Forgehub: Save Yourself

Me and a few other members think the same. Seeing as i am not as old as most members its hard for me to tell.

Here it goes:

Over the past few months much has changed here at Forgehub, The past is the past, but what to come has a lot in store.

I was looking over the "Members Rank" thread and I saw a few names I wasn't so sure about, I checked in and saw a few of them haven’t been online is a while. I know this could be from many reasons but in my opinion, and the opinion of others some type of action needs to be taken care of. On Forgehub there are well over 20,000 members, 2,000 of them being active most of the time. Now, 20,000 members do need a lot of maintenance and the need for new moderators and staff is always at hand. The problem is where they have been coming from. Most recently it has been drawn to my attention that some of the most active members are being overlooked for those who seem to spend more time sucking up to the *colored* members on Xbox Live.
In my opinion Xbox Live is Xbox Live, and Forgehub is Forgehub, they are two completely different things. Just because a members is friends with the staff on Xbox doesn’t automatically mean he should be classified as a great poster on Forgehub and be promoted. You need to look deeper, and find out some other things before just anyone is promoted.

For a few examples I have ventured into the “Members Rank” thread in search of some Loyals - Administrators I do not feel are pulling their weight. Right at the beginning we see a Loyal by the name of BKBillsfan. Now I know he may have been a very active and helpful member a while back, but his lack of activity has really made him stand out. Even take a look at what some member wrote on his page. “Last Activity: 08-19-2008...
Hmm... Does anyone get the hint he isn’t loyal?” iShedo says.
Some other members that seem to stand apart are
*Grimz13
*Poztar
And possible
*Vorpal Saint.

And you say this is just a cry because I haven’t received loyal, I disagree. It’s happening all around, and Forgehub is changing, mostly for the better, but some for the worse. Many members agree with what I am saying here, some are too scared to take a stand for fear of getting banned.
I am hoping that my popularity over the Forgehub community will tell you something, I have almost 2000 posts and in my opinion I know what I am talking about. I hope to get a positive response but if it results in a warning or even a ban I am sorry, but it needed to be said.

As Furious said himself “A promotion not based on post count? I love it! Finally there is an actual reward for generally being awesome.” As I see it, its not post count at all. Its how much time you spend with the *Colored* members.

That’s all I have to say, this message is going to a select people, mainly those Higher up in the community so there won’t be any conflicts.
I felt this needed to be said before some major changed effect us, If you wish to gain the map database and the Farcryhub, you must have your members trust and support for it to all work out in the end.

Writers:
The Official Y35
E93
Playahata27
Ztrike13
And others not listed.



Backup.
“We seriously need more active powers. It's like having an army with dead soldiers. Sure, they have guns, but they don't do anything.” Says Norlinsky

“Well, there definitely has to be changes, I never liked the large group of Staff members, I have always believed that a small group of dedicated people can get the job done. I think the Guardians should have been implemented a long time ago, and moderators should be ousted. Guardians only stay if you keep up your job. If you don't your gone, back to Loyal or whatever.” Says TXGhost.


Supporters:








The Solutions

So what can we make up of all of this? How can we fix these problems?

