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7 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Is there a pattern to what happens on the forums right after a major release? Or is it generally different every time?

It's pretty similar every time:

  • There's an upsurge in overall activity, as people bestir themselves to see what's new.
  • There's generally a surge of posts around the update itself.  This consists of:
    • shrieks of glee from people thrilled with the shiny new toys
    • shrieks of rage from people angry at introduced bugs, at existing bugs that weren't fixed, at desired features that weren't added, at artwork that differs from their expectations, etc.
    • a certain amount of friction where the aforementioned two categories of folks collide with each other, occasionally requiring moderators to step in and cool things down ;)
  • There's invariably a huge surge of posts from entitled and/or clueless people pestering mod authors for updates--it's inevitable, you can see it coming, like a wave rolling into the shore-- so there's always a flurry of reports and cleanup around that.

In general, the reaction tends to be pretty positive in the community.  Folks like getting new stuff for free, even if it's minor-- and updated versions do generally improve KSP to one degree or another.  And of course this is a remarkably friendly and positive community, as a whole, which helps make moderating a lot less onerous than it might otherwise be.  :)

So yes, we moderators do need to keep an eye on things when there's an update, and there's a certain amount of additional effort needed each time... but it's not all that dramatic, and generally it's pretty smooth sailing with only a few hiccups here and there.

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28 minutes ago, Snark said:

It's pretty similar every time:

  • There's an upsurge in overall activity, as people bestir themselves to see what's new.
  • There's generally a surge of posts around the update itself.  This consists of:
    • shrieks of glee from people thrilled with the shiny new toys
    • shrieks of rage from people angry at introduced bugs, at existing bugs that weren't fixed, at desired features that weren't added, at the artwork, etc.
    • a certain amount of friction where the aforementioned two categories of folks collide with each other, occasionally requiring moderators to step in and cool things down ;)
  • There's invariably a huge surge of posts from entitled and/or clueless people pestering mod authors for updates--it's inevitable, you can see it coming, like a wave rolling into the shore-- so there's always a flurry of reports and cleanup around that.

In general, the reaction tends to be pretty positive in the community.  Folks like getting new stuff for free, even if it's minor-- and updated versions do generally improve KSP to one degree or another.  And of course this is a remarkably friendly and positive community, as a whole, which helps make moderating a lot less onerous than it might otherwise be.  :)

So yes, we moderators do need to keep an eye on things when there's an update, and there's a certain amount of additional effort needed each time... but it's not all that dramatic, and generally it's pretty smooth sailing with only a few hiccups here and there.

I've only been part of the KSP community long enough to see one major release (1.4.x) so I just wondered if it was the same every time. Thanks :D

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1 hour ago, The Minmus Derp said:

Have moderators ever 'resigned' willingly?

Sure, it happens from time to time.  Remember, we're regular people, with families, jobs, etc.-- all kinds of IRL responsibilities that naturally need to take precedence over moderating, which after all is just an unpaid volunteer hobby we do in our spare time.  People's life circumstances change, they get busy with other stuff, and they need to move on-- it happens from time to time, which is why we need new moderators once in a while to replace them.

It's generally not a frequent thing, since as a team we value stability and we'd prefer not to make someone a moderator if they're not going to stick around for at least a reasonable while.  We prefer low turnover, if possible.  But it's not at all unusual for a moderator to move on after a few years--  for example, I've been a moderator for about two and a half years now, and several of the mods who were around when I joined have since moved on (with new moderators coming on board to take up the slack).

As I'm sure you'll understand, naturally we don't discuss the circumstances of specific individual past moderators in a public forum, out of respect for their privacy.  Accordingly, a personal reference in your post has been removed-- please respect that.  Thank you for your understanding.

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3 hours ago, The Minmus Derp said:

Have moderators ever 'resigned' willingly? [snip]

We don't discuss the reasons moderators leave the team anymore than we discuss the personal business of forum members. I will say this, though, because it has always struck me as odd. The vast majority of departing members simply drift away without saying they're going and are removed from the team only when it becomes apparent that they're not coming back. :/ 

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20 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

We don't discuss the reasons moderators leave the team anymore than we discuss the personal business of forum members. I will say this, though, because it has always struck me as odd. The vast majority of departing members simply drift away without saying they're going and are removed from the team only when it becomes apparent that they're not coming back. :/ 

Old soldiers never die... <_<

This seems to simply be The Way of interwebz forums. 

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11 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

If I had a link to the old forum that is coming up bupkis, and I can't find the page with any google searches, is there any hope it still exists?

Here's the old link in case there actually is some hope.

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/131191-THE-TEST

Hm.  Do you have any additional context?  e.g. do you know who started the thread?  If that's the case, perhaps a "threads <person> started" search might turn it up somewhere?

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1 hour ago, Snark said:

Hm.  Do you have any additional context?  e.g. do you know who started the thread?  If that's the case, perhaps a "threads <person> started" search might turn it up somewhere?

Sadly no. All I have is the title and rough date. It was likely less than a week before August 15, 2015

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6 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

If I had a link to the old forum that is coming up bupkis, and I can't find the page with any google searches, is there any hope it still exists?

Here's the old link in case there actually is some hope.

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/131191-THE-TEST

The wayback machine internet archive has an image of the forum as it stood on the 15th August 2015 - Hope this helps:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150801000000*/https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ - ignore this one it appears to be only the index page.

https://web.archive.org/web/20151204130344/http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/ - this one is from 04 December 2015.

Do you remember the sub forum it was posted in?

Edited by James Kerman
Link problem
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3 hours ago, James Kerman said:

Do you remember the sub forum it was posted in?

I used the wayback machine's url search and it didn't see it, though maybe the url was slightly different these forums are pretty generous with urls.

I'll poke around in there and see. I'm sure it was in whatever used to be the challenges forum.

EDIT

Sadly it's not on page 1 and the Wayback machine doesn't index past that. Also, they don't have an archive from any date where I'd expect the challenge to be on the first page.

Edited by 5thHorseman
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Does the forum or do the moderators have a position on linking to content (be it images, videos, or a normal link) that is not available to users in certain jurisdictions (such as the entirety of the EU)? Presuming the content, where available, passes all other rules of the forum. I don't recall anything in the rules that specifically discusses that scenario last time I read them.

Not that I want or plan to blacklist an entire continent, but my hands might be tied in that matter depending on things outside the scope of this forum that are best not discussed here.

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@Cydonian Monk

There is currently no rule that would prevent a person from doing that, as long as all the other rules are respected. If it becomes a problem, maybe a rule will be made in the future, but as far as the foreseeable future goes, I can't see any rule-breaking problem with that eventuality :)

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23 minutes ago, Deddly said:

There is currently no rule that would prevent a person from doing that, as long as all the other rules are respected. 

Thanks, that's what I had gathered based on the current rules and agreements. The scenario in question of course would be beyond (most of) our individual control, and down to decisions by our various hosting providers and any local legal requirements. 

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