What is happening to Poly?

[MattH]

Hey, it was a crosspost, okay?

[Kuciwalker]

Okay

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by MattH

Did you leave out a decimal marker in that $100? Current cost = ~$13.99 (settler II large mug)

Granted, there was a fair chunk of hyperbole in that figure, but the cost for me doesn't stop there. There is of course shipping to the other side of the world, customs duty, currency conversion fees, actually having my currency converted to a much stronger dollar. All in all, the Poly mug I have in front of me cost around $60.


Then there is the efficiency issue. How much of that money actually made it all the way to Apolyton? For the same amount of money, I could buy myself a mug from a shop ($5), a bottle of bourbon ($37), a bottle of coke ($3), and still have enough left over to donate $15 to Apolyton, well above what they would get from me just buying a mug from the store.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Mercator
If ever they do start accepting money, that should be purely voluntary and unconditional, unrelated to the "service", as you mention.

This is what I'm talking about. Perhaps they could get their accountant to take pledges and when enough is their for the right equipment we mail 'em in. Completely anonymous to all but the bean counter.

I know this probably sounds dumb...trying to find a way to give these guys money...but this is to good a site to let die due to inadequate equipment. If the daily crashes continue or get worse then there won't be apolytoners on apolyton. (OF course the server should work great then!)

Asuka, Thanks for the help, but I speak panag

Continuing to have a nice day.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns


Granted, there was a fair chunk of hyperbole in that figure, but the cost for me doesn't stop there. There is of course shipping to the other side of the world, customs duty, currency conversion fees, actually having my currency converted to a much stronger dollar. All in all, the Poly mug I have in front of me cost around $60.


Then there is the efficiency issue. How much of that money actually made it all the way to Apolyton? For the same amount of money, I could buy myself a mug from a shop ($5), a bottle of bourbon ($37), a bottle of coke ($3), and still have enough left over to donate $15 to Apolyton, well above what they would get from me just buying a mug from the store.

I soooo agree. Well anyway, my mug is now on the way. $19.99 w/shipping. Mark, Dan, hope the 2 bucks helps. (Would be willing to help more if the process of financially supporting poly MADE ANY SENSE!)

[mrmitchell]

when you buy a service (paid membership)?

I hadn't noticed this before, but this might have something to do with it, despite its incredible outdatedness:

http://apolyton.net/about/cda.shtml

The Civilization Decency Act

The Civilization Decency Act was originally started by the Addicted to Civilization website on September 22nd, 1998, as a formalization of various Civ-related sites' similar policies on webmaster practices. Since Addicted to Civilization has ceased to operate, the CDA has in turn not been updated. Since the recent release of multiple Civilization & TBS games, the copying of files, content, images and other forms of media has run rampant through Civilization sites and has caused many sites to lose their "identity". There is no question that similar acts are just as grave a concern in other sectors of the gaming community, and to address this concern more adequately for Civilization genre based sites, the CDA torch has now been picked up by a new generation of Civ-sites.

Apolyton CS & SidGames are proud to present the community with the rebirth of The Civilization Decency Act. This act will serve as a foundation of trust between Civilization sites on the web, whereby signing members agree to the following:

* The content of any member site will lack pornographic, malicious, or vulgar material.
* Entry fee(s) to the site, either for partial content or in-full, shall be non-existent.
* Not to copy the content, in any way shape or form, of other sites without the express written consent of the sites author and/or the file creator, with the exception of News items as outlined below.
* Agree that their sites will not copy the news of another site without linking them (the "originator") as a or the source. In other words, websites may not obtain news from other signing sites and treat it as news found by themselves, including the "official" websites of the games that are covered on the particular fan site (i.e. for C:CTP, that would be Activision).
* The rule aforementioned above also extends to non-Civilization websites -- i.e. Find a news item of a particular nature on GameSpot in relation to Civ? Credit GS with a reciprocal link at the time of posting your similar news item.

If you would like to have your website join in this act you must email the heads of the CDA team. They will in turn review and add your site to the list IF it follows the guidelines above; if an applying website does not meet the guidelines, they will a) be informed why and b) wait a period of at least one month before applying again.

Once accepted into the CDA, new member sites will go through a "trial-period" of two weeks before being granted full member status. If you take a look at the listing below, those sites in bold have achieved full standing in the CDA. To determine when the "trial" member sites will achieve full member status, barring any unfortunate incidents, simply add 14 days to their signing date -- this is indicated to the right of the signee's name.

