Zelaron needs changes

I cannot bare to see Zelaron die. I am coming back and there is a very simple way to get members. WoW or World of Warcraft. People are going crazy over it. I don't know if this was already said.... i didnt read all of the posts.

Okay, first of all, it appears that some of you think that I want an admin position really badly. Trust me, I don't. At this point, I would not make a good admin. Though I love Zelaron dearly, school is my first priority at this point (which is why it took me so long to respond), and I'm hounded with homework. Furthermore, I don't know PHP, so it completely defeats the purpose of me being an admin. All I would want to do as an admin is remove some of the rules that I and many members think are foolish to have, and perhaps implment a couple of hacks.

That said, I do believe we need one more admin on the technical side of things. WW, I understand your situation. I understand that after coding all day, you might not feel like doing it at home. I can see why it may take you a long time to put some of these ideas into play. But, another admin could solve this problem. Or if you don't want anyone else to have admin powers, perhaps you can select a designated coder, so we can speed things up a bit. Trust me, if this were summer, I'd go to Barnes and Nobels immediately, buy me a good book on PHP and dedicate myself to learning the Zelaron code, but as time is somewhat limited for me at this point, I can't do that. But if we find someone that can, it'd be nice.

Also, there were two things I was trying to accomplish in my original post. First of all, I was bringing the obvious to the staff's attention: Zelaron is constantly becoming less and less active, and something needs to be done about it before it's too late. Secondly, I was trying to give suggestions on how to make Zelaron a better place for the existing members. Many of you seem to be trying to draw a relationship between the two. Allow me to clear this up once and for all: There is no relationship between the two aforementioned points.

Consideration? No I didn't take the time to plan out the use of uShop then install and test it on my private server only to find that it was a bug-ridden stability nightmare, I just said that to shut you up . No, I'm not testing the new vBStats because you guys won't shut up about it. No, I won't give someone admin who appears to have vision because everyone was complaining about the way things were.....

Call me an idiot, but I'm not sure whether you were trying to be sarcastic there or not. I have a hunch that you were being sarcastic. If you were being sarcastic, then that's great. I appreciate your dedication, and I don't mean to gripe, but with you hectic schedule, I understand that some of these ideas may take a while to implement. That is all the more reason to have another admin, or a designated coder. On the other hand, if you weren't being sarcastic, then we're having some serious problems. That would mean that you would've once again completely overlooked any suggestions that a dedicated member may have. That would completely defeat the entire purpose of this thread. If that's the state that the Zelaron staff is in, then I suggest we get new staff, or at least add some people to it.

Pay for Zelaron, pay for Zelaron. WTF guys, Zelaron costs nothing. The licence lasts forever and it's running on a server that I own that I pay for co-location, that also is used for other things.

That news to me. I didn't know that Zelaron didn't cost anything. Still, I would assume that adcertising it would cost a bit, in which case I'm willing to donate to the cause, if it is required. Just letting you guys know.

First of all, slaynishs comment about this making chruser lots of money? Well he does not know anything. Problem with this forum? Simple, not enough active members. The biggest reason? D2 is dying. We have not been able to pull the crowds of any of the other major games and we have tried. This is not really a problem with the staff, ww could install a billion hacks and change the rules but that will not bring active members.

Understood. In fact, if you look to one of my first three paragraphs in this post, I agree with you. New hacks aren't going to get new activity. They might make this place more enticing to the older members, though. And, again, I agree that the biggest problem here is not enough new members. That's the problem. It needs to be solved. Now, I suggest making another thread, or just posting here, brainstorming ideas on how we may go about solving that problem. That much can be accomplished. Just brainstorming. Members, please post your ideas.

How many of you can honestly say you are Less busy in life today then you were when zelaron was really popular? I would bet most of us are older, and we all have more responsibilitys and prioritys and Zelaron is not as big as it used to be. Zelaron is starting to feel more and more like that old friend you grew up with that you dont really hang out with anymore because you have new friends (prioritys now), you would still help them if they need you or lend them money if you could but you just dont hang out a lot anymore. Or even, how many of you can even say you spend more time playing games now then you did when zelaron was popular? Slaynish dosent count because hes always for some reason been 12 years old (I dont know how that is possible).

I understand what you are saying. Many of you are more busy with life and stuff today then you were a couple of years ago, and Zelaron is not as high of a priority. But for some of us, it still is. For those few of us, I think Zelaron should be kept alive, and if the staff doesn't place as high of a priority on Zelaron, then lets bring in new staff who does. Lets bring in staff that can rejuvinate this place. I'm not saying it's going to work miracles, but an active staff which places high priority on the forums usually helps.

