'In the works'? No pics? No sample pages? No source code?

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

I've seen it

I like your idea of "troll" forbidden posts. That gives power to the poster.

Wow...another one of these moments. I've been around for awhile...see my sig for proof. I visit every day, I just don't post that much. Bri, I've got 3k in the bank, I'd find no problem in sending 10, 20, even 50 bucks over. *cough*50oncemaybe*cough*

However, I think massassi is in need of growth and change. We need to expand or something, make the site broader. If we can't merely hold on to JK then maybe we should look at a variety of other things. We could base the site on lots of other games, base it on the forumns and chat, start giving technical tutorials, get into becoming based in lots of different areas...I don't know, maybe programming tutorials. Heck, ALL of these. Massassi could become known as the JK site that could and came out to be big. We might have tons more people and a bigger community run by votes and points and stuff, maintaining the normality (non stupidity) that 75% of other communities have and bringing in thousands of people. who knows?

As it's pretty much already been stated, I basically agree that this site needs to have something that attracts new people. yet we have to maintain the spirit we've always had...the things that make massassi...massassi!

If I'm full of crap, lemme know. But I think we just need to brainstorm a bunch of ideas for ways to expand the site in terms of content. It needs to be about something more than just the community. The community gets half, the content gets half. Yeah.

-Veger

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I'm going to go out and do stuff, like besides work. Call up ben, hang out. Maybe see the last samurai, go skydiving, whatever.
Get back into the gym...
I want to do stuff that prevents me from playin video games so I can only play them a few hours a day, basically.
(Formally Veger, who died when he lost his e-mail adress, and his password. Veeger still looks for his old pass...)

We've been around since...1999? 98? Almost 6 years? About how long does the average site last before it is taken down or bought off? Given the nature of Massassi, its purpose, its users, I think we should be damn proud we lasted this long. Yes, we are past the glory days. That doesn't mean they can't be brought back. It will take much work if we are to stay afloat. It will depend on our efforts. Mr. oSiRis is right. Y'all talk of donating, putting in effort to keep this going, but actions speak louder than words. Although I would like to give you all more credit than oS.

I hope we continue and thrive.

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<scribbly handwriting barely resembling name>

Veger I left you a present in your email box.

Shuddering isn't nearly a dramatic enough response to that idea.

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Roach - Steal acceptance, lend denial.

0 of 14.

Thanks for the update Brian...

At the risk of sounding arrogant(I haven't really been a part of this community for a LONG time, so count in my vote as 1/2 vote).

Actually, I kinda like the idea of letting massassi die. I think it's time to move on to other things, perhaps even in the REAL world.

Let go guys. Time is running out.

Something happened to the DCM (Diary of a Crazed Mimbanite, you mean?) comics? I have 'em all on my hard disk right now... Along with a bunch of other stuff off the site, like some X-Files parodies and wallpapers and even some mp3 thing...

As for Massassi, it's not the giving money that's the problem; if Brian were here right now I'd give him $50 for the site, and I'd contribute $10 a month. The problem is that basically everything on the internet is set up for the USA, and I don't know that Paypal is any different. Plus I don't have a credit card.

I certainly want to see it keep going. All you people saying "Shut it down so we have to get lives" need help, really. If this is your one outlet of social interaction, find more, but don't punish the rest of us for whom Massassi is, and has been, a great place to visit for six years or so.

I don't know how effective the community chosen mods/admins would be, because I don't know who would get chosen. But I think we could trust the community not to let Pugler be chosen Grand Poobah Admin with Darth Cantaloupe as his Evil Moderator...

i found massassi through google and instantly thought it rocks but yeah more links on more site

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stop talking in brail

300 years as jedi master i was, now i bloody night-lite

(:-) Monobrow

...er, quite a lot of people here do infact enjoy the real world and still visit massassi. They are not mutually exclusive.

I don't see why Massassi can't diversify, it's a solid online community with a productive history. The interest level is still there in the visitors here...so why just piss all that away?

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Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1 & 2 | Gonkmeg
Corrupting the kiddies since '97

Cue one customary emoticion:

Now this is a big one, make no mistake about it!

1) Yes, although as stated, we need some fresh blood, in either editing resources, news, tutorials and actual levels (including SP and CTF). We seem desperately low of decent levels in all areas for all the current games that we cater for; mercifully there'll always be talented editors in one form or another - the likes of Gonk and Flexor (to name but two random people).

