aMoeba
09-13-2009, 10:49 PM
XForgery Update for the 13th of September
New Beginnings
Welcome to the most recent site update for XForgery. Our last update was back in July and didn't turn out as active as it should've, but here I am to refill you on some recent happenings and some new events going on here at XForgery. So sit back and prepare to this very informative update covering our recent forum going problems and etcetera.
Table Of Contents (Click a section to go there!)
The XForgery Downgrade
Heartbreak
Promotions and Demotions
XFOG's?!
Forgery Challenge Winners
Continuing the Lineage
A New Contest?!
The XForgery DowngradeThe XForgery Downgrade (Questions answered)
I'm saying this first, because most members will probably question why the website was down or all sorts of things about the issue.
If you visit XForgery every few days at least, you probably know that the site was down from Tuesday to today. Now don't fret, the website wasn't gone, it wasn't hacked, none of that. To be basic, we had to downgrade our server because of the lack of funds.
Starting two weeks ago, Thomas had planned to begin downgrading the server on a Friday. Well, if the day it was planned wasn't bad enough, at least it didn't go through. He got it a few minutes late, which actually seems to be a blessing looking at it from the future.
On Tuesday of the next week downgrading would resume. The servers were down and surely enough the blog was being updated with all the new news out there. Though the wait was long, and the journey tough, it was finally sucessfully pulled off. There are many reasons it could've taken as long as it does, maybe the database was too large in file size, but one can truly never know. Except maybe Tech Support, those noobs.
Now the site is back up and running. You're probably asking, "what did we downgrade to?" Basically, we have a slower server now by a marginal difference. Not that bad all in all, but we do pay 100$ less per month now. Give it up for Thomas and his good attempts to revive the site for us. If you want to see the blog that was written for the purpose of the downgrade, you can find it at XF Down | Blogspot (http://xfdown.blogspot.com/).
The blog will also be used more times in any future circumstances. Did you type in XForgery and find that for some reason it didn't work, although it wasn't related to any issues you have? Do not fear, the blog will be updated at any instance where this problem occurs.
HeartbreakHeartbreak
Many of us were sad last week. Some of us were sad of the downgrade, and some of us were just plain sad. Some of us shed tears, some of us weeped uncontrollably, some of us left and some of us thought the world was ending. Our dear old administrator, Null Parameter (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=2), had retired in order to begin to spend more time with what matters more in life, his family. Do not be saddened, good community, it is not the end all of XF. aMoeba is here with a massive napkin, ready to wipe thy tears away from thee.
Null Parameter stepped down. Obviously, this is saddening news. However, this is not news that should make you quit. Null spent much of his time on this website, working on it and making it even better everyday for the community. He and the staff all wanted the website to be the best it could be. He had to step down for more personal reasons, and to leave because of him stepping down would crush all his hard work. He had built the foundation, but now it was time for us to continue that and build it up even stronger.
Null isn't gone entirely though. He will still come to the website and post, but he will act from a normal member's perspective as we all once did. We must accept Null's decision to retire and continue this great website he has spent much of his time into helping. Let us go forth and show Null that his hard work wasn't for nothing.
If you want to see the original thread officially declaring Null's retirement click here. (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4757)
Promotions and DemotionsPromotions and Demotions
People come and go, for reasons we aren't always allowed to know. Not only has our good ol' Null Parameter (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=2) left us, but Shellshock (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=13), the once main event director, has left in his wake. Shellshock taught l33tmeerkatslol how to be a good event director, and the skills will surely be passed down.
When staff leave, we must usher in new ones to fill the blanks. The community is growing every day, and an extra hand around is always convenient. With Shellshock's leave, we have recruited The Cheat (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=661) as a new Event Director! Make sure to congratulate him on his new rank. That's not the end of it though. Denominator went away for a little while, so he recruited Boston (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=530) to do the Master Reviewer type work when he was gone. Whether or not Boston will keep this rank is unknown, but we will see how it unfolds in the coming weeks.
