Important Social Group House Cleaning Announcement

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Jeckel

Terrarian
Greetings, Members of Terraria Community Forums!

Today the TCF Staff have an important announcement. Starting this month and continuing over the next few months we are going to begin the process of cleaning up the various Social Groups sections of the forum: Non-Terraria Discussion Groups, Terraria Discussion Groups, Terraria Clans & Server Groups, and Forum Roleplay - Terraria and Non-Terraria.

This house cleaning is accompanied by an update to the Terraria Social Groups: Rules & Guidelines thread that seeks to draw a clearer line about what types of groups are and aren't allowed here on the forum. If you are or plan to be the owner or moderator of a group, then it is highly recommended that you read the linked thread. Our primary goal with both the house cleaning and the rule update is to bring the groups and the content they contain more in line with the forum as a whole.

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Why is this happening now?

This is something that has been on the back burner for quite a while now and has taken some time to get organized. The main catalyst behind this plan is the overwhelming number of groups that are empty, are inactive, or were created with the - most likely unintentional - purpose of side-stepping the general rules of the forum. Our hope is that performing this pruning will make it easier for members to find groups of interest to them and will allow the staff to better monitor those active groups that remain.

When will this start and how long will it take?

With the posting of this announcement thread, the process is already in motion and we are allowing up to a few months for it to be fully completed. Please be patient, as this is a large undertaking. The staff would prefer it to take longer and have it done right than hurrying and missing a group that should go, or removing a group that should stay.

What groups will be removed?

First, let me assure you that the staff have been and will be looking at each group individually to properly weigh its purpose and activity. No group will be cut without being investigated for its relevance to the forum. As to which groups will be removed, this endeavor will start with the Non-Terraria Discussion Groups, then the Terraria Discussion Groups, followed by the Terraria Clans & Server Groups, and finally the Forum Roleplay Groups. As each section is processed in turn the same roadmap will be followed.
  1. Empty groups will be removed first.
  2. Groups inactive since 2014 will be removed next.
  3. Then inactive 2015 groups with practically no content.
  4. Followed by 2015 groups with little besides chitchat.
  5. Finally, remaining 2015 groups will be considered in order of amount and type of content.
Groups that were active in 2016 are exempt from this round of clean up, but will be looked at after everything in the above list has been processed for each of the forum social group sections.

Can I exempt a group by posting in it now?

No. Posts made after November 22, 2016 will have no effect on this process as a record has already been made of which groups are empty and which ones were last active in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

What does this mean for me?

Most members will feel little to no impact from this process. However, some may find their post and/or like counts decreased when groups they participated in are removed. Since post and like counts do not relate to any forum systems, this should still have very little impact on those members beyond a number being slightly lower than it was before. In some cases, certain posts and/or threads may be archived, instead of being completely removed, and this should limit the loss of post and like counts where the staff deem it appropriate.

If you are the owner of one or more social groups, then you may find that some of them disappear. If you have any questions about why your group was removed, the answer can probably be found by reading the updated Social Groups Rules thread, but you are entirely welcome to contact a member of the staff through a private message and ask for an explanation. As the one heading up the project, Jeckel is probably the most direct line to an answer, but as usual any member of the staff would be happy to help answer your inquiries.

What about my group's content?

In general, larger groups that contain content other than discussion (ie art, literature, member-run projects, etc), one week in advance a notice thread will be posted in the group informing the membership of its pending removal, but in most cases no prior notice will be given and at no point will group owners, moderators, or members be individually contacted. So if you are an owner or member of a small, disused, or inactive group and there is content that you wish to save, it is recommended that you do so sooner rather than later and the forum staff will not be held responsible for any content that is lost due to the removal of a social group.

It is important to note that things will be handled in a slightly different way for Forum Roleplay groups. Since it is difficult for the staff to determine what roleplay content should be saved, it has been determined that roleplay groups will not be individually notified of pending removal. Instead, the Forum Roleplay section will be the last one processed. Also, a week prior to the processing of that section, a general public notice will be posted and owners, moderators, and members of roleplay groups which have been inactive since 2015 or earlier will have from the posting of this thread until a week after the posting of said general public notice to save any content they wish to keep from those groups.

UPDATE: Forum Roleplay Social Group Cleaning Notification has been posted on January 4th and processing of that section will begin on January 11th.

