A Question for Current Members Re Future of this Forum

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Maigrets
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I would like to ask the current active, and not so active, forum members how they feel about the future of the forum, but first I'd like to say a few things.


I'm considering disabling all new registrations for the foreseeable future. What that will mean however is that anyone not currently a member wanting to download WAC will not be able to so so. Waalx has set the forums so that only registered members can view the related area and download and I'm not willing to change that without his permission.

However, I haven't heard from Waalx since before Christmas 2011 and the last time he logged in was on the 5th of May this year. I assume the forum and WAC are the furthest thing from his mind at the moment and I wish him well wherever he is. I will of course try to contact him, but if I don't hear anything within a couple of weeks from the date of this post I will go ahead and disable new registrations.

There is a WAC fix module that I have available on my Mediafire account which I'll leave there for the time being or as long as my account is active as I haven't used it in ages and I'm moving my files to another host when I get around to it.

At present the majority, if not all new registrations over the last few months and longer have been spambots. They have to pass a CAPTCHA to register so they are obviously have to be human to do that. Please see below re spambots.

I don't wish to close the forum altogether as it's still being utilized by myself and several current members and as long as they wish to stay on, I welcome them to do so. However, unless I do something like disabling new registrations the forum will be flooded with spammers. I will still be checking in, but perhaps only every few days or so instead of daily or several times a day as I have been, usually because of the spammers. I don't know yet.

There is the option of having to contact Admin when a new member registers to activate them, but I'm not interested in having a heap of emails, particularly from spam registrations in my inbox. That would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise.

However, if the possibility exists that genuine people who can't register still want access to WAC I will think about leaving a link to the download. This would go against Waalx wishes though and until he tells me otherwise I'm not really happy about doing that. I'll think about it.


The two most important reasons for doing this are these:

1. For quite some time now I've been part of a team creating a new Indie game using the Unreal 3 engine and things are getting to the stage where my involvement is going to take up more of my time. We're in pre-alpha stage now and things are really moving ahead.

2. There is no-one to take over maintenance of the forum if for some other reason I can't do it, for example if I lose internet, have an accident or some other reason. Waalx gave 'shingouki' Admin status for this reason but I spoke with 'shingouki' a few months ago and he doesn't wish to do it. I understand his reasons though. When Waalx asked me to be caretaker of the forum in his absence I had absolutely zero experience and had to do some heavy reading of the help files which for me are not very user friendly. That is not a complaint as I agreed to help out but, except for the basic day to day maintenance I'm not going to have the time or inclination to go through the docs for any other reason.

Then the lesser considerations from my point of view:

3. The above mentioned frequent spambots which is more of an annoyance than anything, but I'm not interested at this point in looking for other solutions like forum mods to try to curb them.

4. I no longer play Oblivion and cannot, and don't wish to offer support for WAC or the game in general. It's been over a year since I even loaded the game so I'm well behind what's happening on the Oblivion scene and I have no interest in it. I am grateful to the members who do offer support though and if they wish to continue they are certainly most welcome.

5. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be playing Skyrim as I've done almost all there is that interests me, but as new mods are released and particularly if and when new quests or world spaces come along that will probably change. Some exciting new games are on the horizon and I can see myself playing at least a couple of those for the foreseeable future.

I created a section to talk about new, and older games unrelated to The Elder Scrolls, so I will more than likely still use it myself.


Please comment if you're interested, otherwise I will go ahead and the forum will stay open to current members only.

Thank you for reading.
Maigrets :)
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it sayingEnd Of The World Switch PLEASE DO NOT TOUCHthe paint wouldn't even have time to dry. Terry Pratchett
Fessels
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It would be a real shame to see these forums close for new members. But something must be done with the spammers alright because it is a absolutely annoying problem to say the least. It is not that i do not wish to help, but like you at first...i have no experience as a Moderator or as a Administrator for that matter.