2) (see paragraph at end of list)

3) (see above reference)

4) Hugely debatable and highly controversial Brian; the choice is still essentially yours and Kedri's to make - as Kieran I think mentions on the first page of this thread:

As a personal aside, I think the leadership choices have been fairly successful on the whole. Leading by example, I (and this is solely my opinion, given the way they treat people) feel that Jaiph and (recently departed) SaberMaster provide(d) helpful, insightful comments, with ne'er a bad word mentioned. These people have my well-earned respect.

But I digress; essentially, if you're the one initialising things Brian (and making a conscious effort to keep Massassi alive, as well as being deprived of pocket) then you make the choices and we will "bend" to accommodate your decision(s)

5) Contributions wise, I'd be more than willing to do (almost ) anything to keep Massassi alive, aside from humping cardboard cut-outs of droids - you see this is what makes Masassi such a great place to frequent (the phrase "only at Massassi" springs to mind ). I'm currently level editing, can script cog, but the thing that I miss most (and would be willing to be part of a team to revive) is the "Level Reviews" feature. Now I'm sure there was a thread about this posted not too long ago...

--------

As long as you give us (the masses of Massassi) fair information in good time to prepare for any of the eventual outcomes, I believe that you and Kedri will reach a decision that the rest of will ultimately have to accept. If this means paying to keep the site alive, then so be it; although I don't personally have a problem with this aspect being a wage earner and the teenage "angst" years behind me, I think that most of the site's teenage/young-adult age support group may well have various issues with regard to payment, some of which have been already voiced...

I think branching out to new games would be a good start to get us "back on the market" - I honestly think that, objectively speaking, this is the only way forward, both in terms of broadening the intended audience's appeal as well as "moving with the times" ...

As fond as I am of Massassi's current tight-knit community (some may say elitist, but I believe that the vast majority of Massassi are a decent group of people), we need more people so we can recive more new contributions...

Not to mention the fact that this is Massassi - I want assurances that I haven't wasted the better part of 3 years active service (and a couple on/off years of my life prior to this). Just a quick check: is my soul still ok (or as "ok" as it'll ever get )

Just my tuppence worth (whether it's valued or not)

-Jackpot

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"lucky_jackpot is the smily god..." - gothicX

"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
But two things stand in stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own"
("Ye Wearie Wayfarer" - by Adam Lindsay Gordon)

What if instead of hosting every file it recieved, Massassi hosted webpages proven community mods/groups and editors? Groups like TMU and JKA, and people like GoY, Flexor, Blood Asp, etc would be given say 20-50 megs of space to host their own websites, and as much file space as they need to host the actual project files themselves. Maybe a system could be made so that 'project leaders' could add registered users to their 'team,' allowing them access to the project files. Basically I'm saying that the level hosting could be downsized, while the EC is expanded with more newer and better options and control.

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And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...

DSettahr's Homepage

Also, to everyone who has said that they would help post SotD, news, levels, etc, I'm sure you're sincere when you say it, but so was everyone else that was hired for the job and only posted once.

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And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...

DSettahr's Homepage

Also, if massassi were to branch out into different games, a popular vote to determine which games to focus on would probably be the best way to go about choosing them.

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And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...

DSettahr's Homepage

I suggested something like this back when Brian returned and was looking for ideas to re-energise the site. I don't think giving specific 'people' is the way to go though, that just fosters even more of the elitist attitude. I envisioned more of a SourceForge like system. Projects can be set up and have access to CVS tree and what-not. Each project gets a few pages where they can post news, updates, pictures, etc.

That would make Massassi more of an editing 'hub' than just a download location. People come here because this is, literally, where editing's at. It would be a centralised place where people could come to find out about projects, or to host their project. No more faffing about with "Can anyone suggest a good host for my mod's website?". Projects that aren't worked on for some amount of time, say six months, could be archived off. Project leaders would have to specifically ask for them to be restored. These are all just ideas, specifics of how to avoid abuse of the system would have to be ironed out of course.

Moving to our own dedicated server would make this idea more feasable. When I suggested it first, it was more of a "This would be good, but probably not feasable on ReconGamer".

You could add a method for paying $5 (or some other small amount) to give your project "privileged" status - larger default file-space, more obvious on the listings, something like that. Adding more filespace to your project by donating some small amount would be another idea.

This sounds like a very interesting concept, and I think Massassi should definitely give it a try.

I cannot post levels (56k), but I can do other stuff, and most definitely donate.

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Or then not. --FastGamerr/Nikumubeki

I'd e willing to hepl out in moderator or administrator duties, since I'm always here on a daily regular basis...

