From the community, with the community, for the community

[sundancer]

It’s da glorious REVALUSHN!

No, but seriously. In last nights stream of the show that shall not be named we had a lengthy discussion about what we (the OTTer/Backstagers/CoGs/members) can do to improve this community. It’s been a hot minute since then and I’m probably forgetting some things and might even get some things wrong so bare with me and chime in.

Preamble: We (the community) do know that the site is clinging on for dear life and is running not on all cylinders. We also know that Tom is doing is best in getting this beast roaring again. This thread is not about how broken the project system is or what things should be changed on a technical level. This is about the heart and soul of it all. 

Meetups

Yes, setting up any kind of in person meeting is work but we all agreed that the chemistry just hits differently when people are actually sitting next to each other. Of course this is (by nature) limited to those people already living close to each other but we’d love to see some kind of get together with people outside monster events like UKGE

Painting competitions

BoW/OTT does set up events on the big screen and that is great but what could make this feel more like a community again would be things like a monthly painting competition run by the community with out big prize support and just a theme per month. (Similar to what the gaming club thing is at @warbossd )

Cut the WAYPN thread

It’s too long. It’s too big and can’t be navigated. “We should cut that thread down” has been uttered from the OTT Team more than once but action never came. (And this is not to blame the team because we all can do basic math and see how much content you put out there and how many of you there are) Maybe I will just go to the thread when I’m done writing this up and start a fresh WAYPN thread by myself. What’s the worst that could happen?

Not use the project system to avoid frustration

Yeah this is a weird one but hear me out: I’ve lost count on how often people are complaining that the PS is eating their posts and pictures and how that keeps them from even trying any more. That is bleeding interaction. So as a “short term” solution I would urge anybody who’s not willing to put up with the very wonky PS to use the forum. Start a thread instead of a project and put your work there. Yes this undermines the PS but it could lead to way much more activity. Until the PS is “up for the task” this would take a lot of stress from users.

One for the Team

Please, get rid of all entries in the footer saying [Coming soon]. How long has it been since BoW 2.0? 8 years? 9? It’s just silly and depressing so please axe it.

A second one for the team

We do know you are busy behind the curtains. And we appreciate every time you interact with us. But when was the last time anybody on the team has started a forum thread or even participated in a topic for more than just “an entry”? We understand that you can’t answer every comment in articles and under videos but there must be something more. You guys still do like to do hobby, don’t you?

That’s all from me for now and I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few ideas that came up last night and I urge those who where there to chime in on this.

Now I will put “the team” into this to make sure it get’s noticed. Usually I don’t like doing it, it’s so SPAM like, but in this case I feel they need to hear it.

@warzan

@lloyd

@johnlyons

@dignity

@shayott

@brennon

@avernos

[sundancer]

It’s da glorious REVALUSHN!

No, but seriously. In last nights stream of the show that shall not be named we had a lengthy discussion about what we (the OTTer/Backstagers/CoGs/members) can do to improve this community. It’s been a hot minute since then and I’m probably forgetting some things and might even get some things wrong so bare with me and chime in.

Preamble: We (the community) do know that the site is clinging on for dear life and is running not on all cylinders. We also know that Tom is doing is best in getting this beast roaring again. This thread is not about how broken the project system is or what things should be changed on a technical level. This is about the heart and soul of it all. 

Meetups

Yes, setting up any kind of in person meeting is work but we all agreed that the chemistry just hits differently when people are actually sitting next to each other. Of course this is (by nature) limited to those people already living close to each other but we’d love to see some kind of get together with people outside monster events like UKGE

Painting competitions

BoW/OTT does set up events on the big screen and that is great but what could make this feel more like a community again would be things like a monthly painting competition run by the community with out big prize support and just a theme per month. (Similar to what the gaming club thing is at @warbossd )

Cut the WAYPN thread

It’s too long. It’s too big and can’t be navigated. “We should cut that thread down” has been uttered from the OTT Team more than once but action never came. (And this is not to blame the team because we all can do basic math and see how much content you put out there and how many of you there are) Maybe I will just go to the thread when I’m done writing this up and start a fresh WAYPN thread by myself. What’s the worst that could happen?

