What happened?

[TRD]

Now it's just the fact that we have to convince either Smidge or PC0 into accepting our proposal and granting us the power to improve the forum and granting the statuses. I'd say choose the one you can get in contact with better, in which case, it would be Smidge.

(I miss PC0. =[)

[Guest Shadix]

I propose that we go beyond that, and start fresh entirely. It doesn't necessarily have to be an SFGHQ replacement, in fact I would prefer it not be, but since we are all thinking aloud in here...

I propose starting a new community with a representative ran community... Where we vote our officials into their positions, sort of like a government. This way, the officials in charge are guaranteed to be interested in the community, and at the same time have the extra motivation to do a good job in order to maintain their position. It'd be similar to the mock elections, only we will have to take extra measure to insure they are ran fairly, and to be taken much more seriously.

Another important aspect of this new system would be the compilation of a set of rules, not only for the members, but directed towards the officials as well, within regards to placing limits on what the president of the site is allowed to do and what he is not, in the interest of preserving the community and the rights of those within it.

Moderators could then be appointed and dismissed by the president. Also, the president, if found to be corrupt or (more likely) inactive for a reasonable amount of time, could then be impeached by the board members. A Prime minister would also be appointed, whose role will be slightly different from that of the president's. There would also be a supreme administrator, who's role is to insure that the system is maintained and that the president actually gives up his role at the end of the term. Outside of this this grand master should not have any actual authority over the community, but would basically supervise that the government is not becoming corrupt.

Mr. Worm and I have been discussing forum democracy at great lengths, and I think we should at least experiment with the idea.

(This post was typed quite a while ago)

TRD: PC0 still gets on AIM, in fact he was on like 5 minutes ago.

[Slingerland]

Sure, you're a cool guy and everything, but when that moderator switch goes on, you become a whole different creature.

I disagree, as you're citing few incidents as "all the time."

PC0 still gets on AIM, in fact he was on like 5 minutes ago.

Does he ever respond? About 5% of the time.

Moderators could then be appointed and dismissed by the president. Also, the president, if found to be corrupt or (more likely) inactive for a reasonable amount of time, could then be impeached by the board members. A Prime minister would also be appointed, whose role will be slightly different from that of the president's. There would also be a supreme administrator, who's role is to insure that the system is maintained and that the president actually gives up his role at the end of the term. Outside of this this grand master should not have any actual authority over the community, but would basically supervise that the government is not becoming corrupt.

This is a Sonic the Hedgehog fangaming community. Sonic...fan...gaming. No disrespect, sirs, but all that text it utterly insane for the current situation. New management simply resolves anything and if you have a problem with said management, talk to them. We're not brick fucking walls here.

[TRD]

TRD: PC0 still gets on AIM, in fact he was on like 5 minutes ago.

Yeah, but he never responds. >>

[Kain]

Good luck with that social experiment, Shadix & Mr. Worm. I, personally, prefer a forum where the only political bullshit I have to deal with are the necessity-constructed rules and the local rule-enforcers' interpretation of said rules. I have serious doubts as to the benefits of a highly-defined government on a casually-constructed and casually-bound small community, but I guess that's for you to find out.

[tentril]

I get first dibs. xD

You'll have to fight me for it TRD. We still have a score to settle from SAGE.

Anyway, a government is completely insane, but I don't see a problem with voting in a mod every year and replacing the last one to be voted in.

[Andrew]

*sneaks in*

hahaha

*sneaks out*

No, I don't have anything more to add. As far as doing my bit for the community goes, I've done it. You guys can work the rest of it out.

[tentril]

I almost forgot you started this. Good work Andrew.

[hRook]

I was in mSquad... I'd like to be considered classical rock...

You guys are making this a bigger deal than it is. Our forum isn't active enough to have a huge heirarchy... The most people we get logged on at a single time is MAYBE fifteen. Everybody needs to relax. I pretty much like everybody on the forum... I've been nice-ening up lately... so that's me doing my part for the community aspect.

Honestly, how much do you expect Sonic the Hedgehog to offer? The fandom's figureheads used to be a flaky Australian and a furry-digging pedophile. New games aren't good. You can only rehash the same ol' same ol' until things get stale. I'm positive that this community has pushed 2D Sonic games to their limit, and at the same time that's been over the course of almost 10 years. Want something new? Generalize the community or innovate its contents. Perhaps you could find a balance between the two!

There's nothing wrong with a high standard of excellence, and elitism is a natural offshoot of that. We shouldn't whine about how we no longer accept mediocrity, we should be proud that we have established a high standard (much higher than that of any other fangaming communities I've found on the internet). The issue is that it seems daunting to newcomers who lack the ambition and drive to make a name of themselves (in the Sonic the Hedgehog internet fan community... woo).