Should I recreate a deleted group?

If you are the owner, moderator, or member of a group that is deleted, then, no, you should not recreate the group. Doing so will be treated similar to recreating a thread that was locked and will have corresponding consequences. Beyond that, when creating any group from this point forward, ensure that you are following the Social Groups Rules & Guidelines and you should be alright.

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The TCF Staff thanks you for your attention to this matter and we hope that this project will ultimately improve the quality of the forum for all involved. If anyone has questions or comments, please post them below and we will do our best to respond.
 
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Greetings, Members of Terraria Community Forums!

Today the TCF Staff have an important announcement. Starting this month and continuing over the next few months we are going to begin the process of cleaning up the various Social Groups sections of the forum: Non-Terraria Discussion Groups, Terraria Discussion Groups, Terraria Clans & Server Groups, and Forum Roleplay - Terraria and Non-Terraria.

This house cleaning is accompanied by an update to the Terraria Social Groups: Rules & Guidelines thread that seeks to draw a clearer line about what types of groups are and aren't allowed here on the forum. If you are or plan to be the owner or moderator of a group, then it is highly recommended that you read the linked thread. Our primary goal with both the house cleaning and the rule update is to bring the groups and the content they contain more in line with the forum as a whole.

divider.png

Why is this happening now?

This is something that has been on the back burner for quite a while now and has taken some time to get organized. The main catalyst behind this plan is the overwhelming number of groups that are empty, are inactive, or were created with the - most likely unintentional - purpose of side-stepping the general rules of the forum. Our hope is that performing this pruning will make it easier for members to find groups of interest to them and will allow the staff to better monitor those active groups that remain.

When will this start and how long will it take?

With the posting of this announcement thread, the process is already in motion and we are allowing up to a few months for it to be fully completed. Please be patient, as this is a large undertaking. The staff would prefer it to take longer and have it done right than hurrying and missing a group that should go, or removing a group that should stay.

What groups will be removed?

First, let me assure you that the staff have been and will be looking at each group individually to properly weigh its purpose and activity. No group will be cut without being investigated for its relevance to the forum. As to which groups will be removed, this endeavor will start with the Non-Terraria Discussion Groups, then the Terraria Discussion Groups, followed by the Terraria Clans & Server Groups, and finally the Forum Roleplay Groups. As each section is processed in turn the same roadmap will be followed.
  1. Empty groups will be removed first.
  2. Groups inactive since 2014 will be removed next.
  3. Then inactive 2015 groups with practically no content.
  4. Followed by 2015 groups with little besides chitchat.
  5. Finally, remaining 2015 groups will be considered in order of amount and type of content.
Groups that were active in 2016 are exempt from this round of clean up, but will be looked at after everything in the above list has been processed for each of the forum social group sections.

Can I exempt a group by posting in it now?

No. Posts made after November 22, 2016 will have no effect on this process as a record has already been made of which groups are empty and which ones were last active in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

What does this mean for me?

Most members will feel little to no impact from this process. However, some may find their post and/or like counts decreased when groups they participated in are removed. Since post and like counts do not relate to any forum systems, this should still have very little impact on those members beyond a number being slightly lower than it was before. In some cases, certain posts and/or threads may be archived, instead of being completely removed, and this should limit the loss of post and like counts where the staff deem it appropriate.

If you are the owner of one or more social groups, then you may find that some of them disappear. If you have any questions about why your group was removed, the answer can probably be found by reading the updated Social Groups Rules thread, but you are entirely welcome to contact a member of the staff through a private message and ask for an explanation. As the one heading up the project, Jeckel is probably the most direct line to an answer, but as usual any member of the staff would be happy to help answer your inquiries.

What about my group's content?

In general, larger groups that contain content other than discussion (ie art, literature, member-run projects, etc), one week in advance a notice thread will be posted in the group informing the membership of its pending removal, but in most cases no prior notice will be given and at no point will group owners, moderators, or members be individually contacted. So if you are an owner or member of a small, disused, or inactive group and there is content that you wish to save, it is recommended that you do so sooner rather than later and the forum staff will not be held responsible for any content that is lost due to the removal of a social group.

