Poserverse Hall of Fame

[eclark1894]

The recent loss of our good friend StudioArtVartanian/Joanna makes me wonder if perhaps it would be a good idea to have sort of a tribute page to people who have made a significant contribution and helped build the Poserverse into the community it is today.

Only thing is, how to do that? I'd hate to have to wait until someone passes away before we could add their names to the Hall of Fame, but on the other hand, I'm not not sure how people who are still living like Phil Cooke, Lisa B., Steve Cooper, Larry Weinberg, Chris Creek and Dan Farr would feel about being listed beside people who are no longer with us like Don Tatro, or Joanna/SAV. (Not saying they wouldn't consider it an honor, but some people get kind of spooked about being listed with the dearly departed while they're still alive.)

I'm not even sure how to do about doing it. A wiki page comes to mind, but who's got the time? A long running thread, perhaps, where you add a name and make your case for why they should be added?

I'd like to hear what you guys have to say.

 

[Pendraia]

I like the idea Earl that people who make contributions to the 3D community get recognised. I'm not sure how it could be done though...

 

[James R.]

A wiki would be alright -- The History of Poser and The People Who Made It What It Is...or something. But that's about Poser itself...the community is far larger and broader than anything represented by people who visit the various Poser forums.

The thread idea is alright, too. It would be a good thing for hashing out who gets put in any Wiki.

But after bouncing this concept off a group of friends over lunch just now, the most common question was, who gets to decide who makes the final list?

The relatively few people (compared to the population of the Poserverse) who read the thread? That wouldn't be equitable because it would only be "The Opinions of Who Deserves Recognition As Listed By The People Who Read This" and not representative of the Poserverse. You'd have to survey everyone, everywhere, to make it fair.

The Poserverse is far larger than any group of forums, so people will be missed on the list as well as left out of "voting". There's always an unsung hero who gets left out, or someone who gets cranky and throws a Forum Fit somewhere if they don't get recognition. And then there's always that person who arrives late and wonders why they didn't get a say.

I'm just thinking out loud here. As I said, not a bad idea, just more complex than it seems on the surface. I'll be interested to see what comes of it if you pursue it.

 

[kobaltkween]

Just a suggestion: I always refer to this as the "content community" rather than the "Poser community." Maybe we could use a similar term for the community as a whole? I think if we're going to keep a record of key contributors, the thing that binds us is the sharing of content and the knowledge of how to use it. Not to take anything away from those whose contributions have been software specific, but I think a more software agnostic "Hall of Fame" would both be more complete in terms of people and in terms of what individuals have done.

 

[eclark1894]

Just a suggestion: I always refer to this as the "content community" rather than the "Poser community." Maybe we could use a similar term for the community as a whole? I think if we're going to keep a record of key contributors, the thing that binds us is the sharing of content and the knowledge of how to use it. Not to take anything away from those whose contributions have been software specific, but I think a more software agnostic "Hall of Fame" would both be more complete in terms of people and in terms of what individuals have done.

The community, as a whole, has always been called the Poserverse or the Poser Community. I mean, if we start extending it beyond that point, where do we stop? With Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates? Copernicus? Michangelo? Whoever invented Clarence, the "dogcow"?

A wiki would be alright -- The History of Poser and The People Who Made It What It Is...or something. But that's about Poser itself...the community is far larger and broader than anything represented by people who visit the various Poser forums.

The thread idea is alright, too. It would be a good thing for hashing out who gets put in any Wiki.

But after bouncing this concept off a group of friends over lunch just now, the most common question was, who gets to decide who makes the final list?

The relatively few people (compared to the population of the Poserverse) who read the thread? That wouldn't be equitable because it would only be "The Opinions of Who Deserves Recognition As Listed By The People Who Read This" and not representative of the Poserverse. You'd have to survey everyone, everywhere, to make it fair.

The Poserverse is far larger than any group of forums, so people will be missed on the list as well as left out of "voting". There's always an unsung hero who gets left out, or someone who gets cranky and throws a Forum Fit somewhere if they don't get recognition. And then there's always that person who arrives late and wonders why they didn't get a say.

I'm just thinking out loud here. As I said, not a bad idea, just more complex than it seems on the surface. I'll be interested to see what comes of it if you pursue it.

You're making it far more complex that it has to be. First of all, it's not like it will be the OFFICIAL wiki of the Poserverse. And second, the people who decide, will be the people who participate, of course.

 

[James R.]

You're making it far more complex that it has to be. First of all, it's not like it will be the OFFICIAL wiki of the Poserverse. And second, the people who decide, will be the people who participate, of course.

If it's nothing "official" and limited to the relative few who will participate, and therefore represents the opinions of just a tiny sample of the Poserverse, I'm not sure how accurate or fair this "Hall of Fame" will be, or how much it will actually mean.

To get as a wide a swathe of the Poserverse as possible, are you going to pose this question on every existing Poser forum? Not every Poser user -- still part of the Poserverse -- uses forums at all, except perhaps to ask for help with an issue. How about posing the question on every Poser-oriented social media vector: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, DeviantArt, Tumblr, etc. etc. etc.? Are you going to try to get the administration of every Poser site on board with this? (That might be an idea...but then it would become "official" in some way, wouldn't it?)

I think this might be more complicated than you think it is, otherwise it's reduced to just a forum post, in which case you don't really need to consult anyone. Just go start a thread (which would be interesting if nothing else).

