52 replies to this topic

[Unikraken]

The Forum

First, to understand where we are going, you must understand where we've come from...

Sins of the Prophets originally started out as a forum post on the official SoaSE forums. Some time after that, but before I came along, SotP was given a subforum on DanManGames.com, home of the illustrious 7 Deadly Sins mod. Functionality was very basic and we had very little control over the subforum or the availability of the server (though it was operational most of the time). Without going into great detail, we were grateful for being given the space to work with, but longed for more reliability and envisioned a greater way to build a community around the mod. Then, about a year and a half ago, Swiss Knight, the leader of the now shut down mod Dawn of Victory came to us and offered to host a forum for us that allowed more control over our own destiny, along with our own domain name for a year for free. After a year if we liked what we had we could keep it up for a fee like any normal hosting service. This is where SinsoftheProphets.com came from.

Ultimately, Swiss's real life obligations kept him from administrating the forum in the way he originally intended to and we ended up with a beautiful looking forum (for free) that we still didn't have control over to customize in any great manner. There is a lot we'd hoped to do that just wasn't able to materialize because of how little control we have over the domain and no control over the server it's located. When the one year mark came around and we started asking Swiss what he was going to charge us, he graciously told us that because the arrangement wasn't as intended and we weren't a huge burden on him we'd continue to get free hosting for now. That is, until today.

Over the last few days Swiss Knight has migrated his data to one privately owned by an associate of his, including our own little forum (with no warning, I might add). We were told today by this associate that the forum has a week to find a new place to reside outside of his servers, but he is kindly willing to give us all the data we've accrued up till now (users, posts, etc). We haven't been able to contact Swiss since then about buying the domain name itself, but we're still allowed to use it in the meantime, so we're as of this writing unsure how much we're going to be charged to get the domain under our explicit control, but Swiss has always been an upstanding and helpful guy, so we assume it'll be what he spent on it. We're incredibly thankful to Swiss for the time we've had the free hosting but I'm sure we're mutually happy to be separating, despite the rushed nature of this.

The Future

So, this is the part where you, the fans, come in and why the future of the forum and mod is important to you. Sloosecannon has come up with a pretty solid plan for the move, but to put it plainly, keeping the forum alive is going to cost money, money that we can't put together on our own. The IP.Board license is expensive. The forum theme we've come to love is also not free. Bandwidth for the forum isn't free. Buying the domain address. Etc. You see where I'm going here. In total we need about $250 (American) to get the forum set up and this isn't counting monthly costs for hosting. We also have some pretty awesome plans for expanding the mod's site to more than just a forum, and potentially more Halo mods than just SotP and Homefront with the better control over how content is seen and organized in our new plan.

To entice you to donate we're adding an additional user class to the relocated forum for donors who are able to donate $10 or more. Being added to the Donor class will let other users know you stepped up and helped the mod when we needed you the most and it will also enter you into a drawing where one randomly selected donor will be sent an SotP themed t-shirt similar to this one. If donations exceed the costs for the software and several months of hosting, additional donors will be selected for mod shirts and other promotional items may come into play at a later time as we examine the legal situation around user generated Halo content (what we've asked for this far is completely legal under the Xbox Games Content Usage Rules) and how best to use the funds for the mod's advantage.

The operation and use of the forum is critical to the development, testing, and promotion of the mod. The fanbase here has also grown into a real community that we all love and it would be a shame to lose that. So, if you've enjoyed the mod we've created and given freely to all of you and you don't want to see the loss of our amazing and still growing community, as well as a reduction in our ability to bring you the best mod we can muster, please consider donating to the cause and help keep our forum alive. We're not happy to have to ask for this from the you, but it's the only way we can continue what we have and improve what we're able to do for the community and mod.

Donations should be made to the following link, you must include the email address attached to your forum account in the message and expect to see your new forum class after we migrate.

Donate: https://kd8rho.net/donate

[SPECTRE]

Q: Will we be able to keep our usernames after migration or?

Q: Will donors be anonymous or?

Q: how much will it be to purchase the domain outright?

Also payday is tomorrow, so then...

Also Inseane i told you so!

[David0425]

i get paid later,so ill see what i can do then

[SPECTRE]

Sorry i edited that post to aks more Qs.

Another Q (when will i ever stop hey)? 

Q: will the migration affect services at all?

[Unikraken]

Q: Will we be able to keep our usernames after migration or?

A: Yes.

Q: Will donors be anonymous or?

A: If you request it you can be.

Q: how much will it be to purchase the domain outright?

A: We still don't know.

Q: will the migration affect services at all?

A: Forums might go down for a few hours, but it'd probably be while you're sleeping since you're in the UK. May also lose some post history from this coming week.

