Sanctuary's "Branding"

[Arnox]

Since everyone was agreeing with Elijin about the whole "Freedom of Speech" angle being hokey, it's time to come up with alternatives. Although, first, I do need confirmation that this is indeed what you guys want.

 

[andersonnnunes]

Branding makes no difference to me.



I have seen niche sites running XenForo with less users than this forum. Not sure you are doing that bad.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I have no problems with it.

Just because others have tainted the words, like they usually do (see alt-right, among many,many others), doesn't mean we have to change anything to accommodate them.
They can try downplaying and denigrating Freedom of Speech, but they will fail. Those words themselves are too powerful.

 

[gaijinkaiju]

I've got no issues with the branding or anything

 

[Houseman]

I have no problems with it.

Just because others have tainted the words, like they usually do (see alt-right, among many,many others), doesn't mean we have to change anything to accommodate them.
They can try downplaying and denigrating Freedom of Speech, but they will fail. Those words themselves are too powerful.

This.

The words and concept of "freedom of speech" are being demonized by the powers that be. Even if we change the words, the concept will remain, and it would still be demonized.

I don't think there's anything we could "brand" as that wouldn't eventually end in someone calling us "nazis"

We could do something like "We're diverse, and tolerant, and this is a welcoming place for everyone", and that may be true in the context of the site itself having open arms, but not in the context of preventing one from being flamed.

Maybe something like "diversity of opinion"? I still feel like that would lead to someone saying "oh, so you allow nazis and racists to share their opinions?!" I feel this is less "edgy", anyway. Maybe something like "real diversity" or "true diversity?" The word "diversity" is used by SJW types, so it doesn't have a stigma associated with it, and it somewhat gets across what we stand for.

But I kind of like our existing branding. Like I said before, I feel that it scares off those who wouldn't be a good fit.

 

[bluegate]

Yup, it's pretty hokey, a bit like children huddling in their tree house with a sign outside saying; "No Adults! This is a No Rule zone!".

I still feel that these advertised freedoms are best experienced through the actions of moderation rather than a banner and a post.

It might be better to brand and advertise the site surrounding the content you want to be discussed, not the manner in which they can be discussed. And sod the rules, no one ever reads them anyway, let people experience them by discussing with other people rather than having conversations about it. Look at Silvanus, rather than ever having had a conversation about a subject and experiencing the rules first hand, he went away after talking about the rules surrounding having a conversation, doesn't this strike anyone as daft?

What value do you see in this? What kind of audience are you trying to attract with this messaging anyway? For as far as most people on the internet are concerned, they have all the freedom of speech and information that they could want all over the internet, what would even attract them to this place?

And let's be realistic, when push comes to shove, you won't be able to uphold these promised freedoms anyway, once you have enough people pushing the boundaries of what is deemed legal, this server will eventually start getting into trouble.

 

[Signa]

Yup, it's pretty hokey, a bit like children huddling in their tree house with a sign outside saying; "No Adults! This is a No Rule zone!".

I still feel that these advertised freedoms are best experienced through the actions of moderation rather than a banner and a post.

It might be better to brand and advertise the site surrounding the content you want to be discussed, not the manner in which they can be discussed. And sod the rules, no one ever reads them anyway, let people experience them by discussing with other people rather than having conversations about it. Look at Signa, rather than ever having had a conversation about a subject and experiencing the rules first hand, he went away after talking about the rules surrounding having a conversation, doesn't this strike anyone as daft?

What value do you see in this? What kind of audience are you trying to attract with this messaging anyway? For as far as most people on the internet are concerned, they have all the freedom of speech and information that they could want all over the internet, what would even attract them to this place?

And let's be realistic, when push comes to shove, you won't be able to uphold these promised freedoms anyway, once you have enough people pushing the boundaries of what is deemed legal, this server will eventually start getting into trouble.

Wait, what did I do?

Edit: Ooooh! You mean Silvanus, not me. At least, that what I hope you're talking about. I have no clue otherwise.

 

[Arnox]

I have seen niche sites running XenForo with less users than this forum. Not sure you are doing that bad.

We need MOAR users though! I demand more followers.

Yup, it's pretty hokey, a bit like children huddling in their tree house with a sign outside saying; "No Adults! This is a No Rule zone!".

