If you've seen my previous milestone posts, you'll know that I usually try some combination of a speech, bunch of shoutouts and for my 30,000th post I held a bit of a Q&A so some of you could get to know me better and come up with some fun questions. I thought I'd do a bit of a mix of that this time around, I know we've had some tough times the last twelve months or so with recurring technical problems and whatnot but I still feel the Forum is what we make it and I'd like to make it a fun place. A place that welcomes serious and quality discussion, sure, but above all a place that's fun for everyone no matter what they're looking for.
OK, I'll get the formalities out of the way first. I've been running the site for over seven years now and we've had our ups and downs but I'm certainly not ready to call it quits yet and now that we're on our new server and have hopefully ironed out most of the bugs, I'm looking forward to bigger and better things in 2009. Technical limitations and errors have had us coasting for a while but I'm hoping to achieve a lot in the next twelve months and your support is, as always, appreciated. We may not always see eye to eye but I really do appreciate the respect and the support. I'm certainly not perfect and in an online world that prizes sarcasm, cynicism and elitism, understanding and appreciation is not always easy to come by. I sincerely thank you for that. I hope you'll stick around and like what we'll try to bring you in the future.
I'd also like to recognise the efforts of the whole NLSC team and thank them for their help in maintaining the site. A few of the guys are MIA at the moment due some personal issues but I feel we've got a dedicated and enthusiastic team who all get along. I'm sure the time will come in the near future when we look to add to that team but I also like the team we have right now. Thanks guys.
With that out of the way, let's get to what I hope will be some fun stuff. Let's begin with a few stories.
The Most Unusual Ban: mark_30_112
I'm no stranger to forum tantrums when people get upset and rail against me or the site in general but mark_30_112 was an usual case. See for yourself.
As I mentioned in that thread (which I suppose should be in Hardwood Classics really), I can't remember ever doing so much as directly replying to one of his posts, let alone locking them, moving them or giving him a warning: the usual things that lead posters to fly off the handle and attack an administrator or moderator. I guess he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory but seriously, there are people who have posted far more snide and insulting things and got themselves banned much more creatively.
Even though it's "only the Internet", I sometimes come across posts that make me think "Wow, that's actually quite nasty". But a post like that, you just imagine a foul mouthed ten year old flopping about on the floor beating their fists, tears streaming down their cheeks in an award winning tantrum. I don't know what that guy's problem was, but I guess we weren't the Forum for him.
The X-Rated NLSC
I knew that'd grab your attention.
Every so often, I receive a complaint about certain content on the website, be it an ad that shows a quick glimpse of a girl in a bikini or swearing in the Forum. Usually I can reach an understanding with the people who make their complaints by simply explaining our position on profanity, our lack of control over specific ads etc and all is well. Some, however, cannot be appeased.
Such is the case with one email I received about five years ago, the subject of which shouted at me to "PLEASE REMOVE PORN LINKS FROM NLSC". This came as somewhat of a surprise as I'm not in the habit of posting porn links on the NLSC. Frankly, porn sites have no trouble getting traffic and they never link back to us so why help them out? Anyway, this email told me that they "usually enjoy (my) page, but (are) offended by the porn links (I've) posted", or words to that effect.
I must pause here and mention one of my pet peeves (which is sure to get more people doing it, but such is life): when people call the NLSC a "page". It's a silly and I guess somewhat egotistical thing really, but a web page is technically just a single page that any semi-computer literate person can make with a wizard in a junior high computer class. As a collection of pages, the NLSC is correctly identified as a website. The sentiment behind it is usually positive but it always come off as a bit of a backhanded compliment because of...well, my ego I suppose.
Indeed, if Elvis sang about my feelings on the subject, it would go something like this:
Well, you can knock me down,
Step on my face,
Post "LOL"
All over the place;
You can use any slang
That's all the rage,
But uh-uh buddy,
Don't call us a page!
But I digress.
Having received the complaint, scanned it a couple of times and raised my eyebrows, I loaded up the index and checked out the latest news posts, which were File Additions. This was around the time a lot of free hosts were preventing remote linking and services like Filefront weren't being widely used as people preferred to host their work on their websites. Actually, come to think of it, some of them were more just the one web page with patches but let's not dwell on that any longer. The Blue Suede Shoes parody did not come off as well as I had hoped.
I checked the latest additions to make sure no one actually had porn on their patching sites that I'd unknowingly just linked to in the Downloads section. They didn't. So, I emailed the person back and told them I'd checked but all the recent links should be working fine and merely brought up NBA Live content. I assured them that we did not and would not feature porn on the NLSC, it was against our policy to post that kind of content and we would do our best to make sure we did not link to any such content accidentally, though we don't have control over what other sites do and that we had to go on faith that they wouldn't pull as fast one on us and replace their NBA Live content with something that wasn't so family friendly.
