Kobold King he/him Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 * prepares lament about the good ol' days, just in case * 1
firstRainbowRose she/her Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 it's often easy to find a pattern in the posts of the older members - often, they leave behind a post in which they reminisce about how wonderful the community was in the old days... You know, I've seen this a lot too, and it is extremely disheartening for those who weren't around for the old days. Thanks for that food for thought... 1
Kaymyth she/her Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 Back in the good old days, we didn't have none of this fancy reply interface nonsense. Nope, if we wanted to post to an internet board, by gum we stuck a note to a carrier pigeon and tossed it out the window! Half of our replies never made it to the board! But that's the way it was and we LIKED it! 6
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 Back in the good old days, we didn't have none of this fancy reply interface nonsense. Nope, if we wanted to post to an internet board, by gum we stuck a note to a carrier pigeon and tossed it out the window! Half of our replies never made it to the board! But that's the way it was and we LIKED it! If you likes it so much, why'd you invent the internet? 2
Kaymyth she/her Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 If you likes it so much, why'd you invent the internet? It was them Silicon Valley whippersnappers! *shakes cane* Oh...wait. That was the 90's. I was a teenager then. In all honesty, for all its flaws, I do love the internet. I'm one of those tail end of Gen X cuspers who watched us move into the information age in high school. I still remember how to use a card catalog, but am perfectly comfortable with Google as well. The world has changed a lot in the past couple decades. 2
Guest Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 It was them Silicon Valley whippersnappers! *shakes cane* Oh...wait. That was the 90's. I was a teenager then. In all honesty, for all its flaws, I do love the internet. I'm one of those tail end of Gen X cuspers who watched us move into the information age in high school. I still remember how to use a card catalog, but am perfectly comfortable with Google as well. The world has changed a lot in the past couple decades. It was the military who decommissioned the APARNET in 1990 that made it possible and the HTML 2.0 protocol launched in 1995.... This makes me remember when I first heard the word "Internet". It was in 1995 and they talked about it on the radio as Bon Jovi had just launched its new website. Of course, I HAD to find a way to get on this Internet... It was so peculiar in the beginning... I recall my first time... I was in the teachers lounge with a friend: we have had a special authorization. We opened said computer and then... "How does it work?" "I think you have to click on the icon down there." The icon in question was Netscape Navigator. "Alright. It is open. Then what? What do we do?" "Wait, I wrote it down on a piece of paper... OK type http:\\www.altavista.com." "Huh, what's http whatever?" "Dunno, just type it." "OK now what?" "I think we have to enter what we want to look for... in the square, over there. Click there." "Huh... what should we be looking for..." "I dunno.... huh.... Oh I got it, type X-Files." "OK... X-Files... Enter." "WOW, stuff! Click on that one." "OK. Wait. I think it is doing something. Wait. OK. Look it is loading. Wait. Wait. Wait. Oh there it is!" "Awesome, look at the background... So cool, it is like space! And the yellow fonts... It is like Star Wars." "Cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool." It was so naive in the beginnings.... then we had ICQ and the world changed forever.
ThirdGen Posted May 26, 2015 Posted May 26, 2015 Back in the day, we had BBSes. You had to dial into them with your modem (which was exty-ex hundred baud) and you got basically a forum with a bunch of files you could download. All the shareware was there. Awesome games which you could be sure nobody you met at school would have even heard of, so... not really impressive to anybody.
