A Lurking Manifesto

[Bolty]

A Lurking Manifesto
The Future of the Lounge

What happened? On November 9th, Slashdot, a HUGE internet news site for technical information, linked to the Lurker Lounge forums to cover MongoJerry's thread about the punching Sorceress. See the news bit here: http://games.slashdot.org/games/03/11/08/0...tid=186&tid=209. This news bit brought the server cluster at Globat to its knees, taking out almost 900 websites. Ouch. In a fit of (understandable) rage, Globat pulled the plug on the site and the Lounge went down in a huge pile of bandwidth.

Over the next two weeks, all my efforts at contacting anyone at Globat about the site's situation went unanswered. Also, all access to the site (FTP, database, etc) was cut off, so I was unable to even get a backup of the site's content. I was at their mercy, until I finally got a hold of a representative who would talk to me. Apparently Globat was under the belief that I was running some kind of spam operation here to make money (huh?), so I was flagged as a service abuser and terminated. After working that out and many discussions over the phone later, both parties came to the conclusion that it was time for a dedicated server. This was something I planned to go to eventually, but not this early - in any case, it was time now thanks to the bandwidth terrorism that is Slashdot, a site that has a history of indiscriminately posting links to small sites and taking no responsibility for their obliteration. Just add us to their long history of destruction.

During this downtime, I had put updates on the Lounge's status at the Amazon Basin, and I'd again like to thank them for being such a great gang over there and for giving some wayward Lurkers a temporary home. I'd expect nothing less from TPJ and Flick, both of whom I've met personally and have been nothing but fantastic partners through our sites' histories.

Due to their rather rude example of customer support over a 2 week span, Globat agreed to waive the fee for the dedicated server setup - so, this site is now on a dedicated server. We're running on an AMD 1GHz Processor, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB disk space, and 450 GB monthly transfer. All of this is far more than I need for now, but then again from time to time we get linked to from some megasite and it always winds up bringing us down. No longer - the site may slow down, but no more yanking by its hosts, and I've got the bandwidth to handle it.

The Lurker Lounge has always been driven by its forum. This is something I've enjoyed immensely as time went on; that the community of posters and readers here has been top-notch, a real haven from the general idiocy that you find out there on the Internet. A quick stroll through the public Battle.Net forums is all you need to remind yourself of how great things are here. Yes, I and the other forum administrators have worked hard to foster that atmosphere here, but the real effort has come from so many posters who would not accept that element from creeping in and dragging everything down. I appreciate that so much. The forum makes the site and the site makes the forum, creating a symbiosis that drives better posters to come here, generating better site content, that attracts better posters, that improves the forum posts, that generates better site content, and so on.

"Real Life Happens." Those of you who have been around a long time will know that this site has slowed down quite a bit. When I re-opened the site last year, expecting Diablo II 1.10 to be out within a month or two (haha, whoops), I told myself that as soon as the patch came out I'd whip things up into high gear again. If you look back through the news archives, you'll see examples of how often the news was updated and how much content there used to be on the main page. For example, http://www.lurkerlounge.com/diablo2/news/2001-08.shtml. There isn't anything even coming close to that level of activity anymore, and it's because I simply don't have the time I used to. My current employment keeps me very busy, and soon I'm about to "level up" in Real Life and get even busier. In the past, I enjoyed the knowledge that anyone who didn't have the time to scour the forums daily to find out the latest gaming tips and strategies could just read the Lounge's front page and be fully informed - this was the main goal of the site from its inception. We're a far cry from that now, and it's entirely my fault. This is something I hope to rectify.

I've been selfish. I had a hard time giving up "control" over what goes on the site, and that's hurt this community as a result. I closed the site in September 2001 because I didn't want anyone else taking it over. That was stupid, and I see it now - I arrogantly thought that nobody could put in the time and effort I did, so the site would go into decline. Now, I've done that very same thing, being unable to put in the time and effort into it and slowing things down to a crawl around here. It took this most recent downtime to finally make me see that, and to see how people care about this site so much. People even sent me money for site hosting without even knowing if the site was ever going to return! I haven't yet cashed any checks sent, waiting to see the reaction to this post by those who sent me money to see if they still want to donate. Please send me an email or private message identifying who you are (I know your Real Life names, but not your online names) and if you still want to donate that money, thanks - after reading the rest of this.

