Posted on October 6, 1999

• What am I working on this week and the next?

  • Some new halloween art for an upcoming free seasonal gallery (you’ll see them first).
  • Setting up my own secure server for processing memberships.
  • Setting up a way for you to change your password and/or retrieve your password automatically if you lose it (many issues involved here).
  • RENDERING prints. I have “Solitude” rendering in large format right now, “Sanctuary 1999” is next, then “The Turning”.
  • CDROM…

  In addition to those, I was considering (as a more long term goal) adding a discussion board. I don’t want to re-invent the wheel on this one, so I’m evaluating one or two “off-the-shelf” scripts and I’m leaning towards “The Ultimate Bulliten Board“. Quite a few people have written me about this and I think it sounds interesting, though I’ll admit to being a little uneasy about hosting an open discussion on the merits of my artwork. Would you invite people into your house just so they could criticize you?

  On the flip-side of that coin, I wouldn’t want to host a “mutual-admiration society” either. Check out my guestbook if you want to see what I’m talking about. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the guestbook and the tons of email I get everyday from people who enjoy my work. I’d just rather keep those lines of communication in their proper place.

  So I’m putting the question to you: if I hosted a discussion board, would you use it? What kinds of things would you like to talk about? Should I have seperate boards for the member’s gallery and the public gallery, or should everyone be able to talk (I’m leaning towards the latter, don’t worry though you won’t have to look at any banner ads). Please drop me a line with your thoughts!

• One last thing for now. From the feedback you’ve given me about the relative speeds of shared server and this one, I’ve decided that I will be shifting more of the content over here. Pretty soon, the whole member’s gallery will be on the this machine.