help with software - looking at you Blender and Godot, and etc) but now I really only have my small community that I was trying to start back up based on my board game project.

As someone who drifts from project to project, and often tries to find other people who want to participate in projects - this forum is meant to fill two needs:

‣A communication and contributor hub for the various open source and creative commons projects I am currently working on, as well as a centralized location to access information and assets for said projects.

‣ A place for other creative individuals to network, collaborate, and share their own projects - or even simply chat and meet like minded individuals.

I am a huge advocate for the creative commons, open source software, and the overall Libre community that counters the capitalist models that are so prevalent in the online space. While members of this community don’t need to share these same ideals, I would like to foster a community that can lift up and encourage others who contribute to this space. It would be nice if we could create a community where people help and contribute to each others creative endeavors and improve the FOSS/CC community.

And honestly, I kind of miss the days when forums were the primary form of communication, before discord - so I am excited to see if this community can take off at all.

The community is extremely sparse at the moment, but if any of you would be willing to check it out and stick around for a while to see if we can grow - I would be greatly appreciative. If anyone has feedback for improvement or ideas for direction of the forum, I would love to hear any and all constructive criticism.

And to get ahead of the "Lemmy/Piefed is a forum" comments:
I personally think there is great value in mega-forums like Lemmy, PieFed, and Reddit, and while there are subs for niche topics, the idea of a standalone forum for my specific purpose seems like it has more of an opportunity to create the “small, close-knit” type of community that doesn’t seem to fit within the sphere of these mega-forums.

I could totally be wrong, and maybe its nostalgia, but something about a good old forum seems to bring something different to the table in my eyes.