New Lookin's, New ideas

[Wax]

By now I'm sure that at least most of you have noticed there is a bit of a new feel around the forums. Judging by the few comments I have already seen, I'm now certain that this will go over well and with overwhelmingly strong, yet positive, support from the Trench Wars community.

Anyways, here we go:

First things first. The new look is the result of our recent upgrade to the newest version of vBulletin. Now there were two options that we had when starting the upgrade process -- 4.0 Forum or the 4.0 Publishing Suite. Before we go any further I will simply tell you that it was decided to go with the Publishing Suite. (The features, as well as the price, can be seen here: http://www.vbulletin.com/index.php?do=features)

One of the neat, and hopefully soon to be useful features, is the Blog and CMS option. Because of our name (Trench Wars), which is both unique and general at the same time, it was believed that this will leave us with a great, and quite frankly our only, chance to expand our 'appeal' and hopefully draw in both more readers and ideally players to our community.

While we are discussing the Blog and CMS, allow me to explain the current objective and idea revolving around the futures use. Trench Wars is currently looking for select individuals to both write and maintain blogs on topics of their select interests. After all, many of you already actively post about certain topics, so this would just give you a designated area to rant and share your thoughts with others. For example; A political fanatic would have a blog entitled 'Poitical Trench Wars' (Back to my spiel about our name). This game can be seen as a business, as many of the basic rules apply. Since the game was created, technology and time hasn't stopped. Just like a business with a product, rather than sit back, slowly die, and let the times pass us, we should instead embrace the changes, act accordingly, and grow with them. We need to at least attempt and keep our community fresh. The ideal goal of this would be to draw in both new readers/potential players, keep our current ones, and, on to my next point, generate revenue.

As many of you know, we have no money. Right now the majority, if not all, of the 'donations' come from Pure_Luck. Priitk still covers the server costs, but, that too will soon need to change. With the forum upgrade, we plan to institute a subtle yet effective ad system. (For those of you in the know when it comes to online advertising, we are looking at the contextual method) With the addition of the new forum and blogs, it is hoped to soon generate enough revenue to start a 'TW Fund' which will be used to cover anything from server costs to programming needs. Though before we can effectively push this site and its new features, we need to come up with a...

Design. For now, this will be the last thing discussed. For years the community has been trying to produce/obtain an appealing vBulletin skin. Obviously, that failed. To carry this out in the best way possible, we will need to pretty things up around here. To date, only two ideas have been proposed:

1. Host an 'in house' design contest with a predetermined prize.

or

2. Outsource the project to a 'professional' and pay the price.

Ideally it would be nice to pick from our wide array of talent which already exists in the Trench Wars community and reward them accordingly. Keep it in the family so to speak. But, if it took going to someone more capable and paying the price in order to portray ourselves in the best way possible, we would obviously have to bite the bullet. So, if you have something to say or someone to suggest in regards to the design issue, please don't hesitate to step up to the plate. I'm sure what you say would love to be heard.

As I said, this is all for now, as I'm sure this alone will bring plenty of questions, comments, and hopefully constructive suggestions.

[kthx]

I was going to come here to complain until I saw that you guys paid for this, anyways I would write a political blog probably, because I hate liberals. The only problem is you would probably get more patronage from anti-hate groups, pro gay groups, and whatnot than any real playerbase so I am not sure if that is what you are looking for. Anyways, hope this all works out and just let me know if you want me to get more xogs reading the forums.

[Maverick]

Search doesn't seem to work

[Maverick]

Hey where did my and kthx's reply go?



I only reported that search doesn't work (at all).

[kthx]

it disappeared into the void.

[stark]

And games... I have no reason to post in order feed my online faux-gambling addiction.

[404 Not Found]

"Media Room" can we now have "Ear Candy" changed to "Music Discussion"?

Nice overall forum category name change! Very fitting to cover the Media. "Ear Candy" was never a favorable name.

So on a minor detail, can we make one more change and possibly have "Ear Candy" changed to "Music Discussion"?

Any thoughts on this issue?

As for the possible political category, kthx always puts up a great argument either on a pro or con in re. to a topic, but there would need to be the other side as well on the issue for balance, as well as heated debates. As much as he hates liberals, you need one to create the arguments that would bring in responses to a specific topic and or debate of an issue. Just sayin is all!

[gran guerrero]

I want you to remove the censors on our profanity

[Wax]

"Media Room" can we now have "Ear Candy" changed to "Music Discussion"?

Nice overall forum category name change! Very fitting to cover the Media. "Ear Candy" was never a favorable name.

So on a minor detail, can we make one more change and possibly have "Ear Candy" changed to "Music Discussion"?

Any thoughts on this issue?

As for the possible political category, kthx always puts up a great argument either on a pro or con in re. to a topic, but there would need to be the other side as well on the issue for balance, as well as heated debates. As much as he hates liberals, you need one to create the arguments that would bring in responses to a specific topic and or debate of an issue. Just sayin is all!

I'm glad you approve of and like the name change, 404. I have gone ahead and changed the 'Ear Candy' to 'Music Discussion' per your request.

If you know of anyone willing or capable of doing what you suggest, please give a shout. I'll touch more on your blog talk when I know more myself, but I would like to thank you for actually bringing it up. Everything constructive has seemed to have been overshadowed by the 'censorship' feature being implemented. Which brings me on to my next point...

I want you to remove the censors on our profanity

No.

