Spambots

[BLANDCorporatio]

Well, I contributed in hopes of site renovations. Motion comics are meh, or worse. They can't be good films, and as Alan Moore would say, they aren't very good comics either.

[raphfrk]

I was VERY reluctant to contribute at all, and I'm still ambivalent about the $15 I did put in.

I know the feeling, I can't help but wonder if the motion comic will slow things down even more, and it isn't new (story) material.

While comics would be preferred, the text updates add new material.

Well, I contributed in hopes of site renovations. Motion comics are meh, or worse. They can't be good films, and as Alan Moore would say, they aren't very good comics either.

I agree that a site renovation would be a good thing, and maybe would make it worth contributing. I think that they would help a lot for new subscribers.

One of my complaints about the toolbox rewards was that the hi-res version of the pages was way behind the main pages. Also, at $33 per year for the toolbox, there hasn't been enough books released to actually spend the points.

I added a comment on the design document about adding a subscription option that allows a "pay per comic page" payment system.

Ofc, with text only updates, this is no longer relevant.

I wonder if splitting them into pieces, so that there is always an update every few days, would be better, since it would be habit forming. New material would at least generate forum discussions.

[doran]

Well, I contributed in hopes of site renovations. Motion comics are meh, or worse. They can't be good films, and as Alan Moore would say, they aren't very good comics either.

What if they were something like this? (Note Homestuck spoilers!, and music) Imagine an erf battle scene like that, and noting the very limited animation used.

[Justyn]

I find it somewhat ironic the number of times I've had to delete posts from spambots in this topic.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Well, I contributed in hopes of site renovations. Motion comics are meh, or worse. They can't be good films, and as Alan Moore would say, they aren't very good comics either.

What if they were something like this? (Note Homestuck spoilers!, and music) Imagine an erf battle scene like that, and noting the very limited animation used.

Oh God how could I have forgotten about the awesomeness that is MS Paint Adventures? And now that I think of it, Scott McCloud has several webcomics which integrate motion very well; even some gag-a-day strips have occasionally used it.

In my defense, I'd like to point out that MPA, and stuff like Scott's projects, were started with motion in mind from the get go and the comic medium was adapted to that particular. And the gag a day strips, if they use it, use it sparingly which is not something that would merit a massive overhaul of content; it was also put in from the get go, not retrofitted.

I don't know, when I heard "motion comic" I thought something like a Watchmen motion comic*, which probably speaks more about the limits of my imagination than it does about anything else. I'm just afraid that a motion comic won't do Erfworld justice.

*: I've got nothing against the Watchmen motion picture aka film. Haven't seen it, but there's no reason why it should be bad. I'm not that much of a fanboi to agree with Moore on everything.

[doran]

Incidentally I think what really makes the Homestuck flashes is how the animation and awesome music are so in sync - to the extent that Hussie sometime asks the music maker to rewrite them.
Hope that level can really be gotten for the motion comics.

[Mrtyuh]

The two issues shouldn't really be connected. Letting the current spam situation continue to fester until the site eventually gets remodeled is as absurd as letting a hole in the roof continue to leak until the house eventually gets remodeled.

I'm not sure that's an apt analogy. While Rob posts regularly on facebook, and, I assume, spends time on IRC, the only time I've seen him here recently, other than starting Reaction threads, was the Mal post. It may be a bit naive of me, but he may not be aware of the problem. The impression I get is he hates the current software used by the site. It won't let him do what he wants to do easily, and he has to use widgets for everything. Given that, he doesn't spend much time here. A better analogy may be someone who doesn't like driving stick having a car with a manual transmission. That person might not feel like its worth the effort to get an oil change, especially if they are planning on getting a new automatic-transmission car soon. Maybe, once Rob gets his shiny new site, he'll be much more enthusiastic about the scheduled maintenance. Of course, what do I know.

Incidentally I think what really makes the Homestuck flashes is how the animation and awesome music are so in sync - to the extent that Hussie sometime asks the music maker to rewrite them.
Hope that level can really be gotten for the motion comics.

Well, the next goal, after reprinting Book 1, is money for a professional composer for the motion comic. If Rob can reach that goal, you might get something like that.

[0beron]

Mrtyuh, I give Rob benefit of the doubt on essentially everything but this, because I find that impossible. The Reaction threads are an automatic post, but I do see him logged on from time to time, so as much as he hates the layout, I highlu doubt that he just outright ignores the "Suggestions/Bugs" threads. Given how much his fans mean to him, He's going to want to hear what we have to say.
Also, the problem is just as bad over on the Wiki, where he does log on and edit occasionally.
All the same however, I am gonna hop on the IRC for the first time later today, and be on the lookout for him.

[drachefly]

Yeah, that's why I'm really confused that he's only promoted ONE mod...and for that matter it's a user who hasn't posted since April 2011...wth?

I'm not sure it matters that much -- no reasonable number of moderators would do a tenth as much good as implementing one basic AntiSpam 101 protocol

Well, that's the idea of spaminators. The number is unreasonable. Not four, but a dozen. We'd hit the problem until we lost our reputation as a good target.

When a spammer lasts for minutes before being banned instead of hours, we would not have to delete so much.

[SteveMB]

Well, that's the idea of spaminators. The number is unreasonable. Not four, but a dozen. We'd hit the problem until we lost our reputation as a good target.

When a spammer lasts for minutes before being banned instead of hours, we would not have to delete so much.

It doesn't work that way. Once a site is on the "easy target" list, the lists just keep circulating among spammers -- they don't review and edit them, they just feed them into the bot routines.

The only thing that will lower the flood is a built-in automated first line of defense.

[Namegduf]

Hey everyone.

Rob asked me to take a look at the problem, and I've configured a question-asking system that makes new people signing up to the forum answer an Erfworld-related question, which should impede new spam accounts being created. It'll take a while to see how effective it is, but with some luck, and maybe a little adjustment, it could provide an effective barrier to the flood, and as a first line of defence goes it should work.

[Balerion]

Thank you so much . It's great to hear progress being made on the issue

[0beron]

Horray

[Sieggy]

Cool Beans. Let's hope for the best . . .

[SteveMB]

So far, we've been getting a trickle of a few spam posts a day (from bots that registered before the new system) instead of the dozens a day we got before the change. Pending any further developments, it looks like the problem is mostly solved.