STEAM-GRUPPE
Smithy's Anvil SmithysAnvil
STEAM-GRUPPE
Smithy's Anvil SmithysAnvil
0
IM SPIEL
28
ONLINE
Gegründet
22. Januar 2014
It seems some confusion is still on the "air".....
In the weekend, me and papillon made 2 posts in the mod section, which is hidden from everybody except the mods and admin.
Me and papillon posted our concerns regarding what was being made on the forum, since every time we asked something in the mod section, we were completely ignored, specially when it was related to the transparency of donations and the rating system.
If Majere was speaking the truth, nothing would have happened the way it did.
My post and papillon's post was what caused Majere to run like a dog with the tail between his legs.... some people just don't have the balls to answer when they are confronted with the truth.
My post....

I've been silent about this subject, but now that the rating system has been implemented for some weeks, I'll express my feelings about it and about the donations/hosting costs/dev costs.

Let's start for the hosting service.... I've checked where the site is hosted, http://www.hostdime.com/business-hosting/, and I assume the plan you signed up for was sHD3.
I've contacted them and they told me that all the information in the website is correct, which means we have unlimited Bandwidth, unlimited SSD RAID10 Disk Space, Unlimited Domains Hosted, and the list of unlimited's goes on and on. I've also asked them how many users could the site handle at the same time and they told me 500, which we never reached that number. This plan costs 329.45$/year.

This means that I find very confusing how can the hoster "complaints the usage of mysql being too high"? Can you post the email you received?
Don't take this personally, but when there are 400 donors, even with an estimate of 20$ per donator, that's 8.000$ and I'm absolutely sure this is a very low estimate.
As far as not having statistics about the donations, I've been working with paypal for years and I know it's possible to issue a monthly report, so I'm sorry to tell you that's now true. You have to know how much we've received so far and where the money went to.

So, even if the hosting costs were 500 a year, for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 there would be 2.000$ of expenses..... that would still leave 6.000$ available.
Then there's something that confuses me a lot.
I've made a whois query to the smithy's domain and this is what I received in return
Domain Name: SMITHYANVIL.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1752807186_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.tucows.com
Registrar URL: http://tucowsdomains.com
Updated Date: 2013-07-24 22:00:05
Creation Date: 2012-10-17 14:39:22
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2014-10-17 14:39:22
Registrar: TUCOWS, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 69
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: domainabuse@tucows.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4165350123
Reseller: HostDime.com
Reseller: domains@hostdime.com
Reseller: +1.8884023463
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Majere Majere
Registrant Organization: smithyanvil.com
Registrant Street: 169 S. FAKE STREET
Registrant City: Orlando
Registrant State/Province: FLORIDA
Registrant Postal Code: 32801
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4075555555
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: gm_majere@hotmail.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Majere Majere
Admin Organization: smithyanvil.com
Admin Street: 169 S. FAKE STREET
Admin City: ORLANDO
Admin State/Province: FLORIDA
Admin Postal Code: 32801
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4075555555
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: gm_majere@hotmail.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Majere Majere
Tech Organization: smithyanvil.com
Tech Street: 169 S. FAKE STREET
Tech City: ORLANDO
Tech State/Province: FLORIDA
Tech Postal Code: 32801
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.4075555555
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: gm_majere@hotmail.com
Name Server: NS1.SMITHYANVIL.COM
Name Server: NS2.SMITHYANVIL.COM
DNSSEC: Unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2013-07-24 22:00:05 <<<

Registration Service Provider:
HostDime.com, domains@hostdime.com
+1.8884023463
+1.4073866513 (fax)
Domain Registration provided by:

http://www.hostdime.com/
http://www.hostdimedomains.com/

For support please contact us at:

https://desk.hostdime.com/

Offices in USA, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Israel, India
http://www.hostdime.com/international/

The Data in the Tucows Registrar WHOIS database is provided to you by Tucows
for information purposes only, and may be used to assist you in obtaining
information about or related to a domain name's registration record.

Tucows makes this information available "as is," and does not guarantee its
accuracy.

By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this data only for
lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data to:
a) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission by e-mail,
telephone, or facsimile of mass, unsolicited, commercial advertising or
solicitations to entities other than the data recipient's own existing
customers; or (b) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that
send queries or data to the systems of any Registry Operator or
ICANN-Accredited registrar, except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations.

The compilation, repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Tucows.

Tucows reserves the right to terminate your access to the Tucows WHOIS
database in its sole discretion, including without limitation, for excessive
querying of the WHOIS database or for failure to otherwise abide by this
policy.

