Face Lift

Over the last several months, I've embarked on creating a framework for taking the hodge-podge of sites i've either created or host and form them into a cohesive yet easy to navigate site.

Let's take a little step back in time.  This was the last iteration of the original site.  It was a framework of sorts to various information about the different Tecmo games that just happened to include a message board.  As you can see I had a rough edged blog back then, which I eventually stopped caring about updating.  At that time the message board was growing pretty well and it was easy to find anything.

For the next several years it was just the message board and I used that as the primary source of information.  However, the price for using just a message board was that you had to hack the crap out of it which in turn made it tedious to upgrade.  This led to various hackings of out of date code and general instability.

A couple of months ago, I was inspired to roll out Joomla as the framework for providing an outside support system to the message board as I'd used it at work.  While a message board is great for keeping up with the day to day of a tecmo hacking community, it's also something one needs to keep up with on a daily basis.  Documenting this information in the form of news documents, faqs, etc seems like an excellent way to not only organize information, but allow for the casual observer to pick up on the "important stuff".

The first try was fairly successful.  As you can see, the message board now has navigation.  However, it proved to be a limited as six options wasn't really cutting it.

The new iteration imrpoves the layout in several aspects

• Sub-Menus that fixes the category limitation
• Compacted header that allows more real estate for content
• The entire format is cleaner

Next on the agenda, fixing the message board headers.

Erased from TecmoWorld

When you have issues with someone as a message board operator, one way you can approach is to moderate.  Then you can ban and then you can delete.

I have been deleted from TecmoWorld.  This is an organization that has put me in the "Fake Tecmo Hall of Fame"  Not Banned.....Deleted.  Every post I've ever made on that board since 2002....deleted.

My crimes
- Not wanting to work with Gary Schultz, the narrow minded owner who has an admin staff for the sole purpose of making executive decisions without having to own up to them.
- Not wanting to join the "Legion of Doom", designed to bring in random people who play random games.  He wants me to steer new people to his site to play Tecmo.
- Stating the above on his board:  I'm supposed to do what he wants when he wants it?  I'm not allowed to post my disagreement with this?

Here's the deal:

He can take that site in any direction he wants.
He has no right to tell me how to run my sites under the guise of "Tecmo Community".

The Curious Case of TDO and the Legion of Doom

Recently, I decided that I was tired of supporting a certain Tecmo site that has a certain owner who loves to come in and pimp his site. Thus, I took down the links and references to his site.

He was pissed, and the following is a copy of our conversation about why I'm "trying to tear the Tecmo Community apart" and "trying to ruin his site."

Turns out he has set up web links with other sites.

OH FUCKKKKKK!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I'M THE ONE WHO WANTED A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO DON"T KNOW WHAT TECMO IS ON MY SITE!!!!!

