This can only mean good for massassi. Those of you who see this as a problem are quite misguided: Brian's been nothing but a figurehead for 3 years. He doesn't post, doesn't admin, and doesn't develop the site. I'm NOT saying Brian was a bad owner, or anything like that. What I'm saying is that Brian has had little to no affect on Massassi as a community.

Now we have the opportunity to make some major changes to the website that can happen at a much faster rate than they were. We can salvage what little decency our community has and possibly return to a better time. As far as I'm concerned, this website died about 2 years ago, and since then it's been nothing but a bone yard with hyenas. Now we can try to clean this place up and do something decent with it.

Nah, I have no problem with him as an admin, just as an owner. I've had no issue with him as an admin--he's about the same as every other admin you meet, will ignore certain things and punish more harshly some stupidities. I just don't think he has what it takes to be an owner.

God forbid I have a different opinion from you.

Was closer to 1 or 2 new posts a year...

this project will fail. just like everything else from Cincinnati.

in all seriousness, while i am saddened by brian's departure, i do hope this brings a new vitality to the site. i dont really have a suggestion for what to do to revive it, but whatever it brings, i hope the stagnation ends.

(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)

No, it's just your opinion doesn't make any sense >.>

If you don't like how I've admin'ed in the past, I suggest you start looking into ALL the staff, as I consult them before I even do anything >.>

I decided to apply the questions I had in #massassi in the forums as well. Essentially, we need a few basic questions in order to preserve the ever-so-not-fragile community of Massassi. Therefore, once the new site is transfered over, we must begin to consider how to implement our ideas on the following conditions set by the answers to these questions.

1.) In interest in preserving the essence of Massassi, a Star Wars/Editing Site, how could we integrate our old roots with the new Massassi? That is, how can we be an editing site? Have we considered that most games now are ported to the PS3/Xbox 360/Wii as well as the computer, if even that? What is the primary focus on editing?

2.) How could we distinguish ourselves from other sites? In order to maintain the site, we need fresh souls. To get fresh ones, we have to be somewhat different and better than the previous site. How could we do this? Should we also be, along with an game editing site, a news site? Our Massassi forums are also based on topics of religion, political science, and other controversial topics as well. Could we somehow put this into the main site also?

3.) What applications should be with the site? That is, should we turn into a pure editing site, or a pure game discussion/review site, or both? Should we have something Digg/Fark implemented as well? Blogs?

4.) To gain popularity, what/who is our role model? SomethingAweful? God forbid 4chan. How did those sites get popular? How could we apply this as well so we can gain traffic?

Trying to think of more questions that are needed.

I propose a wildlife review site, starting with my review of the Walrus.

Walrus. What can't be said about this magnificent animal. However, lack of multiplayer got to me..

A-

VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION B

(walrus should be our mascot)

1) Editing is simply too competitive for massassi to keep up with. Yet another editing website does nothing but dilute the source of game files, and will likely be excessive considering it'd just be a mirror for every other site's files.

2) We're still (starwars) nerds. I think having a nerd/geek article based site populated by user nominated and written stories would remain true to our geeky side. Still to make us unique, we've got to have some kind of a gimmick.

3) And I think this is where that gimmick comes in. Article arguments where articles are written in negative or affirmative of another article? I make the claim that X game is the greatest ever, I write a differing opinion and our articles fight for a place on the site. I don't know, I'm tossing out ideas.

4) I think a forum based site is what we have to model ourselves after. I think SA is the only site that fits a community driven site like what we're talking about.

...and today marks my 7th year anniversary of joining Massassi.

I say A or B. I haven't decided yet.

While I like option B the best, I don't think Massassi will thrive as just a generic review/gaming website. There are so many of them already, and most of them attract jerks. I think that this could be a good thing for Massassi, but we need to find and agree upon a novel idea that will bring people in and hook them.

Here is an idea I've been mulling over for quite some time now, but have never put into practice. I'm just throwing it out there to see what you all think.

