I like it but I also think it would be cluttered, for all intents and purposes, for what you're trying to create here.

You'd need $175 to get it up and running? How long would that last you on terms of managing the website before a Donation thread would be made? I'd be willing to potentially contribute a large enough portion of that if I knew that it would be kept under good management and all parties involved were responsible and could be trusted. (I don't really know what's going on with the whole Henner thing, but it's more or less inexcusable)

What would be the average yearly cost of said site, and where would expenses go?
I never understood the reason for secrecy behind this site and its finances -- but I'm interested to see how much it would take and what would have to be done to get there.

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I really like this topic, lots of interesting ideas have been posted.

I think getting the domain thevillagereviews.org would agree with some of what I have seen going on here. Also just checked on domai.nr and that domain is available.

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I'm very uncomfortable with changing the name of the site. Not just because it's been part of the site for so long, but because as stated previously (Unsure if in this thread) the site has a long history with the name - And the associated links that come with it.

I guess what the site really needs now is A) to try and stack out the Google search results (I count 3 links and a video) because once it's off the front page, no one is going to really bother finding it (Or if they do, they're probably A) not going to be joining anyway or B) they're in and understand the current situation better), and B) try and increase the levels of membership.

Easier said than done on both counts. Run Runevillage clans on whatever games you play (Online), try and shoehorn people into signing up here as well - Trickles eventually become a flood.

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We'd probably be asking for donations again in a few months, if we never get the money from Henner's paypal back. That $175 would go entirely towards a WordPress site, not host payments.

I'd answer the rest of your questions if I could, but I've never dealt with host payments before.

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Not all WordPress sites look like free sites. Zelda Universe is powered by WordPress, and it looks pretty neat. I don't expect our design to be THAT ambitious, for now. We'll probably stick with a pre-made design for a while. Just want to show that WordPress is not so limited.

Here's a layout I found on WordPress. It's one of their Premium layouts though, so it will cost us $68.

Of course, as you said, having our own design would help us stand our more than a pre-made design. I don't enjoy looking through pre-made designs either, but at this stage I think it is necessary to have a quick and rigid schedule. Is that something that can realistically be provided with the very few coders we have remaining? It's basically you and Glodenox, and currently you're both very busy.

If we knew for certain that we could have our very own page 100% finished and coded by this time next month, then I'd be on-board, and I'd start the design process today. But I have too many reasons to believe otherwise, and not enough to believe so. We could have a WordPress site up and ready in a matter of days. I'm not saying it'll be perfect, but it'll be something.

I am open to continuing this discussion, but how realistic is it that we can have our own page designed and coded in under a month? It helps that we already have the coding in the main page to work from, but it's such a mess. Look at the most recent newspost, for example. The spoiler button is a textbox... I just don't see it happening. Not now, anyway.

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Yeah, i would go for a free template for now if youre set on WordPress. Paying that much for a design we may not use once I have the freedom of internet i had would be a waste of donations. It just depends on the content we have to offer. Wordpress is good for SEO and we can always change the name of the site, but leave runevillage.com pointed at the host so all existing links will still return to us. We will just have to redirect them all to the homepage which would make the links useless but its still possible. I find things on google that I didn't know were on the rv server from old links. Lol

I could be here for another couple months so as much as I wish I could take over my reigns from where I left off, im still incapacitated in that respect. X.x so if the money is available i would say go ahead with wordpress because it does tend to work well with cmontent management. It would make it easier to do a few things I've wanted to do aswell. The only potential problem is connecting it to the forum db but it should be an easy work around once im avail or if anyone else knows how.

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and this is me testing fun stuff.

I'll look around some more. It won't be easy to find a decent-looking free design, though.

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It's a bit more expensive than I thought it was. I forget the exact amount but we really haven't been THAT bad off on our donations (except we cannot reach them...) and a lot of people do step up quickly when hosting fees are due.

At least we aren't posting a new donation topic every 3 months like we previously were. Shows we're more stable than before.

I know we did look into different hosting companies, but nothing really "fit" right for us.

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PM and send me a message on AIM if you have any problems on RV.
Contact me if you have any aquarium related questions, fresh or salt. Also looking for freshwater shrimp at all times. Whether you are in the US or elsewhere. Thanks!

Where are you? Judging by your posts you sound like you're in some form of forcible confinement....

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Just think of it as a militaristic prison.

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Goten is dead!

I'm in military limbo as they process my paperwork throguh for my honorable discharge. Until then im forced to still wear the uniform and perform their grunt labor... Like pulling weeds and digging holes. If youve seen san antonio, tx temperatures for the last 7mos you'll know how ridiculous it is.

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and this is me testing fun stuff.

We need to close that page somehow until Henner forwards the money somehow. We can't people donating out of goodwill and having it not even reach RV. Can you or Glod or Burks change that page to something that goes to one of you guys?

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.

.Legendary themed months are back! Maybe.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I'll probably be chastised for my this, but here goes:

I think the time has come to let Runevillage die.

