Where’s the fun?

[Bob Cole]

Maybe it’s just me, but I used to enjoy the Creativecow forums a lot more than I have in the last couple of years. Not only were they incredibly helpful, but they were often amusing, and often gave me a sense of camaraderie.

Maybe it’s generational. It seemed a lot more people used to be like me: self-employed, with decades of experience, needing to learn new technologies on the fly. Now it seems that there are lots of newbies with extremely little experience, and people who know a ton, but are getting tired of helping out.

Is there another forum on the COW that I’m missing? Has all the action gone to other forums? I haven’t been overly impressed by, for example, Blackmagic’s Resolve forum.

I mean no insult to the team at the COW. This has been an extremely valuable resource for me over the years.

Bob C

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Hey Bob,

I hear you, and I see you 😀

Yes, I myself have been busy with life, and only in the last 8 months put the COW back into my in-box (started subscribing to my favourite forums, and a few more).

It is a crowded market out there when it comes to Social Media – back when the WWUG started out, there was no FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik-Tok and who knows what.

I’m sure that there are many “lurkers” around here, who goes back to the day when it all started, but we all need someone to start that conversation, and keep it going – well done for kicking it off 😉

In any case, does Resolve users have more fun?

I went to PPro on PC, then added a Mac with FCPX, and now I am relearning Avid – at least they all have the “I” and the “O” buttons in common… 😎
Still not taken Resolve for a spin.

Atb
Mads

[Michael Gissing]

Only older stalwarts lurk in specialist forums. Kids are just getting all their advice from YouTube free tutorials. It’s become quiet over the past couple of years. I still check in to here and the Resolve forum from time to time

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Mads and Michael,

Michael, Mads, both of you make great points. I use YouTube tutorials too, mainly for DaVinci Resolve.

Mads: Try Resolve. It is simply delightful. Being able to jump from editing (2 modes!) to color correction, audio fixes, motion graphics — and back to editing, with all your changes automatically in the timeline… so fluid. It’s as deep as you want it to be, but you don’t have to go into the depths to get solid work done. I recommend Ripple Training videos, and as Michael mentioned, there are many YouTube videos as well. Caveat: Resolve may tempt you to buy a more powerful computer.

As for the COW… I have a strong affection for this website. I would have had a very tough time without it, on two levels: technical expertise and a feeling of community. Within minutes of posting a question, there was a response that sometimes became a group discussion. But many of the more helpful people are no longer involved, at least not in a timely fashion. I wish there were a way to strengthen this resource. Maybe the COW needs to pay some of the more qualified contributors; but here I am way, way out of my lane.

Thanks for the responses. You make me feel a little bit less crazy on this topic.

Bob C

[Eric Santiago]

I’ve been an instructor since 1994 and of late I’ve lost patience with some of the questions.

I try not to get involved but then I feel bad if I don’t put in my two cents.

Friends don’t let friends do awful workflows 🙂

[Brie Clayton]

Hello Bob!

Yes, when Creative COW moved from our original behemoth of a platform to this smooth crisp new platform, I believe a little nostalgia was lost, to begin with.

Another recent event was a database back-up that I believe few sites have to deal with. 20 years of accumulated users had resulted in such a giant number of old and unused emails that could no longer receive our notifications, (Bessie was, in a sense, constipated) that forced us to unsubscribe the whole site in order to start again. Now we are living through a time of undelivered forum/discussion subscriptions while people re-subscribe.

Mads is correct that these days other forum sites provide profiles that can not only be a hub for people seeking technological advice, but the latest cat photos, marijuana grow tips, and current political discussions all in one consolidated feed.

Moving forward, everyone should know that Creative COW listens to your requests to improve this place that we all love, to deliver to you what you need in your creative and professional careers. Like recently the COW, due to popular demand, upgraded the search function to include many new parameters for search such as date sorting and relevance.

These are the changes we are committed to making in perpetuity as the need arises. At the start of the platform changeover the progress was slow, since we were still developing and correcting many behind the scenes functions. But now we are pretty caught up, and ready to move in the directions that will further the COW’s usefulness.

So we appreciate any and all suggestions to make this the place that you prefer to spend your time. This is your community, and we want it to stay that way.

Please don’t hesitate to mention how Bessie can better serve you! (encouraging more qualified contributors has been duly noted as well…)

[Craig Seeman]

I miss the debates whether FCP or industry in general. Heck we could certainly debate some of the YouTube videos I’ve seen. Lots of the FCP tech stuff moved to FCP.co but even that’s been dead lately. There are rarely any articles (none in several months) there these days. Lots of stuff has moved to social media but that’s really not conducive to intelligent discussion. Facebook is a world of misinformation, opinions with substance, poorly worded posts, etc. Other methods like Instagram TikTok, even Twitter are not geared towards discussion IMHO.

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Thank you for the recommendation – I shall give Resolve a spin, once I get through refreshing myself on Avid.
Although both PPro and FCPX let’s you jump around between various set-ups, I get the feeling that Resolve keeps on being ahead when it comes to color correction.

Mads

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Eric, I hear you.

It can get a bit tedious when one over a 20 year span keeps on getting the same questions, when a quick search could have given the answer.

Although, if we didn’t get the (same) questions about some of the new toys in our field, we would never be challenged to improve on our advice.
– that is coming from someone who entered Broadcast News at a time where one could not possible broadcast anything made on VHS – it had to be produced on the superior U-Matic LowBand… 😱

Look at us now; if it ain’t low light, easy sound, it won’t belong on YouTube, Tik-Tok and what else have you 🤩

[Joby Anthony Jr]

Good morning Bob (and all)!

Couldn’t agree more, but then I really only have myself to blame (and the tyranny of deadlines . . .). But yeah, Creativecow was there for me long before any of the other outlets (except for YouTube, which has already been mentioned as hit or miss). So out of loyalty, nostalgia, and the level of professionalism, I make this my primary source. But I’ll admit to sitting mostly in the stands, watching and learning from the conversations than participating. But then, what do I have to offer? (alas)

But agree with Mads, I hear you and see you.

Thank you Brie for the explanation of why my Inbox went dark!

And Eric, “Friends don’t let friends do awful workflows.” lol. +1 to that statement. Though I’m pretty sure I have some awful workflows, which goes back to “what do I have to offer?”

But nonetheless, thank you to all, including the Cow wranglers at homebase who have soldiered on through the ups and downs to try and keep Bessie unconstipated and running smoothly.

Joby.