Back in the day, some clans would create an official clan map. Some were done by just one author, some by a whole group. Remember somebody started a few community-made maps a long time ago? What if we had a site that was intended for community made maps? Not just for JK mind you, but for any editable games we chose (HL2, Quake, UT, etc).

A submission and voting system could be designed, for instance, as follows:

• Map proposals are submitted by users over an arbitrary period of time (1 week, 2 weeks?)
• At the end of the time period, map proposals are voted upon and the map theme/general design is chosen.
• People work on the map for a set period of time (again, 1 week, 2 weeks etc.)
• After that period of time, voting takes place. People pick whose map they like the best, and it becomes the new "base" map
• The chosen map is linked for downloading and editing. Over the next period of time, anybody can edit it and submit their changes. We'd have to make a rule such as no deleting anybody's stuff, just to be fair to all authors. Cleaning up of their sections only with their approval etc. For instance, if I were to create only some architecture, I could specify that anybody could add texturing/lighting etc.
• After time elapses, another round of voting. Whichever map gets the most votes becomes the new "base" map. A "This map is finished" option should probably be present as well, just so the map would be completed at some point and not just go on forever.
• "Finished" map is released as a Massassi community production

I'm just throwing ideas out there, but this could be neat. We give editors a week to play with the maps, so that they do what they have time for, and what gets added in is decided by majority vote. Hopefully we wouldn't have vote spam, and people would actually play the maps and justify their votes. I think that there should be only 1, maybe 2 maps going at a time, otherwise the list becomes overwhelming.

This could be expanded to texture packs, model packs etc. for whatever game was chosen at that particular time.

What do you think?

B. Definitely B, and not just computer gaming either. Have events, an easy way for us to trade gamer tags, friend codes, etc.

Massassi should definitely remain an editing site. That's a major part of computer gaming.

If we're going to become a larger community, our current community has to become more accepting of new members. We're kind of a bunch of douchebags.

I agree. Perhaps since most gaming is done on X-box/PS3/Wi/etc., perhaps we should add more to our profile section (gamer tags, user names, etc.) and organize events for the popular games of the time. Make it more accessible like WoW forums too.

I vote for virtual weekly deathmatches/flamewars... we could have some legendary match-ups.

COME ONE, COME ALL, SEE:

Rob VERSUS SAJN

Joncy VERSUS Goldgy

Yoshi VERSUS Kirby

And many, many more!

We wouldn't last a year as an editing site.

Why not? Are there even "editing sites" anymore? It seems most mods are large teams with their own websites.

We definitely should not focus on editing, and I personally don't think we should simply focus on gaming.

This has already been touched upon, but a sort of geek-centered user-made/user-review site I think would probably be best. Gaming, yes, Star Wars, sure, but allow for the things that the forums have developed as well -- music, stories, socio-political, etc. I think the idea of allowing users to post a "review" of their trip somewhere could be a good example of something "legit" for the new Massassi. I think Echoman raised some good things to keep in mind as well. The new Massassi likely needs the following:

• Focus on community - whatever we do, it should have a strong tie to the forums, to the chat, to user participation and connection with each other.
• User-developed - Whether it be content (developing your own gaming, stories, articles, music, etc.) or feedback (critical analysis, previews, reviews, etc.) it should remain personal, for lack of better words. Feedback, if relating to something professional, "major" or otherwise not "user-developed" will likely need to be kept in check, if we're to avoid becoming like every other site. We can help funnel certain popular types as they crop up -- for instance, should The Force Unleashed become something editable, we could have a specific "branch" focused on that... in any case, we should probably build in some system of flexibility so as to not feel we're "re-designing" the site when the next JK-equivilant "dies."
• Some method of advertisement - No matter how awesome Massassi is or becomes, we're not going to get new people if we don't somehow "advertise." I don't mean we should start throwing out banners on other sites (though I don't wish to dismiss that either), nor do I wish to open the floodgates of idiots to Massassi, but we have to risk something to draw in the people we WOULD like to have on our site, and I don't know about everyone, but in my case, I didn't hear about Massassi through invite of another member -- I heard about it being "advertised" while playing in the Zone. "This level is available at the Massassi Temple!" was basically what drew me here. Unfortunately, I don't have an equivilant alternative to what was once the Zone, but I think this is a necessary evil we should keep in mind, if we wish this community to flourish.

