How do you treat your shrines?

[Destinie]

I think everyone had a lot of good things to say. I can see the distinction between different types of sites (ex: something that is more blog-like and something that is more of an individual post).

Todd, I really like your approach actually. xD I think I sort of do that right now, actually. A lot of my sites are "finished" and I just focus on a few that are more "active".

[dubiousdisc]

For me it depends on the subject and the size of the project. If it's something smaller and I have a relatively finite amount of things to say about the subject, then I tend to publish the shrine as a closed, complete thing which I'll only touch again if in a few years I thought something else to add, or if I became aware of some new material, and maybe, eventually, to revamp it visually when the layout has become aged. Overall, in that case, it's a finished thing that can only be slightly expanded, but that is already complete in itself, and I can (more or less) happily leave there as something "timeless". If I do update such a site, I add a little line in a conspicuous place because omg! new stuff! omg! and I want a returning visitor to know that there was an update. Then, when that update has become old, I either remove that line entirely or move it in a much less conspicuous place, because I don't want people to think that this is a living document that has gone dead!

If it's a big shrine, however, or if it's something about an ongoing series, or something where you find more things to say as time goes on, then it would be unwieldy (or in some cases impossible) to wait until all is complete before putting it online, so it necessarily has to be a massive work in progress that you poke and update once in a while. However, I think that a person has a limit to how many sites like that they can have on their hands, past which it becomes overwhelming. But I would say that it's okay to have stuff in need of a revamp around. After all, consider this: the changes that you would make to it are only clear and evident to you, not so much to the visitor, who can still enjoy what you have! But I can also understand that, striving for excellence, having sites like that around can become a burden. (As much as I can say that you can be happy with sites that are not fully polished, I am very much the latter type of person, so I often end up killing things that I am too displeased with, no matter what other people say).

But I really think this depends on how you feel about this entire deal. As much as you can say, eh, it can stay there unupdated and I can slap the created date on it and everyone can know that it's how it is, that's not going to help much if you cringe anyway every time you look at it. If that is a solution for you, then go ahead! Now that shrines are somewhat of a rarity and they're all made by us old farts with lives and other projects, I think the expectation of keeping them updated at all times has changed, and I do agree with the approach of "here's something I wrote x years ago, enjoy", but ultimately, this is up to how you feel about it. And, if you are really too displeased about something and you feel like you NEED to update this or you won't be happy, and you don't think you'll ever have the time/energy/care to update it, I would say, kill it, or archive it with a big notice that this site will probably never update again but you still want to keep it up.

Sorry if I'm a bit convoluted today but I just woke up and I am a bit dizzy XD

[Destinie]

Wah I hope you feel better, Dubs. :< I really agree with what you are saying especially the "striving for excellence" part. That's where it gets tricky in some cases, ahaha.

[Chibi]

I agree with pretty much what everyone said! :3 If it's a shrine that doesn't need much updating (say, a Pokemon shrine), I usually leave it "static". However, if it's a big shrine that would take a long time or if it's about an ongoing series, then yeah, I'll keep it "active" and updated.

(I believe I even made a topic similar to this ages ago, asking people what they thought of uploading shrines that weren't finished and completing them slowly, basically keeping them "active".)

Also, back in the day I found it really fun when people opened sites that weren't quite finished yet and they added sections with time, it made me go back to their sites and I looked forward to their updates! :D

[Anise]

I secretly like to make sites that are to series that are complete so that I only have to do minor maintenance. Otherwise I just wait until I good breaking point to update it or let it fall behind because I'm the worst.

Now I try to think of a few things I'd like to add in the future and update it as I go.

[Larissa]

I kinda just want to +1 Lethe and dubiousdisc because they both nailed my feelings on this.

But especially:

To me, shrines are a snapshot of my feelings for a subject during a certain time of my life.

This in particular is how I feel about fansites, and is why I'm okay with leaving some sites untouched for many years, and why I can't stand to leave others up. All of my sites are, in some small way, a reflection of me, and that only becomes more true the longer it's been since I've updated them. The really old sites tend to be really embarrassing because I've grown a lot in the years since, but some aren't so bad, and I can look back at them with a feeling of "man, I was really proud of this back then."

Nowadays I'm an adult with far less time so I prefer to upload finished sites wherever possible, in order to cut down on updates I have to make later. I do still have a site that I make updates to (my FFXIII site) and I actually do enjoy getting to jump back in and make improvements to it a little bit at a time. But other than that I'd rather update a site once every 3-5 years because haha I don't have time to do anything more frequent. (That's also about how often I get back into each subject my sites are for, so it works out.)

[Camy]

I treat my shrines pretty good, minus the revamping things.

Most of them are complete while those I'm WIP is...well, are going slow hahaha. It's why I love the monthly challenges since it helps push me to complete one or go "GASP I CAN FINALLY DO ____!"

[Destinie]

Nowadays I'm an adult with far less time so I prefer to upload finished sites wherever possible, in order to cut down on updates I have to make later.

Definitely! I feel like this, too.

I kind of miss being able to spend every day working on shrines and constantly making new layouts, too. Now I can't even remember the last time I changed a layout for a shrine. :x

[Laura]

Over the many, many years I've been making sites, I've learned that even when I consider one to be "final," I always end up coming back to it years later to make updates. xD

I left my Uranus/Neptune shrine as an archived, finalized edition years ago because I thought I'd never need to update it due to a lack of new content for the series. However, I ended up coming back to it and updating everything on it simply because I felt that content was poorly written and lacking. It needed a new layout that better displayed my abilities as a designer too. As it is, I'm satisfied with the content and the layout both, but who's to say I won't feel differently in 10 year's time. XD

I also try to make my sites as complete as possible when I upload them to public domain. I really don't like to upload them otherwise, because I don't trust myself to go back and update them later. It feels more like it's a deal with myself: content not done, no site! XD My sites therefore become "static" until new information comes to light. When I finished my Uranus/Neptune redesign, I didn't update it much afterwards... but now that SMC season 3 is confirmed, I've started updating it again and will continue to do so until there's nothing else to add. At least I hope I will. XD

amagad that's a lot of text. I kinda start rambling late in the evening, sorry! XD