SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - What needs to be done for the sites 10 year anniversary?

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

I'd say see if we can get all the members back.

EDIT:
Oh and open up The Secret Illegal Drug Smuggling Operation

And get the damn Food Forum up.

Posted: Jan 28 2014 06:51 am

I think Syd should drink a six-pack of Pepsi Blue.

Posted: Jan 28 2014 11:26 am

Well, I heard he had a Top 100 Genesis Games article in the works. Maybe he could post that.

Or maybe unlock those two hidden articles that says you need credits.

Or whatever he decides to do. I'm sure Syd has something planned for his 10th anniversary. And if not, I'm cool with that, because the man gave us 10 years of pure pop culture awesomeness. And that's enough for me.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Logan wrote:

Well, I heard he had a Top 100 Genesis Games article in the works. Maybe he could post that.

He'd have to include too many sports games for his own taste for that.

All glory to the NHL series and Mutant League Hockey. Razz

Posted: Jan 28 2014 01:10 pm

Given the site's progress over the last few years, whatever it is, if anything, would have to be huge.

Incidentally, yesterday was my six-year anniversary of joining this forum.

Posted: Jan 28 2014 06:55 pm

I agree with you on the food forum and opening up the illegal drug smuggling operation. I would also suggest opening up the abandoned fairgrounds.

Posted: Jan 28 2014 08:12 pm

A headcount to see how many people still check this place regularly.

*rimshot*

Posted: Jan 28 2014 11:05 pm

lordsathien wrote:

A headcount to see how many people still check this place regularly.

*rimshot*

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. Razz

Posted: Jan 29 2014 12:04 am

I check the place regularly. I often feel like I have nothing to contribute, but I do check it a lot.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 12:13 am

I'm here every day. Mostly deleting spam.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 01:18 am

A food forum would be interesting~

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Fighter_McWarrior wrote:

I check the place regularly. I often feel like I have nothing to contribute, but I do check it a lot.

Ditto.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 12:47 pm

I feel like what needs to be done in honor of the site's tenth anniversary is that I need to restore the site to its former glory. We've been a Top 50,000 Alexa ranked site at times, with spikes much higher when certain articles dropped. Now I barely write anymore, and the ranking has dropped. I'm still at 239,436, which is impressive for how little content I've provided over the last couple years.

What I really need is someone who's good at PHP and stuff to help on the site end of stuff.

This is the current Syd Lexia Cycle:

1. I decide I need to write.
2. I get excited about writing.
3. I look at all the stuff on the site that needs fixing (the news blog, the wiki, the forums)
4. I decide I want to fix stuff first.
5. I realize I have no idea how to fix this stuff
6. I remember I probably drove GPF away, who tried to help, with my ultra specific vision for how I wanted stuff to look.
7. I get depressed.
8. I don't want to write anymore.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 03:49 pm

I think a problem is, I thought I could run an entire website, minus the forums, entirely by myself. And for awhile I could. Everything worked when I installed it. But now it's this giant mass of stuff that I can't possibly fix/manage all by myself.

And I have no idea how to go about getting/finding help, especially when unpaid volunteer is the only salary I can offer.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 05:32 pm

I suggest putting up dramatic readings of your most popular articles on YouTube to drive traffic in.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 08:50 pm

Between writing, fixing the news blog, fixing the wiki, and fixing the forums, I would recommend you focus on one area at a time. Which, honestly, probably means focusing on writing.

The news blog is neat, and there's been some cool non-article related stuff there. Though for the most part, it exists to advertise new articles.

The wiki is cool, and we've all added random references and such, but by its nature the wiki is very community-driven. I'm not really sure what needs fixing. What can you really do with this to please the old guard and find new blood?

You could make topics on the forums, but that's for us peons.

I have a feeling that most of the long-time crowd is going to continue to stick around and make the odd post. Unfortunately, for most it's a check-every-so-often thing, and not an every day ritual anymore. The IRC probably took the hardest blow. It used to average 20+ people with some great discussions and LexiaBot shenanigans, and now nobody is active in it. I'm admittedly a bit guilty on this one since I've transitioned from studying full time near my computer to working full time. Yet even if I try popping in on the weekends, it is a ghost town.