We also have many new donated supporters! Thank you all so much to take the effort to donate real money to our site, we can't thank you enough.
XFOG's?!XFOG's?! (this should be singular)
Ever since the last site update, we had all the XFOG's except one which came on a bit later in the game. In fact, this XFOG was released as an XFOG only a week after the site update ages ago in July. Well since it didn't get the same glory as the other XFOG's its happening here and now. You guys know what it is, its the critically acclaimed gametype Agents.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg256/TimeGlitch/Banner.jpg
Agents is a gametype we all came to know and love (or, at least most of us). Agents is a highly tactical VIP based game where you must protect your VIP and your VIP must stay near you or it is nearly impossible to win. Not only that, but your VIP is invisible. Keep him alive at all costs but be smart with your choices. You can check out the two different Agents threads at the following:
Click here for the XFOG thread (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3767) (you cannot discuss it here)
Click here if you wish to discuss Agents and look at a different thread for it. (http://www.xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?p=22251#post22251)
Forgery Challenge WinnersForgery Challenge Winners (and their respective congratulations)
These past two months we have had two amazing competitions with some great entries. It is disappointing that we only received three entires for the August challenge, but nonetheless the competition went on and it was quite the heated neck and neck battle between Epsilon and Crossroads. Crossroads was winning at first, but Epsilon caught up and got the lead on Crossroads. It was a good month. As for July, OVERBOARD! was the gametype to make maps for, and we received a flood of entries. From original to just plain awesome maps, the judging was done accordingly, and we managed to narrow it down to our final five. Lush was in last, and ended up first, five points in front of OverBORED. Now that that's done with, let's congratulate the winners, Boston (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=530) for winning the July OVERBOARD! Challenge, and AceOfSpades (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=429) for winning the August One Sided Challenge.
Epsilon (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4311)
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr286/AceOfSpades0707/Epsilon/90131469-Full-1.jpg
Lush (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3927)
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8772/lushp.jpg
Now that that's wrapped up, be sure to participate in September's Forgery Challenge of Infection! That's right, feast on those brains and infect your maps with zombie awesome. You can find the thread here. (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4788)
Continuing the LineageContinuing the Lineage (What every man is responsible for)
A while ago AZN FTW, now gone, started this thread. (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1950) Now, after time, the purpose of the thread and the actual welcoming committee has seemed to slowly deteriorate. Now that the server downgrade is complete, and we don't have a constant rate of new members, it couldn't be a better time to prepare for them to flood in. So how does it work?
At the bottom of the XForgery forum page, you can see the 5 most recently joined members of XForgery. All you have to do welcome them into our site. Give them a warm welcome, show them around, spark conversation, make them feel like its their home. Anyone can do this, but it is not under any circumstances required. If you care about XF and want to better the community and make it bigger and have new and cool people to talk to, this is probably something that would pay off for you.
Remember, this is just a friendly reminder to continue those new member welcomes. XForgery is still one of the only (if that) to be able to welcome all the new members, and if we could have five people posting on every new member's page wishing them welcome and answering their questions, our community could grow and become even better than what it is. We would have more people to be able to more things, and community endorsement would increase. So what's there to lose? Not really much. Maybe there's no reward, but do it out of the good of your heart, for the better of us as a whole.
A New Contest?!A New Contest?! (And its not a Forgery Challenge!)
Is this the first thing you scrolled to on the page? I'm not surprised! It is a new contest after all. However, what kind of contest is it? Well, as of late, we are starting up a new "mini" contest system. Every month or so (as of now the dates are unofficial) we will include a mini contest in the site update, provided we have one. It can be for doing various things on the forum.
So what do I do this month?
This month, after the downgrade, we've decided that is would be good to bring extra life back to these forums. This month we also have two mini contests running side by side. Note though, you will not be able to win both.
Because we have two mini contests, there will be two separate things you can do to win. What you win we will go over later. This month, one man will be declared winner for the Most Informative Thread of the month, and another man (or woman) will be declared winner for the Most Helpful Person of the month. So what does this mean? To win, you must either make the Most Informative Thread of the month or be the Most Helpful Person of the month. Again though, remember that you will not be able to win both.