Well, for one, we need to separate better Live from ForgeHub, or as a matter of fact, even Skype from ForgeHub. A member should get rewarded, or perhaps promoted on how the person acts at ForgeHub. How active the member is, how he posts, what he has contributed to the community, that’s not just maps, because honestly about 30% of ForgeHub doesn’t make maps. Myself Included. Maybe they contributed something like a thread, or a debate, or maybe they were offering services, or maybe they made spectacular blogs (no one right now), maybe it was a competition, or, who would have guessed, maybe they’re just active, and helpful, and have been here religiously since the day they joined. How are you supposed to know who these people are? They’re everywhere. They might not be the person that goes on every Customer Service thread and tries to help people out. It might be someone that helps members undercover. Maybe through Private Messages or Profile Messages. Tell your friends about these people make a remark, let others know they’ve been helping you.
Perhaps a thread should be made for this, to let other members know about these people. Not that I don’t agree with the current method of having Loyals and above members pick who should be promoted, or whatever, but it’s been proven that many of these are either doing mod things, or just are not even there. Many of the loyals aren’t as active as they used to, so tend to let these above average members slip by, and never see them in action. Maybe that’s why when they play with people on Live, they end up becoming friends with them, and through their conversations, ‘’learn’’ about them, fully biased. All I ask is a little more activeness coming from our superiors. Isn’t that the kind of role you want to be setting? I understand and completely agree with the Retired members, but keeping a title that perhaps would be more deserved with someone else isn’t completely right. Now, I’m not attacking anyone in particular right now, but I’m just pointing out how many members aren’t nearly as active as they’re supposed to be. Not just loyals. It’s far from being only loyals. Everyone.
Even you, ‘’regular user’’ have a role here. Post. Be active. I’m not asking for you to spam up the boards, but be active, post, go on different boards, check out some videos, visit the G&A section (although you might not return alive), welcome a member with a personal message, check out someone’s map, review it, play it, take a look at some screenshots. ForgeHub is miles from being a map, forum only board. ForgeHub has evolved, and from the minute I joined, it was already bigger than ‘’just maps’’. You don’t need to make a map. You don’t need to know how to forge well. Just be involved.
Even you, ‘’regular user’’ have a role here. Post. Be active. I’m not asking for you to spam up the boards, but be active, post, go on different boards, check out some videos, visit the G&A section (although you might not return alive), welcome a member with a personal message, check out someone’s map, review it, play it, take a look at some screenshots. ForgeHub is miles from being a map, forum only board. ForgeHub has evolved, and from the minute I joined, it was already bigger than ‘’just maps’’. You don’t need to make a map. You don’t need to know how to forge well. Just be involved.



On April 21st, 2008 my life changed. I have heard about a website, but not just any old website. This one in particular was different from any other I ever visited. Its name was Forge Hub.

I heard forging legends were made on that very site. They had flawless maps, some that could be mistaken to be made by Bungie themselves. So I quickly registered an account and began my journey through out Forge Hub. Upon my arrival, I was a bit, let’s say 'noobish'. I didn't intend to make friends, or actually post that much, unless it would reward me in the end.. My real goal was just to download maps, and learn new techniques of making my own creations better.

After a while I learned there was more to Forge Hub then just a maps forum. So I soon ventured out into the depths of this so called site. I found an underlying community, of friends and people like you and me. Some with different positions as others, and some with different personalities than others. But together we all held together Forge Hub itself. I soon looked up to many staff and administrators, almost as 'gods'. I felt like I needed to do my part, and get noticed. So I started posting much more frequently. Soon enough I was infracted for spamming. I then started to catch on to using grammar, and punctuation. Not just your friend talk, but now I felt more mature posting this way. Then I found a mysterious forum named “Off Topic.” This forum was probably the most social one of them all, seeing post's in there would not count to your over all count. So I saw threads like “1,000 Post Party Countdown” and “ORLY/OM NOM/IM IN UR/LOLCAT/ ect Pic Thread” and other big-timers. But more than that I found the people them selves. Legends like Titmar, or Squidhands, to name a few. I quickly started to try to be 'like' them but failed at doing so. I could see I was annoying some of the members. After that I just tried to be myself. It worked out pretty good. I then started to fit in with the rest, and have some LOL's here and there. But more than that, I had friends. Never would I think that an Online Halo 3 forum would provide with such necessities and humor. I started loving this Forge Hub. Later on I made a map that I could call my own, I became frequent in the 1,000,000 post party countdown, and basically stayed active around the site. I've seen so many epic, and bad times at the site. To name a few were th Revolution of Rep, Reynbow's epic power unleashes, Titmar loses his throne, and others. I felt connected to this site.

Though one day in August my computer broke. Oh was it a horror, not to go on Forge Hub. I literally couldn't stand it without my beloved Forge Hub, which sounds pathetic, but I don't care. Though in a month give or take, I returned to Forge Hub even better this time. I see a missed a lot in such a little month. I missed the famous specsopgrunt “I'm 13 and almost have a girlfriend”, and skittles getting banned, again. But I was back and that’s all that mattered. I quickly noticed how one month had changed people rep bars from about 4 being the highest to 10 full bars of rep. I to then realized rep was out of hand, but was still a nice little thank you in good cases. I saw old faces and new ones. I saw how popular some members were now. I came back to my beloved 1,000,000 post party countdown, where I spent most of my time. Though there was also another change in the people and of Forgehub.