I still feel that these advertised freedoms are best experienced through the actions of moderation rather than a banner and a post.

It might be better to brand and advertise the site surrounding the content you want to be discussed, not the manner in which they can be discussed. And sod the rules, no one ever reads them anyway, let people experience them by discussing with other people rather than having conversations about it. Look at Signa, rather than ever having had a conversation about a subject and experiencing the rules first hand, he went away after talking about the rules surrounding having a conversation, doesn't this strike anyone as daft?

What value do you see in this? What kind of audience are you trying to attract with this messaging anyway? For as far as most people on the internet are concerned, they have all the freedom of speech and information that they could want all over the internet, what would even attract them to this place?

I actually was only half-kidding when I gave the suggestion "One Forum to Rule Them All". The ultimate goal is to be an interconnected network of sites all enforcing the same rules and core policies, network-wide.

When push comes to shove, you won't be able to uphold these promised freedoms anyway, once you have enough people pushing the boundaries of what is deemed legal, this server will eventually start getting into trouble.

And that's why we're hosted solely in the Netherlands.

 

[Elijin]

Bluegate is apparently one of the few who gets the gist of this whole thing.

It's about actions and tone.


Not some half present culture war that exists mostly in your heads.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Bluegate is apparently one of the few who gets the gist of this whole thing.

It's about actions and tone.


Not some half present culture war that exists mostly in your heads.

The culture war is real and if you can't see that, you are on the wrong side of it.

It's even in the names. Cultural Marxists against Western Culture.

 

[andersonnnunes]

We need MOAR users though! I demand more followers.

I have also seen niche XenForo sites with a lot more users and these users still complained that most were mainly lurkers that rarely posted.

 

[bluegate]

Wait, what did I do?

Edit: Ooooh! You mean Silvanus, not me. At least, that what I hope you're talking about. I have no clue otherwise.

No, I meant you, you dirty rapscallion!

You guessed right though, I did indeed mean Silvanus, I'll edit my original post for future readers, whoops.

Yup, it's pretty hokey, a bit like children huddling in their tree house with a sign outside saying; "No Adults! This is a No Rule zone!".

I still feel that these advertised freedoms are best experienced through the actions of moderation rather than a banner and a post.

It might be better to brand and advertise the site surrounding the content you want to be discussed, not the manner in which they can be discussed. And sod the rules, no one ever reads them anyway, let people experience them by discussing with other people rather than having conversations about it. Look at Signa, rather than ever having had a conversation about a subject and experiencing the rules first hand, he went away after talking about the rules surrounding having a conversation, doesn't this strike anyone as daft?

What value do you see in this? What kind of audience are you trying to attract with this messaging anyway? For as far as most people on the internet are concerned, they have all the freedom of speech and information that they could want all over the internet, what would even attract them to this place?

I actually was only half-kidding when I gave the suggestion "One Forum to Rule Them All". The ultimate goal is to be an interconnected network of sites all enforcing the same rules and core policies, network-wide.

Still doesn't really answer what kind of audience you are trying to attract or what the benefits are of this place over pretty much any other on the internet.

For the branding of freedom of speech and information to have a meaning to people, they'd first need to feel that they don't have those freedoms elsewhere, and I'm sorry that I repeat myself again, but for most people they have all the freedom they want all over the internet, whether it be Discord servers, Twitter circle jerks, Reddit circle jerks, you name it.

And even if people find themselves ""persecuted"" on other forums, they'd need to also feel that this site offers that which first attracted them to those other forums.
For example, that thread on the Escapist on ResetEra and a person getting banned for saying that he doesn't care about diversity, you could jump in and say that he'd totally be able to say that he doesn't care about diversity on Sanctuary, but why was he drawn to ResetEra in the first place? To talk about games with a community of people ( assuming here ), something which Sanctuary does not provide at this moment, so even if he'd be able to scream that he doesn't care about diversity on here, that means nothing as long as Sanctuary doesn't also cater to the other needs that he went to ResetEra for.

When push comes to shove, you won't be able to uphold these promised freedoms anyway, once you have enough people pushing the boundaries of what is deemed legal, this server will eventually start getting into trouble.

And that's why we're hosted solely in the Netherlands.