Not use the project system to avoid frustration

Yeah this is a weird one but hear me out: I’ve lost count on how often people are complaining that the PS is eating their posts and pictures and how that keeps them from even trying any more. That is bleeding interaction. So as a “short term” solution I would urge anybody who’s not willing to put up with the very wonky PS to use the forum. Start a thread instead of a project and put your work there. Yes this undermines the PS but it could lead to way much more activity. Until the PS is “up for the task” this would take a lot of stress from users.

One for the Team

Please, get rid of all entries in the footer saying [Coming soon]. How long has it been since BoW 2.0? 8 years? 9? It’s just silly and depressing so please axe it.

A second one for the team

We do know you are busy behind the curtains. And we appreciate every time you interact with us. But when was the last time anybody on the team has started a forum thread or even participated in a topic for more than just “an entry”? We understand that you can’t answer every comment in articles and under videos but there must be something more. You guys still do like to do hobby, don’t you?

That’s all from me for now and I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few ideas that came up last night and I urge those who where there to chime in on this.”

Edit:

I did “cut” the WAYPN thread. Let’s see how that works out.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 6 days ago by sundancer. Reason: Inserting old text hopefully

[sundancer]

Flock it, why stop here. Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins!

[PaintComp] July 2025

[zoidpinhead]

Thanks for collating this Tim and for getting some things going.  We love OTT and think it is the most positive hobby community and there is a lot of love out there for things that only happen here.  I loved the Spring Clean Challenge and we like that there are longer term things to do here too.

We did mention hobby content from the team.  It has been a long time since the last long VLOG series or big table build or whole army build.  We appreciate that hobby takes time and the volume of product content required here now seems to preclude anything happening off the cuff.  You guys are great and we’d like to see you do some hobbying again please especially if you tackle something that us mere mortals don’t have the time, space or money to do.

[warhammergrimace]

We need a modelling series from John on tanks with tank info….a sort of tank masterclass….

[sundancer]

“John talks tanks” and “John goes Gundam”

Just a suggestion

[radegast6]

..and we did mention more videos from not only Gerry – we love him to guts  but it would be nice to see other faces  more often,

[danlee]

What’s happening to the forum? I got an email and read your first post in this thread – yet when I come here all I can see now are replies. The original post – the one with the most important information – is missing. Same goes for the painting competition thread.

[zoidpinhead]

Here is @sundancer ‘s first post again for those who missed it:

“It’s da glorious REVALUSHN!

No, but seriously. In last nights stream of the show that shall not be named we had a lengthy discussion about what we (the OTTer/Backstagers/CoGs/members) can do to improve this community. It’s been a hot minute since then and I’m probably forgetting some things and might even get some things wrong so bare with me and chime in.

Preamble: We (the community) do know that the site is clinging on for dear life and is running not on all cylinders. We also know that Tom is doing is best in getting this beast roaring again. This thread is not about how broken the project system is or what things should be changed on a technical level. This is about the heart and soul of it all. 

Meetups

Yes, setting up any kind of in person meeting is work but we all agreed that the chemistry just hits differently when people are actually sitting next to each other. Of course this is (by nature) limited to those people already living close to each other but we’d love to see some kind of get together with people outside monster events like UKGE

Painting competitions

BoW/OTT does set up events on the big screen and that is great but what could make this feel more like a community again would be things like a monthly painting competition run by the community with out big prize support and just a theme per month. (Similar to what the gaming club thing is at @warbossd )

Cut the WAYPN thread

It’s too long. It’s too big and can’t be navigated. “We should cut that thread down” has been uttered from the OTT Team more than once but action never came. (And this is not to blame the team because we all can do basic math and see how much content you put out there and how many of you there are) Maybe I will just go to the thread when I’m done writing this up and start a fresh WAYPN thread by myself. What’s the worst that could happen?

