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Thread: Refocusing the Community work

  1. #121
    Originally posted by Meister

    The slowdowns on the webserver are often times due to some hardware problem. I am not exactly sure whats going on there, but our Network Director "Jhariden" is always hunting down any problems and so far it have always been hardware problems with the webserver (we got 3 servers for the main Stratics stuff: webserver, forumserver and email server). The forums are ok the way they are, the webserver is a bit slow, i agree.. but that is not due to lack of bandwidth
    Often times? How about all the time. I used to use stratics for UO years ago. At one point, stratics was a nice fast site and somewhat informatitive. But, at some point, they released a statement that there are some network problems and they are being looked into. Then pop up ads were added to the mix. They were eventually removed. However, ever since that time, the load time on the site has been hideous. And becoming one of a few sites that FC has thrown away their customers to, it sure doesn't look like it will get better.
    Jellobiafra General of First Order
    First Order-Cleaning clanners since 29210
    Visit our website to join!!

  2. #122
    Your feedback can make a difference though After all we aim to be a complete ressource where people like to come back to. I will see why the webserver is so slow right now, it bugs me too Jhariden, here i come
    Director "Meister"
    President, Omni-Pol
    Level 207 Omni-Tek Dictator
    Meister's Reinforced Suit - Bureaucrats may be gimps, but at least we know how to look good.
    Account Created: 2001-06-27 23:07:32

  3. #123
    this is the worst news on AO I've heard in a long long time.
    The closing of the majority of the boards will mean the community will scatter and dillute. Moving to their "own" sites and reducing their feel of "connection" to the AO playerbase as a whole.
    The areas where this will hit the hardest is, as already mentioned, the RP community which is already relatively small. Also removing the profession forums is going to hit new players as well since these forums were used often by new players or players starting characters of a certain profession for the first time.

    I'll be sad indeed to see my favorite site for finding entertaining and informative posts go.

  4. #124
    The profession forums wont be removed
    Director "Meister"
    President, Omni-Pol
    Level 207 Omni-Tek Dictator
    Meister's Reinforced Suit - Bureaucrats may be gimps, but at least we know how to look good.
    Account Created: 2001-06-27 23:07:32

  5. #125
    Originally posted by Lesentia
    Cz:

    This action of closing the Role-playing forums will end up to be a huge mistake for the RP community that mainly exists on RK1. The players that regularly post and talk here are some of the most active players in the game. Forcing them to go and use 3rd party web sites is redundant to what genre you consider your game to be a part of:

    Massively Multiplayer ROLE PLAYING Game.

    This action of closing the RP and many other forums will be comparable to shooting your self in the foot. Please read these threads posted on the soon-to-be dead Role Playing forum.


    Thread 1
    Thread 2
    Thread 3
    Thread 4

    All I ask is for you all, Cz included to read what has been posted on this sad topic.
    Hmm... maybe we should be considering alternatives. Its about time.

    MMLLG (massively multiplayer loot and level game)?
    MMPKG (massively multiplayer player killing game)?

    Sorry thats the best I could do right now. Lesentia's post struck a cord with me .
    - Szentasha
    Leader of Unity of the Rose

    AOScripter 2.0 If you need a script, you need AOScripter!

    *** Remove Social Armor Restrictions Today !!!

  6. #126
    My own stance on this, for what it's worth...

    First - I have a job AND school AND homework AND a big exam in June to manage. I play AO when I can. Sometimes I try to have a life too. The boards here are perfect to keep up to date on things, because it's *one* place to check. There's no way I'd have time to do this on 4 or 5 different sites just because I want to know what person A on site 1 says, and then what person C on site 5 says too.

    Note that I say "I", but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person here who doesn't have nothing else to do of her days that visit a dozen of different sites just 'in case of'.

    Second - I *am* going to defend the RP board, for the sheer, simple reason that if there weren't for this specific forum, myself and (believe me) a certain amount of people wouldn't be playing anymore for months. As much as the Beginner's Corner is vital for new players who feel lost and are in need of advice... the RP board is, at least to my eyes, vital for beginning roleplayers who feel lost too and don't know who to RP with, what places to go to find RPers, etc etc.

    I know... I know that every person reading this thread and the announcement about the boards will probably have a different opinion, and consider different of these forums as 'needed'. Of course I'm being partial, and I know it, and to tell the truth - yes, I'm pissed off. Something that doesn't happen very often, because I'm hard to piss off.

