TIGSource Forums

Over the past, say, two or three weeks, I've been noticing that the main site is down a hell of a lot. Especially during my daytime (it's 4:40 PM Nov 5th here, which seems to mean 8:40 PM Nov 4th there). It just refuses to load.

Now I'm sitting here, and I'm wondering, is this just a problem for me, or have others noticed it too? Is there a reason for it - maintanance or somesuch? And why is it happening now, and never previously?

Nope, I've noticed it too.

I've noticed it as well, but I don't really check the main site, but once a day.

Can't even access it most of the time.

Same here; worried am I.

Yes, the site doesn't work more often than it does work.

It's a little scary.

Yeah, I've had it happen too.  I hope it's not pretentious indie hackers from PIGScene...

What them other folk said.

Guess it's obvious now, but so have I.

Yeah, me too.  I'm going to ask Jeff about it.

Wait, this was happening to everybody? Wow. Well, there ya go. I'm really fond of the front page, so I always like to give it a look. I assume this is happening for non-forum members as well, which is terrible for us in the long run.

WELL WELL: Looks like the main site's working now. There haven't been ANY comments for a good 12 hours. You know, I'm wondering, as I do, how many unique visitors show up on the TIGS front page who don't view/lurk/post on the Forums? I mean, I used to (rather avidly in fact) about a year and a half ago. Out of interest, I suppose. I really like these statisticsy things.

Hmm, that's another suggestion right there! More incedental statistics in our "forum statistics" page!

I love that you're just as semi-apathetic as the rest of us (it has been two weeks after all).  ;D

This nasty little aspect didn't even register until you mentioned it; shit.   :(

Same here, I don't even care aout the main site anymore.

I thought it was my browser. But the news became less and less interesting (to me at least) so I didn't check it out as regularly anyway :T

It seems to depend much on the daytime. I also had the case that the main page was down, while the forums worked fine the same time. To me, the main page appears to work better during US nighttime and early morning.

Hrmm, you know, this lack of interest in the Front Page is kind of an issue, isn't it? I mean, the stuff there is a little different to the forum content, and it's nicely presented, AND if we don't care, what does everyone else think?

I think we're all kind of close to this place, but has the Front slipped into a regular indie gameblog without us noticing, rather than the informative and somewhat charming one which got us to stay here in the first place?

There is that TIGProvement thread, but most of the discussion focussed on the forums. But, if the above is the case, maybe we should all take a good look at what to do with the Front.

I'm more interested in the "making of" than playing games. So the forums are way more interesting to me. If there are more of this sort of people it will explain why here among the forum people we don't see so much interest in the main page. But I assume that a different group of people will be much more interested in the main page, they just don't voice themselves on this forum.

EXACTLY! I mean, I agree, the making process and design and such is fascinating, it's why I'm here. But, I like the frontpage too - gaming's great too.

Perhaps there should be the weekll/biweekly/whatever "art/design/music/etc" special written by like, ANYONE from the extended community. I think that's been suggested, though. And just meatier content, I suppose.

This could do with a thread! If people give a damn. This thread! Shall I recomission it once Frontpage Dramas are good and done with?

Personally, I think it's still informative and somewhat charming. It's not the way the news got presented but much rather the news itself that got more and more boring. The articles that peaked my interest in so far that I actually CLICKED the link in the RSS feed instead of just going "meh" where the two articles about recommended ZZT Games and Ohrrpgce games. I can't exactly put my finger down on why these two interested me more than the rest of the blog entries.

Then again, I'm not really the group the blog aims at either, am I? I see the blog as some sort of filter of the indie scene/community, in particular this forum. Guys like me hang out in this forum daily and just see the stuff happening first hand. Most of the times when stuff lands on the blog, it's already old news for me.
It's really more for the guys who aren't in the forums daily or simply don't wanna keep track of EVERYTHING that happens here.

The hard part about improving the blog would be that we could only ask the guys for improvements that sit BEHIND the blog and make the news (speak us), not the ones that sit in front of it and read them.

I always read the front page.  My bookmark goes to the front page and I hit the forums link from there.  Only recently have I had to make a second bookmark for the forum as a backup.

Wow I just debating on whether to make this topic or not.

IMO frontpage and f0s have different audiences

I love 'em both. After all the frontpage is what got me to look at the forums in the first place. I think that the frontpage is inexorably linked to the forums and should compliment the forums rather than be a separate entity. Sadly, as has been noted here, I have rarely been visiting the frontpage lately due to the downtime :(

I think to fix this divide that has occurred (and yeah, I'm a part of it too; I don't visit the front page nearly as much as I did before joining the forums) we need more developer oriented content on the front page.  We could even have a "hide developer content" button for those people that didn't want to be bothered by it.

Well, I'm more of a gamer than a designer, and I've still managed to eke out 1,500 posts in the forums. I've always thought of TIGS as more of a community effort, with elements for both gamers and creators. I think isolating or deleting either part would leave both groups worse off.