The Censor feature will not be removed, but it will be tweaked. Many advertising companies strictly state in their guidelines that their services may not be used on websites which include excessive foul language. I personally have not had the time to completely set up the censorship feature to its full and effective potential. As you can see by so many of the members cute, and to them, clever 'evasions'. Certain words will be filtered, the more obvious ones, and others will be allowed. I find it hard to believe that so many of you need to use said words every time, often multiple times, in each post. Other words can be used just as effectively in place of the ones being 'blacked out'. Get creative, but not offensive.

Certainly this will be thought by many as us 'Hitlering' this forum out. Or, some users will take from this as though we are forcing our own beliefs and standards on this forum, which are or are not theirs. This may or may not be the case, but that is not the point or reason behind these new rules. The point is this: These rules are being put in place so that we may have the ability to use multiple resources to bring in revenue and appeal to a wider variety of people. Both of which are needed to have a chance at getting this community running again.

[kthx]

I disagree with that move pretty strongly Wax, not being about to curse on the forums? I'm sorry dude but these forums have been these forums for a very very very long time, and if you want to make a separate forums and start changing things dramatically and see how many people come that is fine ,but to come on here and start changing huge sh it like this is just ridiculous. I don't really think you have the right to personally make the judgment to censor these forums that some of us have used in the past few years more often than you. If the only way we can make money off this idea is to completely change the reason why the forums are even popular then it isn't worth it and this idea should be scrapped.

If this is the way your going to be "running" these forums then I take back my offer to donate money for the VB theme, I take back my offer to write political blogs, and I will probably start trying to find someone else to set up an alternate trenchwars forum to use in the meantime as I won't be posting here. It isn't about having to curse or even cursing being a big deal it is about the freedoms that we have grown accustomed to during our extended stay on them. No offense but you don't have the right to change things without the permission of the people who actually use the forums, otherwise don't expect to make very much money off of a website that nobody logs on to post on anymore.

Anyways my point is, I am not going to let the forums be sold out, either find some sponsors for an online gaming forum that can deal with reading shìt or fück or cancel the check to vbulletin and bring back what we already had.

[Izor]

Who is gonna come here to be censored?

Who is going to advertise to roughly 30 people?

What sense does it make that you censor 30 people and make them less interested in posting here under the hopes that you get more people to come here? You're forgetting an important step in the process which is drawing people here first.

[Wax]

I disagree with that move pretty strongly Wax, not being about to curse on the forums? I'm sorry dude but these forums have been these forums for a very very very long time, and if you want to make a separate forums and start changing things dramatically and see how many people come that is fine ,but to come on here and start changing huge sh it like this is just ridiculous. I don't really think you have the right to personally make the judgment to censor these forums that some of us have used in the past few years more often than you. If the only way we can make money off this idea is to completely change the reason why the forums are even popular then it isn't worth it and this idea should be scrapped.

If this is the way your going to be "running" these forums then I take back my offer to donate money for the VB theme, I take back my offer to write political blogs, and I will probably start trying to find someone else to set up an alternate trenchwars forum to use in the meantime as I won't be posting here. It isn't about having to curse or even cursing being a big deal it is about the freedoms that we have grown accustomed to during our extended stay on them. No offense but you don't have the right to change things without the permission of the people who actually use the forums, otherwise don't expect to make very much money off of a website that nobody logs on to post on anymore.

Anyways my point is, I am not going to let the forums be sold out, either find some sponsors for an online gaming forum that can deal with reading **** or cancel the check to vbulletin and bring back what we already had.

Let me start off by saying I'm not going to get into a posting battle/argument with you over the forum simply because it looks tacky.

First of all, I find it difficult to believe that you, or others for that matter, would get so riled up over having a current total of five (5) words on the censorship feature. This is simply to get the forum to meet the bare minimum requirements of the advertising services out there. On top of that, three out of the five words on that list are words that have already been deemed 'unacceptable' long before I got here and started doing anything. (For those of you who don't know, they are all 'racist' words) So if anything, this filter is simply saving the forum staff from having to monitor so closely and will hopefully cut down on any infractions to members who let the words 'slip'.

So if you wish to recant your offers for the blog and donation, that's fine. No hard feelings. But I sincerely hope that having this small change, which you seem to view as drastic (Which on a lighter note is funny coming from someone who is so clearly anti-liberal), will not prevent people from coming here and enjoying themselves.

And for your information, there is no 'check to cancel' to vBulletin, as it has already been paid for.

[kthx]

It is a big change, if I fücking want to say fück I should fücking be able to, the kind of sponsors you are going to draw by bleeping out fu ck that are actually worried about the use of fück on these forums aren't the kind of sponsors that are going to sponsor a forum with 30 people on it, and probably fewer if you keep this option on. Now lets be serious here, you could just remove that option and find some other sponsors, I am sure evony/civony would advertise on our site.

The point is you can't just make changes like this and expect people to be ok with it, you have to tell people before you go around deciding things like this, you don't have the right to do it, because the forums has always been a community operated forums as you should be able to tell if you have been on them for as long as many of us have been.

Look what happened to Sarien, Dangergirl, Maverick, etc etc etc. You can't fight something like this unless you want to try to talk the sponsors into advertising on a ghost town.

[PH]

no f-bombs please, think of the children

oh wait, we're all responsible adults here

wax, weren't you fired from staff for insubordination and disrespect?

if you're going to put up a front at least make sure it's one that doesn't directly contradict your behavioral history

and quite frankly if someone is going to save our zone it's not going to be a guy who does a dead-on impression of adam

but hey, don't listen to me

put another nail in the coffin, we don't want that lid flying off

[Ilya]

do not delete the public squad forums.