Improvements, of the third kind...

[PinkFloydYoshi]

Ok, now you've all known me long enough (Minus everyone that wasn't here right when I first appeared, 3+ years ago) so I guess this comes up as no surprise.

We've had this theme a long time now. Not only this, but we also have an Oekaki, our own Yoshi's Corner News Network blog thingy, and even the proposed idea of the weekly bulletin which never really kicked off back in March last year (There may still be hope yet!), not to mention that our very own Toshi has also kicked off his series of Yoshi's Corner comics. I have to admit we're one of (THE most loyal and closest of the Yoshi communities) the most loyal and close knit communities around. Generally, for the most part all members conduct themselves properly and are fantastic to get along with, which is more than I can say for our counterpart. (I bet you can guess who that is!)

The board is expanding, and in true PinkFloydYoshi style, I feel it's time for a slight change. We've got all these new unique qualities:

A loyal and friendly memberbase,
Our own Oekaki (Thanks to Strangie, and hosted by myself),
Yoshi's Corner News Network (Thanks to moot, hosted by the lovely folks over at Wordpress),
Yoshi's Corner Chat (While I do run it, it's you guys who make it what it is today),
and the potential for a weekly newsletter (Courtesy of Contention).

...Yet we're not linking to any directly on all pages, meaning they're hardly the easiest to get to. They all have their own threads, which means you as our members are having to go searching for them! Now, as one of the leading contributors to the Yoshi community, this isn't enough! All these unique services we run are not being taken advantage of in the way they should simply because of the lack of exposure, and being honest I'm sure a lot of you don't even know of any of their presence! As a result I'll be talking over in the Yoshi's Corner chat room #yc during the course of today what our members would like to see changed, for example, a most popular colour theme.

Also coming along with this will be a contest!

With a new theme, must come a new banner. Our current one is thanks to Pawy which is great, but if the decided colour theme is going to be, say, red and yellow (God forbid) it's not going to fit in. Not to mention I would like to trim down the usable area for the banner as at the moment, the banner, and board header themselves are using up a ridiculous amount of space, which isn't good for those with low screen resolutions, such as 800x600 in which just the board header and the banner will take up a good 40% of the screen!

Not only this, but there will be much easier access to the services myself, administration and our board members are offering to the board's members.

Comments? Suggestions? Fire away.

[Blitzzoshi]

I think at the very least we should have a splash page of some kind to link the stuff together.

<Yoshi's Corner>

<Boards> <Blog> <Chat> <Oekaki>

It's far too isolated as it is.

I do like this current board theme, though a few extra styles couldn't hurt. I've had an idea for a short while about a random banner thing. Meaning, the same logo text would be there for each random image, with some other random decoration. See here: Link. Just keep refreshing the page. You'll see what I mean.

[Fluory]

I agree with Blitz's suggestion about having perhaps a splash page for all of the sites. We could also have a thread/post/note on each site that lists all the sister sites. Not something huge that takes away from the layout, but (to use the YC as a direct example) perhaps a sticky thread in the general chat that lists the sites we're affiliated with and has discussion for all of them on it.

I could try making another banner, if no one minds. I like designing banners a lot, although I'd like to see what everyone else can come up with, as well.

[red.yoshi]

Um, OK. I support the affiliation on two conditions;
a) The site has a link back to us.
b) If the affiliation is in a banner at the bottom of our splash/board sites, I support only if the affiliated site has our site in a visible banner in their splash/forum page. Otherwise, I support affiliation listed in its own thread, perhaps a board dedicated to affiliated websites.
(P.S. I don't believe TYFN at the bottom of our website qulifies as an affiliate anymore since they have no link back to us. I believe we already settled this in the past.)
Not that my opinion on this subject matters or anything . . .

I do support everything else.

[Twi]

redyoshi said:

Um, OK. I support the affiliation on two conditions;
a) The site has a link back to us.
b) If the affiliation is in a banner at the bottom of our splash/board sites, I support only if the affiliated site has our site in a visible banner in their splash/forum page. Otherwise, I support affiliation listed in its own thread, perhaps a board dedicated to affiliated websites.
(P.S. I don't believe TYFN at the bottom of our website qulifies as an affiliate anymore since they have no link back to us. I believe we already settled this in the past.)
Not that my opinion on this subject matters or anything . . .

I do support everything else.

The reason TFYN is at the bottom of our page is because it's run by PinkFloydYoshi and so it makes sense for him to put it at the bottom of another website he runs. It's not like it matters anyway, no-one particularly cares anymore and the fact they don't link back isn't of any concern.

Anyway all the idea are good, shout and agree and all that.

I still say we should have a Yoshi's Corner radio show >=|

[PinkFloydYoshi]

I want to remove the affiliates thing. I highly doubt it is used anymore (After all this time, I feel the whole affiliates system is just silly anyway) and it's a pain to keep updated. I'll talk over that with Lazo and Strangie though. I stopped using the affiliates thing over on TYFN ages ago and haven't felt the need to start using it again.

I'll look at the possibilities of a splash page though, I don't usually go for splash screens but having no site might allow it to become a good portal of sorts. Yes, Pawy you can if you wish, but I still don't know what sort of sizes I'm going to use. I still haven't had chance to catch up with Lazo and Strangie yet, but will do in a bit. I was going to do a contest to see what sort of designs come of it, involve the community a bit so to speak.

[Strangie]

What's this? My opinion is valued?! INCREDULOUS GASP!!

But seriously, all of that sounds well and good. I hope you have more success than I did trying to make things happen, because all of the group projects I try fall flat. Is it me, or everybody else? I think it's me.

Also, moar radio.

[Moot]

I'd be all for embarrasing Strangie over internet radio again.