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| Thread: Sponsoring your own custom HC features |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 · «PREV / NEXT» |
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted April 07, 2006 02:06 AM |
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Edited by Consis on 6 Apr 2006
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Well . . .
That would be great if we all lived near each other. But we don't and neither do most people have the capability to send money via internet. Many of the members here are simply children who are using their parents' computer.
My donation is meant for all. But I was hoping instead of a group of animated avatars . . . We could simply have one animated super-avatar that has been clearly designated as "worth it". Like Valeriy said, a vote would be needed on a group of animated avatars as to which one is the most beautifully desirable animated avatar that HC has to offer some of its most respected members. Thus far, my confidence is low due to such limiting avatar size requirements. The only one I've seen thus far that is even remotely decent is the phoenix and that's speaking politely.
I'm not saying Valeriy would ever raise his avatar kb allotments but if he did, I would surely vote for the animated avatar that was the most brilliantly colored, most representative of what HC members considered to be of high regard, and acceptable to Valeriy himself.
I say a single animated avatar should be more than adequate. You might associate it to be like a Nobel, Pulitzer, or Heisman trophy. I think there should certainly be a notable trophy associated with Heroes Community. Depending on how I feel about it, I might consider donating more money if it is truly that prestigious and masterful. But there would have to be some serious hard work, skillfull art, and appropriate Heroes Community representation for it to be worthy of healthy monetary donation.
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Roses Are Red And So Am I
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Korejora
Promising
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posted April 07, 2006 05:39 AM |
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Consis, you makin' fun of us kids? 
Hmm... Not to spill the fruit punch, but I'm not a big fan of the idea.
First, maybe not foremost, the avatar size limit is in place for a reason. HC loads very quickly even if you aren't on a particularily fast connection, because in general it's trim of any particularily large files, the exception being posts or threads that present themselves with an image. Whoever receives this prize you're suggesting would probably be very active on HC, so the avatar would appear often. I haven't had a dialup in sooo long, so I don't know how badly they'd be affected - since it would be the same image again and again - but I still think of them whenever I imagine a colourful animation...
More importantly, the thing about avatars is that people use those little pictures to represent themselves. Although the avatar will be an indication of being a noteworthy member, if more than one person had it... well, I guess I think people would mix them up, or think of them as the same person. If you only meant for one person to have it, then who would it be, would they even want it, and heck, would it even be allowed (as Valeriy said donations will not lead to personal exceptions)? *shrug*
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That's the best part. 
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kookastar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted April 07, 2006 10:17 AM |
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I would be willing to sponsor a... WAIT...Disclaimer: I do not know the correct technical jargon for what I am talking about so please forgive me/bear with me in my ignorance.
I would be willing to sponsor a tool(?) that would allow
a person posting/replying to have bold, italics, etc just by clicking on an icon. Also with adding smilies to posts, rather than having to insert the code.
I am guessing that this may be hard to do. I am not made of money but would be willing to pay if the price is right  I have seen this in other forums but really don't know what's involved.
What do you think?
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted April 07, 2006 05:12 PM |
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Bah . . .
I don't know . . .
It doesn't even have to be an animated avatar. It could be some kind of miniature trophy icon, rainbow star, or something of that nature . . . you know something like a medallion, icon certificate, or even a goofy smiley made to look like the HeroesCommunity jester.
I give up . . . Whatever . . .
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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Shadowcaster
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Shaded Scribe
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posted April 07, 2006 05:41 PM |
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Perhaps some sort of border like the modshield could be worked out?
My only problem with this idea is that I just don't see what the purpose of setting apart some members as more worthy of these things than others, regardless of their posting habits. If an idea is sponsored, it should be made available to everyone or not at all. Red stars are already available to signify members who consistently post intriguing material, so some other method of doing the same really won't accomplish much, but I doubt it would be too much of a strain to add some sort of flair. Exactly what would require brainstorming, but, in the end, it's up to Val whether or not to implement these ideas.
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>_>
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted April 07, 2006 11:03 PM |
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Well . . .
Valeriy is most wise and knowledgable regarding the nature of his Heroes Community. I wouldn't be able to comprehend the greater ramifications of what a larger-sized animated avatar would do. Within the confines of his kb canon, I don't see how anyone could possibly find even a handful of worthwhile animated avatars, much less 10 or 20, to choose from. The only avatar I've seen that is worthy under Valeriy's directives is the phoenix. And I wouldn't pay more than .25 cents for it to be accessible to everyone. (thus you understand my lack of enthusiasm)
Someone would need to put in some tediously long hours and hard work to find a sizeable variety selection that meet exactly what is acceptable to Valeriy. And I wonder . . . if it is even possible.
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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friendofgunnar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
able to speed up time
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posted April 08, 2006 12:03 AM |
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Consis, I read through your posts but I just ended up being confused about what exactly you were aiming for. We're you aiming for a set of animated HOMM gif's that everybody could pick from and you would pay for? Were you aiming for a feature where people with a certain number of QP's would get a little animated button or something? Or were you aiming for a feature where if you got a certain number of QP's you could increase the size limitation for your avatar.