A country which also has laws and is a member of a big organisation that also likes to draft up laws for its member states to implement. Depending on the kind of crowd that would gather under your "freedom of speech & information" banner, you can and will get in trouble. If not by law enforcement, maybe by pressure of some company or organisation that doesn't particularly like the kind of information being spread on this site by some of your members.

Interestingly enough, a little site called thepiratebay.org is blocked by ISP's in the Netherlands, so much for that freedom of information.

 

[Signa]

For example, that thread on the Escapist on ResetEra and a person getting banned for saying that he doesn't care about diversity, you could jump in and say that he'd totally be able to say that he doesn't care about diversity on Sanctuary, but why was he drawn to ResetEra in the first place? To talk about games with a community of people ( assuming here ), something which Sanctuary does not provide at this moment, so even if he'd be able to scream that he doesn't care about diversity on here, that means nothing as long as Sanctuary doesn't also cater to the other needs that he went to ResetEra for.

With that in mind, we probably should rebrand as Freedom Gaming or something like that. Since most of the active posters are gamers, it wouldn't be a change for anyone here now.

By being "sanctuary" it could imply that we'd take any banned person in because of freedom, but then you'd get a ton of people like IS showing up because they of course will be banned from other sites.

 

[Houseman]

For the branding of freedom of speech and information to have a meaning to people, they'd first need to feel that they don't have those freedoms elsewhere, and I'm sorry that I repeat myself again, but for most people they have all the freedom they want all over the internet, whether it be Discord servers, Twitter circle jerks, Reddit circle jerks, you name it.

Another plug for my idea: I would think that the branding of "diversity of opinion" would be a "freedom" that they don't have elsewhere, or rather an opportunity that they don't have elsewhere, due to curation systems and blockbots.

And even if people find themselves ""persecuted"" on other forums, they'd need to also feel that this site offers that which first attracted them to those other forums.
For example, that thread on the Escapist on ResetEra and a person getting banned for saying that he doesn't care about diversity, you could jump in and say that he'd totally be able to say that he doesn't care about diversity on Sanctuary, but why was he drawn to ResetEra in the first place? To talk about games with a community of people ( assuming here ), something which Sanctuary does not provide at this moment, so even if he'd be able to scream that he doesn't care about diversity on here, that means nothing as long as Sanctuary doesn't also cater to the other needs that he went to ResetEra for.

This might not be true for everyone. For example, I was never drawn here by a community, for there was no community at that time. I was drawn by the hope that there would be a community, and that there would be freedom of speech. That's all I needed. I wasn't sold on anything that already existed, I was sold on promises.

In a sense, I'm investing in this place in order to help make those promises come true, and in a way, they have.

Do we want investors to "buy in" to our future, or are we trying to "sell" a product that already exists? I think how we answer that question will help us figure out what to do next.

 

[Arnox]

Bluegate is apparently one of the few who gets the gist of this whole thing.

It's about actions and tone.

Not some half present culture war that exists mostly in your heads.

I didn't start Sanctuary as a response to the "culture war". This kind of site has been on the internet off and on for decades. It reached its height in 2009 with thousands and thousands of active users before Jeff Hunter abruptly shut it down. That aside though, WTF are you doing here? I responded to your argument in Houseman's thread. Maybe you should answer that instead.

I have also seen niche XenForo sites with a lot more users and these users still complained that most were mainly lurkers that rarely posted.

Yeah, our base is actually really good and we have some awesome members as well. We just need more people here in general. That's all. As the threads per day rise more and more, it will become more and more easy to get users here.

Still doesn't really answer what kind of audience you are trying to attract or what the benefits are of this place over pretty much any other on the internet.

For the branding of freedom of speech and information to have a meaning to people, they'd first need to feel that they don't have those freedoms elsewhere, and I'm sorry that I repeat myself again, but for most people they have all the freedom they want all over the internet, whether it be Discord servers, Twitter circle jerks, Reddit circle jerks, you name it.

And even if people find themselves ""persecuted"" on other forums, they'd need to also feel that this site offers that which first attracted them to those other forums.
For example, that thread on the Escapist on ResetEra and a person getting banned for saying that he doesn't care about diversity, you could jump in and say that he'd totally be able to say that he doesn't care about diversity on Sanctuary, but why was he drawn to ResetEra in the first place? To talk about games with a community of people ( assuming here ), something which Sanctuary does not provide at this moment, so even if he'd be able to scream that he doesn't care about diversity on here, that means nothing as long as Sanctuary doesn't also cater to the other needs that he went to ResetEra for.

