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1
Information Kiosk / Re: Should I be doing this?
« on: May 08, 2015, 05:16:30 pm »
The problem here is that both Gerbil and Sonic AD are very rarely around, and when they are, they don't stick around for long. If they were here more often this could be sorted out much more easily and I would probably agree with the both of you. But they aren't, and considering the "limbo" we're stuck in, it isn't like we have much to lose.
Also, I don't think he'd be straight out asking for permission if his intent was malicious, because that would straight away reveal his identity. That would be pretty stupid on his part.
@Don: You are reading too much into my word choice. In this case "community" applies to everything regarding the site at this point, but I apologize for any confusion.
Also, I don't think he'd be straight out asking for permission if his intent was malicious, because that would straight away reveal his identity. That would be pretty stupid on his part.
@Don: You are reading too much into my word choice. In this case "community" applies to everything regarding the site at this point, but I apologize for any confusion.
2
Information Kiosk / Re: Should I be doing this?
« on: May 08, 2015, 04:12:59 pm »
...On the contrary, why shouldn't he be doing it? Last I checked many people were debating on how to improve the site, and since we have no active programmers to scout out these issues for us, shouldn't any help be appreciated? We can't fix them at the moment, sure, but it's less work for Gerbil whenever he swings by.
Now, I realize I don't have any say in this, but I see no reason for you to shoot mathfreak down automatically when he is clearly trying to help the site. Yes, multiple accounts are against the rules, but in the state we're in currently does it really matter if he isn't using it for serious competition? It's not like whatever he finds has to be made public until they are fixed, and if someone does use bugs to their advantage...you have a banhammer.
If you want the community to see any improvement whatsoever, nay-saying a volunteer outright without any given reason probably isn't the best move.
Now, I realize I don't have any say in this, but I see no reason for you to shoot mathfreak down automatically when he is clearly trying to help the site. Yes, multiple accounts are against the rules, but in the state we're in currently does it really matter if he isn't using it for serious competition? It's not like whatever he finds has to be made public until they are fixed, and if someone does use bugs to their advantage...you have a banhammer.
If you want the community to see any improvement whatsoever, nay-saying a volunteer outright without any given reason probably isn't the best move.
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Hiya Folks / Re: Hiya!
« on: March 31, 2015, 05:19:23 pm »Welcome and have fun and all that stuff. I'm sure you'll do fine
4
Competition Central / Re: WTF
« on: February 06, 2015, 03:15:36 pm »Probably just some kid trying to be funny. Seriously who would think it's a good idea to submit BS stats in such a massive quantity? Better question is, who would find enjoyment in that? The people like this are the kind of people this community, and the world doesn't need.*snip*
Not to sound cynical, but this whole situation didn't really shock me at all. It was a little confusing at first, yes, but in the end I found it rather amusing. It drew some much-needed attention to the site for a little while, at least. :P And honestly, while I've never heard of someone submitting fake stats to such a large scale as this, it's probably been done before. The site's been around 11 years. tl;dr I don't see how this hurt us as a community much at all; anyone who's been around here long enough didn't take it seriously in the slightest.
Though Softspeak does have a point; this is most likely connected to some member that was banned and is trying to ban dodge. Unless the admins didn't bother with an IP ban, I don't know how they're getting in unless they found a workaround. There's also an abundance of salty kids running around lately, which may explain something :V
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General Sonic / Re: which special stage do you hate the most?
« on: February 06, 2015, 03:05:36 pm »Hey, Kirbymon, I think this guy is challenging your Knuckles fanatic-ness. (hue)
Plz, what am I, 11?
I have difficulty with pretty much every special stage out of the ones I've played >_> but at least some of them are somewhat fun at the same time. I find S1/S4E1 special stages to be incredibly "meh"; when it comes to the other games I'm usually okay with them except for one or two specific stages (S4E2's 7th one...>_>)
Also, I don't even mind SLW3DS' that much. They're not amazing or anything, but they aren't that infuriating either. Too bad the game as a whole is shit.
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Wikkity! / Re: FINAL TOPIC! Topic 14 - What Sonic Character matches you?
« on: December 31, 2014, 10:04:22 pm »
Tails. FEAR MY FLUFFY ASS WHIPS
Also, I despise quizzes that ask blatant "this is gonna be your result probably" questions like "HURR-DURR PICK A COLOR THAT OBVIOUSLY MATCHES A CHARACTER ON THIS QUIZ" and "PICK YOUR RESULT FOR ME PLZ" :V
Also, I despise quizzes that ask blatant "this is gonna be your result probably" questions like "HURR-DURR PICK A COLOR THAT OBVIOUSLY MATCHES A CHARACTER ON THIS QUIZ" and "PICK YOUR RESULT FOR ME PLZ" :V
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Wikkity! / Re: Topic 10 - What was your favorite boss battle in a Sonic game?
« on: December 29, 2014, 05:17:15 pm »
Boss fights in Sonic have never really been my forte, especially those that are long and/or tedious and those that give you no sense of direction what-so-fucking-ever and just keep pelting you with monkey shit.
Surprisingly, though, I think the fangames Before the Sequel and After the Sequel have better bosses than a lot of the canon games. Short, simple, and imaginative, but still take some skill to master - those are the kind of bosses I like. Of course, I'm assuming I need to look at an actual Sonic game...so I guess the bosses in S4E2 are pretty satisfying. Except the boss of Oil Desert, of course. He isn't super bullshit or anything...more just "meh".
Also, Silver's fight against Sonic in 06. Mercilessly throwing tables and chairs and the biggest twat in the game and laughing maniacally while he struggles to even touch you? Count me in.