As far as Gif's go:
1. The program that I was using to create the single panels for the .gif cartoons I discovered was making them twice as big as they need to be. If you have the right graphics program then I believe it's fully possible to squeeze these avatars K-sizes down.
2. When you are making gif's a standard tool is to create a little box where all the action is and leave the rest of the picture alone. This is another way to compress.
3. If you want to resize a gif you have to increase it's color depth to 16 million colors (or whatever), then resample it to a smaller size, then convert it back to 256 colors and then save it as a gif again. This is another tool to bring your avatar within the K requirements.
I think that 3K would be a reasonable limit for people who have attained 10 stars for their own personal avatar. I also suggest expanding on Khaelo's idea and making a new custom avatar available at every 5 star mark. All these numbers (3K, 10, 5) are of course subject to play.
I am, however, opposed to the idea of making a selection of HOMM animated gifs for the rabble (which currently includes me)to pick from.
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted April 08, 2006 01:59 AM |
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FriendOfGunnar
Quote:
We're you aiming for a set of animated HOMM gif's that everybody could pick from and you would pay for?
Yes
Quote:
Were you aiming for a feature where people with a certain number of QP's would get a little animated button or something?
Yes
Quote:
Or were you aiming for a feature where if you got a certain number of QP's you could increase the size limitation for your avatar?
No
Quote:
I also suggest expanding on Khaelo's idea and making a new custom avatar available at every 5 star mark.
I am opposed to Khaelo's idea.
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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Miru
Supreme Hero
A leaf in the river of time
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posted April 08, 2006 05:01 AM |
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I have 3 ideas for HC, but I cant pay for them.
1: Sponsor stars; You can pay val like 10 dollars (or the equivilant of in other money) and get a blue star to indicate you sponsor your community. This may make people feel unwelcome, or worse if they cant afford any, but thats a given. You could also earn stars for donating info/pics/etc to AoH. These stars could earn you more normal, or a animated custom avatar.
2: Purchasable avatars; You can get more avatars by buying them. By the time these avatars have sotcked up for val to need more memory for the sever, he'll have the money he needs to buy it.
3: New forum the catcombs or the archive; all old threads that have good points, had qps awarded, etc can be moved to this forum. Eg: all of the threads in altar of wishes anticipating HoMM 4 can be moved here to reduce clutter.
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I wish I were employed by a stupendous paragraph, with capitalized English words and expressions.
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Valeriy
Mage of the Land
Naughty, Naughty Valeriy
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posted April 08, 2006 10:48 PM |
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Consis, it is now completely unclear to me what you want. It is also frustrating that animated avatars were already being contributed and you've suddenly changed your mind about what you are wanting.
In order to proceed you need to supply the following:
1) a description of the feature written so clearly that someone who knows little about HC will understand it fully.
2) an exact donation offer that you are making for this feature.
If you do not know what you want or cannot describe it well please do not expend our time until you have certainty.
Special icon to signify a certain post/quality count - we already have red and yellow stars for that. I don't think unneeded complexity will be good.
After more thoughts about file size, here's an estimation. Say 10 avatars in a thread are animated, 15kb each. That's 130kb extra (over 2kb avatars). That is 26 seconds extra to load the page for a modem user. Of course there are things like browser cache, so most likely each avatar wouldn't have to be loaded again on every page in a single browser session.
Kookastar, that's a good feature idea. The complexity is simple to medium. You can make an offer for it.
Miru, giving some sort of under-avatar indication to people who sponsored HC is what I've been thinking for some years now. Problem is that some of them have chosen to remain anonymous, nonetheless, the idea could be started from now forward.
Including other kinds of contribution in this system (site help, ex-moderators, great ideas etc) would be very difficult, create a lot of extra work and debate about who deserves it, who doesn't, and how much. So I think if it is to be made, it needs to stay purely as an indication of financial contribution - that leaves no debate as to who is elligible.
Unlike red stars, these stars would not affect anything. The only thing they do is give visual recognition to people who contributed financially. Also, most people would prefer sponsoring a feature over making a donation, so we could end up with more great features being sponsored and HC becoming better as a result. The system would be point-based, just like red stars and QPs.
I'd like to ask for everyone's suggestions as to whether you think this idea is worthwhile and whether you see anything negative that could come out of it.
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You can wait for others to do it, but if they don't know how, you'll wait forever.
Be an example of what you want to see on HC and in the world.
http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com
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kookastar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted April 08, 2006 10:56 PM |
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Thanks Val - I will think about the offer.
As to the donation for stars thing. I personally don't like it - some of us have more of an ability to donate than others. That doesn't mean that those who can't afford it or don't have the means to do so wouldn't love to send you money
I just hate the idea of being able to "buy" stars - it also gets messy because do you give stars based on the amount donated - a percentage of income, how often, etc.
