Sunday 17 May 2009

Important upcoming changes to covens and profiles.

I'm sat here taking a break from revising for my last exam on Tuesday, it's not going to go well... but in other news, i have been working on the covens recently. Yes some parts, like the edit member and quitting have removed until the new version is done, please dont blood letter me asking when it'll be back.

The new version of the covens will be faster, more efficient and easier to use. That's the plan anyway, now the bad side is that all coven staff will get reset, meaning coven owners will have to go through and add all their staff again. Covens will not be reset or anything, its just the staff that will be effected by the new coven code.

The other bad thing is that HTML will not be allowed on the coven info page or main page (see below).

I'm afraid that this has to be for profiles too... HTML will be blocked. The reason for this? To increase overall game security. The changes made are listed below:

  • STILL ALLOWING CSS - CSS will still be usable in your profiles, which is what gives most of you the options to change the page around, add font colours etc etc. This will inputted via a seperate text box, so you'll still have all that.
  • BBcode (RCode) instead of HTML - Instead of using html tags like <b> </b> and <u> </u>, you will use [b][/b] and [u][/u] which is used in the forum and chat etc. So you can still format the page as before, URLs, image tags, bold, italics and others will be allowed, more info when it's done.
  • Final bad thing... - No more Youtube vids & Xat chats etc will be allowed to be embeded in your profiles. although you will be allowed to link to them via your profile.
  • Character limit - There will be a limit on words in a profile, to stop people filling it up with loads of crap which makes other peoples browsers crash, (if you're currently using internet exporer, get off it, http://getfirefox.com)


And the above rules will be the same in the coven info and main page.

I know it's a pain, but your security is more important i hope you agree.

I'll post again when the covens are ready and all the changes made to them.

Enjoy your week, and wish me luck for Tuesday!

Ash

75 comments:

K0DE said...

your html examples don't show because you should've used &lt; and &gt;, to tell the browser its not code.

DarkAsh said...

Ahh didn't realise Blogger blocked out HTML, just thought it would show the tags, thanks!

Anonymous said...

Good Luck on Tuesday.Keep you Blood Spirit high and you will do well. I await the completion of all of the changes,

Odd Ball Ebony Rose said...

will xchat still be able to be imbedded into the coven pages or will that have to be linked too like the profiles? Also what about the playlist.com playlists or will they be blocked like the xchat and youtube?

Anonymous said...

read up. Xat's are a negative. but you should be able to link them Via your profile... well thats what is says.

good luck Ash

DarkAsh said...

Youtube vids, chats, playlists etc will be blocked out. But may introduce a feature where you can have background music in your profiles.

Wolfpack said...

Good luck on Tuesday Ash, and thanks for all your efforts to ameliorate the game.

Legion Avalon said...

Cram Ash... Exams are more important and try try to ignore the howls of pain you're gonna get from here. :-)

13Slayer said...

Best of luck with your exams on Tuesday Darkash . . . try not to stress too much! :p

Anonymous said...

this change sounds okay.. i hope its faster... its crashed my FireFox a couple times aready

Anonymous said...

Good Luck on Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

dangit. that just ruined mah day.cograts. no more html wtf!

Anonymous said...

I am sorry but I am a little confused about something. I understand that you want to protect our security but why get fire fox. I have both IE and fire fox and I happen to like my IE more. I never have any issues with my IE but fire fox freezes up to often for me.

Anonymous said...

Nothing is forever, how is removing HTML from a profile making it safer?

Anonymous said...

glad that you are removing html on coven profs there are some covens wif ridiculous profiles make meh sic

Anonymous said...

Wow I think this sucks big time...I've worked hard to make my profile something I am proud of and I am not understanding how no HTML will make us any safer than we were before...whatever though... I guess it is what it is.

Good luck on your exams Ash.

Anonymous said...

DAMNIT! on the HTML part. I can sort of see how it could be a bad thing, but i think being able to add background music to one's profile, in some way, will compensate. not sure that i agree with the non HTML eing used on the covens, however, but whateer...

not cool said...

css is hard as hell to use and this kinda pisses me off as a coven leader and relly misses up any plans i had for my coven thanks ash

DarkAsh said...

