Meh, not sure how to react quite yet. At the moment, I'm optimistic that the changes will all be for the better, but there is a potential for things to go south. It doesn't look like Market Street, the Wiki, or things like the deck discussions will be in any way affected, so the only variable that I'm worried about is the Rumor Mill, and it looks at the moment like that won't be adversely affected. Only time will tell, but all I can say is that I hope the forums don't die, as I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to go for MTG discussion otherwise.
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Someday, I will own all of the dragons. All of them. 43/111, approximately 39% complete. Over a third done.
(calling it now; there will be a cycle of Legendary dual lands with Basic Land types in Theros block)
... AAAAAAAAND I was wrong
I'm glad to see you're looking into unbanning those who only thought to warn us of this beforehand. That kind of coverup isn't something anybody likes seeing.
As far as Curse goes, I'm on the fence. If what has been said is true and we will still retain the Rumor Mill and unofficial spoilers, it should be fine. Especially if they integrate their moderation team with the existing one, rather than completely taking it over, which would help with a lot of the problems certain boards (Rumor Mill, Speculation, Standard) are having with insufficient moderation for how many people post there. Plus, it might get some Curse developers involved with a game sim like Cockatrice, but a Curse official one, and that would be sexy as hell.
Provided this doesn't go overboard, it will be a great change.
I'm glad to see you're looking into unbanning those who only thought to warn us of this beforehand. That kind of coverup isn't something anybody likes seeing.
As far as Curse goes, I'm on the fence. If what has been said is true and we will still retain the Rumor Mill and unofficial spoilers, it should be fine. Especially if they integrate their moderation team with the existing one, rather than completely taking it over, which would help with a lot of the problems certain boards (Rumor Mill, Speculation, Standard) are having with insufficient moderation for how many people post there. Plus, it might get some Curse developers involved with a game sim like Cockatrice, but a Curse official one, and that would be sexy as hell.
Provided this doesn't go overboard, it will be a great change.
Heck, also some great forum modifications. Built in scrye would be cool, as would cardlinks for yet unspoiled cards
I guess OP wants it to be 'keyworded' like "dies" was. What word would you replace ETB with though?
When Aegis Angel is born?
When Huntmaster of the Fells arrives?
When Kitchen Sphinx lands?
When Faerie Imposter busts in?
When Dread Cacodemon pops in?
When Malfegor shows up?
As always, it's a question of trade-offs. The new owner would, assumably, be paying money now in hopes of making enough money over time that it's worthwhile. To make that money, while increasing back end support, what changes will need to happen?
If those rumored changes drive away enough of the users because the site is no longer what they want, then the buyout becomes a failure, and other sites pick up the slack or come into existence to do so--complete with all the birthing pains, problems, etc. that were encountered here in its early stages. So I'm thinking official word as to what changes are being proposed would help--otherwise, people will begin making "B" plans, and the exodus may well begin. If those changes are acceptable to the forums, then the storm of rumors about it will pass; if not, and concerns of users aren't addressed, then those users will 'vote with their feet'. If, on the other hand, no official word is forthcoming, or everything's decided then announced on a 'take it or leave it' basis, you've a much higher chance of seeing the site die. Just as the potential new site owners aren't idiots, neither are most of the membership; however, secrecy tends to generate paranoia.
I was simply stating the administration handled it terribly and could have actually brought great joy in this time of unrest but instead caused further troubles.
Bel, normally I agree with you, or at least understand/respect your views... But I have to tell you that you are dead wrong here.
When private businesses are negotiating on a sale, that information isn't made public until either the sale happens or both sides are comfortable. It has nothing to do with your or my reaction, but Curse wouldn't want some other site outdoing their offer while they are negotiating in good faith.
Businesses make people sign NDAs over stuff like this. You can't expect the staff to publicly discuss something that may never happen. Now, with the potential leaks and seemingly impending sale, Curse felt comfortable (read: secure that MTGS won't break their deal because someone else came along after hearing MTGS is being sold) making this information public.
