new forum Q and A

[brynn]

Hi Friends,
As you may have noticed on the forum index page, we finally have an opening "date" (well, month) for Inkscape's first really official forum.  When that forum opens, this one will essentially close.

It won't technically close, because there will be ongoing messages that need to be finished up.  And existing members might still like access to their contents here.  What will happen is that we will no longer accept new members, except by special permission (like if anyone wants to write new tutorials for this site).  (If anyone has a special reason for wanting to register here, starting in August, please use the Contact tab, and let me know why.)

We will keep all the tutorials and related infrastructure intact, and existing members will still be able to post messages in the forum.  Those who are in the IC Mentors group will still be able to write tutorials, if they want to.  (And I guess I'll leave the gallery in place, at least for a while.)  However, Inkscape support will be happening in the new forum, and not here, starting in August.

If anyone has any questions or comments about this transtion, please feel free to post here.


I'm still not sure if I'll completely close this forum, at some point, or if I'll change the subject matter to something besides Inkscape support.  I suppose a personal "blogging" site isn't out of the question, but it's probably unlikely.  Not that I don't have opinions about the state of the world, but I would probably have to divorce myself from Inkscape before I start spouting my personal beliefs, haha! 

I've been toying with the idea of a custom Inkscape merchandise shop, which will allow users to put their custom Inkscape designs on stuff. For example, sell prints, or t-shirts, mugs, whatever.  Just like the current store, except it would allow custom designs and custom products rather than just the Inkscape logo on a limited stock of items.  But I haven't even researched the idea yet, much less made a decision.  (Although if anyone out there wants to put some time and energy into such a project, I'd love to chat about potentially working together on it.)

[Dillerkind]

I've got one little question. If one already had or was to register an account on inkscape.org, they'd be able to log into the forum with that account later on too, right?

About the store... I've been wondering why there was only the logo stuff. Maybe it would be possible to get people to "donate" select works that could then be added to the official store to increase the number of available products. It's probably a bit more complicated, copyright-wise but maybe this would be an option. Has this been discussed, do you know?

[brynn]

Yes, if you have an account on the Inkscape website, you're already registered for the forum.  If you're logged on to the website, you're logged on to the forum too.

I've asked if we can add our own products.  But spreadshirt will only sell spreadshirt products  (which it doesn't sound like are very good quality, from what I've heard).  So apparently not.  And developers are happy taking one step at a time, and this is their first step.  Part of the problem is that they refuse to not use an open source store software, and there aren't any decent open source store softwares.  (I have not personally looked, just heard that.)  This Spreadshirt organization apparently is as good as it gets, as far as that goes.

That's why I'm thinking of trying it.  I'm not quite that rigid about it.  I think it's better to spread the word about Inkscape, than focus so much on the store software.

[Moini]

Sven, yes, we have discussed soliciting artwork for printing on things. But it would take someone to solicit and prepare it. We don't have that someone currently. Do you have time for this?

[brynn]

I've previously volunteered.  Perhaps I wasn't attending that discussion though.

[Dillerkind]

Sorry for the late reply. I even made a bookmark to this very thread but still managed to forget to check back for answers... duh :D

About that forum account, thanks brynn. That's what I expected. I created an account on the Inkscape website a few days ago so I'm ready for the new forum.

As for Spreadshirt, I don't have any experience with them. Just remember that I briefly looked at the site years ago, right before I made an account on RedBubble. Back then it was only possible to sell products with very low-color flat style prints (maybe even just two color? I can't remember exactly), good for logo and simply designs but not what I wanted to do (in my early Redbubble days I added pencil drawings to my gallery). Haven't checked back since.

[Dillerkind]

Sven, yes, we have discussed soliciting artwork for printing on things. But it would take someone to solicit and prepare it. We don't have that someone currently. Do you have time for this?

Please excuse me. I just looked at this thread again and noticed that I hadn't replied to your post.

Soliciting... umm, this sounds exactly like the sort of "business talk" that I'm completely useless with. Also, I believe I mentioned this before on a different matter: my online times are somewhat irregular. Sometimes I won't go online for several days in a row, which I think is bad when I'm supposed to be there for people to reach out and talk to. I used to be on some Inkscape committee something mailing list a while ago, could barely keep up with just reading all the mails that came in, let alone taking part in the discussions. At some point mails simply stopped coming. Maybe I was dropped from the list or I don't know. I'm just no good with this sort of organizational stuff :/

[Moini]

Business talk? Noooooo. It would be talking to artists that you find produce interesting work that could look good on a T-Shirt, and ask them if they want to help Inkscape by donating their designs to the shop and licensing them under CC-By-SA-4.0. Those wouldn't be business people, just artists like yourself. The hardest part might actually be explaining the license to them, and then preparing the drawing you get for print (and figuring out what kind of designs work for that specific printer first). Several days between replies would not be an issue.