    When I first began to post on the official boards, I thought it was a perfect place for learning the game. Places for beginners, for professions, for more directed advice... place to meet people, place that made me discover the RP community in this game - this very community that made me *stay*. What was this 'perfect place' for me, surely was/is for lots of people too. So now, what about the professions... what about the 'little communities' that have formed through and thanks to the boards?

    I of course don't bash Stratics or whatever other site out there. I actually posted on some of them, long, long months ago. And I stopped, because it was too much time-consuming. That's it, I don't have friggin' *time*, and when I can squeeze some, I prefer spend it in game the more I can... not taking even more time than was needed to browse boards.

    Okay, so off with the rant now, let's be constructive.

    Grouping some of the boards - agree on this, am aware too that it won't necessarily reduce the amount of posts, and therefore of work.

    Moderating - hell.. can't *we* take on the job? Can't we, players - well those among us who'd have the time to, at least... - be given the possibility to *help*? Even if only one hour per day... if there are several of us, can't it help? Someone mentioned 'like the ARK program' (sorry, can't remember, this thread is already kinda long). Can't we also help this way? Some boards don't need as much moderating as some others... at least from what I could see... or am I just too idealistic/stupid/whatever, and dreaming of things that can't be...

    I wonder if writing this is useful in any way. I just hope I'm not sounding too harsh, my intention isn't to blame anybody, but I'm *really* pissed off... and it's hard for me to keep a perfectly cold head right now and carefully choose my words.

    Oh well, but as I'm not a nasty little girl - here's for those who were brave enough to read my post (and notice, once again, that I really suffer from severe logorrhea):
    Jen Markarian - Put the weirdness back in Omni-Mining
    Updating my stories -- 19/03/08. Going slowly, but certainly
    Anarchy Reloaded - AO webcomics for the sake of being silly

    I never want to lose what I have finally found
    There's a requiem
    A new congregation
    And it's telling me: go forward and walk
    Under a brighter sky
    -- Delerium, Euphoria --

  7. #127
    Originally posted by Meister
    Oh i forgot.. we have the same forums Funcom has here on AO Stratics. So if you absolutely need all of the forums you have here now (of which many will be closed) you can come to us Our forums do not have pop-ups, as that would be really bad. ...
    wow I just went to ao.stratics.com, and what did I see? a pop-up ad

    I can apparently "now get it all for less" at CheapTickets.com. weeeeeee...


    went to the main site, at www.stratics.com, and what did I see? another pop-add.

    I can win big at "Casino on Net" weeeeee..


    Tried to view their Privacy statement, but just got a blank page. Can you post it for us Miester?
    http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/s...iewprivacy.php
    ======================

    blix01/spookiepants/stiffwood

  8. #128
    Originally posted by Meister
    Heh dollar signs.. all our staff does the work on Stratics for free and we dont get a single cent for it. If there was more activity regarding roleplaying in general, there would maybe even be news to post
    You know I've run a community support site out of my own pocket before.

    I understand the need for financing...but I never pursued it. My pocketbook outlasted the game, so it wasn't a problem.

    But you cannot reasonably expect me to believe that IGN, Stratics and other massive game site networks such as Gamespy Industries, MGON and Shacknews are simply just "making ends meet". Especially with the flexibility your "Privacy" policies give you with personal information.

    I know how the system works, a game has a following, its cheaper to hire someone that knows a little bit about PHP site administration (albeit nothing about PHP) than to actually pay anyone to maintain it. So basically what you have is a bunch of people paying a large company in ad revenues and theres absolutely no original content.

    News is plagarized, downloads are NIL and if there are any theres a daily download limitation unless you "Sign up for our ULTRA FANTASTIC PREMIUM SERVICE!" which nets you all the downloads you want, at pathetic downspeeds because every single corner has been cut on network architecture to ensure the maximum flow of profit into the pockets of a very few people at the very top of the network.

    And to top it off, for the forums to be fully functional, you have to pay the ULTRA FANTASTIC PREMIUM SERVICE fee....to get EXACTLY the functionality we've had here as part of our monthly service fee.

    Once again.

    I WILL PAY FUNCOM 20 US DOLLARS A MONTH TO PLAY THEIR GAME AND MAINTAIN ITS COMMUNITY FOCUS BEFORE I WILL PUT ONE RED CENT IN THE POCKETS OF SOME NETGAMING FAD COVERAGE NETWORK THAT WILL DROP THE SUPPORT FOR THE GAME THE MINUTE THEY THINK THEIR ADVERTISING REVENUES ARE GOING COLD AND GAME "X" WILL GENERATE MORE PROFIT

    (Font size edited out of respect for Cz)
    Last edited by Sid Scheer; Jan 20th, 2003 at 21:42:47.