All things considered, I think MTGS staff handled this as best they could. Full credit where credit is due.
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Now playing Transformers: Legends. 27-time top tier finisher and admin of the TFL Wikia site.
All things considered, I think MTGS staff handled this as best they could. Full credit where credit is due.
I know first hand that we tried and I appreciate at least one person not thinking we are complete **** ups.
Being given huge news like this and participating with these discussion... and being told that you have to run the site like normal knowing these things are coming... but you can't talk about it (even to the majority of the staff until recently). It sucked.
I'm really apprehensive aboot this. I'm worried aboot the Rumour Mill for sure and I wish the administration had been more forthcoming over this whole deal rather than us having to learn aboot it from somewhere else...
But they really haven't steered us wrong in the past. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait and see how this turns out. I'll be keeping a close eye on this though.
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You've got a rat in your walls, and cheese won't solve anything.
I'm really apprehensive aboot this. I'm worried aboot the Rumour Mill for sure and I wish the administration had been more forthcoming over this whole deal rather than us having to learn aboot it from somewhere else...
But they really haven't steered us wrong in the past. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait and see how this turns out. I'll be keeping a close eye on this though.
When the time was right, you guys were supposed to learn it from the staff instead of getting it somewhere else.
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Current Game: Bioshock: Infinite
Mabbz on MTGO | Demgrinds on Twitch & Twitter | Helpdesk
All things considered, I think MTGS staff handled this as best they could. Full credit where credit is due.
I also agree under the circumstances, it could have been much worse.
Additionally, it's pretty clear how much Hannes cares about this site. It's not like he's just going to unload it and not have a thought about what happens. As much as I'm nervous for the move and what that may entail, I'm really quite confident with knowing that we're still under his wing until the deal is done.
Normally ye I agree, however from experience and knowledge I have of Curse and their dealings they are exceptionally open .
You can go read posts/threads from pre/during/post taking on mmo champ or diablo fans .
I am not calling Nai or anyones else word into dispute I do however find it perculiar.
Anyway whats done is done and it won't change anything
You know first-hand how Hannes was with offers. That he was considering it was by no means a guarantee that something would happen, there were and are many hurdles between here and there.
Making an announcement about something we weren't even sure would happen would have just caused needless concern, speculation and doomsaying as well as generated questions we would have had absolutely no answer for. That sort of thing does nobody any good, we wanted to be able to answer your questions and be confident in what was happening before raising the subject.
As it stands we don't even have all the answers right now, but we at least have enough of an idea to calm some of the bigger concerns.
So, this is the reason why you let the community completely fall apart in the last few months and why you just decided to ban anyone who said anything.
So, this is the reason why you let the community completely fall apart in the last few months and why you just decided to ban anyone who said anything.
No. The "community falling apart" that you speak of started well before a lot of us ever even heard of Curse.
I am just wondering, as an "unofficial" op of the MTGS chatroom, what will be happening to it if/when Curse takes over? Will we see more acknowledgement of the chatroom in general? Has the chatroom even been DISCUSSED in all this for that matter?
I am relatively new to this forum, so I do not have very great knowledge about either the management of this forum or about Curse.com, but I see no reason to be upset by this turn of events, unless this website's ability to gain early and unofficial spoilers is threatened, as that is its main appeal, for me.
May I ask why the owner of this site is considering selling it to Curse.com? What is his reason for doing so?
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“Those who would trade their freedoms for security will have neither.”-Benjamin Franklin
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
The Rumor Mill is the real bread and butter of this site. It is very, very hard to imagine it remaining completely intact if Curse takes over. Curse is a huge corporation that would be putting itself largely at risk by letting blatantly leaked unofficial spoilers to be propagated here.
I have to wonder if they just don't realize how much of this sites traffic is due to these unofficial spoilers, but you would think that they would have done their homework here.