Also, I know we have heard people say how they will make zelaron better then ever if they are admined, and we know enough that its just hot air. You cannot cause tons of active members to join if we make you admin, you can get active members to join just as well as a member as you can as an admin and if you dont feel like doing it unless you are admin, then you obviously dont care about zelaron as a community anyway.

Once again, I don't want admin. I want someone who can install hacks and such, but that's it. It's not going to draw in new members, but it'll make this place more fun for older members.

Also, I'm completely willing to try and bring in new members, but I want the staff to atleast acknowledge what I'm saying first, and say that they're behind me on this. I could go out and spam forums/IRC channels/Newsgroups if I have the time.

I don't agree on this. If I see a board, with a cool exclusive hack, I register and see what it's like. If I like it, I go scrolling around the forums, see how it's like.

Death, I can somewhat agree with you on this. I do think hacks make forums cooler, but the topmost factor in getting members is getting them to come to the forums first. I think we have enough eye candy to get people to stay.

Also, a new motivated, devoted Admin could get more active members, I'm sure. If you, for example, get a new Admin who already administrates 1, 2 or 3 other forums, he can advertise on his own forums, about Zelaron.

That may bring in a few members, but nothing extensive. I don't thiink a new admin is really going to help draw activity. He might make the forums cooler, though.

I still think my idea for an IRC channel on gamesurge or something like that could draw new members. Didn't we use to have a CS forum? Why dont we run a CS server. Not sure how WW is hosting this or if the ping would be any good but. If its possible we should look into it.

How would IRC draw in new members? IRC may be cool for older members, but as said above, almost nobody used our old channel.

As for a CS server, I've wanted to have one, but I don't want to do it untill I can afford to upgrade the server. One of the people who uses my box for webhosting is considering putting up a CS box, though, so we may be able to have one.

That would be pretty cool. I don't know how many play CS, but we could certainly advertise that to get people here, and it would make it cooler for the current members who play CS also.

It was suggested but just as quickly dismissed since no one kept talking about it. But ya the game rules! And the older it gets the more info we will get on it, hopefully the more people will join. I don't think Zel's gunna die, I just think it will always go through swings of activity.

Edit:

I've been wondering why we don't have all the old threads in the forums such as SC/BW and Warcraft3 and Square Enix. Even though we don't read the threads anymore, though still contained usefull info(some of them)to our new members.

Yes, mj, I was being sarcastic. The last part reffered to hiring Titus.

Some of you seem to mistake the role of admin. The role of an admin on this board is to be an admin on the board, to manage rules, help out members and mods, etc; not to code. While I appreciate the offers of help, I am afraid that it wouldn't be very useful. From vB2, we've seen that just applying whatever random hack looks cool ultimately does more harm than good; we ended up with a 6 month old board because if we upgraded, there was no telling what would work and what would not nor what we would notice right away and what would go unnoticed for a long time. Sure, I could easily just install all the hacks you guys ask for, but I'd rather test them and inspect them first, and consider their risks and merits. Also, it is important to have one person with all the information to retain the state of the code from version to version. Right now, I am waiting for Chruser to grab the latest version of vB for me so that I can install it; I can say with certainty that I have everything I need to easily apply all the current hacks to it, because I am managing that information better now.

I agree with you on almost everything.

I like your idea about the designated coder part.
There is still the rank "Advisor", that might be a suitable rank for the people coding hacks for this board.

As I said before, a "private" hack team would be cool, not only for the fact that we would code hacks for Zelaron, but it's also educational for the other members.

If I was you, I wouldn't buy on of those books, they mostly only learn you the PHP basics, and most of those aren't even used in vBulletin.

Edited by WetWired

http://zelaron.com/forum/faq.php?faq=rules#faq_rules_warez

As I also said before, bringing ads to the forum might not be a bad idea.
With a very simple conditional, you can make the ads guest only.
Some less-lazy guests will register, which is good.
The others (lazy ones) will just not register, and get Zelaron money.

Yes, mj, I was being sarcastic. The last part reffered to hiring Titus. Some of you seem to mistake the role of admin. The role of an admin on this board is to be an admin on the board, to manage rules, help out members and mods, etc; not to code. While I appreciate the offers of help, I am afraid that it wouldn't be very useful. From vB2, we've seen that just applying whatever random hack looks cool ultimately does more harm than good; we ended up with a 6 month old board because if we upgraded, there was no telling what would work and what would not nor what we would notice right away and what would go unnoticed for a long time. Sure, I could easily just install all the hacks you guys ask for, but I'd rather test them and inspect them first, and consider their risks and merits. Also, it is important to have one person with all the information to retain the state of the code from version to version. Right now, I am waiting for Chruser to grab the latest version of vB for me so that I can install it; I can say with certainty that I have everything I need to easily apply all the current hacks to it, because I am managing that information better now.

