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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

The Forces of Light and the Dark Masters

Discussion in 'Archive: Fan Sites' started by Rainbow Knight Star, Mar 10, 2008.

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  1. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    You saw me, eh? I was checking the place out and seeing what was what. How did you all come up with the idea of the Jedi and Sith organizations, anyway? It sounds like something that could have come from a social thread here on the JC or an RPG.
     
  2. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    The Forces of Light is the name of my SW RPG in the RPF, and that's where the name for the forum came from, as well as the name of the Jedi order.
    The Dark Masters Sith Order is Jedi_killeroak's order.

     
  3. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    Do you have a lot of people in your RPG? That would be the best place to start for your traffic. Again, I think it's your niche and something unique that could build a great community. Focusing on getting the people into your RPG first and outgrowing whatever threads you have on the JC would then warrant serious attention to a set of forums. Again, though, too much of a JC usually fails... that RPG is going to be where your serious business comes from! :)
     
  4. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    :confused:

    I'm not following you. I cannot promote my forums in my RPG thread over here. I would at least like to just mention them one time, since they are the offsite of the game, but I don't want to get into trouble with the mods.
    Outgrow some threads? Well, not right now. I like having threads over here.

    [face_thinking]

    I don't want to leave the JC.
     
  5. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    If you've made friends with the people in your RPG and you just want a place to chat and hang out, it would be perfectly acceptable to send them a link to your forums. That's what I mean by growing and outgrowing. You can't possibly RP, chat about sports, chat about the new SW novel, etc. in the single thread here on the JC. Once you get enough people, that would warrant having a new place to spread out a bit.

    Does that make more sense? :)
     
  6. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    [face_thinking]

    I guess. Unfortunately, some players have left my RPG, and I am struggling to keep the game active.
    I believe things will work out and the game will be fine.

    Thanks for joining the boards, Trika.

    :)
     
  7. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    We are also looking for people who could create a good-looking banner for the site. :D
     
  8. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    I saw that, and it's a good idea to get something like that up to personalize what you've got there. If you think you can hold on until my schoolwork slows down, I may find some time to create one for you for starters. You should do something that really focuses on the Jedi vs. Sith aspect of your boards.
     
  9. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    Sure, Trika, I can wait for your schoolwork to slow down. However, someone will have to create the banner for me, since I am visually impaired.
    Nemisis is gone for now, so I may have to admin someone else to let them create and post the banner.

     
  10. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    When I made the banner for Stridarious's boards, nemisis uploaded it and took care of everything after the design stuff, so I suppose if he's around then, I can hand it off to him and let him go from there. If he's not around, I may be able to hunt my way around and find where to do it.
     
  11. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    I created a very simple banner, but it only shows Yoda.
     
  12. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    Maybe I can contact Nemisis and get him to drop by the forum and post the banner for us.
    We need something more than just Yoda. A nice action banner would be great.

    Example: Yoda in a lightsaber duel.

     
  13. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    I'm working with just Microsoft Paint, so don't expect anything beyond belief. [face_whistling]
     
  14. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    [image=http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/_trika/banner2.png] [image=http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/_trika/banner1-1.png]

    Here are a couple I did really quickly for Galactic Portal. Gunny, I use Photoshop for what I do, and if you're looking to explore a way to get more professional work done, I'd explore open-source alternatives like Gimp or something else. I recently saw Gimp and don't think I'd be able to find my way around it having used Photoshop, but if you're just starting out, it would probably be cool for you to play around in. You'll be able to do a lot more than Paint can do, though. You should check it out sometime. :)
     
  15. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    Yeah, I've wondered for a little while whether or not I should buy Photoshop. That would make these things a whole lot easier.
     
  16. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    It's rather expensive, but if you can get it, it's the industry-standard graphic tool. Again, I'd recommend open source to try out actually working with graphics, to see if you'd like it. It's rather time consuming to learn and practice, but very fun.
     
  17. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    There is now an RPG forum on the boards, and I am organizing a Galact Senate. It will be very much like the first SWC Galact Republic Senat Game, except we have a whole forum to work with. If anyone wants to help in the organization process, plese post here in this thread, or send me a PM.
    I remember how much fun I had in that game; writing motions, participating in discussions, and just chatting out of game and being silly with my fellow players.
    I decided to bring the fun back. So, come on, let's make it a success by giving the Senate Game our best.
    I have set up a "Brainstorming" thread in the forum for everyone to post their ideas.
    I hope to see many of my fellow senate players over there.

    :)
     
  18. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    There is a huge problem with my being able to tell the difference between spambots and real people. I have set my "User Registration" options to "Admin." This means that all accounts must be approved by me before the registered individual may be considered a board member, and carry out any actions like posting.
    However, I have all of these strange names with blank profiles and enactive accounts that started showing up before I made this change in the registration. Now, a question for you Admins out there. What is the most obvious way to tell a spambot from an actual person?

    By the way, when I say strang names, I mean that the names are very long, and make absolutely no sense at all. JEDIGUNSHIP is a witness to this.
    Some of these...beings have been on the forums for two months, but made no posts. Any help is greatly appreciated. Please feel free to PM me for more details.
    I do not think I should post any of the names in this thread.
     
  19. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    Personally, I keep The Nest clear of the bots, regardless of their purpose as a spider or a spammer or whatever. There's no need for them on there, snooping about, really. Sure, the main site is only accessible via password, but besides that, phpBB provides a way to disallow access by the normal Yahoo and Google Bots, in addition to others that crawl the Web. I do all of the above and more.

    Upon registration, I also require users to type in a visual confirmation code. Since bots can't "read" it, it prevents them from registering at all. For those users who may be visually-impaired, a quick link to e-mail me is right there, requesting access. Bots can't send me real-sounding e-mail, either, and if they can, they definitely can't read my reply back to them. :p

    As for determining which of your users are bots now, if it's a name like you've mentioned, without posts, why not delete it anyway? It's spamming up the boards even if it was a real person. Now, a real name you can read without posts? Maybe you might want to keep that one, just in case.

    You are the ruler of your forum, madam! Rule it with an iron fist, says I! :p

    Trikes
     
  20. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    Thanks, Trika. I don't mean to sound so unsure, but I have never had this big of a problem before. Thanks for those encouraging words concerning leadership.

    :)
     
  21. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    Trika, is there a way to get a Confirmation Code generator for the site? :)
     
  22. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    We already have one, Gunny. I turned it off when I registered as a sock. I will go over there and make sure that I checked all of the right boxes when I turned the code back on.

     
  23. Trika_Kenobi

    Trika_Kenobi Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1999
    Did you get it working properly? Everything good to go now? :)
     
  24. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    Oh, I didn't know that there was already one. Hopefully it will crack down on the spambots.
     
  25. Rainbow Knight Star

    Rainbow Knight Star Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2005
    Here are the steps I have taken to improve the situation concerning the spambots.

    Board General Configuration Update: Visual Confirmation

    1. All new users are required to enter a random code matching an image to help prevent mass registration.
    (code enabled)

    2. All anonymous users are required to enter a random code matching an image to help prevent mass postings.
    (code enabled)

    3. GD is now used to make a more advanced captcha.

    4. Foreground noise is now used to make the GD based captcha harder.

    5. Lower settings of this are used to make the GD based captcha harder.

    6. GD captcha background noise x-access setting: 10 ( in both spaces) (previous setting, 25)

    Hopefully this will prevent further problems.

     
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