Statement as to recent site slowdowns and related issues

[DarkUnderlord]

And it's a pretty safe bet that nobody will be removing GD anytime soon.

I dunno. I'm enjoying the drama from the mere suggestion coming from someone who's not even on staff of removing GD. I reckon we go ahead and just nuke it for all the shits 'n giggles that'll cause.

Again, you don't need a PayPal account. PayPal can process your cc without an account.

It's no use Tal. They're dumber then they like to admit. Just tell them you've now enabled credit cards to be used without creating a PayPal account and watch as they all thank you.

 

[Micmu]

For the lazy fucks, send me a private message with your credit card number and I'll donate for you.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Okay, didn't notice you don't actually need to make an account. Alright then.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/4540/appealx.jpg

Fucking imageshack.

 

[Yeesh]

Three words:

Tranny pledge drive.

 

[villain of the story]

What's everyone's beef with PayPal?

 

[Forest Dweller]

And it's a pretty safe bet that nobody will be removing GD anytime soon.

I dunno. I'm enjoying the drama from the mere suggestion coming from someone who's not even on staff of removing GD. I reckon we go ahead and just nuke it for all the shits 'n giggles that'll cause.

3/10

 

[deus101]

I really think getting rid of GD would be a bad idea. It's not like all the GD posters would just leave, they'd just start posting in other forums. And then we'd have to deal with racism, nazis, etc in GRPGD.

Don't we already

In all seriousness though...there is the "chat hard" mentality on codex i mean...we rage and we love to, and the internet culture sorta takes over.
There are ways to know what can be taken seriusly and what cannot, but mostly i just run on good faith.

In short...i pass of as anti-semitic because referring to jews is so "EDGY".

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic ... 24#1292624

well...at the time i was also dealing with that Zeit retard and thought was Tungusake was really just acting.

yeah... not my proudest moment.



But...do people feel uncomfortable with the /b/-tard-goon mentality, the oldies and more mature members from 30-to-40....
Thing is heard there used to be alot of industry related people here...and they started to disappear...so...have the codex really changed alot because of people discovering 4chan at a young age then bringing along the mentality?




(bah my post is kinda messy but i got to hit the hay, take it for what it is)

 

[Thrasher]

Something possibly worth considering would be Skimlinks or Skimwords... Skimwords for unregistered visitors only. That's the advertising that makes random words into advertisement links. Skimlinks only automatically converts various links posted on the forum to sites like Amazon, Newegg, etc. into referral links.

I absolutely HATE those popups. If you do it anyway, please disable for patrons or registered users.

 

[Antihero]

Something possibly worth considering would be Skimlinks or Skimwords... Skimwords for unregistered visitors only. That's the advertising that makes random words into advertisement links. Skimlinks only automatically converts various links posted on the forum to sites like Amazon, Newegg, etc. into referral links.

I absolutely HATE those popups. If you do it anyway, please disable for patrons or registered users.

It's your site and the double lines let you tell them apart from regular links, but it just feels so intrusive and ugly to read. I'd rather read "Adbot loves you" posts full of spam links - or shaking, seizure inducing popups to that.

 

[torpid]

In case you didn't notice this site is no longer a bastion of old school gaming, if ever was, it's become just the place where Kool Kids go to gain e-credit by shitting on the AAA title they pirated and played seven times.
This place successfully alienated every developer in existence, and even if the staff tried to support indie games, that failed thanks to the 'hardcore monocles-only-interested-in-RPGs'.
In fact General Discussion and the Playground are the only redeeming features of this place.

Are you seriously claiming that GD is better than the game forums because unlike them it's not about trying too hard to be edgy ? If there's one place on this forum where edgy 4chan dumbfuckery reigns supremes, it's GD.

See here's the thing. It's called GD, and yeah they and I got that it's for posting about stuff other than crpgs. I even said how a place to do that can be kind of nice. The trouble is that this is still the RPG-fucking-codex, not the I-got-banned-from-everywhere-else-and-no-one-on-the-net-will-be-friends-with-me-so-I'll-post-here-Codex. I've got no problem with having a GD place for rpg fans who post in the rpg sections as well. But if the 'dex is sinking because of those fuckwits, who are here purely because they can't find anyone else who will pretend to listen to them, with no fucking interest in gaming at all, then fuck them. Why should we let ourselves sink due to fuckers who (a) are part of the gaming decline, or (b) aren't into gaming at all.

