The Dink Network

Some of you may have heard that Dink Smallwood and its community have a rich history, and it's true (exhibit one, two, three and four). While Dink's history might be a nice topic for some other time, I'm now going to talk about the opposite: the future of Dink Smallwood.

Check out the comments for the full article.

Is Dink dying? Don't let Dink die! (no really). It seems many people have been afraid for the future of Dink for ages now. And I'm pretty sure many of you don't see the future of this site too bright, judging from many posts on the boards. But why is this? I'd say the Dink Community is very much alive and kicking, and the future does look bright! I'll let my crystal ball do some talking:

1) The return of the DOTM! Well, kind of.
Yes, you heard that right, the Download of the Month awards will be back! However, my crystal ball senses some changes. It's new times, new rules and even a new name this time around. Stay tuned for the first real download awards since two years ago, next month!

2) Influx of new members.
School's out. For summer. And longtime Dinkers know what that means. Yes, it's the annual summer n00bfest! Countless of Dead Dragon Carcass virgins will find their way to the Dink Network, because without school, what else is there to do? But some Dinkers here also did their best to spread Dink around like an STD. Our favorite aquatic vertebrate animal got us a mention in Edge Magazine, Beuc made a fantastic Linux Sticky, and yours truly is in the process of getting the word out there in the Linux communities. With your help, the Dink Network will be more popular than ever before! Tell all your friends and family about Dink Smallwood and seduce the people at the forums you frequent into Dink. Get the word out there!

3) Awesome D-Mods being released this year.
2009 may not have been a big year for D-Mods yet, but lately the amount of files being submitted has gone dramatically up again. And if we take a quick glance at the Upcoming D-Mods List, we see that Wesley's Friends Beyond 2 is nearing completion, and last I heard, Skull's Historical Hero is seeing tremendous progress, and looks to be a huge epic to boot! Oh, and my crystal ball says to prepare for two D-Mods unlike anything you've seen before. Previews coming soon! *end futile attempt at hype no.2*

Well, that wraps up the second Everything Dink (and the name remains cheesy). How do you see the future of Dink Smallwood? Discuss!

I'm not going anywhere! Dink Smallwood may have seen the brink of death a couple of times but the forum is still full of life and the first DMOD of the year was submitted recently. Dinks future sure looks bright at the moment.

I'm probably going to put my newb skills to the test and make a romp this summer. I'm a member of the Dink Network and it's hella fun. Don't let Dink die!

I do notice that the activity on this website has reduced a lot. Back in early Generation 8 days, I remember seeing over 10 persons lurking in the forums pretty much all the time. The most I see now is about 2-3 each time.

If we want more traffic, I'd say we need to add TDN to some retro-topsites for indie games such as Dink Smallwood. Redink1 can surely email all the members of TDN and beg them to come back to the community they love so much

I think the fact that all the talking and worrying about 'Dink dying' is a proof of the opposite. As for not having a lot of lurkers, I think it's because people don't have enough encouragement to stay logged in or are afraid to be. Take me for instance; did you see me lurk about when I posted this? I guess not, I read all the new posts, then replied and swiftly logged out. I can't have people look at me or they may find out about my secret Dead Dragon Carcass rituals! (By that I mean the rituals that I’m performing for the D-Mod that I’m creating for the long dead DDC contest. I'm not putting it in the upcoming D-Mod list as projects I talk about too much are cursed to die.)

Dink's not going to die anytime soon... it's been predicted since what, 1998?

I do the same thing as Erwin, just log in when I post. No idea why

I'm from England, pro-logging-out and all pro-logging-out, I don't know WHY but that's just the way I am isn't it.

Nice post Christiaan. Lovely to hear about DOTM again!

I'm not done with Dink until I've released an epic, haven't got much time to work on it which means I won't be leaving soon.

I do the same thing as Erwin, just log in when I post. True, true.

Actually, when it comes to site activity and traffic, May was one of the best months of the last 7 months or so.

You should put Everything Dink (the name's kinda weird ) to the "articles" -page.

EDIT: I know a better name for Everything Dink. A cool name could be "History of Dink eras". Maybe it's a little too cool. I mean, c'mon, it's gotta be too cool if it's made up by me.

I agree. It's too cool, so I'll stick to Everything Dink.

And I am unable to put it in the articles page.

who thinks we should have topic of the week?

Now THAT'S a good idea, Zeddex. But maybe topic of the month would be better.

Topic of the month? Doesn't sound so good to me. We don't have that many good topics, it's mostly spam anyways.

Hmm, maybe SOTM. Spammage of the Month.

wat about the fanart?

You need to hold on long enough for really old members to return... Yeah...

I thought you were dead.

It appears that death is quite subjective around here.

When is the first "new" DOTM voting gonna come then? You promised that is going to be this month. And if this promise doesn't keep, I'm sure most of the dinker's are turning as crazy as banana when it's eaten.

Not too fast...

If you hold a DOTM to fast after the actual period people will remember the more recent files a lot better. It's a good idea to let some time pass.

I already have the article finished. But it will probably go online next saturday or so (july 11th).

Dink is dying? It looks very much alive to me...

Where is Everything Dink 3? We're waiting...

I'm working on it, but it will probably not be ready this month. So see you come august!

Hey, august is over already!

Woah.

Hey, you're right!

I was reading the first post and I started to think it was this year's but I began to get suspicious when HH was described in future tense.

Say, does someone have another statement to make about our future (my theory is that ever since Tal left that the DN has been in a slow, inevitable decline. Someone needs to get some "evidence" that Tal would not like to become public and then blackmail him into coming back.) Please no crazy theories about how certain people leaving the DN cause the eventual death of it, or about somewhat illegal ways to get them back.

Tal escaped from the humiliation as soon as he could.

Dink never dies when I'm controlling him.

the DN will die....
whe hell freezes over.