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I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

Everyday I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I've stayed alive.

[url="mailto:Bruintone@netscape.net"]mailto:Bruintone@netscape.net[/url]Bruintone@netscape.net</A>
Yahoo! Name : jedibruintone77

DSett, I'd definently will be willing to help post news and such on a regular basis. I'm online and I frequent Massassi everyday. Get with me in mIRC or MSN and run some ideas. Also, Brian, I have a friend who runs his own servers and might be able to host us. Its not a sure thing by a long shot at the moment, but its an option that I can look into. Just e-mail me information you think I need and stuff and I'll check it out. I'll do everything I can to keep Massassi going.

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Prowling out of the tundra, swinging a jeweled meat hammer, cometh Outlaw Torn! And he gives a gutteral bellow:

"I'm seriously going to hump you until you scream like a banshee!"

I haven't read all of the posts, but:

Please don't change the forums too much, maybe just the look of them. A "community driven" forum would lead to disaster. We are, after all, human beings. We can decide on our own who should be a mod/admin/whatever without a script to tell us. I guess I don't really care about the levels or mods too much, though it keeps us on track with why we're really here and brings in new people. Massassi is old, but I think our community is still strong.

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Bliss is ignorance.

Sell massassi T-shirts!

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When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

I doubt massassi could die even if you wanted it too, the community is so strong.

I would definately help posting levels and reviewing the occasional level.

Since i'm a lazy bum, i wouldn't be able to donate often, but I would definately make the effort to do so on occasions in which I can afford it. I don't think you should cap the donations, i believe that you wouldn't use the money for your own personal purposes... and a larger stockpile would give me more peace of mind towards the continuality of the site.

And the community driven idea is pretty good, but I would put a stop on it once it reaches a certain level of power, and only current admins would be allowed to promote people at that point.

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Drugs & Stupidity, Tons of it.

Ive only been here about 7 or so months and it is one of the coolest websites ever made for level editing. The people are nice, fun, and smart. It is just a great place to go to releive some stress or have some fun. It is like a big huge family.

I would be happy to donate a little later when i have a job and i can chip in. Right now im only 15 tho and dont have a license.

One thing were all missing here tho is that this site almost sets the standard for editing sites. It shows how strong editing communities can be. So many other editing sites for the Jedi series have links to this site for a reason. IT IS GREAT. If this site left than so many other sites would fall and not be as good because we are like a backbone.

Massassi is just a great site that is one big fixer-upper. Thats all it is. We just need to fix it up and we've got the right people to do it.

-Prince Xizor

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Madquack and Firbnic have a signature.
Remnant Temple Part A beta test.
Light And Darkness

On another note.... perhaps we should submit this idea to world leaders?

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Drugs & Stupidity, Tons of it.

Brian is a world leader.
he and PM Blair are always meeting up for lunch and discussion of world politics

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why is a raven like a writing desk?

I'd be willing to don the fairy suit again and perform sexual favors for Massassi's* benefit.

*my own personal

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"She turned me into a newt!"
Pause
"Well I got better..."

Tightest, most awesome, closest and freaking coolest community around. Death to an entire Massassi Family? No bleeping way.

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"If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?"

In a couple of months, either I'll be able to donate, or I will no longer be using up Brian's bandwidth, one of the two.

But anyway, I think you/we/whoever need to start by looking at why JO/JA didn't take off on this site. I don't think it's a matter of the submission requirements here, if you spend a month creating something, and one site is the biggest and most populous, you will take the time to make sure you've got the submission requirements done right.

I think you can start the problems off with the main page, like it or not, it screams "1998" "Jedi Knight 1", "questionable activity levels" and just a touch of "geocities".

If you wanted random ideas, I'd start off by suggesting a decent-sized couple of images which say "JA LEVELs HERE, CLICK ME" rather than have to hunt through the links on the left. It might sound like a fight against complete laziness, but you want to attract the casual visitor, not have them look around in a brief moment of confusion before closing the window.

Also, make use of that black space to the left and right of the massassi logo. Something big and JOey, JAey or Battlefrontey, or all three. That'll help to get rid of some of the "Jedi Knight 1"ishness of the site.

I suggested having some php-magic-thingo that'll display random screenshots of smallish size of JK/JO/JA levels. But, eh, I can't code, which leaves my only option holding someone up with banana and forcing them to do it for me.