Hopefully, I've helped in some fashion. Of course, I hope that the new Massassi can encourage growth in the ISB as well...

P.S. if the "new" Massassi should not focus on Star Wars, should we continue to put the emphasis of the site's name on Massassi? Admittedly, I have difficulty imagining myself calling it anything else, but the name Massassi is quite SW-specific, and... I dunno. *shrug*

I think if anything, out of respect for our history, we should keep The Massassi Temple name. Yes it's from Star Wars. But I'm willing to bet there's quite a few here that don't even know what it is in Star Wars.

Ultimately, I agree, and would only even consider a change if someone were to present some alternative in which a choir of angels were to burst forth from the sky singing praises to it. Still, I felt the need to bring it up anyway.

IS IT CAN BE

TIME PLZ

Yeah, Massassi is a nerd concept in retrospective, so I don't think it needs to change.

I think that it should be a solidly community-driven website, with no real defined focus or requirements....with a main page that displays highlighted discussions from the forum system, including news, editing content, reviews, whatever. I have no idea how all that would be handled, but I think you get the idea.

I agree. I think just trying to 'reboot' the site in the hopes of attracting people could be risky.


Exactly. I think this is one of the main reasons you don't see as many dedicated fan/editing sites any more. Most games (outside of established series) just don't seem to have the staying power to attract a real community.


Actually, setting up a dedicated Massassi server for whatever game is popular at the moment could be a good way to attract new members. I don't know about everyone else, but I'd be glad to pitch in some money.

I would imagine most people wouldn't realize the significance of the name.

I'm up for a gamer news site of user submitted stuff like /. or fark

>.>

BEE

I think that's the consensus so far, genk, but instead of focusing on outside articles, we would be more about the discussion of it.

i refuse to let a JAPANESE PERVERT run my site

I guess B is the best way to go. It doesn't really matter to me, I'll probably just stick to the forums anyway. I have a multitude of other sites that I check for gaming/tech related news/reviews.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how this goes. I have no problem with CM, and Massassi definitely needs a shot in the arm, so hopefully this'll be for the best.

Do people actually just read game reviews on websites? Is that really going to help the site grow?

How about we can keep the forums as they are, with posts on just about anything, and have a voting system which would put links to elected threads onto the main page after they got enough support (Digg like?).

We could also preserve links to older threads by cataloging and tagging threads. On the main site we'd have sections devoted to editing, or trips, or game reviews, but the links therein would lead to threads here in the forums. The forums themselves wouldn't be broken up any more than they are now as we can tag a thread and have it more effectively categorized at the main site.

This would all serve to make Massassi a resource of good information/tips/etc for people to visit and refer to and contribute to. It would also make the forums, the living breathing part of Massassi, a more integral part of the entire site.

That was a much better description of the idea I was trying to get across.

Religious debate site.

Then it's all cool. Thank you for your hard work ensuring Massassi's continued existence!

Edit: And I'd like to add it sure would be fun to get an influx of new members here.

As long as the forums stay the same, I think we're all pretty much cool.

Name cannot change. That is so far beyond unacceptable. Massassi is Massassi.

What exactly are people saying when they say it should be more like B. Give examples.

Religious forum should come back... >.>

Just retire the site like TACC. Keep it as a repository for levels and such. I say the forums should remain active for as long as there is any demand for editing discussions. There's no reason to "morph" the site into something it was never intended to be and that is already probably being done better by somebody else. Forum members will find a new place to latch on to.

In a way I agree with Wookie (even though I don't really care as long as the forums remain). All the old content should definitely be archived and remain easily accessible.

Okay look. I talked to CM about hosting the site because I can't afford to keep my server any longer. He was the only one I knew with access to a dedicated server. I also talked to CM because he is familiar with the workings of the backend of the site because he's helped with backup scripts and whatnot.

