4th May Forum Closure Incident

[VincentASM]

Warning: This might be a long read. Also this might not pertain to everybody, especially members who joined before 4th May.

During 4th May 2008, I set the forums to read-only mode. In other words, nobody could post in the forums during that time. This is what I originally posted in the Announcements board if you're lazy to look for it:

I have indefinitely closed the forums for posting.

Before, I was sort of busy, but now I'm far too busy to moderate these forums (thanks to life, exams, etc.). Plus (and hopefully nobody takes this personally) moderating the forums is getting to be a chore now.

This is probably a lame move for a leader to take, but I was never supposed to be a leader in the first place : /

If you have questions, feel free to PM me.

In case you were wondering, the reasons that I gave for closing the forums were all true.

At the time, like many students, I was busy studying for and undertaking important exams. Most people seemed to understand this.

The "busy... thanks to life" comment was not referring to any personal issues I was experiencing, but just indicating that "I have a life" (OMG, they exist! j/k) and hence I cannot supervise the forums 24/7. At the time, I felt like some people took me for granted as a forum admin. In actual fact, I felt like these forums were very low on my priority list. The main reason I maintain them is because they're part of the main Serenes Forest site, which is high on my priority list (which includes life, having fun, etc.).

The "moderating... getting to a chore" comment was referring to a minority of members who (in my eyes) spammed too frequently and cleverly (not naming any names), making the forums a hassle for me to moderate. Not too long ago, I announced that I would be less tolerant with spammy/off-topic posts. The spammy/off-topic content dropped a little after that, but after a while it returned to its normal level before the announcement, which I wasn't too happy with.

Anyway, many people did PM me, which I expected. Most of them were angry though, which I didn't expect and that kind of took me by surprise. I responded to mostly everybody who PMed me and in the calmest way possible. Although one person did annoy me slightly (not naming any names), which led to me warning and ignoring them. Hopefully I didn't sound too angry to the people I talked to. It wasn't the "worst day of my life" as some people imagined (nah, that would probably be the day of reception of my FE3 translation patch at romhacking.net...). However I was a little upset, I have to admit. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like being wrong, so yeah.

The next day (the 5th), after doing a little thinking, I realised permanent closure of the forums was no longer a viable option (to be honest, it was pretty much 50/50 before that). Thus I quickly posted that the forums would re-open eventually:

After discussing with a few people, I realised I was very vague about how long the forums would be closed for. There is a reason for this though.

If everything goes to plan (and, yes, this is vague as well), the forums will re-open after the 4th June. If not, they may stay closed for longer and could possibly (although very unlikely) even remain closed forever. If things go really well, they'll re-open sooner of course...

The post was mostly just sweet-talking though and mainly to buy time for me to think. However it seemed to work. After that, things got a little bit calmer and thus I had time to contact a few people...

This part might be of interest to some members. Basically, I PM'd three members who I had chosen to be candidates for forum moderators- Fox, Hanz and Metal Arc. There were (and still are) other candidates, however I decided three would do for now, unless the three wished otherwise. All three responded and agreed to be moderators, and I immediately promoted them upon receiving their answer..

Now, why did I ask those three in particular? To be honest, I didn't originally diclose the reasons because I thought they were too private. However I have a feeling the moderators don't mind now (at least Fox and Metal Arc- the latter who prompted me to start this topic. I'm assuming Hanz is mature enough to not mind either).

The truth is as some people had guessed- those three were amongst the many members who PM'd me after the initial closure. They were also the three who talked to me the most during that period. In other words, they cared openly about the forums for starters. Additionally, Hanz was a candidate for being one of the most sensible members, while Fox was a candidate for being one of the most active and neutral posters. Metal Arc... He was chosen because he was active, had admin experience on another forum, and also because I wanted to keep a close eye on him.

Finally I gave my trusty aide NomadicTrooperGirl permission to administrate and moderate the forums (although she had those powers anyway). NTG proceeded to end the whole incident on my behalf, by re-opening the forums and announcing that the forums would have three new moderators. After that, I left, to escape the tension and also to study. Her post, again for the lazy:

Welcome back. Things have already been resolved, and VASM has apppointed a new moderating team. They are:

- Hanz

- Metal Rabbit

- Fourth Fox of Fire

No, this is not a joke before you ask. VASM will still be busy, but I'll be watching over for him.

You can now all post again! :)

Feel free to post your questions, but please do not spam in this thread.

