James

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Yep. Another idea is that we could have a single anime/manga forum and still keep a topic directory, but allow multiple topics for a single franchise. That way people would have the freedom to post whatever they want, but we could still link to the "major" topics. We could then move the Convention Center into the Anime & Manga category and complete its transformation into a proper full-on convention forum (and I think we could actually do a few things to give it a bigger "con" flavour). Again, just throwing some thoughts out there - the more we think outside the box, the better! [/font]

[quote name='Allamorph' date='15 June 2010 - 06:59 AM' timestamp='1276545578' post='695285'] [font="Calibri"] The problem is that no one wants to say so because they never know when someone will descry them for being 'judgmental' when they're only trying to provide illumination and clarity.[/font] [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Very true. Discrimination is also a word with negative connotations (mostly because we apply it to ethnic discrimination), but I think the true value of the word has been lost, at least when it comes to discrimination between differently weighted ideas. [/font]

[quote name='CaNz' date='15 June 2010 - 09:07 AM' timestamp='1276553251' post='695291'] :angel::drunk::help::blah: all the old gif emoticons are not working for me... [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]That's because they are no longer on the system. What I'm a bit concerned about is the way the text in your post stretches off over the site's borders. That's a little strange.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I saw this in the news recently and it looks pretty awesome. Although, frankly, I'd be happy with any of your great theme parks - they certainly put ours to shame![/font]

[quote=CaNz]also I never understood why being competitive was an important trait to learn... why do you have to be better than everyone else? why cant you just learn to be the best you can be?[/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Without getting into the debate about sport, I just want to highlight this comment. When we are young, our teachers always tend to say things like "You did the best you could and that's what matters!" rather than "Well, that's not really good enough, is it?" Maybe that is fair when applied to sport (unless, of course, sport is your career/livelihood). It is most certainly [i]not [/i]true in many other areas of life, though. This is something you quickly discover when you leave school and begin working, where the need to compete will be very apparent. But acknowledging the value of competition does not automatically mean that you're a loser if you are in second place. I know that you guys were really specifically talking about sport, but I raised this because I suspect that the dismissal of competition and its real value seems to be part of a broader attempt to wrap the current generation of children in cotton wool as much as possible. It brings to mind insipid (and apparently recent) terms like "marketplace of ideas", which can be a pretty unhelpful euphemism for "all ideas are equally valid, even those without any supporting evidence or logic". We certainly don't do very much to give students the ability to discriminate between reasonable ideas and junk ideas if we keep pushing that line. Sorry for going around the block a little there, but that single comment immediately brought all those thoughts to mind. [quote=CaNz][/font]i said i was continuing the argument because i wanted to be right.[/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]And there you have it! So maybe it's not always about simply achieving a personal best. But seriously, your debate is not pointless. Debating societies the world over are built on the very idea of "recreational arguments", so I would not worry too much about justifying your discussion to anybody else - so long as you keep within the ToS, of course (and you aren't coming close to violating that). One kind of cool thing about this topic is that two people can have a debate/discussion in amongst completely unrelated conversations and monologues. Those people who think the argument is pointless don't need to worry - I'd say they weren't invited to participate in the first place. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I've done my usual thing and jumped to a new book when I haven't even finished reading other stuff. I've just bought Hitch-22, which is the name of Christopher Hitchens' memoirs. It is a little too early to comment much on it, but it's one of those rare books I [i]know [/i]I'm going to like. Apart from the fact that Hitchens pretty much echoes all my own thoughts (and does so with far greater eloquence), it is also true that he's had an incredibly interesting life. So I'm looking forward to getting deeper into this one.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Just to throw another thought into the discussion, what if we re-merge the anime and manga forums, so that any sub-forums that are specific to a franchise can by definition include the relevant anime and manga? That's another option. I think the only way to really know how this will pan out is to experiment, anyway. There won't be any surefire bets. If something really doesn't work, then that's okay - we can change things around again. And Vivian, not to worry - we won't be deleting any topics. It'll really just be a matter of moving stuff around as we go. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I thought I'd just quickly update this topic to ask anyone if they've tried using the new mOBile skin on their phone? This skin actually came with our IPB software and it's a little more clever than the old one we had on OB (for one thing, OB should now detect that you're using a mobile device and default to that skin and, for another, you can actually create posts on your mobile device where you couldn't before). Also, on that note, I have been thinking about purchasing a special layout that is specifically designed for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It's a completely customised design that would make OtakuBoards look and function like a proper native app. Any interest in that? It's not something I'm thinking of doing right away, but I would like it to be an option in the near future. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Cool, well, my PS3 I.D. is [b]white-pikmin[/b] so feel free to add me if you like. Whenever I'm online I never see any other players! (Although admittedly I've only had a couple of online sessions so far). And, going back to what you initially said about Marston, I agree with you. After spending so much time at MacFarlane's Ranch early on - and it becoming so much of Marston's motivation to get more deeply involved with the local people - it feels kind of strange to just leave it behind. I'm comfortable not using spoilers for that just because it's literally the first part of the game. Also, again in comparison with GTA, Marston's motivation just seems a little flimsier than the set-up in GTA IV. The latter makes a lot more sense to me, maybe because it is so grey and not nearly as black-and-white as RDR. That's not really a criticism of RDR, so much as it's a compliment to GTA, haha. [/font]

