Pretty much sums up my thoughts about this exact matter

Unfair compared to what? The treatment to Garlador or the silly com FAQ rules perhaps? Name one single site where a rule such as "don't make another account with the same computer" exists? Or a site where you get punished for hotlinking? I did, once, when I hotlinked a stupid loop video as an answer to a stupid reply. The rules don't seem "professional".

The options in the poll probably make it sound like that – it is clear that there is a ton of factors and I could fit only so much letters to the fields of a poll. Is it unfair to "hang" one problem: recruitment of additional updaters, on Mick? Updating the site would then be tasked, or as you call it; hanged, to more people in an instant. And no, it isn't that hard to find those guys.

"Hanging around one's neck" is a rather negative connotation here. Exactly what problem doesn't belong to Mick's agenda of the ones I listed then?

As we know, consolidating KOTW into one thread didn't work out, at all, yet no alternative option was offered. Therefore Mick did in practice forbid it.

However, I'm not that interested in dwelling in the past as I'm in seeing what could be done to MKO. We are left a bit clueless about it, aren't we? I'd have admitted the problem years ago and just moved on. Now we still have to handle this issue. Admitting the truth is the beginning of wisdom.

I actually know lots of message boards that don't allow one person to have more than one account. Why would you even want that? There's no reason why a person would need multiple accounts unless he was going to use the spares to pretend to be someone else so he could spam or flame people without fear of his main account being punished, or cheat on polls by creating a one-man-majority vote, that sort of thing. Nothing good ever comes from giving people the power to pretend to be more than one person or to be someone other than theirself.

So do I but I can't name any other forum that prohibits registering twice on the same computer. That was enough to a friend of mine at least, who was thinking on registering on my computer when we looked at MKO.

Well what was stopping him from going home later that day and using his own computer to sign up? If such a small thing was enough to prevent him from joining then he obviously wasn't that committed to the idea. He'd probably have posted once or twice then forgotten all about the place instead of becoming a regular.

That is true, he was indeed on the fence and no, he'd have not become a regular but a casual poster/fan art submitter at best. One user regardless. Jaded-Raven's friend, BloodyBitch, had an alike story that ended shortly.

But the thing is almost all other wedsites offer some kind of password recovery. If you forget your log-in on here or haven't visited for a while your basically screwed. Not to mention in the bad event that your password somehow happens to get hacked.

Mortal Kombat Online does now offer password recovery. Just try.

Zmoke I don't know want to speak for Mick but:

1. Assuming that Mick can just EASILY find some people TO WORK FOR FREE on an outdated site using unfamiliar code seems far-fetched. But apparently to you that's an easy fix.



2. Pissing off the community and Garlador by consolidating his thread is not the same as forbidding. This directly discouraged Garlador from making more content sure but Mick didn't stop Garlador from posting or forced him to leave.

3. The Poll reads more like a passive-aggressive indictment of Mick than anything resembling data collection or opinion gathering.

I'm not trying to bun up on the side of the admins here but if you're going to bust their balls, at least be realistic.

An update is overdue for sure.

I had a long post prepared but it got deleted. Main point is that i think the profiles should MEAN something more, by having more profile attributes & options.

Also the dragon points/skulls/ranks need to mean something again. They've lost pretty much all value by disuse.

I have to agree with this big time. And if no one minds, I'd like to share my two cents about these three stuff:

Ranks

Ranks used to be very important to a lot of people. And because they were rotating in and out for shadow priests, everyone sort of liked that. But because there's not a lot of people here, why should that make a difference and stop rotating? So you don't have three people at time, you can have like one or two. There's still a few people on here at a time, it's not like no one comes here anymore.

But another issue is the whole gaining a new rank. Why do we still have the ranking system if A.) No one has gotten a new rank in ages (from what it feels) B.) Doesn't really serve that much of a purpose to those who are not apart of the higher ranks, such as the mods, webmasters and so on. Like, what is so special about my rank compared to a person who is a mortal? Do I get something that these guys don't have or is it just "Hey you managed to get more than 75 dragon points, here's a new rank."? These guys should kinda mean something rather than just a title... unless that's what you're going for.

Dragon Points

I remember that there used to be a lot of members racing towards the Introduction Forum to help out newbies just for the three dragon points.

But then there were things like the show off your faces thread where if you just post a picture, you get a dragon point.

I couldn't really tell if these points were meaning something or if they were just being given out because the mods had one useless tool with them that they wanted to use for a bit. These things don't get handed out at all, I can't even remember the last time I saw a dragon point, and there's been times where I could have sworn that they could have been given out.

