... but I have to: here and now. We as a collective have become something I don't like - community first, modding second. This actually does weigh heavily upon my heart, as I will explain. First off - I'm not writing this to say anything truly negative about PimpRig - because it's obvious I love it more than any site. But there are nasty trends developing I can't help but notice... trends that need to be repaired.

I really hate it when some lil' tick turd comes here and says it, but I feel I must at this time because PR is going down a shaky path in my ever so not humble opinion. We have less work logs than the sites we used to joke about even a year ago. Mods that spread through the affiliate's forums are less common, nearing non-existing at this time. I'm guilty as sin - I've never done a worklog, never shown my skills or lack there-of here yet I obtained the station of Staff. Truly thankful to my other staff members, but as I think about it - I should have never been entertained for the position as I look back now.

We're as a site growing soft by the month is seems now - to deny it would be lying to ourselves and others. Yes we're more up on overclocking than some of the affiliate sites - but as I understand it PR was created for modding. The two go hand in hand after all - can't really draw a clear line to seperate the two. The mods needed for a case to happily co-exist with watercooling could be an entire chapter in a book. I am not in any way shape or form sayin' the information shared and requested on overclocking are lesser in importance - but as a signal that the brightness of the title "Modding Site" is tarnishing because of the off-balance aspect of it all.

We do modding of course, there are VERY notable accomplishments. We as a community have the knowledge base rivaling if not beating any other site out there. But numbers sitting in a reference book on a shelf, has never alone made an engine roar. We've hit a rut it seems, and I might not know how to solve it - I have some ideas on where to start.

1) When someone asks how to perform a modification to hardware, case, whatever the question may be, NEVER say "It's probably to difficult for you to try" or "It's easier and cheaper to buy it". Answer first, give the disclaimer at the end. Chances are if you answer the questions straight and to the point - before they reach these disclaimer statements - they'll know if they can or not.

1b) Thanks to Flounder for reminding me in his words (Slightly edited for typos) "i always hate it when someone comes in asking for help and folks slam them because they didn't do a search first ....maybe they couldn't find the right name or even remember a case or mobo ,when people reply to a thread "use the ****ing search its already been posted" .It leaves a bad taste and we turn away folks,that in turn turns away ideas"

2) Do not feed the trolls. We can roast em and dice em well. Do we need to continually prove it though? True the moderators don't get paid much/any, but they enjoy their job. A friendly warning - a friendly wave as they insult you won't tarnish your image, just theirs.

3) Never use money as the scapegoat to why you can't mod.... for 6 months running. If you couldn't collect the 40 dollars for a can of Duplicolor paint and dremel bits, how can you afford internet service?

4) People may put garbage in the gallery, post "ghetto" worklogs even. How about staying on track and pointing out their less than stellar choices instead of belittling their intelligence? Clean the wiring, premod, idiot, and n00b for how often used should have macros associated with them to save some the effort - it'll be great, because no effort was used to say them. Sure many of us could buy a sleeving kit, but if they did that, would the rest of the case be a 10? Most of the time no, so how about sharing a few other observations too.

5) C'mon folks - would it be that difficult to read around the bad grammar when it's obvious English isn't their native language? They damn well tried to type in English, lest you can do it damn well try to help them. They came to our forums asking for help, not to be reminded their in English 1. If they're from an English speaking nation and if they're over 12, bash em for all I care - now they DO deserve it.

6) Make an effort to think outside of the case. Paint, LEDS, CCFLs, and windows with appliques are all good and well because that's the barebone-bread and water of modding since they're generally what wets newbie's feet, but I like at lest seeing some meat once in a while.

To any visitors that read this - please come in and join. As I said above collectively we have far more than enough knowledge, I made this post to fire up our own members with their own cases. New members are our life blood after all, and at lest I will go the extra mile now especially to help anyone that asks a question in our forums. Some may have noticed that I will answer a person's question even during a flame war now. Don't think I will not raise BS flags, or get down right mean if someone tries to tread on me or PR though.