To newcomers: Don't be afraid of everything here. What we've established shouldn't scare you away, it should encourage you even more to become a part of it. Just do your thing, and figure out how to do it well. Don't be afraid to help people out, and don't be afraid to ask them to help you. That's how a community is built. I'm sort of a living example... I started doing the music sequencing thing publicly (at least on the internet) because I knew I had a knack for it, and I knew I was good at it. I just put myself and my work out there, and now I've been nominated for two SSAs (wooo, huge deal). Granted, I never won, but I remember I was pretty thrilled when I was only 40-or-so votes short of John Weeks (Espiokaos) about a year after I started being serious about the whole music thing. Now people know me as a fuckin wizard with music sequencing (i think... i hope), and that's a title I've earned.

Moral of the story, stop whining, stop fighting, stop bitching, stop trying to outgrow each other's dicks. The only person you can change is your goddamn self.

-Hunter Bridges

Also, special props to Aylingling for putting up with everyone's bullshit after every single post you make. There's something to say about you since you've been dealing with all that since day 1.

[Guest Roy]

Damn I miss your random deepness on AIM, Hunter.

[Slingerland]

Also, special props to Aylingling for putting up with everyone's bullshit after every single post you make. There's something to say about you since you've been dealing with all that since day 1.

If you want to know some wacky shit, and Ayling will probably hate me for the following, but he is actually RedTheHedgehog reincarnated. I asked Smidge to give him another chance, as he was bullied by a poor choice of name on his part. His choice of name wasn't his fault, as he had no prior knowledge of Redsonic's legacy, so he was unfairly ostracized from SFGHQ. He got to make a new username, but he was my responsibility if he actually turned out to be bad.

It turns out that he became a decent, active member of this community when given a fair opportunity. Although he says stupid shit from time to time (we all do - it happens and eventually stops), I also give mad props to him as well. Good members always seem to survive the high standards deal going on here; look at TRD.

Oh, and that whole thing of making this all so damn complicated is QFT-able too, but I'm too lazy to pick it apart at the moment or repeat myself regarding some reigns being handed off or some shit like that. x)

[Spike]

Nah, I don't really care who he is. He's our little buddy.

[Epon]

Ok people, I hate to pull the oldbie card here, but I've been around a lot longer than most of you and have seen this "community" in a significantly worse state than it is, now. I've made my fair-share of these posts about... 4 years ago, back when BigGeorgieB was still kickin around here. But I've grown up.

Sling, you've done an excellent job as whatever the fuck your title is here at SFGHQ (mod, admin, etc). You locked my topic, recently, and I didn't argue one bit because you were RIGHT. I appreciate everything you've done for my community.

I won't sit here and read about how a bunch of you don't like posts being locked. There's no underlying cause of moderator abuse. There's no absence of the "Sonic-knitted-community" and open-mindedness for newbies. No. That's not it at all. Those are the same excuses people have been throwing around since day 1 just regurgitated for this year's annual "OMG SFGHQ SUX".

I've seen SFGHQ torn down by hackers. I've seen wars between site owners. I've seen respectable members... nay, FRIENDS OF MINE come and go, people who established this fucking website.

To be honest, I can't tell half of the users apart on this forum, anymore. ACTIVE USERS that frequent here are all blurred together to me. I don't know what half of you have done other than post a shitload since you joined, and now people are talking about becoming new moderators?

Do you want to know why the new users aren't coming here? Because SFGHQ is stale. It's dead. Fangaming is dead. This forum is just like any other stupid fan forum on the interwebs; a place for a bunch of assholes like me and you to chat about whatever crosses our minds.

You want to fix this "problem"? Start doing productive shit.

You want relaxation forum? Go to Cloud11 when it's open.

You want CAMP? Go to NUMBERchan and jerk off to some child porn.

That's that.

[twodee]

I miss BGB, although I talk to him on MSN from time to time.

[Duckboy]

The new SFG generation to SFG is like My Chemical Romance to rock.

Me, SG, Duckboy, 2D, VJ, Andrew, Roy, etc... we are all classical rock.

I hate to say this, but I think SFG members should be split into the pro-oldschoolers and the new generation. Not generally a civil war, mind you, but keeping the traditionalist scene clean from corruption can only be achieved by segregating. We just need a spokesperson...

we should form a band

[Ayling]

I was gonna say eventually Slinger. Part of the reason I lasted here was the fact I knew what to expect. I could prove it too, if anyone wants.