What stopped mods from handing these guys out?

Skulls

They used to be intimidating, but now whenever I see or get one, it's not big deal because no one here cares about it anymore. A lot of people hated these things and now they just brush them off their shoulders and could care less about it. It's like, if someone is doing something bad around here, you don't get anything... But then again, I've seen one particular user break a heck of a lot of rules in one sitting, and heaven knows that if any of us users who's been here for quite a long time, we do something like that, we get banned.

I understand that the rules have gotten a bit more lenient, but when you have a handful of users begging for something to be done about a constant issue that won't stop even when they ask the person to stop, wouldn't you say that something should kinda be done about that? And I'm not going to name the issue, I'm sure people can get the hint, but come on. Some of the things I've seen have gotten way too ridiculous to let it egg on people. And I swear some people may have left this site just because of this problem that's getting ignored. It really shouldn't and that's really unfair for the users who has been here longer than the problem. It really is.

I don't want to get too much into this topic (as I'm technically retired), but I just want to point out two things:

1) Without going into detail, the site's code is nowhere near as simple as it might seem, and not even written in PHP (the bog standard for dynamic sites).

2) This decision is not up to Mick at all.

Hope this helps...

Thanks for dropping in to pull back the curtain a bit and be a little more transparent with some of the finer technical details. I know you're retired DarqueBish but, is any sort of upgrade even remotely possible if we factor in someone new to the admin? Is that something that you guys would want to do?

So, I think it is time I comment

The technical side of MKO has always been are squarely in my department. MKO runs on custom software that I wrote years ago and have (somewhat) maintained since then. Unfortunately, over the past few years, my own professional responsibilities grew and eclipsed my ability to keep up with updates to the site's infrastructure. I take full responsibility for that and have recognized that this has been a problem for some time.

That all being said: I've recently realized that it is time for me to rededicate significant time and effort towards upgrading and updating MKO's software. I hope that in the weeks and months ahead I can get back into the swing of things and dust off the old circuits behind the site. To do that, however, I need the community's help and support: recognize that this will take some time and that I need feedback on what is currently working well and what is currently not. What would you like to see fixed? What would you like to see added?

I know it has been a bit rough around the edges at times, but remember that we still have a great community here and a great deal of awesome energy.

Thanks and Happy New Year everyone!
CCShadow

Thank you admins for entering the conversation about updating this site.A mess in the code I think is understandable seeing you must have been quite new to coding back when this site was coded. I have examined the source codes of several forum pages around here and for the most part they contain familiar terminology to me. Since I still am quite green in coding, I could certainly be up to learn the MKO exclusive way of coding.You should take business only as a blessing, it is only an indication of some level of success on your behalf. The situation requires a bit of reassessment – are you better off focusing in your work or in your pastime project? A 80% and 20% ratio maybe? I can at least lighten the burden.

Working well: All of our forum emoticons Concealed Saurian theme Timezone settings for comments (not for PM's) Requesting signatures, avatars and wallpapers Skulls and dragons, when distributed appropriately Games in Timeline mostly, albeit some throw you to the golden MKO site, MK1 keeps you here, MKA throws you to MKW and MK9 remains Under Konstruction. Visibility via Google Not functioning: "Post New Comment" & "E-mail to a friend" with front page news articles Comment width (405px?) namely with big pictures Themes overall could be more pleasing to the eye. Fan Submission troll ratings w/o comments can be a nuisance sometimes. Excessive amount of forums and inactive stickied topics. Com FAQ could improve. A real time chat window and a Recent Posts box in the front page would be great.

I don't think that the Recent Posts box would be that hard; we have even a Recent Tweets box in the side. Which come first – tweets or forum posts?

Actually being able to spend the dragon points you have earned would be an excellent thing. Let me explain: Baraka407 earns three dragon points, accumulating to his total dragon point number which would be e.g. 84. The "lifetime DP total" number would never drop. He would then have 26 DPs left to use, since he's spent some already. Where to spend them?

• Potentially voting, since all can gain coins by introducing. This reduces poll violation.
• Participation fees to in-site tournaments
• New, nostalgic MK arcade slot machine
• Rewarding other regular members
• Sending private messages to an admin
• More in-site forum games or mini games you could play and try to hit the high score

This would be a fun, MKO-exclusive feature. People would become more motivated to gain dragon points. But that's not all. There would also have to be ghost dragon points that are like cents, e.g. one tenth of normal dragon points. They would be easier to distribute in cases where the moderator is on the fence. The rank system could be re-established simultaneously. Icebaby's post about the current cons of the DP system bears valid points also. Soon I seriously have to go to bang some rockets. So if you desire voluntary help, here'd be one guy available, Zmokey.