A couple of days went by and I didn't hear back from them, but then they sent through the same email. "PLEASE REMOVE PORN LINKS FROM NLSC!" I double-checked to make sure I didn't miss anything and that the newest additions were fine and they were, so I replied back a little more tersely, explaining that I had checked thoroughly and there's no way we were linking to porn, we don't link to porn nor ever intend to, there are no porn links on the NLSC. I told them I appreciated their concern but I'd checked and the links were certainly not bringing up porn.
So I get a reply back, informing me that I have "offended" them and that they will be removing my page (ugh) from their bookmarks. I can't actually remember if I ever replied to that but there wasn't much more to say; they wanted me to do something I couldn't, remove objectionable content that wasn't even there and I had told them so...twice. In retrospect, I probably should've made something up and told them the problem had been taken care of and wasn't something we did intentionally but I don't think they were willing to listen to anything I had to say. They were convinced that we were pushing porn on everyone and refusing to do anything about it. You don't want to drive any visitor away, but there was obviously no reasoning with that particular patron.
"Extended warranty? How can I lose?!?"
You get used to strange offers and requests when you're running a website. Within the first 24 hours of being announced as the NLSC's new webmaster, I received an email from someone asking if they could be my co-webmaster. I'd never spoken to that person before and they certainly were not well-known in the community, so I declined that particular offer.
The funniest proposal that I received was from someone who ran an NHL website and wanted to know who the best patchers on the team and in the community were. Their plan, they said, was to have them join their team and contribute patches and tutorials to the community they were building as they wanted to expand into NBA titles as well. In return, they'd post a link to the NLSC on their site.
That's it. Nothing was mentioned about sharing resources between the sites, any kind of cross-promotion or anything that would have been mutually beneficial. We provide the people and the resources, they provide a link. Needless to say, I declined and told them we didn't feel it was in our best interests but you have to admire their manners. Not everyone seeks permission and tries to strike up and agreement to poach.
The Disney Story
I feel I have to throw at least one heartwarming story in here. A lot of people who've only been around a few years probably aren't aware that I used to run my own website, the NBA Live Domain, before Tim asked if I'd like to take over here at the NLSC. I ran the NLD alongside the NLSC for a little while before absorbing it into the NLSC and concentrating on the bigger site.
When I closed the NLSC I received a few emails complimenting my work with it, wishing me luck with the NLSC and whatnot but one in particular stands out. I kept it for some time but have unfortunately since lost it, but it was a very kind email that thanked me for all I'd done with the NBA Live Domain and expressed a genuine sadness in its closing, but at the same time offered encouraging words about my future with the NLSC and in general was very supportive and frankly, a classy thing to do. I don't do this just to get thanks, but as I mentioned in my intro it's always nice when people make that gesture.
Since then, I've made it a point to do the same thing from time to time with the sites I frequent most, dropping the people responsible an email and letting them know I appreciate their efforts and to keep on doing what they're doing.
The Wrath
I do have a less heartwarming story about the NBA Live Domain, however. It does show tremendous community spirit for which I'm grateful but looking back on it, my approach was certainly clouded with anger that was a little immature but at the same time was something I felt very strongly about.
I won't name names and if the person in question ever happens to read this, I wish we could have come to a more peaceful resolution. I think immaturity and stubborness on both sides prevented us from doing that at the time.
A short while after I shut down the NLD with a farewell news post and concentrated on the NLSC, I received an email from someone who was disappointed that the site was closing and asked if they could take over it. I thanked them for their support but declined, explaining that I would be integrating the NLD's content into the NLSC. This seemed to upset the person even more and they insisted that they should be able to take over it. Again, I declined and explained my position, to which they responded "Whatever" and invited me take a look at the "new" NBA Live Domain.
I did, and found that they'd taken some of the banners and such and put together their own site which claimed to be a continuation of the NLD, content and all. I wasn't too pleased about the whole thing as it lacked the courtesy that we try to adhere to in the community and as the person in question didn't patch themselves, I wasn't sure about their angle. I emailed him about it and explained my position again but he refused to take down the site, rename it or come to any kind of compromise. By this point, I was pretty steamed.
Since there had been quite a few people who'd emailed me after the site closed and the site was modestly popular in its own right, I felt I needed to explain to others in the community that this "new" NLD was not my work and what had happened (I noted that Tim had done something similar when another site had tried to rip off the NLSC a couple of years earlier). So, I posted a bulletin and included the email he'd listed on his ripoff NLD site suggesting that anyone who disagreed with what he was doing let him know about it and join me in boycotting the site. A bit petty in retrospect but it's not always easy to see that when you're angry.
