A Complete Rebrand.

Author	Message
ImTyeDye	Date sent: 2020/12/15 16:19:08 As an intro, I'd like to say this is based off of a comment made by Presinus on this topic. This thread basically takes that idea but goes more more in-depth with it and kinda gives it a full plan of what it could be. As we all know, Mush has been losing it's playerbase exponentially with each year. Just 3 years ago, we used to easily have 40-50 players on at one time, with lows being 25ish in the wee hours. Now, we're struggling to get above 15 some days and in the low hours being about 0-3 players. This could be fixed with just a few, big adjustments to the server. As Aould said in the thread, this Mush is not like it used to be. It's something entirely new, something that looks like what it used to be but completely different. We're never going to be able to get the old Mush feel back like it used to be, so lets make the full leap into something new. As Pres said, we should have a lot of changes made to reflect this change in the server. That means a name change and icon change should be done, as we're nothing like what we used to be. Also, with the IP, forums, and the name of the server, we're very confusing. We're WebbCraft everywhere but the server name, which throws a lot of players off thinking that they joined the wrong server. Instead of knowing what server they join when they first log in, some of them might have to be taught about the two names. I can understand from Luigi's perspective as it's nostalgic, and this server was born out of the ashes of another server, but for us to grow bigger and to get more players we need everything to be consistent across all platforms. Before I take some time to talk about the server itself, lets look at the forums. We've had the same forums for years, and infact it still says we're in beta. Now while it's a clean, simple look, I believe a change is due, and its been due. I've already made a suggestion on this but it got shut down, as usual for suggestions. With the changes to the name and icon, those changes should reflect on the forums. People here have already made little websites with wix and whatnot to reflect what the forums could be, and we could take from some of those designs, or we could use the donation money to hire professionals to make it (which is what donation money should be used for.) Having a nicer looking forum page will bring a lot of people into both the game and the forums, making it much more active overall. Also, I've already stated this before, but these bots are getting out of hand. The most active people on the forums should not be bots, let alone there shouldn't even be bots at all unless it's an automated moderation bot to delete any spam posts, replies, or anything with blacklisted words. I believe this is unacceptable and should have been shut down the moment it started. Along with the new look of the forums, its time to upgrade to https and get the secure certification in the top left. Now, we have it saying "Not Secure" which throws off a lot of people as they think the site may have a virus. Also with the donation tab, it wards off a lot of people from donation as plugging your credit card into a website that isn't secure is a terrible idea. Also, the About Us page is extremely out of date, especially with the voting links too. The voting links are riddled with misspellings, and just information that is not up to date with what we are now. We no longer have chest shops, we don't cater to any player anymore, and the economy is no longer useful, now its just a flex of how much money you have. Especially with these crazy taxes, the economy is equal to a dog turd. All of this drives players away, and to you Luigi, that means less possible donations. The voting links should have been completely revamped years ago, and we should have gotten a new background to go with it. It's 2020 and we're sitting here with 8bit still images, while other servers have these flying gif animations that attract a ton of people in. Now onto the server. The server is great, I love it, and especially under Shad's reign it's gotten a lot better. We now have events that bring players together and gets a little more active. Before him, we used to only have hide n seek, and that was it. You want to do something besides hide n seek? Go pvp or something. The server has been needing plugins for a long time. We have Essentials 2.10, which was meant for a very very old mc version, like 1.7 or something. We should have everything updated to its current version, which gives more features for players in factions, extra commands, ease of use tools, etc. This also gives more capabilities for Shad to make better events, with the addition of so many other commands we've been craving for years. I know Luigi keeps it outdated because he just prefers the old faction better, but what Luigi needs to realize is that we're a community; not a monarchy. He's running a good system right now where he's the 'server technician' and Shad is the enforcer and 'President' of Mush, but with Luigi keeping all this stuff behind he's the one keeping the server dying. We've all seen it, just a week ago ranks broke, and thats because of how outdated everything is. Now I know with updating plugins, its very possible ranks will be lost. What we could do is schedule all these changes to occur on the New Years, and all the players can send in their ranks through a dm or in a hopper at spawn or something, and we can get ranks up and running ASAP. These changes have been needed for a long time, and we've all been waiting for Luigi to implement them. Now as another thing, there's a common thing with mod apps that people say "there's usually no staff on when I'm on," or "I'm in a timezone that staff usually aren't on." I have an easy solution for this. First, we have two vacant spots for mod that we could fill, and I see a couple people that I think would be a great fit. Also, more helpers would be a great addition for the team. But the solution I see in mind is try and set a requirement for staff. Of course we already know that they have activity requirements, but lets set an actual requirement. There should be 1 staff member and/or helper on per 5ish people. Now we could either enforce this requirement heavily, or we can add more people that are in less populated timezones, as a lot of the staff are either from the UK or USA and only get on in that timezone. We should branch out. One or two US staff should be able to cover the 3 big time zones of that area, and we should have at least one staff for the other timezones and that should fix the issue. All in all, there's a lot of changes that should have been made a very long time ago, but it hasn't and I've been forced to put this together in hopes to get Luigi to change his mind about what he wants, and what everyone else wants. You don't make a server because you want to make money, you make a server because you want to help create a thriving community and to meet new people. If what you like doesn't help the community thrive, then it's time to listen to other people and see what they like. I've even left a poll to get an accurate estimation of what people would like. I encourage everyone to vote truthfully, and to do it to show Luigi what people here want. If you disagree with these changes, vote no. As a community, we should respect other people's opinions, and to honor their opinion. If you agree that we should make them, vote yes, and show Luigi that he needs to step it up and make everything right. Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear what ideas y'all have in store for the future.
