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Post by Kazuya_UK on Dec 27, 2004 17:14:40 GMT -5
Before I start rambling, I just wanna make sure everyone knows this thread is NOT about the site disappearing, as it is going nowhere and I'll strive to keep it online for as long as possible, hopefully for years to come... so don't start worrying  Gonna split this post into two cos it is long and proboards won't let me fit it into one  Now that is out of the way, I want to talk about what the future holds for the site. To be honest, although I have constantly fallen foul of "RLS" (real life syndrome) over the years, and not had enough time to update the site as much as it should be, it has now got to a point where the site is rarely ever updated and it's kinda fallen into a state that I am not happy with. I really want to freshen things up a bit now, and finally get round to doing the things that I have wanted to do for ages. The main problem I have is that I don't always have time to be around as you all know, mainly because of work and all the usual problems that affect us all in day to day life and cut down the time that we have to be in front of the PC. So... what I need is help from people who would be willing to help return the site to where it needs to be. Anyway, here's a few things I have in mind: - News staff:
I'm really thankful for the mods here that have occasionally helped out with posting news and done MANY other things around here to help out (you know who you are and you rock  . However, many of you tend to be busy like me, so I can understand why you don't always have the time/motivation to post stuff. I really want to see the site updated on an almost daily basis though (if possible) with any kind of news that we can dig up. Just lately I have seen plenty of things that could have been posted about, for instance the news story that flan posted on the forum about the PS2 Neo stick.
Although I want all the mods to keep their news posting accounts and I'm always happy for them to post when they have the chance, it would be great to have some news posters who have the time to post as often as possible, so if any of you think you could do this, please feel free to reply back in this thread and I'll bear you in mind when things start moving. Don't worry if you have no HTML or web design experience, posting news on the site is done with an interface that isn't much different to posting here on the forum and I can help you anyway!
- A new host for the site:
Although I'm mega grateful for the the various and VERY generous (free) hosting this site has had over the years (especially with the bandwidth it consumes on a daily basis), I want the site to move to its OWN server, as there would be much more freedom on there and if I have total control over everything then I can easily give people NGFL email addresses, and add new accounts so people can help with editing the content on the site. However, there are a couple of things I need to bear in mind:
1. It **MUST** be somewhere that is going to be stable. I wouldn't want to move the site and then realise I can't keep it running in a few months time, either due to cost or something else, and then end up closing it down completely. I have looked around and saw a few providers that are reasonably cheap though, so I could probably afford them... but I would need to make sure whatever host we go with is suitable for what we need!
2. Hopefully I can afford the costs myself, but donations could possibly be an option. As I've said a million times before in the past 5 and a half years the site has been online, I really don't like asking people for money... the only time I've accepted anything is when a couple of people paid money to Proboards to keep this forum add free last year, and also a few various things people have mailed to me... like CD's with inserts on them for the shock box section, or stuff like the PS2->Neo convertor that was donated by a very kind online retailer. However, people have offered to help in the past, and if there was enough interest then I might consider having a donation page on the site.
If I did this then I'd make 100% sure that any donations people gave me were listed on the site, and make sure that those people knew that it was going towards stuff on the site (hosting or whatever), and not being pocketed by me . Anyways, this is just a thought and if donation was not necessary, then I wouldn't ask for it... I never have before!
- New site content:
For aaaaages now, we have talked about adding new stuff, like a fan art section and also a better emu section with lots of FAQ's etc, and we do have people (again you know who you are that kindly offered to help update those. However, due to me not being able to get accounts setup on the site, I couldn't give people access to the server so they could update these sections. Seeing as I don't have time to have people sending content to me to upload all the time, these sections just haven't taken off. So, if we get onto a new server, we'd be able to sort this out!!!
- New site design:
I'm not gonna lie about it... I S-U-C-K at website designing! I know enough HTML to get by, I learn fast and once I have a site running I have no probs in editing it and updating, but when it comes to designing something from scratch, any site I make ends up looking a bit... well, for want of a better word: crap  . If there are any VERY capable people out there who are good at gfx design and website building, and they would like to help out, then let me know .
I think if we go to the trouble of moving the site and going nuts on updating it, then it would be best to get a new design sorted out. The current design is still pretty cool and MAJOR props to PeterD (who made it) as he has also done an AWEFUL lot behind the scenes to help with this site, but I think it's about time to freshen up... perhaps kinda like SNK need to do with their sprites now they have moved to Atomiswave
- New forums:
I do like Proboards a lot and it has served us VERY well this past 18 months (yep it really has been that long!), and I know we are very settled here... but if we move to a new server, then new forums would definitely be possible! The main advantage of this would be more freedom, because as well all know we have to keep within certain boundaries on Proboards if we want to keep our forum from being deleted. While this is understandable, and while it is good to now have to worry about the bandwidth from it as it is remotely hosted, it would be great if we could have that bit more freedom to do other things. This doesn't mean rom posting etc, but I think you all know the rules of proboards by now... and can imagine how much the extra freedom could help us expand the forum a bit
It would mean losing the current posts... but I would most likely be able to recreate accounts, keep post counts, and stuff like that. We could even go to the trouble of doing a simple copy/paste of some of the more recent and important threads here too, so it wouldn't be a total loss... something to think about anyway.
