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Post by jonesie on Jan 30, 2023 17:38:01 GMT -5
Yes, it's definitely a "Walking A Tightrope" situation, and the debate is ongoing! Some sites/forums are genuinely concerned about spammers, hackers, and people who do nothing but be disruptive. So, walls are put up, because there are only so many hours in the day to deal with this sort of thing. Betty, you are doing a good job at trying to achieve a balance, in the way you are setting things up. [Insert a hearty "Rah, rah, rah!!" here]
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Post by kharis on Jan 30, 2023 18:51:52 GMT -5
I have Facebook simply to be able to watch the videos/reels friends send me, without FB messenger does not work. Annoying because I hate social media. I'm far from active though.
Last memory I have of CTO was not a pleasant one, some fighting within the members and admins. I lurked more than posted there and when it all started to go that way I just drifted away. Then it just was gone.
I dont know anything about Terra Luna but have seen the name posted on another forum, not nice things to say either. Cant say one way or the other as I have never been a member there but if what is said is true then perhaps being too exclusive could be the eventual demise? I understand wanting to keep certain people out, scammers and spammers for example, but sometimes things can be too closed off and people just move away from those. Or could just be a quiet time for players, real life often takes over and games get put on the back burner as they say.
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Post by damondamore on Jan 30, 2023 19:36:58 GMT -5
Well, I don't think putting things behind registration is so much of an issue when registration is always open.
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Post by SimsFan_1 on Jan 30, 2023 23:04:07 GMT -5
Yes, it's definitely a "Walking A Tightrope" situation, and the debate is ongoing! Some sites/forums are genuinely concerned about spammers, hackers, and people who do nothing but be disruptive. So, walls are put up, because there are only so many hours in the day to deal with this sort of thing. Betty, you are doing a good job at trying to achieve a balance, in the way you are setting things up. [Insert a hearty "Rah, rah, rah!!" here] I guess I'm kind of lucky in that I *do* have the time to be here every day and constantly monitor the site. I've run another (non-Sims) forum before in the past, and I was always quick to act whenever I caught a troll or spammer. However, I kind of feel that trolls and spammers aren't as big a problem for forums nowadays as they were in the 00s and early 10s. Most fandoms have abandoned forums for sites like Reddit and Tumblr, so that's where the trolls and spammers have gone as well. I constantly have to report/block porn bots on my Sims blog, especially lately. I have Facebook simply to be able to watch the videos/reels friends send me, without FB messenger does not work. Annoying because I hate social media. I'm far from active though. Last memory I have of CTO was not a pleasant one, some fighting within the members and admins. I lurked more than posted there and when it all started to go that way I just drifted away. Then it just was gone. I don't know anything about Terra Luna but have seen the name posted on another forum, not nice things to say either. Cant say one way or the other as I have never been a member there but if what is said is true then perhaps being too exclusive could be the eventual demise? I understand wanting to keep certain people out, scammers and spammers for example, but sometimes things can be too closed off and people just move away from those. Or could just be a quiet time for players, real life often takes over and games get put on the back burner as they say. What have you been hearing about TerraLuna? You can PM me if you don't want to post it publicly. I remember that CTO was very closed-off as well. You had to join to even see the forum, and you had to make (I think) 10 posts before you could access the files. I think it was like this because there was a lot of controversy around sharing "unavailable" files (especially from paysites) when CTO first began, so the site had to be more closed-off to protect itself. And, maybe TerraLuna ended up being even more closed off because the site pretty much formed as a result of CTO getting taken down by a hacker. Well, I don't think putting things behind registration is so much of an issue when registration is always open. This is true... as I said earlier, we do have a members only area here, and joining here is very easy. However, I do think things like links and tutorials should be accessible to lurkers, especially with how old this game is and how many sites have disappeared. It's often hard to tell what sites are still up and running...😞
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Post by jonesie on Jan 31, 2023 1:05:51 GMT -5
SimsFan - sorry, but I didn't want to use the Quote option, because it quoted this whole thread...so, I've copied and pasted your comment. Hope that's OK...