Some popular members when I departed like Dragoncoals, and Vinny were some causes of my frustration. Dragoncoals, who I will be referring to as DQ was the old owner of the site. An admin too. He soon lost that though after wanting to be more active. He was demoted to loyal. Though he would spam off topic with threads about nothing, and the same with posts. He recently got banned, but still hasn't lost his rank. Now I'm pretty sure its because of his pre ownership of Forge Hub. I and maybe some others think that’s unfair that just because he was the old owner, it warrants him to run amok posting whatever and not facing the normal consequences I and other users would face? Not to Vinny, I know he’s a somewhat cool guy, but at times he can be a real douche. He would just go around making fun of those less superior than himself. Now I myself have seen some moderators let him pass by a well earned infraction or something that would pertain to me as troubles will talk about member troubles later.

I also noticed the big number of spam that hit Forge Hub. In almost any map thread, or forum you will find at least 2-3 spam comments. Now I understand that newer members will be less likely to follow the rules or read them. But there are solutions to this. I don't want to see Forge Hub turn in to Bungie.net. I want to see map reviews on every post. I want to see members that put time and effort into their posts. But I know that’s a huge favor of asking Forge Hub.

Another big problem was ranks given to members of Forge Hub. There are 3 Loyals that haven't been active since around the summer. But I know that’s not a big problem, just a simple matter of demotion. But what I find now is that almost a person to more friendly with the staff has a higher chance to be promoted. Now before you think I'm saying the staff is corrupt, well I'm not. I know they try as hard as they can, even harder to make Forge Hub as great as it is today. But I see too much members receiving loyal due to their Xbox Live duty, rather than their Forge Hub one. I know you have a higher chance of making it up there if you know all some higher ups. But I see to many people are being over looked for loyal by their popularity. I've seen some members post something that I've mistaken for a loyal or staff posting. THIS IS NOT A BEG FOR LOYAL, I UNDERSTAND IF I DESERVED IT I WOULD GET IT. As I said before I feel that it’s unfair to those that qualify for loyal but are just aren't good friends with the staff. Now listen here of course I would love to receive loyal. But when it is my time, depending if that time comes, then I shall get it. So please don't think that this is a plead for it.

Now some of the staff may be thinking well that’s why were staff, we were given the responsibility of doing our job and that’s why you don't have it. But you were members like us one day, and I'm sure you had some ideas about Forge Hub that you think could benefit everyone just it didn't happen. Forge Hub's a great community. I wouldn't want to see it crumble apart by these little factors that are starting to cause big problems.

Here are basically my solutions to all these problems.
Spam- We all hate it, and want it to stop. But there seems to be no foolproof system of it stopping. Here is my plan. When a member first joins they're redirected to the rules page. Another one is maybe a user under certain required number of posts has a reminder somewhere by their reply reminding them of the posting rules. Another one is maybe a person under 50 posts or so has to have every post checked before posted. Though that one would be a hassle for moderators seeing there’s a lot off people under 25 posts that post.
Members- All I can say is banning them. I believe DQ should have been banned already for all his non sense. Vinny too. Whatever pre friend ship you had with them should not win them a get out of jail free. Because isn't that the reason you guys go to give infractions anyways?
Member Ranks- This is probably one of the hardest problem to solve. Because no matter what some one will see it unfit that so and so wasn't qualified for the job. I'm also pretty sure you guys discuss upcoming Loyals and such in the private forums. But remember that poll for next loyal? I believe Dom, and NeverlessWonder won it in a tie. Well that made the community feel great and like part of the staff. I'm not saying you should have this every time a new loyal or staff is being elected, because then what’s the point of those private forums? What I'm saying is maybe every month or two months have that poll. You providing us with the list, or maybe one time ourselves will provide a list of people that we want to see be promoted.
Well that’s it. I tried to be as down to earth as possible. Some of these were my opinions, and some were just thoughts of others. How I see it is that Forge Hub is still great, but it could be better.