How will we judge who wins, you ask?
To tell the truth, we don't quite know yet. We are currently in the process of figuring something about, but rest assured we will do our best to make it completely fair and unbiased to you, the members of XForgery.
What if I win this month's, and the next month's?
You will certainly be able to do that, but we will probably make a double reward for that, so you'll receive the same reward twice in the same form, unless we decide to have even more incentives for the contests. Until then, stay tuned.
What do I get for doing this?
Not only do you gain the respect of your community for being so helpful, you get a prestigious award here on XForgery that only others who have worked equally as hard as you will attain. It is the mini contest winner award. The award isn't currently made, but it will be in the coming days, do not worry that it will not be out in time. The awards icon will be the steaktacular as follows:
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/8249/steaktacularmedal.png
And the description will be as follows:
"Won a mini XForgery sponsored competition."
So now's your chance. You can get this award first, before anyone else by doing this contest. You get bragging rights, I mean, you have a steaktacular. What's cooler than that?! You might say that other people will have it in the coming months, but that is only under the condition that we actually continue it... hehe.
Wow, this is awesome aMoeba! How do I submit my helpfulness?
Umm... you don't.
We will be on the lookout for threads and people that meet this criteria. If we didn't see you, you probably weren't helpful or informative enough to the point where the community actually noticed or cared.
Where should I start?
You could do anything that you want, so long as it does the intention of being helpful or informative. Don't ask me for the ideas, be original! Go out there and blow the community away with something new.
Anything else I should know?
The most informative thread must be made from September 13th to October 13th. The most helpful person will be much more lenient in terms of dates but it will be focused around these.
Nothing at all. If you have any questions, ask them in this thread and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.
That's a wrap
That's all for this site update folks. Hope you enjoyed my first and found it fulfilling. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to post them here in this thread and I will answer them accordingly. Enjoy the rest of the week guys, and most of all, make your stay at XF worthwhile.
New Beginnings
Welcome to the most recent site update for XForgery. Our last update was back in July and didn't turn out as active as it should've, but here I am to refill you on some recent happenings and some new events going on here at XForgery. So sit back and prepare to this very informative update covering our recent forum going problems and etcetera.
Table Of Contents (Click a section to go there!)
The XForgery Downgrade
Heartbreak
Promotions and Demotions
XFOG's?!
Forgery Challenge Winners
Continuing the Lineage
A New Contest?!
The XForgery DowngradeThe XForgery Downgrade (Questions answered)
I'm saying this first, because most members will probably question why the website was down or all sorts of things about the issue.
If you visit XForgery every few days at least, you probably know that the site was down from Tuesday to today. Now don't fret, the website wasn't gone, it wasn't hacked, none of that. To be basic, we had to downgrade our server because of the lack of funds.
Starting two weeks ago, Thomas had planned to begin downgrading the server on a Friday. Well, if the day it was planned wasn't bad enough, at least it didn't go through. He got it a few minutes late, which actually seems to be a blessing looking at it from the future.
On Tuesday of the next week downgrading would resume. The servers were down and surely enough the blog was being updated with all the new news out there. Though the wait was long, and the journey tough, it was finally sucessfully pulled off. There are many reasons it could've taken as long as it does, maybe the database was too large in file size, but one can truly never know. Except maybe Tech Support, those noobs.
Now the site is back up and running. You're probably asking, "what did we downgrade to?" Basically, we have a slower server now by a marginal difference. Not that bad all in all, but we do pay 100$ less per month now. Give it up for Thomas and his good attempts to revive the site for us. If you want to see the blog that was written for the purpose of the downgrade, you can find it at XF Down | Blogspot (http://xfdown.blogspot.com/).
The blog will also be used more times in any future circumstances. Did you type in XForgery and find that for some reason it didn't work, although it wasn't related to any issues you have? Do not fear, the blog will be updated at any instance where this problem occurs.