So, what happens now? I'm still surprised by those who remember the very beginnings of this site, over 4 years ago. Those who do may recall that one of my top reasons for starting the Lounge was to learn some HTML and get good at web design. I thoroughly enjoy technical challenges and computer programming; I'm a tech head at heart. Evidence of this is littered among the endless stream of site re-designs over the years (I'm up to 8 total code and/or layout redesigns now), which I have enjoyed doing even more than the actual site content. All of this was done as a hobby with no intention EVER to make money off of it, and I've stayed true to that. So that's the role I'd like to step back to - a technical role. Site maintenance, coding of new sections, forum upgrades, administrative functions, etc.

What I'm saying is that it's time I hand this site over to others. Running a fansite is a double-tiered duty. First of all, you're designing layouts and administering scripts, doing custom programming work (php scripts, like the STSI one), handling problems, managing the domain's accounts, etc. Then, on top of that, you're managing content, moderating the forum, handling the ton of email, etc. It's simply too much for me now. I want to leave the content to those who can do it much better than I. There are plenty of people here capable of that. I'm going to back off and hand over the site's content to others, which I should have done a long time ago.

I know that many people may have wanted to take a shot at being a webmaster of a fan site, but didn't know or didn't care to get into the more technical aspects - designing the site layout, coding it, getting a domain, hosting, etc etc etc. What I want to provide is the opportunity for you Lurkers to run the show, and not have to worry about all that technical "crap." I'm putting out a call for section administrators for Diablo and Diablo II. What I'd like to see are three to five dedicated people for each section that will work together to provide content for the community. It can be as simple as putting up links to forum threads around the community (Amazon Basin, here, Diabloii.Net, etc) as news bits, which - if you look back - you will see used to make up a bulk of the news. As reference, the link to the news archive earlier in this post evidences that. It also involves new STSIs and hosting strategy guides. All of this is much easier than you may think from an HTML or technical perspective. LemmingofGlory and Griselda can testify to how easy I have made it to add content to this website.

What makes a good section administrator? Simply put, if you're already reading scene forums on an almost daily or every-other-day basis and you keep seeing forum threads that you read through and think "wow, that's a good post," you have what it takes to be a section administrator. That's it, really. All the news at the Lounge is driven by forums - not just this one, but other sites' forums as well. The idea of the hosted strategy section is to take guides that exist on forums only and give them a home here, so that more casual fans (read: those who DON'T read scene forums on a regular basis, and newbies) will be exposed to them. Content-wise, there isn't anything else I ask for. If you want to go farther, that's fine.

HTML knowledge is NOT a prerequisite. If you can code an HTML link, or be able to take the 3 minutes required to learn how to, you can put up content on the Lounge. All of the Lounge's code is managed by server-side-includes, or SSI, coding that makes it so each .shtml file you read on the site actually only consists of what's in the "main box," so to speak. Everything else is automatically generated, from the colors to the fonts, etc. You need to know practically nothing about coding HTML to put up a good-looking page thanks to the site's setup. Want an example of what I mean? Take a look at the Diablo II community page at http://www.lurkerlounge.com/diablo2/community.shtml. That page is created via this file, saved as a text file so that it can be viewed as its source in text: http://www.lurkerlounge.com/bolty/community.txt. Right-click on the link and download it to see how little HTML actually goes into these files and how easy it is to design them. If you've never seen server-side includes in action, you may be quite surprised. I've done it this way by design to make it easy for anyone who comes on board to put up content. Plus, if you have a question on how to code something, I or another admin can easily help you out. I just don't want to have someone who would make a great content person feel they can't do it because they don't know HTML. In my technical role, as well, I plan to make it even easier to manage the content as time goes on with the use of php scripting and other custom work. With people driving the content, I can be free to do what I love and enjoy - coding, etc.