Violation of the rules above at any time after being accepted into the CDA will result in temporary or permanent removal from the list; the lead sites [Apolyton/SidGames] are the sole arbitrators in these matters.

Signing Members (1999):

* Apolyton Civilization Site (Sept. 3rd)
* SidGames ("")
* Fantastic Worlds

* Civilization III Civilopedia

That probably doesn't matter worth a half-**** today, but I applaud Markos and Dan for not giving us the oppurtunity to create a clique-style system. (Also, what are you going to give to the sponsored users? Just give them something like a title and no one will buy it; give them everything and you'll have to buy it to even be a member that has any power to do anything at all.)

(Sorry if my thoughts are not totally coherent--haven't had any caffeine in about 5 hours. )

[Panag]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns


Granted, there was a fair chunk of hyperbole in that figure, but the cost for me doesn't stop there. There is of course shipping to the other side of the world, customs duty, currency conversion fees, actually having my currency converted to a much stronger dollar. All in all, the Poly mug I have in front of me cost around $60.


Then there is the efficiency issue. How much of that money actually made it all the way to Apolyton? For the same amount of money, I could buy myself a mug from a shop ($5), a bottle of bourbon ($37), a bottle of coke ($3), and still have enough left over to donate $15 to Apolyton, well above what they would get from me just buying a mug from the store.

hi ,

things shall get better when apolyton get a base in your parts of the world , .....

but you give a great example as to why there should be a european based server and shop , .... any sales made from there would be import free for the other eu countries , .....

when Mark gets back we might see something like that , who knows , .....

who knows , maybe we shall get poly soon on our mobiles , ..... ( thats going to happen within 3 years or so )

have a nice day

[Solver]

For the record, Markos and Dan have stated on several occasions that this site will never have things such as paid membership, or some paid content accessible only to "golden members" who pay, or something like that. They have decided that this site will always be completely free to everyone for discussions and game info, and for that, I really respect them.

Rasbelin will probably confirm that I have my reasons to hate commercially-oriented gaming sites .

[Snowflake]

But they can still accept pledges can't they? It's still free in the sense you don't have to pay anything to benefit from the site but if you like you could support it.

[Mercator]

Originally posted by panag
things shall get better when apolyton get a base in your parts of the world , .....

The store is run by CafePress.com, and has absolutely nothing to do with Apolyton.

The CDA itself was outdated ever since Apolyton revived it. There are only two members left: Apolyton, and my site (Fantastic Worlds, which has since been renamed and moved to another URL, , maybe I should let them know). They'd better either remove it, or bring attention to it again for all the fansites of all games covered by 'poly. Because now it's just a waste of space.

Still, I completely agree with you, mrmitchell, it shows the idea of the owners. And I think getting money involved in membership terms and privileges is a VERY bad idea.
Donation is good, but don't expect any special treatment in return.

[Mercator]

DP (damn server )

[Skanky Burns]

I would like to donate, for the simple reason that with more money floating around, it will be easier for the admin to keep the site up and responsive. If the site is up and responsive, then I can continue to enjoy posting here.

[asleepathewheel]

Time to trim the fat. Maybe get rid of the Ron, Moo, Galciv sections. Maybe close down some of the Demo games. Maybe shut down the offtopic until money can be raised to fix the problems. Maybe Apolyton should figure out its identity, because clearly it can't exist in the current state.

[DanQ]

Indeed the "Civilization Decency Act" was (long) oudated. It may be re-written and revived at some point in the future but, for now, I have removed its listing and presence.

-----------
Dan; Apolyton CS

[mrmitchell]

I didn't mean for you to get rid of it. I just meant to note it as a possible back-up of the idea that th admins think of paid membership as an evil scum that should be eliminated from the face of the Earth.

asleepatthewheel--NO! RoN is most of our new growth; even if it hinders us now new growth is very good and eventually the deluge of cheat and patchseekers will subside to leave us a healthy new generation of Apolytoners. MoO3 sucked; do what you want with it but it's so pathetic that it really shouldn't be hurting things anyways? And your OT suggestion? Pah. The Off-Topic is the best thing since sliced bread.

There's really not a lot we can do except for upgrading the server, which, if it causes any financial problems, would just have to wait