Not use the project system to avoid frustration

Yeah this is a weird one but hear me out: I’ve lost count on how often people are complaining that the PS is eating their posts and pictures and how that keeps them from even trying any more. That is bleeding interaction. So as a “short term” solution I would urge anybody who’s not willing to put up with the very wonky PS to use the forum. Start a thread instead of a project and put your work there. Yes this undermines the PS but it could lead to way much more activity. Until the PS is “up for the task” this would take a lot of stress from users.

One for the Team

Please, get rid of all entries in the footer saying [Coming soon]. How long has it been since BoW 2.0? 8 years? 9? It’s just silly and depressing so please axe it.

A second one for the team

We do know you are busy behind the curtains. And we appreciate every time you interact with us. But when was the last time anybody on the team has started a forum thread or even participated in a topic for more than just “an entry”? We understand that you can’t answer every comment in articles and under videos but there must be something more. You guys still do like to do hobby, don’t you?

That’s all from me for now and I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few ideas that came up last night and I urge those who where there to chime in on this.”

Then the OTT team were tagged in but I’m pretty sure they don’t need me to repeat that.

[sundancer]

Huh? What happened here? oO

Where did the post go? Please tell me that was just a crash/casualty of Tom’s work to update the side and not something “darker and more sinister”

[sundancer]

Seems like the forum is having hick-ups. Especially when users are tagged with @

weird.

[lawnor]

I’ve just uploaded a lot of pics to the project system over 2 projects and I’m likely to update a 3rd in a minute, but stopped by this thread to see what’s going on.  I am happy to say that not only is the project system not eating any posts this morning, but it is working fast and I never once saw that screen saying there’s an issue with the connection.  Perhaps the recent Cloudflare issues have resulted in them fixing a few long term issues, and things have improved?  Perhaps Tom has worked enough wonders, or sacrificed enough goats at last?  Or perhaps I just got lucky?

Anyway, the project system was a pleasure to use this morning and hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.

[hobbybrush]

Interesting seeing this from the veterans of the community here.

as a long time fan but only recently starting to get involved I was thinking how I move forward presenting my hobby going forwards.

The project system seemed a good place to start, rather than investing in a new site or blog, but it’s worrying seeing this coming from the Vets!

[limburger]

The project system isn’t too bad. You just got to take it one tiny step at a time and be mindful of it being an on-line thing.
The people posting a lot tend to run into more issues as a result.

Anyways … on to more positive things.

A monthly hobby theme that isn’t tied to prize is a good idea, because posting stuff on the interwebs for other folk to look at can be stressfull enough. Especially when you see the kind of talent that exists within this community.

It could function as a more contained / focused WAYPN thread, which is easier to navigate and a great source of ideas at the same time. That’s a win/win in my opinion as it helps the forum and the community at the same time.

I kind of like how the themes that the Yellow Belly stream has mentioned are abstract enough that you don’t have to be a hobby butterfly with tons of games to get something out of it.

The best thing is that we don’t need permission from anyone to start a monthly/weekly thread.
All that’s required is for someone to start a thread. It’s kind of how the uncle jimmy thread (which evolved into the unofficial weekender thread that sundancer tends to start almost every friday) got started in the before times.

[zoidpinhead]

I can echo lawnor’s comments about the Project system which is doing well at the moment as long as I upload after every set of photos.  I’m happy with that as a compromise as I find the project system is both personally useful but also enormously inspiring when I see the great work going on across the community.  I’m glad this work gets showcased every week and I know quite a few of us are very pleased with the time and attention the team spend when talking about our projects.  Thanks all.

For those of us who can see the COG Forum, some of the themes expressed in this topic has been around for a while.  See this previous thread.

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