Mod elections are a good idea. Definitely.

[Andrew]

Okay, I wasn't gonna put in my opinion but seriously guys. Moderators have their jobs based on their SKILLS. Not by popular vote. Besides, even if we did, you'd just vote the current mods back in because they're a) what you've always had, and they're good at their job.

Now shut up about being all democratic and let's just stick to fixing the COMMUNITY, not the moderators.

[shadowgoten]

TRD and Spike for mod.

All I gotta say to this is: LOL

[Slingerland]

Now shut up about being all democratic and let's just stick to fixing the COMMUNITY

Haha, you had to voice your opinion! But seriously, that had to be said once more, I suppose. Guys, we are not a country...we are a Sonic fangame community. Don't worry about the staff and think about shit that YOU CAN DO YOURSELF. Like, participating in more contests and tournaments, hmmm? :3

All I gotta say to this is: LOL

I lol'd at your lol.

[TRD]

All I gotta say to this is: LOL

I don't know what so funny about that, but whatev, I know I'm already doing my part as a member.

I don't know what half of you have done other than post a shitload since you joined, and now people are talking about becoming new moderators?

I've done quite a bit for SFGHQ, and I don't just mean submission and whatnot, and alot of us were just joking about the mod thing, I only want a mod position if I earned it, I wouldn't ask for such a thing like that....

[Rael0505]

hahaha @ ayling's secret being revealed

Adressing what Andrew said at the very beginning of the topic, I honestly don't think we've had a big problem with everything getting locked. It doesn't happen that often(and I think we have much bigger problems). And if a topic is locked unfairly, someone CONTACT ME about it. Whenever someone's complained about a locked topic to me (usually midiman) I've either gone back and deleted the crap that started it, or just unlocked it after rethinking it. You guys need to give us more credit. This is the FIRST I've heard of this problem. Brad and I aren't monsters. You can complain to us if you don't like how something is being done. It feels like this is all getting thrown in our faces now that someone's brought it up. It's not the staff's fault if no one does their part in correcting us.

And another thing, it's been just over a year since I've become a mod. Since then, only one person has used the report a post feature. If you don't like a post, use it. Seriously. An email is sent out to every moderator. When that one person did use it, I stepped in immediately and bitch-slapped whoever it was. I don't remember what the situation was about or who it involved, I just remember it because it was like the first time anyone used it. I told this to midiman and he told me he always thought the feature doesn't work. I don't know where he got that idea, but I almost threw a fit.

[shadowgoten]

I don't know what so funny about that, but whatev, I know I'm already doing my part as a member.

I'm LOL'ing because everytime it's decided there should be new mods, there's always that one guy who isn't even subtle about it and pulls that crap.

As cool as you've become now TRD, you sometimes get a bit emotional when something big goes down.

Anyways, I'm not trying to shoot you guys down, but don't start the pick me! pick me! thing out in the open.

As much as a chill section would be, I think it would be more useful if people being sarcastic would let others know in their post, because god, some of you have a horrible sense of sarcasm and everyone takes you seriously.

[Rael0505]

Another thing I'm worried about is Smidge's lack of activity. We had so many ideas for the main site, but not one of them has been adressed. I assumed after we got SAGE out of the way we'd get to it, but no. Our last update was late September. This is the longest gap of updates we've had, excluding the six or so months where SFGHQ was down after the hacking. We've had a lot of new content in the submissions zone recently, but it's all been sitting there. I spoke to Smidge about helping with updates once, but apparently right now he's the only one who can update the site. And with him being so busy with life, I guess he just can't.

I think Smidge is great at what he does for our forum, but I think we need another active co-admin around who has more free time. Not only do we need someone else to update the site, but we need someone with the coding capabilities to put our new site ideas to good use. And I honestly can't think of that many people who are still active. If anyone wants to step up, go ahead.

The mod forum is dead. I make threads in there requesting assistance with anything and I never get a reply unless I harass the moderators to post in it on AIM. It's like we have no support from our admins anymore.

[Rael0505]

As much as a chill section would be, I think it would be more useful if people being sarcastic would let others know in their post, because god, some of you have a horrible sense of sarcasm and everyone takes you seriously.

omg, I just got the best idea ever. We could add this feature where before posting we have to type in yes or no to an "is this post serious" textbox. The serious posts could be one color, and the non-serious posts can be another. It would work.

[duckythemutant]

Epon, I love you, but you always say something deep in "SFG is dying" topics that makes people forget the point and go back to their old ways, not fixing any problems at all.

I now declare myself president of the SFG reformat party.