And that's why we're hosted solely in the Netherlands.

A country which also has laws and is a member of a big organisation that also likes to draft up laws for its member states to implement. Depending on the kind of crowd that would gather under your "freedom of speech & information" banner, you can and will get in trouble. If not by law enforcement, maybe by pressure of some company or organisation that doesn't particularly like the kind of information being spread on this site by some of your members.

Interestingly enough, a little site called thepiratebay.org is blocked by ISP's in the Netherlands, so much for that freedom of information.

OK, I actually do see what you're saying here. What service or services do we offer that other sites that are just as small don't have? Well, it's not just that we have this freedom, although that's a huge part of it, but we offer it in a "pure" forum format. And that's more important than it sounds. Having said that though, you're right. And it's hard to build the site's userbase because we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock being that we don't necessarily have the specialization and specialized features of some niche forum communities, and the hard place being that we don't have the massive userbase of something like Reddit or Twitter to attract people in either. When this site finally becomes larger though, the freedom that we offer will become MUCH more important and more of a big selling point against the massive communities we're competing with. Now, the very original TOTSE focused on storing digital information for discussion and perusal, no matter what it was. But now that the Internet's grown this large, that purpose is not relevant anymore. Or at least not entirely. Certain bits of information are still being censored, but that's another topic for another time.

As to our hosting, that's... Also a good point... In fact, it's such a good point, we may very well be switching hosts to Iceland next year. It supposedly has the lightest internet laws and it's not part of the EU. It's definitely gonna be a big fucking pain in the ass though. >_> And in fairness to our current host, they've treated us VERY good over the years. I would be sad to part with them.

For the branding of freedom of speech and information to have a meaning to people, they'd first need to feel that they don't have those freedoms elsewhere, and I'm sorry that I repeat myself again, but for most people they have all the freedom they want all over the internet, whether it be Discord servers, Twitter circle jerks, Reddit circle jerks, you name it.

Another plug for my idea: I would think that the branding of "diversity of opinion" would be a "freedom" that they don't have elsewhere, or rather an opportunity that they don't have elsewhere, due to curation systems and blockbots.

And even if people find themselves ""persecuted"" on other forums, they'd need to also feel that this site offers that which first attracted them to those other forums.
For example, that thread on the Escapist on ResetEra and a person getting banned for saying that he doesn't care about diversity, you could jump in and say that he'd totally be able to say that he doesn't care about diversity on Sanctuary, but why was he drawn to ResetEra in the first place? To talk about games with a community of people ( assuming here ), something which Sanctuary does not provide at this moment, so even if he'd be able to scream that he doesn't care about diversity on here, that means nothing as long as Sanctuary doesn't also cater to the other needs that he went to ResetEra for.

This might not be true for everyone. For example, I was never drawn here by a community, for there was no community at that time. I was drawn by the hope that there would be a community, and that there would be freedom of speech. That's all I needed. I wasn't sold on anything that already existed, I was sold on promises.

In a sense, I'm investing in this place in order to help make those promises come true, and in a way, they have.

Do we want investors to "buy in" to our future, or are we trying to "sell" a product that already exists? I think how we answer that question will help us figure out what to do next.

Well, I think Bluegate has a point now, as said above, but there's no reason why we can't focus on both freedom of speech AND a niche. A niche that might not be that hard to fill once we find a good one.

This does remind me of video game development though in that sometimes, no matter how much you may want to go in a certain direction, it may not work out. Or in this case at least, not entirely. Sanctuary has been and will always be a free place. That is definitely for sure. But perhaps we do need to carve out our own place though in a certain niche. Or at very least do that to get us started with drawing potential members in.

Now what would be my absolute dream come true is if we could start hosting certain forbidden software, videos, and data. Only the stuff that we find needs to be hosted though. We would vet all our submissions to decide which one is worth the server space. But we do NOT have the room for any of that, sadly. And the cost to do so would drive up my current bill a LOT.

