Waking up mid-morning, birds chirp outside your second floor window, welcoming you to this day. Rising slowly to your feet, you turn to stretch, in hopes of hearing the recognizable pops and cracks that come straight from your vertebrae. Rays of sunshine beam into your eyes mid-rotation, temporarily blinding you as the oh-so sought after feeling of relief runs up your spine.
Heading down the stairs to your living room--the last known location of your laptop; some extra consciousness is put forward: morning grogginess combined with stairways and gravity have been known to ruin what would've been pleasant days in the past. Successfully relocating yourself to the sofa, which, some would note, has magical powers capable of delaying the most pressing of tasks when sat upon early in the morning, you open your laptop. It's always so pleased to see you return, greeting you with familiar sounds and surroundings.
It was at this point, that you redirected your browser of choice to ForgeHub.com, only to have your mind blown. Questions echoed throughout VM's and PM's alike voicing confusion regarding colours: "Why are there so many new mods?", "Orange exists on ForgeHub?", "Where did teh purpz go?!"; fear not, valued member, we'll be settling those questions here and now.
Welcome to the Site Update.
But First: Part I
Let's all take a few moments to reflect on everything that Stevo has done for this website. All joking aside, Stevo has decided that he would prefer to continue his ForgeHub related career outside of his Journalist position. We will miss you, mister Steve, we will miss you.
But First: Part II
From this point forward, any actions falling under the umbrella term 'backseat moderating' will be treated as spam. For example, if anyone sees a post that is not up to standards, do not take the liberty to correct the user. This is for moderators to deal. If you see a map thread that is not up to our standards, please report the thread in question and do not post. Again: 'backseat moderating' will be treated as spam.
About The Ranks: Part I - Staff Ranks
It's been a while now, a little over a week, I believe, that all of these changes were put forward, so you may already have your answers to said questions, however, it won't hurt to restate them anyway. Let's go over our ranks, shall we?
[l-col]Q: Who are the yellow people?
A: Forum Administrators. The Administrators do laborious work behind the scenes of ForgeHub to ensure that everything runs smoothly. They're the ones with all the power, they're the ones that direct all staff members, they're the ones whom of which have the answers to every question you can EVER think of (regarding our forums, of course).Q: Who are the orange people?
A: Moderators. Our moderators used to grace our forums with banhammers made of blue, but with our recent update they've taken a journey across the spectrum to what you see now; orange. Moderators are the ones who keep our streets clean, the police of ForgeHub.Q: Red?
A: Journalists. We journalists write for our beloved community solely for the love of writing. If no other staff members are online, feel free to send us your questions. We should have no problem answering it.Q: And the purple people?
A: Guardians. Guardians are basically moderators, they help ensure members are following rules and answer all sorts of questions. If you ever need help with anything, feel free to drop them a Visitor Message on their profile, or a personal message to their inbox.[/l-col][r-col]
Kajin - Technical Administrator
[/r-col]
About The Ranks: Part II - Community Prestige Ranks
[l-col]Q: I've seen other colours as well, I think one was blue?
A: Yes, there are a a few ranks which currently carry the colour of blue, achieved through the TRC Guild portion of ForgeHub, these community ranks are given to those that have put their fair amount of work forward in either the Tester's Guild, Review Hub, or the Custom's Lobby.[/l-col]
[r-col]Q: Wasn't there a brownish tan? Where did that go?
A: There was, but with this update we got rid of it! Well, replaced it, I suppose. All the members of our forum that have had at least three maps featured during Halo 3's lifetime now rock a green colour, and all of our members who've scored two map features in Halo: Reach have a similiar colour, but are bolded. Also take note that there has been a lot of speculation about the current colour choice for our Architects and Artisans--there is a chance that these colours may change yet again. [/r-col]
Alongside these changes take note that we've done away with the mindset behind the "Loyal" ranks.
Yes, of course you can still work through the Guilds to obtain your own coloured name, however, we've just refined it. Rather than "Tester's Guild Loyal", "Review Hub Loyal", or "Custom's Lobby Loyal"; we've changed the ranks to be "Guild Member: Tester's Guild", "Guild Member: Review Hub", and finally "Guild Member: TGIF Host". There hasn't been many changes regarding how to achieve each rank (we'll touch on that later), as, again, this is mainly just a terminology change.
For a full list of who belongs to each rank, please redirect your browser here.
The Review Hub
The Review Hub is the place to get thorough, painstakingly honest feedback from a multifaceted team of expert Halo: Reach players. ... Unfortunately, until October 1st, the review hub is denying any requests for map reviews. They'll still be trudging through the muck that is the THOUSANDS* of review requests that you guys have requested, pumping them out as if they were a machine ... that pumps things. Do you enjoy playing Halo? Do you enjoy giving honest and constructive feedback? Maybe the Review Hub will be the place for you to earn your blue! Details about how to join the Review Hub are contained on the other side of these letters.
