So, uh... (Updated) - 01/17/2015

[FlaminSarge]

Swapped out the weird image captcha for Google reCaptcha, added a requirement that a user's first post be in the "Introduce Yourself" section, and a few other changes to try to confuse and break spambots.

That said, the forums are getting old and rusty with all the data that's been stored up. Things are slow.

Would it be better to do an almost-full wipe and have everyone re-register?

I've posed another question below:
viewtopic.php?f=10&p=94115#p94115

[MrKerplunkers]

I posted this in the facebook group, but you're too cool for facebook school so I'll repeat it here. I'm down for a new forum with a new coat of paint. Maybe new forum hype would bring people to register. Also, I let the spambot situation go out of control because of the general inactivity on the forums, so I'm sorry for that. It's so out of hand at this point that I tried getting rid of them all the other night and passed out trying to do it. Fuck me, they've gotten persistent.



So yeah, if you're good to wipe the slate clean and start again, I'm all for it. I wouldn't have it set to make new users post in the introduction forums, I can imagine that'd get to be a sore point after a while. Maybe make it link to something like their steam profile or something.

Then again if people want to just kill it, that's cool too. I've been here a long ass time and wouldn't mind seeing an old horse get put out of it's misery.

I'll also repeat that I'd like for there to be a way to view the really fucking stupid threads. You know the ones.

I'm also gonna post this on the facebook so people can see we're having a poll

[PhrozenFlame]

If you're gonna wipe it and start over, let me save the stupid ass bad anime club list. Other than that and losing my immense post count, we can go.

[_Pipeline]

Whatever you do don't let the chatbox die. I want the chatbox back on the list of current events again. Notably it's perhaps the one single locale that everyone who has ever been in cC or to the forums, whether they've actually posted in any discussion boards or not, have wandered into at least once. We could, like. Make a plugin that links it to any and all cC-related activities on the three other primary outlets where they persist.

/wishful thinking

I'm agnostic about the forums. If we have to put Old Yeller out of his misery we must at least save the epic dumbass threads and the Bad Anime Club, like Kerp and Giro suggest.

In the TF2-related realm, the solution to long droughts of inactivity is way simpler than we've become accustomed to think: someone (anyone) who is willing to expend some minor effort can simply jump onto the empty server, change the map to a stockmap/map that seems to be dumbass popular even if it's shit (yeah that's right, even if it's dm_mariokart, breakfloor, cp_blackmesa, or, God forbid, the beast itself, melee checkers). Then you spam the living shit out of your friendslist, even the people you know who play TF2 but aren't associated with cC, and stick around. As familiar people flock in to fill up the server, its global rank increases slightly and unfamiliar strangers who are busy pubbing servers via the automatic search engine will become more and more likely to find themselves sorted into little old there.

You accomplish this all by being patient, by seeking out new people on a regular basis, and by making sure to go through this routine, for starters, at least 2 to 3 times per week. If you keep at it, it will almost inevitably lead to an upward spiral of activity in the long run because it will both raise awareness of the server's existence and encourage regular traffic to emerge, persist, and become self-sustaining by giving the impression that hey, not only does this server exist, it's also not completely dead either. Suddenly you've eliminated the two single biggest roadblocks to server (and to an extent community) activity we have been facing lately, at least in TF2-related areas.

It will work as long as at least a few people who care about the server (and the forums) put in a little bit of dedicated, uninterrupted effort on a weekly basis.

--

Now I'll try tying that act of derailment to the issue of the forums and what use we could make of them in these trying times, by getting back to what I was contemplating at the beginning of this post.

Suppose we reboot the forums from scratch. Make them into an unbroken hub that links to and maintains some level of interaction with the Facebook group, perhaps using some kind of plugin, and (I think this matters), additionally, increase everyone's awareness of all the different semi-permanent Skype groups we have that seemed to have popped up over the past year and a half or so during continuous lulls in community activity. Point is, tie them all together so they're all relevant to everything again, and make the forums the paramount hub connecting all the crossed wires. I don't know if or how this could be accomplished, but I can at least explain the end result in theory. The point is, link all the disparate and separated pockets of communication related in some way to cC together so everyone stops wondering what the fuck is going on and wandering aimlessly in circles within the confines of the empire without any roads.

More speculatively, I'm not sure whether to claim that internet forums, as they pertain to smaller communities as a preeminent node of communication, are simply becoming obsolete, and that this place is doomed to, or has already become a fossil from the era bordering such an extinction event; or to claim that forums and online communities as a whole are simply going through a phase of horizontal integration that encourages people from dried-up smaller communities to emigrate to one of a few fairly large and well-known ones.
Or I could be entirely wrong on both counts and this community is loaded with a bunch of lazy asses who always talk about making everyone else take action but never actually think of going through the trouble themselves. Bear in mind as well that cC isn't even an indispensable second home to all but maybe a few of us to begin with. It's easy, not to mention extremely tempting, when faced with real-life matters (important or not), to either forget about community involvement (however the fuck that can be defined) after a while or just not care.

