hey! it’s a little late to crosspost about it (oops) but i am hosting a lowkey event over on the melonland forum that might be of interest to folks here!
here’s the text of the post, in case you try to click on a monday:
~
art jam: Suck At Something September
hello! let’s have a little month-long codejam challenge! why not!
sometimes the desire to make things which are good can get in the way of making things period. i think that it is important to give yourself permission to do a bad job and give yourself room to suck at things! this challenge slash jam slash whatever is intended to help you warm up, get unstuck, try new things, or otherwise put a bit of pep in your web crafting step.
your mission, should you choose to accept it:
BEFORE THE FORUM CLOSES FOR THE LAST MONDAY IN SEPTEMBER, YOU MUST*
1. announce a good idea here
AND THEN
2. badly execute that idea
AND THEN
3. post your finished work here in this thread
AND THEN
4. give your own finished work ONE (1) sincere & specific compliment and ONE (1) sincere & specific critique
*that should be, i think, approximately, 19:00 September 29th in UTC-4, aka eastern time, aka new york USA. convert to your timezone as needed.
! PRIZES !
after i have looked at everything (probably october 1st, possibly october 2nd, later if i get hit by a bus or something), everybody who participates will receive from me:
- a forum gift celebrating their participation in Suck At Something September,
- an award certificate celebrating their participation in Suck At Something September, and
- one (1) sincere compliment and one (1) sincere critique on their submission (if you want)
WOW!!! COOL!!!
your initial idea can be as ambitious, silly, impractical, weird, pointless, difficult, or impossible as your heart desires, and “executed badly” can be interpreted however you want.
the general idea is to allow yourself to make the bad version of something you may think “i would, but i can’t make that because i don’t know how to do [xyz]” or “i wish i could do that, but it just isn’t practical” or something similar about. you can make it, it’ll just be bad - so do it bad. if you don’t know how to make a div do something, brute force an approximation with what you do know, or attempt to learn and give up halfway, or implement a broken version that doesn’t work at all.
try to resist the urge to edit mistakes, polish things, or keep bashing your head against something you can’t figure out. just let it suck, give up and move on to the next thing; if the next thing is “declaring it finished because it’s making you mad,” then so be it!
if you fail at something, do a bad job, disappoint and frustrate yourself, make a bad web page, break your whole code, make a mess, or otherwise Suck At Something, then you have succeeded at Suck At Something September. great job!
the thing you make would ideally be a web page, but if you would really really really prefer to suck at making a sculpture or a painting or something else that is not a web page that’s acceptable.
you do have to put it ON a web page though.
if you would prefer to make something that’s not a web page because you are too good at making web pages, then you ought to try being bad at making web pages instead. it’s good for you!
the rules
-
your idea does not have to be good actually. it can be a mediocre or bad or funny idea instead if you don’t have any good ideas. it just needs to be something that, when you have the idea, sounds like it’ll be fun to make.
-
you have to have fun. having fun is MANDATORY
-
you gotta post your idea before you start working. if your end result ends up a totally different idea, please don’t edit the post! seeing your journey from idea to result is part of the fun!
-
if you haven’t finished your thing on september 29th and the forum is about to close: yes you have!!! PENCILS DOWN, POST IT UNFINISHED.
-
all compliments and critiques must be sincere and specific. this applies to feedback you give other people in the thread (if you choose to do that; you don’t have to) as well as the feedback you give yourself ( MANDATORY )
- “i think i did a pretty good job” and “this page sucks, ugh” are not specific. that’s no good!
- “i like the color i used for the background” and “i think the paragraphs would look better unjustified” are specific. that’s good!
- i can’t judge your sincerity, that’s for you to wrestle with on your own time.
-
when you post a link to your completed page:
- please include a note if it might trigger seizures/migraines/eyestrain/nausea/other physical symptoms (typical causes include but are not limited to: rapid and/or bright flickering and flashing, very very bright colors, scrolling/moving patterned backgrounds, very small text, and loud sudden noises)
- specify if you would or would not like to receive compliments and/or critiques from other thread posters, and respect the wishes of your fellow participants. if someone doesn’t want feedback, don’t give them any; if someone does, try to give them some. (i will not give you your prize of one (1) compliment + critique if you do not want it, but you do gotta tell me!)
the thing i will be sucking at this september is running this event and making prizes for it.
~
obviously i can’t give you the forum gift badge if you don’t have a melonland forum account, but i can still give you the other prizes and you can give yourself the badge since it is just a little picture.