First Tracks : 6.9/10 - That Scorch Guy, Sgt Surchin, Psychoduck, Organite
And now for a message from Organite, one of the leaders of the Review Hub.
While the Review Hub may help forgers improve future maps, it is by no means gauged at helping the author improve the reviewed map. Map reviews are a thorough critique of forged maps geared toward an audience of players, not builders. We are telling the community whether a map is worth the download or not. In referencing that, we feel that a growing sense of entitlement has arisen out of certain restrictions placed on our members, but we would like to reiterate that the review is not for you, map creator. It is for the larger community. While we may present ourselves as a service, we are more importantly a resource for others. This, however, does not mean that you're not allowed to use this feedback to improve your projects, it quite simply just means that we're a service for the public, not the individual.
If you ever have any suggestions about ways to improve the Review Hub, feel free to send it to either Organite or Tedium via Private Message.
*Number of review requests is likely not in the thousands.
The Tester's Guild
The Tester's Guild, what is there to say about our beloved Tester's Guild? One of the more obvious statements would be that of one that includes the simple fact that they test maps. Your maps, to be a hair more specific. From the moment that your map moves from an Alpha state to a Beta state, the Tester's Guild is at your disposal, ready and waiting for you to simply ask for feedback. Any type of map, be it competitive, casual, mini-game, infection, invasion, puzzle, obstacle course, or any combination of the lot of them, they'll test it. Feel that you want to help? Head over here and sign up, they're always looking for help! You may just earn yourself a shiny new rank.
TGIF TGIF TGIF!
[l-col]If you're even somewhat thinking the phrase: "What's a TGIF?", continue reading this paragraph. What you'll find is a that you may just stumble upon an excellently epic night of Halo: Reach Custom Games! "...That would be HRCG, wouldn't it? What's a TGIF??" Well, friend, allow me to elaborate. TGIF stands for "Thank God It's Forge-Day", of course! When members from our community come together to get in on some fiercely competitive, lolfully casual, "WAT"-educed minigames, or camptacular infection games! [/l-col]
[r-col]While the Site Update isn't the area that you sign up to play some TGIF games with other members, this is the place that you sign up to HOST a TGIF party. If you enjoy having large parties of awesome members from around the world, simply fill out the form below and send Pegasi a message. We'll be sure to announce your lobby in our next TGIF Article! Click here to view a past TGIF article.[/r-col][l-col]
[HOST'S PARTY NAME]
Host's Gamertag: [HOST'S GAMERTAG]
Start Time: [0:00pm EST]
End Time: [0:00pm EST]
Rules: [PARTY RULES]
Schedule:
[PARTY SCHEDULE]
[/l-col]
[r-col]
Requirements to obtain a TGIF Host rank.
Host four consecutive TGIFs (that's back to back for a grand total of four TGIFs spanning eight weeks)
Continue a party spans a minimum of two hours
Submit a recap of their TGIF which consists of:
A two paragraph write up
A minimum of two pictures from their TGIF
At least three download links of the maps they've played
[/r-col]
So, That Competition ...
http://www.astrogaming.com/We're officially into round five of our Throwdown Competition, and things are rolling smoothly! They are for everyone I have spoken to, at least. If you have any concerns regarding the competition, feel free to contact any staff member to try to settle it. Keep in mind that we may need PROOF of your discrepancies, ALWAYS keep the full length video of your tournament games until they're in the clear. As always, keep in mind we're still looking for media related to the Throwdown; videos, pictures, articles, anything related to the Throwdown competition and your pro-skills along the way is acceptable. Already have some excellent footage or photos? Feel free to send it to Noxiw or Reflex Ion:
Media: Video / Screenshot / Article / Illustration (Delete as appropriate)
Team Name:
Players in game: (If applicable)
Match played: (If applicable)
Link to match on Bungie.net: (If applicable)
Content:Fileshare link: (If applicable)
Example:
Media: Video
Team Name: Team 1
Players in game: iiM Stevo, Blood Gulch 7, ShadowStormxX, Draw the Line
Match played: Test Match
Link to match on Bungie.net: N/A
Content:Killing Spree / Sniper Spree on Haze - Forge Hub Throwdown‏ - YouTube
Fileshare link: N/A
Question Time
Our last site update Confused Flamingo answered the inquiry of:
if you could choose one non-traditional instrument to be blessed with ridiculous skill on, what would that be?
With a rather short, but entertaining reply of:
Professional pencil-tapper.
So, this time around I would LOVE to know just what your favorite non traditional sport is. Of course, you can choose (or make up) non traditional sports that are not listed here, go crazy! :D
idon'tdolongconclusions.
kthxbai.
If you have any thoughts on this article, or the front page in general, that you would like to share with us then we invite you to post your opinions in the Front Page Feedback thread.