FameWolf

8 days ago

Website 2025 Feedback

Thoughts and requests on the current site

I've been playing with the site and mulling on it since getting access again, and while the burst of nostalgia is wonderful and warming, it has also emphasised a few things that I feel could be tweaked for the better.

A couple of small things -

is it possible to have an alternate colour scheme? It doesn't need to be as ambitious as having three alternate setting as with the old site, but I am finding the white-on-black quite harsh to read. Black-on-white would probably be better; and have a little colour in the overall page might be aesthetically nice too (right now there is the red in the RT logo, but it feels extremely dark for company who do so much comedy)
it was wonderful to see most of my old journals get pulled through to the new site (though I note that friends-only ones did not make it. Sad to lose them, but happy overall). However, there needs to be an "edit" option. I understand you might not want this on the discussions - 'edit' in the forums was always a sponsor privilege, even then with a 15 minute window, which I can understand to avoid bad-faith changes - but when posting a journal to your own profile, not having the option to go back and tweak things feels quite restrictive.

The only other thing I'd tweak is... a lot, unfortunately. The site we are using seems to be based on the 2018 site update, which I do understand was being put into place as the old community site was outdated and no longer fit to use. However, the community site was frankly better for forming a community, which I put down to two things - forums and layout.

The discussions template does not feel as good as a forum did. Right now they work by everybody replying to the original post; if ten people comment, we end up with ten micro-discussions. It doesn't "push" the conversation to the top of the list chronologically, it's still considered as old as the original post. Compare this to a forum, where those ten hypothetical comments instead makes a single conversation, with everybody interacting. This feels a lot more like community behaviour.

(Also think how active those forums could be. The Bar threads were often 10,000 - 40,000 posts; the Discworld thread cleared 20,000 posts. There is no feasible way the current discussions format could handle this level of engagement)

And as for the site layout... once upon a time, you'd log in, arrive on your own profile and have a blank journal space waiting for you. Not everyone used it, but many people did, and it was often one of the best ways of getting to know each other. Now, it just isn't there - existing content shows, and a journal carries the same weight as creating a discussion thread, and these show in the same feed (yes, I'm aware there is a dropdown option to filter for journals. The site just doesn't encourage people to write them currently).

It'd be nice to have some measure of engagement - who is online? Who was it who flagged they "like" my post? Without private messaging (which is a mixed blessing and I understand this may not be wanted) or a wall, how do we speak to a specific person? These things could all be done on the old community site, and to be honest these feel like things that helped keep the community in contact with each other. I'm feeling the absense of them right now.

I am hopeful though. I recognise how great the community can be, and I just hope that the site itself becomes something that assists that again.

Re-introductions

The site as it currently stands doesn't seem to have the same movement towards journals as it used to, so I don't know if this will really be seen by anyone. But it still feels like a good idea to have something here just to say "hello".

Hello.

So for the benefit of any random profile browsers, who am I? Well...

1) I signed up in 2006, and quickly got drawn into the community. I signed up because I'd stumbled across some RvB videos "in the wild" online and so was heading to the source; but when I signed up my first stop on the forums was actually "books", and more specifically "Discworld", where I made on-site friends who have spilled over to real-life ones, many of whom I am still in touch with to this day.

(I've also been to two different site-user weddings, but only one of those couples actually met on here, which does feel like cheating on the part of the other couple)

2) At some stage I'll have to update the "about me" section on my profile here as it feels extremely out-of-date. For example, it mentions writing for a games website that no one has ever heard of, and that site hasn't worked to upload since 2020, nor been readable outsite of the Wayback Machine since 2023. Which is a pity, as I did do some bloody good work there.

(I did a journalism degree, 2007 - 2010; if you have the patience to scroll back though my old journals you'll find the "I'm fed up, I need a new direction" posts in 2006 and 2007 that led to me quitting my old job and... well, basically taking a three year detour. I got a couple of things published over a decade ago, which was validating at the time but not that impressive in retrospect; and I wrote for the mentioned website for a few years. Mostly these days I take my eye for detail and/or pedantry and turn it to good use working as hospital admin. An eye for detail can be extremely useful here)

3) I am a gamer who never seems to spend time gaming. It used to be my main pastime, and I've got about 40 years worth of computers and consoles available to me. However, free time isn't as free as it used to be, and I rarely get more than a couple of hours to sit down to something at the weekends these days. The irony is that when I do sit down I seem to end up playing older titles rather than looking at anything I might have bought more recently.

(It's not just gaming. I mean, yes - I have a practically uncountable number of unplayed games. But I also have hundreds of books and DVDs waiting to be appreciated too. I clearly need to make more time for myself)

4) Once a lifetime ago, when I was bored I used to click through profiles on here to read and comment on journals people had written. Now... let's see. I've hopped around occasionally, but at the moment there doesn't seem to be anything giving people a reason to write anything on their own profile, so all the action is happening in the discussions. This is not the same thing.