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Khaelo
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Underwater
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posted April 08, 2006 11:08 PM |
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In the other forum I like, they have a subscriber system. Subscribers, along with benefits like an unmoderated forum, have their usernames in bold and special colors. I haven't seen any particular problems with the indications for subscribers, no elitism or whatnot. Mostly, people ignore them. My guess is that they would be innocuous here also.
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 Cleverly
disguised as a responsible adult
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Valeriy
Mage of the Land
Naughty, Naughty Valeriy
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posted April 08, 2006 11:22 PM |
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Yes, it is a dillema. There is a vast difference in people's disposable income and having access to a credit card or not. Some people might want to do this and be unable to, and for some its easy as a waiter tip. And for some in between it's a contribution. The downside of not implementing this is that contributors won't get the recognition. If we take into account the income levels, or frequency it gets too messy as you said. I think it should be 1 point per $1. Then blue stars correspond to point amounts. For example 10 points - 1 blue star, 50 points - 2 blue stars, 100 points - 3 blue stars. And it's important that these stars do not do anything, and do not add anything to the rank (rank ex "promising famous hero"). I think people will be silly to buy stars that don't do anything, and I don't think others can be disadvantaged by that. These stars therefore do not indicate any personal qualities or status, just financial contribution.
This is a speculative post, do post more opinions.
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You can wait for others to do it, but if they don't know how, you'll wait forever.
Be an example of what you want to see on HC and in the world.
http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com
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kookastar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted April 08, 2006 11:37 PM |
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I like the 'subscriber' idea better, or maybe just a symbol signifying a contribution- like a "sponser" once a set amount has been donated. The whole idea of a donation however is surely not for a reward other than either the 'tool' asked for or for feeling good
If the stars go up with contributions it may be like a signal of who is the richest people around here - or am I just too left
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TNT_Addict
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Beautiful Liar
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posted April 08, 2006 11:44 PM |
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The last post made by Valeriy sounds pretty good and covers all the aspects of this dillema. If you don't have any money so don't contribute it's that easy but don't interfere if other people would like to give something back to the community in a financial form.
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Please
click and help me out!! Thanks!!
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kookastar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted April 08, 2006 11:50 PM |
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If you were directing that post at me... I wasn't trying to interfere with people making contributions to HC, and if giving stars is enough to get people to do this then I think it is a great idea.
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted April 08, 2006 11:54 PM |
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Er . . . Uh . . .
I like to think of myself as being a poster of some recognizable merit. However, after having gone back and reread through each of my posts in this thread: This is clearly not the case. I apparently seem to have such discombobulating talent and skill of flummoxing might and sway that I actually managed to befuddle even myself! Now try to tell me that I'm not recognizable! Ha!
Okaaaaay . . . perhaps if we forget everything I said and move on from there? People will please not be so frustrated with me?
Other Side of the Monitor - Consis = Good
Turban Tribunal - Consis = Disconcerting the orchestra(very bad)
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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Miru
Supreme Hero
A leaf in the river of time
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posted April 09, 2006 12:10 AM |
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No I meant any sort of contribution - not just monetary - to either of val's sites (AoH & HC) could give you blue stars.
Examples:
1 Consis (who apparently has mony to burn) could pay money to val, so val could add a new feature, or buy an extra custom avatar for himself(consis). This would earn him(consis) blue stars (# depends on size of contribution)
2 Me/Sfidanza/ThE_HyDrA/etc.. donate info or pics from HoMM 5 to AoH, so we get blue stars (again, depending on the size of the contribution)
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I wish I were employed by a stupendous paragraph, with capitalized English words and expressions.
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FriendOfGunnar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
able to speed up time
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posted April 09, 2006 05:58 AM |
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Here's just an idea to mull over. If a person donates $5 then he gets a blue ribbon on his member profile. $20 gets a blue shield. $50 gets a blue coat of arms on the member profile. That way you can recognize the benefactors without cluttering up the regular HC pages with blue stars and whatnot. Then every year the member profiles are reset.
(BTW Val, just a warning. If you implement recognition of benefactors then you will surely get more money but you will also begin to get attitudes of "Well I donated $50 and therefore that gives me a say in what goes on here and what you're doing is wrong. Just a prediction and a warning.")
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william
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
LummoxLewis
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posted April 09, 2006 06:07 AM |
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Heres a couple of things that I have thought of:
1- When a person say donates about $50 to HC, then their Flood Protect will go away for maybe 2 or 3 days.
2- When a person maybe posts more than 1000 posts, then they have no flood portect for ever, and then if their posts get deleted, and their post count drops below 1000, then their flood portect will go to the normal.
3- If you get over $100 then you will get a blue star, and that means that you will get no flood protect, and you can visit the Mod squad section thingy for 1 day only.
4- You should be able to copy and paste Tables into your posts, such as if you have a table of stas of the units that you are talking about like me for examle, then you will be able to put the tables into the posts.
5- You should be able to copy and paste pictures of the things that you want to put in. This should apply if you have over 10 red stars.
6- If you get over -1 qp then your post count should maybe drop down by 10, then if you get another +qp, then it will go back to normal.
Hope you like my ideas
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