Still if you wish, i could try it out, and help how and where possible.
Yeah there will always be people who are so * begin sarcasm * brilliant * end sarcasm * that they do not see how stupid they actually are.
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Maigrets
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Thanks for your continued support Fessels. The problem there is I can't give other people access without Alex' permission and I don't know what else to do at this point unless I can contact him.
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it sayingEnd Of The World Switch PLEASE DO NOT TOUCHthe paint wouldn't even have time to dry. Terry Pratchett
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I understand. :)
Yeah there will always be people who are so * begin sarcasm * brilliant * end sarcasm * that they do not see how stupid they actually are.
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MasterAub
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First thank for your continuous help. Eventhough I don't post that often it has been and is a pleasure to log and read on Obli / WAC and Skyrim... Outstandingly moderated by you the forum has become one of the most "physical" virtual forum...thanks to you!!!
As I don't have time to help or to commit I naturally leave the decision with you.
In any case thank you
un ami qui cesse de l'être ne la jamais été
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Maigrets
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Thanks MasterAub, I appreciate the sentiment and support. :)

@ everyone else
I've sent a message to Alex so if he doesn't respond new registrations will be disabled after a couple of weeks. I don't see it having any great adverse effect as the forums aren't very active except for the few of us who still post, whether it's regularly or not.

However, if this action means you won't continue to stop by here to chat or add your screenshots etc that will be very sad, but I can't think of another solution at the present. Anyway, whatever the case I'm now waiting to hear from Alex if he even has internet access. He might actually not be able to reply, I don't know.
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it sayingEnd Of The World Switch PLEASE DO NOT TOUCHthe paint wouldn't even have time to dry. Terry Pratchett
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Waalx
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Hi guys,

Well, well... It seems that I haven't logged here since May? hmm. At that time I was in Fiji, on an island named Mana (which gamers will probably have a chuckle about this as in Fijian "Mana" means "magic"!) doing scuba-diving almost everyday. As a matter of fact, I am still in Mana Island at the moment-it have been 5 months, doing scuba diving every day, or almost every day. I'm close to get my Divemaster certification. You can see most pictures of my travels at facebook.com/waalx

I don't think it'll be a surprise to none of you that WAC and Oblivion are now way back, in a tiny part that my brain doesn't access very often theses days, if at all.

I also don't know how many people still log-in to this place, and honestly I don't really know what you would expect of this forum now?

Yes, there's now a Skyrim section, which I haven't yet played myself, and if I will it will still be a long time before that. But this place was made to promote WAC and RealSwords, both of which are now done for all I'm concerned. Shingouki is porting RealSwords to Skyrim, it's a lot of work and I wish him luck on that. But whatever happen to the forum of RealSwords and WAC for Oblivion, it won't matter to what he's doing in Skyrim as far as I know.

I am of the opinion that Maigrets suggestion that the forum be closed to new-registration is an elegant alternative to closing the thing entirely.

I am also not against closing the forum altogether, or opening it to be read-only unless you had previously registered here. If this happen though, I will remove the WAC download from my server and it shall be hosted elsewhere by somebody else, or a sub-author.

The reason that WAC was available to registered users only is simple: to minimize the impact and potential cost of a free-for-all download of a file like WAC. My server has a set limit on how how many data can be taken to/from it, and I'm not going to jeopardize the other things that are linked to my domain, some of which are business that I host websites for. And since designing websites is a nice work-on-the-side-while-travelling, and that I can do it wherever I am, this is only going to be more true the further I go around the planet.

So maybe somebody interested in releasing WAC could contact me and then I can pull the plug and make this read-only unless previously registered.

Otherwise, we can close the registration only as Maigrets suggest.

Maigrets role on here was admirable, and more-so since she don't even play the game anymore, and that's been a long time that she stopped playing it To be honest I'm a bit surprised that she held the helm of RealSwords Workshop for so long without having a current personal interest in the product itself no more than only respect for what it was. That's speak a good deal for the lady. So, an big thanks ter ye, Maigrets :D

If I was still in the game, this place would probably have a complete make-over, and a change of system. Alas, now I'm a wanderer. ;)

I'm going to follow this story to it's conclusion.

