Back from the holidays... and after reading through the last several pages of posts, I really think I need to say a few things:
1) I need to take back something I mentioned in one of my last posts--I said at the time that progress had slowed back to a normal pace. It appears this isn't the case, and I realize that I myself am partially to blame for that. Progress, as it were, seems to have halted.
2) Instead, while our effort HAD been dedicated to pushing barriers and limits, and getting things done, it looks like we're all in a mood to sit around and talk/discuss/argue about trivial things--things that can be worried about later. I don't suppose many people who are consistent contributors (chaos, stef, etc.) remember when mode7 was in-charge, but his philosophy was to knock out as much as possible, then refine later. I preferred this approach--it left each contributor under less pressure and less stress, more free to just do the work, and then refine the whole thing after others had had a chance to experience the whole area (not just screenshots).
3) Distractions have become abundant. I'm not sure why--maybe the massive surge in contributions and progress garnered a lot of attention from others, or maybe everyone thought now was the best time to ask their pent-up questions, since there was plenty of activity on the thread... but I have to admit, there is a TON of distracting banter about technical issues that could be answered elsewhere--especially the stuff that has NOTHING to do with the retexture project. I also have noticed a number of relatively dumb questions, or questions that can be answered by simply doing some independent research, without troubling others with stupid questions. That said, I really wish/recommend that we separate ourselves from that sort of attention for the time being.
With these thoughts in mind, I'd like to bring up an old topic--one that I know some people opposed in the past, but that I think is still a viable option:
Create a stand-alone area where those of us who regularly work on this project can focus on the job itself--I don't mean another thread, or forum, or anything of the sort. I know that Google offers something I think would be great for our collaborative effort--Google Groups would allow us to continue our discussions in a similar fashion to what we have here, in addition to us maintaining a knowledge base, uploading files within the group, and other features I think would be very useful.
In addition, we can set our own discussions about the project separate from what goes on here... so we can use this thread to inform the public of new releases/updates, and handle questions and whatnot in this forum.
I know death--droid was against a similar idea when it was brought up a few months ago (unless I'm mistaken, sorry if that's the case). In either case, I'd like to propose that I set up and maintain something along these lines (we can, of course, discuss and make a decision), and work with death--droid to oversee things between the two locations. I say this because I think this is something I can better handle with my current workload. And, when I finish with the Water Temple (probably early 2010), I'll bow-out of the actual retexturing until I can find a better time to get involved directly with the art again.
OK, so my post ran a little long. Sorry for the extra reading, but I did need to get that all off my chest. Any thoughts?