The end of Shadowpriest.com

[smokeajay]

I love how so many people get suckered into donating. Running a website built on a message board costs next to nothing. Running a server can be done for free using your own external box. Get cheated and lied to.

Let's discuss free. Because a box is certainly not free. Nor is power consumption. Nor is the time to administer such a server. And nor is the bandwidth depending on your ISP. Nor is the static IP address to be reliable ($10-30/month varying by ISP).

I mean, fuck, that is like saying building a house is free if your do all the labor yourself...ignoring the cost of supplies, time, inspections, permits, etc.

[Donthealme]

I love how so many people get suckered into donating. Running a website built on a message board costs next to nothing. Running a server can be done for free using your own external box. Get cheated and lied to.

Please explain this, please explain how you can possibly manage it for free while getting 1 million hits in a month? Or do you mean by purchasing your own server and external box? Or by using your own time if you know how to do the programming? Oh all those things... I love how ignorant people feel the need to spread their ignorance on subjects they know absolutely nothing about.

Donate or don't donate it's your choice, but if they site blows up and can't be maintained and things change don't complain about it otherwise. Be happy that someone is spending hours of their personal time to maintain this and give you guys a place to go where all the top end players and going and adding input and are willing to help you improve. It is really sad that people always choose to spew their venom at those who do things selflessly to help others in this world.

PS...even though I grace you with my presence every tuesday Veiled and that's more than donation enough, I think Bless the Martyr is going to become an official monetary contributor to the best priest site out there!

[Macco]

How can anyone trust theorycrafting site where mods/admins support trolling?
http://howtopriest.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1286

Why would'nt I regem my stuff to what ever I want to?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzpndHtdl9A

[Veiled]

I recently created the /r/Spriest subreddit recently. I haven't had time to do anything with it as I have a lot on my plate at the moment (new Spriest addon -- see SaintinRexxar on your forums, my dad is in the hospital, organizing the Rain Makers guild xfer pre-MoP, work, etc).

Just my two cents.

Disclaimer: This is in no way an attack on you, Veiled. Ex-Rexxarians, unite! However, I am just in the opinion that a Reddit subreddit would be superior in the crowdsourcing of information and moderation (through down votes). I mean, all SP.com and H2P.com are forums. Reddit offers that for free.

Reddit isn't much my thing and I know there's others who feel the same way. I do visit occasionally though and I'll have to check out the link.

Are there ways that one could host a 100% free website through outlets (like google, tumblr, reddit, etc)? Sure. I once had a guild website on a free forum with some crazy domain name. However, my site isn't a guild site. We easy get a million hits (when there's actually something to talk about) and 40-50,000 unique visitors a month worldwide. It's just going to pick up once MoP comes out, especially with shadowpriest.com's mods calling it quits.

I went into this site wanting to provide a permanent community for priests.. not piggy backing on someone else.

I love how so many people get suckered into donating. Running a website built on a message board costs next to nothing. Running a server can be done for free using your own external box. Get cheated and lied to.

If I wanted to "cheat" and "lie" to people about donations, I would've done it on the day that the site was established (Feb 2011) and I wouldn't have waited 15 months to do so. Additionally, I can easily provide statements from hosting companies and those I've hired (send a mail to Adys; he worked on MMO Champ for Curse for years and ask him if he was hired by me). I'm pretty sure you're trolling here because that's an extremely rude thing to say about someone you have never had a conversation with.

[Drye]

This is getting way off track for no reason at all. If you don't want to donate to help the site out, then don't. It's simple as that. If you don't want to use the forums/site, don't. It's pretty simple. I've been with H2P since the very start, I've known V for a very long time, I know how much time she has put into the site and money of her own to keep the site going. For someone so new to be judging something that has been around for more than a year, it just sounds like a very ignorant view point. You really should take more time before you judge something in such a negative way.

[derevka]

This is getting way off track for no reason at all. If you don't want to donate to help the site out, then don't. It's simple as that. If you don't want to use the forums/site, don't. It's pretty simple. I've been with H2P since the very start, I've known V for a very long time, I know how much time she has put into the site and money of her own to keep the site going. For someone so new to be judging something that has been around for more than a year, it just sounds like a very ignorant view point. You really should take more time before you judge something in such a negative way.

Well said.