Plus, you won't be alone. As I said before, I'd like to have three to five people per section, in order to allow everyone to share the load. I used to be big on having just me or a maximum of two people running a section, but that too is silly and unnecessary. The Lurker Lounge, while not a guild, IS a community, and it's a strong one with quality people - many of whom would be great at running a section...far better than I. I've been selfish and it's time to stop. I've made claims that this isn't "my" site, but unless I open it up to the community, I am lying to myself. No more.

I kept putting off opening another section here, making excuses such as "it's a big decision," or "the game doesn't have the longevity," etc. In reality, the reason I never opened up any other sections was because I didn't feel like managing its content and I didn't want to open a section unless I could manage its content. More selfishness. In my reduced role as "technical guy," we can open up more sections over time fairly quickly. If there is enough interest amongst us Lurkers, I can code up a new section (mostly just color choices and pictures, since everything is run by templates - again, this was the main point of my last site design, to make it modular) and the newly appointed content people can take it over. How we all can judge when there is enough interest is something we'll all have to work out, but it will probably be based on whether there is enough interest to get the three to five people as site content admins for the section. I see World of Warcraft as an upcoming prime candidate, along with EA's Ultima X: Odyssey as well.

Anyhow, if you are interested in helping out to manage content in either the Diablo or Diablo II sections alongside Griselda and Lemming, please send me an email. If you're not a regular forumgoer at a major Diablo/Diablo II website, don't bother - active forum posters and readers are what I'm looking for. As stated earlier, the goal of a section admin is to put up news bits that are strategy related - usually just links to quality forum threads that the casual fan will want to read. Along with STSIs, the other duty is to offer to host strategy guides and tips that are on forums but don't have any other home - this gives them more exposure and helps the playing populace play smarter. Where you go from there as a site admin is up to you, but that's really all the Lurker Lounge has been about. We're not a guild, but a site made up of gamers who like to get the most out of their games. I'd welcome you as a part of that. Perhaps with a team of people on each section, roles will be settled into. Someone may really enjoy doing the STSIs while another may enjoy HTML'ing up strategy guides. Or else everything will be shared. I don't know how things will work out...teamwork will be the name of the game.

Right now, I don't feel we need any more forum administrators, but if you feel that you'd be "left out" being a site admin but not a forum admin, just let me know. Forum administration is a wholly different job than site administration in my eyes, and if you're a bit cramped for time it could be a lot easier if you managed site content and didn't have to worry about policing the forum. We'll work things out.

All in all, I consider this an experiment. I honestly don't know if this community is strong enough to have it drive all the content. Usually, good sites are run by a handful of individuals who are just crazy about it - are there enough of us here who love this site so much that we can make it strong again, after I've screwed it up so much and let it go downhill? I got the ball rolling years ago, and then instead of handing it off in a relay race, I've selfishly kept it for myself and watched it fall down. I'm hoping that the Lurkers can make up for my error and keep this site strong, like it used to be.

If you don't have time to be a site administrator but you'd like to help out, this new dedicated server we're running on costs $100 a month. Yes, that's $1200 a year that will come out of my pocket, and I'm dedicated enough to this ideal to keep it running. As I said, this is an experiment, one that I'm willing to bank my money on - that the community can run this site and make it great. If you want to help out monetarily, you can donate money to this cause using the donations page: http://www.lurkerlounge.com/donate.shtml. As before, donations are anonymous, because I don't want to encourage those who shouldn't be donating (teenagers) or those who just want special treatment to donate. Yes, I know who has donated money in the past, but that knowledge will never be displayed to anyone else. I wish I could find a way to reward those who donate, but their reward is the satisfaction of keeping this site going. Some have even contributed on a regular basis, and as usual I'm amazed that anyone would care enough to do so. Through this site's history I've always underestimated how much people care about it, and now that I'm finally handing this to the community, we can all feel like we're a bigger part of it. I hope that you join me in welcoming the third era of this website!

Comments, questions? All are welcome.

