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Post by Doomy on Dec 10, 2008 3:44:42 GMT -5
Yea but not everyone uses 'fox and AdBlock. If we want to make them so we attract more users (which I guess is the point of all this, no?) then getting rid of pointless ads for everyone is a must. I have no objection to making a financial contribution towards site costs. I guess whoever we entrust to lead site development would have to take responsibility for the account and the rest of us could make donations from time time to time.
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Post by Black Cat on Dec 10, 2008 15:41:11 GMT -5
Am I the only one with a clear idea in mind of what the new website should have? I have a vision of what the website's content needs to be. I did study website creation back in high school, college and university although I've never programmed anything. I was using programs such as Frontpage and website creators like Geocities, which are very easy to use for someone that is litterally a virgin in designing a website.
I would be more than happy to create a new LW website all by myself, but: 1- I don't have internet access at home 2- My skills are pretty much limited, so I would more likely be using Geocities to make the site (that's good because it's free!). But that means there would be publicity and it won't be as beautiful as the original TotS was.
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Post by Maerin on Dec 10, 2008 15:48:18 GMT -5
Black Cat,
If you have a vision, run with it.
The first of your problems is one that might easily be addressed, depending on its exact nature. The worst-case I see is you do a lot of the off-net coding and website craft, and then use email to get it all to someone who can actually put it online. Perhaps there is something else under that problem that I am not seeing.
As for the second, here's the thing: expectation is going to always be a deal-killer, so please ignore it. I really do not think it matters whether what you craft is "better" or "worse" than the old Tower was because, not to put too fine a point on it, the old Tower is not around to either contrast with or compete with as a practical matter (and that does not seem likely to change for the foreseeable future).
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Post by Doomy on Dec 10, 2008 16:05:38 GMT -5
Black Cat for president! Unless there are any other nominations?
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Post by zipp on Dec 10, 2008 17:24:40 GMT -5
Well, probably the main problem we have is that we don't have a large user base anymore, and no real way to attract one. Sure, we have fun hanging out together, but how are we going to get NEW members? I quote myself because I still think this is going to be our main problem.
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Post by Beowuuf on Dec 10, 2008 17:54:34 GMT -5
Content begets new members, not the other way around, and if we have somethign unique that would interest LW readers then we willd draw them in through web searches to the site, and word of mouth from people hwo find the site through PA and Mongoose
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Post by Aguila Saber on Dec 11, 2008 1:26:46 GMT -5
Winterhawk has posted on the Facebook forums and sent us all a message on Facebook to spread the info to where people not onFacebook can see. I stiil own the domain.
What is needed:
1. This is a must have obviously: A host or server running php 4 or higher and containing a mysql database that I can access as administrator as well as a file system to establish the codebase for the site to run off of. The base code for a forum could be up in a matter of hours with that.
2. This is a really really need: A group of at least 4 people to repopulate from scratch the encyclopedia in whatever form it would take. This could be withing the site structure, or in a wiki format as we were migrating to.
3. This is really really would like if I want to work on codet. In order to dedicate time to code. Site admins, who understand how to work phpbb administering with little instruction. People who can take care of the requests of users for name changes, and later on as features are incorporated, access to forums, ranks, ect.
What has been lost: 1. All forum posts, post counts, user names, emails, anything stored i nthe db is gone. The corruption started about 3 months before it brought the site down, and the oldest backup was also corrupted and onrecoverable. I have had a few sql experts at work look at it and there is really nothing that can be done. The lesson learned is that we need to make our own db backups and not rely on a hosting provider to do it.
What has not bee lost: Any actual file sotred on the web server. This includes any file ever uploaded to the forums, all of the avatars rank images, site art, ect. It is all still intact.
Nothing can start without a host. I also do not want to make any decision as to formatting the site without consent of this group. I will build the site we want, not the site I want. As I stated the VERY basics can be running 2 hours after we have a host. DNS for towerofthesun.com to resolve to that location would take 24-48 hours.
What can the non-coder/non-admin/non-encyclopedia types of fans do? Find the loks you want out there onthe internet. I will run the site on phpnuke again, so templates and add-ons that are appealing can be considered.
I've been absent, a terrible brother, and in denial over this far too long. I wantto put it back up, I just cannot afford it and I am ashamed of how everything was handled.
If there is interest, and a means, I will work to brings us together again.
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Post by Aguila Saber on Dec 11, 2008 1:49:01 GMT -5
Forgot to mention that Winterhawk said he would respond within the Facebook structure.
No time for me to reply to this in the morning, will do so in the evening instead.
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Post by Swiftstrike on Dec 11, 2008 1:54:39 GMT -5
Also taken from the facebook board I have replied on there to ask how much money we would need to raise to start bringing tots back.
