Is Apolyton already perfect or do you miss something?

Rasbelin · May 22, 2003, 02:15

I was just recently thinking about Apolyton, its services and features, when I encountered the question about its perfection and what might be missing or what could be different.

The key question is if Poly is already perfect as it is. Well, IMO it is already getting close to perfectionism with it's large coverage of all Civ titles, frequent news updates and alive fora. All that earns Poly 4-5 stars in my books, but not yet 100% perfect. Undoubtely no site will ever reach that, but yet you can get closer.

Is there something I miss or would like to see improved? We do see many scattered threads, but really no brief and well detailed wishlists, which could maybe be useful for the owners, Markos and Dan. I do have some wishes which IMO would make Apolyton better from my point of view. To mention a few:

- Try to get the less trendy Civ, Civ II, CtP, CtP2, SMAC and Alt.Civs sections more up-to-date by improving with new fresh material (not files), kill off dead links and in general fix any outdated information (not old news items, of course).
- Improve the Directory with even more files and keep it tidy. Also improve the links sections as suggested by me sometime last year. Minor pointer: a few days ago I couldn't find Red Front in the Civ II section. Maybe it would be worth to add it? (Okay we do have SL, but I already by that time had found it on CFC).
- Seriously concider the previous proposal of donations and sponsored memberships. The reward gained in exchange doesn't have to be that great. People are already willing to throw in a fee dimes for the current service. Pop-ups and more banners to pay for the increased bandwith consumption by a growing site won't be what people like. It will only make people go elsewhere. Some additional measure could be to team up with some firm (note: not speaking of game networks).
- On the forums you could make a small, but still nice improvement. Change the custom avatar size limit from 80x80 to e.g. 100x80 or so, as that wouldn't change the width of the postbit, because the avatars would still be 80 in width. Or maybe do that a sponsored membership feature.

But still as it now is, Poly is already nice.

What do you others miss on Poly or would in general want to see in the future?

Az · May 22, 2003, 02:41

-More pretty girls!

Eli · May 22, 2003, 03:04

Forbid name changing!

alva · May 22, 2003, 05:13

Some your points are just a case of manpower IMHO and since Markos' laziness isn't really a secret....

-
As to the paying part, I'd say accept the money from members but keep the pop-ups etc., there not too bad. (and no special priveleges for paying(donating) members either

)

Rasbelin · May 22, 2003, 05:32

Eli,

Alva,

What pop-ups?

I can't see any.

Rasbelin · May 22, 2003, 05:37

Quote:

Originally posted by alva

(and no special priveleges for paying(donating) members either)

You say that out of jealousy, when you think about it. I assume I'm hitting the nail, right? Well, the point is that is the carrot for the donkey with the sponsored memberships or donations, as more people become interested. E.g. one of the largest Diablo II sites did that and gave donors a small "Friend of blah-blah" sign.

Adagio · May 22, 2003, 06:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Azazel
-More pretty girls!

Agree... and they should all check in by me first

alva · May 22, 2003, 06:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Asuka

You say that out of jealousy, when you think about it. I assume I'm hitting the nail, right? Well, the point is that is the carrot for the donkey with the sponsored memberships or donations, as more people become interested. E.g. one of the largest Diablo II sites did that and gave donors a small "Friend of blah-blah" sign.

Nope, I would be happy to contribute but I certainly don't expect anything in return for it.

Rasbelin · May 22, 2003, 08:01

Just for the record: I wouldn't expect anything either in exchange, but I just suggest giving it some extra value as it would most likelt increase people's interest.

Az · May 22, 2003, 10:29

-Free beer delivered instantly by teleportation.

Alex · May 22, 2003, 14:44

Free beer delivered instantly by teletransported pretty girls wearing t-shirts with all the recent changed names.

Chilean President™ · May 22, 2003, 15:21

Poly is perfect... well maybe just a new logo

Oh, and of course, pretty girls, pretty girls and pretty girls

DrSpike · May 22, 2003, 15:57

Quote:

Originally posted by Alexnm
Free beer delivered instantly by teletransported pretty girls wearing t-shirts with all the recent changed names.

If Mark could deliver this feature he'd be considerably more rich than he is now.

Harry Seldon · May 22, 2003, 18:40

Quote:

Free beer delivered instantly by teletransported pretty girls wearing t-shirts with all the recent changed names.

And the girls should love playing Civ, have a Poly account nearing Deity, and think the only thing better than playing games or posting here is sex with her and her twin sister.

Gangerolf · May 22, 2003, 19:02

perfect

Jamski · May 22, 2003, 19:47

Nearly perfect.

Perfect would be if the girls were triplets and played SMAC.

But I'm dreaming again....

-Jam

H Tower · May 23, 2003, 03:39

an IRC channel again would be nice

Skanky Burns · May 23, 2003, 03:49

Yes, sex-slave girls and an IRC channel would be the only extra things I would want on Apolyton.

H Tower · May 23, 2003, 03:57

well, there is another thing I want, but Mark and Dan can't provide it.

A free download of Candle'Bre would awesome too!

Frozzy · May 23, 2003, 04:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Yes, sex-slave girls and an IRC channel would be the only extra things I would want on Apolyton.

Amen brother!

