In the Zelda community today, we see more and more sites immerge. We check out the topsites of all of the larger Zelda communities to see what the latest up and coming Zelda site is going to be. We see a site near the top, you've never heard of it before. So you click on it. And to your dismay, you see a free phpBB forum, posing as a site! They are not websites, they are forums, an add on, a community to discuss things. However, they are not a website. A website is a place full of information on many aspects of the Zelda world. It's written in HTML, XML or a coding language alike. It's not a pre-made forum, which holds no relevant information about the games at all. It's certainly not a forum that has a Legend of Zelda forum, which has one post in it, and that's the rules.
Does this sound like an attack on the community? Yes? That's because it is one! A website is something of beauty, it takes knowledge and taste to create one. You've got to put your full effort into creating the content, writing the articles, and maintaining the coding and site. It takes a web host to host all of your information for you, it requires payment, or if you are on a free host, a lot of restrictions, on the information that you want.
This is not what we are experiencing in many cases today. What we see today are impostor sites, forums masquerading as sites. You click on that attractive button, and you are hit with not only with pop-ups, but you get a banner on the top of the page as well. Now, that you can deal with, it's when you scroll down and see that it's just another half hearted, poorly maintained, no members forum. If you are anything like me, it makes your blood boil. We don't want to see anymore Invision forums with a poorly made Zelda banner on the top and nine times out of ten; it's broken anyway. We don't want anymore poorly constructed posts, "Wlcomin U 2 da nuist Zelda site". Especially when it is not one!
What we need is some more Zelda sites. The community as it is, is dwindling. We all see it. Sites shutting down all over the place. And people think by creating a forum they can make the community stay. Well, you're wrong. Most and many people are sick and tired of lazy webmasters and webmistresses who think that they can have a forum, and call it a site. If you are going to run a site, you are going to have to put the effort into it. Then there is the effort in maintaining it. It sounds like a lot of hard work. Well, that's because it is hard. It is not too time consuming either; it requires a little work weekly. And soon you'll have a large site, with fans and then you can add on that almighty forum onto the side. As, a pretty added feature.
If more people were to create a real Zelda website, one that could challenge the largest Zelda sites on the Internet, then the community would hit a renascence. However, people are too concerned with making forums. They are not sites! They are add-ons to sites. Nothing more. So please, stop making them. Before we drown in a community of bad forums.
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