Author Topic: A controversial topic. (Read 24372 times)

Shockwave · « **on:** February 07, 2011 »

I think that we have almost reached a point of stagnation now.

There is slightly more life in this site these days than there has been in the past but maybe it's time that it was rejuvinated or relaunched or something.

I wanted to put this idea to you because although the site is registered to me, I see myself only as the custodian of it. Really it's owned by the people who visit here so it has to be up to you.

This site is registered until April 2016 so I think that it should be kept online at least until then.

So here's the idea I have..

We keep the site as it is, I disable registration and logging in and allow all attachments to be freely downloaded by everyone.

The home page at DBFINTERACTIVE.COM will be heavily optimised for the search engines and point in two possible directions, one way will be to the archive (ie. this site), the other direction lies a blank canvas. I reckon we could start off from scratch with an empty message board, and I'd suggest using something other than SMF.. It's overrun by fake registrations anyway.

I'll leave this topic open for your thoughts and ideas.

va!n · « **Reply #1 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Its sounds all nice... but personally i dont think disabling registration would be a good idea... I think without need of registration this forum probaly may end up in a spamming forum - maybe even spam of xxx stuff...

However i really welcome that this site is online up to 2016 or maybe even later

Many thanks for creating, supporting and having this great site!!!! K++

Shockwave · « **Reply #2 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Sorry Va!n, I mean disable the registration for this part, turn it into an archive and open a fresh message board. People could register on the fresh board, and this would be preserved as a read only archive so that none of the knowledge is lost.

You wouldn't believe the amount of fake users that have to be deleted from here just because of spam.. Despite me heavily modifying the code. SMF's security is a bit shakey.

LittleWhite · « **Reply #3 on:** February 08, 2011 »

About spamming things ...
There is a french demoscene forum (demoscene.fr) which let everyone to post on it. But, if you are not registered, you have to type de captcha thing (usual stuff).
Actually, I didn't see any problems on it.

For the basic idea from Shockwave ... I didn't get the point.
This part of the forum will goes as archive ... and then new stuff (forum) will come ?

Moroboshisan · « **Reply #4 on:** February 08, 2011 »

as long as DBF Forum spirit will be preserved and all of the collected knowledge would remain accessible I don't see any big disavantages in freezing the actual board to get a brand-new/improved/better backoffice/frontend.

Just one consideration: personally, having all of the content freely available, wouldn't give me any motivation in register to the actual DBF Forum .. so this is what I mean: would it be too much of a hassle to redirect ppl to the new repository to download old contents requiring them to register to the new forum?
Regular memnbers would seemingly migrate as soon as the new forum would be (if it'll ever see the light) available... so there's no point for us...

I'll support this forum as far as it will be available, there is a lot of cool ppl here who deserves all my respect for the time being.

Shockye: do whaterver you want, I'm in!

cheers mate, keep up the good vibes!

benny! · « **Reply #5 on:** February 08, 2011 »

That's indeed a controversial topic and I cannot decide right now to be honest.
Starting with a fresh forum/system always has its charme. I guess every coder
knows that feeling.

Maybe we could just brainstorm a bit more how things could look like ...

- What kind of system should we use instead of SMF?
- How would the look & feel of this place change?
- Would we change the focus concerning topics ?

hellfire · « **Reply #6 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Quote

I reckon we could start off from scratch with an empty message board

At the moment the problem is not the design or content of the board but the number of active users.
There're many helpful guys hanging around here but we're lacking people asking questions.
I really miss threads like this...

padman · « **Reply #7 on:** February 08, 2011 »

I've been wondering for quite some time what might cause this stagnation. Are we getting too old and there's only a few youngsters interested in demo coding? The same thing somehow happend with Retro Remakes. But there I think it's partly caused by the darn facebook group which makes people rather thumb up screenshots instead of having a look at the real productions...
Anyway, a renewal of a place is always cool, just like when buying new furniture. But I somehow doubt that it really will attract many new users who actually post something. I think there's enough "active" users on here if you for example take a look at how often attachments are downloaded in some threads and how few comments are left. People just cannot be arsed to write something. Dunno why. Probably just laziness. And by these people I don't mean the regulars who are trying to keep track of what's happening here even if other things in life need more attention. Maybe we should add a thumb up sign just like in facebook. You'll see how many people all of a sudden like all the stuff!

