I've been asked to come here and clear up some misunderstandings about me. I was first told at the horrible hour of about 7 AM as I was getting ready to quit IRC to leave the house for a weekend trip. I didn't bother replying then, and forgot about it (mostly) over the weekend. Now that I'm back, it seems that some of you are confused by who I am and what I do on TSR. Allow me to set the record straight:

1. I was never, nor am I now, a FA.
2. I was and still am a forum mod.
3. I am a modder and programmer that contributes to the community at large.

I am not as active on TSR as I used to be. In fact, I'm not as active on any site anymore, mostly due to lack of time, what with being in college and spending most of my remaining free time writing, programming, or doing other activities I can actually enjoy. Most of the free time I have is spent on IRC channels instead of the forums.

Like it or not, I basically consider TSR my “home.” It was the first site I registered on when we got the Internet back in the glory days of Napster and dialup. I was twelve at the time. From there I learned how to make craptastic recolors, moved on to making hacks for the Sims 1, and right near the end of it all, made my very first program. (Sims Skin Manager Plus!. Yes, I was young.)

Where did I learn to recolor? Where did I learn a lot about hacking? Where did I learn how the skn, cmx, and bmp files were tied together? That's right, TSR! No matter what other sites I register at in this community (Sims 1 or 2), I still always consider TSR my home, and have many friends there.

I always felt, though, that I would be welcomed pretty much anywhere I went. I mean, after all, I have a site, I create free stuff for the community, and most people tend to respect that, especially if the rules say they should. That's why I feel comfortable hanging out at N99, TSR, and MATY simultaneously, and still do now. (I'm in TSR's chat and MATY's chat at this very moment.)

So, you can imagine how I felt when I was told that people at PMBD were angry at me...


I'm a free creator but they're mad at me because I'm at TSR? Wha? Weren't they aware of this fact already?

So I came to look, only to find people basically mad at me over a screenshot of a post made ages ago about Wikipedia and how I felt that one of the editors there was being a little bit too controlling. (Yes, I still feel this way about Wikis in general, which is why I haven't bothered updating the Sims 2 Wiki because someone would just come and undo it immediately afterwards again with something stupid like [needs citation] or some such nonsense.)

That's it, and suddenly I'm an evil person? Even if it were true that I was a FA at one point in time, you'd still be upset by it?


So I pay out of pocket, every month, for a website where I distribute my hacks and programs that apparently you all like and use, (not to mention the other sites that I host) and yet you still think of me as a horrible, rotten person because of the fact that I am connected to TSR?

You know, neriana, maybe you're correct:


I have been trying to please everyone, doing exactly the opposite of what my signature says. That ends here. From this point out, I'm going to do what I want, when I want, for myself. No more requests, no more listening to endless feature requests for programs, nothing! I'm going to make things when I want to for my own enjoyment and share them with the community at large when I feel like it, and I'm going to continue to associate with all of the “evil” people at TSR because they are my friends. In the end, I could care less what you or anyone else thinks about that.

You may address any further concerns, apologies, or insults to jfade AT djssims DOT com if you can be arsed to do so. I will not be replying to anything else here.

Sigh. Yet another hosting company throws around the words unlimited and people fail to read the fine print. Here's just a snippet of the parts of the agreement that stand out the most to me (comments in bold mine):



In general, all hosting companies are doing this now: Unlimited this, unlimited that, but when it comes right down to it, if your site grows popular enough and starts eating a lot of server resources, the hosting company is going to notice, and at that point you either pony up the dough for the next "tier" or get kicked off.

Granted, most Sims fansites will never have this problem, but it's something you have to consider. Obviously, MATY/PMBD, MTS2, and yes, even TSR would not be able to be hosted by this, and depending on how the rules get set up as it goes on, even most moderately trafficked sites would probably violate something in the fine print.

Additionally, I'm extremely leery of companies that don't explicitly spell out EXACTLY WHAT THE RULES ARE because that makes it all the harder to ensure you don't violate them. The current company I'm hosted at has many similar rules about resource usage, etc, but at least they make it completely clear what I can and can't do, and so far I've done a nice job of keeping within their boundaries.

Meh. Anyhow, after all that rambling, my conclusion on this is: no thanks, Yahoo!, I'll pass. Spell out your rules and stop this secrecy stupidity, and then maybe we'll talk, IF I like your rules.

To stop the newsletter, go to the site, login, under the "Account" tab, click preferences, and at the bottom you can turn off newsletter delivery.

I have no idea how you know my first name, but OK. (I'm sure I know you from somewhere but the fact that most people have different nicks here makes it hard to tell.) Then again anyone who emails me gets a first name and everyone at N99 knows it so it's not exactly secret.

Someone at the Sims 2 Community thread that recently exploded in a flurry of activity posted that link saying it was the old EULA still this morning and I clicked it and it wasn't, so assuming that person is correct, it's changed.

I'm also assuming that it changed several hours ago given that it's 8:15 PM in California right now and I don't think that EAxis works that late.

I'm sure the file sharing will continue, but my assumption is that it will go more underground. Of course maybe that assumption is wrong. I don't really care either way. I'm just glad to have some bloody clarification.

Interestingly enough, the fansite kit EULA has also been changed to match the one for the Custom Content Manager thingo.

http://thesims2.ea.com/community/approval_fansitekit.php

Well, I have to say, I like helping people out. Whether it be with the freely available content on my own site or by posting helpful information in a forum, I try to help whenever I can.

So if I can help out at a forum, no matter where the location, I'll do so. I'm registered at pretty much all major forums and some smaller ones in the sims 2 community and try to post occasionally at all of them. Except at the BBS. Bleh.

Anyhow, I feel I can help people out as a mod there. That's pretty much the reason, aside from the friendships I've made there. Plus, I honestly don't pay a whole lot of attention to what happens on the site side of things. They're two separate entities in my eyes.

Well, there's no effort that I know of. *Shrugs* I've been meaning to sign up for a while anyhow, just because I tend to register at a lot of Sims forums and I don't have any direct objection to this place.

I may be a forum mod for TSR, but I have nothing to do with the downloads part of the site. Additionally, I like to think of myself as an individual and a contributer to the community (My site is http://www.djssims.com/ for anyone who doesn't know) so I hope that the simple fact that I moderate some of the forums at TSR doesn't make everyone here have a horrible impression on me.

Heehee, I figured so, but I just wanted that out there for reference as well, as many don't know that.

Just wanted to point out that all the mods "work" on a completely voluntary basis. It's not a "job" really.

*Goes back to lurking.*