HeartbreakHeartbreak
Many of us were sad last week. Some of us were sad of the downgrade, and some of us were just plain sad. Some of us shed tears, some of us weeped uncontrollably, some of us left and some of us thought the world was ending. Our dear old administrator, Null Parameter (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=2), had retired in order to begin to spend more time with what matters more in life, his family. Do not be saddened, good community, it is not the end all of XF. aMoeba is here with a massive napkin, ready to wipe thy tears away from thee.
Null Parameter stepped down. Obviously, this is saddening news. However, this is not news that should make you quit. Null spent much of his time on this website, working on it and making it even better everyday for the community. He and the staff all wanted the website to be the best it could be. He had to step down for more personal reasons, and to leave because of him stepping down would crush all his hard work. He had built the foundation, but now it was time for us to continue that and build it up even stronger.
Null isn't gone entirely though. He will still come to the website and post, but he will act from a normal member's perspective as we all once did. We must accept Null's decision to retire and continue this great website he has spent much of his time into helping. Let us go forth and show Null that his hard work wasn't for nothing.
If you want to see the original thread officially declaring Null's retirement click here. (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4757)
Promotions and DemotionsPromotions and Demotions
People come and go, for reasons we aren't always allowed to know. Not only has our good ol' Null Parameter (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=2) left us, but Shellshock (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=13), the once main event director, has left in his wake. Shellshock taught l33tmeerkatslol how to be a good event director, and the skills will surely be passed down.
When staff leave, we must usher in new ones to fill the blanks. The community is growing every day, and an extra hand around is always convenient. With Shellshock's leave, we have recruited The Cheat (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=661) as a new Event Director! Make sure to congratulate him on his new rank. That's not the end of it though. Denominator went away for a little while, so he recruited Boston (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=530) to do the Master Reviewer type work when he was gone. Whether or not Boston will keep this rank is unknown, but we will see how it unfolds in the coming weeks.
We also have many new donated supporters! Thank you all so much to take the effort to donate real money to our site, we can't thank you enough.
XFOG's?!XFOG's?! (this should be singular)
Ever since the last site update, we had all the XFOG's except one which came on a bit later in the game. In fact, this XFOG was released as an XFOG only a week after the site update ages ago in July. Well since it didn't get the same glory as the other XFOG's its happening here and now. You guys know what it is, its the critically acclaimed gametype Agents.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg256/TimeGlitch/Banner.jpg
Agents is a gametype we all came to know and love (or, at least most of us). Agents is a highly tactical VIP based game where you must protect your VIP and your VIP must stay near you or it is nearly impossible to win. Not only that, but your VIP is invisible. Keep him alive at all costs but be smart with your choices. You can check out the two different Agents threads at the following:
Click here for the XFOG thread (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3767) (you cannot discuss it here)
Click here if you wish to discuss Agents and look at a different thread for it. (http://www.xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?p=22251#post22251)
Forgery Challenge WinnersForgery Challenge Winners (and their respective congratulations)
These past two months we have had two amazing competitions with some great entries. It is disappointing that we only received three entires for the August challenge, but nonetheless the competition went on and it was quite the heated neck and neck battle between Epsilon and Crossroads. Crossroads was winning at first, but Epsilon caught up and got the lead on Crossroads. It was a good month. As for July, OVERBOARD! was the gametype to make maps for, and we received a flood of entries. From original to just plain awesome maps, the judging was done accordingly, and we managed to narrow it down to our final five. Lush was in last, and ended up first, five points in front of OverBORED. Now that that's done with, let's congratulate the winners, Boston (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=530) for winning the July OVERBOARD! Challenge, and AceOfSpades (http://xforgery.com/forum/member.php?u=429) for winning the August One Sided Challenge.
