Insim under new management!

[Vkitty]

Rant ahead:

The community paid for that site. You damn well bet it was the community's site. Kathy just popped in occasionally to bitch and whine and blackmail. As for the insiminator, it's just in-game cheats applied to in-game graphics. Yeah, boy howdy, Kathy and Eric sure did a fuck of a lot for everyone, didn't they.

You know what, I'm really ticked off that no one, including me, called Kathy and Eric to the carpet for their bullcrap. So many of us saw that something seriously fishy was happening. We didn't say anything because it was a "free" site, and because anyone who tried to go up against Kathy would be screamed at by her and many of her followers. That's fucked up.

I think paysites are at least partly to blame for this. The Sims community is ready to lay down and worship at the feet of anyone who runs a free site, no matter what shit the freesite owner pulls. This is NOT NORMAL. Other gaming communities do not do this. In other communities, shockingly, it's quite normal for modders/hackers/creators to thank people who use their products. Here, because of paysites, if a creator doesn't charge, they are apparently to be worshiped and never questioned. After all, no matter how much disgusting bullshit owners of freesites pull, they're free so let us worship. It's outrageous.

neriana I've been thinking on that for a while. I agree that paysites are partially to blame but I also think that its a backlash from the paysite debate.
Now it seems that its normal for some freesite owners as well as free creators to treat people like shit cuz hey they're free! as if just being free elevates you to some sort of saint status.
As for the insim I've posted some things there a long time ago but mostly lurked and downloaded as I understand a lot did, what makes me mad about what K&E did that insim was a community not a business and they just sold off without as much as "so long and thanks for all the fish" to the people that helped them to build that community as well as all the people that made it what it was, what a way to tell people that they mean shit.

(I hope that made sense cuz I'm sick like a dog right now)

[avaly]

Im just in awe of how great the sims community truly is and how we have all come together over this

And had to throw in a name suggestion
how about ReFuSim   (as in the fusion of the sims community saying We Refuse To Be Sold Out To Him!)
 

[Pescado]

The community paid for that site. You damn well bet it was the community's site. Kathy just popped in occasionally to bitch and whine and blackmail. As for the insiminator, it's just in-game cheats applied to in-game graphics. Yeah, boy howdy, Kathy and Eric sure did a fuck of a lot for everyone, didn't they.

...yeah, about that.

There will be some changes in this regard.
First, all the "Contributor" titles from WIS will be null and void under WFIS. It should seem intuitively obvious WHY this will occur, but I'm going to declare it here as a heads-up, so no one here will be terribly surprised. As contributions towards KEIS, which is now WIS, don't benefit us in any way, KEIS/WIS titles are obviously void under WFIS. You'll get to keep them on WIS, though...for what that's worth.

Secondly, at some point in the near future, we expect to exceed the resources available to the provisional servers I have commandeered and reprovisioned for this. At this point, it will become necessary to purchase dedicated expansion hosting. As usual, I plan to pick the most cost-competitive option that fills our needs, but it WILL become necessary to hold a fundraiser (and thus re-award contributor titles). Unlike Kathy and Eric, this will be announced in advance and there will not be a "ZOMG THE SKY IS FALLING" guilt trip that accompanies it, much like how it works on here/MATY, where the renewal bills were announced more than 3 months in advance. I do things predictably, and with a plan. This is that plan.

[SoggyFox]

Yay for plans!

And if I ever treat people like poop just because I'm a free creator, someone smack me, okay?  Not real likely to happen, but its out there.  And maybe we should take this as a note, as a community, and start policing ourselves a bit more.  Maybe we should be willing to tell free creators they are making complete asses of themselves.

Afterall, the AA was willing to go after freesites that were stealing someone else's content - it just seemed like in most cases the thieves were paysites. [Big surprise, I know]

Anyway, I've been good - been just checking other sites for status on the warplans and the like - about to do my biyearly CC cleanup and seeing how much of html coding I can remember without my book.  Luckily, I have copies of old pages on my computer somewhere

[Quorneater]

Pes, if you're worried about exceeding resources, can't you just bludgeon the admins into killing all those nightmarish Who is On Top of Me threads?   That should halve the load, and might induce me to visit more often (which will put the loading back up - you can't win)

[SnarkyShark]

There will be some changes in this regard. First, all the "Contributor" titles from WIS will be null and void under WFIS.

Since many of us "Contributors" were very likely being conned anyway, it just makes sense to ditch it.

[calalily]

I'm not taking sides on the Eric and Kathy thing. I will say, they offered sites for many to share our hobby for some time, and apparently they pissed a lot of people off in the end.  That doesn't seem right. But just to point out a hard cold fact. They owned the site. Old FORUM JEDI MIND TRICK>>>It never did belong to the community. That's the way with many sites. In the end the community shouldn't be indignant about "Our Site" for it never really was, it was the Jedi mind trick.Why waste any more time to morn, piss and moan about something that never was. Let's move on to something that is hopefully better.