The value of this place is first and foremost to provide a counter-dose to the hype and bought reviews of major gaming sites, and to the fanboyism and herp-derp next-gen that has come to replace rpg fandom, driving the other 99% of our former crpg gaming brethren out of the genre completely, to be replaced by fans of shooters and action games. Why support the very thing this place exists to combat? Why act like the dex is here to provide a 4chan spill-over rather than a counter to the gaming decline? Why let the Codex sink or require extra funding to pay for the very fuckers that cause the decline, or for a bunch of randoms who couldn't care less about the whole thing anyway? If we have to donate, or scrap search functions, or limit threads, or shut down forums, or require registration before viewing, or ANYTHING that inconveniences or costs one fucking cent, WHY SHOULD WE DO IT FOR THAT LOT?

 

[Redeye]

.have the codex really changed alot because of people discovering 4chan at a young age then bringing along the mentality?

Or discovering it at an old age.

Or picking it up second hand.

 

[Forest Dweller]

I really think getting rid of GD would be a bad idea. It's not like all the GD posters would just leave, they'd just start posting in other forums. And then we'd have to deal with racism, nazis, etc in GRPGD.

Don't we already

In all seriousness though...there is the "chat hard" mentality on codex i mean...we rage and we love to, and the internet culture sorta takes over.
There are ways to know what can be taken seriusly and what cannot, but mostly i just run on good faith.

In short...i pass of as anti-semitic because referring to jews is so "EDGY".

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic ... 24#1292624

well...at the time i was also dealing with that Zeit retard and thought was Tungusake was really just acting.

yeah... not my proudest moment.

This is not a place for reflection or meta commentary on yourself.

Nobody cares.

 

[mpxd]

Blocking guests from seeing GD sounds like a good plan, server problems or no. We don't want to be attracting _more_ of the GD crowd, now do we?

I wonder though, how many of those guests are here to read about Avatar 2 release date confirmed?

 

[HardCode]

Just for the record as I think this has been suggested 3 times already: Codex already IS a GOG affiliate. What do you think that GOG button in the top right corner is for? Oh, you AdBlocked that too... <- a good illustration of what we're dealing with..

Then go around the system ...

In this day and age of NoScript, Ad Block Plus, etc., return to the purest form of internet. Just create, for example, a top-of-the-subforum stickied thread with plain ol' HTML links to the sites that people aren't seeing because they are images that are either:

1. subconsciously ignored by today's internet users
2. Ad Blocked
3. NoScript blocked

Title the thread "Where To Buy Great Games?" and just provide non-blockable HTML links to the advertisers. Also, put a list of links prominently on the home page. Naturally, it wouldn't work for ads for random sites each time you refresh the browser, but you could put the Amazon links and GoG link into the thread.

Additionally, perhaps people not clicking on ads which are not blocked has to do with HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) issues rather than people just don't want to click the links. I really hate to use the term "Web 2.0", but the Codex really could use a visual facelift in a "Web 2.0" kind of way (even though Web 2.0 doesn't really exist). At the least, for example, make the advertiser links more prominent. If you glance at the top 1/3 of the Codex forum page, all of the white text links just blend into the dark grey background in a mess of text between the header menu and the forum breadcrumbs - bracketed by an image of a T-Shirt and a mug. Those alone do not draw the eye to themselves. In addition, the List of RPG Codex Latest News and Tacticular Cancer Latest News totally drown out and overpower the Amazon links, which just seem to mix right in.

Overall, a visual face lift seems in order.

As far as database size goes, enforce something like a 20-character minimum post count, excluding

content. This will prevent posts in threads that simply quote a previous thread without adding anything more. That would probably cut down on 20% of the post count around here.

 

[Norfleet]

Personally, I think the problem you're experiencing is one of efficiency. Something you're doing in site operations is simply massive inefficient. You pay $400 a month for a site half the size of ones I run, on half the budget you run it on. That's an obvious problem right there. Find a cheaper host that offers more for less. Odds are you will: If this place has been hosted here for awhile, your server is probably an antique and you're paying rates as of however many years ago you last moved. This site is simply not that big: 9K-odd users and an average usercount of maybe 200-ish on a typical day. If you're running into load issues, it's not because you need to drop functionality, it's because you need to improve efficiency. What are you running this on, anyway? Because 15K visits a month and 2M pageviews is nothing and shouldn't have any significant effect.