Next part of the post to come in a sec |
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Dec 27, 2004 17:14:53 GMT -5
- Atomiswave Section:
While the Neo is still what all us SNK fans will remember the fondest and while that will remain the core of what the site is about, we do have to look to the future. It will be a lot easier to hold peoples interests by covering new developments in the world of SNK, so there needs to be a section that covers Atomiswave stuff and probably future ports to the PS2 and other consoles.
The main area of the site can become a shrine to SNK's rich history (and hopefully will continue to be updated as I don't wanna forget the Neo ever), while the new section will be there for everything else.
Those things above are the main things that spring to mind... if anyone else has any suggestion(s) then please post here! The site really is for the visitors, so I need to know what you all want to see! Overall, because of my lack of time etc then NGFL really does need your help to move forwards! I am really serious about getting this stuff done now as it has been far too long since I did anything major with the site, and I wouldn't have wasted the last 30 mins writing this out if I wasn't serious . Just to recap, here are the main things I will be looking for soon. If you can help (and only if *you* are also SERIOUS), then I'll add your name under each heading when you reply. I've already mentioned a few people who offered help before, if this is not the case now and you are too busy or whatever, no probs... just let me know I'll try to reward people who help out... can't promise anything, but I'll do what I can 1. News posters:So far just me and the other mods... most of us don't always have time though, so we need people who will have time to do updates at least semi regularly! 2. A new host to move the site to:I have looked at a few and will do some more research into this, but if anyone can recommend some good/reliable paid hosts, please tell me. I need to find hosting that is as cheap as possible, because I don't make money from the site and can't afford to keep paying out huge amounts to keep the site online. Whatever package we get, it must be a plan that allows a fair bit of bandwidth: the site currently does between 1-2 gigs a day (so between 30-60 gig a month), and that could possibly increase if the site starts to be updated regularly! 3. New site staff:Other than the news posters, we'll need staff to help update the site (or even do both *IF* they wanted to). Please let me know if you would like to help write content or help with anything else on the site... eg, reviews, help on the emu section etc etc. If you think you could help add some good content to the site, then reply in this thread and you'll be considered ;D So far we have: Reviews: I will carry on doing reviews, great members like Raiken (and many others) have contributed a lot of review content over the years too... new reviews are always welcome from other people though, especially if anyone is interested in becoming a regular contributor!!! Fan art section: suko offered help with the fan art section, so this is all his if he still wants to do it! This section will be where people can send in their own fan art and suko would add it to the site. Emu section: son_jason offered help with the emu section. We want to add the latest emus and many updated FAQ' and guides, so although son_jason has a ton of knowledge, this would be a big task and it would would be good to have more help if possible! I#d like the emu section to be moved away from the main site though, so that will be dedicated to just the Neo *CONSOLE* and MVS! Emu should be a seperate concern. Other misc stuff: anyone have any other ideas? Or would like to offer help with other areas on the site? Reply and we'll look into it!!! Donations: will be looked at later on, depending on the cost of hosting etc... but this is something I would prefer to avoid as I don't like taking money from people! Phew... that was a lot of writing!!! Hope people will read it ;D. It's about time to get the site into motion again, and I want it to be sooner rather than later... and I don't want to start thinking stuff up this time and not following through on it, so rest assured I want to make sure things happen this time and that nothing gets in the way! This is pretty much a new years resolution of mine in fact... I will keep it better than my other resolutions anyway, that's for sure edit: I almost forgot... I also offered mod positions to a few certain members a while back (again, you know who you are). Those are still available if you are still interested, but we'll get everything else ironed out first! I'll be in touch asap anyway.  Kaz |
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Post by RoninBuddha on Dec 27, 2004 20:50:28 GMT -5
first, its good to know that NGFL is still gonna be around (the thread scared me a bit)... ;D 2nd, i WISH i could help, i really do.... but i have a lack in the knowledge of html/webdesign, but i could provide gfx for the main pages though and i dont know if i said this, but i too would like to help out in the EMU section... in anyway, i think, with you welcome, i can contribute to NGFL (both web and bbs) (as for suggestion on hosting, i think a 'decent' bbs would be Invision or vBulletin) |
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Post by son_jason on Dec 27, 2004 21:14:02 GMT -5
*slams fist on table*
I'll do it!
