My two cents on the state of Sythe.org

The thing about this is, UI's and Donor Ranks must be uploaded to the server. This access is something that is not to be given out freely for obvious reasons. Because of this, there ends up being a delay in the handling of requests as Matthew is the only one who actively can and does manage UI's/ranks.

 

This has got to be fixed. Matthew could easily make it so people have to upload images (check to make sure it's not a malicious file), then have it uploaded but not shown anywhere, then in a panel allow any administrator to click "approve" and it be done, instead of manually uploading them (if that's in fact what he does).

The "we can't do this because X" needs to stop. There's lots of excuses around here, and lots of ways around them that COULD be done, but aren't due to laziness or lack of interest.

This is a website. You can code almost ANYTHING - it's just people choose not to.

 

Was merely just using that as an example. Runescape is clearly a dying game, back when I was a market buff in 2011 there were consistently 100k+ players online at a time, almost 250k+ on the weekends. Nowadays it's a feat to even reach 50k on both EOC/07 combined. Obviously with a decreased player-base there will be decreased activity with anything pertaining to the game (market/discussion/etc).

The point being if we wish for the site to grow, we need to follow trends as opposed to beating a dead horse

 

I totally agree with this, can't add more or less.

 

I already brought this up, so if you really want to complain, don't blame me for not trying because I have.... Matthew and Sythe (Matt primarily as it's his donation center) don't want anyone having access to the servers by any medium. Be it an automated uploading tool, or otherwise.

 

so the only admin we can really trust is Matthew?

 

To elaborate.... Here's the PM exchange.

 

Well everyone can upload an avatar, so even then they have access to the servers to SOME extent.

What about only allowing certain files to be uploaded? For example - .PNG + .JPEG + .GIF files? And include a size cap to whatever your standard UI file size is, that way no one can lag the server by uploading mass files.

 

What is all the hate about staff as of late?

Yes we do have mods that are inactive at the moment, but that doesn't mean they are of any less value than active mods. Its seems that specific user are getting praise on this thread while the rest [like me & others] get placed in the background because you don't see the work we do. The reason why you see people like Dave and Superman posting more is because they have the power to get things done. "Generally" sectionals have to wait for the assistance of Market, Globals and Admins for any work to be seen/done.

I agree with the statements about the high turnover rate for mods. This position is definitely not as glamorous as I had hoped for it to be and now I can see why people don't want to put up with the BS.

As far as your expanding to new games point, we have tried that in the past. Nothing has worked out quite as well as Runescape. This forum as a whole is known as a "Runescape Black Market" and I have a feeling that is how it will stay. To add insult to injury, people with the attitudes of the game dying are not helping its cause. Everyone is so quick to jump on the hate Runescape train all of a sudden and it is really sickening. I have seen the charts/numbers and I am not ignorant to the fact that the user base has fallen. I have to admit that most of the people that have been around for a while are not welcoming of change and are so quick to quit a game they love because of it.

TL: DR - Your points Dialatic are valid. But I do not see any suggestions on how to make the situation better excluding the remark about other games.

 

Being on staff really is a thankless job. We cannot ever appease everyone. Every single action we make, be it a ruling on a scam report, the way we handle a spam report, a thread or post deletion, or a rule change ultimately will please some, irritate some, and outright piss off others. There's absolutely no avoiding this unfortunately. This is partially the reason staff turnover is so great. We get berated, harassed, and blamed by someone for any choice we make, regardless of the outcome.

We dedicate hours, days, weeks, months, and even years of our personal time to the site, and what do we get in return? Grief. That's all we're guaranteed to receive, is a bunch of grief from some person(s) regarding something we did.

 

We do need to switch to a diffrent game,Runescape is dead and we all lnow it.
As for staff,Dave/Roary/Superman/Ryan are GREAT at what they do.
n4n0,yarrow and ziggly are alright
But as for the rest....Yeah.
Modernization:I really dont mind the site i mean it works and all but if other people would like to see it updated/Overhaueled i wouldnt mind.
Just my input though.

 

Sythe's initial popularity spiked because of what, a bot? I know it's been tried and failed quite frequently but I think the website needs to provide some sort of a service that's better than just a forum. You should have invested thousands into trying to make Sythe more like Player auctions versus adwords. THAT would be how to have a stable income and Sythe.org already has all of PA's sellers.

I'd imagine bigger sellers would even contribute/donate if it helped free them from PA.

 

all i ever hear now is make the site more active, and people bitching and moaning, well what have any of you done to try and increase activity? hell other games for example, n4n0, flyingtoast, and myself are the only ones i ever see trying to get other games going.

Hell i even started the community game night, and not a single person in this thread even bothered to attend one event, So before you start crying you all should atleast make a effort to do something within the site.


This is why i only participate in the spamforum anymore, because you guys complain and complain yet never do anything about it.

 

You did a game night? =o I've been wondering where the game nights went...

 

Has this been brought up as a suggestion before? Nick's right in saying that most of PA's sellers are on Sythe. If we provided the same service, they would have no use in using PA. It'd be a lot more work however, meaning more staff (i'd assume).

And to N4N0 / Ziggily, I'm not saying that you're not doing a good job. It's a few individuals (ie; Malakadang) that really have no use to be on staff. I see you guys posting and doing things quite frequently, in my last post however I just said a few names that came to mind.

@Roary, I may be wrong, but there are ALOT of hyper active members who i'm sure would want to be mods, and would be a great asset to the site. However, trusting them and what not isn't up to me, so I understand where you come from on that.

 

we stopped doing them because litterally NO ONE even attended. yea everyone came to whore out posts on the thread, but no one would come to the event so i stopped caring, i will be bringing it back within the next couple of weeks along with it being livestreamed, so no one has an excuse not to attend a community event.

i am even thinking about returning the movie night we used to do when cookiiezz ran the IRC server.

but again the best ideas and plans only work if people make them work and attend.

 

I think it needs to be brought up why people use this site and really any site.

No new person stumbles upon sythe and says, "Woah, I would love to be a part of this forum and shoot shit with people here!!" They come here in search of some form of a blackmarket that is largely related to Runescape. This is because of the service this site provides, which is a blackmarket for online games (mostly Runescape). Sure there are miscellaneous other markets and such, but none compare to Runescape's. With Runescape's declining playerbase, so will the need for this site's service decline. Until the service that this site provides is changed, there is not going to be any huge gains in new members or growth.

 

You are totally right. my idea is to change the homepage into several huge sections which would make the Runescape part of this forum just as big as the LOL and other games part of this forum.

Sure this is a huge change but it's not a big risk for Sythe as it can not lose much more members. There are only 100 members online average.

 

This is completely true. I can see that Dialatic is sincere in attempting to better the Sythe community, but unfortunately like every other post I see on this thread, it just becomes an argument of what should and shouldn't happen. I've read throughout the suggestions and see nothing but the same, with the same risen arguments. In all honesty, the best way to go about it is to wait for a more popular MMO to bring new users/attention to the site. Until then, the Spam Forum will clearly remain the most active part of this forum.

 

I enjoy the site just fine the way it is do I wish it was more active? Of course I do but it is what it is.