[sloosecannon]

Q: Will we be able to keep our usernames after migration or?

Like Uni said - we're migrating the exact forum over.
Starting this evening (theoretically) we will set up the new server. Over the next week, at the most, we'll have it up and running. We will lose the posts from this evening on (after the host finishes the dump), but that's all that will be lost.

Q: Will donors be anonymous or?

Donors can be anonymous if they want to - we will also make a special member title, badge, and group for donors who don't want to be anonymous. They'll also have drawings and stuff like that.

Q: how much will it be to purchase the domain outright?

Well, the trouble here is that we can't. Swiss is the owner, so we can't get the domain without him doing something. I don't see any problems with him selling it to us though. Domains usually run around 10-20 bucks a year.

[HTRK74JR]

Damn, looks like i'll be living on ramen for a few months.

[Unikraken]

Also, if you want to be in the drawing for SotP merch, you need to be willing to give us a mailing address.

[SPECTRE]

I meant an anonymous donation. Like to cover names and that. This is the internet after all.

Also if anyone donates an extraordinarily large amount, i may give them some free games and stuff.

[Unikraken]

I meant an anonymous donation. Like to cover names and that. This is the internet after all.

Also if anyone donates an extraordinarily large amount, i may give them some free games and stuff.

We'll discuss this privately.

[The Flood]

hey, I wish I could help out but don't really have any money.

I MIGHT be able to get some in awhile maybe.

but don't feel bad taking money from a 13-year old though,

I am sure I speak for everyone on this we want this forum to continue

[SternuS]

Ah.

Shit.

If this happened 3 or 4 months later, I would donate immediately. For I fucking love this community and I want it to go on like this.

But as of right now I don't have a job, I don't have money. Thus I'm not able to donate. I'm really sorry.

 

Just a question, is $250 the total we should donate? And how many times a month we should pay? I'm asking because if we "have to" donate only $10 (or less, or more) once, and not per month, I might be able to donate as soon as I get, and depending on how much I get, the money for my birthday.

[sloosecannon]

Ah.
Shit.
If this happened 3 or 4 months later, I would donate immediately. For I fucking love this community and I want it to go on like this.
But as of right now I don't have a job, I don't have money. Thus I'm not able to donate. I'm really sorry.
 
Just a question, is $250 the total we should donate? And how many times a month we should pay? I'm asking because if we "have to" donate only $10 (or less, or more) once, and not per month, I might be able to donate as soon as I get, and depending on how much I get, the money for my birthday.

We need $250 to get off the ground.
Actually, more accurately, we need $250 so I can recuperate the money I just spent to get us off the ground. After that, it'll be something like $25 a month total.

[Defender0]

We need $250 to get off the ground.
Actually, more accurately, we need $250 so I can recuperate the money I just spent to get us off the ground. After that, it'll be something like $25 a month total.

sloosecannon: taking cannonshots for us all

[David0425]

We need $250 to get off the ground.
Actually, more accurately, we need $250 so I can recuperate the money I just spent to get us off the ground. After that, it'll be something like $25 a month total.

slooscannon is the bruce wayne of the forums

[psdt]

Being the broke college student that I am there is not much in the way of monetary support I can do for you guys. If I was a rich man I'd say screw the SOASE engine and give you guys a million dollars to play with and make your own engine and hire your own team. SOTP has been and will continue to be an amazing thing. Magical in an internety, communit based way.

 

So I guess what I'm saying is that I can't help you much, but what I can do I will do. And you can bet on my continued support and love for your mod and the community that has gathered around it.

Keep it up guys O: we'll keep you afloat if at all possible

[spartan-G257]

I'll be trying to give a tenner every couple of weeks. its the least i can do

 

i keep getting this "

• Unable to send e-mail. Contact the site administrator if the problem persists.
• Unable to send e-mail. Contact the site administrator if the problem persists."

its annoying and i have tried to do this twice now with two different email addresses I don't know what to do

[macabrenoob]

im with spartan on this one, i wont be able to give much but maybe once a pay check i will be able to throw something in.

[Redleader102]

sloosecannon is the bruce wayne of the forums

...Wait, so sloose is Batman?!

 

[sloosecannon]

I'll be trying to give a tenner every couple of weeks. its the least i can do
 
i keep getting this "

• Unable to send e-mail. Contact the site administrator if the problem persists.
• Unable to send e-mail. Contact the site administrator if the problem persists."

its annoying and i have tried to do this twice now with two different email addresses I don't know what to do

Are you trying to register on my site? I've got registrations disabled intentionally - the login is only for me to edit the site.
Just click the big donate button lol

...Wait, so sloose is Batman?!

I'm batman