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Post by sukotsuto on Dec 28, 2004 3:22:45 GMT -5
i'm always on stand-by 'ere, so i'm here to do my stuff ;D i've always wanted to do some reviews too if it weren't for the 1-2 hour time limit for me to do thing on the computer (i use computers on netcafes now, so sadly, i don't get to play emus too currently). in terms of web stuff, i've also got a good knowledge of HTML and a bit of scripting too (javascript to be precise) so doing some webpages would be a-ok for me. |
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Post by flan_man on Dec 28, 2004 4:31:39 GMT -5
For the past half year I've been busy with another forum where I'm part of the admin team. It does suck away a lot of my time, but the thing is that one of my tasks there is gathering the latest gaming news. A couple of the peeps there are also interested in Neo Geo, so whenever I come across news related to Neo Geo, I could also post it here (it's what I did with the Neo Geo arcade stick on ps2 ). I don't have html or web design experience but that doesn't seem to be a problem. |
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Post by son_jason on Dec 28, 2004 8:06:55 GMT -5
Just for the record Suko.....
Have you ever heard of xhtml?
Im no html coder or anything but my mate uses it and claims it be safer and more efficiant.
Just a thought.
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Dec 28, 2004 16:38:26 GMT -5
first, its good to know that NGFL is still gonna be around (the thread scared me a bit)... ;D 2nd, i WISH i could help, i really do.... but i have a lack in the knowledge of html/webdesign, but i could provide gfx for the main pages though and i dont know if i said this, but i too would like to help out in the EMU section... in anyway, i think, with you welcome, i can contribute to NGFL (both web and bbs) (as for suggestion on hosting, i think a 'decent' bbs would be Invision or vBulletin) lol... I actually did make the name of the thread what it is to get peoples attention... I'm evil like that  (sorry ) I know how good you are with gfx, so if you are willing to help on that side buddha then that would be awesome! Other contributions are most welcome to of course! As for the forum, once I have a host sorted out then I'll look at what forum software to go with, but I'll make sure it's something good... hopefully free too, as I don't want extra expenses with licensing for the forum software on top of the hosting... Son_jason: Cool suko: that's great... so do you still wanna help with updating the fan-art site as well? flan: would you like to help with posting news on the main page of the site too? HTML experience isn't really needed, as posting on there is done with a script that you login to kinda similar to the forum really... some very basic html tags are needed to do links etc, but it is all pretty simple stuff Still doing research into finding a good host... may have a lead on that however, so I'll keep you all posted. Just FYI I have started work on a KOF 94 Rebout review too Kaz |
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Post by Raiken on Dec 28, 2004 19:51:53 GMT -5
Like always I will be here to post reviews(there coming I swear! ;D) and get in my occasional news post if possible. I'm afraid I'm not very keen with html myself though.
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Post by sukotsuto on Dec 29, 2004 1:30:36 GMT -5
son_jason: heard of it being more cleaner to use, but never seen or tried it yet. i've been tryin' to get my professor friend to send me an e-book on PHP, but since i haven't received it yet, maybe i should give xhtml a try kaz: yeah sure... been wanting to do that anyway |
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tsimnami9999
Neo Member
any other time both your asses would be dead right nowt
Posts: 249
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Post by tsimnami9999 on Dec 29, 2004 10:48:47 GMT -5
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Yeton
Neo Member
Huh?
Posts: 236
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Post by Yeton on Dec 29, 2004 16:06:48 GMT -5
Chelsea? Champions? Eep. Hope not. ;D
Sorry, I don't really have owt to offer either, but I will still be floating around to add the odd post here and there, if that's any consolation.
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Dec 29, 2004 17:51:53 GMT -5
Totally off topic yeah, but I can see chavs... AHEM... Chelsea... being champions this season. Rather them than scum or arse though, 'bout time someone else did it, and I do like a lot of Chelseas players especially the England internationals like Terry/Lamps/Bridge/Johnson/Cole (shame the last 2 can't get a friggin game), and I've always been a huge fan of Duff. This season has been really interesting actually, I'm expecting an even more interesting race next year though... especially if we keep improving the way we have been under Benitez... still need to get rid of some of the deadwood from the Houllier era though  Anyway... no more footy talk here... maybe time to make another footy thread and carry it on there? Kaz |
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Post by flan_man on Dec 30, 2004 3:13:21 GMT -5
flan: would you like to help with posting news on the main page of the site too? HTML experience isn't really needed, as posting on there is done with a script that you login to kinda similar to the forum really... some very basic html tags are needed to do links etc, but it is all pretty simple stuff Sure then.  |
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tsimnami9999
Neo Member
any other time both your asses would be dead right nowt
Posts: 249
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Post by tsimnami9999 on Dec 30, 2004 10:42:27 GMT -5
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