You'll still be able to use [b] codes instead of HTML, so it wont be any different... the only things that's being removed is embedding stuff really.

I say use Firefox because it's better than Internet explorer, I've heard the help page etc crashes on IE. But you shouldn't use IE anyway... but that's just opinion. Use what you like.

Unknown said...

Good luck on Tuesday Ash!!!!

Konstantinos Tsompanidis said...

No need to wish you luck since I know you rule and you are going to do a great job with your exam and with the remodeling of the site! GO GO ASH!

Sarah Spencer said...

Great work Ash.... now get revising!
Better security is a good thing, and everyone will get used to the changes soon enough.

Good Luck for the exam.

Anonymous said...

Good luck Tuesday!.

Daisy said...

Actually, I can't wait to see the changes...change can be a good thing :)...I'm sure we will all adjust and after a few bitch sessions everyone will be okay...good luck on Tuesday, remember it may be the last but nevertheless important...and then DONE! Congrats on all the hard work, Ash...in school and in RoB, it is greatly appreciated!

Sosa the Terrible said...

I vote NO. I'm against this. I think this has nothing to do with security and we are being fed a bunch of crap. I think the real issue is the load up time. Who cares about the 5% of the people whose webpages crash.

Aberzombie & Witch said...

Just give it a chance - good luck on your exam, Ash!

Anonymous said...

you know, some of us have the Mighty Mac, and don't have to worry about those viruses and things that poor pathetic windblows users have to worry about.
As far as it being a time issue...that's an interesting concept. and i like the embedding feature. makes some profiles worth looking at. who wants to
read a bunch of text anyway?

Anonymous said...

some of us use school computers to get online and they refuse to use firefox so

Tifa said...

good luck on you exams ash. and i take it when you say coven staff that includes co-owners correct? hopefully the transitions go smooth and everything will be up and running soon.

Anonymous said...

good thinking Ash.-

DarkAsh said...

You can't say that HTML profiles are a security risk is a load of 'crap' when you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

I also use a Mac, but not many people have that luxury ;)

Lord nightstalker said...

All the best ash, Ive got to do the supporting boyfriend bit as my girlfriend sits her exams up in essex uni, Ive been doing this mad 4 hour train journey to see her every weekend and help her revise and calm down. Flash cards suck... Lol. All the best. Ben. Lord nightstalker

Anonymous said...

So Ash, with all of that money people have spent on plasma packs, WHEN will we see an upgrade to the server to speed the site up? You're talking about taking away HTML for security & because it causes pages to crash, well.... I want server upgrades. I don't understand why we have a lag on this site. I mean from all the money Desmonia spent you should have been able to double the server speed by now. What gives??

Sosa the Terrible said...

I agree with the Anonymous said above. Yeah Ash, what gives?

Lucidious Rage said...

