Forums > MobyGames > The redesign is getting noticed by other forums

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Alaka (105740) on 9/12/2013 11:36 PM · Permalink · Report

I'm sure you can guess how well received the redesign is:

GOG

RPGcodex

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chirinea (47504) on 9/12/2013 11:47 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Boy, it just gets more and more sad everyday. If only it was launched in April 1st we could have an excuse.

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Indra was here (20760) on 9/13/2013 2:21 AM · edited · Permalink · Report

[Q --start chirinea wrote--]Boy, it just gets more and more sad everyday. If only it was launched in April 1st we could have an excuse. [/Q --end chirinea wrote--]Sometimes, I'll never understand software people. Probably the lowest form of quality control in any white collar profession.

Well, other than the US intelligence community. :p

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Rola (8486) on 9/13/2013 1:30 AM · Permalink · Report

Abandonia

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lilalurl (733) on 9/13/2013 10:40 AM · Permalink · Report

EAB: http://eab.abime.net/amiga-websites-reviews/24612-mobygames.html#post910554

Also, children in my town who before said "Hey mister, I heard you are a contributor to MobyGames. You rock, keep up the good work", have now started to spit at me and to kick my dog .... Ok that last part is not really true

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Starbuck the Third (22608) on 9/13/2013 3:07 PM · Permalink · Report

We hate it. Other sites hate it. Is there anyone who doesn't hate it?

At least give us the option of having either the new or old design. And then tell us how many people keep the new design. Actually, don't. I could tell you right now.

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Fred VT (25953) on 9/13/2013 3:28 PM · Permalink · Report

We should just start our own MG and call it HobbyGames XD

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Rola (8486) on 9/13/2013 9:25 PM · Permalink · Report

If only the database content was Creative Commons or similar...

Remember it took 13 years to accumulate the current amount content.

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Rekrul (49) on 9/14/2013 8:22 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Rola wrote--]If only the database content was Creative Commons or similar...

Remember it took 13 years to accumulate the current amount content. [/Q --end Rola wrote--]

Well, the good news is that factual information, such as game titles, authors, platforms that those games are available for, etc, isn't covered by copyright. You can't legally copy the reviews or the specific wording for things like trivia, but there should be no legal reason that you can't copy all of the factual information into a new database site.

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Rola (8486) on 9/14/2013 8:26 AM · Permalink · Report

That's what eg. giantbomb does - somebody even pointed to a case where our errors were copied verbatim.

Why making new one: if you want empty database of game titles, go to uvlist.net

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Daniel Saner (3503) on 9/14/2013 6:51 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Rola wrote--]Why making new one: if you want empty database of game titles, go to uvlist.net[/Q --end Rola wrote--]

Hey, I take offense at that! =) 100,000+ screenshots, too, and there is a lot of editing activity there considering there is only a handful of contributors. True, there's not that much textual information yet, it's more table-like (probably not helped by the not-very-prominent placement of descriptions and reviews on game pages). But, for one thing, I think this is unprecedented, and pretty awesome (not the list, but what happens when you start browsing it...)

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Tomas Pettersson (31846) on 9/14/2013 10:05 PM · Permalink · Report

Thanks for the tip. Seems to be worth cheking out.

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Pseudo_Intellectual (66248) on 9/25/2013 6:37 PM · Permalink · Report

Did I miss any important points over here?

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Alaka (105740) on 9/25/2013 6:56 PM · Permalink · Report

Good work Pseudo. You can also point him to the getting to know Mobygames thread which pretty much sums up this whole fiasco. Also, you can mention the part where Gamefly uses our contributed game cover arts for their own database (as pointed out by Foxhack). I'm sure that was part of the secret pact between the founders and Gamefly.

I especially like the part where Trixter says to disregard the passionate contributors opinions. I hope the irony is not lost on him.

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Fred VT (25953) on 9/25/2013 7:00 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]Did I miss any important points over here? [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]

Well, being the last approver to volunteer, I still have a lot to offer, and a lot to say.

Before I volunteered, I found out about Sciere's open letter to the owners, GameFly"s acquisition of MG, but also saw all the new data that kept being added. At the same time, my own submissions took more and more time before being approved...

So I thought that I could quicken the pace by becoming an approver, and quickly felt that I was working alone, most other approvers being there occasionally or just trying to deal with the ever-growing PC queues. Even on the approver forums, I rarely had input from the rest of the team, except maybe Oleg and Jotaro Raido.