Tucows reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

By submitting this query, you agree to abide by these terms.

NOTE: THE WHOIS DATABASE IS A CONTACT DATABASE ONLY. LACK OF A DOMAIN
RECORD DOES NOT SIGNIFY DOMAIN AVAILABILITY.

Why is all the information fake?
I've ran more than 1 forum as admin and when I bought domain names and hosting, I've always used my real details, specially since these type of transactions are made via PayPal/Visa, where you need to fill with real information, otherwise how can you receive invoices of the services we've been paying for in the last 3 years?
And I ask you kindly, that in your reply you don't just write text, cause that proves nothing. I would like to see links, invoices, and as far as Paypal, it even allows to download monthly reports with just numbers, no confidential information is shown.
I didn't want to suspect misuse of the donations, but due to your lack of transparency, you must realize it's illogical if I didn't do it so, it would be very naive of me.
Maybe it's because I've admin several forums over the years, and I know all the processes involved and the costs related.

Then we have the hired dev, that, again, I'm sorry for my honesty, didn't do a good job, not even close. The system was installed in a very early stage, with lots of bugs (and I still receive complaints from members), no filters when it comes to sorting, even with 75 threads per page, it's nearly impossible to search for a custom between the letters F and T, since we can only navigate 2 pages at a time. The problems reported take a lot of time to be fixed for someone who's being paid and speaking of which, how much is he charging? Was it a 1 time payment? Is he receiving a monthly fee?
Considering the amount of members we have on the forum and that have offered help many times before, I'm sure we could have got the job done by someone that would use what they were programming, in other words, we would have a kick-ass system and without paying anything, since all the help offers I've seen were always free of charge. This is something I couldn't never find a logical reason to be happening.
As for the hired dev, I would also like to see an invoice, since a legit and good dev will be able to provide proof of costs.

So, even if the dev charged us 500$ (which would be a total rip-off), we would still have +5.000$.
You can see how I find very disturbing reading that we just have -10x the amount of money that we should have.

Another issue that has been troubling is the use of fluxBB. Why do we have 1 of the worst php languages? phpBB3 is much better (I speak for self-experience), most of the complaints and issues I see on our forum wouldn't happen with phpBB, but with flux, it is very limited. We just need to look at the amount of mods (modifications) that are available.... fluxBB has around 100-150, phpBB has more than 600, just on the phpBB3 official site, since there are many other mods on outside sources.
All the problems you've posted so far about server loading are due to software limitations, not hosting, so, why keep changing hosting plans, and now a COLO server, which is used for BIG websites with thousands of daily visits.... how do the other forums with much higher number of registered members be able to have a hosting plan that is not even close to what we have atm?
Changing php language should solve all the problems the site has been having and the migration wouldn't be very difficult to do, I've done it in the past in forums with higher registered members (50.000) than ours and nothing is lost and it's even a fast process to do.

Last, we have +30.000 members. We have 3 active mods, papillon, raynebc and me "watching" the whole forum. That's 10.000 members per mod.... don't you think we need more mods?
In forums I'm admin/mod, just 1 example, we have +64.000 members and we have more than 20 mods, distributed by the several sections of the forum.
Since all of us are doing this in our spare time and we don't receive any payment, again, I can't find any logical reason not to have more mods. I consider is extremely important to have at least 10-15 mods, there's no other way to "watch" the forum with a number below that.

I'm not expecting a reply, since all the other posts I've made direct questions, we never received a straight answer, and I was under the impression that I was the only one having this thoughts, but from papillon's post I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking like this.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von Kaijin; 17. Feb. 2014 um 4:57
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Beiträge 115 von 16
Kaijin 17. Feb. 2014 um 4:55 
This was papillon's post....
-------------------------------------------------------

If nobody asks here and is with me that it‘s a wrong decisions - I‘ll do. Wrote some parts as an reply to the email, but I'll add it to the posting.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Majere:
donations have paid for hosting cost on the previous server for two years but due to resources being consumed we had to move hosts. After developer cost and hosting changes we have roughly 400 usd in the site's wallet currently. This maybe gone shortly though because we are now getting complaints from the new host regarding mysql use being too high. I am looking into a finial solution for hosting which would be a dedicated COLO at the data center. Since I do everything by hand and in my spare time I do not have statics available about donations. Sorry. Search function has been re-enabled for anyone that posts at least 1 post for the past week but that was to test, and since we got a complaint tonight regarding mysql use I may need to restrict it again. I'm looking at bargain bin hardware so we can COLO but this maybe a few weeks before it is completed as I may need to dip into my own pockets yet again for the site. This is getting harder for me to do as of all the drama and unappreciative of users. The good news is that all hosting payments made will be applied to the cost hosting of the COLO. It is just a matter of getting the right hardware. The mySQL error is due to the new host having a lower max connection in their /etc/my.cnf then our previous host.