Wow what a huge mistake. I couldn't disagree with your planned actions more. If you think about it, what you are doing is taking features and benefits away from those who have supported the game the most. I have personally donated over $1200 to the game and can say without any hesitation that one of the things that I enjoy most about the game is the profiles. Both building and creating my own, as well as browsing and looking at others. In my profile, I have embed you tube video of a coven staff video that I created myself, I have playlists which give my profile character, and I have my character bio. Under your new guidelines, I will lose my video, will lose my audio, and will lose my bio. leaving me with basically nothing on my profile, a frankly no reason to enjoy the game. If you think about it, and if you were to research it, I would bet that you will find that those who have donated the most $ to your servers are also the same people who care enough about the game to put time into creating visually appealing profiles which make your game look attractive and fun. I don't think I've ever in my 20 years in IT, EVER heard of "Upgraded" which are actually "downgrades" and "restrictions". The whole purpose of an upgrade is to ADD benefits, not REMOVE them. This just makes no sense what so ever, at all. You are taking actions so that the bottom 5% of the players who have crappy computers or connections will have a better gaming experience, but you are ignoring the 95% of the playes who are looking for there to be more features. Your also overlooking the top 5% of the players who are who make the donations to your server to support their lifecycle. With all due respect, and I do respect you Ash, I think this is one of the worse, least thought out actions that you have taken to date. I truly hope that it doesn't result in you losing those who actually make the donations to you. After the luster of the game wears off, and becomes boring, the ONLY thing that keeps it interesting and worth staying around is the profiles. Once you've completed the quests, and the achievements really what is there to do in the game? Not much. Train, get stronger, kill vamps, not too exciting. The Profiles are what make up for the lack of excitement once you've knocked off the achievement lists, once you have more then 6 mil in the bank, etc. I'm so frustrated right now with your decisions that I could write a book as a reply. Those that don't have a problem with them, are likely those who haven't done squat to their profiles, or don't know yet how boring the game becomes once you've finished the lists. I'm going to step out on a limb here and trust that you won't "punish" me for expressing my very real thoughts regarding this matter and rather then posting this anonymously I am going to give my name so that those who are interested can look at my profile to see what I mean, at least for a day or two while the features still function. If you do decide to punish me for being honest about my feelings, then you will have just removed the other large reason that I stick around, which is my respect for you and for what you have done with this game so far. But I'm telling you without any doubt, that this move, is a GIANT step in the wrong direction. My Game name is Lucidious Rage, My ID is 111731. Have a look at my profile and you will understand what I mean when I say that your actions of removing these functions will also result in defacing the profiles which best promote RoB. I'm so frustrated right now I could just spit fire. I respect the hell out of you Ash, but this change would be a huge mistake, in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

"I'm so frustrated right now with your decisions that I could write a book as a reply."
LOL WOW you say that like you didn't...but then again you're known for your long winded posts- Regardless I do think you had a few good points in there.. it sucks to pay any kind of money into something you love to have it changed but such is life. I will wait to judge the changes till they're rolled out...so bring it on Ash... ;)Hope its as good as you say it will be.

Sosa the Terrible said...

I really wish Lucidious Rage didn't have to write a book about it. But he's right. Additionally, we need more voices... and not anonymous ones at that! I AM CLEARLY AGAINST THIS OUTRAGE and I don't need to be a programming guru to express my anger... If you are such a programming guru and know it all, make it so we can embed objects, I don't care what code we have to use.

Sosa the Terrible said...

And if we get stuck with this crap and limited profile space, I hope you fail your exam.

DarkAsh said...

2 more new Quadcore 8gb servers have were ordered last month and were due for delivery yesterday, i have not posted a blog about it until i knew more, but the servers should be arriving soon, I'm fed up with waiting for them also...

Allowing HTML is not 100% safe, you would rather not risk your security and use [b] instead of using HTML? Can't quite get my head around that... there are ways to get around the embedding things, i can add an option include a video or 2 in your profile, add background music, ways of NOT using the embed. How would you like it if someone embed some external JavaScript file, stole your cookie, got into your account and destroyed it? I think you might start appreciating my point of view if that happens.

BlueEyedAngel said...

I honestly don't mind the change at all. I mean I can understand a lot of people with all the music and all that getting upset about it, but I mean honestly...not a lot of people quite enjoy hearing your music and seeing a long profile page of pictures and words. On the other hand, security is more important rather than having embedded stuff on a profile. In all honesty, those people complaining and whining should wait to see how it turns out before you jump down Ash's throat. I personally like how the profile set up is now, it does give a player something to look at and is quite entertaining, but I'm also willing to give this a try and see the difference.

Sosa the Terrible said...

That's fair, I guess. The point isn't so much the need to embed as it is being able to customize the profile. It's current versitility is what I personally think makes this game so appealing beyond just the mechanics of it. And even tho linking to xat chatboxes will be acceptable...it wont be the same anymore, becuase sometimes we like to see trails of people who have stopped in. It's just more effort for the user to click around now and 10 to 1 won't be bothered. Life at RoB just won't be the same anymore.

Dr Paradox said...

Hey Ash, best of luck with the exam first and foremost :-)

Secondly, if you are taking care of our security then I can respect that decision and I thank you for it. I would also like to say that if it is possible to have the ability for snazzy graphics and fully customizable music then PLEASE make that a priority too.