Even though I myself still have the will and energy to go on, I feel that even if I did, I'd be more alone than ever in this task, with little or no support to fix the site and add much needed new features...

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Havoc Crow (29798) on 9/25/2013 8:46 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]Did I miss any important points over here? [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--] Some of these parts sound unintentionally hilarious.

(I urge you to disregard any overwhelmingly passionate comments from users, however, and look for official communication only, such as from Corn Popper who is an employed maintainer.)

Ah yes, we sure have plenty of this "official communication".

accessing MobyGames.com through the text-based browser lynx still shows some functionality.

Classic example of "damning by faint praise"...

And, oh hey, Jason Scott showed himself! My idol.

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Indra was here (20760) on 9/25/2013 9:36 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--]Did I miss any important points over here? [/Q --end Pseudo_Intellectual wrote--] Nothing we haven't covered a few hundred times before, I suppose. That's as about as dignified and honest an answer as one would hope for.

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Donatello (466) on 9/25/2013 11:07 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Wow, can't believe the nerve Jim has. It's ridiculous. Don't listen to the "passionate comments"? Listen to CP, the official communicator?

Is he serious? Is he on drugs? I wish, because that would leave him with at least a small bit of respect.

Way to spit on people who have stuck with Moby for such a long time or who were actively engaged with the site in recent times despite the behind the curtain machinations.

Ugh, what a dick.

As I said before, I don't see a fundamental problem in the redesign. However, it is barely functional and slow as molasses. Furthermore, it has been known to be in development for a long period of time and yet results in an absolute travesty.

Not to even mention the fact that the site lacks any long-term vision or is even willing to implement hard-needed features. In any case, the incompetent handling of public relations doesn't do much to help.

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Tomthesecond (26) on 9/26/2013 1:23 AM · Permalink · Report

I feel stupid. I get it now. Why does the site have to be white-grey, half empty and the screenshots hidden? So that nothing distracts me from this weird guy with the cap in the "background" that apparently tries to sell something. The ad does however not even display properly in my browser. Oh silly me, that's because I'm not on a tablet or smartphone. Did I say before I'm okay with ads? Well, this type of ad seriously sucks.

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Alaka (105740) on 9/26/2013 1:29 AM · Permalink · Report

That's the thing about this people on the outside don't quite understand, It isn't just the dedesign that ticked us off. It's the flippant attitude of the owners toward us (as on display there by our good friend Dixter). If the founders didn't rightfully earn our distrust throughout the years, I bet most of us would still be here helping out, slogging it out through this muck, till it was fixed. But, its clear now our opinions mean nothing to them, which is extremely insulting to your main contributors, the same people who spent countless hours trying to keep your site alive with content.

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Fred VT (25953) on 9/26/2013 1:22 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start ALAKA wrote--]That's the thing about this people on the outside don't quite understand, It isn't just the dedesign that ticked us off. It's the flippant attitude of the owners toward us (as on display there by our good friend Dixter). If the founders didn't rightfully earn our distrust throughout the years, I bet most of us would still be here helping out, slogging it out through this muck, till it was fixed. But, its clear now our opinions mean nothing to them, which is extremely insulting to your main contributors, the same people who spent countless hours trying to keep your site alive with content. [/Q --end ALAKA wrote--]

Exactly, not only would I still contribute no matter the obvious flaws, but I'd try making up for the others who'd have left... But now it seems more like a waste of time even trying, knowing that the bugs might eventually get fixed, if we are very lucky, maybe have the missing submission links back, but there the future of the new features we've been asking for years isn't very bright...

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Daniel Saner (3503) on 9/27/2013 4:49 PM · Permalink · Report

I think the active MobyGames community have shown a patience in keeping to give the benefit of the doubt, that you wouldn't have seen on many other projects. The disdain the owners showed towards the community was systematic and absolute. That the site kept living on for as long as it did is really a testament to how important a resource it was for many people, who didn't want to see it go.

So with nobody showing the least interest in listening to feedback, implementing requests and, most of all, fixing bugs for all those pre-crash years, why should they do it now? Back then, they would have at least had a community of contributors and approvers to fix stuff for. If they did it now, no one would probably even notice anymore. The critical phase is long over, now any value MobyGames might have had pre-purchase has evaporated. Who would invest in that?