(I sincerely hope the revived site takes off, and gets both an influx of new blood and the return of some old-school users. Honestly, I'm looking forward to the community feeling like a community again, to have a chance to catch up with some old aquaintances and to meet some people I just never stumbled across before)

5) Lists still need to have at least five items.

(I also note we have text formatting options now. Hurrah)

General Discussion

What is happening for everyone this weekend? (July 5th)

How is everyone's weekends looking? Naturally, as a Proud Brit - God bless Earl Grey etc., etc. - it's already well into Saturday here, for which I feel I should have more to show already (woke at 5am - routine from weekday work - so went for a jog; went to the gym as well, because I am clearly a masochist; fired up the Xbox One for its weekly session and played some Remnant 1, which was one of my favourite games of 2019. And that's about it, thanks to my body complaining about the early effort and demanding a nap in the afternoon) Plans for Sunday would be the usual - take mum to church, health permitting; help prep dinner, as Sunday dinner is the big meal of the week, and otherwise do all the little tidying jobs that comes from with essentially keeping a home running. However, I've got a couple of extras to deal with as well: - upgrade Patreon membership to tier 2 (check, done - it felt unnatural not having a sponsor star after so many, many years with one previously) - I'm getting thoughts together to write my views on the site as it currently stands - we're trying to tidy and sort through everything, room by room, as the place here needs a major clear out. As such, mum's mood permitting, we need to start going through my late dad's clothes for what is suitable for charity and what was just worn to rags. I'm hard-edged and/or emotionally repressed enough that I should be fine, but my mum has naturally been getting tearful (I make it clear we can keep whatever we need; but there is an accptance that we cannot just leave everything as-is right now) Yeah. Let's see how all that goes. Anyone else have plans, or at least routines to follow?

Returning

It's fair to say the 2025 has been the best year I've had in about a decade, a long run of bad events finally easing off. Things have been feeling good... and then I get access to the site beta here, and it's something to add some extra shine to the year. Partly it's the nostalgia - re-reading some of my old content just reminds me of being almost 20 years younger, and vicariously feeling a youthful burst of energy from younger me's words. Partly it's hope - the old Rooster Teeth site was probably the place I was happiest online, and was where I made a lot of IRL friends, many of whom I am still in contact with. I am left wondering what the future offers in turn. But most of all, seeing this journal space back is a huge thing. I want to get back to writing generally, but have been feeling extremely blocked in recent years. Starting is always the hardest part of the process. Back in the day, however, I'd often free-write content onto here, and the brain kept ticking over to get other creative things done afterwards. I honestly need a space like this. And the key word in that last sentence is "like", because I simply never found another space online that fitted in the way the community site did. Now it seems I don't need a site like RT, as the actual thing is back. For those of you who don't know me - which I expect is everybody in the beta at present - I'll have to write a more formal introduction soon. But for now, just know that coming back to this site I signed up to almost 19 years ago feels like an online homecoming. Addendum. Testing old site tags - [i]italics[/i]. Testing copy-paste - italics ... nope. Noted

General Gaming

Now playing

What are the games people are playing at the moment? I tend to play things intensively then move on, rather than dabbling across several titles at a time (though the nature of mobile gaming means there tend to be a small number of "side games" on the go too), and am assuming other people do too. Right now, I'm jumping onto - Diablo 3 (XB1) at the weekends when I get a bit of time free. I recently played through Diablo 4, found it slow and was missing the OTT nature of 3's power grind - Star Trek: Fleet Command (mobile/PC); essentially a well-polished mobile stategy game, hard to recommend though (especially as a free-to-play with numerous £100 bundles in the cash shop). Mostly I've stuck with it as I'm in an active and fun alliance; basically, if they jumped to another game I'd probably jump too - Heroes of History (mobile) - a pretty by-the-numbers hero gatcha by Innogames, re-using assets from Rise of Cultures. Build your city! Grind upgrade materials for your heroes! Fight PvE battles while you still have stamina! etc. I expect I'll be jumping onto something else before too long though

Falling stars

So there was that post about grandfathered rates being ended, and First prices going up...

The sad fact is that I do not consider myself a First member; in my head I am still a sponsor, helping to support a small machinima company maintain its community site. Rooster Teeth hasn't been that for a long time, so I guess I've just been giving them money for nostalgia's sake.

Of course Rooster Teeth had to grow. I subbed within a few days of signing up in 2006, and there used to be Paypal issues that needed manually fixing; I emailed support and got this reply:

"I corrected this for you. Sorry there was a delay.

Burnie Burns"

Naturally I was in awe. Looking back, I appreciate how small the company was when Burnie (and Geoff, who corrected a gift-sponsor issue with a friend) were also having to do tech support. It must have been a pain in the arse for them, but equally… everyone felt within reach. That whole community thing, you know?