I agree with what Sosa and Rage have to say that profile content and our freedoms to use such is important, especially considering that some of us as ardent fans of you and your game have invested time, effort and money alongside you.

Putting it simply - we need you and you need us, it's a symbiotic relationship. Both parties must have their needs met - therein lies the art of compromise. Look after our security, but please ensure that we can also have the things that we desire available to us. Some of us are game-nuts, roleplay-nuts and music-nuts all rolled into one, and nobody wants their experience and enjoyment diminished.

I am no tech-genius, but is there not a way that it is possible to channel audio feeds and still have the freedom currently available with in-depth playlists???

I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are prepared to give you time on this and any of us that could provide assistance would do so willingly. RoB is a community same as any other group of people, let's all start pulling together in the same direction before this bandwagon tips over and passengers get lost on the wayside.

Regardless of whatever may happen, best of luck with your RL stuff man

Lady_Peitho (164737) said...

I have to admit that part of the draw of RoB is the customization and socialization aspect. I joined and became hooked in very short order. You limit and remove much of that capability and you will be removing much of what your paying clientele enjoy on the site. It is what makes it unique. Don't fall into the typical IT trap of not listening to your clients. My suggestion is find a reasonable middle ground. Failure to do so will drive away your paying customers. You have a very promising product here. I have been happy to help support it. Go with an "acceptable risk" model that will still allow you to retain your customers. Like Lucidious said above, customers don't pay for downgrades and restrictions. Tighten security, absolutely but don't get carried away to the point where you alienate your biggest contributors. Content can be backed up by the player. As long as the game stats are secure.. the rest can be redesigned.

Just a thought. Good luck on exams. Good job on the game. :)

DarkAsh said...

That's exactly what i'm doing, finding a compromise... saying i can allow adding 1 or 2 vids, even could add a xat chat, play background music, just NOT USING HTML EMBED. Because it's potentially dangerous.

If i didn't give a shit I'd just make the changes and tell you that's the way it's going to be.

DarkAsh said...

As for the bio, you can still use CSS to format everything you've done, you seem to think profiles will be left blank and useless, but it wont change at all. its just changing the HTML tags to [b]. With the ability to add a video/chat/background music, it will not change dramatically, its a minor change to the way profiles are created to enhance your security.

DarkAsh said...

You stated this:

"I don't think I've ever in my 20 years in IT, EVER heard of "Upgraded" which are actually "downgrades" and "restrictions". "


I'm interested what field of IT have you been in for 20 years?

Anonymous said...

LASOMBRA SAYS :

Hello Ash, I will finally leave you a comment concerning your future project for ROB.
I have the feeling that you don't really realize that taking off all the fallowing options will not be a good thing for ROB : Playlist, Xat, Vids, youtube, sideshow, HTML.....Seems that the list is long.
This possibility that members had on ROB of creating there profiles and covens is a big part of the game. Its fun. Its an interesting part of it. You didn't take this part in consideration enough at my point of view.
Most of the people I talk with, thinks like me. 95% of them in fact. I took the decision to inform you about this. At the moment I'm talking for people who for some reasons are scared to say what they think, even if this will not change your decisions. You have opinions on the subject.
The fact is that servers cost a lot of money. Security is one thing. Money a other. Having a good time in a game is still a other one. So I hope you really know what your doing. I wouldn't like to see ROB become like some other standard vampire on line games of the market.

Anonymous said...

Oh would you all quit your bickering. FACT no HTML profiles. this site is NOT a scoail network such as MYSPAZTIC, hell even facebook doesnt have that html editing CRAP. you will still have CSS bulshit profiles looking a complete mess rob default is so much better!

the sites a GAME play the GAME shhh fact, bicker about the blog as much as you want it wont change a thing :)

DarkAsh said...

Nevertheless, i am going to finish the covens over the next few days, and then i will re-address this issue in a blog of its own, with a forum where people can discuss. I'm sure we can come to some sort of COMPROMISE which is fair, right?

You'd rather have HTML profiles and the chance of someone session stealing your account and stealing all your money/plasma/ap/equipment, rather than guarantee that not happen and use the [b] codes? That's what i don't seem to understand...

