One of the main reasons is a strong focus on the forum. Recently I got a bit of an unexpected e-mail stating new licensing terms which meant I would need to pay somewhere around the sum of £200 to continue using the software, and then pay for each update. This caused me to search for alternative free or low-cost software, with phpBB being my final choice.

Those who have been members for quite some time have been through a couple of these “forum transfers” and the last one wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped. The software transfer and database conversion did not quite go as planned and unfortunately we lost quite a few posts. The move also required new passwords to be set, and a few other aspects did not go very smoothly either.

This time however, I managed to setup the new forum and convert the database very cleanly. I’m still spending some of my free time in the evenings setting up the new template, but so far everything seems to have gone quite well. All the posts are still intact, and the user experience is pretty much unnoticeably different. The only problem is that all this time and energy has gone into something technical, meaning I’ve had little time to draw and animate.

With an operation coming up soon (the 18th of November) it is unlikely I will be finishing any new animations, although I will do my best to upload some new doodles, ideas and tutorials as soon as possible.

It’s taken a lot of time and effort to try and bring some sort of focus to the Noddegamra website. As something that just started out as a bit of fun and a way to communicate with friends, time has definitely brought about a need for change. With the community thinning out a bit due to other competitive sites (such as facebook, cracked, digg, etc) there has been a real need to find something unique in order to offer something fresh here. The main focus of Noddegamra now is on creativity as well as the community.

For the front-end website/blog I intend to use it as a way to showcase my own animations, artwork, and other “experiments”. In doing so, I hope to spark the interest of the Noddegamra community and display some of their own great talents. I have my fingers crossed that this will also encourage new visitors to join us and share their own work, tips, and tricks.

So far this all sounds a bit serious, but don’t worry! I fully intend to keep the forum a humorous  and relaxed area to discuss everything from a doodle you have just drawn, to the funniest egg-headed weirdo you have ever seen! Infact, everything about the forum will stay as it is. I am only changing the website/blog in order to inspire creativity and hopefully rebuild the community up to stronger levels.

I am aiming for quality of quantity here, and exclusive content from myself and the Noddegamra community. I am sure that there may be a question or two about the changes, so if you have anything you would like to ask please do so in the comments below.