No comments on the posting for all these hardware changes and upgrades?
If the software you're using can't handle 300 users it will not change if you replace or upgrade your hardware.
Can anybody follow all these changes - moved the website to an new host for server load issues?
And can anybody explain to me why it's running on a 330$/y business plan?
Compare the offers at http://www.hostdime.com/business-hosting/ and then give me a reason why a php+mysql hosting needs the most expensive business plan.
Unlimited domains? nope
Comodo SSL cert? nope
0.1 extra percentage of availability? nope
There are no files hosted and I don't know values for the the traffic - 100GB? not sure
If you have more traffic then you'd have 220$/a for the middle plan - 110$ less ...

And now the colocation server http://www.hostdime.com/orlando-colocation-florida/ .... 65$/month?! With 400$ (if it's the same hoster and it will be more expensive than already is) you have 6 month - good luck to find the one who pays the next 6 month, but don't count on me. If your contributors leave the site and you end with 90%+ leechers I don't think that anybody of them will pay 1$ if asked. If this is done to solve the server issues it's 404 - then you're not flagged but your own server runs at 100%, your power consumption will grow and you've extra work to maintain the system. If you pay everything from your own pocket and you don't care about 100$ more or less I would never asked - then it's your hobby. I've paid the hosting costs for a private website for more than 10 years on my own and it was not important if a module of the webhoster could be smaller, because it was my money. But when you start with donations you're responsible not to waste money you get from other people.
This becomes very confusing to me. Did you check what a colo server is? Buying own hardware for a single website? Do you think it will be the same hardware as on a business plan? Do you really believe that you can buy a server for a few dollars? If you use older hardware you pay your "savings" on the power consumption.

You're right - it's no commercial site, but with 660$(!) hosting costs in 2 years for an oversized business plan and a web development where you're asked to donate, the result is not optimal and I can't see any feedback on the suggestions made. A rating will not work until you've the users using it and instead of testing customs you end up in checking votes. Great improvement ;)
Instead of checking 10 reports you have to check votes on all customs? And where is the same value what the approval had? I can't see the previous system in the new system, sorry. It was always said, a new voting will come soon - and the reports were ignored. I thought of it as a distribution of the workload on a community and that you get this as an indicator for an approval system (if this is required at all). I dl a custom and try it, it's a nice to have if you know it works and is well done, but it's not essential. And I don't care if somebody votes 1/5 on my customs - maybe it's a valid vote on some and if it's a trolling vote I don't care. If somebody wants to try it he dl it.

But you're right - why caring about it. I was a bit disappointed about that. Maybe I should do the same and write a posting without any information before "thx for being a member and I take my coat as others already did". With 30k users everybody is replaceable - and then I've no reason to even think about it :D
I'm not creating an own site and have no plans to do so.

I'll ignore it as well and spent less time there and maybe ask to remove my moderation status, because you've to visit a site on a regular base for that. At least I've asked about the donation status - the hosting costs have been published, but then it stopped for whatever reason. And I think its a valid question.
I'll never publish any donation values in the public forum, but I guess some donated more than 5 or 10$ - I added 200$(!) and it's as written not a bank. If your bills are pre-paid it should be published and don't collect for future things you can't foresee. Just my 2cent on that and I'm not the site owner and will not comment or write about in future.

I don't see any plans on discussion with the Webdeveloper and don't think that this will happen.

It‘s like driving your car with the wrong fuel (=software) in the tank - increasing your engine and buy the formula one racing engine will not make you faster. Shouldn‘t decreasing hosting costs be the target and not increasing it to solve a software related problem? If the balance is high enough or adding the missing money is solved it‘s fine, but I don‘t want to support this questionable decision with money and time.

