Mod Olympics Again

Yes, that's right, Frisbeeteria officially has no life and is surely welded to his computer or something. I don't know how he manages it, I really don't. The sight of that measly three issues edited by myself was irritating though. I'm going to remedy that for the next olympics if I can. I got my usual fare of bronze medals which I suppose I'm happy about. I never really have that much enthusiasm for the Olympics to be honest, since the only one that interests me is the 'issues edited' section.

But, hey, congratulations to Fris, Kat, and all the other guys who put so much into keeping this game alive. I remember there was a time when the tasklist could rack up to hundreds of unresolved tasks because we simply didn't have the time. Now I look in and it's usually barely more than two pages and rapidly diminishing. 'Tis a golden age in NS player service. Gives me more time to edit issues too!

In other news, I am ill. I'd been feeling queasy yesterday, and had a headache like a music festival from far away. And then, last night, I was sick. It came on me so suddenly and without warning that half of it shot out my nose and ruined my favourite shirt. I Hope you feel all nice and grossed out now; it's not nearly half as bad as how I feel. Urgh.

Happy Halloween!

And Then Five Come Along At Once

Er... Um... It's kinda like this: just today, a life-changing thing (which I can't go into for personal reasons) just cropped up and I might not be able to fulfil the challenge I set myself in the last article. It's a bugger, I know, but I'm hoping it will all be resolved by the 31st and I'll be able to get at least one issue done. This is blatantly typical of how my life works and why deadlines are a real pain in the arse for me. It's as if Someone Up There is trying to turn everything I do into an obstacle course.

By the way, [violet] went and got herself a cool avatar. Check it out.

The Challenge

I'm going to try and get as many issues finished as I can next week as a challenge to myself. I've been so busy with real life that I haven't really been able to focus much on editing, and I still haven't got around to asking Sal to install the new code which is also something that bugs me. So to put a little ease to my professional pride, I'm going to try and get at least three issues completed by the 5th of November. It'll be tough, but I think I can do it if I concentrate hard and tie up my other responsibilities and arrangements.

Wish me luck!

The Old Days

ModShort #2!

This one's pretty much based on the fact that TJ is our senior forum mod and has been around forever. There's some nasty grammatical errors in there, for which I apologise. It was all a bit rushed, and my attempts to make TJ look like he was being illuminated by the campfire were crap.

Anyway. Enjoy!

My Brief Absence

I'm back! I forgot to tell anyone, but I've been away for the weekend in Fort William (again) where I had a lovely time. The Highlands in October is a beautiful sight. All those reds, oranges, and yellows were a worthy reminder that autumn has truly arrived. Now I've got a few hundred telegrams that have accumulated while I was away to mull over so bye-bye for now, take care, and remember, kidz, don't take drugs!

Such Attention Is Flattering

According to my counter, over 1000 people have looked at this blog since August. I personally find this rather hard to believe since hardly any of them leave comments. I'm still quite happy to have reached such a milestone, but I do hope that more people will be interested in reading this than right now - I would like all the effort I put into writing this stuff to be rewarded some time. Feel free to offer me money and expensive gifts at the usual address!

Recent Events

After having a peek at the Moderation forum recently (I don't actually look at the forums that much anymore) I noticed that there's been quite a hoo-hah over the deletion of a nation called Hogsweat. So I did a small investigation (i.e. asked what as happening) and discovered that he'd been deleted for ejecting everyone in his region. I was quite surprised to find everyone arguing about this because this rule has been in effect for longer than I can remember. Only founders can clear their regions. It is very strictly forbidden for delegates to do so. Otherwise we'd have nutters clearing regions left, right and centre (it's happened to Lancre once, I know about this with much bitterness). It's pretty much the definition of region griefing. But it's all over now, thankfully.

Kat was complaining about Jolt earlier so I made this wee animation to cheer her up. I hope you enjoy it too! I'm thinking of making a series of these for each Mod. I'm thinking of calling them 'Modshorts'. If I do go ahead with this, you can consider this one 'ModShort #1'.

