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NuttsnBolts Moderator

STATUS: Been on the back of my mind for several months now, but I will be retiring from my position as a Guild Moderator and more or less just logging off seeing as I need Mahz to be able to demote me. 8 mos ago
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8 mos ago
Current Been on the back of my mind for several months now, but I will be retiring from my position as a Guild Moderator and more or less just logging off seeing as I need Mahz to be able to demote me.
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Most Recent Posts

In Casual, really? → 3 yrs ago Forum: Roleplaying Discussion
It's interesting to see how some here take that information about the Casual tag not appearing at all as granted. That's an interesting take in the matter.

There's actually an interesting glitch where you can add an extra tag (6 instead of the 5 limit) by not using the Casual tag. That way when the roleplay is posted in the section it automatically gets the additional tag added to it.

Also, tags were not something adopted until a couple years back. /Trivia

First off, great job on the data! It's fascinating.

Second off, what happened in summer 2017 to cause such a spike? Was it just a coincidence?

My theory...
That'll be the Korean bot invasion.
Seen here
(Hover over BP's date and it's the 13th May 2017)

Since then Guild has had a massive improvement to the spam filter with the occasional bot that will slip through. Often they have to make a first post for the filter to actually do its work.

To explain for clarity, I can see the last 50 people that signed up to the site, ranging back to about 7 days (6-7 new accounts added per day); an expanded version of this as you will. Of those, 20 are spam bots with currently only one having had the chance to make a thread. However if we go back in time to when the Korean bots were around, the site was absolutely flooded to the point where Mahz made a big improvement to the Nuke feature, and the filter itself. You can see that in the data as well as it is referring to Topics created by Date and yet during those particular dates the topics are getting to over 100, impossible to maintain if they were legitimate roleplays.

To be fair the lower lot of numbers, 0-20, is probably our general average which would hopefully mean that the 40 mark is the better average that we would like to hope we have. As for the decline, things have changed and I'm not gonna deny that Roleplay writing isn't as popular as it once was. There's lots of ways for people to spend their time and when you can easily pick up a game and play it for an extended period of time without thinking, some people will opt for that option over writing.
In two threads deletion request → 3 yrs ago Forum: Suggestions/Problems
Done
In Still no block/flag/report functionality? → 4 yrs ago Forum: Suggestions/Problems
@NuttsnBolts I understand fully well that site development takes time and effort, my (very mild) gripe is only that previously I had been told that such a feature was either outright impossible to implement, or that I was somehow encouraging antisocial behavior by requesting as much.


Ah. As a possibility you may be referring to a previous topic I had with you 5 years ago, long before I became a moderator (appointed in 2017) and saw how things worked on the guild from the other side.

To expand on that comment from back then I still do believe a white list would be the a good starting point for thread interactions so the GM can control who can enter the RP, or at least post/see the IC component. That way you could have a blanket block on everyone that you wouldn't like to interact with your RP thread.

As with the Block feature there would have to be a long discussion and planning on how far it would go.
Should it Block PMs/VMs?
Should it Block visibility of your Profile? (Remember, profiles are currently public to all who haven't even signed up to the site)
How would it affect an RP you are GMing?
How would it affect an RP you are a only member of?
What potential impacts could it have elsewhere on the site?

That second last question in particular is the hardest to answer because we could easily say, "yes, a block must hide post by any user", however how would that be fair to any GM when straight off the bat they have two applying members who should be writing together in their (The GM's) RP, but instead they have each other blocked and those two can't read each other's post. At that point a Block feature may have gone too far as it has the potential of negatively impacting the natural progress of an RP.

That's where we have to assess and weigh up the pros and cons of a new feature, or whether a suitable other option (like the white list example) may offer a better solution, or perhaps even a mixture of both (White listing for GMS, PM/profile blocking for the users). It's just finding that right balance.

Outside of that though and for the time being, do remember that you can raise any concerns about a member you may be having trouble with to an available moderator. My status is set to invisible only for the reason that I have a busy schedule and insomnia so some nights I'll be on the site at 3am. I do get back to all my PMs and share any necessary information with my fellow staff members, especially in the case where I may not be able to address the concern in a timely manner.