Happy New Year 2014. Hopefully it indeed will be unlike.

Oh man, I'm so glad you came to the party CCShadow as you're vital in having a chance at any meaningful discussion about site changes. What form/method of feedback would your prefer (email, this thread, a new thread, etc.)? Zmoke has already outlined a few of commonly requested features but I'd be happy to elaborate (and likely will when I have the time).

For now though I have to echo Zmoke again in that while I emphatically love to hear how you want to delve back in to updating the site with new features (which is awesome, it really is) let's be realistic here in delegating responsibility. In other words, if you have a lot going on in your personal life (understandably so) then would you be opposed in training/recruiting individuals that could "take some of the load off of your shoulders?"

Version 8 sounded like it was being discussed a few years ago and if the main thing that held the upgrade back from implementation was a lack of time/manpower then it's safe to assume that's still going to be an issue. Otherwise we're headed down the same road rife with similar pitfalls.

Training is manageable in due time, a lot can be done beforehand. My suggestions were just the tip of an iceberg, some of which were new.

Sure do, by all means, emphasize on the ideas, Mojo6.

Thanks for the compliments.

Wow, it's weird to look through a topic and randomly see my name! It's crazy to think that the original MK came out when I was 12 and I first started lurking here when it was MK5.org and now my time on this site has been reduced thanks to the internet security at my office. I guess that's what 20+ years will do to a person and their time. CC, if it's work that's biting in to your MKO time, I totally get it.

Anyways, I think that a few people on here have mentioned site traffic and the state of the website, as if the two are linked. If that was what people meant to imply, then while it might be true to some extent, I don't think it's one of the main issues.

The main issue really is that there's been no MK game news since the last DLC character came out for a game that was released back in 2011. I think that the second internet series was met with more middling reviews from fans and that's about all there's been to talk about with this series. Average fans and even some enthusiastic fans can only talk about the same stuff for so long before they move on to something else.

I honestly lurk a lot more than post because of the security on my computer at work, but also because I just don't have as much to talk about and time to talk about it. We all have lives, of course. I'm not saying that my workload or overall life business contains an exceptional amount of clutter or stuff or whatever, but when you combine no news with the speed of every day life, I think that a lot of people just fall off a bit.

This year's E3 is the first in a while where I could possibly see NRS introducing the next MK game. I'd have to think that Injustice has pretty much run it's course by now and that they're focusing on what's next. So perhaps the cycle continues where the community fills up again, new people join, some older posters return, etc?

But going off of what others have said, I certainly hope that the site gets a new coat of paint, so that those people returning or visiting for the first time to talk about this series have a fresh, up to date experience awaiting them. Now seems like a great time to start the technological spring cleaning.

I personally know next to nothing about coding (or whatever's between next to and nothing... Somewhere in there). Predator151 was awesome enough to help me with my avatar and sig and even that required multiple "duh" questions from my end.

I was a sub-mod for a while, which was great, as I loved doling out the dragon points for people making thoughtful posts, helpful posts, and contributing to interesting MK conversations. I'm more than willing to make time in my day to do that again, but that's about all I can really offer in terms of help. I wish that I could offer more, but I honestly wouldn't know where to begin.

As for suggestions:

1. Spending Dragon Points - This is a good idea in theory, Zmoke, but given how they're currently given out, I don't know how sustainable this model is. I say that because even if the system is adjusted and dragon points are given out more freely, who's to say the system won't fade in to what it is now again in the future? If that happens, what happens to all of the things that you have to spend dragon points on?

2. Checking the Double Helix forum - I've been going here a bit more for news and occasional conversation, though their traffic is really starting to slow down now that KI has been out for a month and the dev updates have all but disappeared, largely due to the holidays right now.

Still, the site has a lot of things big and small that could be of use to this site. I prefer the "like" system where forum posters basically dictate how you move up in rank. If you write good posts, are helpful, etc, it's immediately recognized by the community, or at least those active in it.

I'd like to see a sort of hybrid of this for MKO. Zmoke mentioned the idea of ghost dragon points and I think that makes sense. Maybe make likes / ghost dragon points worth a little less, but have mods give regular dragon points for stuff that they like.

Also, and this is the last I'll mention about dragon points. It'd be nice to see what we have in terms of dragon points like how you can see likes on the Double Helix board. I know it's supposed to be a nice thing for the mods to do for average posters, but if other sites show this type of info, and I think that most forum-goers would like to see this info, then why not make the change?