On a positive note, I am thinking about funding a contest out of my OWN pocket to see the sparks fly off a dremel as regularly as they did when I joined. I love this site more than most could imagen - and I'm willing to PAY for just a chance see it do better than ever. Some may wonder what brought this about - the reason is simple. I visited our affiliates and my blood pumped and my gray matter got exercised. I want that feeling not once a week, not even every other day - I want to see stuff that makes ME feel severly inferior every day of the week.

Iateronmly - Has a pocket full of cut off discs, a drill in one hand, a dremel in the other, and dreams again.

I feel ya Brother...

I am guilty of setting down my dremmel and picking up the refrigeration tools...
But I'll change that all and I will promise to add the bling that we are well known for...

Excellent post my man...you get a 16 pop for that...

my wheels have been spinning with ideas ,no excuses but i gotta get supplies together to take measurments.
but i have decided when everything comes together i am gunna do a work log,i suck on overclocking.So i think the decision has been made for me to do more things visually.

good post, i know im still kind of new to pimprig but i see where your comming from, i recently did a "outside of the case" mod literally. WDoG A M P M O D. that was really out of the case. Thank You

WDoG

True I agree with ya lat. Truthfully I came to PR for a contest. But I've stayed, don't know why, but the longer the stay I've found that some of the people here truly want to help and they have helped a lot.

Well I'm currently modding you know that. And there has been lots of praise which I really appreciate! LoL

Yet, some people have given me sh*t about hurring up. Also about not ever seeing a mod take so long. You know what I say? STFU. If you think a mod takes so long, do it yourself at least you'd contribute to PR that way!


For all the modders out there...

Don't care about what other people think, mod what and how you want to. Take your time, and you'll stand out from the crowd.

Quote: Originally Posted by JessAlba452 Yet, some people have given me sh*t about hurring up. Also about not ever seeing a mod take so long. You know what I say? STFU. If you think a mod takes so long, do it yourself at least you'd contribute to PR that way! :

Good to hear. Also odds are most that tell you that haven't done as much as you have either. Lord knows I haven't... yet.

Bling for the post when I can, lateron.

I'm guilty of some of these things myself, oh hell, I'll guilty of most aforementioned entirely.

I was put on probationary for intentionally going around censors which are our
bottom level of content security, it was stupid and idiotic, and I deserve what I got.

That said, I'd like to believe I'm evolving and reserving my butane flamethrower for
the few posters that actually deserve it, with no actual intention of resorting to it.

Always remember, people don't come here for generic responses that they can get somewhere else, we
should feel obligated to answer and give relavent input like no other, where & when we feel we should.
I'm vowing to this here on out and I'm happy to say that I've already started. I'm here to stay.

Thats the real solution, going back to our roots, complete professionality with flare, how this very site started.

- Tom

P.S. DW or BA, could you unlock me from the Member Reviews forum so I can post my heatsink review?

Iateronmly, I'm damn near speachless! I can appreciate how hard it was for you to write it, but for you to post it took balls, especially since it came from your Heart and Soul.

I think you expressed what a lot of senior members have been thinking and feeling for sometime now. There have been similar threads, but yours by far puts it in a new light.

I hope all active members read this thread and then think about it.

Michael

Guilty. On one hand, I came here with very little knowledge and it's definately still growing, but everything else can be distracting from the actual purpose. The problem is, a much better conversation stems from somebody's girl problems than the "OMG that looks amazing!" from a mod thread. That's not to say they're better, but that there's a lot more you can say in a response

Quote: Originally Posted by JessAlba452 True I agree with ya lat. Truthfully I came to PR for a contest. But I've stayed, don't know why, but the longer the stay I've found that some of the people here truly want to help and they have helped a lot. Well I'm currently modding you know that. And there has been lots of praise which I really appreciate! LoL Yet, some people have given me sh*t about hurring up. Also about not ever seeing a mod take so long. You know what I say? STFU. If you think a mod takes so long, do it yourself at least you'd contribute to PR that way! For all the modders out there... Don't care about what other people think, mod what and how you want to. Take your time, and you'll stand out from the crowd.

I hear yah Jess... I've been stop and go on a case for over a year now... Life gets in the way and then chills for me to do a little work, and then life happens again...

Just wanted to say that was a great post, and My new LAN Machine is my first log and there will be many more. I here ya on the rude stuff to n00bs (unless they're asking for it).

