Public Commander Keen Forum

Something I actually wanted to get done by Keen Day has finally gone live:
More than 500 pieces of Keen art - and counting

Thanks to everyone who gave their support. SynDuo made multiple pieces of his awesome Keen art available again. Keeniver sent me a cute Yorp drawing. From Xky Rauh I received a neat photo of himself as Keen. And TooMuchSpareTime allowed me to include all his Keen content, which is a lot. More people sent works or gave the permission to include their art, great stuff will be added in the weeks to come.

Most works included for the initial version were published between 1999 and mid-2005. I gave up hope that Xtraverse will ever fix Beyond the Pogo and its fanart page. I had already obtained most pics from said site for use in the respective threads. So I could also take the rest and give the works a safe home, I thought. And while I am at it, why limit it to content from the days of the old forum? The rest is history. Again, thanks to Malv for the webspace.

The overview page still needs some information, including explanations for the little link icons, and there might be a few mistakes, but I finally wanted to release it. Eventually, the PCKF Archive will include the other downloads from Beyond the Pogo (which are not covered by the KeenWiki) in different sections as well. Again, thanks to Malv for the webspace.

Yes, in some cases the inclusion might be questionable, i.e. when it's only a modified sprite. But ultimately, those "questionable" works are in the minority, I think it's okay.

If I can include your Keen stuff as well - please post here.

Wow! This brings back some memories!

I really love the "curated museum" feel it has, with all the cross-referenced notes and context for everything.

I've got a lot of keen stuff made up during the years and an art that's not made by me went over there? So I can claim the ownership of it and make it NFT and become a millionaire.

Also most of the things I've made are pixel-art, made-up things and changes over originals. But is it art or is it trash? Could it be used for your website?

Neat!

Oh wow, some of my old Keen art is megacringe. But so was I when I was 21. And now that I'm 41, I'm basically twice as cringe!
And at least it's archived! Great job, Grandy!

@Multimania, TmsT: Thanks, glad to read that you like it.

Roobar wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 10:25 I've got a lot of keen stuff made up during the years and an art that's not made by me went over there?

It's only the beginning. I had already uploaded that particular file for use in the respective thread years ago.

Roobar wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 10:25 Also most of the things I've made are pixel-art, made-up things and changes over originals. But is it art or is it trash? Could it be used for your website?

Yeah, works like that can already be seen in the gallery. Anyways, I interpret your post as "Yes, you can add my stuff".

Nice! This is a lot of fun to look through. A great resource for Keen history-- and, dare I say, a good historical record in general. Some of these pieces carry the quintessential essence of something from the early 2000s; which, of course, they are.

Grandy02 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 22:56 And while I am at it, why limit it to content from the days of the old forum?

Sounds like a great idea! (I was wondering if you were ever planning to tackle any content from the current forums.) I'd imagine the fan-art thread would be a good place to start: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1500
Unfortunately a lot of dead images already, though I hear the Wayback Machine does wonders.
I wonder if old and new works should be sorted into different sections, for different "time periods."

This is cool! Great work at the setup, Grandy02! There's are a lot of neat artwork in this!

@proYorp, Quillax: Thanks.
Now it also includes a section for StupidBunny's art. Previously, I had added works by Shaylyn Hamm (ChemicalAlia) and aintnofuntime.

proYorp wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:00 Sounds like a great idea! (I was wondering if you were ever planning to tackle any content from the current forums.) I'd imagine the fan-art thread would be a good place to start: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1500

Sooner or later, I would have run out of content to add, but now the site can grow as long as this community exists. Yeah, I will eventually go through that thread (some images are already included), but I still have a lot of stuff to add from Keeners who gave their approval. (Not sure what to do with works of the small number of people who don't respond at all...)

proYorp wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:00 Unfortunately a lot of dead images already, though I hear the Wayback Machine does wonders.
I wonder if old and new works should be sorted into different sections, for different "time periods."

It does. I also want to thank the person who had the Wayback Machine crawl this forum as a whole in October 2014, whoever they are.
Regarding the sections for old and new works, thanks for the suggestion, but I'd like to keep it the way it is.

Grandy02 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 17:53 I still have a lot of stuff to add from Keeners who gave their approval. (Not sure what to do with works of the small number of people who don't respond at all...)

To be honest, in my humble opinion, asking for permission from every single artist feels a bit excessive. You're not modifying the works, you're providing a mirror for something that already exists publicly and freely. You give credit for everything you put on the site, along with so many citations and links that it'd be near impossible for someone to mistake this as someone's personal site with only their own art.

To be fair, there is the occasional instance where someone might decide they regret making something and want to delete it (though oftentimes later on they regret deleting it after all). As far as I can tell, having such strong negative convictions about one's own art is more an exception rather than the rule (meaning, most people probably don't care too much). I feel it may be more appropriate to have an open invitation for anyone to request for their art to be removed if they object to it being on the site.

Personally, I feel that depending too much on direct permission sort of conflicts with the idea of archival. One should always be respectful of the creators if they voice objection of course, but by posting their works online in the first place they have already consented to them being publicly available, and I would think that this would be the default assumption. Waiting for a response could take years, if it ever comes, and by that time it may be too late.

I imagine that, more frequently, creators would be grateful that their works that they had put so much effort into had been preserved, plus anyone who enjoyed them initially, and anyone who finds these works later on and appreciates them. I've found a lot of cool stuff in the archive that I'd never seen before.

It may be appropriate to ask about specific works that may be questionable, for instance if they contain personal information such as names or what-have-you. But for the most part, as long as proper credit is given, and whatever sources necessary, I would think that would be fine. It's an archive after all, a museum of sorts. Personally, I would feel honored to have any of my artwork included.

That's my own take on it, anyway.

I also want to thank the person who had the Wayback Machine crawl this forum as a whole in October 2014, whoever they are.

+1
Yeah, I recently found an old thread I'd been trying to find for awhile and all the images were dead, but the whole thread (images included) had been saved. Didn't realize it was the whole forum. Thanks mystery person.

proYorp wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 9:09

Grandy02 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 17:53 I still have a lot of stuff to add from Keeners who gave their approval. (Not sure what to do with works of the small number of people who don't respond at all...)

To be honest, in my humble opinion, asking for permission from every single artist feels a bit excessive. You're not modifying the works, you're providing a mirror for something that already exists publicly and freely. You give credit for everything you put on the site, along with so many citations and links that it'd be near impossible for someone to mistake this as someone's personal site with only their own art.

You are not wrong, but I like to be on the safe side, and also think it's nicer towards the creators. And sometimes I even received content I was unaware of from them. There is an inactive Keener, once a very productive creator of fanart, who hasn't responded after multiple tries. Anyhow, I might add their work sooner or later, gave them enough chances to say no.

Also, art by Lava89 and The Big Palooka is available.
Thanks to Malv for enabling HTTPS support, now everyone should see images from archive.shikadi.net posted here, such as this one by aintnofuntime:

Fair enough, if that's what your priorities are. For me I think that would take so much extra effort that I'm not sure I'd be able to stick with the project. But you do seem to be pretty good with finding and reaching out to people, and I guess you have a lot of experience and overlap with that anyway from all the other archive projects you manage. Keep up the good work.