I disagree.  While it is a fact that they owned the administration of the site, and were able to sell it, as well as they were the "owners" of their own creations, they did not in fact own the whole of Insimenator.   A great deal of it belonged to the community - it had sections like community creations, where users put up their own creations, and lots of things about community. In fact, if you look here you'll find that the previous owners refer to it as a community themselves.  

Furthermore, unlike any other forum in the sims community at the moment, the moderators and creators maintained the sites for a long while without any guidance from the owners at the time, no communications.  They did not merely come to the site and share in what was given to them, give thanks and move on.  A lot of people put a lot of work into keeping it going, and holding up what was essentially the job of the owners.  

As much as the Kathy and Eric owned the domain, the forum, the server space and everything else, without the people who moderated and helped and kept coming back, they would have in fact owned nothing, or something that was worth nothing.  Without the hard work of these people, Kathy and Eric would have had nothing whatsoever to sell. They took the donations of time, hard work, and the cash of donators to keep something alive long enough for them to sell it.

I realise that this is probably your way of being positive and motivating - but I think that their contributions shouldn't be minimalised, and the loss and betrayal they are feeling is normal.  The previous owners robbed them of resources under the guise of friendship, and promptly sold them out to a business.

You know what, I'm really ticked off that no one, including me, called Kathy and Eric to the carpet for their bullcrap. So many of us saw that something seriously fishy was happening. We didn't say anything because it was a "free" site, and because anyone who tried to go up against Kathy would be screamed at by her and many of her followers. That's fucked up.

Ah but the problem is that now they've tried to sell it, there is something concrete concerning what the site makes and doesn't make. Whether that site advertisement is real or a lie, it proves that they're lying to someone. Before, one could speculate and tear them down for no reason - for no purpose - and it probably wouldn't work because of said dogpiling.  Now, there is concrete documents (as concrete as the internet gets) and therefore we can call them on their lies - either their lies to Walt, or their lies to donators.  We were able to critique the anti-PMBD policy based on actual concrete statements by the site owners, but before that, we couldn't speculate based on feelings of unwelcome there.

neriana I've been thinking on that for a while. I agree that paysites are partially to blame but I also think that its a backlash from the paysite debate.
Now it seems that its normal for some freesite owners as well as free creators to treat people like shit cuz hey they're free! as if just being free elevates you to some sort of saint status.

I think that this attitude is fostered by the owners/creators themselves.  Pescado for example - no one mistakes the fact that he doesn't wish to be treated like a royal princess.  beosboxboy - that's another story.

[Paleoanth]

I'm not taking sides on the Eric and Kathy thing. I will say, they offered sites for many to share our hobby for some time, and apparently they pissed a lot of people off in the end.  That doesn't seem right. But just to point out a hard cold fact. They owned the site. Old FORUM JEDI MIND TRICK>>>It never did belong to the community. That's the way with many sites. In the end the community shouldn't be indignant about "Our Site" for it never really was, it was the Jedi mind trick.Why waste any more time to morn, piss and moan about something that never was. Let's move on to something that is hopefully better.

I disagree.  While it is a fact that they owned the administration of the site, and were able to sell it, as well as they were the "owners" of their own creations, they did not in fact own the whole of Insimenator.   A great deal of it belonged to the community - it had sections like community creations, where users put up their own creations, and lots of things about community. In fact, if you look here you'll find that the previous owners refer to it as a community themselves. 

Furthermore, unlike any other forum in the sims community at the moment, the moderators and creators maintained the sites for a long while without any guidance from the owners at the time, no communications.  They did not merely come to the site and share in what was given to them, give thanks and move on.  A lot of people put a lot of work into keeping it going, and holding up what was essentially the job of the owners. 

As much as the Kathy and Eric owned the domain, the forum, the server space and everything else, without the people who moderated and helped and kept coming back, they would have in fact owned nothing, or something that was worth nothing.  Without the hard work of these people, Kathy and Eric would have had nothing whatsoever to sell. They took the donations of time, hard work, and the cash of donators to keep something alive long enough for them to sell it.

^This.  I have stayed out of this discussion because I never contributed any creations to Insim.  I did, however, send Kathy monies because I believe in free sites and I wanted to support it-even though I didn't visit often.  K/E may have owned the domain name and whatever, but as clearly shown in the past couple of days, it was the community's site as creators are taking down their things and what will be left is a husk.  People trying to reconstruct and new and improved version is another example.  It is people that make a community and the people have obviously decided that their home is no longer their home.  The community is stronger than a domain name.  There is no real site without contributors, either in postings, moderatings, contests, or creations (This, incidentally, is why TSR will not allow their creators (with some FA exceptions) to have the ability to remove their own things from the site).   

I wish people would have wait to burn before the pillaging was completed, but I can understand the panic and desire to get their stuff off as fast as possible. 