Thank you all for your support over the years for this project!
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Maigrets
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Thank you Alex. :) I have replied to your PM.

It all depends now whether the active members wish to continue to visit and post as I'm more than happy to continue as we are as long as I don't have to log in every day to get rid of the spambots, otherwise as I said the forum would be overrun with them in a few days. And that's no exaggeration.

From my perspective I value the people who have stayed on and participated when they really didn't have to, and despite whatever happens now, I'm happy to have met them.

As I said in my PM my main concern is what happens to WAC as people won't be able to download if registrations are closed, but your solution sounds like the best idea.
Yes, there's now a Skyrim section, which I haven't yet played myself, and if I will it will still be a long time before that. But this place was made to promote WAC and RealSwords, both of which are now done for all I'm concerned. Shingouki is porting RealSwords to Skyrim, it's a lot of work and I wish him luck on that. But whatever happen to the forum of RealSwords and WAC for Oblivion, it won't matter to what he's doing in Skyrim as far as I know.
This is a good point. The forum has now moved away from what it was originally intended for. As I said I'm happy to continue but ultimately it's up to you Alex.
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it sayingEnd Of The World Switch PLEASE DO NOT TOUCHthe paint wouldn't even have time to dry. Terry Pratchett
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anohosikara
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I thank for Waalx,Maigrets.
I posted in this forum and was very fun. :)

thanks

If I can speak English, I think that I want to do a help of the administration.
But I will only bring chaos.
I watch the proceedings...

Waalx! WAC is still v1.0b.
Please develop it to v3.0!

It is a joke. Good holiday and diving. :celebrate:
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Maigrets
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Thanks anohosikara. :) Much appreciated.

I must say I'm quite surprised that the only replies to Alex's post were my own and anohosikara's.

I realize most members probably don't log in here very often these days expecting that WAC might be finalized after all, or for any other reason but it was still surprising, and disappointing because of the large numbers of people who just hit and run....ie register and download and don't even bother to say thanks to Alex for the years of hard work.

The WAC1 Beta Patch I've hosted for users on my Mediafire account since 26-4-2011 has 548 downloads as of today. Speaks for itself I think. :think: I will also be removing it from my Mediafire files after next week as there's little point in leaving it there. It should be well circulated by now.

The two weeks I specified will be up soon and after that new registrations will be disabled. If no-one takes Alex up on his offer to host the WAC download, and if the forum activity dies completely after next week, I'll be asking Alex to take whatever action he feels necessary and moving on.

I don't much like talking to myself so there won't be much point in my hanging around just for nostalgia's sake.
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it sayingEnd Of The World Switch PLEASE DO NOT TOUCHthe paint wouldn't even have time to dry. Terry Pratchett
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Well i guess i could copy Waalx post on this page, and post it in a thread on the Oblivion forums to see who would react?

Should i do that?
Yeah there will always be people who are so * begin sarcasm * brilliant * end sarcasm * that they do not see how stupid they actually are.
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Waalx
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Fessels, yeah you can do that if you want. It's probably going to start some kind of bickering about what I did, why WAC was only released on here and so forth, but honestly I couldn't care less now what's being said there, as I wouldn't care back then for the same reasons... :)

Thanks

Remember people that if you want to release WAC in the version you have now in your files, you don't need to do anything else than release it to the public. You don't have to give support, update the thing or anything else... it's just about giving other people an option to get the file via TESNexus or something like that. All else shouldn't be your problem. I would do it myself, but I can't.

I know that WAC is already available from other sources (and in other languages), but having a legitimate release would be better I guess.