So that's pretty much the whole incident in all its detail. Eventually NTG got tired of supervising the forums, and she was a little ill, so I returned early to my administrator position. After that, the forums stabilised.

Before I finish... I haven't had the chance to say this yet, but I guess there's probably going to be no better time. I'd like to thank the moderation team for keeping the forums in line. I know it can be a thankless job, but your work is always appreciated. I'd also like to thank members new and old for sticking with the forums ^^

[Mufasa]

Well I would've been satisified with a 'None of your business' (It's a joke of course.) But thank you Vincent for sharing that information with us. Though I've always agreed with your choices for mods.

[Serene]

Warning: This might be a long read. Also this might not pertain to everybody, especially members who joined before 4th May.

During 4th May 2008, I set the forums to read-only mode. In other words, nobody could post in the forums during that time. This is what I originally posted in the Announcements board if you're lazy to look for it:

In case you were wondering, the reasons that I gave for closing the forums were all true.

At the time, like many students, I was busy studying for and undertaking important exams. Most people seemed to understand this.

The "busy... thanks to life" comment was not referring to any personal issues I was experiencing, but just indicating that "I have a life" (OMG, they exist! j/k) and hence I cannot supervise the forums 24/7. At the time, I felt like some people took me for granted as a forum admin. In actual fact, I felt like these forums were very low on my priority list. The main reason I maintain them is because they're part of the main Serenes Forest site, which is high on my priority list (which includes life, having fun, etc.).

The "moderating... getting to a chore" comment was referring to a minority of members who (in my eyes) spammed too frequently and cleverly (not naming any names), making the forums a hassle for me to moderate. Not too long ago, I announced that I would be less tolerant with spammy/off-topic posts. The spammy/off-topic content dropped a little after that, but after a while it returned to its normal level before the announcement, which I wasn't too happy with.

Anyway, many people did PM me, which I expected. Most of them were angry though, which I didn't expect and that kind of took me by surprise. I responded to mostly everybody who PMed me and in the calmest way possible. Although one person did annoy me slightly (not naming any names), which led to me warning and ignoring them. Hopefully I didn't sound too angry to the people I talked to. It wasn't the "worst day of my life" as some people imagined (nah, that would probably be the day of reception of my FE3 translation patch at romhacking.net...). However I was a little upset, I have to admit. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like being wrong, so yeah.

The next day (the 5th), after doing a little thinking, I realised permanent closure of the forums was no longer a viable option (to be honest, it was pretty much 50/50 before that). Thus I quickly posted that the forums would re-open eventually:

The post was mostly just sweet-talking though and mainly to buy time for me to think. However it seemed to work. After that, things got a little bit calmer and thus I had time to contact a few people...

This part might be of interest to some members. Basically, I PM'd three members who I had chosen to be candidates for forum moderators- Fox, Hanz and Metal Arc. There were (and still are) other candidates, however I decided three would do for now, unless the three wished otherwise. All three responded and agreed to be moderators, and I immediately promoted them upon receiving their answer..

Now, why did I ask those three in particular? To be honest, I didn't originally diclose the reasons because I thought they were too private. However I have a feeling the moderators don't mind now (at least Fox and Metal Arc- the latter who prompted me to start this topic. I'm assuming Hanz is mature enough to not mind either).

The truth is as some people had guessed- those three were amongst the many members who PM'd me after the initial closure. They were also the three who talked to me the most during that period. In other words, they cared openly about the forums for starters. Additionally, Hanz was a candidate for being one of the most sensible members, while Fox was a candidate for being one of the most active and neutral posters. Metal Arc... He was chosen because he was active, had admin experience on another forum, and also because I wanted to keep a close eye on him.

Finally I gave my trusty aide NomadicTrooperGirl permission to administrate and moderate the forums (although she had those powers anyway). NTG proceeded to end the whole incident on my behalf, by re-opening the forums and announcing that the forums would have three new moderators. After that, I left, to escape the tension and also to study. Her post, again for the lazy:

So that's pretty much the whole incident in all its detail. Eventually NTG got tired of supervising the forums, and she was a little ill, so I returned early to my administrator position. After that, the forums stabilised.

Before I finish... I haven't had the chance to say this yet, but I guess there's probably going to be no better time. I'd like to thank the moderation team for keeping the forums in line. I know it can be a thankless job, but your work is always appreciated. I'd also like to thank members new and old for sticking with the forums ^^

Wow, that was long, infromative,

And I understand, exams and everything, can be a pain, and an utter hassle.

