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Post by Colodie on Apr 28, 2007 21:16:38 GMT -5
This forum will be going into maintainance mode later tonight, at or around 4:00 A.M. EST, for a few hours. The forum will still be here in the morning.
Some changes will be made though.
Thank you in advance.
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Post by Alteka on Apr 29, 2007 3:53:52 GMT -5
Ok, all done team!
Things are kind of different, eh? We had a big collective meeting, and decided that some items needed to move or merge to streamline the forum. Some things have gone the way of the dinosaur (and are not going to be revived by collecting a bunch of Zoids cores..).
1) First up, Tilly, myself and Colodie are now Admins. It doesn't change anything for you folks, but it now means we see all sorts of things in the profile bar that clutter up our screens. We do it for you guys, 'cause we like you.
2) Some sections are gone:
- Ask Staff - Most questions asked here could be answered by our many knowledgeable forumites in the general board. If there is anything that must be specifically discussed with us, any of the admins or mods may be PM'ed.
- Collection Board - I do not doubt there are plots to light us on fire. There are many reasons this is gone... too many to go into. Any material from this board is available for retrieval, so PM a mod with a request for post data if you wish to obtain it. This data will be available for the next two weeks, after which it will be permanently deleted.
However, if you would still like to show off your collection you may acquire a flicker or blog account to posts to your heart's content (more details later, in a post Tilly will be working on). You are free to advertise it in your signature, and thus lay waste to your forum companions' honour with your massive collections, lifesize Red Ultrasauruses and whatnot. Rawr!
3) Some stuff has been condensed, like anime, kit media and fan stuff. Same rules apply, but now everything is more together.
4) New rules.
Less equals more! Since some sections are condensed, rules are actually a bit more lax in areas. Please check them out anyhow just so we're all square and can be buddies.
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Post by Tilly on Apr 29, 2007 6:36:03 GMT -5
Note from Tilly: We had a bit of an incident with manga and video games accidently getting merged and having to be recreated. The posts have been split back up (by hand. my brains.) and things should be okay now, but if you see things in the wrong forum/out of order, let me know.
Really, anything that seems screwy, let me know. Yes, I know the links are underlined some pages and not others - that comes from trying to get them underlined in posts but not pages. As you can see, it didn't quite work. I'll be flailing at it properly later when my brain is not leaking out my ears
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Post by ScissorBreaker on Apr 29, 2007 10:54:51 GMT -5
WHAT!?! THE COLLECTION BOARD IS GONE!?! WTF!?!
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Post by commandliger on Apr 29, 2007 11:52:07 GMT -5
Yeah, I agree with SB. What's Up With That?! That's like each collector's personal bragging rights!! (Although I have never posted anything myself due to no digital camera, or the knowledge of how to do it anyway. Technology hates me )
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Post by ScissorBreaker on Apr 29, 2007 14:13:37 GMT -5
I have an overwhelming desire to start a petition, but I'm not a troublemaker, so...whatever. This is just...gr...I feel...argh. Yea, I know, winy-winy-winy. I just spent alot of time on that page and writing reviews and whatnot. I guess the forum won't be just as much fun anymore...
gr.
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Post by Colodie on Apr 29, 2007 14:33:54 GMT -5
The Review board is still here, just under the Model Kits. You can still review to your hearts content.
If you want to show off your collection, as mention in this thread you can always get a Flicker account or a Livejournal account, or some such. Details coming later.
And, if you want your old data from said collection board, ask and it will be PMed or emailed to you.
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Post by Andy F² on Apr 29, 2007 14:33:56 GMT -5
The reviews board is still up, it's just moved. You can find it in the Model Kits board. And yeah, I tried to stop them taking down the collections thread but I was a bit outnumbered...
EDIT: Yeah, what Colodie said...
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Post by ScissorBreaker on Apr 29, 2007 14:39:36 GMT -5
So...like, if someone were to write a petition, you'd be willing to sign it? Perhaps I can round up some allies... Seriously, I have a photobucket account, but you can't write a review on a photobucket account. What's the deal, anyway? Bandwidth? Please give us some reasons.
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Post by Colodie on Apr 29, 2007 15:02:38 GMT -5
But, you could get a Livejournal account and then talk to your hearts content about your Zoids.
As for reasons, two big ones, IMHO.
A big one is, it was in some peoples opinions, a place where people could just show off. "Hey, look at me. Here's my $127 worth of Zoids for this month." Is this true? I dunno, but perception matters.
A second one is redundancy. There's a review board. People there can post about their Zoids, then people go and comment on it, on and on. Hey, pretty much exactly like the acquisition and collection board. Why not just write a nice review about the new Zoid you got, so it's both useful, AND you can show your new Zoids.
Third, we have given you an option. You can set up a website, Livejournal (it's not hard, takes all of about 5 minutes), or whatnot, and then have a link in your sig to there.