 

[Frau Bishop]

Do I get this right, the major concern we have are the unwashed masses storming the gates? And we don't have enough resources to handle them all at once?
Welcome to Europe.

But after so many Codexians revealed themselves as true enemies of the Codex (ban, mod, delete, streamline,...) I'm relieved to read words like

IMHO Codex doesn't need a change in contents (does it?). So I think nobody should be banned or any forums removed. I'd suggest focussing the efforts solely on some blockings for guests, e.g. locking the GD board for them if that helps.

from a 2011 volunteer. Hey MrJones, you an alt? If yes, keep it save, it will be worth a lot on Ebay after registration is on hold for some months. And you could even announce the sale here, with a pay-link to Ebay, so everyone wins. :p

4) I know this probably be meet with criticism, but moderate harder, please. I've tired of clicking on links that doesn't go anywhere or on links that promoise that I'll see something, and I get rickrolled. Or something worse. Also, people that'll continue the attack other people personally, get a warning or in worst cases, a 24 hour posting ban.

I resist to write "Fuck you!" and wonder what you mean. Attack other people personally? Did this ever happen? There have been some personal info leaks, but not approved by the gov afaik and they have been removed pretty timely.
Or are "personal attacks" really Plane Ticket requests? You want to ban them? Huh.



tl,dr:
Admins starting to block some public traffic (in a gentle way) and some users who don't starve right now cough up some cash, at least enough to pay for the traffic they personally create, with their cute little clicks.

*click..click*

 

[Taluntain]

Something possibly worth considering would be Skimlinks or Skimwords... Skimwords for unregistered visitors only. That's the advertising that makes random words into advertisement links. Skimlinks only automatically converts various links posted on the forum to sites like Amazon, Newegg, etc. into referral links.

I absolutely HATE those popups. If you do it anyway, please disable for patrons or registered users.

It's your site and the double lines let you tell them apart from regular links, but it just feels so intrusive and ugly to read. I'd rather read "Adbot loves you" posts full of spam links - or shaking, seizure inducing popups to that.

This is me repeating myself with the bold up there. I'd never put that up for regular users, but if it's an incentive to sign up to get LESS advertising, that doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Then go around the system ...

In this day and age of NoScript, Ad Block Plus, etc., return to the purest form of internet. Just create, for example, a top-of-the-subforum stickied thread with plain ol' HTML links to the sites that people aren't seeing because they are images that are either:

1. subconsciously ignored by today's internet users
2. Ad Blocked
3. NoScript blocked

Title the thread "Where To Buy Great Games?" and just provide non-blockable HTML links to the advertisers. Also, put a list of links prominently on the home page. Naturally, it wouldn't work for ads for random sites each time you refresh the browser, but you could put the Amazon links and GoG link into the thread.

Additionally, perhaps people not clicking on ads which are not blocked has to do with HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) issues rather than people just don't want to click the links. I really hate to use the term "Web 2.0", but the Codex really could use a visual facelift in a "Web 2.0" kind of way (even though Web 2.0 doesn't really exist). At the least, for example, make the advertiser links more prominent. If you glance at the top 1/3 of the Codex forum page, all of the white text links just blend into the dark grey background in a mess of text between the header menu and the forum breadcrumbs - bracketed by an image of a T-Shirt and a mug. Those alone do not draw the eye to themselves. In addition, the List of RPG Codex Latest News and Tacticular Cancer Latest News totally drown out and overpower the Amazon links, which just seem to mix right in.

Overall, a visual face lift seems in order.

As far as database size goes, enforce something like a 20-character minimum post count, excluding quote content. This will prevent posts in threads that simply quote a previous thread without adding anything more. That would probably cut down on 20% of the post count around here.

Excellent idea. Except for the fact that nobody reads stickies.

Google for instance has 2 opposing recommendations on how to style ads. One is to make them blend in as much as possible with the existing content. This, by popular vote, means that nobody notices them - unless we put them right into the content itself, which would produce avalanches of complaints about how the ads interfere with the content in about 23 seconds after putting them up.

The other idea is to make them stand out from the other content. Unfortunately ads that stand out tend to be consciously or subconsciously ignored by most people as well.