Note: Also do remember that RPs have an individual member ban listing under the "Edit Topic" section that can be used too.
In Still no block/flag/report functionality? → 4 yrs ago Forum: Suggestions/Problems
@LegendBegins I just want to express my appreciation for actually listening to this feedback and finding an actionable way to respond to it.

I've brought up this issue more than once before, and each time prior a mod usually responded saying how the site architecture couldn't handle block lists and that it ruined the spirit of the site. Give me a break.


Unlike other forums which utilise a base program such as vBulletin or PHP Boards, the Guild is a custom built website with every aspect of it coded and designed from scratch. Features like the Block function have to be coded, tested, and bug fixed before they can be added to the site, unlike downloading an app for an iPhone and just expecting it to work straight away. As another analogy it's the difference between baking a cake from scratch with flour, eggs, and water rather than the packet cake mix you find in the supermarket.

So why did Mahz design the site in this way?
Well a lot of the features that you may take for granted are simply not available on other generic forum softwares. The IC/OOC/Char tabs is one feature, while the Zeroth Post where GMs and Co-GMs can edit the same post is another one that got added in a couple years back. Also, as someone who has worked on the back end of vBulletin before, I can say that the Guild does have a cleaner architecture without the needless bloatware that vBulletin has.

To give an idea, this is mod access on an older vB framework. Admin access is absolute crap and contains 3 times the amount of garbage that didn't need to be accessed.


As of now, Legend does have an update in the works for bug fixes and some quality of life issues (One I'm aware of being the incorrect direction for Visitor messages in the notification page), but we do need to wait for Mahz to return so that he can do roll out of the current update and test the stability of it. I do have to note as well that adding a block feature will not be in this update as there is only so much that any programmer should do in any update before they have to stop and say, "enough for now, let's see how this goes", otherwise you risk creating a major issue and possibly damaging the whole site. For a perfect reason why, it may be best to watch this video:

In Name change request. → 4 yrs ago Forum: Suggestions/Problems
Changed
In Mahz's Dev Journal → 4 yrs ago Forum: News
Image links also classify as hot linking and some sites do a variety of coding protection to prevent it. Photobucket was one such site that was used years back but they changed their structure to be more money based and you can't hotlink unless you sub up.

There's also the case of images changing after a hot link, which can be seen especially with the Gnome meme that went around ages ago, or even encoding something within the image that could potentially impact your device (example with the wallpaper that crashed Android phones a few months back)

Pretty much you just always gotta be careful with hotlinking from an outside source and when it comes to uploading from a web link, there are increased security flaws.
In Mahz's Dev Journal → 4 yrs ago Forum: News
I don't know how possible it is, but I would love the option to get emails when you get a new pm or post in a subscribed thread.


I do believe Mahz was working on that at one stage, so it's definitely something that can be fleshed out.
In Casual vs Advanced → 4 yrs ago Forum: Roleplaying Discussion
Example of Free:
He went to the door, and opened the door

Example of Casual:
As he went to the door he realized that it was locked, not with a key but with a deadbolt. Carefully he slid the bolt, turned the handle and opened the door.

Example of Advanced:

In Name Change Request → 4 yrs ago Forum: Suggestions/Problems
Not to mention, but you'd probably trigger AdSense. I bet you don't wanna be the reason for a second Guildfall. Lol
In Mahz's Dev Journal → 4 yrs ago Forum: News
<Snipped quote>

In that case, should the above still be in cards, I'd like to quote my question that never was answered. @Mahz @LegendBegins


If it is down, it'll just mean that you wont be able to submit a post as the site will be off line.

In regards to the time taken to write a post and how it may be turned off by the time you finish writing and click that "Post" button, I would assume you would do the right thing and back up the post anyways. Yes, Guild does have a simple save feature for 6 hour drafts, (which is good for general discussion/chit chat posts), but the autosave function has never been a designed as a feature you should wholeheartedly rely on. For RP posts you should be drafting them up on something like Google Docs anyways... at least that's what I do.
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