SFV

[calalily]

ok, im confused and probably will sound like a bitch lol

  Oh you do, but this is PMBD so that's alright.

Only joking - not really. But you make a good point - is it the hosting or the (what would be) ridiculously high priced software?  If it's the hosting, that would be understandable, but if it's the software, surely some sort of community effort could be made to set up cheaper easier software.  SFVers are always very friendly to each other, so I'm sure that you could work something out.

[Dr House]

Maybe splitting the downloads from SFV would help. No threads, no links and no pics for the downloads would make a big relief for the forum part. Every item had 1 page, 1 pic (at least), several links leading to the page and one for the download; plus a gazillion of PMs exchanged for each item when there was no download link (approx. 1/10th of the pages). No wonder it bloated. Splitting SFV in 2 is mayber a better solution. Files here, forum in it's own place where you want it to be.

Why keeping it seperate from PMBD? Pescado would love to have more hostage files to piss off paysites or kiss-my-ass-to-get-my-file-sites. Why are you so persuaded that the forum part would die without the download part?

[Rissa]

So I am a SFV regular, being there for over two years by now, having hundreds of posts. Here I am with a little more than 50 posts in one year...

The reason I love SFV isn't the downloads. As you all know the files are here as well. 

The community is different. Let's see if I can get it right:

Items:

SFV	PMBD
Files sometimes uploaded at once, everyone can contribute	Files get uploaded by only some few people, sometimes takes a lot of time if ever
Shares Sims1 and Sims2 items	Shares only Sims2 items
Has Paysite items as well as forum gifts, unavailables etc.	Only paysite items
Is about filesharing	Is about destroying paysites
Possibility to share own creations based on paysite stuff and other creations	"Why does anyone fix paysite crap?"

Community:

SFV	PMBD
Nice community	For newbies looks nasty
WCIF-area	No WCIF
Social area	Sharkbait
No bashing, no cats, no rum	People are sometimes hesitant to post

Yes, the whole community over there is different, although quite a lot of people are there and here.
If it was just for the files people could forget about SFV easily. But it isn't. You are allowed to have your own oppinion about paysite items and quality of free items, and you can share your own creations. (I have shared things there that I recolored but didn't have permission to share, one item because the creator I contacted didn't answer, another one because noone could tell me who the original creator was...Not because I wanted to ignore their policies!! )

However, it's good to know what the reason for the downtime is.

[Gelbarc]

This is going to sound very rude: Nice to hear that after 2 months of not being deemed worthy of knowing what is going on, you're still not telling us exactly what you need. I don't mind if you don't want to tell all those weird pirates over here, but what about your regulars?
The worst way of getting help(donations) is not telling people what help you need, every detail. (And telling them before all this, they 'don't need to know' what's going on.)

You're not being rude at all. After all this time she it's about money? If that was the case why wasn't she over here from the start explaining what the problem was? If not here, she could have posted a notice (like she has in the past) to let her members know wtf was going on. She knows this forum is here. She knows that a lot of her members are members here. She might even be a member here. What's her problem with coming over here and asking for help?  I don't think she's shown any consideration to her loyal members. She sends her good friend Rds over here instead to ask for money when her members used to offer to donate to help in the past?

Something is very shady indeed. Personally, if you can't address me directly you don't need my help. I'm not going to fork over one red cent after you decide it's okay to let me know what the problem is after all this time has passed then have the audacity to send your mod (who didn't know what was going on either) to request donations.

[redisenchanted]

I do miss the hard to find files that could be found at SFV. The forum was OK, but not to my taste. The problem is that it's getting out of hand for the people who run it. What needs to happen is that they need to decide if they can or want to continue or just turn it over to someone else. Donation drives are much more effective if people know what the goal is and there is some kind of chart up that they can see progress on. I see this on other sites too. People are burned out. They shouldn't feel obligated to continue if they don't want to, but it would be so much better if they'd turn it over to someone else rather than vanishing.

[Charlotte]

I thought rds already stated what the issue was - it's money.  Two people looking after two children nowadays is getting hard enough let alone doing the whole thing on your own - running a forum would be the last thing on your mind.  But I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with what someone else is said, that if running the forum is becoming too much of a strain, it might be time to hand in the towel or pull it down, at least we'll know where it stands.  I know it will suck because I'm a regular member there also, but it kinda gets frustrating when you get comfortable with things, and then it goes down without warning *shrugs*

[Sims2lvr]

Well, it doesn't really need filehosting since most of the files are hosted by mediafire, divshare etc  And also, I hope I don't offend, I find it a lot easier to talk over at SFV than here - I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels this way.  It's not really about the filesharing, most of us are missing the actual community.  I'd like to help out rds, but things are tight with unexpected costs coming up, I won't be able to donate anything until next month

I can relate Charlotte!  SFV...We could have easily just download shit from the booty but I miss the people that I actually made friends with, chatted with, and found those nicely furnished Asian Lots with....I miss doing the treasure hunts and bringing back to my fellow simmers what I've found and wanted to share with them.

You mean to tell me that all this time I was feeling lonely and missing SFV so much was because of money?  RDS, when you find out how much is needed to get the site back up and running, let us know but I can't donate anything until sometime next month when my husband starts working...

Just let us know...I am willing to help out!