So we've got two opposing theories which produce the same crap results. Combined with an audience intent on actively blocking all ads or at best making sure that they never ever click on any of them, it's not really surprising that we're not getting anywhere with ads. The only forms of advertising that would actually be effective here would be the kind that everyone moans, groans and throws tantrums about - pop-ups, takeovers, etc. That's the only kind that would actually be noticed and clicked.

A visual facelift of the link block and such certainly wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't do any miracles either, I'm pretty sure of that. Once we're off this ancient phpBB, I'll see about improving the placement of the ads on the forums.

Personally, I think the problem you're experiencing is one of efficiency. Something you're doing in site operations is simply massive inefficient. You pay $400 a month for a site half the size of ones I run, on half the budget you run it on. That's an obvious problem right there. Find a cheaper host that offers more for less. Odds are you will: If this place has been hosted here for awhile, your server is probably an antique and you're paying rates as of however many years ago you last moved. This site is simply not that big: 9K-odd users and an average usercount of maybe 200-ish on a typical day. If you're running into load issues, it's not because you need to drop functionality, it's because you need to improve efficiency. What are you running this on, anyway? Because 15K visits a month and 2M pageviews is nothing and shouldn't have any significant effect.

You're making a bunch of incorrect assumptions based on incomplete information or guesswork. One thing that you got right though is that efficiency is one of the key problems, which is why we're working on getting Codex to run more efficiently.

 

[racofer]

What is causing the abnormal amount of hits on the servers are all the tranny references in there.

Porn is the single most searched thing on the planet. Anything regarding transsexualism will point here as well and with SMA and Kaiserin posting pictures, it will show up as a result.

 

[Antihero]

Something possibly worth considering would be Skimlinks or Skimwords... Skimwords for unregistered visitors only. That's the advertising that makes random words into advertisement links. Skimlinks only automatically converts various links posted on the forum to sites like Amazon, Newegg, etc. into referral links.

I absolutely HATE those popups. If you do it anyway, please disable for patrons or registered users.

It's your site and the double lines let you tell them apart from regular links, but it just feels so intrusive and ugly to read. I'd rather read "Adbot loves you" posts full of spam links - or shaking, seizure inducing popups to that.

This is me repeating myself with the bold up there. I'd never put that up for regular users, but if it's an incentive to sign up to get LESS advertising, that doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Yeah, but it just seems like a bigger disincentive to register in the first place. Maybe it's just my Internet prejudices, but I tend to forget about those sites pretty quickly. I know you don't like people discussing that which shall not be discussed, but the reason I used to disable Javascript and the kitchen sink along with it was because of the complete annoyance web sites turned it into where you couldn't even use your browser's back button, or crap flying all over your screen - and I haven't seen the need to revise my opinion since.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not against trying to cover your costs. I'm just giving my unsolicited opinion about the means to do so.

 

[racofer]

Yeah, but it just seems like a bigger disincentive to register in the first place. Maybe it's just my Internet prejudices, but I tend to forget about those sites pretty quickly.

And that's a bad thing because...?

 

[Antihero]

Yeah, but it just seems like a bigger disincentive to register in the first place. Maybe it's just my Internet prejudices, but I tend to forget about those sites pretty quickly.

And that's a bad thing because...?

Because somebody with taste and talent might dismiss this site as a spam haven? Not that it gives me any right to be here.

 

[Coyote]

Blocking GD for non-registered users seems like the best option to me. In addition to the points that others have made, a lot of the stuff that gets the Codex the cold shoulder from advertisers (which Taluntain mentioned as part of the problem) and sites like imageshack likely originates in GD. If you just saw GRPGD et al., you might think we're a bunch of edgy, trying-too-hard haters, but hey, that's just another demographic. Throw in GD, and suddenly we look like a bunch of Hitler-wannabes posting "nigger nigger nigger" at every opportunity and ranting about Jews; advertisers don't want to be associated with that sort of thing.

What's everyone's beef with PayPal?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I've been wary of PayPal ever since my dad (who uses it in his online dealings) had an account containing thousands of dollars locked, with no way to access the money. Why? Because someone with the same listed name and/or location and/or whatever - they wouldn't even tell him what, specifically - owed them money. They seemed to think he was the same person as the one who owed them money, but refused to give any information about what they were basing this conclusion on because it would violate their privacy policy. (Hint, dumbfucks: If you're sure he's the same person, you're not violating anyone's privacy. If you're not, you don't have any business holding his money.) It wasn't identity theft, either, so they don't even have that excuse.