It is important to note that things will be handled in a slightly different way for Forum Roleplay groups. Since it is difficult for the staff to determine what roleplay content should be saved, it has been determined that roleplay groups will not be individually notified of pending removal. Instead, the Forum Roleplay section will be the last one processed. Also, a week prior to the processing of that section, a general public notice will be posted and owners, moderators, and members of roleplay groups which have been inactive since 2015 or earlier will have from the posting of this thread until a week after the posting of said general public notice to save any content they wish to keep from those groups.

Should I recreate a deleted group?

If you are the owner, moderator, or member of a group that is deleted, then, no, you should not recreate the group. Doing so will be treated similar to recreating a thread that was locked and will have corresponding consequences. Beyond that, when creating any group from this point forward, ensure that you are following the Social Groups Rules & Guidelines and you should be alright.

divider.png

The TCF Staff thanks you for your attention to this matter and we hope that this project will ultimately improve the quality of the forum for all involved. If anyone has questions or comments, please post them below and we will do our best to respond.
Glad to hear this, I had a few social groups I had that I was too lazy to use
 
This seems like a good thing, but I have to set my mind at ease. What about ones with a lot of tutorials? Do I need to frantically copy down the tutorials in Izzabelle's Illustration Academy for later use?
 
This seems like a good thing, but I have to set my mind at ease. What about ones with a lot of tutorials? Do I need to frantically copy down the tutorials in Izzabelle's Illustration Academy for later use?

Social Groups that have seen more activity and have relevant content in them will not be affected as soon as Social Groups that are inactive or have very little relevant content in them. Even with this as the case, I'd personally recommend copying and saving any of your content you want to keep from any Social Groups you are in.
 
This seems like a good thing, but I have to set my mind at ease. What about ones with a lot of tutorials? Do I need to frantically copy down the tutorials in Izzabelle's Illustration Academy for later use?

If a group has had activity in 2016, then the group will not be removed. Looking at the mentioned group, it was last active in Sep 2016, so it will not be affected by this project. :)
 
Sounds like a good thing.
First I was afraid that some of the groups I've participated in will be affected. But I can't even remember any group that has been inactive for almost a year.

I'll say go for it.
 
I have a few questions:
Are all social groups inactive since 2015 or before to be removed? That's the idea I got from this, but will there be exceptions?

You can't exempt a group by just posting once now but what if people start posting with an actual want to have it stay? Things could be revived given the length of this.

(There was a third question, but I forgot it so I'll just post these two :p)
 
Woah woah woah, :red:, this is something which messes me up pretty bad. Please give me like a week on this, I've got old writing stuffs and coursework which I had to shove in there as an emergency measure after my hard-drive got ballsed-up. I need to lift it all off.

Edit: Oh, Forum Roleplay is being dealt with last. In that case, I'll be fine. Just want to keep some old content from aged RPs, characters I enjoyed, I like to keep track of that sort of thing so I have a reference to see how well I've improved (or not) as the years go by.

As a sidenote, if you do need some help determining what RP content is fairly integral and what stuff can be sold down the river; well, for better or worse I think most would agree I can lend a fair amount of insight into that... I've spied on pretty much everything going over the (2) years. Insert, Wyverntamer, Coyotus, and MechonRaptor are also long-time stalwarts of the RP community who (importantly) have participated in a mix of both casual and walk-in RPs, as well as the much sweatier RPs, so they can lend some unweighted insight.
 
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That's a lot of work you're taking on!
Good luck.

Also, if people need a good place to backup SGs to, you're welcome to use my SG (in my signature) as it's already home to some similar stuff.
 
I have a few questions:
Are all social groups inactive since 2015 or before to be removed? That's the idea I got from this, but will there be exceptions?

You can't exempt a group by just posting once now but what if people start posting with an actual want to have it stay? Things could be revived given the length of this.

I second this question, though, from my own initial cursory analysis, I have to admit that I can count on one hand easily the number of RPs circa 2015 or earlier that (to my knowledge) people have actively talked about reviving or rebooting. The vast majority of them have been mothballed. Some of them have been mothballed but are still frequently discussed, and mentioned, and cared about... such as 'RWBY: Hunters of Remnant', 'Klein Star: The Hunt Begins' and I'd argue your own 'Pokemon: Sky and Sea' to rattle off a few examples, but at least a third of the RP Groups consist of RPs which either never actually started, or only accrued a handful of posts before dropping. Ones that I daresay no-one would really miss.