Extra notes:


“You can win a gold medal in the olympics, and be the best, but some time or another someone else will come around and claim your position.”

Another man says:

“But you have already won your gold medal, and they can never take that away from you.”

 

dude that was something written on Skype, and we all discussed all of everything with some mods and were done with it. Although I agreed with almost all we talked about, I didn't want to go about it that way... I don't mind that you posted it, but you should have asked all of us before posting it, because we all agreed not to...

 

My friend, none of it has ever left. Instead, we have all of this added to it.

 

I agree with that gameplay statement, Azn FTW was showing me some of the maps and I asked why don't you interlock or make your map more neat, and he simply replied saying it's not about that its more about how the map plays out. Fools Highway was such a basic map, but gameplay for it was outstanding! He was going to release a cool swat map, but never came back after the release. His ideas are so great, I wish he would of posted the rest of his maps...

 

You joined only a month ago. If you have been here as long as other members, you'd know just what has changed, and how great this site was all those months ago...

 

You just joined? How could you say something about about an experience you never had. Back in the old days, before rep, before loyals, before everything, was the time of Forgehub. Those were the best.

That's what got me really into this place. I joined in January when they did the Best Of Forge #1. I remember when you could post a map, and without any posts, it'd say on the first page for at least 3 days. With no comments. I remember when everyone would actually download and play the map, unlike today where people judge by pictures.

Bnasty, what you wrote was well written and I give you credit for having the guts to do it.

 

Bnasty, I like that you actually took some initiative to make this thread. The timing could have been better though. You leave for a while, then come back to criticize the website.

The web devs are real people with real lives and real needs. We don't pay them money to help us out. If they have the time to work on ForgeHub, they will do so. Be patient.

Xbox actually is good for ForgeHub's social health. People bond over Xbox live easier than over ForgeHub. If anything mix live with forgehub more.


----



As stated, colored members try their hardest to keep this website running. The reason why we are having a tough time doing so, is because of the average member. We shouldn't have to babysit you or change the website altogether to make you behave. Reputation should not be a problem, no matter how it is configured. People's egoes are what made it that problem. Behaving should be a given. That includes not posting porn Y35. Also, ForgeHub is controlled by an oligarchy that contains a spoils system. If you don't like it, too bad.

 

I haven't been around as long as you bnasty, just since March. I posted 2 maps within one week, and one map I posted, people were just ranting at me because ironically one of my structures looked like a swatzika (however it's spelled... the **** symbol) it was crap. I stopped posting for a while after then, and didn't post my next 2 maps because I didn't want to hear anybody trash me and my maps just from pictures. But of course, I came back after I had gotten a little better at forging from reading some forging 101 articles.

When I came back, My maps were a lot better and had good interlocking and such. The pics looked good, I got a lot of positive comments. But I'll admit, some of my earlier maps played like crap.

Out of all the maps I've posted here (about... 8) I haven't gotten ONE helpful gameplay review. not ONE. I could've improved all of those maps a lot more if anybody would've cared to play the map before posting and judging from the pictures. Yet I still post my maps here... I don't even know why. I'm not even expecting to get any useful comments anymore.

and rep... the WORST thing to happen to Forge Hub. I'm serious. I used to like it a lot really. I thought "hey, a reward system for being a positive and helpful member. maybe people will start giving me helpful comments and I can be helpful too" well of course, I didn't get helpful comments, and instead I got neg reps from idiots who got made that I said some negative things about their map after playing it or doing a forge through and got neg repped by someone who i negged rep for giving me a completely usless comment on one of my maps. People made such a big deal of rep. And after all, if you are truly a helpful and positive member, you don't need a reward for doing so. Especially virtual points on the internet that don't effect your life at all.

And about the people who care about post count. I've been here since March, I have 578 posts. There's people who have been here for 2-3 months and have 1000 already. On top of that, most of those members who get 1000 posts in 2-3 months have either been warned or banned at one time. I have never been infracted or warned at forge hub. Sure I might've spammed when I was just a trainee, but that's because I was getting used to it, this is one of the first forums I've ever been a part of. But I will tell you, the majority of my posts are helpful, useful, and meaningful comments. I ask myself what's so freaking hard about that.