-Bolty
Webmaster
Lurker Lounge Technical Lead
(Not for long) Diablo II Site Administrator
Forum Administrator
Site Founder

[Obi2Kenobi]

You really had me going for a second there. I thought you were leaving completely... :o And don't worry, I'm not going to ask for any site admin powers. ;)

Anyway... I think that this is, overall, a "Good Thing ®" (as long as you stick around and post occasionally). More site updates (hopefully).

[TheDragoon]

I just wanted to say that I feel your pain! When I started playing Diablo II, I didn't have that much else to do. My classes had little homework (or at least homework that didn't take very long) so I was able to play a lot and browse the forums even more! :)

As time went by, I got more and more immersed in the community. I began by testing Wereform attack speeds which eventually drove me to write my Wereform guides. From there, I answered questions, updated the guides and, when the formula was finally figured out, I wrote my Wereform calculator. Now, with 1.10, I've been playing a lot with my Wind Druid and am working on a guide for him.

However, I just don't have the time that I used to. I wrote my Wereform guides in a week during the summer when I had little else to do. Now, I'm swamped with homework, projects midterms and the approach of finals. I've been putting off updating my Wereform guides for winter break when I MIGHT have more time to spend on them. Life just gets very busy.

So I've begun to hand off some things I have done to other people. I handed off the design of the "Santuary Reborn" Diablo II mod to some people who had actually played it in the last year and a half. I've asked some people for input about the wind druid so I don't have to dream up all equipment issues myself. It's just something that happens in life when you get busy.

But, hopefully, in the future I'll be able to come back and pick up where I have left off. My work isn't going anywhere and neither is yours. I'm sure that you'll be able to find plenty of people willing to work for this wonderful website! This will be a new era in the Lounge's history but I think it will be a bright one!

[[wcip]Angel]

The Lurker Lounge has always been driven by its forum. This is something I've enjoyed immensely as time went on; that the community of posters and readers here has been top-notch, a real haven from the general idiocy that you find out there on the Internet. A quick stroll through the public Battle.Net forums is all you need to remind yourself of how great things are here. Yes, I and the other forum administrators have worked hard to foster that atmosphere here, but the real effort has come from so many posters who would not accept that element from creeping in and dragging everything down. I appreciate that so much. The forum makes the site and the site makes the forum, creating a symbiosis that drives better posters to come here, generating better site content, that attracts better posters, that improves the forum posts, that generates better site content, and so on.

Hell yeah!

I still can't understand how on earth you managed to find all these great people, Bolty. The Lurkerlounge is one of six forums I frequent, and there's approxamitely 1 guy pr board worthy of registering here on the 'Lounge; who can keep up with the level of excellence maintained on this board. That's 6 guys out of 40-50.000 people.

[WarLocke]

To be honest, Bolt, I've been expecting something like this for awhile. It seemed obvious (well, to me, anyway) back when you shut the site down that you just didn't have the time you really wanted to devote to it, and I think I can understand your reluctance in handing "your baby" over to others.

So I'm just posting here to say that I'm glad you found a compromise that works for you. I'm sure I'm not the only one that dreaded another site shutdown after reading the title of this thread. :o

And while I'd love to be one of the people to share the site's burdens with you, I'm no longer active enough in the D1/2 community to warrant a forum admin position. I also doubt I have the long-term dedication to deserve site admin status. If I ever end up with spare cash, though, you can be expecting a check in the mail! B)

...

But if you want to give me forum admin status so I can mess with Pete, go ahead. :D

[Occhidiangela]

It usually does. I sincerely hope that the goodwill you have built 'here' will make for a smooth transition to a structure that you find appealing.

In any case, thanks Bolty, you sure are a great "congenial host."

[WarBlade]

"Too many cooks spoil the broth."

I website I made for an ethnic club here in Auckland was doing fine just as a Geocities freebie, but one of my fellow club members pre-empted my eventual plan to pay for a domain and get rid of crummy ads without adding extra code to pages. He promptly grabbed everything I had done and put it up on the new site, then handed me the keys saying, "Have fun." I thought it was only fair to ask if he wanted participation and he replied with,

"Too many cooks spoil the broth."