I understand you want to recognize people for their contributions to the Poserverse. And I like that idea.

But with no criteria and a limited group of participants I can't really see this ending up being anything other than a small clique making a list of their favourite people.

 

[eclark1894]

James, did you even read the first sentence of my first post? All I ever suggested was a tribute page.

 

[tparo]

I'm not sure I understand which community you are referring to when you call it the Poserverse, do you mean it to encompass only Poser users or do you feel that the 3D hobbyist community still see themselves as the Poserverse - there's a chance that many new comers haven't even heard it called that before.

I think a tribute page is a lovely idea but feel that its possibly one of those things that is nice in idea but not so practical in reality, James R has brought up some problems that could be faced, as have you yourself - about those that have simply moved on from the community, they might not like being included or might resent not being included.

Rendo have their Vendor of the month perhaps something like that might be an idea, a render challenge perhaps where you use items or something from a particular creator.

 

[James R.]

James, did you even read the first sentence of my first post? All I ever suggested was a tribute page.

Yes I did read your first post, Earl. You referred to it as a Hall of Fame. That's more than a tribute page.

 

[James R.]

I'm not sure I understand which community you are referring to when you call it the Poserverse, do you mean it to encompass only Poser users or do you feel that the 3D hobbyist community still see themselves as the Poserverse - there's a chance that many new comers haven't even heard it called that before.

Valid point for clarification.

 

[eclark1894]

I see why it's never been done before. Let's just drop the idea completely. It took almost a week and a half to get a response to this thread, and now that it has, the only responses are basically argumentative against my original concept. Tparo points out, quite correctly mind you, that a number of people would never have even heard the "Poserverse" term before and for some reason that would put them off. Of course, I believe once anyone learned the history of the Poser community they'd understand why it was called that.

Problem is, and I admit it just might be because my air conditioner's broken and I'm sweating like a roasting pig, I'm just so put off right now, I just don't care anymore.

 

[Pendraia]

Sorry to hear that Earl...I don't think anyone was trying to put you off. More that some things would need to be clarified before going ahead with it. I hope the weather cools down soon for you...nothing worse when there's no air conditioning.

 

[eclark1894]

Sorry to hear that Earl...I don't think anyone was trying to put you off. More that some things would need to be clarified before going ahead with it. I hope the weather cools down soon for you...nothing worse when there's no air conditioning.

Thanks for your concern, Pen, but I'm dealing with the heat. I grew up in the South without air conditioning, so I've always kept fans around even when the air conditioning is working fine. plus I'm spending a lot more time at work.

As for the tribute, none of it was official, i was just thinking out loud, and some of the objections just didn't make sense to me. What does the number of people who vote on who gets into the Hall of Fame have to do with anything? I can't make anybody vote. i don't participate in polls I see all the time. Because I didn't vote doesn't de-legitimize the final outcome. And obviously if I want more people to participate, I'm going to put up a notice in as many places as possible. And the name is what it is... the "Poserverse". Poser was the first and it started it all and includes DAZ, Rendo, RDNA, Hivewire, etc.

But I'm through now. If i could, I'd either delete or lock the thread and just chalk it up to a bad idea. If somebody else wants to pick it up and run with it, let 'em.

 

[Pendraia]

I like the idea but I'm not really sure how it could effectively be carried out. For it to have true meaning and represent the community it would need some weight behind it. A brokerage could go with Rendo's Hall of Fame or something similar but we don't really have an association that people belong to that could bring weight to the idea. Hope this makes sense...it's been a long day.

 

[Gadget Girl]

I'd hate to have to wait until someone passes away before we could add their names to the Hall of Fame, but on the other hand, I'm not not sure how people who are still living like Phil Cooke, Lisa B., Steve Cooper, Larry Weinberg, Chris Creek and Dan Farr would feel about being listed beside people who are no longer with us like Don Tatro, or Joanna/SAV. (Not saying they wouldn't consider it an honor, but some people get kind of spooked about being listed with the dearly departed while they're still alive.)

I think it's an interesting idea. Although sounds like you may have dropped it already. It's interesting because we live in a special sort of world now. 3D art is still relatively new, and many (if not most) of the first people doing it are still alive. So we're still at the beginning of something new. A lot of the history of this art form is documented by way of being on the internet, but that's not really trust worthy. Yes it's true that often pages are archived by Google even after they've been taken down but still that doesn't mean they are there forever.

In some ways an In Memoriam page is the easiest way to go. There's a lot less controversy over that. Also, you may not realize this, but most of the time lifetime achievement awards and the like are done as fundraisers. A few years back my father was one of the first to receive an award for an "exceptional contributions to the arts in our community". Not that he didn't deserve it, but the event where he got his award was a fundraiser. I went and checked the webpage for those awards, and although they are currently selling tickets to the 2016 awards, no where do they list anything about past recipients.

Most awards sadly are done like this. Lots of times newspapers do local awards to try and boost their own credibility, and that of their reviewers, as well as to sell more issues of the paper where they announce the winners.

I don't tell you this to discourage you, but just so you understand that most of the time when you see awards, people haven't worried about whether they are being 'fair' or not, but about how to sell access to the winners list.

Whoever invented Clarence, the "dogcow"?

you just became my favorite person, although I'm pretty sure it was Clarice the dogcow, because it was the mascot for Clarice Works before Apple bought it out. Also, dogcows, a real thing. This is my parent's dogcow, although his name is York.