But hey, I'm just at forge hub for the maps. I actually do find a couple good maps that I actually download. And most of the maps I download off forge hub are either featured, or featured eventually.

I'm just glad to see that I wasn't alone in my opinions of what forge hub has become, well since march at least. I never realized that a lot of other people had similar opinions. Thanks dude.

 

Aargh, markiss, why didn't you tell me you were going to post this?
I would have given you the full, revised, pretty version. lol

Whatever. Just glad it's out there now.

As you guys can probably tell, we each wrote our part, then put it all in one big wall-o-text. That's why it may seem kinda weird, and discontinued at parts. lul.

But yes, I think that clears everything for me. I've got a chunk of my text in there, and I think everything I wanted to say is in there.


eh...what the heck, I'll post the edited version...:
oh, and I removed your stuff sticky from there, cause you said you didn't want to be a part of this...








I know we all hate rants, but this is one worth reading. I’m sure you’ve been thinking about this too.

The Facts​

---

Over the past few months much has changed here at Forgehub, The past is the past, but what to come has a lot in store.

I was looking over the "Members Rank" thread and I saw a few names I wasn't so sure about, I checked in and saw a few of them haven’t been online is a while. I know this could be from many reasons but in my opinion, and the opinion of others some type of action needs to be taken care of. On Forgehub there are well over 20,000 members, 2,000 of them being active most of the time. Now, 20,000 members do need a lot of maintenance and the need for new moderators and staff is always at hand. The problem is where they have been coming from. Most recently it has been drawn to my attention that some of the most active members are being overlooked for those who seem to spend more time sucking up to the *colored* members on Xbox Live.
In my opinion Xbox Live is Xbox Live, and Forgehub is Forgehub, they are two completely different things. Just because a members is friends with the staff on Xbox doesn’t automatically mean he should be classified as a great poster on Forgehub and be promoted. You need to look deeper, and find out some other things before just anyone is promoted.

The Examples​

For a few examples I have ventured into the “Members Rank” thread in search of some Loyals - Administrators I do not feel are pulling their weight. Right at the beginning we see a Loyal by the name of BKBillsfan. Now I know he may have been a very active and helpful member a while back, but his lack of activity has really made him stand out. Even take a look at what some member wrote on his page. “Last Activity: 08-19-2008...
Hmm... Does anyone get the hint he isn’t loyal?” iShedo says.
Some other members that seem to stand apart are
*Grimz13
*Poztar
And possible
*Vorpal Saint.
*Gravedigger5454
*Running Chron
*T3chnomonkey

The Reason​

And you say this is just a cry because I haven’t received loyal, I disagree. Its happening all around, and Forgehub is changing, mostly for the better, but some for the worse. Many members agree with what I am saying here, some are too scared to take a stand for fear of getting banned.
I am hoping that my popularity over the Forgehub community will tell you something, I have almost 2000 posts and in my opinion I know what am I talking about. I hope to get a positive response but if it results in a warning or even a ban I am sorry, but it needed to be said.

As Furious said himself “A promotion not based on post count? I love it! Finally there is an actual reward for generally being awesome.” As I see it, its not post count at all. Its how much time you spend with the *Colored* members.

That’s all I have to say, this message is going to a select people, mainly those Higher up in the community so there won’t be any conflicts.
I felt this needed to be said before some major changed effect us, If you wish to gain the map database and the Farcryhub, you must have your members trust and support for it to all work out in the end.

---

The Solutions​

So what can we make up of all of this? How can we fix these problems?

Well, for one, we need to separate better Live from ForgeHub, or as a matter of fact, even Skype from ForgeHub. A member should get rewarded, or perhaps promoted on how the person acts at ForgeHub. How active the member is, how he posts, what he has contributed to the community, that’s not just maps, because honestly about 30% of ForgeHub doesn’t make maps. Including me.Maybe they contributed something like a thread, or a debate, or maybe they were offering services, or maybe they made spectacular blogs (no one right now), maybe it was a competition, or, who would have guessed, maybe they’re just active, and helpful, and have been here religiously since the day they joined. How are you supposed to know who these people are? They’re everywhere. They might not be the person that goes on every Customer Service thread and tries to help people out. It might be someone that helps members undercover. Maybe through PMs or profile messages. Tell your friends about these people, make a remark, let others know they’ve been helping you.