Those that aren't happy about CM hosting the site, I would encourage you to give him a chance. I have learned in the last 10 years that giving responsibility to someone can have an immediate, lasting, positive change on someone.

I'm going to post my input here once and then drop off this thread. These are simply my opinions, not conditions or commands or anything like that.

1. All of you who are afraid of continuing as an "editing" site due to "too much competition" are wimps. Massassi's popularity and was built from the ground up as an editing site. I have had thoughts of expanding our focus in the past, and I have no problem with that, but in my opinion, dropping this focus or even putting it on the back burner puts you right there along with every other gaming site in existence. Editing is our edge, it always has been.

2. I would strongly, strongly, strongly suggest you appoint at least one long-time member of the forums, one former staff member, and one new crazy as people with equal power in the decision-making process - I simply don't think jumping in and making a zillion changes to the focus of the site will help. What you really need is a clear plan with goals that you work towards. I've seen so many sites switch focus a few times a year and realize that it's not a switching of focus that brings new members, it's simply vitality, activity, and most importantly, hard work, that brings new members and a new life.

3. I would strongly suggest making the entire files archive, along with the level info pages (excluding email addresses, that may be a violation of some law or something) available as a big archive that others can download. I would hate, hate, hate to see something happen to CM or the server and have everything lost forever. I've seen it happen with too many other sites & editing projects. I'm talking about full distribution. Same with the tutorials and articles.

--
I am also getting rid of my brian at massassi dot net account because I get 30,000 spams a month on it. So if you need to contact me in the future, my email address is saberworks -at- gmail dort com.
--

Regarding the posts about my handling of the situation wherein all the forum attachments were deleted and praise for it, I just thought I'd let you know that it's probably the worst decision I've made in the running of the site. I'd like to explain why I say that, because it's never been out publicly, and I've hurt someone who has been an important part of my life for a long, long time.

Forums were extremely slow at night due to backups. Disk would get full every couple of weeks and bring the site down until I happened to notice and went in and cleared some disk space. The correct way to solve this problem would be to fix the backup script to delete old backups as new ones are created. I didn't have time.

Brad, appointed as a forum admin and master of everything, decided to take matters into his own hands to solve the problem. So he deleted all attachments without consulting me. He didn't make backups.

I was pissed because in my opinion, pruning forums and/or deleting attachments removes important pieces of Massassi history. I spent a long time (a day? two?) writing, testing, and running a script to recover attachments from a backup I had of the database. Problem solved.

Except I was still pissed because I had to spend a bunch of my time doing this. So I removed brad's admin privileges from the forum. (Contrary to popular belief, I did not ban him, nor did I ever find proof that he was ever banned at all by any other staff member.) I told him I removed the privileges because I was afraid he would do something like that again. In reality, that was a farce, I was just pissed. He will tell you, I have problems controlling my anger sometimes.

So, Brad has been working with me for years. He's extremely talented and dedicated. We worked on JKArena for ages. We worked on the forums. He put more time into making these things usable than me, by a long shot. We shared beta web projects with eachother. We spent countless hours on the chat bsing about nothing, or something, anything. And he does one thing I disagree with and I turned on him like he was my worst enemy. This is a ****ty thing to do to anyone, even more ****ty when done to someone I consider a friend.

Brad, please accept my apology.

I agree with the whole archiving everything, main page, mods, and all. Since it is part of the history. Makes me sad to see you leave Brian, thanks for hosting the site and all that fancy jazz for all these years. Hopefully the new Massassi works out for us.

This is very important to me. I imagine all of Massassi would fit on several DVDs, I personally wouldn't mind downloading ISOs and making backups. If we have several easy to contact members (i.e. ones that won't ever just drop off the face of the planet) like myself make personal backups, it makes it that much harder to ever lose the site.


You really shouldn't use email obfuscation like that. It makes it easier for spammers to find since they can use a simple regular expression and Google to find it. And as we all know Google is a lot more powerful than any spam spider. Granted you used dort, but still, use an image, like so:

Except that there are literally thousands of programs that can convert that image to a string in a millisecond..