Botheration

Looks like NationStates is down. AGAIN. I'd moan about Jolt if I didn't already know that this used to happen on a much more frequent basis in those old days when the server was powered by Sal's dead hamster. Ah well. We'll just have to wait until an admin tries to log in.

Avatars!

I was really pleased to discover today that NS mods can now give themselves avatars on the NS forums. Naturally I chose the awe-inspiring sight of the flightless hippo as my representation. Hack went for some kind of mysterious monk in yellow robes, Cog and Fris favoured the traditional Jennifer Government eye, Tsaraine chose what appears to be a nut with sunglasses, GMC and Kat both went for felinesque people, and Euroslavia selected, for some unknown reason, a picture of a chin with a word underneath it which I first took to say 'Penis'. As far as I'm aware none of the others have got avatars yet but it's only a matter of time until we see what they choose.

I'm willing to bet a not unreasonable amount of money that Reppy's will involve yellow armour and a very big sword...!

The Way Is Barred

Hmm, an arcane little message keeps appearing whenever I try to get into the forums using NationStates. Most curious. In case it's happening to anyone else, and if that 'anyone else' should by happy coincidence pertain to you, you can access the NS forums by using this link:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=1235

Ah, the joys of hypertext.

By the way, I got the videos of 'The Legends of Treasure Island' the other day so I'm very happy and I can finally stop bleating on about it to people who neither know nor care about the programme (i.e. everyone but me. Even my closest friends who remember it think I'm a bit potty for having tried to track it down for the last four months...)

I Want Some Company

You know. For those long lonely nights where I'm just lying in bed with nothing to do. It's not so bad I suppose, I've always got Rebecca... or Carrie... or Frankenstein... and before this silly prevarication continues any further I'll just point out that by 'Company' I mean Max Barry's new book. As long-suffering moderators, we've all been hoping (read: asking, hinting, threatening) that we'd get signed advanced copies of this book as payment for our years (or in the newbies' cases, months) of hard, unpaid labouring over NationStates. We don't know if we will, and it's clear that Max has got other things on his mind, but we'd have thought we'd at least get a snifter before some mystery bloke called Jason got to it. Haven't we cracked our bones long enough?

But I'm not bitter. Just hopeful (meaningful pause) that we will get at least a free copy. Not too much to ask, and I don't ask for many things apart from substantial changes to the issues code, money, sexual favours, etc.

Wait, did I say that last bit out loud?

Issues Discussion Channel

Euroslavia had the idea of setting up an IRC channel devoted to the discussion of NationStates daily issues and I'll be there, when I can, to accept your accurate, constructive praise and worship or, if 'tis even possible, your incredibly mistaken and unfair abuse and vitriolic ramblings. I can also advise you on writing issues, or give you ideas for ones if you're stuck. You can visit the channel at #nationstates_issues on the Espernet server.

If you need more help understanding this whole IRC thing, have a shufti at Reploid Productions' thread on the subject here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=278619

First Critique

Euroslavia showed me his first efforts at issue editing today, his cheeks gleaming with pride, his eyes sparking with anticipation, and his grin positively beaming with youth and vigour. Ah, I felt so guilty having to bring him down to the ground as I totally butchered his work with my onslaught of vicious jibes and insults. He hasn't dared to try writing the code yet, but I'm sure he'll master it soon enough.

Still, even after having two options vetoed, the whole structure rearranged, and being ordered to rewrite everything he's still as eager as a beaver in a pine forest so I'm hopeful that he'll turn out something much improved next time. Indeed, I'm sure of it!

Future Prospects

In two weeks I'll have been a moderator of NationStates for a whole two years. This is quite frightning really, because previously I had always managed to hold fast to the idea that I can quit anytime... anytime I like! But I am beginning to wonder. A lot of things are changing in my life and NationStates has slowly been sinking lower and lower as a route of escapism. Even the issue-editing doesn't have that golden glow of excitment for me anymore though I do still enjoy it very much. But it's been a long time since I've been able to put one in the game. I'll have to talk to Salusa about that...

But hey. I don't plan to retire for a while yet, and I do at least want to pass the 200-issues mark! That'd be a fine thing. But for now I'm just bored. We'll see how things go.