Somettimes things need to be said, and props to ya for saying them!

I'm no where near what most of the modders can do, but I try.

Though I will admit to a lot of what you said man, I could make excuses about time or money.. or just the pure fact that I'm lazy and would rather spend my time with my girlfriend.. or playing World of Warcraft.

There are always a handful of excuses and reasons why not to mod. But what about reasons to do it?
That's the tricky one. But as for most who are here.. the main reason is for the love and creativitiy of modding, the challenge of cooling and OCing, the rush from getting something working right!

Hobbies are ment to give you something to do during your free time. Now this doesn't mean you have to be modding every waking moment. But getting back to basics and doing anything is better than nothing at all.

Took some guts to post that man. And it couldn't have been said any better.
Rock on Iat

(As for a side note.. now that my rig is practically done, a new project will be on the rise for me soon enough)

Life before modding. Now where did I put my damn cut-off wheel shaft........

MOD, MOD, MOD, MOD, MOD...
great article. lets get our mod on.

Wow.....I wish I could write stuff like that again .

I can keep PR with snippets of News that I find before Newsbot snatches them, but Modding wise I cant. Im under new law and order as of the last 2 days (its called love), and I have to save up for a flat, and a lot more. Modding is just out full stop, along with my excessive clothes price tag expenditure (Burton is also out).

Going to wirte an article later on this month on building a cutomers PC, so will see how that goes. You might see a couple of improvments made to the ol' case, but I cat see a lot in the near future. Seems news and writing will be all from here. I do however completly understand what you mean - seeing on PR, mostly theres about 50-70% of the online members (or sodding guests that dont do anything except look) are in anything goes. It is nice for a community atmosphere but the main goal hasn't been hit for a while now.


As Im_Gumby once said : Reason? 62 JAVA GAMES! THATS THE REASON!.

Amen brother...great post


Hey yall, I slightly modded my SNOT-a last w/e, but I didn't post any of it...I will though, don't worry!

I have noticed this trend as well and, of course, am guilty of some of those points myself, we probably all are.
That said, I do have 2 major projects going, one in the actual modding phase and another "still in development" as I plan to introduce A64 to the "Pimped Rig". The Animals mod will use my current setup with some surprises thrown in for good measure. (might surprise me as much as you if they turn out even half as good as planned)

Quote: 1) When someone asks how to perform a modification to hardware, case, whatever the question may be, NEVER say "It's probably to difficult for you to try" or "It's easier and cheaper to buy it". Answer first, give the disclaimer at the end. Chances are if you answer the questions straight and to the point - before they reach these disclaimer statements - they'll know if they can or not.

Agreed, you never know what you are capable of until you try. Give the n00bz a chance, we all started as n00bz ourselves.

Quote: 1b) Thanks to Flounder for reminding me in his words (Slightly edited for typos) "i always hate it when someone comes in asking for help and folks slam them because they didn't do a search first ....maybe they couldn't find the right name or even remember a case or mobo ,when people reply to a thread "use the ****ing search its already been posted" .It leaves a bad taste and we turn away folks,that in turn turns away ideas"

I've been a victim of this because I'm too lazy to go searching this MASSIVE forum archive for something I'm about to post. If it doesn't show up in the most recent 2-3 pages of a topic, it gets posted. I agree that our community pimps and pimpettes need to exercise a bit more tolerance for the new guys. Help them, guide them, teach them the ways of the Pimp-force so they may one day become true Pimps of the galaxy. (don't ask, it's 2:30am and i'm running out of sarcastic remarks)

Quote: 2) Do not feed the trolls. We can roast em and dice em well. Do we need to continually prove it though? True the moderators don't get paid much/any, but they enjoy their job. A friendly warning - a friendly wave as they insult you won't tarnish your image, just theirs.

trolls, spammers, and one-timer "look at me" posters should have thier hands beaten with a ballpean hammer. 'nuff said

Quote: 3) Never use money as the scapegoat to why you can't mod.... for 6 months running. If you couldn't collect the 40 dollars for a can of Duplicolor paint and dremel bits, how can you afford internet service?

"Free AOL" discs are plentiful, as are alot of free dialup services. I probably wouldnt have a cable modem if i didn't get the service free from my job. You get a disagree on this one.