Perhaps a thread should be made for this, to let other members know about these people. Not that I don’t agree with the current method of having Loyals and above members pick who should be promoted, or whatever, but it’s been proven that many of these are either doing mod things, or just are not even there. Many of the loyals aren’t as active as they used to, so tend to let these above average members slip by, and never see them in action. Maybe that’s why when they play with people on Live, they end up becoming friends with them, and through their conversations, ‘’learn’’ about them, fully biased. All I ask is a little more activeness coming from our superiors. Isn’t that the kind of role you want to be setting? I understand and completely agree with the Retired members, but keeping a title that perhaps would be more deserved with someone else isn’t completely right. Now, I’m not attacking anyone in particular right now, but I’m just pointing out how many members aren’t nearly as active as they’re supposed to be. Not just loyals. It’s far from being only loyals. Everyone.

Even you, ‘’regular user’’ have a role here. Post. Be active. I’m not asking for you to spam up the boards, but be active, post, go on different boards, check out some videos, visit the G&A section (although you might not return alive), welcome a member with a personal message, check out someone’s map, review it, play it, take a look at some screenshots. ForgeHub is miles from being a map, forum only board. ForgeHub has evolved, and from the minute I joined, it was already bigger than ‘’just maps’’. You don’t need to make a map. You don’t need to know how to forge well. Just be involved. Constantly prove to us you still deserve whatever rank you are.

This is more complex than just a rant. This is a plead. I plead you, don’t let ForgeHub die. Keep it alive. When it seems that ForgeHub is the closest to fading away again, that’s when you have to stay strong. It’s like what they say about love. It’s easy to love someone when everything is going fine, the bread is on the table, you have what you need, and life is good. But it’s more important to love someone when they’re going through the harsh times. That’s when they need loving the most. Or in Forgehub’s case, that’s when it needs you to be active the most. Right now. Because if you don’t, he won’t, they won’t, and soon, no one will be there anymore.

The Backup​

“We seriously need more active powers. It's like having an army with dead soldiers. Sure, they have guns, but they don't do anything.” Says Norlinsky

“Well, there definitely has to be changes, I never liked the large group of Staff members, I have always believed that a small group of dedicated people can get the job done. I think the Guardians should have been implemented a long time ago, and moderators should be ousted. Guardians only stay if you keep up your job. If you don't your gone, back to Loyal or whatever. Winning a gold medal in the Olympics means you’re the best, but in a matter of time someone will come around and claim your title” Says TXGhost.



Thank you
The Official Y35
Playahata27
E93

And others not listed.

 

Wow caught me off guard there Y35 but its k.

I agree with everything I said, and take none o it back. I'll be reading this later bnasty,and most likely agree with it. I'll post my part of E93's,Y35's,Zstrike's and my rant.

On April 21st, 2008 my life changed. I have heard about a website, but not just any old website. This one in particular was different from any other I ever visited. Its name was Forge Hub.


I heard forging legends were made on that very site. They had flawless maps, some that could be mistaken to be made by Bungie themselves. So I quickly registered an account and began my journey through out Forge Hub. Upon my arrival, I was a bit, lets say 'noobish'. I didn't intend to make friends, or actually post that much, unless it would reward me in the end.. My real goal was just to download maps, and learn new techniques of making my own creations better.