I will dummy up example profiles and explain that it really will not be that much different, set up the forum posts for discussion, till then, good day.

Anonymous said...

LASOMBRA SAYS :

I know, we all know, your doing this new version of ROB for a better security of the game accounts witch is a noble cause. It is a lot of work and I'm sure you will give us more possibilities in the coven options. I'm not telling you that your decision or your work is bad. I wouldn't permit myself to tell you such things.
This will not change the fact that a lot of people have worked hard to make ROB running well. Our personnel work is a part of your success. If new members come in and stay, it is also because what they see in the covens and profiles ROCKS. Theres no secret on this. We make them want to stay and be a part of ROB's community.
Yes, I hope we will have a good compromise, :). We count on you Ash. ;)

Skully said...

I think you need to definitely focus on workarounds for the embedding. You mentioned that you will likely be able to allow some amount of video. You have also mentioned the background music. This one is of particular interest to me, because for me the highlight of my profile is my playlist. I am not sure what you mean when you say background music, but if it means only being able to put in one song, then I feel that is a very poor substitute for the playlists, and something should be figured out for that. I won't mention other sites by name but I do know of at least one that allows you to put in the url of your playlist itself without all the code that normally goes with it, and I assume it handles the coding itself in the background to take away all the coding (and I assume the potential security risks you mention) from the user. I do understand your desire to make the site and it's users secure, however the point has been made and it is a valid one that removing functionality that is so ingrained into the experience that people have come to enjoy so much is probably not the best way to go. Having said that, I still think that RoB is a great game and I enjoy it immensely. I look forward to many of the enhancements that are underway, particularly the enemy list. Thanks for listening to my two cents.

Lucidious Rage said...

“I'm interested what field of IT have you been in for 20 years?”

This is going to be a long post, but I assure you, well worth the read. You question my background publically and therefore I must reply to your indirect insult publically. (Though I will also send this in a BL to you as your last post stated that you wouldn’t be watching this blog thread anymore).

I started as a kid who spent many hours every week after school (I didn’t have baby sitters, I had HP) (for about 4 years) helping his mother who was the head of the demo department for Hewlett Packard corporate headquarters. This was back when PC’s were clunky, touchy, constantly failing pieces of crap when 5MB hard drives were considered HUGE and memory sticks that were 64K were $500 upgrades. I helped her set up for, and prepare the equipment for the corporate sales team to utilize to demo to corporations in an attempt to sell them equipment for their offices.

I then went to work for a company called VoTech who were the leading supporters of the ground breaking technology of voice recognition developed by Dragon technologies (Dragon Dictate). We helped the company to perfect, enhance, field test, and train voice recognition software to tailor to the needs of quadriplegics to give them a life back. I worked for them as their lead tester & trainer for about 2 years. I worked this job mostly after school and on weekends.

I then broke off from VoTech and formed my own computer company with two main focuses. The first was a provider of fully voice operated and automated desktop PCs, the second was as an ISP supporting a community of over 5,000 clients to connect to the internet. My primary focus group was that of school aged individuals who needed connectivity to the internet. (this was back when modems was pretty much the only option). I owned this company for about 1.5 years and ended up selling it off for a huge profit.

I then went to work for Microsoft in a support and development role and hated life at MS after a year, so I bugged out and went to my next job.

Which was Nike Headquarters. I worked in there IT department supporting the corporate headquarters and several remote offices for a little over 2 years. (Great shoes, huge benefits, and best of all cheap as hell Nike gear as an employee, along with free access to the Nike employee store, and all kinds of opportunities to meet and greet with professional athletes. (VERY FUN job).

After Nike, I went to work for Intel for 2 years supporting their developers who were charged with building applications to max-test (and try to break) future processor models through software. (in simple English, our jobs were to build applications which were too intensive for the processor to handle to find the breaking point (limitations) of the processors. Very fun job, but the politics at Intel suck ass.