Quote: 4) People may put garbage in the gallery, post "ghetto" worklogs even. How about staying on track and pointing out their less than stellar choices instead of belittling their intelligence? Clean the wiring, premod, idiot, and n00b for how often used should have macros associated with them to save some the effort - it'll be great, because no effort was used to say them. Sure many of us could buy a sleeving kit, but if they did that, would the rest of the case be a 10? Most of the time no, so how about sharing a few other observations too.

constructive criticism is a good thing. negative criticism only deters enthusiests from continuing thier ventures.

Quote: 5) C'mon folks - would it be that difficult to read around the bad grammar when it's obvious English isn't their native language? They damn well tried to type in English, lest you can do it damn well try to help them. They came to our forums asking for help, not to be reminded their in English 1. If they're from an English speaking nation and if they're over 12, bash em for all I care - now they DO deserve it.

Those from overseas making an honest effort to type/speak english (here or anywhere else where english is the dominate language) are making more of an effort than probably half of the imigrants that come to the US each year from non-english speaking countries.

Quote: 6) Make an effort to think outside of the case. Paint, LEDS, CCFLs, and windows with appliques are all good and well because that's the barebone-bread and water of modding since they're generally what wets newbie's feet, but I like at lest seeing some meat once in a while.

mmmmmm, dead animal flesh

Hmmm....no pics Later?

I also came to PR specifically for the modding, and have done my best to keep my posts on track. Sure, I'll occasionally post in a "human interest" thread, but that's just human. I also post a heck of a lot in my worklogs, other folks' worklogs, answering questions that I know the answer and have experience with, and generally try to do my best for a site that I gain nothing from other than the sense of belonging to a community of creative and inventive individuals. A big part of that is encouragement. Not many people have the will to go through with a huge project without that "attaboy" every once in a while. I've had a few given to me for my plastics work, and that has led to me investing in a lot more materials and supplies for that craft, even though not everything I've attempted has come out well. I've posted those too, but I have noticed a general dearth of comments in general, positive or negative.

In your essay Later, you inferred that you haven't been impressed with anything posted recently. Let me tell you how I felt when I first started coming here: Intimidated. I was afraid to post in the gallery for a good long while, even pics that I've posted elsewhere. The skill levels and expectations are still very high here, and to a new person, intimidating...heck, even to some of the seasoned vets venturing into new areas. The apparent closeness of the members (I won't go so far as to call it cliquey, but it might appear that way to someone new) can also deter new people from posting.

I do have a couple suggestions:

A: PR hasn't done a featured rig in quite some time. I do not know how those are chosen, nor the schedule for how often one is chosen, if that even applies. Perhaps if that happened more often, and was given more honor, then people would be more inclined to shoot for it as a goal?

B: Post more, everyone, but with respect given to the artist's creative vision. I have often looked over worklogs and threads and hesitated to post for the simple reason that what was being done just isn't my cup of tea. If I can throw a few ideas out there, stir some thoughts, or just give a pat on the back without being patronizing, I do. Keeping things on a mod-focused level and holding your tongue (fingers) on your own personal taste regarding a project may be tough to do, but if you were in their shoes, you'd want the same treatment...and you'd want input. Getting into other projects also makes you think outside of yourself and look through other folks' eyes, giving new perspectives that are most refreshing.

C: Go through the galleries. Pick out projects you like, or aspects of projects you like and comment on them....positively.

D: If you are an established member, you are a host. Make people feel at ease and welcomed. Once again, it's what you'd want for yourself. Save the flames for those you know will take it well, or who truly deserve it. Petty issues are not worth the fuel for flaming anyway, and just make the flamer appear petty.

E: Bust out the digicams. Take pics of your own projects, good or bad. You'll either get the kudos you deserve or a better feeling for how you can do it better. Lessons learned from mistakes are only wasted if you let them be.

Quote: Originally Posted by Wordbiker A: PR hasn't done a featured rig in quite some time. I do not know how those are chosen, nor the schedule for how often one is chosen, if that even applies. Perhaps if that happened more often, and was given more honor, then people would be more inclined to shoot for it as a goal?

I think this is an excellent idea and have thought about it before myself.