On the questionable activity levels, maybe it's just me, but the site doesn't scream "ARRGH WE ARE BUSY BEES", If it wasn't for the regular news updates, the site would look no different to jedinights.com, which doesn't have regular news updates. The SotD and the MotW are very good I have to say though.

I think for a lot of this, you've got to look at sites which are active. They run things like semi-regular polls, ever-changing main page links to forum topics, direct links to patches, links to recent topics; the kind of things Kengo has on his site reviews/interviews.

Mind you I can't really talk... years ago when I visited this place, I'd click on the SotW image, look at it, click on the "more please" link and it'd take me to some dark, dirty green land full of weird people talking. And about there I'd close the window. After about 3 years I found out they were part of the forums.

Anyway... another thing would be to, when getting the ball rolling, email level editors when they release levels to other sites, and tell them we'd really appreciate them submitting the level here. Usually if they see their level get 50, 100 downloads from here in a week(provided the dumb ****'s can figure out the submission rules, how the **** people get that wrong is beyond me...), it should get them to submit their stuff on a regular basis.

The final problem is that this place is full of JK editors and non-editors, maybe one in 20 here started editing JO/JA. There are no sole-JO/JA editors here, only JK editors here who took up editing JO/JA. To try and assume that if we take on a new game, everyone who is currently here will explode into activity is a bit of a fallacy. If we take on a new game, we'll have to attract completely new blood, rather than expect the current crop of JK editors and ex-JK editors to suddenly put on colourful capes and jump into editing whatever game.

With that in mind, massassi has a lot to offer. No-frills, no-catches level hosting. Believe it or not, that is a lot compared to everywhere else. If you aren't trawling half the web looking for Quake levels, trying to find that elusive download hidden on an old Swedish FTP, you're sitting in line at fileplanet.com or waiting in lines here there or wherever.

Besides, I need somewhere to release this pair of thrice-accursed, JK-engine-bug-attracting JK levels I seem to have been working on for near infinity.

I agree completely.

We're JK editors. We have been since the dawn of time it seems. There was some surge of our own produced JO/JA stuff right when the games came out, but most of us are finding that just being a part of the community is almost too time consuming. I know that I haven't touched JED or Radiant in more than 8 months. I'm sure the situation is similar among alot of our users. We do need to update our face. But like I've always said, I want a means by which we can implement themes (like the MegaZZZer's Gaming Page [sp]) so I can keep the "classic" looks.

Making a note about the polls. I myself am starting to take that direction. But a pretty face has never been what people actually stay somewhere for. I have an awesome board, and gorgeous designs for my site:
http://www.oscempire.net <-- first attempt to gain users with pretty
http://www.oscempire.net/idea <-- design that's going to be implemented with a new navigation and whatnot
and http://forum.oscempire.net <-- completely customized vB

However, even people from Massassi find that distasteful and not necessarily remain loyal to Massassi, but don't post in both places. I've been trying to get the whole "reviewing site for levels et all" off the ground for what seems like forever.

The difference is that we have content here that people already want. We have TONS of levels and whatnot. We need a means to bring us into the present when it comes to site technology, community programs, and if somebody writes a PHPIRC client that works well for Massassi, I want to steal it!

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-=I'm the wang of this here site, and it's HUGE! So just imagine how big I am.=-
1337Yectiwan
OSC Returns!!
10 of 14 -- 27 Lives On

I agree, so I think there should be rules. First, I think only mods should be electable, not admins. That would be a disaster. You need to be here for at least a month (2 weeks?) before you can vote (To eliminate people making lots of names and vote for themselves), you can't vote for youself, and you can't vote for someone who's been here for < 5, 6, maybe more months. And of course, the admins have to approve the winner, that way if by some fluke, you don't get a Pugler as moderator.

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MadQuack on Military school: Pro's: I get to shoot a gun. Con's: Everything else.
"I'm going to beat you until the laws of physics are violated!!" ! Maeve's Warcry

RIP -MaDaVentor-. You will be missed.

Save Massassi. We could have people send in crap like pocket change and if they do it with any frequency this place will stay open.

Good, but! They need to see some sort of payoff. I love this place, but I wouldn't pay much just to keep what we have now.

We need a good server, good forums, good levels system and good reviews system. We need to get content and users coming in. If this place costs 100 dollars a month, it needs to scream "$100 dollars a month."

But how can we generate change of that scale without totally selling out and destroying the Massassi we all know?

Many stories ended here today... but... yours goes on, I see.