Now I work for a multi-billion dollar international company as a Professional Programmer charged with the task of creating, developing, coding and enhancing our Mobil fleets technology and services for a fleet of users and equipment of more than 100,000 units wide. My last application saves my company an average of $6.5 Million dollars / year. I have been in this position for the last 8+ years.

I sense a lot of sarcasm in your question of: “I'm interested what field of IT have you been in for 20 years?” and I am choosing to ignore that. I understand that you must feel a bit stung by my original post questioning your direction of the up-downgrades.

But I will say this. I have been one of your leading supporters (and I’m not even talking about the $) of RoB, AND of your actions in the game. I think you are a brilliant kid who has skilled himself into a gold mine here. Notice I said “skilled” not “lucked”. I give you much credit for building what you have here, which is precisely why I have chosen to support it as I have. You are a remarkable kid who has proven to have a unique and distinct eye for what you’re doing here and I applaud that.

I am going to choose to ignore your indirect insult (implicating that I don’t have the experience I stated I have, by your statement questioning my 20 years of experience) because if I were to not ignore that, I would be left with no other choice but to cast you off as some idiot kid who got lucky and doesn’t know what he has.

Because I know that not to be the case, I choose to remain supporting you, and your efforts.

You need to understand that my statements were based SOLELY in reaction to your statements. Let me refresh your memory:

1) “The other bad thing is that HTML will not be allowed on the coven info page or main page. I'm afraid that this has to be for profiles too... HTML will be blocked.”
This clearly means that no HTML will be allowed, rather CSS and BBCode (which CSS can be exploited just as easily as HTML) and let’s face it, BB code is elementary compared to either CSS or HTML and is extremely limiting. However, given your security concerns, I can completely understand your reasoning for wanting to utilize BBcode.

2) “Final bad thing... - No more Youtube vids & Xat chats etc will be allowed to be embeded in your profiles.”
This clearly does not state, that you’re going to look into whether or not embedding will be allowed, it states very clearly “no more youtube vids, xat chats, and later in a reply to another post, you state that it will also not allow playlists to be embedded.

3) Character limit - There will be a limit on words in a profile, to stop people filling it up with loads of crap which makes other peoples browsers crash.
Again, clearly stating a limit here. We will be restricted by the number of characters we are allowed to express ourselves in, because of the fear of making *some* browsers crash. If a person’s browser crashes after viewing a profile because they have a piece of junk PC, then so be it. I bet they won’t visit that profile again. The world shouldn’t have to pay the price for 5% of users who have junky equipment. I feel bad for those who can’t afford upgrades, etc, but realistically, that’s life. Part of not upgrading is dealing with the reality that you may be limited to future features.

It is these three items, which you clearly stated that my first post was in reaction to. You made no indication that you would be working on the ability to embed, or to work with us. You just stated what we would be losing. This is what was most shocking, because in the past you have been VERY GOOD at listening to our requests, and working with us to find a middle ground. I’m relieved to hear from you that you are going to be taking these items into consideration and will not be just restricting them.

I completely agree with your actions to make the site as secure as possible, as long as it isn’t at the cost of restricting basic functions such as embedding audio and video, and we aren’t limited by someone else’s determination of what a appropriate number of characters are.

In your words the limit is to “stop people filling it up with loads of crap.” But I would argue that “crap” is in the eye of the beholder. What may be “crap” to one person may be interesting and appealing to another. The fact is, that the person who thinks it’s crap, will move on to another profile to look at, the person who thinks it is interesting will spend the time enjoying it. But the choice should be to the user, not the limitations.

Bottom line here Ash is that you’ve done a great job with the game, and the community. If I didn’t think so, or didn’t think it was something worth protecting, I wouldn’t have wasted my time commenting on your posted updates. I’ve always been a supporter of your efforts here and I have no doubt that I have made you very clearly aware of that. I am somewhat disheartened by your replies to me, especially questioning my background (a pretty childish thing to do) but I will cast that off as “he is too young to know better” which is also somewhat disheartening considering the pedestal that I have chosen to put you on. You’ve lost some of my respect, but such is life. I will continue to support you, because I think you’re worth it, and that the game and community that you have built is worth it.