Surprisingly, though, I think the fangames Before the Sequel and After the Sequel have better bosses than a lot of the canon games. Short, simple, and imaginative, but still take some skill to master - those are the kind of bosses I like. Of course, I'm assuming I need to look at an actual Sonic game...so I guess the bosses in S4E2 are pretty satisfying. Except the boss of Oil Desert, of course. He isn't super bullshit or anything...more just "meh".
Also, Silver's fight against Sonic in 06. Mercilessly throwing tables and chairs and the biggest twat in the game and laughing maniacally while he struggles to even touch you? Count me in.
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Wikkity! / Re: Topic 12 - Are there Sonic games you've never played that you want to play?
« on: December 29, 2014, 05:08:30 pm »
Sonic R, really just so I can see if it's really as bad as they say, lol. Also, both Sonic Rush titles.
Besides those few, I've played pretty much every major Sonic title. I've only been a fan for five years or so and I've played more games than people who have been fans for over a decade...huh.
Well okay I haven't played S1GBA yet either but I don't think that will be necessary
Besides those few, I've played pretty much every major Sonic title. I've only been a fan for five years or so and I've played more games than people who have been fans for over a decade...huh.
Well okay I haven't played S1GBA yet either but I don't think that will be necessary
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Wikkity! / Re: Topic 11 - Have you ever had a WTF moment in-game?
« on: December 29, 2014, 05:01:14 pm »
All of Sonic 06.
All of it.
All of it.
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Wikkity! / Re: Predictions for 2015!!!
« on: December 01, 2014, 04:17:43 pm »
It's 2015 already...holy shit. Prediction time!
-I will continue to ignore competition entirely except for completely noobish things :V Well okay, maybe I'll contribute a little bit more to certain games I was involved in previously but that's about it.
-Hyper will kick some major ass and manage to annoy everyone as he does it (A)
-FF will finally trump over S&I.
-Infer will get top 20th sitewide.
-Everyone else will effortlessly get WRs in fucking everything serIOUSLY HOW DOES THAT WORK
-A non-TSC related prediction for myself...I will hopefully become better at Smash this year, I'm trying to get into it competitively. Wish me luck :P
-I will continue to ignore competition entirely except for completely noobish things :V Well okay, maybe I'll contribute a little bit more to certain games I was involved in previously but that's about it.
-Hyper will kick some major ass and manage to annoy everyone as he does it (A)
-FF will finally trump over S&I.
-Infer will get top 20th sitewide.
-Everyone else will effortlessly get WRs in fucking everything serIOUSLY HOW DOES THAT WORK
-A non-TSC related prediction for myself...I will hopefully become better at Smash this year, I'm trying to get into it competitively. Wish me luck :P
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Wikkity! / Re: How you came up with your username!
« on: October 09, 2014, 07:21:36 pm »
Um...I like Kirby, and I like Pokemon. I think I came up with the name when I was around 9. I was so creative, wasn't I...
As for the 30 at the end, it's the 30th time I've used the moniker of "Kirbymon" on any site. Woooooo, naming conventions!
Also, there's my "Doscolas Kirbidna" nickname that I tend to use often, as I think it's at least a bit more original than Kirbymon. And somehow, nobody else on the internet has used it yet! ....Yet. As for where the name came from, "Dos colas" is "two tails" in Spanish (which was a significant language for me to use for some reason)and "Kirbidna" is a combination of "Kirby" and "echidna". Thus, the name is to be interpreted as "Two-tailed Kirby-echidna", which is pretty much my stupid avatar thing that I use on most websites(though technically, it's not a Kirby/echidna hybrid--it used to be, but then I realized that bad fan characters were bad, and I just used the character for the sake of having a god damn avatar. Also for drawing exercises).
Of course, both of my nicks have been taken out of context before, one more so than the other. The only thing I've heard out of the name "Kirbymon" is that it sounded like a Digimon name, which I never actually thought about, lol. "Doscolas Kirbidna", specifically the "Doscolas" part, has been interpreted as "two sodas" or "two asses". Apparently, "colas" is slang for "asses" in Spanish sometimes. The more you know...
So tl;dr, I'm "two-asses bad fan character except not". Do I win a cookie now?
As for the 30 at the end, it's the 30th time I've used the moniker of "Kirbymon" on any site. Woooooo, naming conventions!
Also, there's my "Doscolas Kirbidna" nickname that I tend to use often, as I think it's at least a bit more original than Kirbymon. And somehow, nobody else on the internet has used it yet! ....Yet. As for where the name came from, "Dos colas" is "two tails" in Spanish (which was a significant language for me to use for some reason)and "Kirbidna" is a combination of "Kirby" and "echidna". Thus, the name is to be interpreted as "Two-tailed Kirby-echidna", which is pretty much my stupid avatar thing that I use on most websites(though technically, it's not a Kirby/echidna hybrid--it used to be, but then I realized that bad fan characters were bad, and I just used the character for the sake of having a god damn avatar. Also for drawing exercises).
Of course, both of my nicks have been taken out of context before, one more so than the other. The only thing I've heard out of the name "Kirbymon" is that it sounded like a Digimon name, which I never actually thought about, lol. "Doscolas Kirbidna", specifically the "Doscolas" part, has been interpreted as "two sodas" or "two asses". Apparently, "colas" is slang for "asses" in Spanish sometimes. The more you know...
So tl;dr, I'm "two-asses bad fan character except not". Do I win a cookie now?
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Hiya Folks / Re: Hello
« on: September 24, 2014, 07:26:57 pm »
Oh look a Kirbymastah :3
Yet another Kirbyto add to our growing army in preparation for the Kirby uprising!