1. Yes. It's a great community, and I never want to give it up.
2. If I had money, I'd gladly do so.
3. See above.
4. No elections, but we need something for the people.
5. I would, as soon as I get struck by an idea that's viable and cool.

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The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.
-- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, The Father of Rocketry

Teeheehee I know I'd vote for pugler if he was in the running.

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And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon...

DSettahr's Homepage

If the right game comes along I think there will be. I loved editing DF and I loved editing JK. The reason I never got heavily into JO was that I didn't find it as enjoyable to edit (granted I tried back before GTK compatibility when all we had was JORadiant) and the engine is not very friendly to SP editors in many ways.

If a SW game comes along that is not only good, but extremely editable and with top notch tools then I think we could have an editing renaissance of sorts

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Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1 & 2 | Gonkmeg
Corrupting the kiddies since '97

I still like my idea of channels for different games that the Massassi community has an interest in. Channels would form under moderators or admins, who would set up the channel and run things until interest died. Then we've got alot of content. Stagnant, but existant. *shrug*

The best example I can give is http://www.massassi.net/serious . This would have been the "Serious Sam" Channel, and maybe it could have looked like Massassi main a bit more. The Main channel could be more general, and then all of the JK stuff could be moved to the JK Channel.

I know that Brian's code can handle such a system with little effort. The question is whether we have, or can get, a community that would be capable of sustaining such an ambitious mass.

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Ω of 14

1. Absolutely. We should save the camaraderie of these forums if nothing else.

2. Yes

3. At the moment I can donate, and would be willing to do so. Massassi has given me so much, I would like to give back.

4. Yes

5. I would do all of the above. Like I said about giving back...

About Expansion:

A. We can do a few games very well, and that way would attract new people who would contribute new material and make us even better.

or

B. We could do a bunch of games poorly, which would just be a bunch of wasted effort because other sites have the same stuff.

What made Massassi great was that, like the motto said, it was the #1 place for everything JK. Massassi specialized, we stood out, we had excellent material that you could only get here. We can move on to new games, but we have to do it with quality.

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right." -Isaac Asimov

Why would you even ask if there is enough worth saving here? Of course there is. About the games though. I was actually thinking about that a while ago. JK was great, but it is finally fading, and IMHO JO and JA just weren't that great, I hardly enjoyed either. Adopt some new games (non star wars), like UT2k3, and 2k4. Doom 3 will be out soon, Half life 2 also. I dont know about Doom 3, but HL2 has editing tools. There are new star wars games that could be brought in also, kotor, and some unrealeased ones, but editability is the thing I guess, just have to wait and see

Spreading out into a broad base "general PC editing/gaming" site would be a mistake; I definitely agree.

If we do branch out, then whatever games we do cover we should cover with quality and strive for recognition in any respective communities. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't really a game editing network.

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Ω of 14

I missed this thread. Let's see:

1. Yes. We should keep Massassi going. I've only been registered here for about two months, but I've been playing JK for about five years now, and I'd hate to see the community for it die... I haven't even unveiled my work for it yet! (I'm making a 3-level mission, the first is about 60% complete)

2. While I currently don't have the resources to make significant contributions, I know that every bit counts, thus I'd be willing to pitch in around $5US month, probably.

3. Doesn't matter. I think you shouldn't have a cap, but rather a visual meter of how much cash is stocked up, compared to upcoming hosting expenses. That way you can have the bets of both ideas: donators can see where Massassi is toward its current goals, and there's no donation limit.

4. I don't think Admins should be elected. I like the idea of "leveling up" on the forums, and it could help by providing a way for forum-goers to compare themselves in a more constructive way. I also like the "trolling" idea.

5. I'd be willing to anonymously volunteer some work, such as posting news (from off-site). As for submitting work, I already have some in prograss, and think that submitted levels/mods, not post count, should be how we compare each other...

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Nes digs around in the trash can.
Nes finds a hamburger!
Nes puts the hamburger in his backpack.

Kedri and I (and others, I'm sure) already considered doing a game editing site similar to massassi for a lot of games. I even own a really cool/short domain name for it. Unfortunately, it didn't really take off. My heart just wasn't in it. That's the thing, I tried doing sites to get visitors about games that I just wasn't all that interested in. Indiana Jones & the Infernal Machine, Wheel of Time, and Force Commander all come to mind. We branched out because we felt we had to to keep the visitors coming in. It was a mistake and it showed.

Maybe you can find people you trust to organise and administrate those branches for other games that don't interrest you, while you could take care of the main site and the community. Kindof like a big network of sites rather than one site.

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When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.