I‘ve asked the other moderators about my concerns and I‘ll add my email to the end of the post.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Majere:
donations have paid for hosting cost on the previous server for two years but due to resources being consumed we had to move hosts.
There‘s a „we“ - I‘m not the only one thinking that there‘s no influence on changes or site evolution. I think my criticism is contructive and maybe things change or it will work and I‘m wrong. I don‘t know it like this and I‘m a moderator on a commercial forum - the moderators there are more involved in decisions - their suggestions are not always commented, but they know that they rely on these people and there‘s the same system with an internal forum and they talk.
I‘ll make room for somebody else as moderator on the forum and would ask to remove this status from my login. Not everything was negative and enjoyed the time, but I‘ve made my decision not to support the current path and if somebody else is more convinced on it steps in is a more appropriate solution for both sites. If I‘m getting a ban for this post or decision taken, I can‘t help it. My mind is quite made up and I think it's the right decision. Without moderation status I can't follow the discussion here, but I don't think that there'll be much comments on it.

I don't think that there'll be a public discussion and if so I'll use the official version "lack of time to continue on it".

Take care

... and now "I relax" (has been one suggestion) ;)

One last point - for the growth or the site maybe one in the backend is not enough capacity and same for moderating 130k posts. Consider to get more involved on both sites to build up some teamwork or cut off inactive users to shrink.

Here‘s my email to the other mods

I’m very patient, I know that running a website is lot’s of work and you can’t be everybody’s darling.
But to a certain point my patience ends - I don’t want to talk behind someones back and this is only internal to the one’s that keep the smithy anvil running as is. Without moderation it would end in a site where nobody feels comfortable, but with the growing number of users it’s near impossible to keep this up and you’ll loose continuously members.

There are several problems how our comments and users feedback is treated. First the Webhosting - there are times with 300+ users online and this exhausted the mysql connections. Always upgrading the server to faster hardware, more RAM, higher CPU speed will *not* solve this if the problems are related to the software. After the „users-online“ issue is know, I don’t get the point to change to a colo solution. Own Hardware, renting the space for it and additional costs for power consumption/cooling and somebody has to maintain it. Then you’ve your own server with all the costs and the problem remains, because your software has no caching mechanisms, uses mysql queries for 9billion records (with joins more) - what will be the next step? Hiring a mainframe? :)
The fix should be made in the software or changing it to another board software - you would be better off (and cheaper) with buying a commercial license or another freeware which has not these issues. That would be the next question, why depending on fluxbb? I’ve never used it before and why was it never an option to use something else?
For the colo server you need your *own* hardware and I’ll promise thatI’ll pay no cent for that (ok, through donations already done), because this is no solution for a single website with faulty software.
Next question was about the donations - I know that a donation is a gift where you don’t ask the recipient what is done with my money. But this isn’t always the right way to have an account without any control. I don’t think that Majere uses them for his own, but we get no report what has been donated, what are the costs of the development. We only see the (unfinished?) results and to be honest, the 300$+ for a php and mysql seems overpriced to me. And 400 donators without any reporting spreads rumors.
The answer to the status of the donations is too vague - on paypal you can generate the anonymous data and the „I don’t know any numbers“ is too short. There’s a section for donators and they should be informed about the status of donations (or all - with a simple bar where you can see, if money is need atm or not), what are the expenses and when is the next bill scheduled to add a donation. You can’t use donations as a bank account with no transparency and no feedback.
Then the web development - there were some screenshots and on this was a discussion where users posted suggestions. But most of it was ignored - I’ve not seen anything about the assignment to the developer. And again the pricing - we had several offers of people trying to help and it was ignored(?) I’ve searched the fluxbb forum about the developer and he has a good reputation, but again nobody had any information what was going on. Why no discussion about a task list for the developer and then decide to do it or not. It was like - give me your feedback - ok, I’m planning to do it like that.
Then suddenly it popped up and we had a voting system with errors. All hours spent to approve songs thrown away? I was never convinced that a voting system will serve as a replacement and I know that we were to few to do the approving. But throwing a new system in without any information or testing is doubtful. The same happens again and again - something changes and no information about it. I wonder why the internal forum section is in place if never used for that.
One last thing would be the excuses - you can’t always say I’m sorry, have much work and something in RL isn’t like it should be. We all have our ups and downs, but this can’t be always used as an excuse - it’s getting monotonic if used too often.
The other thing was closing threads and deleting them - I’d be annoyed if mine were deleted without any obvious reason. I know that it was on some stepping on each others toes, but you can’t alway delete to solve a discussion you don’t like (it was no piracy or any other talk).
The same was the custom list thread - it has been removed (surprisingly) without any information. First I thought it was an error when Laik complained about it, but then I found that he was right. When answering on these question and it shows up that you’re wrong (cause you’d no information) you look like an n00b. The new submitted list is ok (I’ve not seen the code, but if Majere added 100$ from his own I’d like to know what the module price was) - it’s incomplete, because you’re lost without a search function and search puts new server load. On the list it was easy to find a custom without using any search.
I’m not very confident that anything will change- I’m no inventory of the forum and the consequence would be to leave it behind. It’s not like a teamwork - it’s like do some work for me, but everything else is my decision.
Kaijin 17. Feb. 2014 um 5:04 
And Majere's reply was to take mod status from me and papillon and make this post in the General section of the forum.....
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Majere:
Greetings Smithy Anvil community.

