Shienvien

Mahz's Dev Journal

...Yeah. I will admit that you (at least two people on this page who were shutting down anyone debating for the removal or at least hiding-enabling the ratings system) come across as openly derisive, and not only passive-aggressive. While it seemed that at least one of them actually didn't like the ratings system themselves, it also seemed they were on the standpoint of "what is done, is done, and it is not really our decision" - which I personally disagree with. We are not in an absolute tyranny, I'd hope. The userbase has a voice (or text fields, if you'd like), and expressing opinions over things and features is the only way something ever gets changed. This thread would not exist if the userbase was not meant to let their opinions be known. The entire suggestions category would not exist. I can also see why the rather hostile reactions from fellow users would discourage anyone else from speaking up. I mean, I may have a tendency for using "stronger" language (no, not in the sense swearing) even when I am perfectly calm, and chances are I *am* perfectly calm (always read my posts with the assumption of deadpan delivery - picture a person sitting in a black leather armchair in a semi-darkened room, movie-villain-style, if you'd like ... probably quite accurate, though I must admit the leather of the chair is fake), but I'm hardly singling anyone out where I can avoid it, calling the "opposing faction" names, or dismissing them with a collection of assorted .gif images. - Okay, part of that last paragraph may be not entirely serious, but the point stands. (My opinion on ratings is not going to change, though, that I can guarantee - I have disliked them and their impact when present on all forums and seen them turned into body-part measuring contests and general laziness for well over half a decade. I myself am not quitting the site over it - let's be honest, there are very few alternatives to RPG in terms of large roleplay forums, RPG's main cited competitor has an extended version of the exact same kind of ratings system (which I have always disliked there, too, and which was one of its main turn-offs over RPG, along with its wonky layout and rather questionably garish colour scheme), one of the RPs I care about most is here until the players overwhelmingly decide to move it, and, well, in part I am just plain too apathetic to quit for protest. I don't do this kind of shows. I do, however, not approve of implementations of this type on media that is not supposed to be about self-popularization, and I maintain that the least that must be done is an opt-out for people who want nothing to do with it (better yet: opt-in for people who want it, for whatever reason). ...At least concerning the monstrosities on our profiles, which are the true elephants in the room, and should have never been brought to existence to begin with, as far as I am concerned. Under the posts only ... eeh, I wouldn't really care enough to drive the point home here. If someone were to literally go through all my several hundred posts and Google Doc the ratings to figure out the statistics without the automated version on profile, then, well, that'd just be a bit strange...)

Mahz's Dev Journal

I hadn't expressed my personal opinions regarding this specific matter before this page, and as I am a different voice from those before, adding my two cents to it - that is, if this system is to stick around rather than be purged, as I'd admittedly definitely like it to be, an easily locatable and very apparent feature that lets users to opt out from the statistics being reflected on their very own profiles is an absolute must and the bare minimum to be done as soon as possible, and by all means should have been completed before anything like that was implemented in the first place - is a perfectly valid course of action. At the very least, the more people speak up, the easier it is to gauge what the general opinion of the public is, so to speak. (Alas, and the general public is often too apathetic or too afraid of the authorities to speak up when they don't like something.) We don't just want real problems to be swept under the rug, either. Thus far, at least one person has stated to me that this one thing is effectually something that means they'd be quitting the site. (As far as I can see, hasn't spoken up on this thread.) As for "go to last post" issues, then wouldn't it be more of a topic for bug/help forums? Not really a feature in development (aside of debugging being a part of development process, anyway)...

Mahz's Dev Journal

an optional rating system

As long as there is no button for me to hide those fields on my profile so that neither I myself nor any other user can see them, it is NOT optional. It is very much completely obligatory. It was thrown at us without warning, it takes up more than half of the general info section of our profiles, and there is no way for us to opt out of that. Not having any popularity systems (and that's what it inevitably is and will always be, as such is human nature) was one of the things I honestly used to like about RPG... I kind of doubt it would be completely purged (which I'd personally prefer) now that it has been regrettably already been implemented, but I'd minimally necessitate a way for users to hide the statistics panel on their profiles from anyone's viewing. If no one else makes it an option before, I might do so myself, should I find the time. Edit: Tags still eat spaces. Words still get randomly glued together due to that.