 

[juicebox]

I think it's fine, but you'll have to keep in mind where I came from. IMO, anyone that has a problem with "freedom of speech" or "freedom of information" as slogans already shows a certain personality trait that we probably don't want here. Just look at the guests we had from Giraffe Boards.

 

[Monoochrom]

Well, I wanted to go into a lot of detail on this, don't know how much I'll actually go for.

Short Version: Yeah, I would give this place a complete makeover. Theme and or Subject Matter, Design and yes, even the "Team" which currently consists of Arnox alone.

Long Version: I wanted to give this place some more time before bringing this stuff up, I was thinking 6 Months, but now that this Thread is here, well, no point in not speaking up. In the spirit of this place, I'm gonna be blunt at times.

Arnox, your Vision, that ain't happening, never ever, not in a million years. You lack the resources, the means to gain such resources and most critically, it's not something that any significant amount of people want that is not already fulfilled otherwise. As capable as you may be, that's a scope well beyond a singular person and as stated, nothing, as you envision it, that people would flock to regardless. Now, the good thing is that if you drop that Vision, you might actually have a foundation for something. Yes, something smaller and different, but something that can actually happen.

And guys sorry to tell you, but no matter how invested you may be in the whole culture war thing, can we please keep in mind that the entire point is that this shit is stupid FROM BOTH SIDES? So, no, Freedom of Speech is not a fucking subject matter to anyone well adjusted. It's something that can come up when dealing with certain extremists, not something that you proactively seek out in order to bitch about it. So, surprise surprise, it turns out, that for the most part, we don't actually behave like that here, which, shockingly, leads to low amounts of activity. The weirdest part about all this is that practically all of us know each other and found their way here because they were on the same Gaming/Nerd Interest site and yet are sitting here scratching our heads what the subject matter here should be. Hmmm, I wonder what it should be? What would give us Content and reasons to post, and reasons for people to register? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Which isn't to suggest we should stop kicking it old school with the ruleset or something like that. But we could lose our 2003 Webdesign. We could stop trying to be something that will never catch on and most of us don't seem praticularly interested in to begin with. So yes, new Name, new Design, new Slogan that isn't kinda cringe...if we must have one at all, new Subject Matter that makes sense being a Subject Matter. Drop the fucking past, kill it if you must (to quote that Movie you like), but don't go on ABOUT it. Which kinda leads into the Team needing to be more then Arnox. Look, nothing against you, but you aren't good at all aspects of being a Admin.

Spoiler

This video has been made by one of our members at intosanctuary.com. Sanctuary is a site dedicated to freedom of speech and freedom of information owned and administrated solely by Arnox. Please come visit us! :)

Why is that bolded part there? It is meaningless and the kind of thing a 12 year old does. People that haven't been on the Site don't know you, so the Site being owned and run by you means nothing, that could be terrible for all they know. More so, it's not important information. Who the Admin is, shouldn't matter. It was also unnecessary to bring in the old baggage and especially to keep bringing it up. There would also be more examples. Look, I don't think you do this on purpose, but it's too often that you try to make the Site about yourself, that's the impression I get. So, I think you need people to help you do the more open sides of administration, the stuff people see, to catch this sort of shit. I know you are ultimately a hobbyist, but if this place is ever going to go beyond a small group of like minded Users, it's going to have to give off a air of professionalism.

And also, if people actually watch those they are gonna be like "Uh, 3 gaming focussed Videos and one justifying the existence of the Site...which isn't about Gaming :???: "

On a related Note, what is it now? Are we IntoSanctuary, Sanctuary, or The Sanctuary? Because if you open the Main page, you'll see all 3 in your Browser. Lofty Dreams don't go hand in hand with that kind of execution.

So, not trying to be a dick, but as far as I'm concerned practically everything needs to be changed to some degree or other.

 

[Arnox]

I think it's fine, but you'll have to keep in mind where I came from. IMO, anyone that has a problem with "freedom of speech" or "freedom of information" as slogans already shows a certain personality trait that we probably don't want here. Just look at the guests we had from Giraffe Boards.

We had guests from Giraffe Boards?

Arnox, your Vision, that ain't happening, never ever, not in a million years. You lack the resources, the means to gain such resources and most critically, it's not something that any significant amount of people want that is not already fulfilled otherwise. As capable as you may be, that's a scope well beyond a singular person and as stated, nothing, as you envision it, that people would flock to regardless. Now, the good thing is that if you drop that Vision, you might actually have a foundation for something. Yes, something smaller and different, but something that can actually happen.