enjoy the drama

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(2:14:51 PM) GorillaBrav: Whats the reason behind removing TW from the repository?
(2:17:56 PM) buckfuttor: I do not support nor endorse your site
(2:18:05 PM) buckfuttor: please feel free to remove all the links to my sties
(2:18:06 PM) GorillaBrav: ah it was there before
(2:18:14 PM) buckfuttor: OH WAIT!
(2:18:39 PM) buckfuttor: of course it was there
(2:18:50 PM) GorillaBrav: why not anymore? pettiness?
(2:19:19 PM) buckfuttor: I do not support nor endorse your site
(2:19:34 PM) GorillaBrav: so your going to try and divide tecmo huh?
(2:19:44 PM) buckfuttor: lol
(2:19:52 PM) buckfuttor: no, i'm just not going to link to your site
(2:19:56 PM) buckfuttor: i don't care what you do
(2:20:21 PM) GorillaBrav: why do you continue to act lame and try and run me out?
(2:20:37 PM) buckfuttor: run you out
(2:20:40 PM) buckfuttor: run YOU out
(2:20:53 PM) buckfuttor: lol
(2:21:03 PM) buckfuttor: 2006 called
(2:21:14 PM) buckfuttor: it wants it's little guy on the block thing back
(2:21:24 PM) GorillaBrav: so trying to move leagues to your site isnt doing that?
(2:21:26 PM) buckfuttor: you're the best, dude
(2:22:19 PM) buckfuttor: gee whiz buddy, i'm still trying to find the puretecmo/knobbe.org links on your site
(2:22:58 PM) GorillaBrav: fine put mine on both and ill put yours on both
(2:23:11 PM) buckfuttor: i don't like your site though
(2:23:12 PM) GorillaBrav: and why are you trying to move leagues to your site?
(2:23:22 PM) buckfuttor: what leagues am i trying to move?
(2:24:10 PM) GorillaBrav: dont be low again it isnt 2006 remember? why dont you like my site? because your rant backfired on you?
(2:26:48 PM) GorillaBrav: too bad you can't be civil we could take tecmo far together. you being like takes it back a step
(2:27:27 PM) GorillaBrav: and if you dont like my site you sure visit and such a lot
(2:30:04 PM) GorillaBrav: aw you moved the post of me asking why you did it on knobbe to lock down. sweet and showing you can't answer to your peers
(2:43:08 PM) buckfuttor: i have 60 posts on your board since 2002
(2:43:17 PM) GorillaBrav: lots more lately
(2:43:24 PM) buckfuttor: and you know how i feel about you posting on my site telling me how to run it
(2:43:31 PM) buckfuttor: i am against
(2:43:37 PM) GorillaBrav: i asked you a question nothing else
(2:43:58 PM) GorillaBrav: or do you not want people to know why you took it down?
(2:44:18 PM) buckfuttor: not a problem
(2:44:27 PM) buckfuttor: all you need to do is find someone to ask for you
(2:45:03 PM) buckfuttor: it doesn't matter to me if you are concerned about a link to your site being removed
(2:45:03 PM) GorillaBrav: no one else wants to get involved in your pettiness. I want to move tecmo forward together and you dont want to
(2:45:20 PM) buckfuttor: move it forward?
(2:45:38 PM) GorillaBrav: I am not concerned about the link i find it petty and trying to isolate tecmoers
(2:45:57 PM) buckfuttor: isolate tecmoers?
(2:46:54 PM) GorillaBrav: so you want to work together as adults or continue to act the way you are?
(2:47:32 PM) buckfuttor: work together towards what goal?
(2:47:38 PM) buckfuttor: feeding people to your gaming site?
(2:48:18 PM) GorillaBrav: what is your issue with me and don't put words in my mouth. I want to work together to promote tecmo to a wider audience than the last 10 years has been able to
(2:49:48 PM) buckfuttor: yet there are no links to puretecmo nor knobbe.org on your site...forgive me if i'm not buying what you're selling
(2:50:15 PM) GorillaBrav: i asked earlier to promote on yours and i reciprecate quit the nonsense
(2:50:40 PM) buckfuttor: what, 5 minutes ago?
(2:51:01 PM) buckfuttor: you have like 500 promotial posts?
(2:51:06 PM) buckfuttor: what more do you want?
(2:51:19 PM) buckfuttor: i mean, you're the cool one
(2:51:22 PM) GorillaBrav: i have 0 posts promoting TW, so yes or no?
(2:51:25 PM) buckfuttor: i'm the one who's batshit crazy
(2:51:41 PM) buckfuttor: your signature is a promotion
(2:51:48 PM) GorillaBrav: as is yours on TW
(2:52:21 PM) GorillaBrav: so you dont want to bring tecmo to a higher level together you want to keep a one sided grudge going
(2:53:02 PM) GorillaBrav: Did you remove the TW link from knobbe because it has more redirects than puretecmo? Sorry
(2:53:09 PM) buckfuttor: explain to me how you intend to bring tecmo to a higher level?
(2:53:11 PM) buckfuttor: lol
(2:53:40 PM) GorillaBrav: I have nothing to you unless we work together
(2:53:59 PM) GorillaBrav: link for link
(2:54:01 PM) buckfuttor: huh?
(2:54:22 PM) GorillaBrav: i have nothing to tell you unless we work together. A start is link for link
(2:54:28 PM) buckfuttor: anyway, knobbe.org is a site for casual gamers and for hacking
(2:54:43 PM) buckfuttor: puretecmo is a site for having tecmo leagues if one wants
(2:54:54 PM) buckfuttor: tecmo world is a site for having leagues if one wants
(2:55:08 PM) buckfuttor: the difference is one treats ME like crap, and another does not
(2:55:17 PM) GorillaBrav: really how so
(2:55:26 PM) buckfuttor: as the owner of knobbe.org, i really dislike that
(2:55:48 PM) GorillaBrav: well as you see you do things on both i dont like
(2:56:04 PM) GorillaBrav: but i am looking past your pettiness foor the sake of tecmo
(2:56:29 PM) buckfuttor: really?
(2:57:11 PM) GorillaBrav: So do you want to do this together or should we do this with you?
(2:57:12 PM) buckfuttor: be the bigger man
(2:57:16 PM) buckfuttor: throw up some links
(2:57:31 PM) buckfuttor: we?
(2:57:38 PM) buckfuttor: who is in this group?
(2:57:48 PM) buckfuttor: are there elections?
(2:57:57 PM) GorillaBrav: I continue to be the bigger man its your turn to act like one
(2:58:44 PM) buckfuttor: yes, the big man with no links to either of the sites i run demanding that I put back up a link to his site
(2:59:00 PM) buckfuttor: you obviously don't need me
(2:59:04 PM) buckfuttor: what the heck do you care?
(2:59:15 PM) GorillaBrav: because tecmo doesn't need this pettiness
(2:59:27 PM) GorillaBrav: i put the links up you'll tell me ill get to it
(2:59:35 PM) GorillaBrav: and never put them up
(3:02:38 PM) GorillaBrav: So do you want to work together?
(3:03:09 PM) buckfuttor: on wht?
(3:03:46 PM) GorillaBrav: we move on without you. All I have to do is click one button to have your links to both up, I will be the bigger man as you asked
(3:05:54 PM) buckfuttor: we?
(3:06:12 PM) GorillaBrav: well?
(3:08:51 PM) GorillaBrav: http://www.tecmo.us/arena/portal.php links section both are up
(3:10:41 PM) buckfuttor: i had a link up to your site for a year
(3:11:03 PM) buckfuttor: who is in your group?
(3:11:14 PM) GorillaBrav: you need to reciprocate
(3:11:14 PM) buckfuttor: maybe i'm buds with them?
(3:11:37 PM) buckfuttor: take them down if that is the way you feel
(3:11:43 PM) buckfuttor: don't need them up there at all
(3:12:07 PM) GorillaBrav: going back on your word?
(3:14:44 PM) GorillaBrav: Are you in and we take tecmoer farther or are you out and we move on without you? Last time I am going to ask . I have ignored your pettiness and am wanting to work together. your being the bad guy here not me
(3:18:19 PM) GorillaBrav: going to step a way for a bit let me know in the next 20 minutes please. thanks
(3:22:55 PM) buckfuttor: How can we take tecmo farther?!?!?!?!?
(3:23:22 PM) buckfuttor: Feel free to procede with your well defined plan
(3:23:31 PM) buckfuttor: you have my blessing
(3:36:32 PM) GorillaBrav: dissappointed matt. you can't let things go i guess.
(3:36:32 PM) buckfuttor : Jockin the bitches, slappin the hoes...
(4:38:36 PM) buckfuttor: Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding
(4:52:25 PM) GorillaBrav: Your getting at?
(4:52:25 PM) buckfuttor : Jockin the bitches, slappin the hoes...