"I guess I'm kind of lucky in that I *do* have the time to be here every day and constantly monitor the site. I've run another (non-Sims) forum before in the past, and I was always quick to act whenever I caught a troll or spammer. However, I kind of feel that trolls and spammers aren't as big a problem for forums nowadays as they were in the 00s and early 10s. Most fandoms have abandoned forums for sites like Reddit and Tumblr, so that's where the trolls and spammers have gone as well. I constantly have to report/block porn bots on my Sims blog, especially lately."
Wow...I checked your "especially lately" link. Those posts are both creepy and/or annoying...depending on the...ahem..."subject matter." Keep up the good fight!!
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Post by SimsFan_1 on Jan 31, 2023 2:12:52 GMT -5
SimsFan - sorry, but I didn't want to use the Quote option, because it quoted this whole thread...so, I've copied and pasted your comment. Hope that's OK... "I guess I'm kind of lucky in that I *do* have the time to be here every day and constantly monitor the site. I've run another (non-Sims) forum before in the past, and I was always quick to act whenever I caught a troll or spammer.However, I kind of feel that trolls and spammers aren't as big a problem for forums nowadays as they were in the 00s and early 10s. Most fandoms have abandoned forums for sites like Reddit and Tumblr, so that's where the trolls and spammers have gone as well. I constantly have to report/block porn bots on my Sims blog, especially lately."Wow...I checked your "especially lately" link. Those posts are both creepy and/or annoying...depending on the...ahem..."subject matter." Keep up the good fight!! No, that's fine... as long as I can read what you're saying, I don't care how you quote.
The porn bots have been TERRIBLE on Tumblr lately.😣🤦♀️ Seems like I have to report/block at least 5 per day. Usually, they're just blank blogs with a few stock photos of "sexy" women (and sometimes a description that goes "22, hot and heavy 🔥, like to suck 🍆," or something like that), but I got somewhat freaked out when I saw that "I have a business proposal for you" message in my asks.😬
I've heard that this may be a result of Twitter's recent-flame out. Many people have left Twitter for Tumblr, and the bots may have followed them over. Twitter had a massive issue with porn bots following people's accounts -- this one somebody caught on Twitter last year looks just like the ones I've been seeing on Tumblr. I really hope the site does something about this soon!
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Post by SimsFan_1 on Jan 31, 2023 2:22:45 GMT -5
Just went to check on my Tumblr... and I caught ANOTHER one!🤦♀️ I got screenshots before I reported/blocked, so you can see what these things look like.
In my notifications, I see that an account with an auto-generated garbage username has started following me:
So, I head over to their blog, and I get a blank page with a photo of a big-boobed woman (likely either stolen or from some stock site):
Definitely smells like a bot!
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Post by damondamore on Jan 31, 2023 5:19:17 GMT -5
Both Twitter and tumblr have a bot problem now. Most spamming is done by bots these days which can be confused with simple registration questions. CTO was gated because it permitted sharing outside of creator's policies still at a time when many creators were fresh in peoples' memories. I think TL is gated the way it is because CTO had some terrible issues with a few users. However, TL is also one of the few remaining places to discuss sims 1 in any meaningful way. However, policy being policy and making people wait for open registration was a choice made by the people in charge and policy is policy. What has really installed my aluminum siding as of late is that it appears to me some people were permitted to skip the wait and be let in outside of an open registration period. If policy does not apply to everyone, well now you're just clearly trying to keep out people you think are "undesirable." As someone who has been that undesirable outsider many times in his life, I don't know how I feel about that. Perhaps I should just shut up, say it's not a problem for us, it's a problem for me and have a middle-class night.* I will say here you have a moderator (me) who is able to swing by usually at least three times a day to read through every post, even if I don't respond I'm looky-looky-watchy-watchy. * This is the comic I'm referencing in my post since I'll bet many of you do not have SMBC memorized the way I do.