I don't think that Curse taking over will affect the overall community/daily operations much, but I do think that it will ultimately result in the site losing alot of revenue.
Boubouille with Curse is the person behind MMO-Champion, the number one source for information regarding upcoming patches and content for World of Warcraft. Any leak regarding world of warcraft - whether it be datamined information or corporate leaks regarding the product slate for WoW over several years - ends up on the front page of MMO Champ. They announced the WoW expansion that launches this Tuesday almost a full week before it was formally announced. What I'm trying to say is that the site is big on spoilers - I'd say it's their primary traffic builder. I'm disinclined to think that it would be any different if Curse acquired MTGS.
Hopefully you're right. I'm not so sure, though. Blizzard/Activision have a different attitude toward spoilers than WOTC has shown. When something for WoW gets spoiled, it only ever has positive benefits for the game. People that play gain more interest, people that used to play but have since stopped pick up the game again, etc. The dynamic of an MMO is also alot different..something might get leaked/spoiled, but then end up not even being in the expansion anyway.
WOTC has always been much more strict about controlling spoiled information, though.
I am relatively new to this forum, so I do not have very great knowledge about either the management of this forum or about Curse.com, but I see no reason to be upset by this turn of events, unless this website's ability to gain early and unofficial spoilers is threatened, as that is its main appeal, for me.
May I ask why the owner of this site is considering selling it to Curse.com? What is his reason for doing so?
Hannes has been great to us, but a site this size requires a lot of time and energy, and it's a lot to ask from one man. The back-end requires constant maintenance, troubleshooting and finding malicious ads is not easiest thing. Additionally, our servers have been having trouble dealing with our peak traffic (see how close we came to crashing for about three days during this spoiler season). Hannes is dedicated to the community, this is why he hasn't looked twice at most offers preceding this, but if he can trust someone else to take care of the community and all the burdens of the site, I think you can understand why he'd take the time to hear them out. All signs point to Curse being that kind of buyer. The websites they have acquired have thrived, and they currently run the largest vBulletin site in the world (indeed, the only one I've seen larger than sally herself). They take care of the communities of these sites, and they have expertise with vBulletin's application on such a grand scale as we use it here.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
The people looking to buy the site are far from stupid - they want this place to make them money and have a pretty good grasp on why we have the 100K+ members and countless guests.
So essentially they're a website holding company and are buying an already established property.
The rumor mill is a major part of the brand, it's like tampering with the Colonel's recipe. But... that hasn't stopped companies before such as "original Coke" and "New Coke." So short term it remains good, but longer term over the next 5 years everything else remains questionable without writing.
Also does the current owner still maintain partial ownership with a say in results with cursed?
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Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
What will happen to the Outside Magic and Creativity subforums, is my biggest question? Will Curse.com maintain high traffic portions of the site unrelated to MTG?
What will happen to the Outside Magic and Creativity subforums, is my biggest question? Will Curse.com maintain high traffic portions of the site unrelated to MTG?
I haven't seen any indication that they'd change. Curse is interested in MTGS because of our community. Cutting off Outside Magic or Creativity makes no sense for them.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I haven't seen any indication that they'd change. Curse is interested in MTGS because of our community. Cutting off Outside Magic or Creativity makes no sense for them.
I think the major question is over:
-what are the major provisions if the "company vision changes"
-who maintains partial ownership and veto rights over policy changes
It only takes one idiot manager with a "brilliant idea they just thought up on the john" to have an aspect of the company go down the crapper. Be that 5 years from now or 10 years from now. Every ripple can become a wave.
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Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
Boubouille with Curse is the person behind MMO-Champion, the number one source for information regarding upcoming patches and content for World of Warcraft. Any leak regarding world of warcraft - whether it be datamined information or corporate leaks regarding the product slate for WoW over several years - ends up on the front page of MMO Champ. They announced the WoW expansion that launches this Tuesday almost a full week before it was formally announced. What I'm trying to say is that the site is big on spoilers - I'd say it's their primary traffic builder. I'm disinclined to think that it would be any different if Curse acquired MTGS.