Yet another Kirby
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Beef / Re: A message to all — is our community dying? How can we help TSC?
« on: September 08, 2014, 07:42:57 pm »
Okay, this thread's been around for nearly a month now and I think it's time for me to get some things out of the way. I know those of you who are opposed to this thread's existence in the first place probably never want to here a word out of my mouth again, but I've been paying close attention to pretty much any response posted here and I've come to realize quite a bit. I'm not going to make this too horrendously long, so please bear with me.
First off, although I probably didn't do anything inherently wrong, I'd like to apologize. The argument I presented throughout the entire first post was not very well thought out and was the result of me suddenly being very vehement about a subject that's been in the back of my mind and trying to mush it all together at 12 in the morning. Not the smartest idea, but I can't remember the last time I've come up with even a slightly coherent idea. The "more admins" argument was a very ignorant one on my part, and I think a lot of you have done a better job presenting what I should have said better than I ever could. I think TimpZ and Fiva, among others, have pretty much hit the nail on the head as to some of the things that could be done here. Stuff like this is why I was hesitant to create this thread in the first place (and after its creation moaned about how retarded I was every time someone posted - I'm a whiny teenage bitch, I know. Sue me), but I didn't think anybody else was going to do it. As I mentioned before, some of you see no point to this thread being made, and in a way I see where you're coming from, but I felt like at least sparking up a discussion about the topic would help us all out just a little bit. I honestly am very satisfied that people even showed the slightest interest in this topic, and majority of your posts have been very enlightening, so I think it was worth embarrassing myself with my midnight ramble.
Also, I've come to the conclusion that, quite simply, you guys are absolutely correct in saying that the forum/social activity should not be the focus of our efforts and that TSC is primarily a competition site. Admittedly - and yeah, I won't blame anyone if you despise me after saying this - this whole topic might have been a result of my feeling left out of a proper community. I guess some wishful thinking about being involved in something big made me go a little too far. This sounds kinda conceited and attention seeking, I know, which is why I'm apologizing for it in the first place. It was wrong of me to think that I could get others to suddenly move their efforts to something that frankly doesn't matter that much anymore. I will, however, stand by my point that investing in a new developer is a wise option, but I'm positive I'm not the only one who thinks this.
tl;dr, I'm a fuckwad and I'm sorry I even made this topic, but I'm not sorry about the discussion it started, if that makes any sense. I think all of you have a better grasp of what TSC is and and needs than I do and ever will, which is why I'm going to step away from this discussion and probably never speak of it again outside of Skype or whatever. At first I was very tempted to lock the discussion early on in its existence, and I was actually going to until SB's post revived it again; now I think I should at least leave it up until one of the higher-ups decides to put it to rest. I'm glad all of you took time to share your opinions and enlightened not only me but hopefully some others as well.
First off, although I probably didn't do anything inherently wrong, I'd like to apologize. The argument I presented throughout the entire first post was not very well thought out and was the result of me suddenly being very vehement about a subject that's been in the back of my mind and trying to mush it all together at 12 in the morning. Not the smartest idea, but I can't remember the last time I've come up with even a slightly coherent idea. The "more admins" argument was a very ignorant one on my part, and I think a lot of you have done a better job presenting what I should have said better than I ever could. I think TimpZ and Fiva, among others, have pretty much hit the nail on the head as to some of the things that could be done here. Stuff like this is why I was hesitant to create this thread in the first place (and after its creation moaned about how retarded I was every time someone posted - I'm a whiny teenage bitch, I know. Sue me), but I didn't think anybody else was going to do it. As I mentioned before, some of you see no point to this thread being made, and in a way I see where you're coming from, but I felt like at least sparking up a discussion about the topic would help us all out just a little bit. I honestly am very satisfied that people even showed the slightest interest in this topic, and majority of your posts have been very enlightening, so I think it was worth embarrassing myself with my midnight ramble.
Also, I've come to the conclusion that, quite simply, you guys are absolutely correct in saying that the forum/social activity should not be the focus of our efforts and that TSC is primarily a competition site. Admittedly - and yeah, I won't blame anyone if you despise me after saying this - this whole topic might have been a result of my feeling left out of a proper community. I guess some wishful thinking about being involved in something big made me go a little too far. This sounds kinda conceited and attention seeking, I know, which is why I'm apologizing for it in the first place. It was wrong of me to think that I could get others to suddenly move their efforts to something that frankly doesn't matter that much anymore. I will, however, stand by my point that investing in a new developer is a wise option, but I'm positive I'm not the only one who thinks this.
tl;dr, I'm a fuckwad and I'm sorry I even made this topic, but I'm not sorry about the discussion it started, if that makes any sense. I think all of you have a better grasp of what TSC is and and needs than I do and ever will, which is why I'm going to step away from this discussion and probably never speak of it again outside of Skype or whatever. At first I was very tempted to lock the discussion early on in its existence, and I was actually going to until SB's post revived it again; now I think I should at least leave it up until one of the higher-ups decides to put it to rest. I'm glad all of you took time to share your opinions and enlightened not only me but hopefully some others as well.
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TSC Race Night / Re: Race Night feedback for 2014!
« on: August 17, 2014, 02:21:47 pm »
Okay, so I agree with most of Token's points about the voting system (though I'm still on the fence about not allowing multiple votes), but a few of the other suggestions either are not going to work or be carried out very carefully.
-Racing non-Sonic games could work, but I think we should only race certain kinds of games. I think it would be more annoying than anything to race super long games like RPGs or adventure games because racing those kind of games may not appeal to some users. I also think we should at least stick to SEGA/Sonic Team games because this is a Sonic site and we shouldn't stray TOO far from that. Also, these races should be very uncommon, maybe like once a schedule or something. If it was any more than that it would be more annoying than special and new imo.