That all being said, I salute the time and place SP.com had and respect what it and the mods there had done for Shadow Community; I'm glad that there are other places for the community to go and discuss the class, theorycraft, and banter. The priest community is one of the most active communities in WoW.... by far the most active forum goes, bloggers, etc... No need to piss on eachother. Lets move on, and remember why the priest community is strong.

I, for one, welcome our new priest overlords.

[elkewtf]

@Kakera To imply that it would be just so simple to host your own site for relatively little cost shows just the little amount of knowledge that you have for what truly is involved in running a server. Another poster has already stated some of the resources that are required including said server, plus the logistics involving a domain, and tools for updating the the IP when you don't have a static IP. Many ISPs would not allow their users to run a server from their home to begin with, especially a site that uses as many resources (bandwidth) as H2P does.

I agree that for a small website it would probably be fine especially if you already had the machine and the know-how to run it on your own, it's certainly possible. In the case of H2P with the high traffic, it could never happen.

I see no problem with a site monetizing through ads, or asking for donations. In addition to the direct costs related with running the site (hosting fees, domain fees, etc) there are other types of costs that are more indirect, including the amount of time that mods and others directly related to the site spend working on the site. This includes moderating posts, maintaining the software, moderating users, etc. The time spent assisting with a site like H2P is huge so the time spent cannot be discounted.

Are you suggesting her host is cheating her and lying to her? I happen to be her host and can assure you I offer a very fair price especially considering that the site is run on a VPS and shares the server only with MY clients. If you're suggesting that she's cheating and lying, I can also assure you she is not. She's very reasonable and easy to work with, a genuine person.

If you don't like a site that uses ads or asks for donations, then don't use the site or don't click the ads. No one is forcing you to do either.

[marathal]

Well said.

That all being said, I salute the time and place SP.com had and respect what it and the mods there had done for Shadow Community; I'm glad that there are other places for the community to go and discuss the class, theorycraft, and banter. The priest community is one of the most active communities in WoW.... by far the most active forum goes, bloggers, etc... No need to piss on each other. Lets move on, and remember why the priest community is strong.

I, for one, welcome our new priest overlords.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

All I wanted was to let everyone know that they should look to other places. Considering that the majority of the people that use to discuss theory crafting, spell rotations, BiS lists, etc were all posting at Howtopriest, it seemed to me to be the best choice to recommend, I have learned a few things from there, I have never been put down for asking any question, and have been given answers, or where to look up the information. The set up is similar, with discussions similar to SP.com. I see things there now like I did a year or more ago at SP.com.

I am it for a moderator. HoHo has not played since the beginning of Cata if I remember correctly. I can do some minor things, but that's it. There is nothing I can do about all the gripes concerning the ads, the out of date links, spyware warnings,......

I do the best I can, but once Mists comes out I will not be able to offer anywhere near the level of correct information to people that we saw in the past. It is not fair to veteran players, people coming back from being away from the game, or new players looking for tips on the correct way to play, to come to a site that still references Wrath information. There are a few people that answer questions and review logs, I try to offer advice on basic things, stat priority, etc. When people want to know which 403 piece of gear will work best on a heroic mode fight with a certain raid comp, I do not have a clue, and it saddens me to let posts asking for help go unanswered.

I think that Veiled has started something much like the original founder of SP.com did back in 2007. I hope it grows to be better than it ever was.

Maybe it would have been a better thing to just let the site fall even further, let the spammers post all they want, and just have everyone just not care what it looked like.

[Toxigen]

I fell in love with the site early on in BC...made a huge difference in me knowing the class inside and out and how to make gear acquisition decisions. Also, I was a top 10 U.S. Priest throughout all of T6 and Sunwell according to WWS.

Cheers to a great run!

[constantduty]

Like this one? Why is it that people are under the impression that I'm some kind of business woman that makes a huge profit and logs into wow in a pant suit? I am a human being and regular player like most other people. If you attack the my hard work, my moderators hard work, OR the method that we use to keep the site alive.. you'll likely get a response like this one and the one you've seen above.

sidenote: derevka is a moderator on my site and was one of the people who helped to shape plusheal.com into what it is (or what it was, I haven't been there in a very long time).

No one is making you use HowToPriest.com; if you don't like it, don't go there. Posting nonsense like you've posted has no reason or real contribution to this thread.