It took three months of dealing with a whole lot of very, very arrogant assholes and the typical bureaucratic "we don't want to take responsibility, so we're going to foist you onto another department" bullshit before they finally relented, and that was only after he threatened legal action and filed a complaint against the company to the FTC.

Apparently, this isn't uncommon.

In March 2010, PayPal froze donations to Cryptome, seizing over $5300 of in-transit donations. PayPal refused to inform Cryptome of the reason for this action, claiming that to disclose why the donations had been confiscated would violate Cryptome's own privacy. A week later, PayPal offered an apology, which was rejected by Cryptome founder John Young as "insulting and unacceptable".

In September 2010, PayPal froze the account of Markus Persson, developer of independent video game Minecraft. His account contained around €600,000. [If you look at the citations for this one, he says, "They limited my account for unspecified reasons (a suspicious withdrawal or deposit! wow, thank you for that amazingly detailed information), and asked me for a bunch of vague documents. I did my best to give them what they asked for... I’ve called them three times, they keep telling me it’s being reviewed. Most recently they told me it’d take up to two more weeks for it to get resolved, and that if they decide something bad’s being going on, they’re going to keep the money."]

Also in September 2010, PayPal froze the account of the open-source revision control software TortoiseSVN. The lead developer compared the situation to a car shop that "decides not to do business with you anymore... But then the shop owner tells you that they keep your car for half a year first because that's their policy."

...

In August 2002, Craig Comb and two others filed a class action against PayPal in, Craig Comb, et al. v. PayPal, Inc.. They sued, alleging illegal misappropriation of customer accounts and detailed ghastly customer service experiences. Allegations included freezing deposited funds for up to 180 days until disputes are resolved by PayPal, and forcing customers to arbitrate their disputes under the American Arbitration Association's guidelines (a costly procedure).

Additionally, they were a pretty disreputable company before eBay took over, and many people believe that the shady elements haven't entirely disappeared.

 

[Taluntain]

Something possibly worth considering would be Skimlinks or Skimwords... Skimwords for unregistered visitors only. That's the advertising that makes random words into advertisement links. Skimlinks only automatically converts various links posted on the forum to sites like Amazon, Newegg, etc. into referral links.

I absolutely HATE those popups. If you do it anyway, please disable for patrons or registered users.

It's your site and the double lines let you tell them apart from regular links, but it just feels so intrusive and ugly to read. I'd rather read "Adbot loves you" posts full of spam links - or shaking, seizure inducing popups to that.

This is me repeating myself with the bold up there. I'd never put that up for regular users, but if it's an incentive to sign up to get LESS advertising, that doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Yeah, but it just seems like a bigger disincentive to register in the first place. Maybe it's just my Internet prejudices, but I tend to forget about those sites pretty quickly. I know you don't like people discussing that which shall not be discussed, but the reason I used to disable Javascript and the kitchen sink along with it was because of the complete annoyance web sites turned it into where you couldn't even use your browser's back button, or crap flying all over your screen - and I haven't seen the need to revise my opinion since.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not against trying to cover your costs. I'm just giving my unsolicited opinion about the means to do so.

That's certainly a valid argument as well, but unfortunately you can't have your cake and eat it too. If it ever got to the point that we'd actually want to try it out, it'd be easy enough to run it for a couple of weeks and then do a comparison to see whether the number of registrations stayed about the same, or increased or declined. Anything else is guesswork.

 

[halflingbarbarian]

Just donated not to help the Codex specifically but to ease my own guilt of deriving much knowledge on rpgs and getting entertained for close to 2 years. Hope it is useful. Not begging on behalf of anyone but if you read Codex like the gaming magazine site it should be, think about how much you pay for subscription of magazines and newspapers irl (putting aside the point that they are physical and take up space and collect dust in your home) and just donate a little to show your support. If it keeps the site going, great. If it even earns the administrators and whatnot a little profit for drugs and hookers, you made someone happier. Do it.

Edit: And after seeing the 'donation coordinator' info on paypal being same as sorcerer's place and taluntain also associated with that site, it feels great. I love sorcerer's place and use it often.