Site Update, April 12th
Forgotten Treasures
If you've stepped away from ForgeHub for a few days and haven't seen yet, a week ago we proudly announced the kick-off of our first Sandbox-centered contest. Forgotten Treasures is a remake contest focused on Halo CE & Halo 2 multiplayer maps. Check out more information about it HERE. Please make sure you read the FAQ as well.
And if you are already aware of the contest, please make sure you follow the correct submission format, found HERE, and remember to get your remakes in by May 14th! We're very excited to see just how accurate our forgers can get.
Photographers Inc.
Congratulations to Omniknight for winning the recent Photographers Inc. Contest with his awesome screenshot Sunset. There were several really good ones, and the choice definitely wasn't easy. Be sure you congratulate him, and be on the lookout for more screenshot-related contests very soon!
http://haloscreenshots.net/gallery/04ED16C336193B29FCA47A8D904C8158/
Download
Promotions/Demotions
As ForgeHub changes with the seasons, several members have been shifting around in their respective positions as of late. Insane54 has been temporarily promoted to Admin to help with some of the day-to-day for a bit. Roche and thesilencebroken have returned to their Moderator positions, and the Staff is happy to welcome TransactionZero to the rank of Journalist. A big thanks goes out to some of FH's finest staffers who have since retired: Matty & Iv0ry Snak3 have returned to Premium status, and Pegasi Delta, Creep1ng De4th & Linubidix have stepped back down to Guardian.
Thread Bumping
Lately, the staff have been noticing a trend in map threads where the map's creator has the last post on the thread, and will delete their own post just so that they can post again on their own map and send it back to the top of page 1. This tacky tactic is unfair to newer maps, and will not be tolerated. The staff sees what's going on, and we are watching like hawks. So don't say we didn't warn you if you sign on one day and find yourself with a shiny new permanent infraction :)
New Map Rating Settings
There's been a great change to the way maps are rated in the map's forums, which most may not have even noticed as of yet. Now, it takes two unique ratings for a map's rating to show up. So a rating right off the bat will yield no visual rating until someone else rates the map 1-5 stars. This measure was taken to offer an overall more accurate temperature of the communities thoughts on maps. No longer can a forger release their maps in the forums then immediately give it a 5 star rating on their own. This will help us get a more accurate temperature of the community's visual feedback to maps in general, but remember to not rate until you have downloaded and played the map!
Hidden Gems
With a wealth of new maps flooding the forums as of late, we thought we'd share a few cool ones we've found along the way. Make sure you check out Ancient Ruins, Enhanced, Mausouleum, Locked Out, & Charged. This is just a tiny taste of the awesomeness we're already seeing come out of Sandbox, and needless to say we are VERY anxious to see what is to come. Cheers guys, and keep the great maps coming!
And now, a word from Sarge regarding the Off-Topic Section
There are many misconceptions prevalent in the minds of community members regarding the purpose of the lenient section of the forums, often leading to punishment and dissension. As a result, a lengthy address to the general populace is necessary, and thus, this clarification was born.
Rather than sum up what off-topic is, it would be better to provide a global, temporal context of the section so that everyone may see the evolution behind the implementation of a new system to deal with it.
What it was.
At its conception, the Off-Topic section was thought (correctly at the time) to be a no-holds-barred arena for thoughts, leaving any type of spam, promotion and flame war truly unchecked by the moderating masses. It was meant to be the trash can section of the productive forum that is Forge Hub, any dispute, any idiocy that one wished to purge, was wrought there, and frolicked. As such, spam and overall ineptitude was kept to a minimum.
What it currently is.
The shift in thinking amongst the forum-goers came quickly and unexpectedly some time ago. Staff and conservative members alike bolstered down and started treating the rampant rule-inadequacies in Off-Topic as any other section of the site, albeit significantly more lenient in terms of infractions.
As it stands, spam is no longer treated with indifference, as it floods the pages and pushes noteworthy threads to the bottom. As such, infractions (permanent or otherwise) have started becoming more prevalent rather than simple verbal warnings, leaving any would-be spammer liable to warned-status.
However, to clarify what would make one succeptible to being punished, the term "spam thread" must be expanded upon.
There are three major types of threads:
There are the threads that deal with important matters (maps, news, site announcements, forge in general, etc).
There are the threads that are spam and serve no other purpose than to clog the forum.
Then there are those that are in the gray area. They are not as important, but contribute to some form of discussion, and having them all incorporated into a giant machine like the PPC that moves at 1000mph would be unfitting for such topics.
Now, the first type of thread is found throughout the site.
The second type of thread is found throughout as well, but more common in some places than others (Off-Topic according to some)
The third type is virtually exclusive to Off-Topic.
Whenever there is a small or extremely specific discourse posted in General Chat, or Gaming Discussion, it gets moved to Off-Topic. Does that mean its spam? No. Does that mean its a lesser being as opposed to other threads? No.
What it may be.
Gone. Kaput. It would be relegated to merely a faint memory, and that would prove detrimental to the site.
The "gray area" threads would have no proper place, treated as spam in the proposed "more lenient General Chat", and the mere thought of such a situation is rather depressing.
What to do.
The case of Off-Topic relates to the adage "a few bad apples ruin the whole bunch"
A few members abuse the notion of a free-forum for anything, which, as shown above, is untrue, and as such contribute to the downfall of an integral portion of the site.
However, there are ways to prevent the Off-Topic apocalypse:
Report spam threads.
Inform the author of the thread why their thread is considered spam and teach them how to improve their behavior.
Make use of the Post-Party Countdown for any spam-related tendencies you may have. In that specific thread, spam infractions take a backseat in the minds of moderators, so play there if you must. But remember that all other forum rules still apply here.
If the attitude-shift is present in all members that frequent that forum, then the site won't ultimately degrade into a state of anarchy, as witnessed by the April Fool's Day endeavor in which Off-Topic was outsourced to another site.
In short, follow the rules, and all will be well.
Til Next Time
Wait, that was a tad bit more than just a word, Sarge! I kid, I kid. Thats it from us for a bit Hubbers. Thanks for reading. Now get to forging!!