Also, the stuff I bolded, made my laugh.

At least I can't use the "this place was closed for two days because of rabid viruses" idea anymore

[Metal Rabbit]

i loled when you said it was to keep an eye on me...

:D

[Florete]

I don't really know what to say. I guess any questions people had are cleared up now, though.

[Gatrie: Guns Blazing]

:) I apologize Vincent...MaSu, Fireman, Shadrach and I spammed a crap load today. I will restrain myself next time! We were just kidding. We didn't mean to cause you stress. Like I said I will restrain myself next time. Promise! :)

Edited July 10, 2008 by Gatrie: Alone and Unloved

[VincentASM]

Eh, spam in FFTF is mostly okay. It's fine as long as it doesn't offend anyone or isn't too ridiculous. Wait, it's starting to sound like that last one...

[Celice]

It wasn't the "worst day of my life" as some people imagined (nah, that would probably be the day of reception of my FE3 translation patch at romhacking.net...).

If I remember correctly, I still wanted to see Gideon's translation finally get out--since he'll have all those width-problems sorted out for names and the like, and he's kinda a name-brand guy on his own (too bad no one else on the team gets too much mention :/ ).

A lot of the people felt the same way. But were also stupidly arrogant. You'd think common sense would show, that if a guy is working on the same translation for over, what three, four years, someone else might just get it done themselves? Especially when inserting text isn't really the hard part, but formatting, accommodation for the text within the game, and translation is really the hard part.

But that hardly belongs here, I guess >.> Eh, I got sorta the same response from Gideon when I showed pics of that small patch which changed the font and icons of an early version of your guys' patch to use stuff from Tactics Ogre Advance. I'm pretty sure j2e didn't throw shit-fits when members of FESS worked on Gaiden and Seisen well, even if they were alive, they wouldn't :o

Just realize, Vince, that you are a name-brand guy yourself, even if it is just this part of your life. People speak about you. You provide great resources, and for fans of the series, one way or another, you get it out there, the knowledge, for the rest of to enjoy. From idiotic debates to map making to revising a battle plan, a lot of this stuff comes from you and your site. Even you patch: it is the most complete thing out there. For quite some time (as we know Gideon isn't on his way for quite some time as always) you're going to have the only English patch under your buckle. If memory serves you translated a Chinese version of the script for this project: like the resources of your site, there's hard work behind much of what you do. Just realize, your name and stuff are pointed out more oft than not. We have sites like FEPlanet and EFED who try to compete, but even then, many would rather use your lovely site. Hell, I use it all the time for spriting, as well as playing--your collection of art is great, and fun to look at to boot; and the data itself on the game is useful, especially for those who have never played a game before.

And I really really like the tiny icons next to characters, whenever they pop up, like classes or weapon icons. I really really really like tiny things ^^;;

Edited July 10, 2008 by Celice

[Eltoshen]

Yeah, seriously. No site compares to Serenes in terms of enjoymentanything. I find myself reading the articles on your site when I could be watching anime or something.

Edited July 10, 2008 by Eltoshen

[Liz]

Three cheers for the awesomeness of Serenes Forest!

HIP HIP HURRAY!

*throws confetti*

[Raven]

It would've been a heavy blow to me and others if the forum did stay permanently closed. I've never enjoyed myself on a forum like this before.

The mods have done alot to keep the place in line and it's members from becoming spammy bitches, which I'm personally grateful for because I just hate spam in serious topics. FFtF is cool, though.

[Knife]

Well, good to hear it again. I don't think I even joined when all of this happened. Nevermind, I was laughing at Metal Arc for being chosen.

IN B4

what, you thought I was gonna say it?

[uguu]

*Finally got the guts to read the long thing*

So THAT'S why you modded Metal Arc for real. :D

And no mention of how stupid I was? It's ok, I was stupid.

[Camus The Dark Knight]

There is a reason this in the only FE site I still interact with ;) It's because of how nice it is, it's the best out there in my opinion. You have done a good job with everything Vincent, and don't let others tell you otherwise.

[Gatrie: Guns Blazing]

There is a reason this in the only FE site I still interact with ;) It's because of how nice it is, it's the best out there in my opinion. You have done a good job with everything Vincent, and don't let others tell you otherwise.

I cannot express in words how much i agree

[Liz]

now that all has been said and done, may i suggest closing the topic?

[Florete]

now that all has been said and done, may i suggest closing the topic?

You may suggest it, that doesn't mean it will be done.

But I agree, the word has gotten out.