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Post by SimsFan_1 on Jan 31, 2023 12:19:06 GMT -5
CTO was gated because it permitted sharing outside of creator's policies still at a time when many creators were fresh in peoples' memories. I think TL is gated the way it is because CTO had some terrible issues with a few users. However, TL is also one of the few remaining places to discuss sims 1 in any meaningful way. However, policy being policy and making people wait for open registration was a choice made by the people in charge and policy is policy. What has really installed my aluminum siding as of late is that it appears to me some people were permitted to skip the wait and be let in outside of an open registration period. If policy does not apply to everyone, well now you're just clearly trying to keep out people you think are "undesirable." As someone who has been that undesirable outsider many times in his life, I don't know how I feel about that. Perhaps I should just shut up, say it's not a problem for us, it's a problem for me and have a middle-class night.* I will say here you have a moderator (me) who is able to swing by usually at least three times a day to read through every post, even if I don't respond I'm looky-looky-watchy-watchy. * This is the comic I'm referencing in my post since I'll bet many of you do not have SMBC memorized the way I do. Yeah, I remember CTO getting targeted by a few people because they shared "unavailable" files. That was a pretty messy era for the Sims 1 community, as a whole -- there were still paysites around, and a lot of sites were starting to die, but file-sharing was still seen as something evil and shameful by many people.😒 Now that so many sites are gone, it seems so dumb and ridiculous that people had those hangups about sharing files. File-sharing is literally the only reason so many Sims things have not vanished into the ether for good. I recently came across this pretty relevant comment on Reddit. It seems like "gated" forums are a problem with Sims 1 communities compared to Sims 2-4, and I don't know why.🤔 Before CTO, there were forums like Simbella's and The Coconut Hut that actually appeared to be paysites and kept their files extremely exclusive -- those files ironically became more widely available after the forums died and gave Saving The Sims permission to share their stuff. I know there was also this German forum that had extremely exclusive membership (and may have also been a paysite) and actually attacked CTO for sharing some of their things there.
On the flipside, the Sims 2 community has Mod The Sims, which has always been very free and accessible. I think you still have to register to download things, but they don't foist a ton of email and posting requirements onto you. I guess later versions learned from the mistakes of the Sims 1 community.
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Post by damondamore on Jan 31, 2023 18:21:51 GMT -5
Well Mod The Sims has it's own shady practices, and sims 2 was no better in the early days. I think because it was a bigger game-- by the nature of the time it came out-- things were different. I'm not aware of many sims 1 boards to begin with so I can't say how common the exclusivity is. I will say that gated registration is terrible for growing a community and cross-pollination of ideas. I try hard to make mods that other modders can use and plug into, but given there's few people hacking on TL it seems unlikely that will happen.
I really did believe in the theory behind Simblesse Oblige, that those with something had an obligation to share it. Then again, maybe the fact a site could promote it self that way was a symptom of trying to make your circle the most exclusive.
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Post by simmingsims55 on Jan 31, 2023 19:04:16 GMT -5
Hope it's okay that I hop in! I was part of the CTO forums and it was such a huge hit when it went down. Not just because of the content but there were a few people I liked talking to who I have not met again. I was also part of Simblesse Oblige but more of a lurker since I was still saddened by what had happened to CTO. I loved the site and am also sad it went down too. I love the members at TL but I do wish the registration was more accessible so more members will join. I love talking to others who are enthusiastic about Sims 1 and it's so much fun seeing what people are making for the game in 2023. Also my email for that forum is defunct and it isn't letting me change to the current one I have so if I lose my login information I'm not sure if I'll be able to find my way back there. Also, if you all ever want to upload Sims 1 content here I am more than happy to dig out my Simfileshare and post it for you all. I don't have much but I'm always happy to share!
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Post by damondamore on Jan 31, 2023 19:31:55 GMT -5
I'm particularly frustrated because I know people who have been waiting to join TL and have basically been told they have to wait. Meanwhile, other people are getting personal invitations. It's impossible to defend the registration policy if you're going to turn around and invite people to skip it. It's putting me between the board policy and some friends, not to mention my own scruples.