-Anything involving physical prizes is an absolute no, imo. There are some people who want to do very well in races but do not care for earning anything physical out of it/don't want to give out their address. This would basically mean that the only people who should try to win are those that want a prize, and people who don't care should let others who want to try for prizes do better than them. I just...can't see this working out at all. And prizes usually work better in big races or tournaments, nowadays we have races with like two people sometimes. I do agree that a ranking system could be fun, however, just without physical prizes involved. (Though technically, we sort of have a ranking system with Hyper's statistics, but I think we should maybe start from scratch because it's impossible to knock the people who have been here since the beginning off the top. If we erase the rankings and start over, both the old and new people have a chance.)
-Weekdays for RNs are also an absolute no, it would actually decrease the amount of people racing due to school, certain weekday jobs, etc. Friday/Saturday/Sunday is just much more accessible for the majority of people. I also think 12 PM is just a little too early; I think if we have to make it earlier it should be somewhere in the middle, like around 2-2:30. I think that's fair enough.
-Racing non-Sonic games could work, but I think we should only race certain kinds of games. I think it would be more annoying than anything to race super long games like RPGs or adventure games because racing those kind of games may not appeal to some users. I also think we should at least stick to SEGA/Sonic Team games because this is a Sonic site and we shouldn't stray TOO far from that. Also, these races should be very uncommon, maybe like once a schedule or something. If it was any more than that it would be more annoying than special and new imo.
-Anything involving physical prizes is an absolute no, imo. There are some people who want to do very well in races but do not care for earning anything physical out of it/don't want to give out their address. This would basically mean that the only people who should try to win are those that want a prize, and people who don't care should let others who want to try for prizes do better than them. I just...can't see this working out at all. And prizes usually work better in big races or tournaments, nowadays we have races with like two people sometimes. I do agree that a ranking system could be fun, however, just without physical prizes involved. (Though technically, we sort of have a ranking system with Hyper's statistics, but I think we should maybe start from scratch because it's impossible to knock the people who have been here since the beginning off the top. If we erase the rankings and start over, both the old and new people have a chance.)
-Weekdays for RNs are also an absolute no, it would actually decrease the amount of people racing due to school, certain weekday jobs, etc. Friday/Saturday/Sunday is just much more accessible for the majority of people. I also think 12 PM is just a little too early; I think if we have to make it earlier it should be somewhere in the middle, like around 2-2:30. I think that's fair enough.
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Beef / A message to all — is our community dying? How can we help TSC?
« on: August 14, 2014, 01:51:15 pm »
(Warning: Long-ass post. Obviously. Also, I'm not sure if this really belongs in Beef or not, so sorry if it should have been somewhere else :V)
So over the past few months it has come to my attention that TSC needs a little help. Maybe more than a little help, I don't know. This is something I've been meaning to write for a while, but I had been putting it off for I wasn't really sure how to get a coherent message across; I also just didn't have the energy. After a private conversation last night with a friend of mine who is very involved with the site, my interest in the topic was sparked up again and I think I'm finally able to make sense of what the site is in need of. I'll try to keep this more organized than a colossal mish-mash of opinions so that hopefully some of you will understand it and add your own insights into the matter. (Also, I am aware that topic have been made before, but not since a year and a half back at least.)
Now, perhaps I'm not the best person to present this analysis as I have only been around since September of last year, but I've gathered quite a bit of info about what TSC was once like just by looking at old forum topics alone. The key difference I noticed between old TSC and, say, post-2009 TSC was that old TSC had more of a community feel to it. Not only were the forums significantly more active with a lot of authority figures around, it seemed like more of a social thing. There were a lot of different forum topics in the past: topics about Sonic, about friend codes, about other games...heck, even those random nonsense Wikkity topics were fun. There were even leagues and tournaments scattered about to coincide with the competition. This is all stuff you'd expect to see in a community-driven forum, and it seemed like people were very outgoing and the site was bustling.
Nowadays, we barely even have a forum. The only activity we seem to get is Race Night topics and ATTN topics. The social presence in pretty much the entire site is all but gone, excluding the aforementioned Race Nights (which is a completely different beast with its own set of issues that I'd rather leave up to Hyper and FF to address at some other time), and even those don't see as much activity anymore. Even the IRC doesn't seem to be as active anymore from what I've heard. Granted, there are a few TSC related Skype groups with relatively involved members that tend to partake in typical fun conversations. The actual site, however, lacks any of this, and I think the lack of socialization/community interest is a key factor in why TSC is sort of going downhill. Even our social skills are getting worse; quite a few instances of drama have occurred due to simple misunderstandings.
Even so, the lack of a social scene isn't something that I can enforce to be changed; I can't just start forcing people to make forum topics. The inactivity of the forum compared to what it once was is merely an observation that I think would help TSC if it were to change. An even bigger problem with TSC nowadays that DOES need a lot of attention is that virtually nobody is running the place. Every single admin on this site more or less no longer cares about it and only pops in occasionally to lurk and/or deal with certain things. I haven't seen any admin besides Thorn do anything related to the site in ages. To be fair, I don't even KNOW any of the admins besides Thorn, but I do know that some have considered stepping down if they haven't already done so or are just plain inactive. This isn't necessarily their fault, though. I completely understand that people have lives and attending to a gaming forum is not a priority, so the point of this is not to get old admins to come back. The point of this subject is to draw attention to the fact that people are desperately needed right now (I'll elaborate more on this down the line). Thorn does not seem to have much interest besides taking care of a few things in the background, and I know he has his reasons, but I won't delve into that. We'll come back to the forum admin issue in a short while, but for now I'd like to remind you all that a key issue here is the distinct lack of a site developer. GerbilSoft, as far as I know, cannot constantly attend to the site and it usually takes a bit of effort to get him to work on something. I have never spoken to him besides a few times a couple years back in the Sonic Retro IRC (though I doubt he remembers me) so I do not know this for a fact, but either way, we could certainly use a more active programmer. Many parts of the site are outdated and could use a bit of tidying up, like the Time Machine and some site layout related stuff. The issue is that I and at least everyone I've talked to has no idea who could fill this role. There is no clear solution to this at the moment, but I at least would like to make you all aware in case anyone has an idea.
