Board Problems, Suggestions and Updates

[Segtendo]

Damn. This scene has evolved so much since I stopped moddong Brawl.

Hell. I only recently found out what BrawlCrate was.

[Xaturati0n]

Hey. For how Brawl Vault has been so far, it's been pretty lackluster for a while due to no changes. Navigation can be annoying sometimes when you're trying to look for some stuff, like some Pit costumes instead of all that DBZ stuff. Uploading can be annoying too at times when it comes to previews. I brought my ideas up to Scout/Nezha via Discord, but then he told me to post it here. Here are what I think would help benefit the Vault:

Vault Suggestions:

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Even though I don't care much about the forums since it's dead, I'd like to suggest that we have the ability to make sure that they're not in the recycle bin.. i wanna get rid of every post i made from 2014-2017 forever and im sure some people would like to as well lol

One more thing that would REALLY help is updating the Resources tab,

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All of what KJP mentioned? Do it. Resources has NONE of this and most of this is mandatory nowadays in Brawl/P:M modding.
Speaking of Resources, what would help is if there were some tutorials listed for specific programs or just in general, like how to use 3DS MAX/Blender for importing models, how to change specific materials, how to insert codes, how to modify SFX files, etc.

One more thing though that should be added is the Custom Brawl Modding Discord. It's very well organized and there's a lot of stuff you can do over there. It has plenty of resources, lots of users that are active you can talk to about your mods (like feedback and helping and what not), etc. A link if anyone is interested: https://discord.gg/GbxJhbv

This sounds like a lot, but these are all that I'd think would help benefit the Vault a lot.

[KingJigglypuff]

I hate to Necropost again, but this is becoming an issue. I get the Forums and the people on them aren't as active as they used to be, but could the Moderation and/or Admin team consider opening Moderation positions?

Because I've noticed we've been getting troubling amounts of spam bots as of late.

Back in April, I took a screenshot of the first page of the Introductions Board, and 65% of the posts are from bots. I'm not sure if things have changed since then.

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And just today, I was met with this when checking on Updated Topics.

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I'm aware we've always had to deal with bots, but I've noticed there being more lately. I feel this is due to a lack of active Moderator activity to keep these bots at bay.

If Moderator roles aren't open, then could you consider updating your anti-bot filters? Because I'd rather see these forums inactive/dead rather than become infested by bots.

[Segtendo]

I've also seen a bot post in the tutorials section and get the tutorials pin LMFAO

I do agree that there needs to be a way to deal with these bots. They've been so rampant for a while, and all I've been doing is reporting them.

[windhunter7]

Oi vei, way too much spammage just from when I woke up this morning, do you think you guys could implement KJP's idea for moderation at all? Cause although Brawl Vault is really active, the forums themselves are almost dead cause most people are on Discord, so if we moderate literally every new topic (With a notice somewhere on the main page that we do that so the actual users know), that would actually work

[Albafika]

I hate to Necropost again, but this is becoming an issue. I get the Forums and the people on them aren't as active as they used to be, but could the Moderation and/or Admin team consider opening Moderation positions?

Because I've noticed we've been getting troubling amounts of spam bots as of late.

Back in April, I took a screenshot of the first page of the Introductions Board, and 65% of the posts are from bots. I'm not sure if things have changed since then.

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

And just today, I was met with this when checking on Updated Topics.

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

I'm aware we've always had to deal with bots, but I've noticed there being more lately. I feel this is due to a lack of active Moderator activity to keep these bots at bay.

If Moderator roles aren't open, then could you consider updating your anti-bot filters? Because I'd rather see these forums inactive/dead rather than become infested by bots.

Yeah, I've cleared it all.

Honestly, we need to reach a conclusion with this site's goal.

[KingJigglypuff]

You banned most, if not all the current bots? Based.

In regards to the site's goal, I know a Sm4sh Vault was planned, but at this point, I feel forum CSS updates and functionality should be addressed. However, I know this is easier said than done because to my knowledge, Vyse is the only coder among the staff. Additionally, unless the forums receive more activity, the staff wouldn't see much reason to put in the work.

One way to encourage and improve activity would indeed be to include more than just Brawl modding. Instead of making a Sm4sh Vault, why not make KC-MM the general Smash modding hub (Vault updates can come at a later time)? It would include modding and discussion about all the games in the Smash series (64, Melee, Brawl, Wii U/3DS, and Ultimate). Even though SmashBoards has us beat in regards to discussion, I feel KC-MM has always been the stronger modding hub, and I feel an extension to that could potentially boost activity enough to motivate these well-needed updates.

Regardless, the final choice lies on what the Admins want to do with these forums.

[windhunter7]

I agree with KJP, Smashboards is mostly centered around tournaments, not really modding, and then GameBanana isn't nearly as big of a hub for Smash games, cause it has like a bajillion games on it, it kinda makes sense to transition the Vault and forums to be about all Smash games

[Peardian]

For what it's worth, I feel like the exclusive focus on Brawl has limited the site's growth and relevance ever since the rise of Smash 4 / Ultimate modding. I don't know if having an all-encompassing "Smash Vault" would be enough to revive the forums, but it might be worth a shot.

[Bad Box Art Mega Man]

while i agree, iirc this site is now a background project for the admins, and time would need to be dedicated to shifting around the forums for sections of each game, beit Brawl, SSB4, or Ultimate. plus, SSB4 would likely need to be split between 3DS and Wii U.

[KingJigglypuff]

Tinypic is shutting down, which means the image previews for many BrawlVault submissions in addition to the icons on the Resources page will be broken.

If someone's able to, I strongly recommend updating the icons on the Resources page with imgur-hosted images because it now looks like this:

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[Speedy101]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news  but... the site is becoming overrun with a ton of bots they just keep coming and posting spam and unrelated topics in numerous categories.

[Segtendo]

It's been like that for a while. Unfortunately, they won't be stopping any time soon. There's no bot prevention security, AFAIK.

Just do what I do and report them. They may register at an alarming rate, but it helps the staff pick them off one by one.

[Ricky (Br3)]

Gentle reminder to all users that this thread exists.

[NatalieKennedy]

Well, let's start off things quickly.

We just permabanned the user and former member of the team MilkaholicX.

Why ? Not because he left the team and went to Stack Smash. We don't care about it.
Because of a breach of trust. As a team member, he asked for the admin powers for a short time, to make a quick, innoffensive modification. We granted his wish, trusting he wouldn't pose any problems. But instead, he messed up some parts of the forum and granted himself more powers than what ha was supposed to have, and pretty much offended all of the team with his actions for himself, and against the whole forum.

I hope you'll understand why we couldn't let him stay here.

Yes I understand