Epsilon (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4311)
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr286/AceOfSpades0707/Epsilon/90131469-Full-1.jpg
Lush (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3927)
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8772/lushp.jpg
Now that that's wrapped up, be sure to participate in September's Forgery Challenge of Infection! That's right, feast on those brains and infect your maps with zombie awesome. You can find the thread here. (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4788)
Continuing the LineageContinuing the Lineage (What every man is responsible for)
A while ago AZN FTW, now gone, started this thread. (http://xforgery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1950) Now, after time, the purpose of the thread and the actual welcoming committee has seemed to slowly deteriorate. Now that the server downgrade is complete, and we don't have a constant rate of new members, it couldn't be a better time to prepare for them to flood in. So how does it work?
At the bottom of the XForgery forum page, you can see the 5 most recently joined members of XForgery. All you have to do welcome them into our site. Give them a warm welcome, show them around, spark conversation, make them feel like its their home. Anyone can do this, but it is not under any circumstances required. If you care about XF and want to better the community and make it bigger and have new and cool people to talk to, this is probably something that would pay off for you.
Remember, this is just a friendly reminder to continue those new member welcomes. XForgery is still one of the only (if that) to be able to welcome all the new members, and if we could have five people posting on every new member's page wishing them welcome and answering their questions, our community could grow and become even better than what it is. We would have more people to be able to more things, and community endorsement would increase. So what's there to lose? Not really much. Maybe there's no reward, but do it out of the good of your heart, for the better of us as a whole.
A New Contest?!A New Contest?! (And its not a Forgery Challenge!)
Is this the first thing you scrolled to on the page? I'm not surprised! It is a new contest after all. However, what kind of contest is it? Well, as of late, we are starting up a new "mini" contest system. Every month or so (as of now the dates are unofficial) we will include a mini contest in the site update, provided we have one. It can be for doing various things on the forum.
So what do I do this month?
This month, after the downgrade, we've decided that is would be good to bring extra life back to these forums. This month we also have two mini contests running side by side. Note though, you will not be able to win both.
Because we have two mini contests, there will be two separate things you can do to win. What you win we will go over later. This month, one man will be declared winner for the Most Informative Thread of the month, and another man (or woman) will be declared winner for the Most Helpful Person of the month. So what does this mean? To win, you must either make the Most Informative Thread of the month or be the Most Helpful Person of the month. Again though, remember that you will not be able to win both.
How will we judge who wins, you ask?
To tell the truth, we don't quite know yet. We are currently in the process of figuring something about, but rest assured we will do our best to make it completely fair and unbiased to you, the members of XForgery.
What if I win this month's, and the next month's?
You will certainly be able to do that, but we will probably make a double reward for that, so you'll receive the same reward twice in the same form, unless we decide to have even more incentives for the contests. Until then, stay tuned.
What do I get for doing this?
Not only do you gain the respect of your community for being so helpful, you get a prestigious award here on XForgery that only others who have worked equally as hard as you will attain. It is the mini contest winner award. The award isn't currently made, but it will be in the coming days, do not worry that it will not be out in time. The awards icon will be the steaktacular as follows:
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/8249/steaktacularmedal.png
And the description will be as follows:
"Won a mini XForgery sponsored competition."
So now's your chance. You can get this award first, before anyone else by doing this contest. You get bragging rights, I mean, you have a steaktacular. What's cooler than that?! You might say that other people will have it in the coming months, but that is only under the condition that we actually continue it... hehe.
Wow, this is awesome aMoeba! How do I submit my helpfulness?
Umm... you don't.
We will be on the lookout for threads and people that meet this criteria. If we didn't see you, you probably weren't helpful or informative enough to the point where the community actually noticed or cared.
Where should I start?
You could do anything that you want, so long as it does the intention of being helpful or informative. Don't ask me for the ideas, be original! Go out there and blow the community away with something new.
Anything else I should know?
The most informative thread must be made from September 13th to October 13th. The most helpful person will be much more lenient in terms of dates but it will be focused around these.
Nothing at all. If you have any questions, ask them in this thread and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.
That's a wrap
That's all for this site update folks. Hope you enjoyed my first and found it fulfilling. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to post them here in this thread and I will answer them accordingly. Enjoy the rest of the week guys, and most of all, make your stay at XF worthwhile.