Ceros
Tech-*****
Once, there was a dream. Well, there were two men with a dream. One was Ceros, the other SJ the bartender. They were both dicks. They were both raging homosexuals. Wait, stop, not that last one.
OK, look. Here's the deal. This will be a session of Ceros: The Naked Truth.
Now, before I get arrested for public indecency, let the rantplination go on.
After it became apparent that there was going to be a distinct lack of moving to a real site while we were at the temp boards, I made the decision to set up a new, brighter, better Ayenee.org. One that was secure and not a super gay ad run board. To this effect, I paid for a year of hosting ($70), bought a license for vBulletin [our message board software - not, it isn't pirated] ($189) and secured a new domain name (ok, so it was free with the hosting).
I then spent hours trying to install vBulletin, and reskinng the icons for a black theme (look to the left at those smiley faces surrounded in black, and those post buttons, and the post icons - yeah).
Why’d I go and drop $250 and spend a ton of man hours setting this up and then put someone else as the site Administrator? Because I owe something to a community, and this is my way of repaying it (You’ll notice that I seldom, if ever, role play here any more. [Of note, it was a game SJ ran and he and I were constantly arguing about rules in Y!Messenger. That guy, what a dick!]) And because I know I’m not the right person for a Public Relations spot.
From the start, even though I had set everything up, and paid for everything, I realized I wouldn't be the one to admin things. Why? I'm a Marine. We do things the "Do it NOW!" way, and it takes a concerted effort for me to be nice to people some times. That and sometimes I'm without internet access for long periods of time. Like right now, when I'm deployed and in Kuwait, paying $5 an hour to type this shit.
SJ was added to the tech support band wagon because hey, I can't be here all the time, and he's got mad DB [editor's note: data base] skillz. I don't have mad data base skills.
He was the one responsible for installing the spell check mod to vBulletin, as well as the chat program that now lies unused. He's also been handling the tech support issues since I've been deployed, and has installed half the vB upgrades that we've applied. Many of you may not know that we've changed hosts and moved our domain name from one company to the other. Behind the scenes, SJ has been doing this.
The problem with tech support is that it's a thankless job. No one ever looks at the sight when it's up and running, and goes "Gee, thanks Tech guys!" No, it's always "Hey!" when there's database errors, or when you want a new feature added to vBulletin. SJ and I don't get paid for what we do for .Org. If we were doing the same thing for a corporation, we would be making a bit. But we're not. We spend long hours patching things and trying to uncorrupt databases and skin themes. And we have computer related jobs when we aren't spending our free time keeping .Org up and running. How many of you want to come home from work and spend your free time doing the same thing?
Now, as for being an asshole. I'm an asshole, SJ's an asshole. I'm sorry, I don't know what it is but techs are assholes. Look - even Muutuwon was an asshole. It's part of the mindset for being techish. Call it a racial trait if you want. For this same reason, I set it up so that SJ and I AREN'T ADMINISTRATORS. Sure, we may have admin like powers, but we utilize these only in a technical fashion. I don't moderate boards, SJ doesn't set policy. Besides the fact that we're whipping boys to technology, we're just the same as the average user. Maybe we get cut a little bit more slack because we pull a little bit of weight.
So right now, let me clearly emphasize: SJ AND I ARE NOT ADMINS. Only in the technical sense. OK, I'm done with the punnage. We run the back end. We don't ban people. If you're a dick to us, and we're a dick back, it isn't the Admins being a dick to you - it's two regular users employed by the Board.
I hope this last part doesn't come up as stuck up and self centered, I really do. But I'll say it anyways, because it needs to be said. Out of all the regular users out there, I don't know of anyone besides DSX who can do what SJ and I do. Keep this in mind when you're bitching about this or that. I haven't seen to many people step up and volunteer to help out with running things (at least people who have demonstrated technical expertise in the area they're claiming to help). If you think you really want to help and you've got skills, PM me or SJ and we'll see about you helping out with any of the billion middling changes the administration wants us to do that we just don't have the time or inclination to do.
And if you want to call for SJ or I to be fired, by all means, go ahead, that's fine. But you'd better have someone else in mind to patch vB and backup the database and bitch out our hosting's tech support when the service is wonky. And keep a smile on their face when they do it, or by the Mithrandirxx, they'll get shit canned too.
So you'll have to pardon us if we don't always have a sunny disposition. We're your local neighborhood tech support.