So, to sum up: 1: It has a negative perception among those who run the board. 2: It is pretty much redundant. 3: It can be still be done, but you'll have to do a little bit of work on your own.
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Post by Alteka on Apr 29, 2007 15:44:42 GMT -5
I'm going to be stright here on the collection board:
- It was slowly being taken over by Gundam and many things that just ain't Zoids. Most of us enjoy robot series outside of Zoids (I got a whole shelf of Gundam, Medabots, EVAs and other things)... but with the Zoids series at a lull right now, it seems the board was taking a sharp focus away from its namesake.
- However, it is no good to be the iron fisted mook and demand everything else be stripped out. That just ain't fun, and it's natural to want to display all roboty possessions. Using a flicker or blog account gives you the freedom to do all that, so we don't have moderate it (yay).
- The only thing that pretty much defines how big your collection is, is how much money you make. Really. A lot of folks on this board are not at the stage in life where they do that (if only highschool counted as a job, eh), so it makes a lot of people hissy.
Nobody enjoys an environment of whining, ego pampering and sulking. That's what Hollywood and Elementary School are for.
Some people put all their heart into it and make due on minimum wage work, and have impressive collections. I can respect something like that, and it elevates the whole thing above what I was talking about.
I cannot separate the devoted from the rich, the seasoned from the immature, the grovelers from the chilled, and the pretentious from the humble. The bottom line is that we still want people to share and experience others collections, but that is probably best done in an environment where each person can control their own activities and be their own king and moderator.
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Post by Andy F² on Apr 29, 2007 15:58:09 GMT -5
So...like, if someone were to write a petition, you'd be willing to sign it? You know I can't do that, it'd be like mutiny or something. Heck, some people on certain other boards show off massive hauls on a regular basis and while it would cause me great pleasure to see said people go bankrupt (evil grin) I can also see that there are those who desperately save up for their purchases and want to share the experience of their new purchase with fellow members. For this sake I think removing the board is a bit extreme but whilst I don't necessarily agree with its being taken down I can see why certain people don't want it to be part of the board and as a moderator I have to ultimately respect the decisions of those higher up.
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Post by Tilly on Apr 29, 2007 17:09:40 GMT -5
If you still want to show off your collection on-forum, a link to a page/photo gallery and updates in your sig is perfectly fine, as was said. For those of you wanting a place to showcase your collections but not wanting to make a webpage yourself: www.flickr.com/This is a more involved photo hosting site, allowing for descriptions, notes, tags, and comments. Each photo has its own page, and can be described in detail and talked about (though commenters need a Flickr account). You can make "sets" for particular types of photos, too, though free accounts are limited in how many sets they can have. It doesn't let you direct link pics (embed them in posts, and so on) unless the photo itself links back to the photo page on Flickr - use Photobucket for hosting linked pics. Hidocker and I both use Flickr, so if you need help working with its interface, give us a PM. You can also see my account for an example gallery. www.livejournal.com/Seriously. LiveJournal. You can do updates blog-style with the pics integrated right in - either Photobucket-hosted, or on LJ's pic hosting service (you need either an ad-supported or paid account to use that, though). Commenting is easy and works in organized threads, and unlike Flickr can be left open to non-LJ users. You can also customize your journal layout with preset color themes and styles without much work, or go crazy building your own styles from scratch. Your choice. A number of forumgoers use LJ and the site itself has a support team, so if you're stuck, help can be found. There's other free blog sites out there, but I haven't used them myself - still, I could probably help with anything not MySpace and its burny layout of pain and hurting. Same with basic HTML (and CSS) if people want to host things on a site.
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Post by Lionel on Apr 29, 2007 17:11:50 GMT -5
After the acquisition board, the collection board (this discussion reminds me something...). Even the old (hidden) acquisition board cannot be reach now. Too bad, the review board is not as fun, and it is not everybody that can post here : you must have something interesting to show and things to say about it, it is not the case for everybody. A lot of person are going to be frustrated that they can't show their Zoids anymore, and it is not everybody that can open his own site, and has the time for that. And even with that, you don't have the same sharing and exchange on your site than on a forum. Well... I hope the custom board won't know the same fate...
Lionel
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Post by Alteka on Apr 29, 2007 17:23:12 GMT -5
Yes, rawr. We feed off the discontent of the forumites like robotic vampires. That is the motivation behind everything.
People can show their Zoids... that is what the last several posts addressed. Ask us to retrieve your code, and you can make your thing bigger and better than ever. The customs board is the lifeblood of the forum, so it would be a bit nutty to zap that.
People are free to say what they want, but your opinions will not be taken seriously if they are for nothing more than hitting us below the belt. Tell us exactly what irks you and how it may be alleviated, and it will help us all figure out where we need to go with the forum direction.
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