[quote name='Chaos' date='06 June 2010 - 01:29 PM' timestamp='1275791380' post='694693'] Except for the Fort Mercer mission. Far too easy if you consider the in-game lore about how fortified and dangerous it was supposed to be. [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]Agreed. I was really surprised when I got to the Fort Mercer mission recently - it was over so quickly! I've now completed my first couple of missions in Mexico and so far I'm actually enjoying Mexico more. Although that might just be because I'm at a more advanced point in the game. My only major criticism of this game at the moment is the general repetitiveness of it. It lacks the variety of something like GTA IV, which can at times be a little disappointing. But now after jumping in and out of mulitplayer a little bit, I'm starting to forget that complaint. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I saw this the other day and now, after seeing it again... I'm really not liking it. I am not entirely sure what angle they are trying to go with on this - it's almost looking a bit film noir in this trailer. On the one hand it seems to be trying to go for a more serious tone, but it's got this camp undertone that just doesn't square somehow. Maybe I just need to see more of it, but I think this trailer looks pretty awful. :\ [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]We made a couple of announcements about the change in advance and we've now been on the new version for almost two weeks. A couple of weeks can be a long time when a big change happens, though! In terms of your old posts, you can still access them, but it looks like the new software will only start tracking post history based on any posts you start making on this new version. Unfortunately when we move to a completely new software platform we can't keep everything the way it was (because it's just not technically possible - it's like going from Windows XP straight to Windows 7). However, your entire history of posts is still here as are all your personal messages and that type of stuff. In other words, all the vital information that we'd really hate to lose. If you're looking for a bit more information on why we made this change, I recommend checking out OB World - there are a couple of posts there about this new version. And I know I've already said this, but it's worth just saying again that we're still working on a number of major areas of this site so that we can "complete" the transition. There's actually a ton of stuff still to do. You will see more elements being rolled out within the coming weeks. [/font]

[quote name='DrixDZanth' date='10 June 2010 - 03:22 PM' timestamp='1276143733' post='694985'] Interesting. I decide to take a look at Otakuboards after talking about it with a friend the other day and there's a thread for old members. I couldn't remember my old sign in password so I made a new account. I was (and remain, I suppose) Drix DZanth. I think I joined OB around 2000-2001 ish. I remember many of you guys. Well... eh.... hello Good too see so many of the older members are still on. [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]I can give you access to your old account if you want - it'd be kind of a shame to have to start again! Let me know if you want that fixed. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Yeah my lag is now gone for this topic - so far, so good. Great work.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Perhaps we can test this and if the system seems to be working we can turn email activation back on. It'll be interesting to see if we still get so many hanging issues when people try to post.[/font]

[quote name='Petie' date='08 June 2010 - 02:42 PM' timestamp='1275968536' post='694848'] [color="#0000ff"]I feel like this is a server-side issue as I checked IPB's email settings and everything seems okay. Granted, I'm not entirely sure what would be causing this on the server side either.[/color] [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]I've just posted something from Adam in the Secret Special Place. I hope it helps.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Man, we have consistently had problems with OB sending out email. It's very frustrating. Is this more of a server-side issue or something based on our IPB setup? [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]What we hope to have is another tab at the top for network links. The page should end up looking like the help page, where you'll have the title of the site and then a blurb underneath. So it'll end up being much more prominent than anything we had on the old versions.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]For anyone with a PS3, my PlayStation Network I.D. is [b]white-pikmin[/b].[/font]

[quote name='Citric' date='05 June 2010 - 12:26 PM' timestamp='1275701173' post='694615'] Would there still be the categories under those two groups? Better worded; would there be subcategories to the two sizes? [/quote] [font="Palatino Linotype"]I'm not sure if we can do that - I hope so.[/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I'm sure we will end up with all of these options (I'm hoping to do a "re-make" of Indigo and Blue), but of course, it'll take time. I appreciate everyone's patience. And yeah, Indi, I [i]do [/i]need a cat girl emoticon on there...maybe I'll have to get that one specially made. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Yeah, I'm comfortable with 150x150. It makes sense. We keep our current width (we don't really need to increase width because we now have a vertical postbit - so our avatars already appear wider than they might have on the previous version). But now we can add extra height so that people can use 150x150 squares as well. I think this is a reasonable compromise (and as has been mentioned, we already increased the size of our signature images quite significantly - so this will already give people more real estate to use for personalization). The only issue remaining is the actual physical setup of the library on this software, which we are still investigating. If at all possible we want to try to split the landscape and square avatars into two distinct groups, rather than mash them all together. So hopefully there will be an outcome on that soon. Thanks for your feedback, everyone. [/font]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]And I can't wait until we're ready to begin implementing it. I think we can really push this software a lot further - the skins we have now are great (and I think a lot nicer than the default) - but they're kind of a stepping stone to the "final" OtakuBoards XL. I know I've mentioned this before, but we were very constrained by time with this upgrade. That we pulled it off relatively smoothly is kind of cool, I have to say, haha. It was only possible with a good team though (and I'm lucky to have one of those). Since this is the skins/layout thread, I might as well also mention that I've been working on a little project with a friend of mine and it's now almost complete: an entirely new, OB-exclusive set of custom emoticons. That's something I've wanted to have for years and it's very, very close now. [/font]