I'll do you one better: back, a year or so, before cataclysm launched, he posted datamined images of worgen and goblin Halloween masks, and said it was proof that there would be playable worgen and goblins. Seems like a fair comparison to make to the rumor mill
Curse taking over MTGS is like a large chain restaurant (think applebees, or tgi fridays) buying one of your local mom and pop restaurants.
This is not a good thing for anyone except for those making money in the sale. (Which isn't a bad thing.)
inb4 giant screen hijacking ads, Click to continue to curse>>, and ads that take over the margin's to the left and right of what will definitely be a new and improved homepage for some game that no one cares about.
43/111, approximately 39% complete. Over a third done.
(calling it now; there will be a cycle of Legendary dual lands with Basic Land types in Theros block)
... AAAAAAAAND I was wrong
The Attention Deficit Guy URGU
As far as Curse goes, I'm on the fence. If what has been said is true and we will still retain the Rumor Mill and unofficial spoilers, it should be fine. Especially if they integrate their moderation team with the existing one, rather than completely taking it over, which would help with a lot of the problems certain boards (Rumor Mill, Speculation, Standard) are having with insufficient moderation for how many people post there. Plus, it might get some Curse developers involved with a game sim like Cockatrice, but a Curse official one, and that would be sexy as hell.
Provided this doesn't go overboard, it will be a great change.
Heck, also some great forum modifications. Built in scrye would be cool, as would cardlinks for yet unspoiled cards
If those rumored changes drive away enough of the users because the site is no longer what they want, then the buyout becomes a failure, and other sites pick up the slack or come into existence to do so--complete with all the birthing pains, problems, etc. that were encountered here in its early stages. So I'm thinking official word as to what changes are being proposed would help--otherwise, people will begin making "B" plans, and the exodus may well begin. If those changes are acceptable to the forums, then the storm of rumors about it will pass; if not, and concerns of users aren't addressed, then those users will 'vote with their feet'. If, on the other hand, no official word is forthcoming, or everything's decided then announced on a 'take it or leave it' basis, you've a much higher chance of seeing the site die. Just as the potential new site owners aren't idiots, neither are most of the membership; however, secrecy tends to generate paranoia.
When private businesses are negotiating on a sale, that information isn't made public until either the sale happens or both sides are comfortable. It has nothing to do with your or my reaction, but Curse wouldn't want some other site outdoing their offer while they are negotiating in good faith.
Businesses make people sign NDAs over stuff like this. You can't expect the staff to publicly discuss something that may never happen. Now, with the potential leaks and seemingly impending sale, Curse felt comfortable (read: secure that MTGS won't break their deal because someone else came along after hearing MTGS is being sold) making this information public.
All things considered, I think MTGS staff handled this as best they could. Full credit where credit is due.
The MirroCube - 420 card Mirrodin themed cube
And if I've offended you, I'm sorry, but maybe you need to be offended. But here's my apology and one more thing...
I know first hand that we tried and I appreciate at least one person not thinking we are complete **** ups.
Being given huge news like this and participating with these discussion... and being told that you have to run the site like normal knowing these things are coming... but you can't talk about it (even to the majority of the staff until recently). It sucked.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
But they really haven't steered us wrong in the past. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait and see how this turns out. I'll be keeping a close eye on this though.
When the time was right, you guys were supposed to learn it from the staff instead of getting it somewhere else.
Mabbz on MTGO | Demgrinds on Twitch & Twitter | Helpdesk
I also agree under the circumstances, it could have been much worse.
Additionally, it's pretty clear how much Hannes cares about this site. It's not like he's just going to unload it and not have a thought about what happens. As much as I'm nervous for the move and what that may entail, I'm really quite confident with knowing that we're still under his wing until the deal is done.