  9. #129
    Ooop, my links messed up. I'll try to fix them during work.
    Last edited by Lesentia; Jan 20th, 2003 at 21:22:02.
    Randa "Lesentia" Forejt

    Whisper's Edge

    "Why oh why didn't I take the blue pill..."
    -Cypher, The Matrix

  10. #130
    Originally posted by Blix
    wow I just went to ao.stratics.com, and what did I see? a pop-up ad
    ...
    Tried to view their Privacy statement, but just got a blank page. Can you post it for us Miester?
    http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/s...iewprivacy.php
    I also got a popup, and the Privacy Policy was also an essentially blank page. Convenient timing, eh?

    Martek

  11. #131
    if it isn't blatantly obvious, the big supporter posts we've seen so far have all been from fan sites.. well duh!! of course you want the traffic.. that doesn't mean this is a good thing for the agent community..

  12. #132
    Hmm.. that page shouldnt be blank. I will have that fixed asap.
    Director "Meister"
    President, Omni-Pol
    Level 207 Omni-Tek Dictator
    Meister's Reinforced Suit - Bureaucrats may be gimps, but at least we know how to look good.
    Account Created: 2001-06-27 23:07:32

  13. #133

    Angry

    It beats me how anyone can consider it a benefit to the community to close down all the good official forums?? The best that could possibly happen with this change is that *one* community site somehow gets appointed to continue all the forums, and then we would still have to visit two different boards. And I figure that "at best" will never happen and we will in fact end up with profession forums and other nice forums scattered all over the planet with no single source anymore.

    What a tremendous step back this will be

  14. #134
    Kasimir, we have ARKs as mods. We've covered that part. If not, I wouldn't have been answering e-mails, or writing posts at all.

    And we're not getting rid of the bulletin board. We're closing several forums. There is a difference.

    Thought this - according to you - weakens the places to communicate (I disagree on that; I think it becomes stronger, if anything), it allows for more time to communicate. What's the use of having the places if we don't have time to visit them (including our own forums)?

    Now we get time, and we have the places.

    Oh, and it wasn't a lunch. I live in Norway. It was a very late dinner.

    Lumin, removing the communication, or the tool for communication? If you mean the former, I'm not sure what you refer to. If you mean the latter, I agree that is't weakened, but at the same time we open other areas, and get the time to actually cover it.

    Jellobiafra, note that not all concerns brought up will be through weekly questions. We will stick around on the fan site forums too (we already do), and chit cat, take notes, and throw out a clue or a leak or an explanation here and there, sometimes a lot more.

    Lesentia, I'm fully capable of reading normal sized letters. I've read lots on the RP forum already, and already have some of the spam mails somebody were nice enough to ask people there to send me.

    mgbkurtz, thank you.

    Gestava, profession forums are not being removed, partly for the reason you mention; newbie information. That is why we keep both the Beginners' Corner, and the profession forums. The latter is also the foundation of the Professionals program.

    Demenzia, some moderation can be done by volunteers, some can't. Another issue is that by selecting people already participating on the forums (as opposed to ARKs), we risk spending more time defending the choices than we would spend moderating it ourselves.

    I don't think the RP board would be one to quarrel over the mods, but other forums would.

    Sid Scheer, please... easy on the font tags now.


    And please folks, don't take frustration out on the fan site people. I don't see how some turned it around to be their fault suddenly. They do a lot of great work, so of course they want people to their sites. Any person putting a lot of work into something wants people to enjoy it, use it, and like it. If you don't like what they do, just ignore them. No need to lash out at them.

  15. #135
    Originally posted by Cz
    Kasimir, we have ARKs as mods. We've covered that part. If not, I wouldn't have been answering e-mails, or writing posts at all.

    And we're not getting rid of the bulletin board. We're closing several forums. There is a difference.

    Thought this - according to you - weakens the places to communicate (I disagree on that; I think it becomes stronger, if anything), it allows for more time to communicate. What's the use of having the places if we don't have time to visit them (including our own forums)?

    Now we get time, and we have the places.

    Oh, and it wasn't a lunch. I live in Norway. It was a very late dinner.
    Sorry I know you're what 5 ahead? of us dumb Americans..I saw you mention lunch earlier and though you took your meals late like some of us other working slobs :P

    I understand your points, and yes I do agree..but I guess what I'm getting at is there are so many forums that are people's main home in AO (RP, Social, WoRK, Organization, etc) that would be removed, and displaced, and split up. We all feel like we're losing a home. And, as lame as it's going to sound..I guess getting more ARK-mods is outta the question huh? Had to ask. I'll be glad if the changes really have a strong impact on the game world, strong enough to displace the upset it's going to cause..can you tell me you unquestioningly believe this is so?

