What a great start!

[Leah-Admin]

Hi all

I just wanted to say what a great start the forum has got off to and to thank you for your contruntions so far.

I also wanted to express the following which doesn't really apply now as we are a small, friendly bunch who are getting along famously, but I am thinking ahead based on some of my experiences on forums.

As membership grows there may be members people don't get on with for whatever reason. Please if at any point you have an axe to grind do so privately in pm as I will.

On just about every forum I have have ever visited, it has been the case that 'issues' have been discussed on the public board by mods, admin and members alike. This can result in flame wars and marginalising members who can feel bullied or victimised. I don't want that to be the case here.

It is 'life' that we come across people we don't like that much but in 'life' we don't become warriors, posting insults because we feel 'safe' to do so due to the anonymous nature of the Internet.

This forum is not a four-wheel-drive

Laws are changing all the time to make forums liable for the material posted. So from a legal point of view this is one reason it is to be discouraged but mainly I want to discourage it as it's just not 'cricket'.

Let's instead focus on what is good about forums.

Fun banter
Support and encouragement
Help and advice
Self promotion
(Pplease do promote yourself re signatures, gallery and via work requested forum and so on).

So far it's going great guns, let's keep it that way as we grow.

Leah

[Mike_Spicer]

Sounds good!!!

Mike

[cartunes-r-us]

Most abuse I encounter comes through youtube, Leah: any Tom Dick or Harry adds random comments on there, and a lot of it is just plain nasty.

At least on a site like this, we all have cartooning in common, and there is no real need for one-upmanship, which can creep in if things get out of hand.

I am non-competitive by nature [I hated sports at school, and still dislike this sort of thing]: being a cartoonist is all about being an individual, I just want to get my own stuff up to scratch, but good luck to all other members regarding their material.

[Simon Lake]

Wise words cartunes. Like you, I'm just trying to survive here.

[Leah-Admin]

Agreed. I find art is such a personal thing that unless your toons are of a style that mimicks every other toonist, there is no competition as it then comes down to personal taste.

So far everyone here has a very different style which is fabulous.

[boytrotters]

I agree. Except for the fact that I'm clearly a superior being to everyone else here. Just saying.

[Simon Lake]

No.....you're still just a toad.

[boytrotters]

Dang it. I do believe you're right. How demoralising.

[cartunes-r-us]

well, we were all maggots fairly recently, so we're evolving......

[Leah-Admin]

I have to think of more creatures.. I think I have allowed you all to evolve too quickly

This forum alrk is fun isn't it!!

If anyone has any ideas for new features they'd like to see etc. let me know.

Leah