The bot build up is strange...

[Illysia]

No campaigning to become a mango, Mishka Avodcado. You aren't orange enough.

[Rigwyn]

Orange in the new black, yo. Orange lives matter!

Just say it.

"Orange Lives Matter".

#MAGA
#NeverHillary

[MishkaL1138]

A dark, thick shadow crept over the otherwise barely-alive forums. The lurkers, once mildly active, cowered behind their proxies and firewalls, hushing over IRC about what was to come, dank speculations about the evil that threatened the community, mingled with quick updates and tasteless candies.

It was there. The cancer that was tormenting the real world made its way into the very heart of a small indie game, tearing its inhabitants apart, both them and from each other, as everyone discussed and rooted against their least favorite - because of the two main individuals creating such turmoil, none of them were actually any "greater good;" just a lesser evil.

The USA Presidential Campaign was there...

[Rigwyn]

https://img.pandawhale.com/post-38707-Highlander-there-can-be-only-o-V7Om.gif

[Rirenil Masdo]

so, i may be just going stupid in my old age, but i tried to be nice and make a new forum username under my old account ID (neko kyouran).  then i got to the "What is the color of the sun in Yliakum?:" fill in the blank.  .....

you're all just being mean.  the lore i remember from 2004 said that there wasn't a sun, it was a crystal.  and even then, every normal color i put in didn't work.

also, your forum software is old like i am, so bots now know how to get around captcha stuff anyways, so it leaves only those truly dedicated to the cause to try and figure out the right answers for all those new user account questions.

hope everyone's been well. 

[Rigwyn]

They call it "The Azure Sun", I think. The settings have been updated and expanded since then. Latest are on planeshift.it

[Rirenil Masdo]

I'm just saying, the average person that wants to create a user account on the forums to contribute something to this project is going to be put off by that question.  most will give up, and the bots get around it anyways, so its really only hindering, not helping.  if anything, put the answer somewhere on that page in an .img format or something.

now, i don't know what the user base is currently like now since i'm just an oldbie returning once every 3-4 years to say hi and all, but from my years of being around in development of designing applications, i can say that the harder you make the initial entry, the harder it is to grow your base.

~~~~

i mentioned this idea years ago, but knew it was never able to be implemented at the time due to each system being independent of each other.  i'll assume it's still the case, but maybe not.  the ultimate solution is to user a single sign on application that pulls the user ID and what not from when a person creates a planeshift game account and automatically makes the associated forum account.  then its easy for anyone playing the game to post, and you remove pretty much all bots.

[Illysia]

Hiya Neko. o/

Actually the questions are helping. We went from 1.4 k bot's signing up last month to none so far this month. However, I can see where it might be a problem for people who don't read beforehand.

[Rigwyn]

We're gonna build a wall......
    And were' gonna make newbies pay for it.

Make PlaneShit Great Again!