    I know I'm grasping at straws, I just always feel when a decision like this is made, that there must have been a better way. Maybe I'm wrong.

    edit: and once more I'm appealing to everyone to can the fansite bashing..that's not helping anyone.
    General Hershel "Kasimir" Jurik

    President of Division 9 R.S.G.E

    Fixer
    RK-1

    Braumiester of the Pagan Bartenders, wielder of dual SSo8s

    Stealer of hearts, creds, and anything not nailed down!

  16. #136
    Wow, not only is Stratics Privacy policy mysteriously blank....but it took a full 2 minutes for the ad to load too.

    Of course, me being on a 5mbps wireless LAN probably had something to do with that.

    ENOUGH

    Cz, your fan base has demonstrated in the last two pages that the "Fansite" alternatives are not going to be acceptable.

    We don't want spam. We want a community.

    We don't want servers that take 2 minutes to load ADS. We want no ads and an interaction with the company we pay to play the game.

    We don't want Nazi fanboy admins that only have one answer to opinions that differ from the sites policy of maintaining a "Positive Atmosphere" (which translates into, "Making sure we don't get sued for libel for mistakenly allowing Funcom to look bad on our site.") we want a free congress of opinions and a free discourse of ideas.

    And most of all, what I want...is a roleplaying community. And we'd just started getting it together. And now you'll cast that off to the wolves that are internet marketing companies (don't believe the hype...thats all these mass net media networks are).

    I salute Meister and Rose for their heartfelt support of AO and working for free for these two networks. But I'm sorry, once these forums are gone. My interest in AO, and my belief in Funcom as a positive company thats looking to make the best MMORPG availible within their means, will be gone.

  17. #137
    Well, I'm sure you've all discussed this issue internally, and I can see your reasoning, but I have to tell you that from an outsider's perspective it doesn't look good.

    The first place I go to read about AO is, naturally, AO's official web site. Fan sites like Basher, Stratics, and Arcanum are superb and certainly useful, but they aren't "official". I only became aware of them after some months of playing AO. More importantly, I only became interested in them after some months of playing AO.

    The average customer is going to go directly to your official site. If they see a simplified forum with disclaimers suggesting they visit a fan site instead, I'm afraid the impression may be one of a store that's going out of business.

    I'm sure that's already been considered, but I just thought I'd toss it out there.
    k- This message has been reviewed by intrusive goons searching for "evil-doers".

  18. #138
    Originally posted by Cz

    And please folks, don't take frustration out on the fan site people. I don't see how some turned it around to be their fault suddenly. They do a lot of great work, so of course they want people to their sites. Any person putting a lot of work into something wants people to enjoy it, use it, and like it. If you don't like what they do, just ignore them. No need to lash out at them.
    Respectfully,
    It is Funcom and the Fansites together that have put themselves into focus here. The announcment specificly names 3 sites as preferred replacements for the existing forums.
    We were quite happy with the way the forums are; And if you are selling these sites as a replacement, it's reasonable for us to point out the many ways they do not live up this ideal.


    Simply ignorning these sites is no longer an option. We did that before, but Funcom is now making that impossible by directing their community interaction through them.
    Popup ads, selling/sharing of personal information, slowserver response time, broken links.
    These are valid examples of how Funcom (not us) misstepped here. So please dont lash out at us for pointing this out.
    Last edited by Blix; Jan 20th, 2003 at 21:44:55.
    ======================

    blix01/spookiepants/stiffwood

  19. #139
    Kasimir, time difference depends a bit on where you are. I'm 6 hours ahead of EST.

    More ARK mods is always an option, but it wouldn't really solve the time issue. Volunteers need follow-up too, and training, and as I said earlier, some things we can't hand over to them anyway.

    Not sure what you mean with "impact on the game world". I'm not in a position to do changes myself, only make sure to bring feedback to the devs. And now, I'm sure, more and better feedback (both ways).

  20. #140
    Blix, did I lash out? If so, I apologize. But I think the tone in the posts addressed at Meister and Rosethorn (not at me about them) had a slightly rougher tone than my "please folks, don't take frustration out on the fan site people".

    Poiting out shortcomings and concerns, and giving ideas, can be done in a nice manner.

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