-Ceros
Your Friendly Neighborhood Tech Support
OK, look. Here's the deal. This will be a session of Ceros: The Naked Truth.
Now, before I get arrested for public indecency, let the rantplination go on.
After it became apparent that there was going to be a distinct lack of moving to a real site while we were at the temp boards, I made the decision to set up a new, brighter, better Ayenee.org. One that was secure and not a super gay ad run board. To this effect, I paid for a year of hosting ($70), bought a license for vBulletin [our message board software - not, it isn't pirated] ($189) and secured a new domain name (ok, so it was free with the hosting).
I then spent hours trying to install vBulletin, and reskinng the icons for a black theme (look to the left at those smiley faces surrounded in black, and those post buttons, and the post icons - yeah).
Why’d I go and drop $250 and spend a ton of man hours setting this up and then put someone else as the site Administrator? Because I owe something to a community, and this is my way of repaying it (You’ll notice that I seldom, if ever, role play here any more. [Of note, it was a game SJ ran and he and I were constantly arguing about rules in Y!Messenger. That guy, what a dick!]) And because I know I’m not the right person for a Public Relations spot.
From the start, even though I had set everything up, and paid for everything, I realized I wouldn't be the one to admin things. Why? I'm a Marine. We do things the "Do it NOW!" way, and it takes a concerted effort for me to be nice to people some times. That and sometimes I'm without internet access for long periods of time. Like right now, when I'm deployed and in Kuwait, paying $5 an hour to type this shit.
SJ was added to the tech support band wagon because hey, I can't be here all the time, and he's got mad DB [editor's note: data base] skillz. I don't have mad data base skills.
He was the one responsible for installing the spell check mod to vBulletin, as well as the chat program that now lies unused. He's also been handling the tech support issues since I've been deployed, and has installed half the vB upgrades that we've applied. Many of you may not know that we've changed hosts and moved our domain name from one company to the other. Behind the scenes, SJ has been doing this.
The problem with tech support is that it's a thankless job. No one ever looks at the sight when it's up and running, and goes "Gee, thanks Tech guys!" No, it's always "Hey!" when there's database errors, or when you want a new feature added to vBulletin. SJ and I don't get paid for what we do for .Org. If we were doing the same thing for a corporation, we would be making a bit. But we're not. We spend long hours patching things and trying to uncorrupt databases and skin themes. And we have computer related jobs when we aren't spending our free time keeping .Org up and running. How many of you want to come home from work and spend your free time doing the same thing?
Now, as for being an asshole. I'm an asshole, SJ's an asshole. I'm sorry, I don't know what it is but techs are assholes. Look - even Muutuwon was an asshole. It's part of the mindset for being techish. Call it a racial trait if you want. For this same reason, I set it up so that SJ and I AREN'T ADMINISTRATORS. Sure, we may have admin like powers, but we utilize these only in a technical fashion. I don't moderate boards, SJ doesn't set policy. Besides the fact that we're whipping boys to technology, we're just the same as the average user. Maybe we get cut a little bit more slack because we pull a little bit of weight.
So right now, let me clearly emphasize: SJ AND I ARE NOT ADMINS. Only in the technical sense. OK, I'm done with the punnage. We run the back end. We don't ban people. If you're a dick to us, and we're a dick back, it isn't the Admins being a dick to you - it's two regular users employed by the Board.
I hope this last part doesn't come up as stuck up and self centered, I really do. But I'll say it anyways, because it needs to be said. Out of all the regular users out there, I don't know of anyone besides DSX who can do what SJ and I do. Keep this in mind when you're bitching about this or that. I haven't seen to many people step up and volunteer to help out with running things (at least people who have demonstrated technical expertise in the area they're claiming to help). If you think you really want to help and you've got skills, PM me or SJ and we'll see about you helping out with any of the billion middling changes the administration wants us to do that we just don't have the time or inclination to do.
And if you want to call for SJ or I to be fired, by all means, go ahead, that's fine. But you'd better have someone else in mind to patch vB and backup the database and bitch out our hosting's tech support when the service is wonky. And keep a smile on their face when they do it, or by the Mithrandirxx, they'll get shit canned too.
So you'll have to pardon us if we don't always have a sunny disposition. We're your local neighborhood tech support.
-Ceros
Your Friendly Neighborhood Tech Support
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