bummer

i've hit a roadblock.

apparently, the 'designers' i thought that I could approach.. apparently aren't designers 'designers'. What they did was just simply 'borrow' a template somewhere on the net and made it their own. Basically, the forum front page is nothing more than a copied version of some other website out there. I asked my fellow admin if this was true.. and he confirmed it.

So there goes my initial plan of getting a tribe of web designers to put up their stuff on POOL and mytribe on fb.

What do I do now? Do I have a plan B?

It irks me even more when I sacrificed 2 years of my youth to serve compulsory national service (that is army) back home. Those 2 years could have been something, could have been done building up networks. It's not that I don't have any networks, its just that I'm not sure of what I have will be sufficient enough.. or deemed 'contributory worthy' to be uploaded on POOL. Argh.

If what it is worth, I do have contacts who are musicians, pretty good photographers and short film makers. But with youtube and flickr a virtual haven for both categories, its going to prove a stumbling block. and an extra dose of convincing.

This has me thinking more of the role of the SMP... is she/he someone just confined to a desk working his way behind the computer/laptop? Without a doubt, he has to go out into the field. But if we're talking about breaching international bounderies, how is that possible? Through online networking? Sure, it's heaps fast.. but with it comes the issue of credibility and trust.

Trust - if the contacts you meet agree and commit to help you in any form of way.
Credibility - whether the contacts you meet and make 'friends' with are the real deal.

oh and i've done up the first draft SMP that should have been completed last week.