Those are the easy removals, where it gets more difficult is talking on the more aged but in their time moderately-successful RPs. Honestly, I think TCF has a fantastic RP culture, the best I've seen on any website including forums that are supposedly devoted to written Roleplay! I'd even argue that us lot, we've got heritage. It's just discerning which of the older RPs people still remember, people still even need to reference, and which are moreso a bit of fun in their time which are now out-dated and forgotten.

And I'm not sure whether the intent of this clear is foremost on making sure that what's there can be observed, or whether it's more about purely reducing the data weigh the social groups have on TCF. If it's mostly on the latter, you could save what must be thousands of pages simply by removing all of the old OOC threads, the vast majority of which was either small talk, banter and memes or discussion specifically pertaining to the progression of that RP - none of which is especially important to retain now the RP's no longer active. The gravy, what I'd want to be considered for saving, that's the character threads and the IC threads purely.
 
This is an interesting issue for sure. I'd assume the main reason of this is to reduce clutter, rather than server room (though I could be wrong). What about creating an RP SG that can serve as an archive for old RPs? - the important threads (the actual story & characters) could be moved there, (and probably renamed slightly to be sorted easily), and the SG set to read only. That way, the old posts are safe (and can be referred to).
I appreciate that this would be a lot of work, but I'm sure TCF members would be willing to help out if needed.
 
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This is an interesting issue for sure. I'd assume the main reason of this is to reduce clutter, rather than server room (though I could be wrong). What about creating an RP SG that can serve as an archive for old RPs - the important threads (the actual story & characters) could be moved there, (and probably renamed slightly to be sorted easily), and the SG set to read only. That way, the old posts are safe (and can be referred to).
I appreciate that this would be a lot of work, but I'm sure TCF members would be willing to help out if needed.

I think this is a very good idea, though, that would be a whole lot of shifting - you might need a few SGs allotted for the purpose, either sorted roughly by genre or by era as at a guess you'd be talking a good 150 eligible threads transferred, which would make for one FAT Social Group. Mind, The Island has a great many threads too and it's not that difficult to navigate.
 
I think all the forums I use are fine, so my post count should stay the same, and my progress won't be lost. I guess it is about time for a mass cleanup.



(I may have just posted to be on the first page XD)
 
I think all the forums I use are fine, so my post count should stay the same, and my progress won't be lost. I guess it is about time for a mass cleanup.



(I may have just posted to be on the first page XD)
Me, @i deserve challenjour gg , @Blue the Swordsman and many others will be greatly affected by this. I'm pretty sure that posts perhaps into even the thousands for me and Blue will be removed along with the subforums. I guess all that will be lost are good old memories as opposed to what you refer to as "progress", but I'm one of those people that likes to be able to look back at absolutely everything.

When TO was removed I used the wayback to save threads I would want to look at again, such as the original Pokémon: Legends threads, the mega sword that reaches 12 blocks in front of u...
I'll probably do something similar here if Pokémon: Legends is eligible for removal (and I have no reason to believe it's not), and I might even do it for other less big RPs that never really took off but I might still want to remember.
Maybe RP Clash, even, just to remember how it died from too much activity. :p
 
Me, @i deserve challenjour gg , @Blue the Swordsman and many others will be greatly affected by this. I'm pretty sure that posts perhaps into even the thousands for me and Blue will be removed along with the subforums. I guess all that will be lost are good old memories as opposed to what you refer to as "progress", but I'm one of those people that likes to be able to look back at absolutely everything.

When TO was removed I used the wayback to save threads I would want to look at again, such as the original Pokémon: Legends threads, the mega sword that reaches 12 blocks in front of u...
I'll probably do something similar here if Pokémon: Legends is eligible for removal (and I have no reason to believe it's not), and I might even do it for other less big RPs that never really took off but I might still want to remember.
Maybe RP Clash, even, just to remember how it died from too much activity. :p
Going from 20+ k to ~1 k real fast, along with the cringe factor of old memories that are still somewhat enjoyable. Looking on the bright side, less people will post on my profile. Hopefully.
 
Me, @i deserve challenjour gg , @Blue the Swordsman and many others will be greatly affected by this. I'm pretty sure that posts perhaps into even the thousands for me and Blue will be removed along with the subforums. I guess all that will be lost are good old memories as opposed to what you refer to as "progress", but I'm one of those people that likes to be able to look back at absolutely everything.