With the programming issue aside, though, what about potential forum admins? As I said before, the current ones have lost most interest besides stepping in to stop some drama from time to time. This leads our current global mod Flying Fox to take care of most everything, and as a lot of us can see from the marathon preparations, it's taken a toll on her, not to mention she has many more personal matters to attend to. With that being said--and this returns to the point I was making in the previous paragraph--some room needs to be made for new people to step up and moderate the forum. The most obvious choices would be those in the Broseidon group, though few of those are actually around, which severely limits our options here. That being said, there are a few people outside that group that I think would make good admins, but I'm not going to list people off. Either way, I can name a few people from both groups that are dedicated enough to the site to moderate it, but the problem is that I don't think any of the current admins would promote them. I have my reasons for believing this, but I'm not going to announce them publicly, though I'd be glad if an admin were to step in to prove me wrong.
The bottom line here is that TSC is changing and I believe the admins should take into consideration that some new admins should be added, or if that's too much, at least give a select few people the global mod position. I know there are a few people on this site--"purists", if you will--that don't approve the direction the site is taking, the way newer members act, the way situations are handled, etc. To that, I say you have two options. Either the current admins need to put in some more effort on the site and stop just lurking around, or roll with the way the community is changing and give those members who are more active nowadays the ability to make authoritative decisions. I believe the second option is more viable, as it is probably rude to plead the current admins who have their own lives to provide for the site when there are quite a few others who are active and dedicated. However, if the current team of admins does not at least formally address this situation themselves, nothing much is going to happen. This is the main reason I am creating this clusterfuck of a topic in the first place, to perhaps shed some light on the issue in order to get some people a bit more motivated to make a little difference.
To be perfectly frank, though, a lot of this stuff is completely out of my control. I am but a young girl who still hasn't even found her place here, but if there's one thing I do have, it's ambition. I like this site and I like the people I've gotten to know here a lot, and I don't want to see the site slowly die off when I've barely even been here. I mean, there are still enough people interested in the competition even though it's not as active as it used be. There have also been ideas for tournaments and other assorted ideas for the site sprinkled around, so there IS a drive to sort of revive the site, but apparently majority of the general userbase hasn't responded enough to take action. My hopes are that this topic will at least get people to speak out in order to help the site and open up to fresh ideas that come about. As I said before, I have no control over what people decide, and I can't force people to come up with ideas or help out. I can only encourage those that still care about the site to brainstorm a bit or at least let us know that they have a desire to see the site keep going. We might not be able to get the site to live up to its early 2000's glory, but as long as our members are willing to put some time and thoughts in, there's a chance that we could at least up the activity level a bit and maybe even go back to being more of a connected community.
Am I trying to start a revolution here? Not really. I don't want to come off like I'm angry at the current team of admins for not doing much, but rather would like to see them pass on their duties to some others (emphasis on SOME, I don't think pushing it all on to one person is a good idea right now) if they aren't interested anymore. I also want other members to respond to this topic with their input/opinions on the matter, perhaps some ideas for the site, or maybe inform us of someone they know who can program for the site.
This post is becoming more and more discombobulated, isn't it? I tend to ramble and derail things sometimes. I'm going to wrap this up shortly as I don't have much more to say; hopefully this has provided a bit of insight for you all into the state of the site and what you could potentially do to help it back to its feet. I know for a fact that those of you who care are out there, and hopefully the upcoming marathon will attract some new faces, too. And please, to both the admins and the general userbase, try to be as tolerant as you can of the attitude of members and ideas that circulate around here from now on. A lot of arguments have been caused from intolerance of some peoples' approaches to things in the recent past, and any of that from now on is not going to help us.
With all of that (hopefully sensical) stuff being said, I will leave the rest of you to decide where the site goes next. What are your ideas for the site, and how can we fix the problems I've presented? Every opinion counts!
(And as a final note, if you need something I've written here clarified, don't be afraid to ask what the hell I'm talking about. I can be a bit of a flabbergasted dumbass at times when it comes to this sort of stuff :V)
So over the past few months it has come to my attention that TSC needs a little help. Maybe more than a little help, I don't know. This is something I've been meaning to write for a while, but I had been putting it off for I wasn't really sure how to get a coherent message across; I also just didn't have the energy. After a private conversation last night with a friend of mine who is very involved with the site, my interest in the topic was sparked up again and I think I'm finally able to make sense of what the site is in need of. I'll try to keep this more organized than a colossal mish-mash of opinions so that hopefully some of you will understand it and add your own insights into the matter. (Also, I am aware that topic have been made before, but not since a year and a half back at least.)