3. HTML: Yeah, I know I'm coming at this from a simple, non-tech savvy point of view, but looking at how easily stuff can be done on the Double Helix forum, simple things like bolding, using italics, etc are far easier there and should be easier here too. Most sites I go to nowadays have this option.

4. The space on the right: As others have said, it'd be nice to see some stuff over there. A few thoughts:

-Some sort of minigame that people can play while they take a second or two to think about what they what to say or post
-Maybe a slide show that you can work that shows newer fan made content--A scrolling news bar for recent info
-A recommendation bar for staff picks of good/hot topics so that more people will know where the conversation's at
-Polls for people to vote on a wide range of things from general site input to a lot more MK related questions
-Featured user of the day or week. I know that this is at the bottom of the home page, but I usually come to this site on my phone and don't scroll all the way down. I just hit the forum I'm looking for, so maybe if this were on the right side?
-Historical stuff like facts about the old games, flashback to old posts, flashback to old news like initial game announcements etc.

I'd also suggest some other stuff like a chat room for people to talk more freely (I recall an IRC chat room type of deal that I went in to briefly before my job got all crazy and my level of site interaction decreased), merging some of the forums, unstickying old topics that aren't needed anymore, and other things that have been suggested.

I'd also suggest a new site appearance to go along with format changes. Again, just a new coat of paint. Something sleek, with more graphical spash to it that's easy to use but still looks cool and modern, yet has an MK aesthetic.

Obviously a lot of this stuff is time consuming to say the least. I can throw out suggestions all day or agree with the suggestions of others, but if those running the site don't have the time in their lives to do a lot of this stuff, then here's hoping that they'd be able to bring in people that do have the time.

I'd personally be willing to see more ads on this site if it meant the site runners got more money for site upkeep or simply more money as a reward for keeping this site going, which I certainly appreciate.

Anyways, I've talked enough. Sorry that my posts are so frickin long and rambly. I'm still around and still lurk and what not, so if anyone wants to shoot the breeze, just shoot me a message. Otherwise, take care and have a great 2014! I'm sure I'll be around here more this year.

The ghost dragon points basically solve the problem; if no dragon points are distributed, a tournament fee could now be as low as 0.10 DP's, and minor amounts would likely always be given. The shadow priests would ensure things are rolling, or at least this brings more incentive to do so.

Thanks for the compliments.

I'll be honest, I don't like the idea of moderators dolling out Dragon Points as much as I like your fellow community members "liking" or "up repping" you. A lot of point distribution systems in forums have strayed from moderators assigning ranks/points and it's for the better in my opinion.

If there is to be a continuation of handing out Dragon Points, then they should go to something that is worth spending, otherwise I'd like to offer that the system to be scratched. Like I said, I can't even remember the last time I saw a dragon point be given out to anyone over the last three months, even more than that.

Maybe if the ranking system is also something of a keep, I guess users could buy a rank? Each rank would offer something? I don't know what anyone would want as a gift on a fan site.

I wouldn't ditch Dragon Points altogether, there still needs to be a system for rewarding people who post fan art or fiction, even if it's just symbolic and has no actual practical purpose. A fake incentive is better than none at all. Trading DPs for something equivalent in purpose but better in practice like a user "likes" system would be fine with me, though.

I mentioned this in an earlier post myself, about the Double Helix Boards, but you put it more eloquently.

A "like" system would be more beneficial because it gets everyone involved and a user gets feedback from active members, rather than a select handful who are capable of giving out DP. I would also like to think that some users just don't want to make a post, just to say that they agree or "like" something another user said. It would allow users to voice their agreement with another user without having to make a post about it.

I also think showing how many times a user has posted and their number of likes in a their avatar is more meaningful, than showing how many times a user has logged in. They do this on the double Helix boards as well and I just think it is trivial to be showing how many times a user has logged in/visited. How about showing when a user actually signed up or created their account? I think that would have much more meaning to know a user has been on the site for X amount of years or that they've been a member since 20XX.

Zmoke has pretty much covered all the necessities, so there isn't much I can say.

Still, I'd like to request a weekly discussion/debate bulletin. Every week a front page bulletin is posted detailing a specific subject surrounding Mortal Kombat, or NRS in general. This bulletin would prompt a debatable question, with a link to the thread where the community can discuss the subject.

I know this isn't exactly and easy thing to do, but it can keep discussion and activity strong, especially on the subject of Mortal Kombay. Having the entire community prompted to discussion could be very fruitful. It's worth a shot, right?