Peppi	Date sent: 2020/12/15 16:30:47 Sounds pog
chrom	Date sent: 2020/12/15 16:36:10 I could make a mock design for a website (I wouldn't use wix or what not). I'm currently in a web design class and I've learned some stuff like css, html, and jquery. Aside from that, before I logged in to make this comment, it showed that the forums was secure but after I logged in, it showed that the website wasn't secure.
L3genD	Date sent: 2020/12/16 03:16:13 +1 I really do agree Tye. We've been running on the same forums for many years now and it's still missing a lot of features. Same with the server and plugins. They're both quite outdated which may deter players from wanting to play here. When I play during the Australian evening it's often only me and GosponDomac, who doesn't even play, just afk fishes all server. Occasionally one or two other people might join, but it just seems to die at around this time. I also agree with you about the staff issue. Playing in Australian timezone I rarely see staff hop on, and when they do, it's often for a very short period of time when they see how little the amount of players on the server is. I would like to see staff members that can cover these Oceanic timezones in future. Perhaps a complete rebranding of the server/forums could be essential. As much nostalgia as we all may hold for this server, I think we need to at least update the forums/make a completely new forums, and update the server via plugins and whatever else necessary. We can still be WebbCraft or Mushroom Co., but it is quite confusing as to which one we maintain by. Also, with the whole staffing issue I've noticed a few are quite inactive as well. Now, I have only been back 1-2 weeks but I am on for a while each day and I can say for sure there's only about 5, maybe 6 active staff members including Shad. Now again, I said before I hardly see them on due to timezones, but there are staff that actually do hop on during USA/UK times regularly, as shown by /seen each day, and there are staff that haven't been on in over a week. I think if the server is to see a new light and a possible rebrand, it will need a full, active staff team. Now I will say I have seen the helpers on quite often, especially you Tye, and they do what they are required to and more; help people. I really do believe that they could become mods if they are willing to as there are two vacant mod spots available. There is also a mod that rarely hops on if there needed to be another active mod, but it I barely know them and they could be a valuable member behind the scenes.
cunothe1	Date sent: 2020/12/17 16:54:44 Mods About the mod thing, I do think that we should take this month with a grain of salt. People can be on holidays and be offline for a while, or just be extremely busy. I know that December is often a busy month, which can explain recent inactivity and less mod-hour-coverage. I also don't think that it is necessary for mods to be on all the time. If you play for a while, then one will be on or you can just discord them when something happens. Most new players already get helped by people that are online. A lot of things can and get resolved by Donator+ and architects as well. Forum Yes, this forum is outdated, crawled with bots I do think that it should be archived tho. Also getting rid of the webbcraft name would be smart as well, since this server has been named Mush for a whole long time now. Plugins Yes plugins should be updated, but I think that such things can better be done when we move on to a new map. That would also be much easier to implement, cause what if a lot gets unclaimed/unprotected or other vulnerabilities appear? There are people that exploit certain mechanics to their will and make threats or jokes about griefing as well. But when the new map arrives, yes, plugins should be updated. I got pvp-bypassed by a default with a normal bow. My chests can't be reliably protected. Armorstands that dissapear and other funky things have happened. So yes, please update plugins, but not rn.
luigiofthebakery Moderator	Date sent: 2020/12/18 15:27:09 Https is enabled on the site if you want to use it, it's just not enabled by default except on the login and register pages where it's actually needed. Having it enabled everywhere by default would increase loading times, and battery usage if you're on a mobile device. Credit card processing is handled by Paypal or Square on their respective websites so no credit card information is entered into or ever reaches this site.
ImTyeDye	Date sent: 2020/12/18 20:03:51 ty cuno @Luigi: My concern with donations is not that their not secure, but that with a website like this it is really easy to backdoor, and that people could put a link that actually redirects you to a foreign keylogger site or something and then redirect you back to the legitimate website for paying. A little more security, and design changes is all that I’m asking for forumwise. That and to find a way to take out all these bots.
creeper0426	Date sent: 2020/12/24 05:54:14 Hopping on the forum and find maybe the reasons that I quit the server might be helpful for future improvements, -Ranks come with too much power, I know you are trying to get money from donators but I don't really want to come on the server to live a class struggle, should be solely cosmetic -Mods are dead in chat, a lot of mods are just straight out bad picks (playing favorites, using their mod abilities wrongly, or just some are flat out annoying). I have many others but these are by far the major ones if anyone even cares
L3genD	Date sent: 2020/12/24 10:07:01 The current mods are fine Creeper, and the admins are great as well. The only problem right now is that there isn't enough mods.
creeper0426	Date sent: 2020/12/24 17:01:30 @L3genD maybe your right, I am just judging the mods on how they were when I left
cunothe1	Date sent: 2020/12/24 22:43:49 TBH I don't want donatorranks to leave. But it might be better if the member perks were for everyone. I came back as a member and being able to /jump didnt really make me want to fly. Untill someone bought it for me and I was like this is lit. But with /jump you can do enough IMO. I was a happy member. Also with the attentionspan of most people, it is mostly unrealistic that there will be a lot of members.1 year is to much for a lot of people. So increasing the low-class would be fine. But I wouldnt want to debuff donator+ as they have been very important in helping people when there aren't any mods on.
L3genD	Date sent: 2020/12/25 01:10:38 Yeah, I can agree with that Cuno. And Creeper I know what you mean, I'm not sure when you left but in 2015-16 sometimes there wasn't really good mods.

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