The thread is about shadowpriest.com (RIP) and H2P. I enjoyed shadowpriest.com but I did not like H2P when it first popped up. Perhaps H2P has changed; however, your need to get involved in the mudslinging leads me to the conclusion that H2P remains what I initially took it to be: A vanity project. I could care less about the donations or your work attire/ethic.

[Drye]

The thread is about shadowpriest.com (RIP) and H2P. I enjoyed shadowpriest.com but I did not like H2P when it first popped up. Perhaps H2P has changed; however, your need to get involved in the mudslinging leads me to the conclusion that H2P remains what I initially took it to be: A vanity project. I could care less about the donations or your work attire/ethic.

Then maybe it isn't the right tool for you. It's literally impossible to make everyone happy, that is life. I wouldn't call defending our self on false accusations "mudslinging", if someone insulted something you have worked very hard on and put a lot of time and effort into building something to help others and the community as a whole a better place, I can guarantee that you would defend yourself too. As I said earlier it is impossible to make everyone happy, if it doesn't work for you then it doesn't, simple as that. H2P was originally created because V wanted to create a new, safe and useful tool for the priest community and I am very thankful to have been apart of what we have created. I hope that we can only improve to become a useful took for everyone to easily use and create a even better community.

[Glurp]

I don't think I'll ever use H2P. It seems like a really rushed, unprofessional website and the design is god awful. A lot of the mods (and even admins) make stupid posts and derail threads all the time. I don't like the donation box shoved in my face, it looks really out of place and you didn't try at all to blend it in with the website. Possibly consider making the website a full width one and making the donation box the same colour scheme as the website so it doesn't look like a quick 2-second job to make a quick buck.

Why is everones avatar a massive box that says H2P MOD or H2P USER or something stupid. You already have the little byline that says Moderator or Member or whatever under the user's name so why do you force this ugly looking avatar/pip at us. I don't know if you can change to to a custom avatar (like every other forum ever made) because I don't want to create an account. But seriously, it looks ugly.

The website banner too. Urrghhh, ugly.

The part that says H2P is a different font to the normal H2P logo (seen in everyones avatar as I just mentioned) and the purple glow (yay overused photoshop effects) bleeds in through the line and over the website url because the curl on the end of the H goes right through the middle of the website url, why is this? Also why is there an orange border. You clearly went for a minimalistic logo so why is there a giant orange border around it that doesn't fit in at all?

Just my 2 cents if you feel like updating the horrible (in my opinion) design of the website.

[halldorr]

Wait...is this the same Veiled that was in Heretics on Elune?

[smokeajay]

I don't think I'll ever use H2P. It seems like a really rushed, unprofessional website and the design is god awful.

Really? It is a forum. They all look mostly the same.

Possibly consider making the website a full width one and making the donation box the same colour scheme as the website so it doesn't look like a quick 2-second job to make a quick buck.

A full width one like SP.com? Yeah, it is roughly the same width as SP.com. I'll give you the donation box.

Why is everones avatar a massive box that says H2P MOD or H2P USER or something stupid. You already have the little byline that says Moderator or Member or whatever under the user's name so why do you force this ugly looking avatar/pip at us. I don't know if you can change to to a custom avatar (like every other forum ever made) because I don't want to create an account. But seriously, it looks ugly.

Really? Small features that I hate were ever created into forums is more important to you than content and community?

The website banner too. Urrghhh, ugly.

The part that says H2P is a different font to the normal H2P logo (seen in everyones avatar as I just mentioned) and the purple glow (yay overused photoshop effects) bleeds in through the line and over the website url because the curl on the end of the H goes right through the middle of the website url, why is this? Also why is there an orange border. You clearly went for a minimalistic logo so why is there a giant orange border around it that doesn't fit in at all?

Just my 2 cents if you feel like updating the horrible (in my opinion) design of the website.

See above.

---------- Post added 2012-07-31 at 06:13 PM ----------

Wait...is this the same Veiled that was in Heretics on Elune?

She was on Rexxar up through Firelands. Not clue where she went afterwards.

[Arlee]

Really this is what happens when I go on vacation? You guys disappoint me

Literally H2P was created because when cata hit the amount of useful info on shadowpriest.com was pretty nil not to mention what little bit of new info there was, was mixed-up under a steaming pile of outdated info and unless you already had a lot of info about shadowpriests under your belt it was often hard to tell what the outdated info was. Honestly when Veiled first made H2P I was a bit skeptical but I payed attention and watched it develop into an amazing resource with tons of easily accessible info.

