Mahz's Dev Journal

[Esoteric]

@Etcetera For people stuck in this problem, when you click a link and you think you're about to crash, immediately hit the back button and click the link again. Seems to work for me.

[Royale Luna]

I think it finally is fixed; Im not having the issue any more.

[Mahz]

It must've resolved itself. o_O

Looking into it...

Edit: Found something big in the logs (database deadlocks). Will look into a fix tomorrow.

[Zardoric]

It must've resolved itself. o_O

Looking into it...

@Mahz

My guess is that the flood of people trying to edit their Bios caused it, and the site adjusting to allow for the extra space. Just a guess though.

[HaleyTheRandom]

Weird, ran out of database connections. o_O

Terminated them and reboot the server for now.

@Mahz

@Mr Allen J @Blue Demon Bio limit increased from 3,000 chars to 100,000 chars.

@Mahz

Hallelujah, you're amazing, @Mahz.

[LegendBegins]

Until today, I could not figure out what everyone was excited about regarding their "bios." Then I realized that it's a plural "bio" and not "basic input output system."

[Shienvien]

That's why the proper use of capital and non-capital letters is fundamental. Helps you tell a BIOS from bios, species from nations, the speaker referring to oneself from imaginary number or iterator counter, model names from random nouns, classes from functions...

[LegendBegins]

@Shienvien

Unfortunately, few do, so it conditions those online to recognize both forms.

[Mahz]

Found a bug in my database query retry logic that's probably responsible for the periodic catastrophic failure as the Guild hits 100% CPU. The reason the Guild has only had this issue recently is because I rewrote the logic to improve it the other week. Made it worse.

I will deploy the fix later today and hope it fixes the issue.

[ArenaSnow]

Just a totally off the top of my head thought. Clubs?

Just about as useful as a friends list and the same functionality, but with an individual club leader page. Something totally silly I came up with as I saw someone else with a swirly avatar. Just something to think of when you have nothing to do at all :p

(like co-gm's editing designated GM posts? :)

[LegendBegins]

@Mahz

Since the current crisis is fortunately over, I'd like to inquire as to whether or not it would be difficult to create an "account switcher" option. Something at the top or somewhere else with a dropdown list of every account the user has linked together; my friends and I would consider this the most useful feature the Guild could have, as we all switch accounts often to change characters. It wouldn't be too difficult to link account info in the database, would it?

[AlteredTundra]

@Mahz

Since the current crisis is fortunately over, I'd like to inquire as to whether or not it would be difficult to create an "account switcher" option. Something at the top or somewhere else with a dropdown list of every account the user has linked together; my friends and I would consider this the most useful feature the Guild could have, as we all switch accounts often to change characters. It wouldn't be too difficult to link account info in the database, would it?

@LegendBegins

You mean like what Google+ and Youtube have? Like, I have about 2-3 different youtube accounts and they have a feature where you can switch between the different accounts.

Anyways, that sounds like a wonderful feature. I second this notion.

[LegendBegins]

@Altered Tundra

Exactly like those. It's so much more convenient than logging out and back in several times.

[NuttsnBolts]

Multiple accounts, for me, is a weird concept. First major forum I was on stressed that there should only be 1 per person so I've grown accustomed to that mind set.

I can understand that people may want a GM account and a player account, but should there be the option for some clarity, (eg: in the Bio you can opt to show other linked accounts?) Also, should there be a limit for how many can be collected together so someone doesn't create mass multiple accounts?

[Hank]

I'm a little surprised to see that suggestion. Traditionally the Guild has never encouraged the use of multiple accounts to prevent deceit and duplicity. I had no idea people were using multiple accounts for different characters.

[AlteredTundra]

@LegendBegins

I'm one of the people who leave my account logged in always, but I can understand how it would be a bitch to those that don't.

If I remember correctly, on OldGuild, a single IP Address was about to have like 5 different accounts, right? I could be wrong, but I remember it being somewhere around that neighborhood.

[NuttsnBolts]

I'm a little surprised to see that suggestion. Traditionally the Guild has never encouraged the use of multiple accounts to prevent deceit and duplicity. I had no idea people were using multiple accounts for different characters.

@Hank

there's a few people I've seen doing it. Some get bored of old usernames, while others will have an account for GMing and roleplaying.

I can agree with you, and it would make moderating a harder task indeed.

[LegendBegins]

@Hank

Mahz mentioned previously that he is would not discourage it because nothing would truly stop people from making sock puppets. They're also useful; nobody in my group would be on the Guild if that were a rule.

@Altered Tundra

There actually wasn't a limit. I would know

@NuttsnBolts
Moderating can be solved by utilizing IP-scale punishments. And if a system is included to link account, then it will be much easier to moderate, as any penalties can be inflicted on all all accounts. Connecting them can only make moderation easier.


These kinds of reasons are why I don't believe any blanket statement can be made for roleplays. They're stories, and the authors decide how they want their story to be written. If they want a different ghostwriter for every character for no other reason than to add realism that a new person is behind every personality that they want to represent. It's part of what makes the Guild so appealing; it's built for the player, not the reputation of the Guildmaster. ^_^

[Mahz]

I'm on board with the account-switcher functionality. I think it's even on the big feature wishlist.

Bad users are going to create new accounts to circumvent bans no matter what the rules are. Honest users are going to link them together because they want the convenience. So a multi-account limitation only punishes honest users.

How I'll probably implement it (simplest/easiest for me to build) is that you have N number of slots on your edit-profile page. You put the username/password combo for each account you want to link together and click "Save". Now your current account and each of the linked accounts will have some quick-login dropdown or something.

[LegendBegins]

@Mahz

We love you, Mahz; you're the best! Would there be a "switch" button created next to PMs or would the user need to enter their profile to switch?