You know first-hand how Hannes was with offers. That he was considering it was by no means a guarantee that something would happen, there were and are many hurdles between here and there.
Making an announcement about something we weren't even sure would happen would have just caused needless concern, speculation and doomsaying as well as generated questions we would have had absolutely no answer for. That sort of thing does nobody any good, we wanted to be able to answer your questions and be confident in what was happening before raising the subject.
As it stands we don't even have all the answers right now, but we at least have enough of an idea to calm some of the bigger concerns.
Cool!
No. The "community falling apart" that you speak of started well before a lot of us ever even heard of Curse.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Come join us in the MTGSalvation chat ||| My trade thread. ||| My Personal Modern Blog: The Fetchlands
May I ask why the owner of this site is considering selling it to Curse.com? What is his reason for doing so?
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
I have to wonder if they just don't realize how much of this sites traffic is due to these unofficial spoilers, but you would think that they would have done their homework here.
I don't think that Curse taking over will affect the overall community/daily operations much, but I do think that it will ultimately result in the site losing alot of revenue.
Boubouille with Curse is the person behind MMO-Champion, the number one source for information regarding upcoming patches and content for World of Warcraft. Any leak regarding world of warcraft - whether it be datamined information or corporate leaks regarding the product slate for WoW over several years - ends up on the front page of MMO Champ. They announced the WoW expansion that launches this Tuesday almost a full week before it was formally announced. What I'm trying to say is that the site is big on spoilers - I'd say it's their primary traffic builder. I'm disinclined to think that it would be any different if Curse acquired MTGS.
My custom sets:
Caeia Block (Released - Beta)
Generals of Dareth (In Design)
WOTC has always been much more strict about controlling spoiled information, though.
Hannes has been great to us, but a site this size requires a lot of time and energy, and it's a lot to ask from one man. The back-end requires constant maintenance, troubleshooting and finding malicious ads is not easiest thing. Additionally, our servers have been having trouble dealing with our peak traffic (see how close we came to crashing for about three days during this spoiler season). Hannes is dedicated to the community, this is why he hasn't looked twice at most offers preceding this, but if he can trust someone else to take care of the community and all the burdens of the site, I think you can understand why he'd take the time to hear them out. All signs point to Curse being that kind of buyer. The websites they have acquired have thrived, and they currently run the largest vBulletin site in the world (indeed, the only one I've seen larger than sally herself). They take care of the communities of these sites, and they have expertise with vBulletin's application on such a grand scale as we use it here.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
So essentially they're a website holding company and are buying an already established property.
The rumor mill is a major part of the brand, it's like tampering with the Colonel's recipe. But... that hasn't stopped companies before such as "original Coke" and "New Coke." So short term it remains good, but longer term over the next 5 years everything else remains questionable without writing.
Also does the current owner still maintain partial ownership with a say in results with cursed?
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
I haven't seen any indication that they'd change. Curse is interested in MTGS because of our community. Cutting off Outside Magic or Creativity makes no sense for them.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
I think the major question is over:
-what are the major provisions if the "company vision changes"
-who maintains partial ownership and veto rights over policy changes
It only takes one idiot manager with a "brilliant idea they just thought up on the john" to have an aspect of the company go down the crapper. Be that 5 years from now or 10 years from now. Every ripple can become a wave.
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
I'll do you one better: back, a year or so, before cataclysm launched, he posted datamined images of worgen and goblin Halloween masks, and said it was proof that there would be playable worgen and goblins. Seems like a fair comparison to make to the rumor mill
This is not a good thing for anyone except for those making money in the sale. (Which isn't a bad thing.)
inb4 giant screen hijacking ads, Click to continue to curse>>, and ads that take over the margin's to the left and right of what will definitely be a new and improved homepage for some game that no one cares about.
oh and the death of market street.
Based on what?
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.