Jokes aside, I like this place the way it was, the way it is and whatever way it will be in the future. If there's a new concept it's fine with me (as long as I can take my sigs with me

) And I want it online until 2016, no question!

rain_storm · « **Reply #8 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Preserving this forum is something I'd personally appreciate, I picked up a lotta cool stuff here. Of course I'd rather see it survive as it is. But if you guys decide that a change is needed I'll be there for sure.

Shockwave · « **Reply #9 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Some great points for and against..

Truthfully, the allure of a more secure message board that doesn't have loads of fakes registering every day and new technology has an appeal for me.

Whatever we decide to do though, as has been raised above, we need more interesting threads like Hezad's 3D engine one to get more people posting.

I realise that I haven't addressed all the good points above yet, I'll leave this run for a bit to see what else gets posted

benny! · « **Reply #10 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Well, of course Hellfire is right that we need more quality discussion about scene and
coding related stuff like Hezads 3d engine implementation.

Nevertheless, I can understand Shockies point of switching the system because
fighting against spam bots is a frustrating work. So, if there is a better solution
system-wise I would say go for it.

So, in other words. If a new forum software makes life easier to maintain it we should
seriously think about it. Of course it is not for granted that the activity will rise -
but you'll never know...

Xetick · « **Reply #11 on:** February 08, 2011 »

I can't say I see a clear answer to "why" this should be done. Bots will exists on whatever platform you change to even though most can probably be beating by asking them what a "demo" is during registration

. Not sure if any more good discussion would automatically show up by starting from scratch since the main problem, i think, is not the site as such but that people don't know it exists. Unless people do get here but leave before posting because they dont like the style of the site.

Of course the answer to "why" can be as simple as you want something new and fresh to play around with and I'm all for it. New is always fun. That's why I got vbulletin on my own site (that I later removed when switching to Asp.Net MVC).

But if a relaunch where to be made a clearer picture of it needs to be brought to light. I assume that is why this thread is here so should it be only a forum based one or more like the relaunched www.gamedev.net.

combatking0 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 08, 2011 »

I have an idea. I'll PM you, Nick.

hellfire · « **Reply #13 on:** February 08, 2011 »

combatking, please share your ideas; it's a discussion board.

benny! · « **Reply #14 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Quote from: hellfire on February 08, 2011

combatking, please share your ideas; it's a discussion board.

Yep!

Yaloopy · « **Reply #15 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Quote from: benny! on February 08, 2011

Quote from: hellfire on February 08, 2011
combatking, please share your ideas; it's a discussion board.
Yep!

Yes again.

Moroboshisan · « **Reply #16 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Quote from: combatking0 on February 08, 2011

I have an idea. I'll PM you, Nick.

please let all of us know... share your ideas...

combatking0 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 08, 2011 »

It's a forum security idea. I've got an SMF installation on my domain too, so I'll trial my idea there, and if Shockwave likes it, he may trial it here. I don't know yet though, as he hasn't replied.

I'm trying to keep it top secret until it goes live, so as to scupper any hackers who may be reading the forum against our wishes...

One thing I've noticed about the spam users is that a quick Google of their user names often reveals their nature - if you see results on dozens of unrelated boards and the time/date of registration are close together, it's a bot, or an active spammer.
If they're on many boards, but the time/date of registration differs greatly, chances are it's a person who uses the same username everywhere.
If there are no results, it could be a new user, or a new spammer which has not yet been crawled on other boards by Google.

LittleWhite · « **Reply #18 on:** February 08, 2011 »

Personnally I like the idea ... but I don't know if it can work. I mean, I would not be treat as a bot because I had bad luck on google results... (check LittleWhite in Google and see what you get).
But I like the idea

combatking0 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 08, 2011 »

That's not my active idea - it's a stop-gap measure which I'm using to check new members.

My new idea involves coding something new for the registration form, but I don't want to divulge too much about it yet. So far it looks promising.