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Post by zipp on Dec 11, 2008 2:21:20 GMT -5
Right, read the message on FB, but figured the conversation will remain here... right?
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Post by eviltb on Dec 11, 2008 3:57:38 GMT -5
Well if WH is gonna reply in fb, it would be suggestable to migrate this convo over there. I think WHs point is that first and foremost, we need a host. The HostMaster suggestion is top-notch. Then we need ideas for content. I think amongst all of us we have that in spades.
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Post by Beowuuf on Dec 11, 2008 14:46:21 GMT -5
It suddenly seems to be all happening over at facebook. BC, what were your creative ideas? A fresh direction shouldn't get lost in the shuffle I don't think!
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Post by Maerin on Dec 11, 2008 15:16:33 GMT -5
It suddenly seems to be all happening over at facebook. BC, what were your creative ideas? A fresh direction shouldn't get lost in the shuffle I don't think! I very much agree. While I am glad to read what was posted on Facebook too and might hope something more comes of it, it is, as yet, only a proposal. And one whose ambition is apparent, but whose sustainability has yet to be demonstrated. Enthusiasm alone only carries a project so far.
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Post by zipp on Dec 11, 2008 16:31:38 GMT -5
Not all of us have facebook. Why doesn't WH just post here?
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Post by Black Cat on Dec 11, 2008 16:44:40 GMT -5
BC, what were your creative ideas? A fresh direction shouldn't get lost in the shuffle I don't think! Right, well, you ask for it... What needs to remain the same:-The old TotS website was good with all the RPG elements on and of the forums: ranks, badges, cash, inventory, medals, etc. Other websites have the same features (i.e. this forum for a website dedicated to the Legend of Zelda: rupees, gifts, ribbons... If we are to make another forum, it should be like the old one we had. Well-developped forums are a good way to bring interest into new members to write on them. And more a forum is active, more it shows the community is active. -Downloads are good. We had a lot of exclusive content available in the old TotS download section. Exclusive content means people will visit us to download them. We need to keep a download section. -News section. You need it. That's what keep people coming back. A good news section needs to cover everything about LW, but that's currently not a problem since that is what I'm already doing here. People don't necessarily have the time to visit 4-5 different websites simply to see if there is something new on the LW front. Having one place where all the info is shown almost immediatly after it appeared somewhere else on the web is very good to attract people's attention. What should be added:What the old TotS lacked IMO, and what the LW community lacks currently, is a section dedicated to the official work but from the fans view. Let me explain: Mongoose publishes the LW RPG and new version of the gamebooks; Project Aon publishes official LW content; Ksatria is developping an official LW video game. That's great but 1- all this content is on different webpages and 2- it's always the "official" point of view of the "official" publisher. What I have in mind is to regroup information in one place for all the official work about LW and to give a different view of the said material, the view of the fans. Sounds complicated? Not exactly. I think the new website should have sections dedicated to the gamebooks, another one for the official RPG books, and a third one for the computer game(s), plus maybe a fourth one for miscellanous stuff. In these sections, especially for the gamebooks and RPG ones, we need to put descriptions of the said books PLUS a rating made by certain members of the community. To give you an example, check this page of the James Bond fan site Mi6.co.uk dedicated to the movie GoldenEye. Some section of this page could apply to a Lone Wolf gamebook: Mission, release data, locations, vitals statistics (for a LW books, it could be the number of fights in the books, number of "Your life and mission ends here" sections, etc), MI6 rating... For the rating, it could be a group of 4-5 members each giving a mark, which then gives us a global rating of the book. It has already been done in the past ( Among them, at the Kai Monastery[/u], or at this place), but all these websites have not seen an update for 10 years and their content is not complete. With the video game, new version of the RPG and new version of the gamebooks, LW will attract new fans (hey, there's even a guy on the Mongoose boards that did asked information about it today!). I don't want the content pages to be a copy/paste of what can be found on Wikipedia. We juste need to write the content ourselves by adding elements that don't necessarily appear somewhere else (like the stats about the number of "Your life and mission end here" section in a book that I've mentionned earlier). We need "original" content, although it would be more appropriate to say "fan version of the original content". I don't either want to go too much in details about the content (like a list of ranks for the Magnakai or what are each Grand Discipline bonuses when you reach the rank of Supreme Master). Project Aon covers already some of these little details anyways and I don't want to copy what they already have there. The original TotS website moto was "For the fans, by the fans". We the fans created new stuff for the LWRPG and we shared it together. Now I think it is time to expand on this: give to other fans a different vision about the LW material. Let's make a fan site about LW in which we explain in our words what his story is all about. Several fan site about LW exists in the 90s but none have survived to this day. I think it is time for us to make one for the 21st century.
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