[Ali]

please don't ever think that we're not really very grateful for what's being done and I'd like to apologise again for my terseness yesterday

I'm trying to rally the staff to a central point, I've got something going now, such as it is, but thanks so much to those that have offered space for us somewhere while the new site gets going

so, to that end, if there's any staff that I haven't contacted - and there are quite a few coz I don't have all your details, please get in touch and I'll direct you all

now for the mushyness that we tend to be known for ... *huggles to you all*

Ali xx

eta ... on the donation drive front .. I donated to insim so sure as hell can donate to wherever needs be to get the new site running, just point me to where I can do so

[Pescado]

And if I ever treat people like poop just because I'm a free creator, someone smack me, okay?  Not real likely to happen, but its out there.  And maybe we should take this as a note, as a community, and start policing ourselves a bit more.  Maybe we should be willing to tell free creators they are making complete asses of themselves.

Wait, wait, you need a REASON to treat people like crap? I mean, look at me! I don't treat people like crap because I'm a free creator. I treat people like crap because I'm a jerk! Who needs fancy, convoluted reasons when common jackassery is all that is required?

Pes, if you're worried about exceeding resources, can't you just bludgeon the admins into killing all those nightmarish Who is On Top of Me threads?   That should halve the load, and might induce me to visit more often (which will put the loading back up - you can't win)

I could. In fact, I'm going to conduct a purge of the DB to remove all those dead accounts and remove mandatory registration, which does nothing except generate irritation, extra pageviews as people stumble through the stupid registration hoops, and generates more DB bloat, and soforth. Nonetheless, "worrying" is what I do. It's what has kept me alive all these years. Not worrying worries me!

Ah but the problem is that now they've tried to sell it, there is something concrete concerning what the site makes and doesn't make. Whether that site advertisement is real or a lie, it proves that they're lying to someone.

The advertisements will be burned at the stake immediately, because they'd be filthy Waltish advertisements. Whether or not they will be reinstated for funding purposes will be put to vote. I personally oppose them, but it's up to peasants whether they prefer to be spammed or donate.

Ah but the problem is that now they've tried to sell it, there is something concrete concerning what the site makes and doesn't make. Whether that site advertisement is real or a lie, it proves that they're lying to someone. Before, one could speculate and tear them down for no reason - for no purpose - and it probably wouldn't work because of said dogpiling.  Now, there is concrete documents (as concrete as the internet gets) and therefore we can call them on their lies - either their lies to Walt, or their lies to donators.  We were able to critique the anti-PMBD policy based on actual concrete statements by the site owners, but before that, we couldn't speculate based on feelings of unwelcome there.

The Anti-PMBD policy will be burned at the stake. A clear and coherent policy will be issued. All who question the word of El Presidente shall be tied naked to steel scaffolding and beaten with cement-filled milk jugs!

I think that this attitude is fostered by the owners/creators themselves.  Pescado for example - no one mistakes the fact that he doesn't wish to be treated like a royal princess.  beosboxboy - that's another story.

Pah! Royal princesses. Pathetic inbred sops! You know why they're called "bluebloods"? Because their feeble lungs cannot oxygenate enough blood to power their tiny shrivelled brains!

And BeosBoxBoy will be summarily fired as an Infidel Paysitist Dog. Live free or die! Viva La Revolucion!

[Anouk]

Pes, if you're worried about exceeding resources, can't you just bludgeon the admins into killing all those nightmarish Who is On Top of Me threads?   That should halve the load, and might induce me to visit more often (which will put the loading back up - you can't win)

'Helping' does not mean 'reform to personal tastes', ya know.
There's already enough shock going through the members, if someone tries to dictate conditions to help someone out when it's not really neccecary, it's not real help.

That also means Pescado, before you start firing people or changing rules, you will HAVE to let staff decide about it. Otherwise you're just stealing a site and not helping the community, like Walt was. I'm sure staff will do what they think works best for Insim.

[Pescado]

'Helping' does not mean 'reform to personal tastes', ya know.
There's already enough shock going through the members, if someone tries to dictate conditions to help someone out when it's not really neccecary, it's not real help.

There are no plans to eliminate the silly games unless it is necessary as part of critical load-shedding. I figure it's part of their culture and won't specifically aim to disturb it unless necessary.

[Anouk]

Let staff vote/decide on any change of rules. Otherwise, I think for alot of the staff it's a no-go. And I think they would be right, sorry to say. The very thing that pissed them off was someone changing their site without consent.

[Ali]

The Anti-PMBD policy will be burned at the stake

amen to that ... I have already put that point forward to the troops and had it emphatically agreed with

however, there were moves afoot to make insim neutral which we know was burned down by beos and Kathy ... I would be nice if REAL neutrality could be attained

we shall see I guess

[Anouk]

You're staff, right? Do most of you guys feel that way? Make sure to talk it over or it will be 'half of old insim and half of old insim staff' instead of 'salvaged insim community pwning Walt'.