And man, did people let him have it. Within a couple of days he contacted me with his "surrender" of sorts and handed over the password for me to take down the site, which I did. I thanked everyone for their support and asked that they stop the emails as I'd reached an agreement with him and all was well. Unfortunately, the guy's reputation was ruined and even though I tried to help him get another site off the ground, it never really took off.
To be frank, I'm not very proud of the whole situation as I handled it rather aggressively but anyone who's been involved in the patchmaking community here can attest to the kind of vigilante justice that goes on and sense of right and wrong that we have. I would like to think if something similar happened now that I would handle it with more dignity and keep my temper better than I did back then. That was certainly a problem I had in my early days running the NLSC and I'd like to think as I've grown older I've been able to curb my temper and keep my cool a little better and learned from my mistakes...even times where I've felt my anger was still somewhat justified.
A Tale of Revenge...sort of...
Although I certainly don't want to give the impression that I dismiss all feedback and don't take complaints seriously, some people are simply in the wrong and you learn early on that it's impossible to please everyone. That's especially true of moderating and whenever we get an appeal or complaint from a banned member the story is usually the same: they did nothing wrong and we've been totally unfair in banning them. Again, not to give the impression that we're not open to appeals or that we think we're perfect but when you flame everyone left and right while spamming up the board, you most certainly did something wrong.
It's not uncommon for certain members to have a falling out with one another and that includes disputes with moderators. There isn't complete innocence on either side but in this particular case, a banned member had been a complete nuisance, justifiably banned and completely unapologetic in his emails to me about the situation. He started dropping not-to-subtle hints about hacking the site, which eventually turned into a story about him "saving" the site after talking another member out of causing any trouble after they'd hacked into the forum's admin panel and repeatedly insisted that I remove some of the moderators. Patchmakers, he felt, were unsuitable to be mods because one of the main reasons he'd been banned was excessive flaming in the patch release section, a practice he felt was unacceptable.
And so, the emails continued as he remained unapologetic and a few comeback attempts were detected and resulted in more bans. He tried a few different tacts: he insulted the site, he grovelled and praised the site (but refused to apologise for what he'd done or acknowledge any wrongdoing), he dropped hints about hacking and finally he came up with a new pitch: sell him the site, so he could remove the moderators he didn't like.
The offer was for $100,000, which would be rather appealing to say the least if it were a legit offer. However, I got the impression the person I was dealing with was just an obnoxious adolescent who probably didn't even have $1000 to spare, let alone $100,000, so I declined. He insisted. Let him buy the site so he could fire the moderators. He didn't mention anything about patches or covering NBA Live or any of the fansite content our aim is to provide. $100,000 just so he could take over a Forum and get "revenge" on the people whom had rightly punished him.
After ignoring a few more emails he gave up and no similar offers have come my way since.
Even More Fun With Emails
A couple of other quick tales...
I once received an email from someone claiming to be a Nigerian basketball player in need of assistance. He assured me he had a degree in basketball and wanted to know if I could help him. I had a feeling I knew what he was after but since some people who email me asking for help are simply after DBF editing tips or assistance installing one of my roster patches or something else related to actual NLSC content, I decided I'd write back and ask what kind of help he needed. As I expected, "financial aid" was the response. I declined to fund his attempt to try out for the NBA, despite his degree in basketball from "Basketball Tech". I give him points for being original though.
A woman once emailed me to register her disgust with the problems her kids were having with one of the games in the series and sharply criticised my "company" for failing to provide a phone number for her to call in the contact details on our website...the same contact page that explained we're an unofficial fansite, with no affiliation with EA Sports and are not responsible for its creation or for providing any technical support. I replied with a polite explanation of that fact and apologised for any misunderstanding (even though it was her ignorance and inability or unwillingness to read and/or comprehend clearly posted disclaimers that led to the misunderstanding). I also gave her some public contact details for EA Sports and their technical support. She never replied to thank me or apologise for her mistake or snarling at me in her email. As I'd later find out when I worked as a support tech for an ISP, that's the standard for rude customers.
Similarly, I was once trying to help someone with a 95/96 patch I'd made for NBA Live 2001 which they were having difficulty installing. I went through everything I could think of, emailing them step-by-step instructions and offering all advice that came to mind but they just couldn't get it working. I apologised for all the problems and told the person I was stumped but I'd have a bit of a think and try out a few things and let them know what I came up with. They simply responded with "fuck you". Needless to say, I didn't try to help them any further.
Changing the tone a little...
The Technical Problems
I don't want to go into this too much as I don't want to appear ungrateful towards our former host but since the problems lasted for a long time and caused a fair amount of distress (for lack of a better word) for our regulars, I'd like to touch on it a little bit.