When TO was removed I used the wayback to save threads I would want to look at again, such as the original Pokémon: Legends threads, the mega sword that reaches 12 blocks in front of u...
I'll probably do something similar here if Pokémon: Legends is eligible for removal (and I have no reason to believe it's not), and I might even do it for other less big RPs that never really took off but I might still want to remember.
Maybe RP Clash, even, just to remember how it died from too much activity. :p

Hmm, it's true it wasn't the first thing I had on my mind, but I guess it's true the removals would instantly tank my own post and like count to I'd estimate, 300/3000 respectively. In all though I'm moreso bothered about preserving the memories and work - and many of these are works, quite some have really put great time and their hearts into keeping with and taking these RPs to new levels - that have been what I'd dare say a fairly integral part of the past 2 years for a good 3 dozen people.

The means of and needs for the process increasingly confuse me, I'd figured it was a simple issue of data usage but after a nap to clear my head some (I'm quite ill as I write), it occurred to me that actually by far the largest (and arguably most useless) data draw outside of standard threads must surely be the old private and group conversations. I mean, just looking through it for myself, the Dynasty of Data Banter Set have driven up over a thousand pages of chatter over 4 different convos, through the Forums' lifespan. I'd be flabbergasted if we were the only group to be such loudmouths, too.

There's no way I'm letting Legends fall into the abyss, though. The skulking journeys of Cayress Marr, the punch-in-face-first-ask-questions-never nature of the questionably-named GOD; the haughty self-surety of Lily, the fur-coat-clad thuggery of the braindead Marrick; these and more, they're all even now characters I recall and register a plethora of emotions with me, even if the RP objectively had a great many poor moments. I'll still painstakingly copy-over the entire thing if I have to.
 
Hmm, it's true it wasn't the first thing I had on my mind, but I guess it's true the removals would instantly tank my own post and like count to I'd estimate, 300/3000 respectively. In all though I'm moreso bothered about preserving the memories and work - and many of these are works, quite some have really put great time and their hearts into keeping with and taking these RPs to new levels - that have been what I'd dare say a fairly integral part of the past 2 years for a good 3 dozen people.

The means of and needs for the process increasingly confuse me, I'd figured it was a simple issue of data usage but after a nap to clear my head some (I'm quite ill as I write), it occurred to me that actually by far the largest (and arguably most useless) data draw outside of standard threads must surely be the old private and group conversations. I mean, just looking through it for myself, the Dynasty of Data Banter Set have driven up over a thousand pages of chatter over 4 different convos, through the Forums' lifespan. I'd be flabbergasted if we were the only group to be such loudmouths, too.

There's no way I'm letting Legends fall into the abyss, though. The skulking journeys of Cayress Marr, the punch-in-face-first-ask-questions-never nature of the questionably-named GOD; the haughty self-surety of Lily, the fur-coat-clad thuggery of the braindead Marrick; these and more, they're all even now characters I recall and register a plethora of emotions with me, even if the RP objectively had a great many poor moments. I'll still painstakingly copy-over the entire thing if I have to.
Wasn't the first thing I thought of either, but deleting threads also means erasing the existence of all posts within it. That means that many, many roleplayers on the most posts list will be lowered down quite a lot. Of course, the most posts list isn't really important and people argue about it, but the roleplay section is a host of a lot of memories and that was the first thing I thought about, as I assume was the same for you.

I've seen my fair share of over-1000-page-convos. Quite a lot of them. 20 posts per page, and at this point I'd reckon around 10,000 total convo pages in my inbox (perhaps even more or maybe a handful less- I didn't check to count, this is just off of the top of my head) so that accounts to approximately 200,000 posts unseen to everyone except me and a couple of others. I'll bet we aren't the only ones with thousands of conversation messages, either, so that's probably a majority of the forum's space.

Cayress was probably the best thing to happen to legends, honestly, and if he weren't there the thing would have been significantly less funny or memorable to look through and remember. I have you to thank for that. :p
Although, even then, it's the first RP I ever made, so it's one of those things I'd want to keep anyway. It's one of those things I just want to do.
(I think @Bill Cipher will share similar feelings towards Legends with you. I know how much he loved it.)
 
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