I look forward to seeing what changes you make and I truly hope that you have done well on your test at school today. You’re a bright kid who clearly has a bright future. Especially if you gain the wisdom to utilize those who have years of experience, rather than to push them away by indirect insults.

Sosa the Terrible said...

Lucidious Rage, dude... i can't tell if you are trying to make a valid point or spamming. We don't care about your life story. Can't you consolidate your thoughts into a nutshell?

Maybe now I understand where Ash is comming from. Geezuz.

Lucidious Rage said...

He publically questioned my background, indirectly insulting me and implying that the "20 years" that I stated was some made up #. The post was long, but necessary to protect my personal character. His implication was that I don't really have the background I stated I have. Trust me, this was the condensed version, if I were to post my resume with full details of my positions, you would have been here for a while. I would have preferred not to have posted it here, but to defend myself from his comment/question, I felt it necessary, (and frankly, it was requested by his indirect questioning of his interest of my 20 years of IT experience).

Sosa the Terrible said...

Meh.

Anonymous said...

I too am disheartened at these new changes or down grades as it has been stated. I have put alot of time and money into this game and frankly the profiles were what kept me here. It made it different than the other games I tried and left because they bored me to tears. I truly hope that these changes do not cause me and my credit card to look elsewhere for my entertainment and that you find solutions to these issues.

~*Sel*~*Toxic Kisses*~ (89492) said...

Woa. I can't believe I'm about to type this. I agree with Lucidious Rage. I hope that you can find a good middle ground for the RoB community Ash.

I'm not even going to pretend to know anything about running a site, coding, or security. So, even though I think losing some profile customization features will be suck a**, I'm willing to wait and see how it improves RoB.

Personally, my pc has never crashed while viewing anyone's profile. However, it has frozen up numerous times at reset and I have been timed out countless times(I use firefox) when trying to battle or post in the forums. I play several browser games and have never had any problems while on those sites- it's only here.

Good luck with exams and the updates.

Anonymous said...

I agree with rage's thoughts. no one who's donated a chunk of change is going to want to do so any more if they can only see downgrades to the site. However, while now you've stated that you would be willing to make a compromise, I'm game to listen. though, i think you should listen to our thoughts before putting this new coven system into play. I don't think it needs making another forum board.

Anonymous said...

Personally I think the use of HTML and CSS in the profiles makes some incredibly ugly content on many profiles. That said, some do look quite good when they are well done. Therefore, I propose to keep HTML and CSS but ban those users with butt ugly profiles from using it. Problem solved!!

No this was not a serious suggestion

DarkAsh said...

"at least one that allows you to put in the url of your playlist itself without all the code that normally goes with it," << do-able


I was not insulting you, you using you 20years against me, i was just curious into what you did as you were using it against me...

DarkAsh said...

As you're analyzing my posts in depth, saying i say no youtube vids, does NOT mean none at all. As i'm happy to compromise.... but at the end of the day there is no point discussing it now as it will be brought up again for sensible discussion next week.

Lucidious Rage said...

ahh. then I must apologize if you felt it an insult to you. It was not intended as such. What I was merely saying was that typically, in my experience, "upgrades" involved adding new features, not removing existing functionality. as I also said, I think your a brilliant young man who has earned what he has build here, not lucked into it. Ash, I'm here to help you, not insult you. If I were going to insult you I would merely delete and forget the game. Insults, whether from me, or to me, are simply not worth my time.

Perhaps I'm just a little more direct in my wording then you are used to. I have alwasy been a "say it like it is" not a "sugar coat it so it looks pretty" type of person.

Let me make a few things very clear to you, and others.

1) I fully support you and your drive to make this game better for us. I support your decisions, even if I do not agree with them. It is your house so to speak, we are all just guests. I just assumed that you were the type of host that wanted to hear from his guests what it is that makes them enjoy coming about.

2) I would never dream of insulting you and if you took anything that I said as a direct insult to you, please understand it was NOT intended as such. If anything, I was questioning the logic behind the actions, but not behind your ability to make the decisions.

3) And I just realized that I hadn't said this yet... which is, I am VERY happy to see that you are willing to comprimise, and listen to your community to bridge the gap. It shows very strong leadership skills on your part. I'm impressed that you are willing to "listen to the masses" so to speak.