Popular Post Chaos he/him Posted May 26, 2015 Popular Post Posted May 26, 2015 As you might know, I come from a different forum, and I have to say, you guys have it really nice here. Don't get me wrong, I love the Infinity Blade forum, but this place is so much more luxurious. The IB forum has a 1000 character limit for signatures, and you can only use preapproved avatars. Also, while in the OB forum, we have an off-topic thread, you guys have a whole off-topic section, where you can digress to your heart's content! This and all the other posts in this thread make me so happy I could nearly cry. A very long time ago, I ran other forums, when I was like 13. I didn't create it, but I did become an admin. Later there had been drama, and so there was a spinoff of that site of the people who didn't like the root admin, but liked everyone else. Then there were spinoffs of that too. I learned a lot of things moderating stuff on those boards. I left those forums when I went to college (but they weren't active anymore anyway), and I spent most my time on Timewaster's Guide, where Brandon's forums were then. And let me tell you, if you told me that I'd be the web admin for Brandon's official forums back then, I never would have believed you. Anyway, I met Mi'ch, and later, I met Josh when those two got together. Mi'ch wanted to create a fansite, and though I was busy, I told her that I would do it if I was the forum god. Then I became the sysadmin--which by the way, still terrifies me. That turned out to be the perfect time to create a fansite, because Brandon's fans, unsurprisingly, are remarkably cogent and considerate people. Now we are larger than TWG ever was. It's honestly mind-boggling. I can't take credit for 17th Shard's success, though. You see, the key thing I realized about running a forum is that the admins can never be what keeps the site alive. Sure, we do stuff, but you all are the ones posting so frequently. I used to have the highest post count (and rep!) other than Brandon, but I am not sad that I no longer am. The days where my posts were literally a high percentage of the posts on the forum are long gone, and this is the best thing. 17th Shard is a vibrant community that is run by you, you amazing people. That's what is going to keep this site alive where all the other forums I ran had failed. (Of course, Brandon having a lot of books to come helps too.) When I read about those other forums, I want to murder someone, and that Infinity Blade forum makes me want to stab my eyes out. (I've grown very particular in my desires out of forum software, and IPB thankfully has basically all of it.) Those moderators? Ugh. I hope that we will always be as open as we are now. I'm not going anywhere, nor is any of the staff (hell, on the wiki we make sure we plan a long time in advance, like how will this scheme work in a decade. We aren't going anywhere). Our job is not some powertrip community with like twenty active members, like some of the old forums I ran were. We are here to serve you, and to keep this a place where all Brandon fans are welcome and love going to. I hope we are doing well. If we aren't, bug us. Sure there are some rules, which we try to keep up to date as possible, but it basically comes down to not being a jerk, and if someone is doing that, then Report them and we will deal with it. One thing I'd like to do is try and keep moderator action obvious so people aren't like "hey why did this seemingly reasonable person get banned?" But, it's a tough balance, since you don't want to give jerks a forum to be jerks, and if people do get better--which has happened in our disciplining!--it's better if the talks happened in private, so others don't turn things into a witch hunt. Then there's times where you need to keep information confidential, too. It's hard to balance all of those needs with the basic desire to keep you updated. It's a conversation with you all, at the end of the day. We want to make things better for you. I often ask Peter and Team Sanderson what they'd like out of us, and you can bet your butt if they wanted something done, we'd probably do it. This is all a service we do to you and the community. We volunteer our time, and actually lose money. We're doing this for you all. This was long and rambly, but I hope you enjoy yourself here for a very long time to come. Come to us any time if something is not right, like a member not acting as they should. We'll make it right. P.S. I saw a post saying "I can't believe there are no sig restrictions!" With an enhanced mobile version (coming in the next update) that shows signatures, there will probably be a lot more stringent restrictions on those. But just know that it is only because I want the mobile site to be as awesome as possible. It's hard for me to tell exactly what rules will be good until we port it over--there's only so much I can really see from an empty test board. Just wanted to make you guys aware! P.P.S. I read Eragon in high school and it gave me motivation to write. I liked Eldest too, at the time. But I discovered Brandon after that, and I distinctly remember reading Book 3 of that and it being a boring slog. Then Hero of Ages came out the next month, and I was reminded how books should be. I never bothered to read Inheritance; I had much better things 20