To some extent I think he's right. I think back to a time when I worked on a gaming site wit hlike minded individuals. One started the site, set up the forum, needed help, brought a friend in, everything was fine. The forums got out of control, they brought me in as admin, everything was fine. The three of us had an unspoken agreement - We just did our separate things, handling parts of the site that interested us and the three off us worked extremely well together. Then the first guy brought in someone else - A real control freak who thought of himself as the boss etc etc and suddenly the site was in a state of complete self destruction.

It's gone now, but that statement I was told much later also has some meaning to me now too.

So my advice is please be careful in your choices. Retain some measure of control, and override if necessary. I'd hate to see the Lounge suffer problems from behind-the-scenes disagreements. :unsure:

[--Pete]

Hi,

That was a mouthful, and a brainful, too.

I'll have to chew on that a bit, but first impressions are:

Very glad that the Lounge is still in business -- it definitely is one of the candles that reliefs the dark the Internet has become.

Glad to see you are asking for help. You've done a great job and you've done it for much longer than most would have. But I'd love to see you burn slow and long than fast and out. The community needs you, Bolty, and if others can help so much the better.

I'll second (third, whatever) the sentiment that you *must* retain control. Think of it as a French kitchen. Yeah, there are dozens of assistants, each with his/her job to do. But the *chef* has the last word, for his is the responsibility, the blame when anything goes wrong and the praise when all goes right. Yep, it's the "Lurker Lounge". But in a real sense it's still Bolty's Diablo Strategy Central :)

Finally, if there's anything we (-Magi- and I) can do, you have our e-mail. Don't be shy.

--Pete

[Archon_Wing]

Hah, I think it's quite selfish of me and possbily others to expect you to run the site from now until kingdom come. :D I think you should really keep an eye on this site now and then, lest someone you trust go insane and change this site into some evil-popup/spyware infested site. Or turn into *site that will not be named*. That would be most dire, and cause more than one person to bash their head into the wall.

To tell you the truth, I think of the Lounge as the sum of its members. Yes, I liked the site, but had it not been the forums, I would not bookmark this site. It would be a good idea to combine the unique insights and abilities that the members here are endowed with. I do assume those that have lasted level 30 firewalls and frozen orbs (metathoricaly speaking of course) should be worth something.

I think I could do something to contribute to this site. I don't really have the technical knowledge of many people here. I probaly can't even give the 1.10 breakpoints anymore. But I do keep sight of the news regarding this game, and won't hesitate to give my commentary on the game and of course, the online community that plays the game. It might be a good oppurtunity to test out html skills over the vacation. But, it's just a thought. I'll fire up my e-mail client if something crosses my currently dimly lit mind.

All and all, I have much confidence that whoever ends up working on this site should make it better than now. (Then of course, some updates are better than none) If I didn't have confidence, I probaly wouldn't be typing this right now.

Good luck in your future endeavors, and never forget this place!

[Bolty]

Good luck in your future endeavors, and never forget this place!

Woah, perhaps I gave the wrong impression. I am not leaving in ANY sense of the word. I am simply acknowledging that, due to my time constraints, I suck as a section admin and "content guy." I will remain as always an active member of this community and forum, and will handle the overall site administration. But I'm done with the site's content per se. If I get really into one of the games covered here and want to help out for a while with content, that can be done, but otherwise I am trying to back off content-wise.

My activity level will remain about what it is now - except that I'll be focused on other things than content, such as improving site scripts, coding new layouts, etc.

My dream is that some people can come on board, work together, and really assemble some great site sections, with frequent updates and strategy news. Perhaps it won't happen and I'll be shown wrong about this community. I really don't know at this point. But I am by no means disappearing!

-Bolty

[Nightwind]

one of six forums I frequent, and there's approxamitely 1 guy pr board worthy of registering here on the 'Lounge; who can keep up with the level of excellence maintained on this board. That's 6 guys out of 40-50.000 people.

And sometimes, we just follow a poster from a place that isn't respectable... to find the safe haven they call home *waves to BeeDye, Zemal, ect* because in my heart, i know there have to be a better place then the ones i knew before...