What exactly praytell do you think that vision is though? The "network" idea I was talking about earlier? We can already do that actually. The software is in place. The methodology is mostly figured out. The only thing we lack is the actual number of active users to support such a design. In fact, the only thing that would give me some pause would be getting good competent moderators together for all the different sub-forums.

And guys sorry to tell you, but no matter how invested you may be in the whole culture war thing, can we please keep in mind that the entire point is that this shit is stupid FROM BOTH SIDES?

OK, really now. For the second time, Sanctuary is not and was never started in response to the culture war or any kind of war. It was started to carry on the ideals that TOTSE set up before Sanctuary was ever even an idea in my mind.

So, no, Freedom of Speech is not a fucking subject matter to anyone well adjusted. It's something that can come up when dealing with certain extremists, not something that you proactively seek out in order to bitch about it. So, surprise surprise, it turns out, that for the most part, we don't actually behave like that here, which, shockingly, leads to low amounts of activity. The weirdest part about all this is that practically all of us know each other and found their way here because they were on the same Gaming/Nerd Interest site and yet are sitting here scratching our heads what the subject matter here should be. Hmmm, I wonder what it should be? What would give us Content and reasons to post, and reasons for people to register? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Our "subject matter" was originally whatever posters wanted to discuss and involve themselves in. We would accomodate whatever they desired. The site would adapt as needed to the demands of the userbase as it grew. Once again though, I do actually agree with this core point you've made. It's becoming clear that we can't survive off of having such a general focus. Or at least not at such an early stage. At the same time though, gaming websites are everryyyywwheerree and I truly wonder if we can really garner users that way even if we were to have a specifically geared focus towards that subject along with the freedoms that we emphasize as well. Nevertheless I do think we need to try specializing in something specific anyway. Was actually gonna make a future thread about this, but more on that later.

But we could lose our 2003 Webdesign.

We're gonna be switching to XenForo sometime in the future here. Probably really soon. And that's not an 'if'. It WILL happen. Just a question of when exactly. Me personally though, I don't see why everyone has such a damn hate boner for SMF's design considering how customizable, stable, compatible, and expansive in features it is. But yeah, since XenForo is by all indications pretty much the new vBulletin 4, which is actually my current favorite forum software so far by the way, that'll be pretty awesome to have too. No doubt about it. Hence why we'll be switching to it.

We could stop trying to be something that will never catch on and most of us don't seem praticularly interested in to begin with. So yes, new Name, new Design, new Slogan that isn't kinda cringe...if we must have one at all, new Subject Matter that makes sense being a Subject Matter. Drop the fucking past, kill it if you must (to quote that Movie you like), but don't go on ABOUT it.

See above. I feel I should say though, there are two things we will NOT be getting rid of. Ever. The rules for one are, more or less, staying for good. Regardless of what our new focus is, we will always have that, or I will shut down Sanctuary and leave it that way. And the second is in some way emphasizing the freedom and stability of that freedom that we have along with our new specialization, whatever that may be. Now I don't know the best way to do that, but I do want to make it clear in everyone's mind that they can always rely on us to not waver from our ideals.

Also, you may think the culture war is overblown, but you can't deny the simple fact that more and more websites are starting to come down hard on their communities. Whether you agree with such actions is up to you, but that is the reality we have now.

Which kinda leads into the Team needing to be more then Arnox. Look, nothing against you, but you aren't good at all aspects of being a Admin.

No offense taken, but I am curious as to why you think we need more team members when our site is this small. lol

Spoiler

This video has been made by one of our members at intosanctuary.com. Sanctuary is a site dedicated to freedom of speech and freedom of information owned and administrated solely by Arnox. Please come visit us! :)

Why is that bolded part there? It is meaningless and the kind of thing a 12 year old does. People that haven't been on the Site don't know you, so the Site being owned and run by you means nothing, that could be terrible for all they know. More so, it's not important information. Who the Admin is, shouldn't matter. It was also unnecessary to bring in the old baggage and especially to keep bringing it up. There would also be more examples. Look, I don't think you do this on purpose, but it's too often that you try to make the Site about yourself, that's the impression I get.

