Welcome to a basic Solaris7 site that I think will be built around the forum instead of having it be an add on this time.
I am looking for input on what categories to create so respond away!
Welcome to a basic Solaris7 site that I think will be built around the forum instead of having it be an add on this time.
I am looking for input on what categories to create so respond away!
Armories and the TRO's that go with in them are the main draw of Solaris 7. No other site I've seen has anything like it. Solaris 7 is something of the Deviantart of the battletech world. A member is able to sign in and have their own "space" to show off their stuff. And an armory could either be just a giant holding bay for all of a person's stuff with minimal fluff, Or in some cases, a single armory can become a multilayered work of art in its own right, telling the story of group, be they pirates, a company or a star empire and the things they have made or kludged.
The other draw of being focused on the posting and showing off of custom designs is that it generates new content on its own. Any other website is pretty much limited to what is already written down about battletech. (Battlecorps excepted....) But IIRC the Battlemech count of the last version of S7 was over 20,000. Admittedly a number of them were deleted from inactive accounts over the years, but you're still dealing with more content generated about battletech then all official sources combined. (At a rough estimate.)
From what I remember, the S7 forums were slowly dying off, or at least inactive. The resident population was not that large, and we are a bunch of know-it-alls with no further questions. Not a lot to talk about. But we would still get new designs posted, and that would spark conversations in the review section of the posting.
The real question is, to what purpose should the site be dedicated to? An easy to access repository of knowledge definitely. Bring back the planetary database and art galleries. Make available the links to the various mech design programs. But remember that these things can be had elsewhere as well. What can not be found is a database of custom designs, which can then be commented on, and rated. Searched and filtered to see if anyone has had the same idea as yours.
And yes. Armories definitely help organize all of that.
Other thoughts.
I can not create a new "Discussion." this is probably not a bad thing right now since we seem to be attracting Bot "Members" as fast as real people, and who knows what spam we're avoiding.
Reviews and comments of posted designs.
Reviews should be allowed once, But instead of a single 1 to 5 rating, have 3 categories with 1 to 5 ratings. I'm thinking things along the lines of, "How well written is the fluff, How effective the design is for its intended role, And something else. Someone help out. I suppose 2 separate ratings is enough but 3 would be better to my mind.
Comments on the other hand, there needs to be a way to respond to someone else's comments in a linear fashion, probably similar to facebook's reply ability. It sometimes got ridiculous dealing with @Theogre @theogre2 @Ice Hellion @Chip @Chip2 @Chip3 @chip4 @ChipIamnottalkingtoyouanymore and having to go back and forth between your own answer and their comments.
On one hand,
Change! Panic!
On the other. I kinda like it.
I am much too excited by Solaris7's return.
Bug report thread should be started. I don't seem to have the option to start my own threads.
register account and recover password links have to be highlighted to see the data entry's label. (Black letters on Solaris 7 background.)
An are you human filter for registration may be in order as well.
Woot! We're back, baby! lol
Forum sub divisions in no particular order.
General
custom designs.
painting and modeling
Game play
forum role playing
Fan Fiction
The Not Battletech section.
website technical support.
Its all about the Armories. The draw of Solaris 7 for me has always been a place to showcase your work in fan fiction and custom designs. The forum on the Battletech site has pretty much all the bases covered when it comes to discussing things, but their custom design section is just a pile of designs on top of more designs on top of forgotten designs. Meanwhile S7 had about 5 times as many designs, and it wasn't impossible for even an ancient design to see the light of day once more. Especially with the most recent reviews being shown, drawing other members to look at and comment on said design. (Even the rating system is useful. Sure a bad review can cause drama. But one man's drama is another man's soap opera.)
Idea's on reviews and rating implementation exist, for when we get to that portion of the discussion.
Other thoughts, Any chance of an archived version of the previous incarnation of S7 being available or reinstated? (To the limits of, how much would a copy cost?) There is information there I would still like to reference.
Thanks Thunder,
I updated the categories, I've got some more ideas for that so they will change as I go.
So armories is a major point of interest? Were they useful *beyond* grouping designs by a single person into one place?
Yay! We're back!
clicked my old link for fun today, and wow, it's coming back! Skyhigh, I appreciate all the work you've given our community. From comments on other sites I realized just how much you had shouldered on your own. I do wish, however, that you had put out an appeal for financial help before shutting Solaris 7 down. It was a unique resource, I've not found anything like it since. There are many places where I can talk over the game, share ideas, but nothing like the armories/etc. That can't have been easy, and I'm sure it sometimes seemed that no one cared. We took it for granted and it went away, and I've missed it ever since. It is your site to do with as you please, but if you do decide that we can rebuild, please feel free to let us know what you need. I'm not a good coder, but I will send what I can if needed to keep the site up and running. Just let us know your thoughts and plans and we'll help to rebuild the place. My .02 c-bills.
S7 is back.
Better news I got on weeks ...
SkyHigh, Thunder, MajorTom ... it´s good to be at home another time.
SH, if you need some more hands. Count me in. And thanks to rebuild it another time ...
I think you resumed it pretty well Thunder.
I would only add the fiction section on that list ... we got pretty good fiction stories on S7 too.
Wow - I didn't even know S7 was offline - goes to show how involved I am. But one of the guys posted a note over on Astro Empires about it being back. Nice!
Right now, it looks like it is just a forum. I have a longing for my old designs that I posted years ago.
Skyhigh, I've been building websites for a couple years now (you've been doing it far longer, though). If there is anything I can do, just ask.
I think I agree with Thunder about the armories. That really was the heart and soul of S7. It was a huge encyclopedia of creativity by lots of people. There was so much detail and conversation about it all. I really think that should be a big part of it.
Solaris 7 back online. YES!
Good thing I kept my link to the site.
Anyway, I agree with Thunder, also. It's not Solaris 7 without the Armories, the Tech Readouts, even the Home-brewed rules.
Still, YES! Solaris 7 Functions once again.
I agree that armories were the main draw to S7. I think it would be neat to tie in the custom mech TROs to the forum so that the forums AND and the design posting both get used.
Maybe add an option to whatever mech posting dialog that ends up being used that automatically creates a forum post in the design subforum in place of a comment section on the design? Its late and I really haven't thought this through.
Still, it's good to see S7 back. Thanks SkyHigh.
one of the things that is o main battletech site and what is on www.ourbattletech.com is Expanded Universe and Alternate Universes..
woudn't it be a good idea to keep an aera for an AU with its fluff its fiction, its sourcebook(s) and its TRos and maybe armories /factories all linked to eachother and all one page...
really liked the old solaris7 especially the prawn battlearmor
Love Solaris7 and all that it was. Looking forward to being able to work on armories,
post designs while also getting polite, useful feedback. Never saw the use of crass
or inappropriate communication just because one could. Thankfully never had that
problem on Solaris7 and looking forward to that tradition continuing on this site. Good
job dude and glad to see you back. Let me know if I can help and I'll gladly do so, time,
work and all permitting. Again, good to see you back. Semper Fi.
Teufelhund
It seems we are slowly all getting back here.
I do think armouries and units were a plus as they allowed to make something of a bunch of designs and people by other ways as saying "the same company that built that also built that".
So happy to see the sight is up again.
Like most I would like to see armories and units, it was the best feature of the old sight, and what always brought me back.
But no matter what, glade to see it back! =)
YAY, S7 is back. My 6 and 7 year old sons are starting to really get interested in Battletech, so this is great news.
YAY, S7 is back. My 6 and 7 year old sons are starting to really get interested in Battletech, so this is great news.
More games to come
So great to see a lot of the old gang here!