[DeeBye]

I love this website. I've always loved it. I'm going to be sad to see someone other than you handling the day-to-day administration, but it's awesome that you'll still stick around.

My current employment keeps me very busy, and soon I'm about to "level up" in Real Life and get even busier.

Are you getting married?

[Archon_Wing]

Maybe I worded it wrong. :) I was just saying good luck about your "leveling up" irl.

[[wcip]Angel]

To tell you the truth, I think of the Lounge as the sum of its members. Yes, I liked the site, but had it not been the forums, I would not bookmark this site.

There's more here than just the forums? :o
:lol:


I've stopped playing D2 (presumably for the last time
:P) but I remain here for the community.

This is our final sanctuary, our haven; our Isengard. It
is here where we, the stalwart champions of the light,
shall make our stand against the coming apocalyptic
battle with the dimwitted and the "1337".

[Guest]

I dont think Im the kind of guy people want helping.

But I wanted to say that over all you have been the best site admin/moderater I ever saw. Few people could do so much so well withou becoming a uber-ego.

On a side note if this moves on to be a WoW site(pretty much the only game I am looking foward to) it will be come extremely populated if the past standards are maintained.

A much greater percentage of MMORP players spend time on fan sights than D2 players.

[Brimstone]

Angel,Dec 8 2003, 07:14 AM]This is our final sanctuary, our haven; our Isengard. It
is here where we, the stalwart champions of the light,
shall make our stand against the coming apocalyptic
battle with the dimwitted and the "1337".

:o

That was downright poetic. Well put.

[LochnarITB]

QUOTE (Bolty @ Dec 7 2003, 11:36 AM)
My current employment keeps me very busy, and soon I'm about to "level up" in Real Life and get even busier.

Are you getting married?

Hey now, stop asking my questions before I get to! That was my immediate reaction when reading the comment too.

Bolty,

I thought your manifesto was very well done. I do believe the community will live up to the faith you are putting in it. I must say however, that you are being too hard on yourself. You have a fantastic site here and for you to have "screwed it up so much and let it go downhill" would be to bring it down to about 2 levels ABOVE most of the garbage that makes up the internet.

Keep up the great work in whatever fashion you feel most comfortable!

[[wcip]Angel]

I don't see how this website has gone downhill. Then again, I only enjoy the forums.

There is 1 slight problem, which I already mentioned when the Lurkerlounge-website came back a few months back.

After I click the "add reply"-button, the screen goes white.. the website won't load. My responses are registered on the site, but my browser (Opera) won't direct me there.

This isn't a huge problem; it's quite insignificcant really. "Then why are you mentioning it?" Well, because it's the only thing wrong with this forum. Otherwise it's perfect.

[Bolty]

Angel,Dec 8 2003, 06:02 PM] After I click the "add reply"-button, the screen goes white.. the website won't load. My responses are registered on the site, but my browser (Opera) won't direct me there.

You know, that's been happening to me too lately. And I use IE (gasp!). Obviously some kink with the new hosting that needs to be worked out...

As for "leveling up," well, that's my business. :)

-Bolty

P.S. There are a number of people who regularly post here that I'd kiss the feet of if they wanted to help out with the site content. Please don't be shy or modest - if you can help out and put up a news bit even once or twice a week, that's all this site needs! 3-5 people X 2 updates a week per person = 6-10 updates a week...*shrug* You don't have to be a "Diablo God" (hint: I NEVER was a big strategy poster or particularly good player - I just liked reading the forums). A good attitude and community participation is all that is required...

[Selby]

In all honesty, how many "Diablo gods" are there? ;-)

Good luck finding people to contribute to content. It can get frustrating trying to get content up when you have a good site waiting for it. I run several sites and the biggest problem is finding reliable content providers. Seems like they do great for a month and then drop off the face of the internet without a word.

And on the white page, I used to have it happen fairly often during the hours of 1-5pm CST before the /.-ing, but I haven't had it happen ever since. I want to say it seems to be related to the host rather than the content of the site (like the host drops the request for the page or something similar).

Selby