There are so many people at the company now, doing so many shows. I've lost touch with it all. But I think the sad truth is that they've lost touch with me too. It feels like quantity over quality, population over personality, and I just cannot find shows that make me want to watch. The exception is Red vs Blue itself, and even that is inconsistent. What does it say that their oldest show is still the one I want to see as their newest content?

That bit of nostalgia was worth $10 every six months, that little bit of attachment to the small company and fairly close site it used to be. It's not worth $33 for services I'm just not using.

Isn't it ironic? If they'd kept the grandfathered rates they'd have probably kept getting $10 payments from me forever.

Damn it. I'm going to cancel, with regrets. And in the process, I feel that bit more detached from the place that I actually want to be coming to online.

So there was that post about grandfathered rates being ended, and First prices going up... The sad fact is that I do not consider myself a First member; in my head I am still a sponsor, helping to support a small machinima company maintain it's community site. Rooster Teeth hasn't been that for a long time, so I guess I've just been giving them money for nostalgia's sake. Of course Rooster Teeth had to grow. I subbed within a few days of signing up in 2006, and there used to be Paypal issues that needed manually fixing; I emailed support and got this reply: "I corrected this for you. Sorry there was a delay. Burnie Burns" Naturally I was in awe. Looking back, I appreciate how small the company was when Burnie (and Geoff, who corrected a gift-sponsor issue with a friend) were also having to do tech support. It must have been a pain in the arse for them, but equally… everyone felt within reach. That whole community thing, you know? There are so many people at the company now, doing so many shows. I've lost touch with it all. But I think the sad truth is that they've lost touch with me too. It feels like quantity over quality, population over personality, and I just cannot find shows that make me want to watch. The exception is Red vs Blue itself, and even that is inconsistent. What does it say that their oldest show is still the one I want to see as their newest content? That bit of nostalgia was worth $10 every six months, that little bit of attachment to the small company and fairly close site it used to be. It's not worth $33 for services I'm just not using. Isn't it ironic? If they'd kept the grandfathered rates they'd have probably kept getting $10 payments from me forever. Damn it. I'm going to cancel, with regrets. And in the process, I feel that bit more detached from the place that I actually want to be coming to online.

So while I'm still getting used to this beta site - and it's not quite an essential "every day" thing as it stands, despite its best intention - I will give it credit for one thing: it encouraged me to get caught up with Red vs Blue. I joined the site after seeing some of the videos in about 2006; for years, I'd be waiting week after week for the next episode to come out. And then... I'm not sure what came first - people I know leaving the site, the site changing for the worse, or me not coming here as often. Probably combinations of the three all feeding into each other. But in the process I fell behind with the series too, and so in recent weeks I re-watched RvB11 - 13 (which is where I'd gotten before), and then caught up 14 through to 17. It's a strange feeling seeing several years of it in one hit, then having to once again wait for the last couple of episodes on a weekly basis. And yes, the series quality suffers what we might call a "Game of Thrones"; but all things considered... I've made contact with the thing that drew me to the site in the very first place. Now I just need to re-make contact with what kept me here in the second - that is, the community.

For those of you who don't know me... Yeah, on the old site that'd be the journal heading. And then I could have littered the rest of this with various forms of emphasis... but right now, this is the space we've got, one that feels intended for short, immediate thoughts. At the same time, it's only partly about the way the words are said - it's also about who they're being said to. Once upon a time, I had a regular circle of friends on here, I posted and commented and got to know the community. They've drifted away, I drifted away... now I'm back and don't really know who the new community is. But it's a two way street, and I figured I need to say who I am too. This also means that if random passing people see this for some reason, there is also a space to introduce themselves... I'd really like to get to know the current community. Please, feel free to say "hi!" And at this point, I'll drop some random facts, and regret the lack of subheadings... 1) I've been here since 2006 I found the site by accident, but the Red vs Blue series hooked me quickly. I can't claim to have been here consistently since, and I can't say I like every change with the site, the company or the community... but it has always, always felt like the place I want to come back to online. 2) I like to write at length Seriously, my journals were long, my replies could often be longer, and my forum posts didn't exactly enjoy a sense of brevity. But my logic was this: all we can share on here are words, so they are how I show appreciation and value to other people. 3) Friends from the site have spilled over away from the screen There have always been good people here. I've been at two site-member weddings (one couple having met on here), I've socialised, I've hosted people while they're in town, I've crashed at other peoples' places in turn, and generally I've had a quality-over-quantity friends list that has proven to be solid away from the site itself. 4) I write for a website no one has ever heard of I dabble with games journalism - a decade old degree in journalism seeking practice, along with a lifelong passion for gaming - and have dreams of getting back to freelancing, away from the dull-but-important hospital admin job I currently do. Let's see if this actually goes anywhere. 5) Lists look better with five items I have always stood by this fact.