:/

its getting better all the tiiiime
better, betterrr, beeeeeterrrrr

thinking is feeling

*is

YOU ARE TOO CONFLICTED FOR THIS

yeah i totally agree with you, Andrew. :/

im here

Honnestly? I've been here for almost three years (august 22nd 05) and every year we get the same blog complaining about the changes.

Truth be told threadless is never going to be how you remember it because its constantly changing. People werent happy with what threadless was becoming when I joined and even then it was smaller.

Back in those days people were extremely protective of who'd they'd tell about their threadless tees because they wanted to keep it secret, to keep it their little club. That attidutes gone which I think is a good thing because threadless is built on community.

The one thing i have noticed is that as threadless grows the number of active bloggers seems to stay the same, it just changes.

i don't think this is complaining and i mentioned most of the same stuff you did in a different way stubby...

i've been here a few years also and like i said it's more of an update to my thinking, remember we as individuals are changing along with threadless and i think it's important for anyone who designs to have a constant grasp of who he is designing for and why...

haha shirt - yes but in a proactive not reactive sense...

for me in this case anyways

I think that since I carnt spell left - this place kinda got a little bit lamer

i look at the two sides of every coin in life joe...

it is an interesting trait as a whole but exhausting for me

I sort of skim read your blog mate sorry.

I CARNT SPEL DOESN"T LEAVE!!!

HE WAITS!!!

!!!

HUZZAQUAH!!!

haha - you know what though...

i'm not sure if i carnt spel exists without realslimnaty, natyspaghetti, spacesick the original, larchie, steve swartz etc etc

he was kind of a period charachter

but i did enjoy the vessel... constantly taking the piss out of everything!

it's a pretty sanatised environment right now...

perhaps it's time for someone new!!!

maybe - with razorsharp wit and neckties

aw hi i carnt spel! :)

it's a pretty sanatised environment right now...


yeah

haha hanna!!!

whatever happened to the trivia? i used to love getting my ass kicked every morning!!!

Its changed alot but I thin for the good. Threadless is always looking for ways to give back to its community. Hell I remember when the designers would only get 100 dollars and a few shirts and that was it. I've been here for almost 6 years now and I love the way that threadless has evolved. There is no other community out that, that gives back as much as this one does. And I think that is what makes it special.. for those who have been here long enough can actually feel like they know the staff and its people like if they where your next door neighboor. I hope it keeps on growing like it has been.

In short:

Quality of shirts: up up up!
Quality of printing techniques: sky high!
Quality of things i like: Varies from week to week like it always has, but generally, there are usually less prints that i like that i buy.
Quality of submissions: The regular folks are always churning out amazing stuff, but the quality of your average submission has plummeted significantly. The last few months the ratio of good to bad has gotten more and more disproportionate. As oft he late (like this week), a ton of new and promising submissions by first-time artists have emerged, so hopefully a trend will continue.
Quality of contests: The themes have taken a tumble in the last year. They used to really excite me like the Mae contests, Threadless loves Threadless etc, but the recent ones like topics such as "WOW" or photography contests don't hit my creativity button the way they used to. I used to like how all the icons were different for the contests too, lol, but Lollapolooza and other contests are still fun.
Quality of the site: DEF took an upturn with the new layout.
Special giveaways, sales,etc: As Threadless gets bigger, they do more and more to award the winners and for general goodwill towards the community, and i see that only getting stronger which shows the good heart the company shall always have
Community: it's gotten bigger, more occasionals and not the tight-knit group it once was (i came in right before the downturn of this in mid-2006), but there are still plenty of helping hands and qonderful people to talk to and meet up with. Can't wait to meet them when i hopefully attend the sept shindig!
Number of voters per submission: When i came here it was around 2,000-2,500 and occasionally a sub hit 3,ooo, now you're lucky if you break 1,500 folks. Truly strange considering the amount of people on this site compared to then but balances out by the amount of sher garbage submitted to vote on.

Overall: Better quality, more choices, more freebies, bettr layout outweigh the downturn in quality of overall submissions, voter turnout, and the less the blogs seem to hold my interests *(of course varies on who is on and what creative craziness is going on).

Oh, and the amount of blogger-created contests is still great (Tora's Sandwich Car and the Revolution contests are the stuff of legend already), BUT WE NEED MOAR TYPE TEES A MONTH PLEASE!!!

But I have to say I dont really get the whole loss of community that your talking about, if anything its stronger. The fact is up until last year no one would ever of considered meeting up in real life, if they did it was bloggers that had talked alot and it was only one or two people.