Now, perhaps I'm not the best person to present this analysis as I have only been around since September of last year, but I've gathered quite a bit of info about what TSC was once like just by looking at old forum topics alone. The key difference I noticed between old TSC and, say, post-2009 TSC was that old TSC had more of a community feel to it. Not only were the forums significantly more active with a lot of authority figures around, it seemed like more of a social thing. There were a lot of different forum topics in the past: topics about Sonic, about friend codes, about other games...heck, even those random nonsense Wikkity topics were fun. There were even leagues and tournaments scattered about to coincide with the competition. This is all stuff you'd expect to see in a community-driven forum, and it seemed like people were very outgoing and the site was bustling.
Nowadays, we barely even have a forum. The only activity we seem to get is Race Night topics and ATTN topics. The social presence in pretty much the entire site is all but gone, excluding the aforementioned Race Nights (which is a completely different beast with its own set of issues that I'd rather leave up to Hyper and FF to address at some other time), and even those don't see as much activity anymore. Even the IRC doesn't seem to be as active anymore from what I've heard. Granted, there are a few TSC related Skype groups with relatively involved members that tend to partake in typical fun conversations. The actual site, however, lacks any of this, and I think the lack of socialization/community interest is a key factor in why TSC is sort of going downhill. Even our social skills are getting worse; quite a few instances of drama have occurred due to simple misunderstandings.
Even so, the lack of a social scene isn't something that I can enforce to be changed; I can't just start forcing people to make forum topics. The inactivity of the forum compared to what it once was is merely an observation that I think would help TSC if it were to change. An even bigger problem with TSC nowadays that DOES need a lot of attention is that virtually nobody is running the place. Every single admin on this site more or less no longer cares about it and only pops in occasionally to lurk and/or deal with certain things. I haven't seen any admin besides Thorn do anything related to the site in ages. To be fair, I don't even KNOW any of the admins besides Thorn, but I do know that some have considered stepping down if they haven't already done so or are just plain inactive. This isn't necessarily their fault, though. I completely understand that people have lives and attending to a gaming forum is not a priority, so the point of this is not to get old admins to come back. The point of this subject is to draw attention to the fact that people are desperately needed right now (I'll elaborate more on this down the line). Thorn does not seem to have much interest besides taking care of a few things in the background, and I know he has his reasons, but I won't delve into that. We'll come back to the forum admin issue in a short while, but for now I'd like to remind you all that a key issue here is the distinct lack of a site developer. GerbilSoft, as far as I know, cannot constantly attend to the site and it usually takes a bit of effort to get him to work on something. I have never spoken to him besides a few times a couple years back in the Sonic Retro IRC (though I doubt he remembers me) so I do not know this for a fact, but either way, we could certainly use a more active programmer. Many parts of the site are outdated and could use a bit of tidying up, like the Time Machine and some site layout related stuff. The issue is that I and at least everyone I've talked to has no idea who could fill this role. There is no clear solution to this at the moment, but I at least would like to make you all aware in case anyone has an idea.
With the programming issue aside, though, what about potential forum admins? As I said before, the current ones have lost most interest besides stepping in to stop some drama from time to time. This leads our current global mod Flying Fox to take care of most everything, and as a lot of us can see from the marathon preparations, it's taken a toll on her, not to mention she has many more personal matters to attend to. With that being said--and this returns to the point I was making in the previous paragraph--some room needs to be made for new people to step up and moderate the forum. The most obvious choices would be those in the Broseidon group, though few of those are actually around, which severely limits our options here. That being said, there are a few people outside that group that I think would make good admins, but I'm not going to list people off. Either way, I can name a few people from both groups that are dedicated enough to the site to moderate it, but the problem is that I don't think any of the current admins would promote them. I have my reasons for believing this, but I'm not going to announce them publicly, though I'd be glad if an admin were to step in to prove me wrong.
The bottom line here is that TSC is changing and I believe the admins should take into consideration that some new admins should be added, or if that's too much, at least give a select few people the global mod position. I know there are a few people on this site--"purists", if you will--that don't approve the direction the site is taking, the way newer members act, the way situations are handled, etc. To that, I say you have two options. Either the current admins need to put in some more effort on the site and stop just lurking around, or roll with the way the community is changing and give those members who are more active nowadays the ability to make authoritative decisions. I believe the second option is more viable, as it is probably rude to plead the current admins who have their own lives to provide for the site when there are quite a few others who are active and dedicated. However, if the current team of admins does not at least formally address this situation themselves, nothing much is going to happen. This is the main reason I am creating this clusterfuck of a topic in the first place, to perhaps shed some light on the issue in order to get some people a bit more motivated to make a little difference.
To be perfectly frank, though, a lot of this stuff is completely out of my control. I am but a young girl who still hasn't even found her place here, but if there's one thing I do have, it's ambition. I like this site and I like the people I've gotten to know here a lot, and I don't want to see the site slowly die off when I've barely even been here. I mean, there are still enough people interested in the competition even though it's not as active as it used be. There have also been ideas for tournaments and other assorted ideas for the site sprinkled around, so there IS a drive to sort of revive the site, but apparently majority of the general userbase hasn't responded enough to take action. My hopes are that this topic will at least get people to speak out in order to help the site and open up to fresh ideas that come about. As I said before, I have no control over what people decide, and I can't force people to come up with ideas or help out. I can only encourage those that still care about the site to brainstorm a bit or at least let us know that they have a desire to see the site keep going. We might not be able to get the site to live up to its early 2000's glory, but as long as our members are willing to put some time and thoughts in, there's a chance that we could at least up the activity level a bit and maybe even go back to being more of a connected community.
Am I trying to start a revolution here? Not really. I don't want to come off like I'm angry at the current team of admins for not doing much, but rather would like to see them pass on their duties to some others (emphasis on SOME, I don't think pushing it all on to one person is a good idea right now) if they aren't interested anymore. I also want other members to respond to this topic with their input/opinions on the matter, perhaps some ideas for the site, or maybe inform us of someone they know who can program for the site.