4) This will be my last post, until the new discussion starts next week regarding the changes.

Thanks for your hard work Ash, and sorry for any misunderstanding, though I do fully stand behind every topic that I raised. My focus was the issues, NOT about your ability to handle them.

Sosa the Terrible said...

Thank the gods below that will be your last post.

Sosa the Terrible said...

Besides, a little insult doesn't hurt. It moves things along. So I'm not sorry.

Anonymous said...

Oh holy crap how did this become about Ludicious and his need to be the center of attention with his wordy posts and droning....you could have summed ALL of your novel sized posts up into "hey Ash not to be rude but your plan sucks...I spent lots of money into this and wish you weren't doing it but since I have no choice I'll go along with it anyways" THE END....

THAT aside...I do agree with the extrememly prolonged point that Ludicious was aiming to make but I will wait to see what it all looks like once it's hands on.

Anonymous said...

i tell you one thing Ash, i personally think that the vast majority of the dissenters here most of all need to realize that as the originator of RoB, you wouldn't be doing changes like this without just cause. why would you do something to risk the well-being of your creation. i see this as a very well thought-out, easily justifiable set of adjustments that are gonna make the game experience much better. i think a few cups of stfu may be in order, but that's my opinion. absolute best of luck with the exams Ash! and keep up he outstanding work on our beloved RoB!

BloodLust said...

Ash!!Staff reseted as in their staff options will be gone too?!?Me and my coven owner are jailed for the time-being so who the crap will accept new members and all??

Anonymous said...

good luck on your exam ash, you rock!!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Just simply, "Wow!" Let the man gather all of the input that is being thrust upon him and allow him to compromise and create a viable solution that everyone should be satisfied with...seriously. We all have our own backgrounds of expertise, it is his game, security should be crucial; besides...he has done well for someone continuing his Education while speaking with the masses. I have played numerous RPG's and not once have I ever spoken with the Big Dogs while they changed things as they saw fit.

Ash. Is at least listening to everyone's comments, opinions, and positive and/or negative input. DO WHAT YOU NEED TO ASH...WE WILL FOLLOW OR LEAVE...SIMPLE AS THAT!!!

~Impaler~

Ekkie said...

I'm lolling at this =D I'm perfectly happy for you to do all this stuff, Theres nothing on my profile, noone ever looks at it. But all these people getting so worked up about it amuses me =D

Anonymous said...

I not geting fire fox

Arkhon said...

@Lucidious Rage : B_H has been around for a much longer time you had and he doesn't need all that crap you said in your first post.

If you can't find anything better to do than just the profiles, I'm sure myspace or any other profile-oriented site suits you better.

Thank you for your donations, but I'm not quitting security in exchange of making you or anyone else happy.

@Ash: Good luck and thank you very much for all your effort.

Anonymous said...

firefox is a pain, but i guess it's kinda better. Good Luck man.

Anonymous said...

I hope we can simply add our playlist . com's URL so we can still have the tunes in the profiles, besides that, some pictures in each profile(less than 10) don't hurt any one or any decent browser/comp.

if the goal is make the game faster by limiting pages info and save broadband(such as no videos, no pics, no mp3 files, etc) big mistake, since every day internet speeds are increasing, and there are newer and faster servers(and not soo expensive also), so hopefully you Ash dont do what Feltash did on his game(DW) by removing mp3 on profile and allowing only those crappy MIDI files(aka as ringtones :P)

PS. Give me a cent to earn a dollar!

Anonymous said...

Hey what we have to understand is that ash is gonna do the best he can and thats all we can ask of him. I am a person who put alot of time designing my coven page and info pages but such is life if i have to do it all again. Ill come up with another idea with the tools i am given. Think of it not as you are losing your work but more as getting a chance to redesign and make it bigger and better. Im pretty sure ash is gonna give us a playlist option for background music even if it has to be an option where we paste 10-15 songs urls into a window and we all get the same default player on our pages. When it comes to picture and videos. Well what we get is better than not having them at all

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