Super Soaker Central

Open the attatchment.

Interesting, that really is fairly informative for those who don't know about the various online water war communities.

I'm guessing that you included HydroEvolution/SSTK as part of SSCentral. SSCentral itself didn't start until March 2003, but HydroEvolution (the XPBackfire-esquepiest name ever) was some time in later 2002.

This reminds me, of the fluctuations in the site statistics based on certain months. I should get a graph to show it, it's much more dramatic than you'd think.

SSCentral includes SSCL/HE/SSTK and the SSC as we know it.

wow now that you mentioned SSCL I just realized something... MY SOAKER SITE BECAME POPULAR :Hey, that's funny.:

:Hey, that's funny.:

[at]Doom
Methinks one of the site statistics scripts in CPanel will do a graph...

Originally posted by Freakymist@Aug 24 2004, 09:26 PM
wow now that you mentioned SSCL I just realized something... MY SOAKER SITE BECAME POPULAR :Hey, that's funny.:

Think of it like this... SSCentraL.

Then again, SSCentral pretty much is several sites. We've got all of Sapper's articles (actually most ATM, in the process of adding more), We have all of Freakymist's, all of Pepper's (still adding), and all of mine. SSCentral never was the work of one.

[at] Neo: I actually took at look at the awstats yesterday, the graph is weird for site activity because it's got like 4 different things for each month. :blink: The forum posting stats would be more accurate I suppose too.

The picture appears to be broken... :huh:

EDIT: Thanks Doom.

Apparently during our forums upgrade some of the directories got shifted. No problem, the image is still available. I'll be looking into why this happened on this image but not others.

Soakerdoam sounds awesome there should be a lot of other ones like this out there.

I can understand why you might think that would be beneficial sogoie, but history has proven that the fewer boards, the better the discussion. More boards just leads to more dying out and less overall activity. If there's just one board (like there was in the MiB/AQT days), everyone uses that and everyone talks there. Not only does it centralize discussion, but it actually increases activity. This is due to the fact that those who would otherwise not read threads (exclusive members of another forum) do read them and respond. This is a exponential effect, as more discussion explodes due to more posts, more mental stimulation, meaning more posts and more threads and more mental stimulation. It's a cycle that cannot be easily stopped, but is stopped nonetheless.

Well, I like more boards, because it let's you ask around for different opinions. Like what Newb did when he went to isoaker to ask about fixing his Monster XL. Intresting chart though.

You could get everyone's opinions, however different they may be, on one board. You don't need multiple boards to have diversity.

I agree very much with Soakologist. Different boards will have different members, but you don't need different boards to get different opinions. The opinions of people vary in boards just as much as they will from board to board.

To me, the ultimate goal would be if people supported all forums, but that obviously isn't going to happen with everyone. When I want major feedback on something, I always post in every forum to make sure I get as much exposure as possible. Same with the Soaker Media guys. I think the real reason Newb went to iSoaker.com was because he was unsatisfied with this forum and Soaker Media didn't look too much better to him (given that he was "prebanned"), not to get a "more diverse" opinion.

Good point guy's but I am not entirley wrong. Checking the content of multiple sites (reviews, tech, tactics, etc) can yeild different opinons, since the content of sites can vary substantially.

I could never see myself ever fully supporting a return to a central board system. Despite all the pluses of Aquatica, Aquatica destroyed itself. The only board that crumbled via constant power struggles, slander campaigns, "pay dirt" , and the whatnot. I have extremely strong views regarding power, and a new central board would eventually kill itself from the inside just like AQT. WWN also failed, but that was from an external factor. It could take a month, a year, or a decade, but a central board would ultimately fail from internal factors. So few people these days can resist the power of power. It would get abused again, people would go undercover out to ruin their enemies' reputations again, rebels would form their own board and polarize the community again, admins would leave in disgust again.

Those whom ignore the lessons of history are condemmed to repeat them. Well, I feel that the Community in general has NOT learned fully from AQT. A central board will not succeed unless ALL its admins and mods are wholly committed to pure virtues and just use of the considerable power a central board brings. Which will NEVER happen. Power is always taken too far, and only a handful are dedicated enough, pure enough, to wield power reluctantly, to use it reluctantly, to use it wisely, fairly, for the interest of the board rather than for personal gain. That's where I draw the line, and retreat before the ever-growing force of corruption.

I don't oppose a central forum for the regular reasons. I oppose it because it is doomed to fail except by miracle. I have thrown all my virtues into SM, it will never fail from internal factors. If such a central forum were to be established, SM will remain open. I have zero trust of the politics of a central forum.

I would rather help establish a better flow of members and information between the forums we have now. Unity will help revive soakerdom. Cooperative SEO, joining and posting on all forums, contributing to and helping all sites would really do wonders for Water Warfare. Learn something from the Nerf community: They have everything necessary to thrive except forum unity. If we could get total forum unity and cooperation, it would help more than making a central board ever could.

Last point: If you have been prebanned from SM, there was a good reason, and you can still appeal it to any SM staff member on any forum.