Please excuse a newbie... and about the gems...

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What are the little gem thingies? And... I'm sure to need some more help sooner or later.

 

Welcome to SP, Jellybee.

The gems have to do with your number of posts so far, unless, like me, you buy something or otherwise contribute to SP -- then you get a custom avatar.

All this is in the FAQ near the top of the page.

Edit spelling.

[ August 10, 2002, 00:26: Message edited by: Methylviolet ]

 

And before these groovy gems there were even groovier avatars, which Tal, after a moment of insparation, decided to throw awy and put on these stupid gems

 

So that long-time SP posters who yet have never bought anything or otherwise contributed to SP would be revealed.

 

Edit spelling? Is there something wrong with the word 'thingies?' Or... am I missing something?

[She was saying that she edited her own post for spelling. You should really read the rules/FAQ as you were asked to when you registered. - BTA]

I did read the rules, and I just now read the FAQ, but I didn't find anything about - I don't know - Notes about editing.

[ August 13, 2002, 01:45: Message edited by: Lady Jellybee ]

 

I've been on and off Sorcerers Place for a year, but hadn't posted anything here for a few months... The last time I was here I had a nice avatar, some blue animal I think... imagine my surprise when I came back in here after my vacation and find he's replaced by a gem!

Why, oh why are those nice avatars gone? Why are they replaced with gems? Earlier, it was so easy to see where you were in the "rank" of postings, as you started with a tiny avatar of a floating eye, and then advanced up through small, evil creeps to large, evil creeps and then to large, gorgeous creatures.... but these gems look all the same!

They can't have been removed because of copyrights, because these gems are from the same games, and all the personal avatars are still here - so why did they take away my avatar from me??

 

Get over it already! If you really don't like the gems, or being ranked...buy something through SP, or donate some money.

 

I have nothing against being ranked - i.e. showing how many messages you have posted - not at all, and that wasn't the point either.

But I do want to know why the avatars have changed. There must have been a reason for that.

[ August 13, 2002, 02:20: Message edited by: Blue ]

 

MethV pretty much called it.

I do wish Tal had done something just a little different on the Avatars. Like put a "Cloak of Mirroring" shadow around them, or made everyone pick a NwN portrait.

I really liked the D&D theme that was going on with the creatures. Gems are nice to sell for gold, but other than that, I keep them in a gem bag...

 

I'm probably terribly stupid, and in danger of being banned for this, but I still don't quite understand why the avatars changed.

I had already read the FAQ several times and had also been looking around on all the forums for explanations before I posted here, without finding an answer. And now I've followed Blackthornes link and read all the posts in Tal's thread. I've tried all I can to find this out.

In his post, Tal refers to an explanation he has put in the FAQ... but perhaps he has removed it again, because I found no explanation of avatar changes there. Only the general information about the ranking systems, and how to get personal avatars, much like it was before. Nothing new there. So where is the explanation he mentions?

The only hint I can deduct from these posts, is something about all female personal avatars were taken, so new females contributing to the site, would have none to chose from. Does that mean that the creature avatars we had were replaced with gems, so that they could be made available as personal avatars for paying customers? Is that what Tal means?

Or is it, as somebody else suggested, a way to make non-contributing members stand out more? That's ok with me, if I knew that that was the reason for the change...

(I couldn't buy myself a personal avatar anyway, no matter how much I might want to, as I'm currently unemployed, and can hardly even pay my rent, not to mention all other bills...)

So please Blackthorne or Tal or any other moderator, please don't ban me for asking this which has obviously been explained long ago when I wasn't here - but I still don't understand it, and everybody are just talking around it without actually explaining anything concrete. Why did it change?

 

Though not a mod I think I can answer your question at least to a point:
As the SP comunity grew larger, the "avatars" with creatures from the IE games became rarer and especially the lack of female avatars was a problem for the gals of SP. It also became problematic to find attractive avatars for SP's benefactors.

Adding the portraits from NWN and giving the gems to the "normal" users and the avatars/ portraits to users who contribute adressed this shortcoming. The standing out of the crowd is just a nice sideffect - at least I don't know of anyone who complained about the lack of that earlier

And as for the widely heared complaint "Tal took my avatar away and gave a me puny gem instead!" - that's rubbish - having a gem now means you never had an individual avatar, just a "spam indicator" - and that function is served just as well with gems, and more flexible too.

[ August 13, 2002, 12:34: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

Thanks guys, for spelling it out in plain text for me. I appreciated that. And now that I see the reason for the change, it seems perfectly just and fair, and I have no problem with it whatsoever. It actually seems quite smart to replace with gems, so the ranking system would still survive.

I highly appreciate the work you do, Tal, and it makes this site stand out - I've been to similar sites, but they don't have half the standard of this one. I also understand why you need people to contribute financially, and I would really have liked to myself - and there are both books and games I really would like to buy from this site - but I can't just yet, not until I get a job and some income, so I can pay my bills. But when I do, I'll come running, I promise. In the meantime, I hope those who appreciate your site and can afford it, will help you out. It would be very sad if the site had to close down.

 

hi, i'm new to the net let alone online buying. is sorcerers place a safe place to use to buy things online????? or could i get my account hacked or sumfin???

 

Well, welcome to the boards first

Actually SP is not exactly the place where you buy stuff. However, you can use the links to Amazon and other online shops here on SP to buy stuff there online. That way SP will get a little support and you help to finance this great site. Looking at it that way, SP is THE place on the web to start buying books and games online

[ August 13, 2002, 20:38: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

My god i love newbies