After a while I learned there was more to Forge Hub then just a maps forum. So I soon ventured out into the depths of this so called site. I found an underlying community, of friends and people like you and me. Some with different positions as others, and some with different personalities than others. But together we all held together Forge Hub itself. I soon looked up to many staff and admins, almost as 'gods'. I felt like I needed to do my part, and get noticed. So I started posting much more frequently. Soon enough I was infracted for spamming. I then started to catch on to using grammar, and punctation. Not just your friend talk, but now I felt more mature postign this way. Then I found a mysterious forum named “Off Topic.” This forum was probably the most social one of them all, seeing post's in there would not count to your over all count. So I saw threads like “1,000 Post Party Countdown” and “ORLY/OM NOM/IM IN UR/LOLCAT/ ect Pic Thread” and other big-timers. But more than that I found the people them selves. Legedns like Titmar, or squidhands, to name a few. I quickly started to try to be 'like' them but failed at doing so. I could see I was annyoing some of the members. After that I just tried to be myself. It worked out pretty good. I then started to fit in with the rest, and have some LOL's here and there. But more than that, I had friends. Never would I think that an Online Halo 3 forum would provide with such neccesities and humor. I started loving this Forge Hub. Later on I made a map that I could call my own, I became frequent in the 1,000,000 post party countdown, and basically stayed active around the site. I've seen so many epic, and bad times at the site. To name a few were th Revolution of Rep, Reynboy's epic power unleashes, Titmar loses his throne, and others. I felt connected to this site.​

1. 1. 
      Though one day in August my computer broke. Oh was it a horror, not to go on Forge Hub. I literally couldn't stand it without my beloved Forge Hub, which sounds pathetic, but I don't care. Though in a month give or take, I returned to Forge Hub even better this time. I see a missed a lot in such a little month. I missed the famous specsopgrunt “I'm 13 and almost have a girlfriend”, and skittles gettind banned, again. But I was back and thats all that mattered. I quickly noticed how one month had hnaged people rep bars from about 4 being the highest to 10 full bars of rep. I to then realized rep was out of hand, but was still a nice little thank you in good cases. I saw old faces and new ones. I saw how popular some members were now. I came back to my beloved 1,000,000 post party countdown, where I spent most of my time. Though there was also another change in the people and of Forgehub.​

Some popular members when I departed like DragonCoals, and vinny were some causes of my frustration. Dragoncoals, who I will be referring to as DQ was the old owner of the site. An admin too. He soon lost that though after wanting to be more active. He was demoted to loyal. Though he would spam off topic with threads about nothing, and the same with posts. He recently got banned, but still hasn't lost his rank. Now I'm pretty sure its because of his pre ownership of Forge Hub. I and maybe some others think thats unfai that just beacause he was the old owner, it warrants him to run amok posting whatever and not facing the normal consequences I and other users would face? Not to Vinny, I know hes a somewhat cool guys, but at times he can be a real douche. He would just go around making fun of those less superior than himself. Now I myself have seen some mods let him pass by a well earned infraction or something that would pretrain to me as trouble.I will talk about member troubles later.


I also noticed the big number of spam that hit Forge Hub. In almost any map thread, or forum you will find at least 2-3 spam comments. Now I understand that newer members will be less likely to follow the rules or read them. But there are solutions to this. I don't want to see Forge Hub turn in to Bungie.net. I want to see map reviews on every post. I want to see members that put time and effort into their posts. But I know thats a huge favor of asking Forge Hub.


Another big problem was ranks given to members of Forge Hub. There are 3 loyals that haven't been active since around the summer. But I know thats not a big problem, just a simple matter of demotion. But what I find now is that almost a person to more more friendly with the staff has a higher chance to be promoted. Now before you think I'm sayign the staff is corrup, well I'm not. I know they try as hard as they can, even harder to make Forge Hub as great as it is today. But I see too much members receiving loyal due to their Xbox Live duty, rather than their Forge Hub one. I know you have a higher chance of making it up there if you know all some higher ups. But I see to many people are being over looked for loyal by their popularity. I've seen some mebers post something that I've mistaken for a loyal or staff posting.THIS IS NOT A BEG FOR LOYAL, I UNDERSTAND IF I DESERVED IT I WOULD GET IT. As I said before I feel thats its unfair to those that qualify for loyal but are just aren't good friends with the staff. Now listen here of course I would love to receive loyal. But when it is my time, depending if that time comes, then I shall get it. So please don't think that this is a plead for it.


