HeavenGames Tech Blog : Archives for November 2007

Mea Culpa

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:01:00 -0500

Visitors to HGMain may have noticed for about a day HGMain’s font was all weired and screwed up. Some reported a font that was too small, some reported a font that was too big, etc.; in all cases it was BAD.

So what the hell happened?

I was doing a quick demo on-site at a conference to a couple of teachers about how easy it is to configure stuff on the web, and I used my test installation of the forums for the demo. After changing a few styles around we went to the control panel settings, and it was then I realized that the configuration was still set to update HG Main’s configuration, so I changed that live to the right location (the testing forums), but didn’t have a chance to fix it on HGMain until I had free time later that evening.

The reason why everything looked so bad? I put quotes into the font-name style box. The forums auto-quoted fonts with spaces in their names already, so when the change was done, it double-quoted everything, resulting in a parsing error that some browser couldn’t deal with—and subsequently caused them to revert to the default font, which is “Times New Roman” for many, and for it to ignore any size settings set by the forums in places where the size is specified along with the font name.

Oops … =S

General rudeness

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:45:00 -0500

So I’ve been briefed on a recent situation where a mod was flamed over e-mail, and the user’s ban term was increased as a result. So, first, attacks on anyone is frowned upon at HG. It doesn’t matter who’s doing the attacking and who’s at the end—it’s just flat out wrong. “Attack the idea, not the person,” the common saying goes.

If reading about the latest iDrama is your thing (yuck), then read on.

Our staff of volunteers are here because they like what they do, and they definitely aren’t being paid to be abused on the forums, over e-mail, or IM. They are, like you, humans and have feelings as well, a concept that is sometimes lost in heated debates/flames.

If you flame them, expect to be eventually warned or banned. If they flame you, they can expect some disciplinary action on HG. Both of which have to be proved to have taken place, with supporting evidence, of course. Everyone at HG is required to abide by the Code of Conduct . The relevant sections in this instance are quoted below:

Ad-Hominem:

Ad Hominem comments/personal attacks towards anyone – staff, forum member, or a visitor who is likely to view it on the forums – is subject to the message being deleted and action taken against the user, regardless of how pertinent or thoughtful the rest of the message might be.

Harassment:

You may not use terms or audio/visual materials referring to ethnic/national origin, ideological/religious beliefs, gender, or sexual preference in a demeaning context.

We have no tolerance for discrimination. You are in violation of this rule if the nature of your post discriminates, promotes hate, promotes violence or advocates hatred or discrimation against individuals, groups, races, cultures or organizations because of their ethnic/national origin, skin color or culture.

Derogatory Terms:

If you use any terms in an offensive context against a person, race, culture, group or organization, as determined by our moderators, you are in violation of this rule.

Please note that words carry different meanings in different cultures, and that while a word may be acceptable use in one part of the world, it may not be in another. In addition, any one can invent their own derogatory terms, unfortunately. Because of those factors, we will evaluate the context in which the term was used to determine whether a violation has occurred.

Help Wanted

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:12:00 -0500

Know what these icons are right away?

and several things below bothers you, typographically speaking?

Interested in joining HG staff? Please submit your answers and portfolio to zen(at)heavengames(dot)com. Prior participation in online gaming communities preferred, but not required.

iDrama

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:37:00 -0500

Here we go again. The latest iDrama episode involves a user who was banned because he broke one of the cardinal rules in the Code of Conduct. The consequence is standard procedure—it’s an instaban. Then comes an email from him that says a hacker hacked his account, followed up by a very public confession (and then some) from the hacker. Accounts banned, case closed, everyone’s happy. Right?

No, not by a long shot.

See, said user was popular, so when his account was banned, his peers got very unhappy, got their pitch and forks, and threatened to lynch the moderators. So, I get a call from the mods asking me to look up IP accesses to verify whether the account was really hacked.

Well, it sort of was.

The hacker created the user’s account. This whole thing was a staged incident.

Frak.

So, until further notice, all related accounts will stay banned.

Twitter

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:37:00 -0500

follow inzenity at http://twitter.com

For those that use Twitter, I can be found here . You can add twitter to your Facebook profile, to your IM, to your mobile phone, to your Mac using Twitterific, or to almost any OS that connects to the Net

If you use Twitter already, what’s your Twitter profile?