I personally think it needs more articles that are written from own accord, and not based on some news that were grabbed somewhere on the forums or the internet (not grabbed in the sense of copypasta, mind you). Like that two "The best whatever" articles. These kinda came out of the blue.

I agree, and I think that's the current problem with the front page.  As can be seen in this thread, a lot of developers have started to become isolated in the forums.  A little dev content on the main page certainly wouldn't hurt.

Can you give us links to discussions on this topic? (Community-contributed posts) I ask you, because I'm pretty clueless about what to enter into the search engine.

Just key words would even help :)

I think that having a developer section would be a great addition to the main page and would also create a greater cohesion between the forums and the front page. I am all for it.  :beer:

IMO the frontpage needs nothing more than ...just being online once in a while.

Oh. So it's site's fault, after all, not mine.  :-[


Good point; the main page is slanted to a more mainstream perspective (fitting, considering that it is where most non-developers will get their indie news), which forum people might not care about as much as the actual development and community-produced projects.

Of course, if the front page is down all the time, some of us have no choice but to become isolated in the forums, I suppose. >:( Damn you, PIGScene!

I actually started really posting in the forums because TIGSource has been down and I need my daily dose of TIG.  ::)

Okay, Jeff tol' me he's looking into it!


Haha, well... since the site has been slow, it seems like there have been less trolls on the front page.  Also, Jeff and I have both been busy of late.

I'd love to get these problems sorted out once and for all, though.  Step by step...

Hm, looks to me like it's already been fixed.

Nice work, Jeff!

Anonymous trolling on the front page is a gentleman's sport :gentleman:

Has the site been down like all day today for people?

That it has.

Yep.  :'(

Works for me now.

Ah, now it is working  :beer:

Still loads a bit slow though...

It's not working for me now. It's taking a lot to load (I'm talking minutes here), and when it finally "finishes" I get this server reply:

Yeah, there's something broken.  We're going to try and fix it once and for all.

if you read it as
it sounds totally badass.

It would have been even more badass with this picture of fucking THOR! :eyebrows:

(http://www.amazingcomics.it/thor5web.jpg)

you need to include some badass double guitar wailing, as well.

Hmm...how to make even better...

Um...Motorcycles?  Topless Chicks?  Contra?

(Aw man, that was pathetic.  My manliness is suffering lately...it's all this non-game designing I'm doing, makes you less of a man...at least according to my little brother.)

What's up with that pic anyway?

It's like those creepy lifeless Poser models.

I think Derek is trying to scare people away.

Are you referring to the front page furry pic by any chance?

(http://www.tigsource.com/emopanda.gif)

Because yeah, eww! Furry is gross!

I think Derek is trying to inject some of his emo furry fetish into TIGS.

It is so not working!

Best of luck getting the main site online.

See, this got me all excited because I thought we were talking about Jon Mikl Thor but I went back a page and it was Marvel Comics Thor.

Which would have been even more totally badass.

I thought it was HILARIOUS. :D

I, for one, embrace our new Emo Panda friend

And I still can't find my shotgun.

Its in you're avatarl, dumbass :-X

(http://cmtvarok.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/doh.jpg)

I would kill it but I know that deep down, it's what it really wants.

uh oh!....



i think its kinda cute....im so sorry

Just searching for information about the absence of TIGSource, but there I need to defend the fine frontpage.
It's not only a newsfeed, but a compendium. I rarely read all blog posts but use the site as a link- an searchbase. Which works superfine, I don't keep bookmarks for the dwarf fortress development or the RPS site or whatever though I visit them very often through TIGSource.
The only problem in my opinion is the rivaltry of TIGdb over game reviews. It kind of bloats the expectations on the content.

uuh, anyway, please continue to burn away my freetime, folks!

Your nickname brings back bad memories. Welcome! :)

I wish I could instill bad memories in people with my name alone.

oh, you already do.

You should've chosen a worse drug name, then.

Wonder if I should change my name to speedball then?

Speedball is one of the "fun" drugs. I'm talking about pharmaceuticals.

So I guess that's the Emo Panda or something, a la twitter's Fail Whale?

While the site is down, please replace that furry anthro Skankvil Crapvigne (Avril Lavigne) pic on the front. Gross. Why not have a pixelated cartoon Panda rpg style to reflect the indie game scene spirit - if you like panda's so much, old chap. With that weird furry thing, I'm afraid to open the page at work.

Good! You should be working at work!

Tell that to River Phoenix.

Notice the quotations marks, indicating the ironic subtext within that post.

Maybe he has a job like mine, where the description is essentially sitting in the chair to make sure no one steals money out of the drawer? So technically, he is working?

I wish I had work like that.

My job right now is having a boss with absolutely ridiculous demands.

And if we're gonna go with emo panda, at least get something cute.

Like this:

(http://fc91.deviantart.com/fs27/f/2008/179/5/8/584c5b558fdaf5750c2c8651c4539728.jpg)

Kinda happy though. And you'd probably need artist permission or something.

Daniel is pretty cool about stuff though. Just have to get past the ego.