05-23-2003, 06:23 PM
After reading all the posts, PMs, and emails on this, Iâve put in three major changes.
1: Background has been changed to something lighter, and Diablo-related. Got the most messages about that.
2: Fixed all the typos, forgotten words, punctuation, spelling, etc. that was pointed out to me, and sent a copy to an anal editor friend of mine to give the once-over.
3: The timeline has been broken up into parts. I have removed all of the âplayer X started/stopped playing D1â and âplayer X did a 3@30â and made a special list for both of those. The former became a roster listing players by join date, the latter became a hall of heroes listing player, character, class, achievement, and date.
Iâve color-coded the rest of the information depending on content: blue for Blizzard-related Diablo information, red for bugs and bugfixes, green for significant Diablo-related events (such as the closing of the DSF), and violet for significant community-related events (such as AnonymousCowardâs guide and its effects).
All these parts will be accessible from the main page, with links leading of into subpages. If anyone cracked open the source, theyâll know that I composed the site in FrontPage. I hand-coded the site originally, but wrote the original text in Word. For some reason, copy/pasting the document into Notepad to add HTML left a lot of garbage characters, and the page wasnât loading right. Time to reinstall Arachnophilia and hope it helps. :(
I appreciate everyoneâs feedback, especially the people who praised the work before picking it to pieces. In my writing classes back at Hollins, everyoneâs a critic.
I also had a few PMs and two emails talking about my grammar. Yes, I is an English major. ;) To some people, relaxing on a forum means TyPiNg LiKe ThIs or somesuch. To me, relaxing on a forum means typing as I talk. I donât speak perfect English unless I have a reason. I donât type perfect English unless itâs the absolute final draft. Let me get all of the guide out on the web, typed in reasonable English, before I worry about reflexive pronouns and prepositional phrases and passive voice. (I fancy myself a student of Latin. In Latin translations, as far as I was taught, itâs okay to have dangling prepositions and passive voice. Excuses, excuses. :P)
Others also questioned the seriousness of the endeavor, and thought my work was âpedestrian at best,â and âa chronicle of the community should be assembled by a long-time member, and not a latecomer to the scene.â Well, ladies and gentlemen, if yâall think you can do better, by all means, do so. :P Iâm not doing this âfor a spot in history.â Iâm doing this because this history is disappearing day by day. And it hurts when I get emails from people Iâve respected and admired ever since I was a newbie telling me that Iâm not doing a good enough job or I canât do this job because Iâm not an ancient member of the Diablo cadre or my project is not worth their personal information or my project is too rough and simple for their input.
Give me a chance to edit and improve. Maybe with the input of the entire community, instead of just the vocal wordsmiths and the slap-happy youngins, this project can turn into something that people will enjoy. Or, at least, people will be willing to contribute instead of picking out each and every fault with it.
(Sorry for the spiel, but wanted to make sure I had everybodyâs attention.)
Now then.
Lavcat: Iâm not doing a D2 guide. I donât know enough about D2 to encapsulate itâs history, and by the messages Iâm getting, apparently I donât know about D1 to do the same. :(
Bob: I lost a lot of information when I overwrote my save. Sorry if yours was lost with it. Iâm copying everything back in, so donât you worry. :)
Walkiry: Can you give me the character name and class for that Zen 3@30?
Xi: Thanks for the warning. :P
TaMeOlta: Just existing makes you a part of history. :D
Occhi: They also released StarCraft twice. Heh. Caught that one, didnât catch this one. And yes, I did write it, but âA Diablo Historyâ sounds a bit better than âThe Diablo History.â It was originally âDiablo History.â Maybe the grammarians should write up a treatise on article usage? :P
Roland: I donât know, to be honest. A couple people were trying to use you as a landmark, IIRC. And Peter Hughes is Wordâs spellcheck at work.
âIt is far better to be remembered for something good, something worthwhile, something monumental, than to be remembered for something bad.â I disagree. It is far better to be remembered for something rather than not be remembered at all. And âbadâ and âmonumentalâ goes together like Ducky and orange juice. ;)
Thanks to everybody for clarifying things, especially Occhi, Roland, and Nystul. Also thanks to the folks who emailed and PMed me off the forum--Iâll protect your anonymity, donât worry. :)
Next draft should be out on Monday.
