I would point out on this topic, exactly how lame this site has become based upon the ruthless quelling sensation that is coming from the general site administration.
Some of the best ideas in the world, come from rambling. Most of the best feedback, can be seen within insults if one knows where to look. Be careful site administration, that you do not drive off the traffic you are trying to gain. You may think you are indespensible, however all a person would have to do is copy your maps and titles over to a word document and press 'control f', for the same basic function you offer on this site. Than talking via another channel will become the accepted norm, when people are done with your post deleting and post blocking tirades.
We all know, afterall, that you do not block the posts because of some kind of superiority complex, but rather in a justified manner, striving to keep the moral high ground.
This entire log board system isn't designed for discussion or quarreling either.
Btw, this site became lame because of people who flame the player who bothers to post anything. Besides, why do people flame the player, rather than comment on the log. Is there absolutely no netiquette at all?
The reason lock was implemented, because it was meant to be used. Flame bait material that can spawn 20 comments per log would slow down the already slow site.
Webspace is not free no matter where it came from, we're being honored by Zeth for hosting Invokation for free from his web hosting company. The amount of money that could've been generated by this site (should we have been a paid site) per year would already be able to help keep his server alive.
I doubt it was his, NOR anyone's intention for a knowledge based site to be reduced to a flaming rambles. The people who've worked on this site (myeslf included) would surely not wish to see 20 comments flaming a poor player because of something he did right, or wrong based on some twisted sense of justice.
Talks about redeveloping Invokation have been going on, and I think one of the major problem would be trying to put Invokation into a gmail-type system where logs are posted as conversations would be more viable for such flaming.
However this does not mean I'm chasing people away by that sentence above. Even so, perhaps it would be better to have diffusion rather than everything converged here, but that defeats the purpose of having a community at all.
Sites that just provide information, or sites that just allows for free flow of flaming would gradually start to degrade after the initial hoo-la-boo of having something new due to the lack of belonging.
I have to say though, it's not easily said. The few functionalities may seem basic, they ARE basic, but the weath of information stored within the database archives is invaluable.
Not to be boasting, but I do think we take pride in submitting worthy logs, giving productive construction to update IDs and the titles and the maps.
I'm sure Slade would be proud of his submissions of IDs which when counted, is more than all of the rest put together.
I sure know Clifton took pride in writing up his rune script and spending 2 hours to find and map out the different entry points.
I took pride beautifying Clifton's table so that it is actually readable. I take pride in constantly updating Invokation's backend code so that it can keep up with technology at the very least.
Bucky wrote up this entire portal himself in his free time, I'm sure he could have sold this portal to earn his keep rather than maintain it free of charge.
I'm sure the other moderators are happy with their roles of approving and keeping a lookout of new IDs.
We all benefit when everyone move forward together by providing sensible feedbacks.
# 1 206 ID's posted from Slade
# 2 170 ID's posted from Mendek
# 3 106 ID's posted from Adebaldi
# 4 068 ID's posted from Gygh
# 5 066 ID's posted from Kelosa
As of this date of posting. I can say I was happy to see the IDs jump from 200 to over 1100 right now.
I couldn't leave the search alone. That single search query isn't enough to fufil our needs - we needed filters. While not really efficient, listing out all the categories make searching easy because one is able to segment them into different categories.
Not the best there is, can be better.. but you can be rest assured it will be much better in times to come.
http://abandonedrealms.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2432
From Flying Hampster of Doom:
"Short and Sweet;
Bye for good. Thanks for all the fun."
I didn't make you post the "goodbye" thread, and I surely didn't make you post here, so I don't know why you're trying to be a smartass about something that you wrote freely.
The copy + paste website:
This has been done. My old website hosted on my personal computer was copied in its entirety, pasted into a poorly built, ugly web interface and abandoned with as little thought that went into its design. That site is completely gone now. I just looked.
Copy is Ctrl + C, by the way.
Enthusiast sites like this tend to have short life spans. Marsd\x92s nice Log Board (Magewares) - Gone. Quazark\x92s forum - Dead. I have seen a dozen AR sites come and go, 3 Official Forums, 2 AR Hosts, etc, etc. This site is well over a year old now as \x91Invokation.net\x92. It is at least 3 years old if you go back to the \x91Abandoned Realms Emporium\x92 I hosted on my own.
What I am trying to say is that these websites come and go quickly 90% of the time. We are still here.
Hamster: I recently sent a note to all the moderators (I think they got it, correct me if I am wrong) with some guidelines for moderating posts. I will leave it up to them to post it being I do not have a copy.
Please do not delete posts without reason. Be objective in your reasoning and polite in your reasons for deleting. People can make fools of themselves if they want, even be overpoweringly, overwhelmingly stupid if they want. It is okay. What we will delete is repeat flames or worthless posts in the SAME LOG.
This even applies to Hamster.
2. We added pre-approved ID submitters. THANK GOD because I an NOT looking into all of Slade\x92s 206 ID submissions.
3. Added the Top-5 list for IDs. I believe people deserve respect and thanks for what they have done.
4. We added moderators. Adding moderators is one of the most important things you can do on a website like this. Bucky and I simply no longer had the time to spend moderating the website, updating IDs, etc, etc. Personally, my goal in this was to crate something that can outlast me. If I go into the working world and never look at AR again I am sure this site will still be here. These moderators were all chosen my Bucky and me. If you want to be a moderator as well then please ask. No guarantee of acceptance, but it is possible.
5. We invited coders. I actually begged Marsd to help. Clifton asked and I gave him the okay. He has already started on the site interface redesign. Again, someday when I am not around Marsd and Clifton will be handing the server password out to a new line of coders.
Zeth \x96 He owns InkBlue.net, the company that hosts Invokation.net. He also registered the domain name. Zeth designed the initial page layout and coded the Log Board as well as the Random Name Generator. He has never charged us a dime and always responded to bandwidth quota problems, disk space problems and everything else quickly and never griped one bid. Everyone should give a huge thanks to Zeth. I am sure he probably would not mind a couple thank-mails either. If we charged $1 for every Invokation.net user a month (well worth it) we would pay for the site twice over.
Bucky \x96 The credit for most of the web code goes to him. However befuddled (he agrees) some of it might be, it was his time that went into it. He is now writing code and being paid for it but still writes plenty here even if he does not have time to play actively. Bucky also fixes the site when I actually delete 30 lines of code or entire pages. Oops.
Mendek \x96 This is I. I take NO CREDIT for ANY CODING done here. I am not even sure what it is I do. I guess we would call me the Damage Control Coordinator, the guy who breaks stuff, and the guy who sends Bucky emails full of impossible-to-implement-ideas\x85 then he gets them to work.
Marsd \x96 Marsd did a lot of work fixing some code problems, wrote the ID script filter, and has done a lot of work hashing out some visual stuff. He changed the login box (very nice) and made it so we do not have to login constantly.
Clifton \x96 Newly started helping us coding on Invokation.net. He has also had his hand in submitting scripts, giving good advice and moderating the Log Board. It is not as easy as it looks. It is amazing how many people are unable to have a mature adult conversation.
Clifton and Marsd have taken it upon themselves to redo the site in AJAX (Gmail, anyone?)
Maps - Something needs to be done there, but that is largely up to all of you. Make them, send them in, they go on the site. Easy as that.
The old quests are getting the axe.
Titles are in the process of being done as people submit them.
If you have ideas or comments do not hesitate to send them to me or anyone else involved in development here.