Shrines: Neverending Work?

[Todd]

I was taking a look at my collective the other night, and realized that I've been happy with all of my sites at some point, but am not be pleased with some of them at the moment. My standards keep rising. As I create more and better shrines, my older shrines fail to me in comparison, and I end up wanting to fix them up.

For example, I loved my Magus shrine, but when I looked at it last night, I thought, "Why the hell do I not have a section on reapers?" Reapers control time in some lore! Time is a central theme in Chrono Trigger! Magus carries a scythe! This "finished" site is 5 years old, and I'm currently working on a new "exploration" piece for it.

I have about 15 sites at my collective. If this number grows, and if I keep raising my standards, I will never be 100% happy with my collective and will always feel the need to work on it.

I guess I don't have an actual question for this discussion, haha. Just wanted to vent. Post about your own changing standards and how they affect your sites!

[dubiousdisc]

You know, I don't know if that's a thing I love or hate about shrines. That I can always improve on what I've made before, or that there's always something that could be better about my sites. But I guess that's true of every creative endeavor, yeah?

[Mikari]

Wanting some updates now and then is inevitable. Even if no new media comes out for the subject, new ideas might come unexpectedly, and even after that's done, the code itself will age and better coding tricks will be discovered. Then there's the links...

[Robin]

I feel this mostly about my layout designs. Since I'm mostly self-taught in graphic/web design, every new layout I build is a chance for me to learn something new. Trouble is, when I learn a new way to design/code something, I start looking back at all my old designs and suddenly they all seem really hacky and bad, despite them being my best work at the time. Then I'm all "OMG GOTTA FIX THIS WHY DID NOBODY SAY THIS ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE SHIT D: "

Occasionally, I'll get the urge to rewrite content, but I'm so much better at writing than designing, so my layouts tend to get the business end of my perfectionism most of the time, LOL. (add to that the frustration of not actually being able to realize the designs in my head...sdlkjasldkjfsljkdf) Oh well, it's a constant learning and growing process!! :D

[Chibi]

That's actually a good point, Todd! I don't actually see this as a bad thing, because it means you can always find something to work on and your shrine can always improve more and more. Rewriting or editing already existing shrines can still be a fun way to keep up with the hobby without doing anything too daunting (which is something to consider as we grow older and eventually jobs and families will keep on eating up most of our free time - at least that's my biggest fear, haha) - although rewriting an entire shrine can be as daunting as starting one completely from scratch.

This did happen to me recently though while looking at my Vulpix shrine which I finished in a hurry for Creature Feature - now I want to rewrite that shrine with new things and making some pages more interesting. I guess you could "archive" some of your sites in the future to avoid just having to rewrite content every year, but probably knowing me I'll still not be happy with an archived site, haha.

[Emma]

I'm always in a general state of dissatisfaction with all my sites, even though like you also said Todd, I was once happy with them. Right now, I'm still pleased with my Beatrix site thanks to a recent revamp, but basically everything else I just go "URGH" whenever I think of it because I know I can make them better. It's just a matter of time and motivation and then you want to make new sites and ah, I'd love to just be satisfied with everything I have online.

But I suppose growing and changing as a person, and improving your skills, will inevitably lead to this. Maybe that was my best then, but it certainly doesn't reflect my best now.

[nyxmidnight]

We should have some sort of revamp event :D

[Crystal]

I posted this on Discord but I'm going to share it here too.

This is why I want to take a pause on making new sites and fix up some of my existing ones. I want to completely redo my Ocarina of Time shrine and I have some content I want to add/finish to others. It's tough to do when I'm so focused on making new shrines.

Lately also it feels like I have zero motivation to work on any new shrines plus I feel like I have too many. I think this would be a good time to step back and give my older shrines some of the attention they deserve... after I finish Chrom lol.

[Destinie]

I feel this so bad. My standards are so high and it sometimes keeps me from making new shrines because my old ones need so much work. It seems like every few years I go back into a shrine and rework it and update it. But sometimes these high standards makes me want to close down certain sites and I fight REALLY hard to not do that.

I really wanted to have a collective that was a handful of maybe 4-5 PERFECT shrines but I don't think that's even possible!! So I've been trying to think of them as things that I've crafted and then displayed to be viewed in their entirety BUT that doesn't mean I can't go back into them at some point, right?

IT IS A NEVER ENDING STORY

[insert picture of Falcor]

[Todd]

You know, I don't know if that's a thing I love or hate about shrines. That I can always improve on what I've made before, or that there's always something that could be better about my sites. But I guess that's true of every creative endeavor, yeah?

This is true! I think with art though, we see them as completed pieces from an earlier time, so it's a little different. Authors who publish novels can't go back and rewrite a published novel later on. I think people expect us to keep our sites updated, though, unless we promote them as completed pieces like Destinie does.

We should have some sort of revamp event :D

Haha, we have some stuff coming!

That's actually a good point, Todd! I don't actually see this as a bad thing, because it means you can always find something to work on and your shrine can always improve more and more. Rewriting or editing already existing shrines can still be a fun way to keep up with the hobby without doing anything too daunting (which is something to consider as we grow older and eventually jobs and families will keep on eating up most of our free time - at least that's my biggest fear, haha) - although rewriting an entire shrine can be as daunting as starting one completely from scratch.

This did happen to me recently though while looking at my Vulpix shrine which I finished in a hurry for Creature Feature - now I want to rewrite that shrine with new things and making some pages more interesting. I guess you could "archive" some of your sites in the future to avoid just having to rewrite content every year, but probably knowing me I'll still not be happy with an archived site, haha.

I feel this so much! It is so hard for me to archive any of my sites, which is why I haven't yet. 17+ shrines to continually work on is a bit much though, so I'm rethinking things. I might archive a few.