DrSpike · May 23, 2003, 07:36

It seems there is a wave of sexual frustration at 'Poly..................hmm...................you aren't all using "I have 4000 posts at Apolyton" as a chat up line are you?

Jamski · May 23, 2003, 09:44

What do you expect Spikie? We're all players of TBS games, which take up hours of our lives. Either we'll never find a girl, or the one's we do have only ever see the backs of our heads as we stare into a screen. We simply don't have time to play, post eat, sleep AND be romantic. We could possible manage a quick one-two with the Mrs, but of course women aren't too crazy about that, thay want love and flowers and moonlight and intimate little chats and that takes time. Time when we could be posting, or killing aliens or invading the USA again.

See, we don't even have the possibility of chat-up lines

Some of us however are lucky enough that we have a Mrs Jamski already

Or is that unlucky enough

-Jam

Alex · May 23, 2003, 13:40

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Yes, sex-slave girls and an IRC channel would be the only extra things I would want on Apolyton.

In that order?

Ben Kenobi · May 23, 2003, 14:26

Quote:

Either we'll never find a girl, or the one's we do have only ever see the backs of our heads as we stare into a screen.

So the Mrs. has a hair fetish?

Anyhow, what I need from Apolyton is best served by a better home computer.

Spiffor · May 23, 2003, 14:30

I'd say we still need ~~the vomit smiley~~, erm ~~the ability to post nude pi~~a tad more bandwidth of course

Oh, and the ability to search in the archive would be very nice. Otherwise, perfect !

Adagio · May 23, 2003, 17:26

Yeah, we need more smilies... oh, and that... ehmmm... other thing, would be nice too

Straybow · May 24, 2003, 21:38

Next you'll be wanting +1 for it, too…

oedo · May 24, 2003, 23:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Azazel
-More pretty girls!

my first and probably only critique. more girls need to post here, that´s what´s really missing. damn Azazel, I´m really starting to think you´re my alter ego.

DanQ · May 24, 2003, 23:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Asuka

- Try to get the less trendy Civ, Civ II, CtP, CtP2, SMAC and Alt.Civs sections more up-to-date by improving with new fresh material (not files), kill off dead links and in general fix any outdated information (not old news items, of course).
- Improve the Directory with even more files and keep it tidy. Also improve the links sections as suggested by me sometime last year. Minor pointer: a few days ago I couldn't find Red Front in the Civ II section. Maybe it would be worth to add it? (Okay we do have SL, but I already by that time had found it on CFC).
- Seriously concider the previous proposal of donations and sponsored memberships. The reward gained in exchange doesn't have to be that great. People are already willing to throw in a fee dimes for the current service. Pop-ups and more banners to pay for the increased bandwith consumption by a growing site won't be what people like. It will only make people go elsewhere. Some additional measure could be to team up with some firm (note: not speaking of game networks).
- On the forums you could make a small, but still nice improvement. Change the custom avatar size limit from 80x80 to e.g. 100x80 or so, as that wouldn't change the width of the postbit, because the avatars would still be 80 in width. Or maybe do that a sponsored membership feature.

But still as it now is, Poly is already nice.

What do you others miss on Poly or would in general want to see in the future?

First things first: Apolyton not perfect? How dare you... let's see now, a 1% -- no, no, 2% -- post count reduc...

Seriously now...

RE: POINTS #1 and #2 ABOVE
To carry them out, we are in need of more interested, available and dedicated volunteers. Markos and I are most grateful for the all the work that has been and continues to be carried out by site volunteers past and present, but even they have to rest now and again. I also hear that at least most claim to have a life outside of Apolyton... what's up with that?

If you would like to volunteer, please email me. Be certain to include what you are interested in helping out with, why, and any applicable knowledge/experience that you believe you can bring in carrying out such and related capacities.

RE: NUMBER #3 ABOVE
We like to see people donating to cover site costs "indirectly": that is to say, by purchasing products via our various affiliations, e.g. Amazon, Chip&Bits, and our CafePress store. Why? There are several reasons, but the primary one is that you get something we trust that is in value in return for your contribution and therefore, of course, does not fall under the definition of a donation. We like this and we believe you do too.

That said, we understand that there may be those that for whatever reason are not interested in either the products and/or the providers that we have partnered with to offer the goods in question. Others still may also or in addition to this want to donate an exact amount that is more or less than what is offered by our current arrangements and/or be more certain exactly how much of what you pay goes towards covering site costs and not to our affiliate partners. For these reasons we have and will continue to not rule out donations as an option, but it is not something we are looking to implement at this very moment.

As for a subscription service, yes, it has been discussed in the past. If it were to be implemented, it would only apply to the forums here and no, it would not restrict access to the content/discussion of the forums. Certain features, e.g. the ability to browse the forums without ads, would be included in such a package. It is however due first and foremost to the overhead involved in such an implementation that this process has been halted for the time being. Preliminary plans have already been laid out into what can at least be described as a draft plan that can be reviewed at a later date.

RE: POINT #4 ABOVE
The answer is still no for now.

----------
Dan; Apolyton CS

Aramis · May 25, 2003, 00:05

Might I suggest . . . er . . . uhm . . . doing away with the titles after our monikers? Seems a bit, well, elitist, and . . . er . . . silly .