NWC Down Again

[Dane Bramage]

yes... i saw that. bad news.

I sent an email to Gilaun.

[GM_ODA]

Yes, my firewall is telling me it is blocking content being sent from another site. did not catch the url tho.

Well at least we have this as a fallback.

I hate to say it but - it might be time for nwc to consider a total renovation and using a more standard (and secure*) system.

* Nothing against the builder of nwc, but the hackers are many and nwc's builder is not. Not to mention the hackers seem to have more time on their hands, so fighting them as a solo effort is just foolish. Switching NWC over to a system built and maintained by a crew, like UBB or something, might save the day, but failing that, the hackers and the script kiddies will be back again and again - seeking to break it and provoke reaction.

Personally, I look at it like this: we have rope, we have trees, we have hackers. We have no problem that getting them all together could not fix.

GM_ODA

[Venture]

Yea, if Rizzen could code the current site from scratch, then he certanly could take a CMS like Drupal and make it do exactly what he needs. Drupal is, to my limited knowledge, by far the most customizable and advanced CMS, which is why I chose it for the main site here. It is based on PHP, and has a large community. There are several "modules" for Drupal which come very close to the functionality needed to replicate what Neverwinter Connections does (for example, there is an invitation module that "talks" to the event sign-up module that this site uses, but it doesn't work quite the way we'd need it to). They just need some tweaking and new code to get them the rest of the way there, and somebody like Rizzen could probably do it pretty easily. Then he could focus on that functionality, and let the Drupal team and community keep a handle on the security issues.

Of course, take what I say with a grain of salt - I'm no programmer.

[Gulfwulf]

I had the orz.exe file crash on me yesterday after visiting the site. After a quick search, I learned that it was a trojan horse.

I don't know why Rizzen doesn't just farm out the coding of the site, I guess he's too attached to it. I'd like to see it returned to its former glory, but at least we have this place as a failsafe.

[Dane Bramage]

i'm with you guys. i don't understand why Rizzen doesn't let it go either. perhaps it makes him a bit of money... or not enough money.

but yes, it needs a total revision from the ground up. there are lots of things that it will just not do. tried to insert an image as a link in the forums... totally doesn't work. that's basic functionality in a forum these days. stupid that our site doesn't have that.

oh well... i rant, and rant, and rant... just preaching to the choir over here.

heck, i've been calling for a solution for a long time. i'm ready to make the move. only problem, the community as a whole won't come wit us. the only way would be to openly challenge NWC/Rizzen. I remember the last time someone started talking about doing something different... that got their attention. remember all the talk about new site wishlist... vote on the colors and all that? it's because someone else was calling for a new site.

so... my two cents... stop billing this site as a NWC back up... and see what traffic we can bring over. unless you really just don't want to divide the community. which i can understand. i don't want to either. i just want a site that is modern, elegant and secure. NWC is none of those.

[Venture]

so... my two cents... stop billing this site as a NWC back up... and see what traffic we can bring over. unless you really just don't want to divide the community. which i can understand. i don't want to either. i just want a site that is modern, elegant and secure. NWC is none of those.

Well, before we can even consider whether we want to go that route, this site would need to approach NWC's functionality. I have a few more things to explore this week as far as that goes. The other approach if I run into a dead end would be to farm that out (i.e. pay somebody who can program in php/Drupal, unless a community member volunteers). But that will take funds. I'm willing to contribute some, but hate to dump a lot into something that won't be used. So, that sort of gets circular - we need a functioning site if people are ever going to use it, but we might not be able to get a functioning site if people don't use it first . . .

The two main hurdles right now, if anybody out there can code:
- There is an RSVP module in Drupal that allows an organizer to send out invites. It can interact with the Signup module used to create events. The RSVP module will even automatically add somebody to the attendance list when the invitation is accepted. The problem is that an event has to be an Open event for this to work. If it is a Closed event, the RSVP will return an error message when it tries to add someone to the attendance list. So, hurdle #1 would be to alter the RSVP module so that it will work even when an event is Closed.
- Figure out a way, after a game is set as an Application game, that players can simply click on an "Apply" link and send in applications. Right now it has to be done manually.

If somebody could figure those two things out, all the rest is very do-able.

[Dane Bramage]

i can't code. learning could be fun, but at this point, we need someone that can do it.

if we can also figure out a way to generate funds with this place... google ads, etc... then it might be worth investing some money into it.

the other thought... is taking this place to the next level. the place where NWC was supposed to go. Game Matching for any game. More than just NWN. That way, we have a wider appeal.

if you are at all active on the Durpal forums... find out how much someone would charge for the work. it never hurts to ask.

[Venture]

OK, I'll post around over at Drupal. I'm going to figure out the right place. I've got sites running in Joomla (my campaign site), Wordpress (my personal site plus wedding site), and Drupal (this site), and played around with phpnuke, and the Drupal community is definitely the most geek heavy (geek in a good way), but also the least able to comprehend a noob's point of view.

I can get ads/Google stuff up, but will wait until there is traffic here (if ever). Right now, the pennies we'd get wouldn't make it worthwhile.

[Venture]

I've gone ahead and put together a draft description of the "job" I'd post over at the Drupal site. Check it out and post any suggestions.

[GM_ODA]

DILUTION is not a solution.

Making this a 'hook-up site for all MP games' is a great way to LOOSE all direction. I've gone to NWC for YEARS because I know I'll find NWN stuff there. There are already a zillion generic game sites. If you go that way, you'll have 80-90% traffic from disparate games, fewer people will actually hook-up for gaming IMHO.

Trying to be all things to all people is just foolish. Stay on target.

GM_ODA