1: Background has been changed to something lighter, and Diablo-related. Got the most messages about that.
2: Fixed all the typos, forgotten words, punctuation, spelling, etc. that was pointed out to me, and sent a copy to an anal editor friend of mine to give the once-over.
3: The timeline has been broken up into parts. I have removed all of the âplayer X started/stopped playing D1â and âplayer X did a 3@30â and made a special list for both of those. The former became a roster listing players by join date, the latter became a hall of heroes listing player, character, class, achievement, and date.
Iâve color-coded the rest of the information depending on content: blue for Blizzard-related Diablo information, red for bugs and bugfixes, green for significant Diablo-related events (such as the closing of the DSF), and violet for significant community-related events (such as AnonymousCowardâs guide and its effects).
All these parts will be accessible from the main page, with links leading of into subpages. If anyone cracked open the source, theyâll know that I composed the site in FrontPage. I hand-coded the site originally, but wrote the original text in Word. For some reason, copy/pasting the document into Notepad to add HTML left a lot of garbage characters, and the page wasnât loading right. Time to reinstall Arachnophilia and hope it helps. :(
I appreciate everyoneâs feedback, especially the people who praised the work before picking it to pieces. In my writing classes back at Hollins, everyoneâs a critic.
I also had a few PMs and two emails talking about my grammar. Yes, I is an English major. ;) To some people, relaxing on a forum means TyPiNg LiKe ThIs or somesuch. To me, relaxing on a forum means typing as I talk. I donât speak perfect English unless I have a reason. I donât type perfect English unless itâs the absolute final draft. Let me get all of the guide out on the web, typed in reasonable English, before I worry about reflexive pronouns and prepositional phrases and passive voice. (I fancy myself a student of Latin. In Latin translations, as far as I was taught, itâs okay to have dangling prepositions and passive voice. Excuses, excuses. :P)
Others also questioned the seriousness of the endeavor, and thought my work was âpedestrian at best,â and âa chronicle of the community should be assembled by a long-time member, and not a latecomer to the scene.â Well, ladies and gentlemen, if yâall think you can do better, by all means, do so. :P Iâm not doing this âfor a spot in history.â Iâm doing this because this history is disappearing day by day. And it hurts when I get emails from people Iâve respected and admired ever since I was a newbie telling me that Iâm not doing a good enough job or I canât do this job because Iâm not an ancient member of the Diablo cadre or my project is not worth their personal information or my project is too rough and simple for their input.
Give me a chance to edit and improve. Maybe with the input of the entire community, instead of just the vocal wordsmiths and the slap-happy youngins, this project can turn into something that people will enjoy. Or, at least, people will be willing to contribute instead of picking out each and every fault with it.
(Sorry for the spiel, but wanted to make sure I had everybodyâs attention.)
Now then.
Lavcat: Iâm not doing a D2 guide. I donât know enough about D2 to encapsulate itâs history, and by the messages Iâm getting, apparently I donât know about D1 to do the same. :(
Bob: I lost a lot of information when I overwrote my save. Sorry if yours was lost with it. Iâm copying everything back in, so donât you worry. :)
Walkiry: Can you give me the character name and class for that Zen 3@30?
Xi: Thanks for the warning. :P
TaMeOlta: Just existing makes you a part of history. :D
Occhi: They also released StarCraft twice. Heh. Caught that one, didnât catch this one. And yes, I did write it, but âA Diablo Historyâ sounds a bit better than âThe Diablo History.â It was originally âDiablo History.â Maybe the grammarians should write up a treatise on article usage? :P
Roland: I donât know, to be honest. A couple people were trying to use you as a landmark, IIRC. And Peter Hughes is Wordâs spellcheck at work.
âIt is far better to be remembered for something good, something worthwhile, something monumental, than to be remembered for something bad.â I disagree. It is far better to be remembered for something rather than not be remembered at all. And âbadâ and âmonumentalâ goes together like Ducky and orange juice. ;)
Thanks to everybody for clarifying things, especially Occhi, Roland, and Nystul. Also thanks to the folks who emailed and PMed me off the forum--Iâll protect your anonymity, donât worry. :)
Next draft should be out on Monday.
UPDATE: Spamblaster.