Attention: FFR Administration and Staff

[lurker]

yeah um, dunno if you guys know but synthlight has officially treated ffr as "not his problem" for close to five years
i got that from his job history on linkedin

[Xiz]

It's a shame that its 'not his problem' but refuses to give it up to Zag/Velo when updates need to happen.

I'm wondering what can be done so it can change...

[gold stinger]

maybe we should all have a google hangout with synthlight or something and discuss these types of things since he's not here that often

and he doesn't consider it to be "his problem" when the servers are obviously "his problem"

[smartdude1212]

If only there were a doctor around here to prescribe something for FFR's staff infection.

[gold stinger]

I used to work a prescription desk at a shoppers drug mart does that count

When stuff fell through before, this is what happened as an alternative: http://ffr.lightdarkness.net/ If Synthlight won't improve FFR, maybe an alternate site should be established for the best. Ater all, as Xiz mentioned, this site could be wayyyyyyyyyy better than it currently is. That feels like a bad idea though WHAT THE FUCK SYNTH.

[Velocity]

Originally Posted by HammyMcSquirrel

IIRC server expenses aren't an issue for Synth because of some perks from his job. Was told that at some point years ago. Might be different now. I'm out of the loop on that sort of thing.

After getting DDosed so many times we were kicked out of the hosting company Synth worked out, so the free hosting perk no longer exist.

Originally Posted by gold stinger

I should probably mention since I'm here I should point out



that there is a "contact us" button at the bottom of the front page.



how do you guys not know this stuff

It's sent off to an email no one can currently access.

Originally Posted by trumaestro

This would be an ideal time for synth to come in and explain what's going on. Just like it was the ideal time for synth to come in and explain what's going on forever ago.

We can't even get synth around when the site goes down. Zag and I have some access to restarting the parts of the site (sql/apache/sfs) but are unable to change any of the configuration.

Originally Posted by Xiz

It's a shame that its 'not his problem' but refuses to give it up to Zag/Velo when updates need to happen.

I'm wondering what can be done so it can change...

Sadly nothing unless we move away from FFR itself.

[lurker]

there are a decent amount of options if we do have to jump ship
setting up an independent ffr client and getting a free message board (at least temporarily) would keep things the most similar to the status quo, although i imagine we'd go full ffrmania and just not care about artist permissions since we'd have little plans to expand
a bit more out there would be setting up a new site under a new name but keeping the same basic engine and trying to carry over as much from the original ffr as possible, but that would require people to step up and take command of the new project
the most extreme would be to just jump to another rhythm game community, like stepmania (which sorely lacks a central community to drive new developments and expansion- i was involved in an extensive conversation about stepmania's apparent lack of popularity compared to osu the other day), although i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people wouldn't be willing to give up on ffr for whatever reason (and there would be a lot of reasons to choose from)

[Poison-]

It doesn't seem like there's a winning solution here. We either wait here for the inevitable crash of FFR, or move somewhere else and deal with those consequences.

Where can Synthlight be contacted? This is starting to sound like a vitally important matter.

[noname219]

We need to use a ouija board for that.

[Razor]

I'm salty that my @flashflashrevolution.com email doesn't work anymore.

Whatever happened to that? :/

From what I gather so far, Synth just needs to hand over the site to the staff that are willing to improve it and keep it alive, rather than treating it as "not my problem" ~_~

[bmah]

Originally Posted by Godnick

Where can Synthlight be contacted? This is starting to sound like a vitally important matter.

Zageron and a select few have his cell # for texting purposes. I can recall several instances in which Synthlight has failed to respond to even that - and he is typically contacted when the site has serious downtime issues. I have his Skype, but he appears extremely sporadically.

Latest opportunity would've been a potential one-on-one meeting with him and Zageron in Vancouver during an apparent conference trip, but Synth never ended up travelling there.

Trust me - we've definitely tried to contact him. Unfortunately it's entirely up to Synthlight to respond at all. We all understand that he has a busy outside life, but if he claims that FFR is his baby, we definitely deserve a bit more personal maintenance.

[Xiz]

Originally Posted by bmah

Zageron and a select few have his cell # for texting purposes .... and he is typically contacted when the site has serious downtime issues.