I already disabled registration today Maigrets, no need to drag this on and on for nothing. Until there's somebody that come up and is willing to release the WAC file somewhere, it's going to stay this way so you can rest now and now bother with any more of those pesky spam-bots. ;)

If somebody stand-up and release WAC elsewhere, this forum will be made read-only.
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Maigrets
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I already disabled registration today Maigrets, no need to drag this on and on for nothing. Until there's somebody that come up and is willing to release the WAC file somewhere, it's going to stay this way so you can rest now and now bother with any more of those pesky spam-bots. ;)

If somebody stand-up and release WAC elsewhere, this forum will be made read-only.
Thanks.
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it sayingEnd Of The World Switch PLEASE DO NOT TOUCHthe paint wouldn't even have time to dry. Terry Pratchett
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Waalx wrote:Fessels, yeah you can do that if you want. It's probably going to start some kind of bickering about what I did, why WAC was only released on here and so forth, but honestly I couldn't care less now what's being said there, as I wouldn't care back then for the same reasons... :)

Thanks
Okay i will make the thread and wait to see what happens, thanks Waalx.


EDIT: Here is the link to the thread on the Oblivion mods forum.

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/140518 ... e-mod-wac/

EDIT 2: I just saw this post from DarkRider, who is a member of the TESA Team.
TES Alliance would happily host Waalx Animals & Creatures with his permission of course. We offer an array of free services to all modders from forums, to blogs, to file hosting and our unlimited bandwidth and storage making us a good alternative for hosting large files in particular.
TES Alliance

If you choose to place it on TESA Waalx, then i have at the moment no idea how to continue though. ( Beside contacting DarkRider of course. )
Yeah there will always be people who are so * begin sarcasm * brilliant * end sarcasm * that they do not see how stupid they actually are.
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it's nice to hear you're having a great time :)

iirc a while ago you had posted you had a prefinal version available but no bandwith to upload it? I think the best option would be to make that available on TES Alliance, Nexus and etc. and give other modders permission to put the finishing touches in. that way your awesome work is not wasted :)
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Well just saw in the thread on Beth from Andalaybay from the site Dark Creations Website.
Dark Creations would be happy to host it as well.
Dark Creations

EDIT: Waalx, since i did not know how to answer this question, i will quote the question from Khettienna here.
Before Waalx disappears forever, would he consider opening up permissions on his work for re-use as resources? Since, as it stands, he asks that we contact him first, but he won't be around to ask anymore. :(
Yeah there will always be people who are so * begin sarcasm * brilliant * end sarcasm * that they do not see how stupid they actually are.
Gekko64
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another point Waalx:

user anohosikara here created some patches that allow to use WAC alongside other overhauls

in the past you had given him permission to only publicly release the Overspawn patch,

it seems like the right time to give him permission to also release also the patches so that WAC can be enjoyed by as many people as possible :)
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Wikinger
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Okay, did i get that right? You wanna disable new registrations which would mean no one else could download Waalx for Oblivion anymore?
Whats the point? Was this thing created to remain sealed in the forgetten spaces of the internet?
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Which is why we are looking for people that want to host WAC, so that people can download WAC. I have placed the offers from the thread on the Beth forums here. So now it is a matter of waiting to see when Waalx gets online, and takes a look at the offers given. :)
Yeah there will always be people who are so * begin sarcasm * brilliant * end sarcasm * that they do not see how stupid they actually are.
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Maigrets
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Wikinger wrote:Okay, did i get that right? You wanna disable new registrations which would mean no one else could download Waalx for Oblivion anymore?
Whats the point? Was this thing created to remain sealed in the forgetten spaces of the internet?
It's already been done and not by me incidentally, although it was my suggestion. This forum has only stayed open at all because I volunteered to moderate it and now my time is being taken up with other things. If you want to deal with the daily influx of spambots and keep the forum clean by all means get in touch with Waalx and see what he has to say since he agrees with me.

Did you happen to read his post at all?

The only posts you seem to make here are to complain about something. As Fessels said the WAC download issue is being dealt with and it's up to Waalx what happens next...not you. OK. And when that happens the forum will become read only.

If it seemed the forum would remain active at all with current members I would be happy to keep it going, but as Waalx says it was originally started to host WAC and RealSwords and the whole point is now moot.

In the end it's his decision what happens and it's not up to me or anyone else.
Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it sayingEnd Of The World Switch PLEASE DO NOT TOUCHthe paint wouldn't even have time to dry. Terry Pratchett
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