But now its strangers meeting up, when i travel I always try to make sure I can meet bloggers because its alot easier and alot more fun then wondering around places on my own. On my way back from canada I stopped in new york and met up with some amazing people who took me around and looked after me, I probably wouldnt of gone if it wasnt for bloggers.

As for the blogs themselves look at all the community art projects people are working on and the fact that people happily post gifts to each other, thats something that hasnt changed (like the threadless secret santa).

The truth is were in one of the strongest and friendliest communities on the web, there are other communities where everything is so controled with moderators and categories where you get in trouble for talking about the wrong thing and instead of people respecting your oppinion you get flamed and warnings from mods then get baned.

Thats what its like for most communities and threadless is genuinely different.

awesome disatation awesome i tried to do the same but couldn't hold my nerve!!!

Sam your right in many aspects but you have a good rapour here and it sustains your creative flair, for me i need more e excitement, less bollocks and a jovial good time!!!

oh man, trivia is still alive and kickin every day!
link go get your ass kicked like the old days.

Number of voters per submission: When i came here it was around 2,000-2,500 and occasionally a sub hit 3,ooo, now you're lucky if you break 1,500 folks. Truly strange considering the amount of people on this site compared to then but balances out by the amount of sher garbage submitted to vote on.

yeah i don't get this. does not compute!

I think that the changes seem drastic (I will not say negative or any kind of digression), but in all reality, it comes down to being how all companies are. Overall, Threadless is an amazing, one of a kind, awesomefest of spectacular proportions, but as it gets bigger things change. and that probably what is fueling this feeling of digression.

Simply...

..as threadless get more users and the community gets bigger its goin to be harder to accommodate all the things u listed as digressions. I bet they try, but with all the users it probably is harder to get the community feeling of threadless. It's grown in users, awesometacularness. expect change

for me it is more segmented stubby... people have made their friends and stick more and more within these little groups often on other sites, and the meet ups are awesome but a long way away for most. their was a time when a general threadless blog was enough for anyone, whatever you said would be fine or self regulated, you could get away with more in an overall context... i liked that but threadless has had to clean up their act because their is to much at stake to loose now...

What can I say?
- Awesome updates over the years.
- The hardcore regular designers turned in the BRC.
- New talented artists appear every week now.
- It feels a bit crowded maybe, but I still hang in here from time to time.
- I don't score as much as I use too. (I might pick that up again)

personally..worse. hah.

TheKeleja you right... i understand and agree with this

awesome i agree with the less the blogs hold your attention statement...

Also i will put my hand up to spending more time elsewhere and designing like many other threadless folk than dicking around on the blogs out of necessity to you know live, perhaps that it has had a fairly large effect on the community to.

Yeah there is that element to it, there are certain set friendships but I do think that because the members change alot it means that the friendships are changing.

But there was always an element of threadless clicks like the threadles teenage girls and their SOCTHO or whatever it was club.

Making set friends is also kind of natural we hang out with the people we have the most in common with.

i feel like the community is pretty strong

i mean, obviously if you don't participate as much anymore, the community seems weaker to you, because you lose ties. but in the two years that i've been an active blogger, i haven't notice much of a community change in the blogs. if nothing, there's more because of the meetups and all. people aren't afraid to go beyond the computer screen. people come and go, and maybe some of your friends go, and you think the community is weakened because of it, but i think it's worth a shot to give newcomers a chance, because they just happened to discover threadless a little later than you...

i think i repeated what others said

haha - i agree about giving the new folk a chance julia, i gave you a chance and what a mistake that turned out to be:P

but seriously it's more about what awesome said...

threadless it's not you it's me:D

I don't have ties at all here.
I'm like Wolverine!!! rawr*
But I still luvvv you all.

No heaumeaux.

it was way different back in 2004.

the blogs did feel alive when i came, and i don't mean on this account... things seem sedated now?

am i wrong

I agree the community has gotten stronger overall, but there are a bunch of people's blogs i don't bother even going into anymore because what shall ensue will be a litany of inside jokes and terms made up within that group of people which makes me feel like an 80 year old man unable to grasp what these whippernsappers are talking about...but i guess that happened from the beginning too with ipear's blogs but now i understand as much as everyone else...which is to say, only 50 percent!

when did the blogs come around?

i don't think you could even comment on submissions when i joined in '03

Sonmi is old

The year's '04 and my trunk is raw
In my rear view mirror is the mother fuckin' law
I got two choices y'all pull over your shirt or (hmmm)
Bounce on the double put the pedal to the floor

Hit the nail on the head there FA

it's like anything, if we have an idea about something we rely on that idea instead of direct experience. and even while experiencing, we cling to the idea instead of just letting go. sure, things are different. sure, things are the same. here we are!!

you better not be bringing those shenanigans in here shirt!

FA is old.