Media Blitz

My sister is involved with using social media to promote insurance companies. If insurance companies are cool enough for facebook, I am as well.

Facebook FanClub

Twitter Posts

Tecmophile

For a long time I tried to get a league manager going that would be universal to the point that any tecmo league could use it. I did everything I could except attempt to do it myself.

I leave the scene for a couple of seasons, and of course it just happens! Thanks to the dedicated "Brookston" Tecmophile has been picked up and morphed into Dynastyphile. I have even put in a hand by figuring out how to upload a 32 team rom into the site and eventually I'll get a 32 team download in there as well. It's nice that I can pick back up on my php skills and hex skills after all these years, though I almost forgot about the 16 character ines header that goes on roms....

Organziation

I can't figure out how I want to make rom downloads available. All of the games uploaded are there, but you want to keep the feedback from the site, etc. It will come to me even if, God forbid, I actually have to develop something.

I killed and moved some forums around. At least this is something I can cross off my list.

I think there is a much better link between phpBB and Joomla at the moment, which I have to implement. I hope it will make the cross login issues obsolete. Finding a balance between documentation on Joomla and phpBB will take a little time though I think that Joomla is very critical to getting back to being some sort of information site.

On a personal note, I'm trying to strike a balance between developing optimization and life. In other words, spending the most amount of time getting stuff done here so that I do other necessary things. Once I can start recognizing when I'm going nowhere at a particular moment, this is probably my indicator.

Cookie Cutter

A guy made mention of the fact that my site was "cookie-cutter message boards plopped onto a site" He's right to a certain extent...web development has never been a strong point of mine. However, before I switched to basically just hosting a message board, it was simply an information site.

http://knobbe.tecmosuperbowl.org/

Eventually I found that just my information wasn't enough and inspired by Puretecmo's layout, the site grew from there. The only problem is that the amount of information has grown so immense that it seems like going back to something of a simple information list is what has become necessary. The funny thing is that it's so remarkably easy yet so far out of my grasp.