Now some of the staff may be thinking well thats why were staff, we were given the responsibilty of doing our job and thats why you don't have it. But you were members like us one day, and I'm sure you had some ideas about Forge Hub that you think could benefit everyone just it didn't happen. Forge Hub's a great community. I wouldn't want to see it crumble apart by these little factors that are starting to cause big problems.


Here are basically my solutions to all these problems.​

• Spam- We all hate it, and want it to stop. But there seems to be no foolproff system of it stopping. Heres my plan. When a member first joins they're redirected to the rules page. Another one is maybe a user under a certain required number of posts has a reminder somewhere by their reply reminding them of the posting rules. Another one is maybe a person under 50 posts or so has to have every post checked before posted. Though that one would be a hassle for mods seeing theres a lot off people under 25 posts that post.​
• Members- All I can say is ban them. I belive DQ should have been banned already for all his non sense. Vinny too. Whatever pre friend ship you had with them should not win them a get out of jail free. Because isn't that the reason you guys go to give infractions anyways?​
• Member Ranks- This is probably one of the most hardest problem to solve. Because no matter what some one will see it unfit that so and so wasn't qualified for the job. I'm also pretty sure you guys discuss upcoming loyals and such in the private forums. But remember that poll for nect loyal? I belive Dom, and neverless one it in a tie. Well that made the community feel great and like part of the staff. I'm not saying you should have this everytime a new loyal or staff is being elected, because then whats the point of those private fourms? What I'm saying is maybe every month or two motnhs have that poll. You providing us with the list, or maybe one time ourselves will provide a list of people that we want to see be promoted.​

1. 1. Well thats it. I tried to be as down to earth as possible. Some of these were my opionions, and some were just thoughts of others. How I see it is that Forge Hub is still great, but it could be better.​

 

Man, you guys are deep. I think I'm definitely more of a 'just accept it' person.

 

Your info. regarding The Fall of ForgeHub is indeed very accurate.

It's amazing how fame and a larger community can completely alter a simple little group. But now that ForgeHub has fallen into these deep dark depths, I belive it's impossible to now recover.

Yes, most users want popularity and positive reputation, including myself, but what is there to do now? Nothing.

 

See thats the thing with most people here. They think theres nothing to do. Well actually there is. Why sit around an watch this site self destruct?

 

You need to understand that this has been going on since we started. Your relatively new to FH compared to some of us. This is how every major forum goes, there are ranks, and we give them to people. As much as I'd like to say that FH is all that matters, its not true. Any Loyal or Premium or higher is constantly a representative of FH whenever he's on FH or Xbox.

This is also the reason we havent done the polls anymore. It turned into a popularity contest, and thats not what we want. We pick, what I think, are the best possible Loyals and Staff. We seem to do a good job choosing them, and I think Vorpal is a good choice. The 3 that aren't active are under a discussion if they are to be demoted or not.

Dragoncoals has been banned, repeatedly. Often - and most often - it isn't a fair infraction. He's not getting special attention.

The whole 'new member' thing is impossible to fix. I'm sorry, but its like every forum. I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again, don't just expect the staff to do everything for you. If you really care so much, take the initiative. We have lives you know, and we do a ridiculous amount of reported posts. Another problem is that a good 50% or more of posts can be considered spam. We don't want to drive away our members, so we need to maintain a certain degree of what is allowed and what isn't. If you, the member, would like to help us make the forum a better place, try messaging a guy. Maybe he doesn't fully understand that there should be thought out responses to maps, and so on. In that way, we can all benefit. Reported posts are still welcome, though, as long as they are truly worthy of an infraction or warning.

 

well, i feel i do not have to write up a huge essay on this, but simply give my input that i agree, we could use some more active members that post meaningful posts..

*also, the graphics and arts section is slowly disappearing... no one posts there anymore. we do need new members, but we also need good ones.

 

I know what you mean! It used to be buzzing for a while, but now its not. There's only a few of us who really stay active in G&A and its a shame.

 

The G&A section has become a giant sig shop.

 

well i posted a sig gallery in an effort to rekindle it.

off topic has been dying as well.. everything is winding down.. hopefully Christmas break time we will gain some members, and when some of us get back from vacation we will have more people.