Closing all forums unrelated to Exploding Rabbit

how about a skype group for those that're on there?

 

Well this is shocking... I kinda knew CT64 would maybe hit the chopping block... If it was just spam and A/V I would have stayed. I never thought things would turn out this bad. I'm sorry Jay as much as I wanted to stay I think this may be my ER swan song. No offense but this is too much.

 

alright
whether or not the forum will happen we don't know
right now we have db's old wikia forum, a skype group and a secret facebook group

 

i have to disagree. the community or to use a different term - the fanbase is the pillar of any artist's success. going down the road of a cold business-man may bring some success aswell but i don't think that's the image you should aspire to. i think it's understandable that changes are required but any changes especially when they're of a large scope have to be managed carefully and subtly.

 

new forum software idea http://www.simplemachines.org/
^thanks @Midori

 

don't thank me too early. I don't know how good it will be as an alternative. someone who's more experienced with forum-software will have to judge and decide that.

 

I don't get the impression that the people posting here are fans of Exploding Rabbit. From the responses I've seen to what Jay has said lately, it seems like you're primarily fans of a forum, which, while hosted on Exploding Rabbit's website, doesn't actually seem to have any meaningful association with it. This sums up what I've witnessed:

The changes being made were Jay's ideas, but as I see you all scrambling to find a way out, instead of getting excited about the new direction proposed by the person because of whom you're all ostensibly here, I can see why he felt the desire to do this.

 

one of the reasons for that may be the fact that nobody knows in detail what that new direction is supposed to actually add to the community. so far we only know in detail what has been and what eventually will be removed. that's why step-by-step preparations would've have been an overall better idea. and more detailed information particularly examples aswell.

 

if we need a move i can try proboards or invision
not too sure how that would go with xenforo software tho

especially proboards
i have more experience with it but we can't do an A/V section because of their content restrictions

well it's been a good 4 years here jay
but when december 17th strikes you can say goodbye to db

er's main source of weed (not really)

 

alright
i think it's time i went too
i'll pop back in from time to time
until then

 

This wouldn't hurt as much if there was still a reason to post on the SMBC forum. Just being honest.

 

I have to level with you, Jay. If you have ever listened to me before, if you have ever trusted me, if you have ever valued my presence here even slightly, please hear what I have to say.

SMBC is what built this community. You made an amazing game and brought lots of people together under your banner. People wanted to see what else you could do, both with SMBC and in the future—and, for a time, ER was bliss. People frolicked and discussed SMBC together, and they watched you play games and curse a lot, and they laughed and smiled, and everyone was pretty satisfied with everything.

Then the updates to SMBC began. Ryu and SOPHIA III generated their own sparks in their own right, but after that, the attention that each update brought sloped downward. People liked SMBC, but they had played it forward, backward, and sideways; they wanted to see what else you could come up with. And they saw it, in the form of Super Retro Squad. Some were skeptical of the clone-like nature of the game, but most of us saw the trailer and had our collective minds blown out our eardrums. We jumped on board, paid over five times what you asked, and then the wait began. We sat around, being told that great things were coming, but with no hint of what, or when.

And in that grand wait, you became reclusive. Updates became scant, first for the non-backers, then for everyone altogether. Turns out that you had misconstrued the difficulties of building a game from scratch. Attempts to garner more money from your fans were largely unsuccessful, so you had to come up with a new plan—and you did. SRS was put on hold, so you could work on other games to generate funds. A logical and fairly sound move, but the backers got upset, and your fame began to decline. And the great waiting continued. "Great things are coming," no what or when. Top secret, very hush-hush. Such claims with such lack of evidence.

Finally, you come to the conclusion that you haven't involved the community enough. Sound thinking. You haven't. You've left us out in the cold with nothing but a "wait and see," and you need to fix that. And you intend to do that by...shooting us.

Now, during all this time, the updates to SMBC had basically all but stopped generating forum traffic, due to reasons stated before. The initial reason for people to come along had long since departed, so they needed to make up their own. In doing so, people branched out and found something to do—sit around and talk about video games, make some friends, make some art, make a story, something. ER's community had become less harmonious, but it was still—more or less—a community. In your absence, we found reasons to stay in one another.

And now, you intend to destroy that. I've read and reread the post; I clearly see everything about moving, but you have dumped this on us with no warning and no courtesy. In doing so, you have angered the aforementioned people who were making art and stories.

Aliceandsven, head of Season Girls. Omicron, lead programmer of Sonic Boll. DarkBowser007, former head of the ER Games devteam. The people who had the resources to help you now no longer have any reason to—they feel betrayed by you, between your absence and your decision. Me? In spite of every PR-damning blunder, I still stay here; I still want to see what Exploding Rabbit can do. But those people? They're leaving. And I sure as hell cannot change their minds for you.

There is still time to rethink this decision. And that is all I will say on the matter.

 

While I don't want to directly respond to anyone for the most part, CF says this is being dropped on us with no warning. The forums are being shut down a MONTH from now. What, would you prefer an earlier post saying "hey guys, in a little while I'm going to announce the shutdown of the forums. Brace yourselves!"

But here's the thing guys; Jay isn't just DESTROYING the forums. He said he is saving the data in case anybody else wants to handle it. I want to be absolutely clear; Jay is not, in any concievable way, killing/destroying/ruining the forums. He is washing his hands of them, he is moving on with his life, he is making the best decision he can as a businessman and a human. There is no shame or evil in that.

How about we bow out gracefully and continue being a community in whatever form we can find, instead of bitching about how we can't post in certain areas of this one particular website any more?

 

Protip from a knowledgeable but disinterested third party:

1) someone in the community BITE THE BULLET, buy xenforo or whatever you have to do to take jay up on the data export offer. Communities like this die without history. Archives are important. Do what you can to preserve and augment all karma, post history, etc.

2) whoever bites the bullet and forks over the tiny sum it takes to run a website these days, brainstorm ideas for serverside content. These orphaned forums never last without a lynchpin. User generated content is great and ideologically inspiring, but in the real world strong web communities need strong leaders in the form of server side content.

3) it's jay's site. Why whine about what he does with it? If your community matters, take control of it, don't cut corners, make it better.

All the best,

- Tone

 

But we ARE fans of Exploding Rabbit. Do you think I would have tried to make games DEDICATED to ER, to include the community, if I wasn't a fan? I came here because of Super Mario Bros. Crossover, as did many others. Do you think we would have backed Super Action Squad to 5 times its original goal if we weren't fans? We were excited for your products, and now you're basically giving us the middle finger! I honestly couldn't feel more betrayed by this choice. I'm going to stick around to see if you listen to us, the fanbase, and if you guys haven't changed your mind by December, I'm gone.