Even before the incident with hiker, the site was dieing, albeit slower because runescape was a failsafe traffic creator. With that taken away, we may be able to kid ourselves that we became a general gaming site, but the truth is that the site was and is still so entrenched in rs themes, styling and media that it isn't appealing to new members who are looking for a gaming site.
Without a total overhaul we don't stand a chance. And truth be told, even if the site is somehow redone with 1 or 2 capable coders into a general gaming site, there's still no guarantee that we'll be able to distinguish ourselves from the other 1 million sites just like ours. We're trying to revive a website that used to distinguish with its amazing community. Let's face it, without that we are nothing.
Will I be here until the end? Yes.
Is runevillage's death certain? No, but it's pretty darn close.

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We have enough negative topics. This topic is for ideas of improving and rebuilding. features people would like to see. Content people would like to see. Things we can improve. We all know the current and past situation. the idea is to fix it.

Even if we don't focus entirely on general gaming.. we need SOMETHING to focus on that we can contribute our work to.

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and this is me testing fun stuff.

Pupsin, die yourself D:<

I suggest to go as we always did. Of course, there will be a shortage of new members, but oh well. At least those who really care about RV will stay and that's what really matters.

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[Xbox Live ID - vicecityfan][Steam ID - iamsunny]
[Skype - alex.kesa]

If my two cents are worth anything anymore I would say the Village needs a supreme leader... A Czar if you will. When Hiker was the chief authority of the Village it behooved the website to have a very decentralized power structure. Hiker, of course, proved to be less then dependable to assure day-to-day operations of the website and thus it was necessary to have a lot of local authority between the other administrators and moderators of the Village to do. But now... It seems counter-intuitive to continue this policy. Between the three administrators that appear to be left (Is Henner still around?) there is enough brains between them to trust them with the ultimate decision making process on the site.

The idea that these discussions are helpful seems bad to me. As the history of Runevillage has told me, these sorts of discussions never lead to anything fruitful. It all too often results in a large group of people coming up with a plan that no one executes on. No change is going to happen on this website if you continue this philosophy. Essentially you need to simply trust Jack, Burks, & Glode with the direction this site is going to go in, win, lose or draw. They should be able to come up with a future plan for the Village that is executable by them and not dependent on outside sources which have proven to be less then trustworthy.

This is not to say things like the RVET should cease to be. If anything the group discussions RuneVillage is such a fan of should happen at that level. However, the big decisions about the future of the website like the URL, the main page, what this website will be focused on, all needs to be handled by the brain-trust. They're too important and necessary to be bogged down by endless discussion anymore. If posts like this continue and decisions about the future of the website are left in the hands of these city counsel discussions, you won't accomplish anything. Because that's the history of this site. A lot of talk with little-to-no action.

Perhaps my distance from the Village has left me ignorant on how the site operates anymore, but based on what I'm reading here... I don't get that vibe.

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Signature made by: Chicken.
HENNER MONTH! AWESOME! HENNER IS AWESOME! HENNER RULES! I LUVS TEH HENNER!

I know I'll probably be chastised for agreeing with this but:


Oh wait, we can't be negative in this topic.

I agree with Frank to a degree. I believe the discussion should be given strong consideration, but we need someone to pull the traditional hiker and make it happen regardless how people feel. The worst scenario is people leaving, but at this rate the site is going to die anyway, so action is definitely needed. Jack seems more like a city mayor than anything though so should be interesting if he makes the moves. Lol but yeah, this discussion is nothing without action and this is something hat can be done by a single leader without relying on other areas of cooperation like style changes and coding changes or content and things like that.

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and this is me testing fun stuff.

I've always been someone who favors group discussion over individual decisions, and that won't be changing. I'm very capable of coming up with my own ideas and decisions, but maybe you have a better one than mine, or maybe you can help me refine my ideas. I encourage group discussion not only to give everyone a say in the matter, but also to improve and build upon existing ideas. Some of the most creative, smart, and influential villagers are either Elders, or at too low of a rank to make the big decisions themselves. I want to hear what they have to say.

That said, I'm also a fan of putting a plan into motion as soon as possible. Certainly not every decision needs a discussion, and I'll do what I can to speed things up around here. But I hope you guys appreciate the fact that we encourage a discussion like this when the decision being made is basically whether we allow RV to die, or we try our best to save it. I don't think I'm wrong to say that saving RV is a community effort.

This is what I was working on yesterday (very very very rough outline, and the banner is a placeholder), but I couldn't get very far because WordPress requires a payment of $30/year (or $99/year for WordPress Pro) to allow customizable designs, and I can't afford to spend money on anything besides food and gas at the moment, so I'm hoping that it could be covered by donations.

I'm very excited about what WordPress has to offer, though. It's already a pretty decent page, with a comment system, mobile version, and some neat features in the admin panel. All it needs is a good design, which wouldn't take too long, and integration with the RV forums if possible.

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I agree with frank wholeheartedly

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