Or making a contest - we could ask Tim on facebook for help with that. I'm sure he'd help by setting up everything that is needed. And we'd put the 'organizer' into contact with the right persons at the right time. It's not magic, it's not difficult, and one would never be left alone with it. It just takes someone to actually do it.

But it's okay if you don't want to - your contributions to the Inkscape community are large already.

I didn't know that about the emails! - if you want to stay in contact with the Vectors (marketing/outreach team), currently the best place to do that is the chat channel at https://chat.inkscape.org/channel/team_vectors .

[brynn]

I think he might have been talking about one of the attempts to start a new official forum.  He had expressed some interest and was getting emails about it.  But then microUgly stopped responding, and then Xav dropped out, and that's when the emails stopped.

[beth]

Hi,

I'm a bit confused -- about the term 'Inkscape Community'.  Right now, I'm in the Inkscape Community Forum.  When I go to the Inkscape Project website ('inkscape.org') and click on 'Community', I end up on what appears to be the exact same page as before. 

But now it's different?  Because the Project is overseeing this forum, now? 

I am obviously already signed up here, in the 'old' community forum.  So therefore I am pre-approved for this new location?

Thanks, Beth

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

Oooohhhh!!  That explains so much, haha!  We've been having trouble with people confusing this website with the Inkscape website.  It never occurred to me that the menu on the Inkscape website, called "Community" could be the source.

Technically, I named this site "Inkscape Community" before the Inkscape website....I don't think it even had a menu back then.  But if it did, it didn't have a "community" item.  But I can see now, how it can be confusing.  Inkscape is really the only connection between the sites.  Although me and a lot of our members participate on both sites.

Hopefully it will be less confusing once the new forum opens (just 4 weeks from now!)

For seeing the same page as before, could you explain more what you mean?

I think I know what you mean, but I'm not positive.  On the Inkscape website, the main horizontal menu doesn't do anything when you click on it.  You just stay on the same page.  (Some of us have been trying to have this fixed, but so far, it hasn't happened.  I might have to up my game on that a bit - speak louder, so to speak.)

Anyway, if you notice, the 2nd item in the sub-menu is exactly the same as the first item in the main menu.  And you have to click on the 2nd "Community" to see the actual Community page.  Weird, huh?

The reason I'm not positive if I understand what you mean, is the part about "now it's different".  What's different that you see now?  Maybe you just accidentally clicked the 2nd "Community" item this time?  These are still separate sites, and they always will be.

There will be a new item in that menu, "Forum" once the forum opens.

You'll need to register on inkscape.org, to be able to post in the new forum there.  It will also let you upload images to the gallery.  I didn't post a link to the new forum, because it doesn't accept any messages yet.  But you can look at it if you want to  https://inkscape.org/forums/  Just remember that you can't post a new message yet.

Also, you don't have to be in the forum to register or log in.  In the top-right corner (on any page) is where the links are, to register and log in.  (Small black tabs)

[Moini]

Hi brynn, if you haven't found a new home for the Resources page (or another solution - there are free websites available on gitlab, for example - I think I could set that up for you, if you want), I'd be happy to salvage the content by putting it up on my website.

[brynn]

Oh, thanks Moini!  Another good idea, which I'll take into consideration, with other ideas that have been proposed.

Ideally, whoever takes it would be motivated enough to keep it updated (remove dead links, edit changed links, and most importantly, add new tutorials when they appear).

I hope to be able to add other resources to the list, before I have to close the site - filters, for sure.  But the only problem is that all of Lazur's filters, and Tav's too, which were hosted at Open Clipart, are unavailable....I'm starting to wonder if that site will ever be back.  I don't know if maybe he would upload them to his own website or blog, or whatever it is (I forget exactly)?  But anyway, we'll see what happens.

Thanks for the ideas, and thanks for offering to take the contents.  I'll let you know 

[Moini]

If you host it yourself (on gitlab), you can do the updating yourself. Just using a free hoster. That would keep you in control, and also have the benefit of allowing others to suggest updates, directly to the html file.