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Post by SimsFan_1 on Jan 31, 2023 19:56:21 GMT -5
Well Mod The Sims has it's own shady practices, and sims 2 was no better in the early days. I think because it was a bigger game-- by the nature of the time it came out-- things were different. I'm not aware of many sims 1 boards to begin with so I can't say how common the exclusivity is. I will say that gated registration is terrible for growing a community and cross-pollination of ideas. I try hard to make mods that other modders can use and plug into, but given there's few people hacking on TL it seems unlikely that will happen. I really did believe in the theory behind Simblesse Oblige, that those with something had an obligation to share it. Then again, maybe the fact a site could promote it self that way was a symptom of trying to make your circle the most exclusive. If you have any tutorials and mods you want to share, you should post them here.🙂 This site is still very young, but I think it has potential to grow, especially with it being much more open than TerraLuna.
I really miss Simblesse Oblige, as well.😞 It's a shame that the site's final years were basically spent as a refuge for CTO members (and was constantly going down because of it). A lot of neat things were shared there, and most of it has been lost.
Hope it's okay that I hop in! I was part of the CTO forums and it was such a huge hit when it went down. Not just because of the content but there were a few people I liked talking to who I have not met again. I was also part of Simblesse Oblige but more of a lurker since I was still saddened by what had happened to CTO. I loved the site and am also sad it went down too. I love the members at TL but I do wish the registration was more accessible so more members will join. I love talking to others who are enthusiastic about Sims 1 and it's so much fun seeing what people are making for the game in 2023. Also my email for that forum is defunct and it isn't letting me change to the current one I have so if I lose my login information I'm not sure if I'll be able to find my way back there. Also, if you all ever want to upload Sims 1 content here I am more than happy to dig out my Simfileshare and post it for you all. I don't have much but I'm always happy to share! I've been thinking about creating a filesharing area, myself, as I also have some things that I want to share. There's a lot of stuff (especially from CTO's archives) that's not available anywhere anymore and deserves to be shared. With this game being as old as it is, sharing old stuff is what helps keep it alive. I'm particularly frustrated because I know people who have been waiting to join TL and have basically been told they have to wait. Meanwhile, other people are getting personal invitations. It's impossible to defend the registration policy if you're going to turn around and invite people to skip it. It's putting me between the board policy and some friends, not to mention my own scruples. That's just ridiculous.🤦♀️ Definitely seems like the mods just want a hangout for themselves and their friends and not let in any new members.
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Post by damondamore on Jan 31, 2023 21:15:01 GMT -5
I do want to clear something up as a former moderator... Simblesse Oblige went down because the host changed their packages, and the package Simblesse Oblige was downgraded severely. The next tier up so prohibitively expensive and may have required a forum upgrade which may have gotten rid of a lot of old posts and attachments (it wasn't clear precisely what the risks were with upgrading).
The site was going down mostly from bot traffic making it run out of bandwidth. The bots would keep trying to register, hammering the site and the database. It was not going down from CTO members.
The things I miss most about Simblesse Oblige are the people who are no longer with us. I think fondly of Yernesa (sp?) and her 'packrat' and her alien sims that lived in their weird desert. Also, patchover who I 'archived' but may have been lost on my old hard disk. Her posts started to remind me of the book Vita (Biehl, 2005), in a beautifully tragic way. I regret to say I have tried to browse Simblesse Oblige on the wayback machine a few times and I always get very very sad seeing the people who are no longer part of the world alongside the many people who are no longer part of my world. Some of the most patient and understanding people ran that site.
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Post by jonesie on Jan 31, 2023 21:15:04 GMT -5
To share or not to share, that is the question. (Sorry, Mr. Shakespeare ) Over the years, when I see a Creator has chosen not to share, I view it the same way I view Patent and Copyright protections. Some Creators are extremely protective of their work and that's their prerogative. I suspect that this debate will go on until the end of time, or until the last Sims1 player goes to that Great Goth Family Mansion In The Sky.
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