Please note that, we no longer permit the posting of links to Custom Rocksmith files on this site!
This will solve a lot of problems, from all aspects of many issues, stresses and headaches that everyone says we have with everything. I don't have the energy.
The site will remain focusing on how to modify Rocksmith but Smithy Anvil will mainly be a place to get help with the tool kit and editor on fire.
Existing CDLC will remained read only but still available to all who are registered with the site for the next few weeks. Plan for them all to be removed preeminently.
I'm done with all of the internet drama. I just do not have the patients and time that this site needs, nor do I feel the legal risks are worth it considering.
I apologize to those that simply just wanted to share their passions for music and the guitar. We all only just wanted to learn that one song, ya know?

Regards,

He's playing the vistim role, trying to give the community the impression that Ubisoft was "after" the site or that there were any type of legal issues..... nothing can be further from the truth.
The plain and simple truth is that when he was confronted about money and lack of knowledge how to run a forum, he hides to his hole.
This is totally unacceptable behavior and I feel sorry for all the members of the community that were completely disrespected by him.
In sum of all, there's only 1 person who gained something with all this and that was Mr. Joshua Alexander, a.k.a. Majere.
You should be ashammed for being so childish and immature.
And now he has removed my account and all my posts.

I didn't know that Majere was 12 years old...

Honestly, with this attitude I doubt the forum will survive this storm.
Shadro 17. Feb. 2014 um 7:30 
So is there a new place to share my CDLCs yet? :D
Kaijin 17. Feb. 2014 um 9:23 
Ursprünglich geschrieben von briefer666:
And now he has removed my account and all my posts.

I didn't know that Majere was 12 years old...

Honestly, with this attitude I doubt the forum will survive this storm.

He deleted your account and posts?????

Why?

This guy can surprise me when I thought I've seen all from him. What did you do for him to take those actions? (sorry for the question, cause I bet you probably didn't do anything)
Very illuminating. I wondered what was going on over there. This explains a lot of the weirdness
It seems to me like the new forum features were launched without much thought or testing and they really polarized the community. Tons of topics showed up with suggestions on how to fix system but I guess it all just broke the admin.

Hopefully one of the new community sites will be fully featured and well thought out.
https://www.facebook.com/alexander00x That's the dicks FB page. I am going to start a Change.org petition tomorrow and notify PayPal about him STEALING donation money. I hope he burns in hell for being such an ass!
database with more that 2500 cdlcs:

http://rscdlc.com/

unfortunately it links with SA, but could be modified to link directly to the download pages
Zuletzt bearbeitet von briefer666; 17. Feb. 2014 um 22:51
http://i58.tinypic.com/htfww2.png Now he is billing for use of SA! Now he's in trouble!
Wow o.O, and he looked like a nice guy.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von kdobbs74:
http://i58.tinypic.com/htfww2.png Now he is billing for use of SA! Now he's in trouble!
Wait what he's trying to "charge" you for using the website? And 7k dollars? Seriously I don't really understand - can you further explain this pic you posted?
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Clark Kent:
Ursprünglich geschrieben von kdobbs74:
http://i58.tinypic.com/htfww2.png Now he is billing for use of SA! Now he's in trouble!
Wait what he's trying to "charge" you for using the website? And 7k dollars? Seriously I don't really understand - can you further explain this pic you posted?
That's correct. He's requesting a $7,000 payment for usage of the site.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von GOD 5urd:
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Clark Kent:
Wait what he's trying to "charge" you for using the website? And 7k dollars? Seriously I don't really understand - can you further explain this pic you posted?
That's correct. He's requesting a $7,000 payment for usage of the site.
Oh wow that's so absolutely ridiculous. He's not seriously expecting that anyone will just pay this? Obviously he can't "enforce" this payment, it's free to pay and I doubt anyone would ever let themselves be tricked into thinking they are legally obliged to send him money. And Jesus 7000 dollars this guy is really going nuts.

Might I ask kdobbs74 - Did you do anything that would have made him send this request out of spite or anger or do you think he's sending payment requests like this to all donators whose paypal information(e-mail address) he knows?
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