The only other thing I have to say is that most of us are moving on with our lives, and that applies to Syd too. I don't expect Syd to be a content-creating wizard - I prefer quality over quantity. Though I think literally nobody will complain if your efforts were focused on writing, sir. I believe that's how most of us got acquainted with this place.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 09:17 pm

Oh, I know writing should be the focus. But when the wiki looks like shit and the forums and news blog are filled with security holes, it's hard not to feel like a digital slumlord. I know the site is never going to look super professional... in fact I have actively fought against that. But the state of the site right now is not something that I'm proud of, and the disrepair is literally sucking the life out of me. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the site and get depressed.

Posted: Jan 29 2014 09:33 pm

Would it be worth moving away from your current setup and starting a fresh version?

That brings up several questions in its own right (design, transfer of old users and topics, and other minutia). It is also probably something that requires the old guard's input.

However, if you don't understand how to continue using the current coding without Sir Fontaine's assistance, is it worth being stuck for the long term? I guess that depends on your definition of "long term."

I wish I knew more about servers and forums and coding and such. It all seems very interesting, but it's just not on my own list of projects.

Posted: Jan 30 2014 10:12 am

I really don't know anything about PHP or coding other than basic Java, which would not probably do much. I mean, my wife is a web designer, so it would really be more her forte than anything else.

As an aside, I try to check the site regularly when my life isn't going to shit. So, about every other year I'm regular.

Posted: Jan 30 2014 10:40 am

I seem to recall GPF stating at some point in the past that the security issues would never get fixed on the forums because of the version of phpBB, but maybe I am mistaken. Perhaps an update to the board software would fix the forum security? Also, security holes are always going to be present no matter what you do, so you might as well just go forward and learn to live with some of them.

I have years of experience in web design and would totally like to help, but I just don't have the time to do anything until the summer.

Posted: Jan 30 2014 10:43 am

You don't need to impress the core of us sticking around. Fixing things can wait until traffic bumps up, and traffic will bump up with new articles.

If you build it, they will come.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Being an adult can just suck. Earning that paycheck to pay bills, maintaining a household, managing family stuff, etc. So many responsibilities, so little time. I know now that I'm married, I have to deal with so much stuff that needs to get done, I can't nearly watch as much tv, play as many games, or gamble as much as I would like to. Hell, I barely had time to search for a better career in between my work responsibilities and resting before I met my wife. Meanwhile, I haven't watched any of my netflix stuff since last summer when we started planning the wedding. I can certainly understand why so many of us don't post as often and why Syd might have trouble finding time for everything (in addition to the main issue of site maintenance).

Posted: Jan 30 2014 11:38 am

Well, you can always have a monthly guest writer make an article for you. I hate to admit it out of fear of hurting my relationships here, but I sometimes thought of writing an article or two for this page.

Posted: Jan 30 2014 11:46 am

It's funny how security wasn't an issue until GP started messing with stuff and now that the spambots have completely taken over, he's nowhere to be seen. Clearly he was a double agent this whole time.

I say for the tenth anniversary, we have a party in the IRC with special events planned and get as many old members as possible to attend for one final hurrah. Then as soon as the clock strikes midnight, Syd deletes the whole site for good.

Posted: Jan 30 2014 11:51 am

sidewaydriver wrote:

It's funny how security wasn't an issue until GP started messing with stuff and now that the spambots have completely taken over, he's nowhere to be seen. Clearly he was a double agent this whole time.

I say for the tenth anniversary, we have a party in the IRC with special events planned and get as many old members as possible to attend for one final hurrah. Then as soon as the clock strikes midnight, Syd deletes the whole site for good.

Yeah, those damn spambots. Those things piss me off.

But, if we delete the whole site, where would I go to talk about video games? And more importantly, how will I chat to you guys?