EntropiaPlanets 2021/2022 Updates

Hi!

We'll fix a couple of things, we'll update a couple of things and we'll change a couple of things :)

11 Nov 2021

We'll be slow but we've started already:

• problems with the login overlay have been fixed
• new registrations will be processed properly again
• Twitter widget on frontpage removed because we don't tweet anything currently
• login option with Google removed because obviously nobody was using it (Twitter & Facebook might be removed too)
• social sharing options removed because all they do is collecting data
• ads at bottom of the page removed because nobody ever clicked them
  
• tiny performance improvements
• Streams tab with Twitch live streams removed (we'll add something better soon)

More soon :)

If you have suggestions please let us know.

22 Nov 2021

• upgraded to last XenForo 1 version, next step will be XenForo 2

23 Nov 2021

• upgraded frontpage capabilities
• reorganized incoming feeds

29 Nov 2021

• more feeds stuff

30 Nov 2021

• media gallery back in a basic form (don't look at it)
• many images in old threads fixed
• tiny performance improvements

1 Dec 2021

• new slider
• frontpage rearrangement

3 Dec 2021

• frontpage changes
• wiki menu temporary fix

14 Dec 2021

• fixed broken link structure

16 Dec

• introduction of Discord widget

21 Dec

• wp template for the wiki

3 Jan 2022

• very minor wiki improvements

13 Feb 2022

• Talk Thyme episodes restored

14 Feb 2022

• Darri's Entropia episodes restored
• fix for mp3 embeds

15 Feb 2022

• EntropiaTimes pdfs restored

.

 

It's a long story how we became the "cancer" forum and PCF the greatest of forums, too long for forum post.

But key to that story is the fact that PCF is heavily censoring specific opinions. On EntropiaPlanets we don't do that. That led to the phenomenon that many people voiced harsh criticism of MindArk and Entropia Universe here on EntropiaPlanets but kept the rest of their forum communication on PCF. That ruined the experience on EntropiaPlanets for the fan people and led to avoidance of EntropiaPlanets. We just couldn't get ourself to censor people's opinions just to have more "success" with the forum.

Our success on EntropiaPlanets is:

• EntropiaPlanets is free while the other forum's overpriced setup and administration is paid for by players
• EntropiaPlanets is run by decent people, the other forum by a notorious liar found guilty of internet crimes
• EntropiaPlanets is state of the art in forum tech and features, the other isn't
• EntropiaPlanets has editorial content like player and developer interviews while the other doesn't
• EntropiaPlanets has an integrated wiki while the other doesn't
• EntropiaPlanets published a high quality Entropia Universe print magazine, the other doesn't
• EntropiaPlanets managed a multi-streamer Twitch channel starting in 2013 but the EU community back then wasn't ready for Twitch
• EntropiaPlanets started the first Entropia Universe Discord with a lot of cool features in early 2015 but the EU community back then wasn't ready for Discord
• EntropiaPlanets managed a society and program for onboarding new players, the other doesn't
• EntropiaPlanets is co-running a 25k subs YT channel also hosting Entropia Universe videos, the other doesn't
• EntropiaPlanets was co-running a 11k followers partnered Twitch channel also for Entropia Universe streams, the other doesn't
  
• EntropiaPlanets is saving abandoned community projects with a lot of effort, the other doesn't
• EntropiaPlanets rescued and then maintained the official Next Island forum, the other didn't
• EntropiaPlanets in not at all about competing with other forums, in fact we provide content to planet partner forums for free and support them, the other forum doesn't do that and has a very competitive approach
• and probably some stuff I forgot
• EDIT: indeed forgot one and it's a very important one: the content we produce is given to the general public under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, the other forum claims they own all user content

And we have begun to take a couple of steps preparing the next phase for EntropiaPlanets, which will make it better than it ever has before. A little bit more support from the community it's made for would be nice, and little bit more support from the company whose community it's catering to would be nice too.

 

The original Next Island forum was at NextIslandLife.com but became defunct. So EntropiaPlanets created NextIslandForum.com as an alternative. Next Island liked it and made NextIslandForum the official forum. We've imported from NextIslandLife what wasn't too broken. Next Island shut down development and abandoned NextIslandForum too. We kept it running for a couple of years and then imported it into EntropiaPlanets with the permission of the owner of Next Island. There wasn't really any use for the domain anymore so it wasn't renewed. All NextIslandForum content is fully integrated here but can be easily recognized by its tag: http://www.entropiaplanets.com/tags/nextislandforum/

 

The "forum" system is https://www.discourse.org/ but the whole site is amateurish.

 

Frontpage. Looks cheesy, huh?

 

EntropiaPlanets will go through some serious updates in the near future. There might be longer disruptions and some new posts might not make it to the other side. But generally future is brighter than ever ;)