This post is becoming more and more discombobulated, isn't it? I tend to ramble and derail things sometimes. I'm going to wrap this up shortly as I don't have much more to say; hopefully this has provided a bit of insight for you all into the state of the site and what you could potentially do to help it back to its feet. I know for a fact that those of you who care are out there, and hopefully the upcoming marathon will attract some new faces, too. And please, to both the admins and the general userbase, try to be as tolerant as you can of the attitude of members and ideas that circulate around here from now on. A lot of arguments have been caused from intolerance of some peoples' approaches to things in the recent past, and any of that from now on is not going to help us.
With all of that (hopefully sensical) stuff being said, I will leave the rest of you to decide where the site goes next. What are your ideas for the site, and how can we fix the problems I've presented? Every opinion counts!
(And as a final note, if you need something I've written here clarified, don't be afraid to ask what the hell I'm talking about. I can be a bit of a flabbergasted dumbass at times when it comes to this sort of stuff :V)
16
TSC Race Night / Re: Sonic's Birthday Race
« on: June 15, 2014, 06:33:05 pm »
Still probably not gonna do this, but just in case:
S1: 1, 2
Gens: 5
S1: 1, 2
Gens: 5
17
TSC Race Night / Re: Sonic's Birthday Race
« on: June 09, 2014, 04:32:53 pm »
S1/Gens. Fuck every other game on this list.
18
News and Updates / Re: TSC Marathon 2014
« on: May 05, 2014, 07:45:41 pm »
There are at least a few games on this list I could potentially do, but as for games not on the list, SRB2 single player? I personally would play as Tails. Maybe wads for donation incentives? Not sure who'd want to do those though lol
19
General Sonic / Re: Rank your favorite Sonic games that you have played
« on: April 25, 2014, 04:02:28 pm »
Bored, have a top five.
5. A big ol' tie between Sonic 2, Pocket Adventure (surprisingly good for such an obscure game), S3K (a true classic but a fucking marathon), and Sonic Advance
4. Sonic CD 2011 (AKA the first game I didn't suck at)
3. The Sonic 4 games, particularly E2 but they're all fun
2. Sonic Lost World (so addicted to this game, gets a bad rep for no real reason and the Deadly Six are the greatest new characters in over a decade. Go ahead, shoot me)
1. Sonic Generations (A really fun game even though I don't talk about it too much. I'd play it way more if I didn't suck at competing in it, but seriously, this game is PACKED with content and it's pretty much everything Unleashed and Colors did but better)
As for the other games...well, I enjoy most of the spinoffs (except Black Knight, Spinball, Labyrinth and sorta Secret Rings) though I haven't played them all. Most of the 2D sidescrollers are also really good, I even like Sonic 1 if I'm in the right mood. Colors is okay. I don't have enough experience with Unleashed to judge, but it doesn't interest me much. Haven't played Rivals or the Rush series yet and I don't think I need to.
3D Blast, SADX (except Tails story), SA2B, the majority of Heroes, Shadow and the majority of 06 can all go suck it. Tails spinoffs aren't too amazing either.
5. A big ol' tie between Sonic 2, Pocket Adventure (surprisingly good for such an obscure game), S3K (a true classic but a fucking marathon), and Sonic Advance
4. Sonic CD 2011 (AKA the first game I didn't suck at)
3. The Sonic 4 games, particularly E2 but they're all fun
2. Sonic Lost World (so addicted to this game, gets a bad rep for no real reason and the Deadly Six are the greatest new characters in over a decade. Go ahead, shoot me)
1. Sonic Generations (A really fun game even though I don't talk about it too much. I'd play it way more if I didn't suck at competing in it, but seriously, this game is PACKED with content and it's pretty much everything Unleashed and Colors did but better)
As for the other games...well, I enjoy most of the spinoffs (except Black Knight, Spinball, Labyrinth and sorta Secret Rings) though I haven't played them all. Most of the 2D sidescrollers are also really good, I even like Sonic 1 if I'm in the right mood. Colors is okay. I don't have enough experience with Unleashed to judge, but it doesn't interest me much. Haven't played Rivals or the Rush series yet and I don't think I need to.
3D Blast, SADX (except Tails story), SA2B, the majority of Heroes, Shadow and the majority of 06 can all go suck it. Tails spinoffs aren't too amazing either.
20
News and Updates / Re: New rules regarding emulators
« on: April 02, 2014, 05:35:14 pm »emulators that are truley being targeted here
Okay, this just makes this rule sound even more bullshit. If you're "truly" targeting certain emulators, why is this rule applied to ALL emulators?
21
News and Updates / Re: New rules regarding emulators
« on: April 02, 2014, 04:38:55 pm »
I suppose I might as well put my incredibly lacking two cents in. It's not like I have anything to lose.
I have a sort of small argument that is more about me but other people might have this problem. The ideal form of proof would be a video, but what if recording makes the emulator run SLOWER? That's definitely happened to me on streaming, and if the issue here is that you can "gain an unfair advantage due to having a wider window to react to things with", how do you provide proof AND keep full speed in this case? Can't expect everyone to have perfect computers.
I don't have many other legitimate arguments, but I definitely do disagree with this. It takes away the freedom that made TSC what it is.
I have a sort of small argument that is more about me but other people might have this problem. The ideal form of proof would be a video, but what if recording makes the emulator run SLOWER? That's definitely happened to me on streaming, and if the issue here is that you can "gain an unfair advantage due to having a wider window to react to things with", how do you provide proof AND keep full speed in this case? Can't expect everyone to have perfect computers.