I like these forums and I like the idea of these forums and I don't want to just leave them behind without another word, but that's just my opinion. A reboot (and hopefully, revitalization with a new coat of paint) of the forums, so long as it is consistently managed, and hype for it kept alive, may not be such a bad idea. Apart from a few old threads we would have nothing to lose at this point, and if we could find a way to save and archive all the old shit, at least the shit worth saving, and putting it somewhere people can see it, we'd really have nothing to lose at all but post counters and admin votes which stopped mattering years ago anyway.

[FlaminSarge]

In other news, the spam threads are gone.
That was easier than I expected.

[rudedog04]

I'll have my say in this, but I'll be brief.

I love cC. Been at this for over 6 years now (not including Smokehouse Misfits days) and I am glad that there is still a want for community in this family of current and returning members. The TF2 servers have expanded into Skype chats and, along with other games, social networks and party rooms such as Plug.DJ have been in the mix. I would not want this to die off and become another part of history and have to start fresh with another clan or gaming community.

Aight I'm done reminiscing. I would love to see a fresh, clean look with these forums. As long as we can keep those threads that were somewhat enjoyable to go back to and read I do not see a problem. A little nostalgic walk in time through the history of cC. Would love to come back and hold a better position in cC whether it's forum moderator or server admin again. Yea college sucks with time but I'm finding more time to jump on games during the day and hopefully this reboot can help with the number of players before 5pm CST instead of having to announce a group event of "Let's play TF2!" (no offense kat, just throwing out facts). Or a moderated Vent or Teamspeak or Mumble server, or something. Just throwing things around, I want this to keep going and would help in any way I can.

[Haunwulf]

Woah, didn't expect everyone to be all for on restarting it. I guess I'll have to go find Dept's (was it?) fanfiction.

When the forums are rebooted, we need some actual topics. Anything really, so long as it keeps us from having to resort to only going onto a Certain Shitposting Thread where we just take 5 seconds to post something and ignore most if not all of the other posts because it's just shitposting. Like, let's start getting some active and legitimate threads going on here. Of course, that will mean we need some more people here too.

[Fireproof]

I've always found the facebook group and skype calls to be a huge barrier to entry for me. I would love to see cC get a simple website with links to a fresh forum, the server, teamspeak/mumble, and facebook for those inclined.

On another note, does captain still pay for the site and servers?

[MrKerplunkers]

I've always found the facebook group and skype calls to be a huge barrier to entry for me. I would love to see cC get a simple website with links to a fresh forum, the server, teamspeak/mumble, and facebook for those inclined.

I'd love to see this, but as far as I know the only active management is me, flamin, and kinda doghouse. I'm pretty sure none of us have a fucking clue what we're doing so implementing these things on the forums might end up being a shit show. Still worth looking into though.

As an aside, I have no idea why we all the posts on facebook need to be admin approved. Like it's not that big of a deal since they usually get approved quickly, but it's also not like anyone cares if the facebook gets flooded with like 50 dick pics or whatever.

On another note, does captain still pay for the site and servers?

I think Captain does websites for a living. I don't know if he's in design or IT or whatever but maybe he just runs them off the same server space he uses for work.

I guess I'll have to go find Dept's (was it?) fanfiction.

He's still got it I think. It's laying around somewhere on his computer.

Like, let's start getting some active and legitimate threads going on here. Of course, that will mean we need some more people here too.

Badime Club III: No We Really Mean It This Time Edition

[FlaminSarge]

It would seem the domain registration for calculatedchaos.com expires on October 2, 2015, though I suppose cap'n can renew it at that point. Just thought I should point that out. It was last renewed on October 2, 2013 or something.
I think he uses the calculatedchaos.com domain for other things as well, so...

I'm pretty sure none of us have a fucking clue what we're doing so implementing these things on the forums might end up being a shit show.

Agreed. I am not a web dev. I once tried to update PHPBB, and that's when everything broke (the shoutbox, the youtube thing, etc.)

Speaking of which, there's a PHPBB3 update available.
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtop ... &t=2200921

I think Teamspeak or Mumble (as an alternative to what I've heard described as "impromptu Skype group calls") is a good idea. I'll see about obtaining a server or setting one up.

This is legit, btw. Been using it with a group of buddies for about a year.
http://cleanvoice.ru/free/mumble/en.html


You know, actually...
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=32218

[Zora]

Looks like the consensus is to restart the forums. Any ETA?

[FlaminSarge]

Right now, the only real reason to wipe the forums is because we have ~7K inactive users taking up database space.

So let me pose another question:
Should we take the time to delete the ~7K users manually (time-consuming but not too bad),
or do a full wipe of the forums and lose ALL our threads and users, make everyone re-register, and 'restart' that way?
I initially proposed the full wipe because of the spam threads everywhere, but those cleaned up surprisingly easily, so now the full wipe is a less enticing option since we'd lose our actual stuff.

I've changed the poll to reflect this question. Thoughts?