Hi there. I'm one of those people who's been around for a while and not posted much. The reason I haven't posted much is that I know I'm not very good at Flash, and that my stuff doesn't really have a place here. I've put up a couple sound boards, because those are pretty difficult to mess up, but everything else; not here. So that's me.

Now, I know you're excited to share what you're doing with the world. I know that you're eager to get it out there and get feedback from the community on it. Believe me, I get that. And I know that as long as you dedicate yourself to the craft, you're going to get better and better, one day perhaps even eclipsing the best this site has to offer now.

However, I also know that you're not there yet. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with being new to Flash, because after all, we all were at one point. You'll be great eventually, but right now... not so much.

The most important thing to do in order to get better is to practice. Do as much work in Flash as you can, and over time your drawings will be better, your animations will be smoother, and your code will be cleaner. A close second to that is getting feedback; that's where the rest of us come in.

You see, there are two places on this site where you can upload your work for feedback. The first is the Portal, where most of you are already putting your stuff. As much as I know you're tempted to, you probably don't want to upload anything there just yet. The reason for that is that we tend to be rather harsh judges when it comes to test animations, and so if you upload something that says "My first flash" or "Test" it is likely to die quickly and violently. When you're just starting out, the Portal is not the place for you.

The other place you can upload is your dumping grounds. This is a place where you can upload your Flash file and have people in the Flash forum download it so they can give you advice, pointers, and help. If you are just starting out, this is where you want to put your stuff.

Basically, your dumping grounds are for works in progress, tests, and things you know are unfinished and/or bad. The Portal is for polished works that you are proud of. So please, be objective with your Flash in deciding where to put it. Just from looking around at the average content on this site, you know whether your work is up to snuff, so upload it to the appropriate place, for your own benefit from not having it blammed, and for ours for not having to blam it. Believe me, it will work out better for all involved, especially you.

Cheers and good luck