Perhaps this should be considered a serious issue then. It might be time to let him know "Hey, it's time to pass down the reigns" or something along that nature. However everyone needs to be on board for this to happen.

[choof]

ironically thirdstyle was created because of a few of these issues and everyone hates it

[lurker]

the fact of the matter is that anyone who tries to start a serious "jump ship" movement, even though ffr is CLEARLY going nowhere, is going to look like an asshole to a lot of people on this site

[bmah]

Originally Posted by Xiz

Perhaps this should be considered a serious issue then. It might be time to let him know "Hey, it's time to pass down the reigns" or something along that nature. However everyone needs to be on board for this to happen.

That has already been suggested to him I believe. Have yet to hear his thoughts on that matter. Our site's direction is quite frankly tied up by his decisions/lack of decisions. It really isn't as simple as concluding incompetence being the main factor that's hindering progress. If it was, then we could come up with an action plan that could take effect immediately. Reality? The site needs Synth.

[gold stinger]

Originally Posted by Velocity

It's sent off to an email no one can currently access.

You guys could have gotten tons of DMCA notices by now and no one knows because synthlight is inactive.

Cool.

[Charu]

Originally Posted by choof

ironically thirdstyle was created because of a few of these issues and everyone hates it

I didn't like it because their game took out C-mods pretty much, lmao.

Also, if the underlying problem of why this website can not continue to improve and could be on the verge of being offline for good is because of the founder and creator of the website... eeeeeeh...

If people don't feel like leaving and want to continue to use this website, I'd imagine you guys would have to make separate domains to host content. We can already play files others have made on different domains via thanks to awesome arc using the game from this domain. Why not just move said content just like that and rewrite code so your stats and everything will still remain intact and recorded?

...I feel like someone already suggested that some time ago, but eehh... throwing it out there.

Also, if the forums are a big part of the space issue, move the forum... to a different domain. I mean I can see no other way.

But my suggestion is only if you guys can't persuade Synthlight to do SOMETHING for the website.

[mr_candy]

Originally Posted by Velocity

As it stands, no one person runs the site, most staf are split into 2 groups. Content/Event and Developers


Synthlight is the sole owner of the site and won't give up access to the backend (Server/cPanel/etc) even after several requests from Zag & myself.
I don't think I would even take the site if it was given to me.


Unknown and supposedly.
We're still using the same HDD on the server since 2006 with our amazing 80gb of space. The site has gone down so many times in the last few months because we've run out of space. As it stands we have about 3gb left before the server crashes for it's final time. Synth apparently had a new server and new HDD for the last several years but has never gotten around to ever installing it.


There's no money in FFR anywhere beyond that donation drive for the tournament/prize/whatever it was. Everyone basically does there job either because they want to or they enjoy it. That or they have nothing better to do and only keep doing it because they are the only one who knows how the backend even works.



No one looks out from FFR in a legal standpoint from what I can tell. Even if we received a DMCA, I don't even know where it would go. Hell, beyond PMing admins on the site, I don't even know if we have an email that we supposedly check.


Most Admin/Mod positions are debated on by bmah, Sky Kitten, OWA, Halogen, Sprite, arcnmx, emerald, Myself.


FFR doesn't have a leadership in any sense of the word. People basically have a single task and unless you ask them what's happening, the going ons of staff members are a complete mystery to even other staff members. Things like our apparent new monthly updates are half a surprise to me unless Prawn is unable to make the change himself and requires help.


I'm very salty about how things have turned out over the years, though I'm partially to blame.

Mod status is also basically for show and gives barely anything. Though that was mainly due to Zageron redoing the entire forum layout/permissions.

Developer status is also pointless since beyond Max, the rest are admins and just fuels our ego trip.

Working on FFR is like trying to revive a dead person, regardless of the amount of work put into it, you aren't getting anywhere unless you get a new person to take the place of the old. It doesn't help that large changes are basically impossible.

Pretty much what i thought, it's a damn shame.

So in a nutshell, nothing going to happen until synth either relinquishes ownership, or gives full control to someone.

*Psst* Admins, go make a ffr2 and we'll all come to it.