Mahz's Dev Journal

I think the problems with like counts that are publicly visible on your profile (and not just under the posts - if it were JUST under the posts, I couldn't care less) is that others will be judging you based on your ratings/number of followers/views/whatever. Sadly, I've quite often seen people assert that since someone is "less popular", they must be worse. It also encourages laziness and takes away from incentive for giving constructive input - upvoting is easier and quicker, but someone voting up my post gives me next to no useful information whatsoever. (Did they agree with what I said? Did they just find that it was well debated, even if they disagreed? Are they just the type to upvote almost everything they see or read? Did they upvote just because they remember me from somewhere? Are they one of my "followers"? That one fellow who was strangely fascinated with me some time back? What?) I'd rather they either didn't do anything at all or actually took the time to, y'know, type out a reply or send a PM. This is one feature that will most likely just generate an extra layer of visible favouritism where friends highlight friends, as it sadly very predominantly holds true almost everywhere - if not everywhere - where likes that are reflected on user profiles exist. "We have become Facebook, destroyer of meaningful human interaction..."

The Prophecy

Eeh... This is the second time I'm trying to edit something and end up quoting it. But you're welcome, Ink. (Reminds me of the time when I, for whatever reason, ended up typing "six-barreled revolver" instead of "six-chambered revolver" into a charater-sheet, and never noticed it until it was pointed out to me... I swear I sometimes simply can't trust my own fingers to type what I actually think.)

The Prophecy

From the image it seems to be a regular pull-lever crossbow, and not a crank-operated one? A crank-operated crossbow would be a cranequin crossbow, I'd assume... (As far as I know, the first indeed predated the latter ... by maybe half a century to over half a dozen centuries, depending on what regions to take account of - I found allegedly confirmed instances of pull-levers from the 5th century, whereas the cranequins were not really around before 13-14th century or so, now that I'm trying to find some information. Might be a better question for Legion, though I am not sure how much this falls under his part of history.) Ehh... But I may be rambling; it just seemed that there was a slight discrepancy between the descriptions and the image provided.

Mental Illness

It also must be noted that some mental illnesses are ridiculously overdiagnosed (frequently resulting in wrongly prescribed medication, and then dependence and/or other side-effects from that, and so forth), whereas other disorders go undiagnosed. - Several psychologists I've talked to have noted that all kinds of malpractices in the mental health department are running rampant - medication prescribed just because it is easier than solving the problem other ways or even weighing whether the problem is actually severe enough to necessitate medication and taking the (occasionally very severe) risks that come with it, misdiagnoses based on just going with whatever seems most likely at the time being, without any further investigation, et cetera, et cetera-, so it's not just my personal opinion.

Mental Illness

It goes both ways. Just because someone is "different" or "strange" it doesn't necessarily mean they are "broken" or need to be "fixed". Things only become problematic when people start to become a danger to themselves or others, or when the situation is creeping closer to (or reaches) a point where they can no longer get by in their daily life.

Mahz's Dev Journal

I noticed that mentions are now encased in dark boxes... I don't mind them in quotes, but in plain text they kind of bother me by looking rather out of place - I'd rather they lacked border and had the same background as the forum, to be honest. Also, the IC/OOC text is medium gray on medium-light gray, which isn't ideal, same with the Roleplays/Interest check tabs (make the text black?). Like the reduced number of pop-out white elements, though.

The Prophecy

@Veridis Quo: I take it that if I were to arrange some kind of encounter, it'd be after he arrived in the town rather than on the way to the city? If he arrived very late, then chances are he'd actually be arriving after the main group has already walked through the city gates and settled in for the night. In any case, Zerul is a large city and plenty of things could happen, just have to have to figure out what in this instance. Hmm... @Mercinus3, @Ink Blood: How are things? Merc, still preoccupied with university? Ink Blood, have you mind up your mind on whether you're still going to play Salas or bring in a new character? (Should probably poke at @Ashgan, too, just because it has soon been a month once more. :-P )