I have a very usefull tool.
It's called Araxis Merge, and with that software, you can compare 2 PHP files, and make the edits if necisairy.(sp?)
With this, you can upgrade a fully hacked board in just 30 minutes.
You can get a free demo, search download.com for it

You might already know this program though, heh.

If you want, I can set you up with the files needed for the upgrade, as Chrusher probably will need to pay another 30$ or something for the upgrade files, as you guys own a neverending license, and your members area has probably expired oO.

Upgrading from vB3 to vB4 (when it comes out) will always be a pain in the ass, even without any hacks installed.

As I said before, a "private" hack team would be cool, not only for the fact that we would code hacks for Zelaron, but it's also educational for the other members.

Whilst reading through all of this, this is the one idea that really caught my eye.

I think its a great idea. It also gives people the chance to become "Trainee Admins" if you will, and learn how to code properly etc.

If it is put into action, and the coding team do teach how to code, then I'll sign up straight away, and if I wasn't a member, I'd register, even if just for it.

That means alot of responsibilitys though, people having to be on at certain times, having to teach someone anything is difficult I'd imagine especially coding, and doing it over the internet would make it a bit more difficult since typing can get...confussing at times.

Not even by posting tutorials???

Or even a special coding forum...with it's own Mod. who knows coding etc???

Have a look at the RPG2K3 forum...something like that but for coding...

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A little idea of my own...

I've just posted some news on the PS3, and thought: 'This would be so much better if there was a PS3 forum to post this news in, rather than the PS2 forum'.

Or even a special coding forum...with it's own Mod. who knows coding etc???

We have a coding forum...

We have a coding forum...

So we do...my bad...haven't used it...or looked at it for a long time...so...

I've just posted some news on the PS3, and thought: 'This would be so much better if there was a PS3 forum to post this news in, rather than the PS2 forum'.

It might be better to wait for a forum, until the console actually comes out, since it will have hardly any activity. But I'm sure they will make one when it does.

Yes, when I used to pwn everyone two years ago, this board couldn't have been better. Hahahahaha!

Thanks .

I didn't really mean learning as in learning 1 to 1 on IM, but more like posting tutorials, and stuff.(like you said)

Also, there is some pretty good Web Conference software out there, so maybe once every 4 weeks or so the coding mods can hold a little conference, teaching some of the newer people.

Also, the members can learn from the code itself.
It will require clear coding, and basicly explaining most of the stuff you do with a comment line (which I normally do, because my Co-Admin isn't that intelligent, but hey, he pays the bills ).

I'll make a thread about this in the coding section, though.

EDIT: Here's the thread: http://www.zelaron.com/forum/showthr...306#post488306

Yes, when I used to pwn everyone two years ago, this board couldn't have been better. Hahahahaha!

Are you talking about the time I called your site a blatant maddox rip-off and you ran away crying?

Oh.

Free webhosting?? www.your-name.zelaron.com

Whenever I've been designing a website, I've always had trouble finding a webhotsing package that works.

If I wasn't signed up for the forums, or the vB hack team teaching me how to code...then this would catch my eye...

Because such a thing would be a cakewalk to manage, right? The only people with FTP access are people I trust. Keeps them out of trouble, keeps me out of trouble.

I'm not saying it would be easy.

Withmy extremely limited knowledge of these things, I'd say it would be pretty hard...

If not web hosting...then a free domain (such as www.freedomain.co.nr)???

Just a random thought...

The advertising you could put on both may be pretty good...if enough people sign up to it, and get enough people to look at their sites, then that's a hell of a lot of people seeing ads for Zelaron...

I'd've thought free domain would be easier to do than free web hosting, but, as I've said, I have not a damned clue about this...

Ugh. I still say go with IRC.

I don't care what happened last time. What the fuck is this thread about? If people are gonna suggest options just to have them shot down. Its not that hard to make a channel on a large network and advertise it. Unless you people are that lazy that you spend all of your energy complaining instead of trying to help out. I really dont see why this forum should stay alive if that is the case.

EDIT: Surge Jin was talking about this thread: http://zelaron.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15393

EDIT: Surge Jin was talking about this thread: http://zelaron.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15393

Why are you showing me this? I sometimes wonder if you're retarded..