If you're a regular then you'll know for the past twelve months (I guess the last eighteen, really) we've had a myriad of technical problems that have made it difficult to post, download files or view the site. We were using Filefront and other such services for our files and all of our attempts to resolve the problem failed to get the job done longterm. I know this was frustrating for a lot of people and believe me it was extremely frustrating for me too. Not only could I not partake in the Forum as I enjoy doing and provide the coverage and convenience that I would like to here on the NLSC but I knew what it was doing to us and how it was driving people away. With all the work we've put into the site over the years, I hated seeing it happen and one solution after another failing to put things right.
Eventually our host indicated that we'd outgrown the solution that he had provided with us so we had to evaluate our options and get by as best we could in the meantime. Back in October, we came to an agreement with our new host (A Game Network) and moved to dedicated hosting which has allowed us to move our downloads back onto our own hosting and should provide us with some longterm stability. We've had a few teething problems as we've put some security measures in place and tweaked some settings and run into some issues with one of the ad units which was beyond our control but we should hopefully be past all that now. I can't apologise enough for the troubles nor thank everyone enough for their patience but we're committed to bringing everything up to speed and continuing to improve in the wake of the server move. Our new hosts have been great in helping out with the problems and we look forward to getting bigger and better in the near future. I hope you stick around to see it.
A Few Forum Thoughts
On a similar note, I'd like to encourage everyone to make the most out of the NLSC Forum now that we're getting up to speed. I never want to say that there's no room for improvement and that there's nothing that I can do but there's only so much that those of us on staff can do. I know we've had a lot of good posters come and go, NBA Live's had its issues (to say the least) and yes, the atmosphere of the Forum is not quite the same as it once was. But I feel that's something we all have to work on, as a community.
Don't get me wrong. We're not after a bunch of "yes men", when there are problems we'd like them brought to our attention as it's not our intention to ignore the issues. However, I think that constantly posting about the forum not being what it used to be and the like just brings the whole mood down and doesn't do anything constructive about the problem. If there's something you think that the site staff could be doing to improve things, by all means bring it up over in NLSC Issues but for a forum to be lively, we all have to participate. If you don't see any topics that interest you, start a thread on something you want to talk about. We're an NBA Live site but we have a whole section for NBA 2K9 and a bunch of off-topic boards that invite a whole range of topics. The worst that can happen is that not many people are interested in talking about a particular subject. If that's the case, talk about something else.
I just feel we need to lighten up a bit at times. Again, I don't want to ignore problems or discourage anyone who wants to discuss things seriously or intellectually - far from it - but constant analysis and pining for days gone by doesn't help and the last thing we want to promote is a sense of elitism in who can post here and who cannot. We've always had topics that were a bit silly or whatever but we didn't turn our noses up at them, we used to just have a bit of a laugh and keep talking about other things in other threads. We should definitely keep our finger on the pulse as it were and fix what needs to be fixed but I think we should avoid overanalysis and instead make use of the forum in the way that it was intended: to discuss and talk about things with people from around the world that share our interests.
I'm not trying to single anyone out, point fingers or take up too much time on this as I think we've done too much of that. "State of the Community" threads have helped us but also hindered us in some respects by leading us to be overanalytical and spend too much time moping. We've had our setbacks - a myriad of unfortunate tech problems, disappointments with NBA Live and good posters leaving or being less active - but I think we should move forward and put the forum to good use. And if some of the old faces drop by and feel like getting involved again, so much the better!
I'm going to keep making threads and talking about the things that interest me and I hope others will do the same. If you've grown a little bored with the Forum, I hope we can change your mind about that too. I'd like us to continue to grow as a community and make up for some of the difficult times we've had over the last year or so and have some fun while we're at it. Again, I'm not talking about being blind to problems but I think a bit of positivity can go a long way.
Let's enjoy ourselves here.
On to lighter matters again...
Miscellaneous, etc
Six years later, I still feel that the rolling eyes smiley (
) is an unnecessarily arrogant emoticon. I know I could remove it but I'd rather leave it in the interest of free speech and not getting too worked up about it.This still creeps me out:
We've yet to pull any April Fool's pranks with the site but some ideas that have been thrown around include adding "Kobe" to the currently unused word censor list (back when it seemed every thread in NBA Talk somehow turned into a thread about Kobe), a bright pink design and wittily renamed forum sections. Jae and I also toyed around with changing the section names for International Talk Like a Pirate Day a couple of years back.
I guess that just about wraps things up for now. I hope you found it at least mildly entertaining in parts and maybe even a tad informative in others. Thanks again for the support...I'll see you around the Forum.
.) On behalf of the more intelligent portion of the members here at the NLSC, please remove the rolling eyes smiley. Kthxbai.
Good times ahead. 
. I love this forum because it gives me really a place to talk about the NBA but also about other things with guys of several different countries that all love basketball.