The bolded part is there because I wanted people to know that there's only one person who has total control of the site instead of a nebulous group that may or may not be able to be depended on to keep things consistent. I've seen big disagreements happen all the time about fundamental ideas in group projects. Hell, look at Linux. Linus Torvalds leaves for a couple weeks and soon, the entire fucking Code of Conduct is rewritten in his absence. Having said that, maybe it was indeed unnecessary to say who exactly is running this site, but it's not something I really thought of at the time. I guess I'll change it to just say "solely by one person for consistency."

So, I think you need people to help you do the more open sides of administration, the stuff people see, to catch this sort of shit. I know you are ultimately a hobbyist, but if this place is ever going to go beyond a small group of like minded Users, it's going to have to give off a air of professionalism.

If you're talking about an Editor or Public Relations, who the hell is gonna do that? Our userbase is just too small and I'm pretty sure I don't have the capital to hire one.

And also, if people actually watch those they are gonna be like "Uh, 3 gaming focussed Videos and one justifying the existence of the Site...which isn't about Gaming :???: "

Yeah it's kinda weird but none of you turds have really given me any videos to post at all, so it's just been me.

On a related Note, what is it now? Are we IntoSanctuary, Sanctuary, or The Sanctuary? Because if you open the Main page, you'll see all 3 in your Browser. Lofty Dreams don't go hand in hand with that kind of execution.

The URL is intosanctuary.com because sanctuary.com is taken. If you're really gonna get after me about that though then you must really dislike the Escapist's naming too. Is it just Escapist or The Escapist? But the URL also says escapistmagazine.com. So it could also be The Escapist Magazine or Escapist Magazine? Which is it?

 

[juicebox]

I guess we didn't truly have guests from Giraffe Boards. But in our threads on GB they would talk about how they came here, got offended by one thing or another, and wouldn't be coming back

They said the same thing about "freedom of speech" being bad

 

[Houseman]

Yeah it's kinda weird but none of you turds have really given me any videos to post at all, so it's just been me.

I help, occasionally!

 

[Arnox]

I help, occasionally!

Oh no, you absolutely do! You're awesome. I was just saying, no one else has contributed their videos or even a script for our channel.

 

[andersonnnunes]

But yeah, since XenForo is by all indications pretty much the new vBulletin 4, which is actually my current favorite forum software so far by the way, that'll be pretty awesome to have too. No doubt about it. Hence why we'll be switching to it.

Was Discourse considered as a candidate? Or anything resembling Reddit?

no one else has contributed their videos or even a script for our channel.

Including transcripts (or the script) would be nice for those like me who prefer text to video.

 

[Houseman]

Was Discourse considered as a candidate? Or anything resembling Reddit?

You mean Discord? They track everything you say and have been known to shut down channels with the reasoning of "nazis!"
So not very freedom-of-speechy.

The same thing applies to Reddit.

 

[andersonnnunes]

You mean Discord?
The same thing applies to Reddit.

No, Discourse is a forum software and there are open source Reddit-like forum software.

 

[Arnox]

But yeah, since XenForo is by all indications pretty much the new vBulletin 4, which is actually my current favorite forum software so far by the way, that'll be pretty awesome to have too. No doubt about it. Hence why we'll be switching to it.

Was Discourse considered as a candidate? Or anything resembling Reddit?

no one else has contributed their videos or even a script for our channel.

Including transcripts (or the script) would be nice for those like me who prefer text to video.

Discourse requires root privileges on the server. To get that, you need a VPS, which we're not running on right now. We may in the future, but at the moment, it's perfectly fine the way it is. I also don't like the infinite scrolling at all. Paged threads are good if you wanna find a specific post or posts and know exactly where they are. Or maybe you just want a page count total. Yeah, it's not as seamless, but for the most part, pages are a non-issue. As to Reddit, if you're talking about site software that allows others to easily form sub-communities on demand, I really like that, but at the same time, especially this early in the game, such constant community dividing is not what we want. We need to reach a certain amount of users before we start doing that. If you're talking about the Reddit upvote/downvote system though, fuck that. That or even a system like it will NEVER be in Sanctuary.

Alright. I'll post the scripts on the content listings!