I don't have many other legitimate arguments, but I definitely do disagree with this. It takes away the freedom that made TSC what it is.
22
TSC Race Night / Re: Race Night 56: Sonic Pocket Adventure
« on: February 02, 2014, 07:40:42 pm »
Goal 1 obviously. Emeralds are for scrubs.
I can probably do this with enough practice, or I can pull a Don and race blind :P
I can probably do this with enough practice, or I can pull a Don and race blind :P
23
General Sonic / Re: A Sonic Game Dream.
« on: January 13, 2014, 04:18:35 pm »
This is TSC gold, this topic. Right here.
Is this whole "my dreams seriously actually come true real talk not BSing at all" really a big deal? Just have fun inside your dream and leave it at that :P
Is this whole "my dreams seriously actually come true real talk not BSing at all" really a big deal? Just have fun inside your dream and leave it at that :P
24
News and Updates / Re: TSC Twitch Team!
« on: December 27, 2013, 01:29:32 pm »
www.twitch.tv/kirbymon30
I can't stream yet, but when I get my PC this weekend OBS (or XSplit if that fails) is going to be one of the first things I set up, so might as well have a team :P
I can't stream yet, but when I get my PC this weekend OBS (or XSplit if that fails) is going to be one of the first things I set up, so might as well have a team :P
25
Beef / Re: ATTN: DarkspinesSonic
« on: December 25, 2013, 10:39:56 am »
This guy Don is too good! lel
Merry Christmas, mah friends <3
Merry Christmas, mah friends <3
26
Wikkity! / Re: Here is a video game riddle I made up
« on: December 14, 2013, 12:56:27 pm »
Is this really that hard? Chicken, obviously. Because everyone who submits false stats is a big, dumb, fat chicken, too cowardly to admit it. *smirk*
27
TSC Race Night / Re: Race Night feedback for 2014!
« on: December 05, 2013, 04:31:17 pm »
Two races in one day could work, but it would have to be carried out carefully. Time constraints are probably the biggest reason people can't join (myself included).
Personally, I think that a 2 PM or 3PM race followed by a 6PM or 7PM race would work, but the latter race should be a shorter game than the former. This is mostly to address the issues of Europeans/Australians where it's around midnight for them, and for the younger and/or busier racers who simply cannot be racing at 9-10PM. I do realize that quite a few of us are older Americans, but many young teenagers have popped up as of lately (again, myself included).
I probably sound like I'm just talking about myself right now, but others have had pretty much the same problem.
Now, I may not be interpreting this correctly, but Hyper has a point--with two races in one day, overcrowding could become an issue, especially with the more popular games like Generations. He also mentioned that there may not be as many people as expected.
If the 2 races a day thing doesn't work, I suggest Friday/Saturday races or Saturday/Sunday races. How we'd sort the times out in that case might take some thinking, but it could work.
Personally, I think that a 2 PM or 3PM race followed by a 6PM or 7PM race would work, but the latter race should be a shorter game than the former. This is mostly to address the issues of Europeans/Australians where it's around midnight for them, and for the younger and/or busier racers who simply cannot be racing at 9-10PM. I do realize that quite a few of us are older Americans, but many young teenagers have popped up as of lately (again, myself included).
I probably sound like I'm just talking about myself right now, but others have had pretty much the same problem.
Now, I may not be interpreting this correctly, but Hyper has a point--with two races in one day, overcrowding could become an issue, especially with the more popular games like Generations. He also mentioned that there may not be as many people as expected.
If the 2 races a day thing doesn't work, I suggest Friday/Saturday races or Saturday/Sunday races. How we'd sort the times out in that case might take some thinking, but it could work.
28
TSC Race Night / Re: Games to race for 2014
« on: December 04, 2013, 06:42:42 pm »
Well, besides the obvious eventual addition of Lost World (both versions, I guess)...hm, tricky one. I don't have much of a problem with the current list even though I suck at every game in existence. Although I haven't seen many of the newer handheld titles circulating around...I mean, I know I haven't been here for terribly long, but nobody's talked about the Advance/Rush series or DS/3DS versions of Colors/Generations. I don't have all of those, but they could make for some fun races. And if we're feeling really gutsy...Free Riders! :P
29
Wikkity! / Re: Predictions for 2014!!!
« on: December 01, 2013, 06:37:48 pm »
Aiming for Top 10 CD 11 this year :)
Besides that life will suck DansGame
Besides that life will suck DansGame
30
TSC Race Night / Re: Race Night feedback for 2014!
« on: November 25, 2013, 04:47:25 pm »You've brought up a good point. The hacks are getting more popular, and if it keeps up we might be able to see the Sonic hacks in this very site. Not that it matters because more Sonic games are being made by you-know-who. Though I don't have any hacked Sonic games, they're starting to get my interest as well.
There used to be an unofficial TSC from what I heard, which included both hacks and fangames. If fangames/hacks were to have leaderboards again, that board would probably get revived as well.
As for improvements to the current RN system, I can't really think of anything. The only problem I have is with the times, but that's more of a personal issue because I keep being busy on Saturday nights and/or dinner makes me lose time. Not sure what more can be done with the time considering that I'm not the only person here, though.
I think the hacks are in fact popular because they're unique and different, sort of like what Hyper said. Hacks are popular all over the web because a lot of people like the different ideas within them. If you'd like some advice, hacks that implement entirely new mechanics prove to be more popular than hacks that add level layouts, characters, or even combinations of the two. I'd recommend checking out hacks Sonic VR or Jester's Challenge, for example, as those are very interesting hacks. Not sure that all of them are easy to race, but it's an idea.
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