So, I've been making Tecmo videos on the side and thought that at the end I could do something a little different that the "done by" in white letters. I have this video of my nephew that I've been holding onto for years, waiting for Nebraska to matter again. A couple of people have stumbled onto it and it's basically a 2 year old throwing a talking toy down on the ground and dancing to it.

The funny part about this was that he was doing this for a good 5 minutes straight before a video camera was brought out. By the end, the little guy was getting tired. The brilliant part though, is the end. He just sort of decides he's finished, and yells "ta-da!" That's sort of how I feel when I make a video....TADA! Then off to something else....

TecmoWorld Post

You know what I hate? Censorship.

Apparently the admins at TecmoWorld, because who knows out of all those guys who could be so incredible thin skinned and oversensitive, have thought it a good idea to flex nuts on me.

Thus, I had to compose an incredibly long and rambling mess that most will not bother to finish or even read. This doesn't matter to me, as it's only meant for whichever of the countless TecmoWorld admins have an axe to grind with me.

This is my copy, as of course it will be delelted.

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Considering that every other thing on this board of mine is deleted or modified, I figured I post in ironically the safest place I can think of, TSBGod's section. Love him or hate him, he basically wants to talk everything out. TDO started this board because he didn't like how he perceived vets to give him a hard time back in the day. "Don't like it? Start your own board" and he has. He found some others who felt the same and started some leagues. He was dedicated and did very well. At first there were Puretecmo or Tecmoworld people, much like before that there were OTFL or Puretecmo people. Over time TDO stayed dedicated while Zach too involved with other stuff to focus on Puretecmo. At one point TDO offered to purchase Puretecmo from Zach, which he declined. He did allow me to run it, which I did so fairly so-so as obviously I didn't have the dedication needed for the site, only the technological savvy to keep it existing and the aptitude to "run it right." Fast forward to today. I finally have the time run things. What do I find? A TDO who thinks it is his right to pull off as many people as he can off of my board or even puretecmo. You know what? That is his right. He has a board that will let anyone with who wants to run a league run their league. Everyone is happy. That happiness comes at a price though. Anyone who is in the way of this utopia, this board whose purpose was to at first offer an alternative to and then crush puretecmo.com, is the enemy. I had a post deleted in the off-topic section about Knobbe.org being down. There are 40 posts about pictures of cats, but that one had to go. A simple "I didn't want people to think your site was still down" would have worked. I was told that TecmoWorld isn't run by one guy, though the other two guys who could delete it didn't even know about it and TDO just says "ah shucks". Dude, you already did it! TecmoWorld is the best online tecmo site! You already won! Yet, it's not good enough. So, I did what any guy on here who has been modded would do: I completely over reacted. TDO has 3 links on knobbe.org and puretecmo.com plugging his website while DELETING my signature in my absence? Well, King John....perhaps making fun of your site whoring would be in line, no? Obviously this didn't go over too well as that itself was modded. Thank you for being so thin skinned that you can't take the hypocrisy shot to the noggin. Nobody really cared nor said anything about my signature....except you. People would have probably thought me a dick for doing so....until now. I honestly thought about closing down Puretecmo. When I was fixing my site because my wiki had killed it, I sort of though, what's the point. Obviously I see the point. There will always be a site that is formed that is opposite of the mainstream. If I closed down Puretecmo, it would be only a matter of time before disgruntled board members would go off and form their own stuff or ask me to do so on knobbe.org. My deal/point - If you run a board that directly benefits by driving traffic to your board, please do not say anything about me on my board in my absence. It really rubs me the wrong way. - If you're going to recruit off my board(s), fine. If you're going to do so while censoring me in anyway, which questions my methodology while benefiting from it's rewards, I'm not going to sit around and ask for seconds. You should probably just sit back, let your commishes do the recruiting, enjoy the hits you aren't paying for, and keep a hold as the top tecmo league site. The poll is there to satisfy TSBGod's criteria that most stuff on here has a resolution. Personally, I could care if it was an anonymous "fuck off".

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Did you read all that drivel?

I've been right before and lost.

I've been wrong before and won.

To borrow from the great maddox.."Am I right or what?"

Google Analytics

I inserted google analytics into my site a couple of years ago and noticed that my traffic had gone down in leaps and bounds over the last couple of weeks. Turns out that when I updated the message board software I ended up blowing away the code and thus, no more hits.

I'm toying with the idea of making the traffic public...I haven't figured out the pros/cons just yet.