I'm still convinced that Trixter's comments stem from a state of denial about the end of the site. I don't feel sympathetic though, because it was in his power, and indeed his responsibility, to prevent this during the negotiations with GameFly.

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Alaka (105740) on 9/27/2013 6:47 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Daniel Saner wrote--] I'm still convinced that Trixter's comments stem from a state of denial about the end of the site. I don't feel sympathetic though, because it was in his power, and indeed his responsibility, to prevent this during the negotiations with GameFly. [/Q --end Daniel Saner wrote--]

Quote from Trixter: The previous owners have had nothing to do with MobyGames since 2010.

source: vogons

In the end, I just wished the owners of the site were upfront about this stuff three years ago when they sold the site. At least tell us they no longer have the will / energy to keep the site going. The majority of us understand people get burned out over time and priorities change in life. They could of handled this in a better way...

Instead, what they did was just plain cruel, leading us to believe they were going to implement our ideas (genre additions, etc...) when they knew damn well it wasn't going to happen because Gamefly won't let it happen. Now we are still left in the dark of what Gamefly wants to do with this site and our only communication between us and them is a guy who is sworn to secrecy (NDA) because of a contract he (and his buddies) gleefully signed for some quick cash.

Now we're told to keep our hopes up because Gamefly won't want to sour the ROI by purposely ruining the site. Fine, but on the flipside how do they plan to increase their ROI. For some reason I doubt Corn Popper and Trixter are going to answer that question for us. I'm sure somebody from Gamefly will, though not through a discussion, but through their future actions. And if their recent actions foretell their future actions, do you really want to continue to contribute just to find out?

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Indra was here (20760) on 9/27/2013 7:18 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

[Q --start ALAKA wrote--]source: vogons [/Q --end ALAKA wrote--] Every time I read some douche bag says their O.K. with the redesign or can tolerate it, I want to wedge a sledgehammer through that person's skull and slowly and calmly grind it into dust.

Such abominations of the mind should be annihilated from the existence of human dignity. Yes, I would enjoy that sledgehammer. Immensely.

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Daniel Saner (3503) on 9/27/2013 7:18 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start ALAKA wrote--]our only communication between us and them is a guy who is sworn to secrecy (NDA) because of a contract he (and his buddies) gleefully signed for some quick cash.[/Q --end ALAKA wrote--]

I don't remember him ever claiming the NDA covered anything but the sale itself. After that, the only response we used to get, if any, was "I don't know either". For the past three years it's no longer been an issue of confidentiality, but disastrous PR and management.

As for GameFly, inaction is an action too. We might not know explicitly what their black-on-white plans for MobyGames are, but by now we can damn well know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it isn't something that will make the site more useful, or let it recover from the current crash.

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Indra was here (20760) on 9/27/2013 7:32 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Just check the time lapse between the sale and the Gamefly logo popping out of nowhere. Several months, mind you. Months. Sale was officially in September (and only because I accidentally researched it). Logo popped up in December.

We weren't in the slightest part of the consideration. Fakk you very much.

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Starbuck the Third (22608) on 9/28/2013 10:12 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Daniel Saner wrote--] [Q2 --start ALAKA wrote--]our only communication between us and them is a guy who is sworn to secrecy (NDA) because of a contract he (and his buddies) gleefully signed for some quick cash. [/Q2 --end ALAKA wrote--]

I don't remember him ever claiming the NDA covered anything but the sale itself. After that, the only response we used to get, if any, was "I don't know either". For the past three years it's no longer been an issue of confidentiality, but disastrous PR and management.

As for GameFly, inaction is an action too. We might not know explicitly what their black-on-white plans for MobyGames are, but by now we can damn well know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it isn't something that will make the site more useful, or let it recover from the current crash. [/Q --end Daniel Saner wrote--]

I brought the NDA pre sale/post sale silence up with corn popper in another thread that he brought it up in. Never replied. In fact, I haven't seen him post anything since.

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Pseudo_Intellectual (66248) on 9/28/2013 9:42 PM · Permalink · Report

An NDA fits very well with CP's standard modus operandi.

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Corn Popper (69035) on 9/30/2013 5:46 PM · Permalink · Report

Sorry was off the site for a few days. Still going through threads to catch up.

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Pseudo_Intellectual (66248) on 9/30/2013 5:52 PM · Permalink · Report

I imagine you can get the overall gist pretty quickly.