Glamdring804 Posted May 27, 2015 Author Posted May 27, 2015 Glad to hear your thoughts. I agree with all but one of your points: the IB forum The Infinity Blade forum, simply put, is awesome. While the software might be more basic than what we have here, the community is amazing. It comes from the fact that the forum is on the smaller side, and hence, everyone tends to be acquainted with everyone. Your other complaint is the Moderators. Now, currently there are three mods and two admins. (There is one account, but it is run by two different people) All three of the mods were ordinary members before they were promoted. This generally means they are pretty down to earth, and don't let the power get to their heads. Noners can be a PIA at times, but the other two, Vile Majesty and TheGreatKhan, are pretty great. I am especially good friends with Vile Majesty. As I said before, the IB community is pretty tight knit, and actually runs itself quite smoothly. The mods haven't had to take any drastic action in months. They spend more time helping members manage their threads, than they do actually moderating the forums. In conclusion, it is a forum I am very proud to be a part of, and I won't have you talking trash about the moderators. I've seen some of the other forums the Internet has to offer, and both this forum, and the IB forum, are infinitely better in comparison. Please respect that. 2
Chaos he/him Posted May 27, 2015 Posted May 27, 2015 Actually I only meant the IB software, and on the moderator front I was referring to the other posts on page 1 about bad moderators. I have no idea about anything of the IB forums except that I really hate that layout and software. I should have made that more clear. 3
Glamdring804 Posted May 27, 2015 Author Posted May 27, 2015 Actually I only meant the IB software, and on the moderator front I was referring to the other posts on page 1 about bad moderators. I have no idea about anything of the IB forums except that I really hate that layout and software. I should have made that more clear. Ah, okay. Yes, the software is pretty bad. I apologize for misunderstanding your meaning. I assumed when you said 'mods,' you were referring to the IB mods specifically. Again, I apologize. 2
Eerongal he/him Posted May 27, 2015 Posted May 27, 2015 Our job is not some powertrip community with like twenty active members, like some of the old forums I ran were. Don't listen to him! Hurry! Get out before it's too late! Don't get stuck in here like meeeeeEEE! NOTHING TO SEE HERE. DISSENT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. AVENGE MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! I kid, of course. This place is great. Or do I? 10
Kobold King he/him Posted May 27, 2015 Posted May 27, 2015 I kid, of course. This place is great. Or do I? HUMOROUS REPLY REDACTED 2
Glamdring804 Posted May 27, 2015 Author Posted May 27, 2015 THIS ACCOUNT HAS BEEN CENSORED FOR MOUTHING OFF TO AN ADMIN 3
Mistrunner Posted May 27, 2015 Posted May 27, 2015 Sanderfans really are the best. I don't think I've ever seen a very serious argument here. Of course, I've always expected a lot from you because of your marvelous taste in books. 7
Chaos he/him Posted May 27, 2015 Posted May 27, 2015 Don't listen to him! Hurry! Get out before it's too late! Don't get stuck in here like meeeeeEEE! NOTHING TO SEE HERE. DISSENT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. AVENGE MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! I kid, of course. This place is great. Or do I? You're all fired 7
Glamdring804 Posted May 28, 2015 Author Posted May 28, 2015 (edited) No they're not You're fired!!!!!!! Edited May 28, 2015 by Glamdring804
Silverblade5 he/him Posted May 28, 2015 Posted May 28, 2015 (edited) You're fired!!!!!!! Aw well, maybe in a few months I'll be able to reapply Edited May 28, 2015 by Silverblade5 1
Glamdring804 Posted May 28, 2015 Author Posted May 28, 2015 WHAT? What did I do to you? Because. You're fired.
Silverblade5 he/him Posted May 28, 2015 Posted May 28, 2015 Oh no! Not all one of me! You're all hired
Quiver he/him Posted May 28, 2015 Posted May 28, 2015 (edited) Out of curiosity, am I the only one who reads this topic's title in the same tone as a guy in a well-dressed suit saying "Would be a shame if anything happened to, am I right?" Edited May 28, 2015 by Quiver 10
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