S2L

[Anouk]

I don't suggest making PMBD and SFV one site, that is just like asking Calalilly to give up her site and open a thread here to post her stuff instead: DO NOT WANT
It seems you are all thinking we want to assimilate your community (or want to make people think that, I don't know), but you are wrong.

What alot of people here are trying to tell you is that there are different, cheaper and more efficient ways to go about things.

Free solution:
- Get SMF, a free forum software
- Ask Pescado if he can host the site: this means you can upload files onto the forum itself, meaning no more millions of pm's, no more looking over your shoulder for spies that get the files deleted, a lot easier to find what you are looking for.
- Pick a cute theme, install a few mods and games, and your community there like you've always done.
- Have that done in less than 2 days without asking people for money

Your solution:
- Get money to pay for the expensive bill, while you could do it for free
- Keep paying for hosting
- Keep the inefficient system, prone to sabotage from lowlifes who have nothing better to do
- Have the same problem in 3 months, 6 months? Who knows?

[Dachs or puppy-girl]

I agree with Carissa. PMBD can be harsh at times and I luv it here fellow simmers but sometimes all the grr and the lurk more and stuff makes folks not want to participate. Folks feel comfortable at SFV and they want and need it back. So no matter what the problem is...for the folks who want it back they need to come together and find a way. I am missing Kathy and Eric at InSim. So I can feel for the folks that are missing SFV. We are slowly losing the sites we love.

[missangelica]

Even being an outsider to this, I'm feeling the exasperation.  If you can't handle it and there are clearly people who love SFV and want to help, why not hand it over to someone you trust for a while until you get your RL stuff together?  It's better than taking it completely down and making everyone miserable. 

It's effecting those of us who don't even use SFV.. there must be others like me that's tired of people coming over here, crying, and asking, "Wheeeeeeen will it be back?!!!!!!1111"  We don't know.  The owner of SFV apparently doesn't even know. 

[Gelbarc]

The owner of SFV apparently doesn't even know. 

 

[euterpe]

Okay, I'm still learning new stuff every day...amazing at my age 

There is free forum software, which SFV apparently did not like.  So they went to an expensive pay software, which the site owner cannot afford, so the site goes down, and no one knows why for two months 

In the meantime, like Miss A pointed out, we have the lost SFV forum people over here asking "When will it be back?", which does get a bit annoying.

And SFV could use free forum hosting software, probably get some free hosting space for their files, and have the site back up and running in a short period of time, if I understand all this correctly.

*scratches head* I know I just woke up from a nap and may still be a little bit drowsy, but this seems like a no-brainer to me.

And BTW, creators over here do share their things with us.  I guess they just don't see the point of fixing damaged things when they can make their own and not borrow someone else's ideas.  And as some of us have said before, once we had the availability of paysite files, they lost their appeal, if you ever wanted them in the first place.  My downloads file is now 80-85% free downloads, and I like them a whole lot better

I'm just trying to understand why this is such a hard decision for TPTB at SFV to reach.  I'm more than willing to donate to sites for annual funding drives, or the like, but when there are free options available, why not take them?

[Charlotte]

Nouk, I totally understand what you're saying and happen to agree with what your saying.  My replies are to those who think that we only go there for the filesharing, and who also think that those of us that call SFV our "home" could fit in here.  There may be a reason why SIH hasn't come here to ask for help, we know there are money issues and who knows, it could possibly mean that she no longer has access to the internet.

I don't know, maybe we can all get together and come up with a solution to this - with the way money is going at the moment, for a lot of people, I don't see the point in paying for hosting if we can get it for free.

[Paden]

Simple Machines Forum software is nonexpensive/free and very easy to use for a forum. There are many attractive layouts that are easy to use and easy to tweak. We're all about free stuff here, so why in the fucking hell pay for goddamn forum software that's gonna break your freakin budget? I just don't get it.

How do I know about SMF layouts? Easy, I use the damn things myself. Meh! Yeah, I'm still learning, but it's not that fucking hard. If you want a social forum, get one and get the software for it without paying too damn much. It's about the value and ease for the site master and SMF offers both. Any one of you from the SFV community could make a back-up board on a free hosting site and congregate there while things get straightened out. I don't like hearing that folks can't make their bills or feed their kids, it hurts cause I've been there more often than anyone here will ever know, but any of you lot could have kept the forum part of it alive while she takes care of the RL problems.

We don't want to absorb you, we aren't the damn Borg. We co-exist, plain and simple. Thing is, while we feel for you about your forum home being down, we can't fix it for you. We can commiserate and empathize to some extent, especially those pirates that are also members at that site as well as this one. I guess I'm just saying is that if you miss "your" community so much, provide an alternative to it until your "home" opens back up. Like I said, I've heard about free forum hosting all over the place. Use it, gather your friends together and keep the spirit of your home alive until the new house, so to speak, is set up for you to move in.

It's all fine and well for her to ask for help, but shouldn't this have been brought to the attention of you that belong to the forum before a standstill was reached? Pride in what you're doing is all well and good, but when it causes something to go to hell, it's gone to far. Ask for help and you'll be surprised at how willing people will be to offer it when they know what it's for.

[deelink]

I agree with Euterpe and Paden

This is not a hard decision at all to make. If there is a FREE alternative and your strapped for cash. Take it.
If you don't have time, chuck it to someone else and just be a member.


Noone is going to judge you for that. I am happy to know that SFV is going to live on, to the best of it's means.