No one is saying you have to use it. Marathal wasn't saying everyone needs to use the site. He (she? sorry I don't know mara ><) was just saying why shadowpriest.com has ended up how it is now and offering an alternative to people who used to use that site. This is a good thread to discuss feelings/how shadowpriest.com came to this state.

You don't have to like H2P or the people who run it, but making statements about the character of the people involved (accusations of lying and swindling people out of money) with nothing to back it up aside from your own opinions or very limited experience is not acceptable. Also, what value is there in discussing how pretty the site is or isn't? It's completely subjective. I mean if you have ideas about how to make it look better Veiled has always been receptive to feedback and I am sure if you messaged her with respectful ideas she would be receptive to the ideas.

I am disappointed because one of the things I have always loved about the mmo-c Priest community is that you guys tend to be mostly rational and level headed (spirit cloth gear not withstanding) and generally can discuss things without resorting to petty name calling. I mean honestly I mod some of the other forums here too and they can be down right depressing; Priest forums are generally a haven. I know not all of you are doing this, but for those that please just stop. If you have a critic about the content of the theorycrafting or ideas of how to make the content better all the mods and admins at H2P would be willing to at least listen to fair ideas. The flaming and petty insulting just needs to stop though. Thanks

[Drye]

Then maybe it isn't the right tool for you. It's literally impossible to make everyone happy, that is life.

Not sure why everyone is so very hostile. Or why this aggressive position is even being stated. Why cant we all just be friends.

[Rento]

Was great during TBC but has been pretty much dead for quite a while so probably best to let it go.

[Revak]

Fond memories from the TBC days. I used to visit that site all the time. Loved being a mana-battery in TBC and loved looking up gear and reading about what other Shadow Priests were doing in their raids back then.

[marathal]

TY Arlee.

Look everyone. I did not just wake up the other day and decide to write a massive wall of text and say this is the end, or everyone abandon ship go to H2P. The discussions on this have been going on since late April, recommending H2P as an option was a group decision based on the offering of gear checks, guild recruitment, etc. All that we would normally see posted on SP.com was available there. It was not a decision I made on my own. I discussed this with HoHo, and a few of the regular forum posters that I consider to be very knowledgeable about the class and who interpret logs and offer advice on gear, reforges, etc.

If you do a search for shadow priest, obviously Shadowpriest.com is the top response, but there are dozens more, elitistjerks.com, gotwarcraft.com, blogs written by players, and on and on. (please don't add a ton of other sites that you feel are better, that was just an example)

I have been to Elitest Jerks, the answer I got to a question once was L2P noob. Go play Hello Kitty Island Adventure. A few other nasty comments were made, and if I recall the whole series of comments and my question were all deleted, and I was given a warning about trolling.

All I had asked, was at the very beginning of Cata, since I had read it on WoW insider was what level of Mastery I should be at and if I should be stacking Haste for the rest.

The people I see there are the same people I use to see all the time. Discussing stat weights, strats, and even joking around with each other. The one thing that always stood out to me about our class is the united front we take on making us the absolute best class there is, offering advice to people that have never played, offering suggestions on improving gear, or rotations. No other class IMO offers as much as we do. It is what keeps me playing my priest every day.

Before I ramble on for 10 more pages, let me just wrap it up. Go to H2P if you agree with me that it has the potential to become the place to go for the most current info, go to elitist jerks, look up info here at MMO-C, create your own web site. Just please stop nit picking at minor things that you feel should be changed. It's all about the information getting out there to all players, not how pretty it looks.

Thanks.


Oh and Arlee, Marathal = 50 year old married man that plays WoW every night with his wife.

[Veiled]

I don't think I'll ever use H2P. It seems like a really rushed, unprofessional website and the design is god awful. A lot of the mods (and even admins) make stupid posts and derail threads all the time.

Considering that 3 of your 328 posts on MMOC are in the priest forum, I doubt you'll use H2P either. It isn't a rushed website, since it's been there for a year and a half. It's most definitely unprofessional because I am not a professional; I am a regular person who doesn't make websites to run them as a business like the owner of Shadowpriest.com has done. There's always going to be someone who loves the design and someone who hates it.. /shrug. Sadly I can't make everyone happy. I'm also really glad that you've pointed out how stupid it is that people can't change their avatars, especially since you don't even have one here. Seems like a pressing situation.

I'll make this really clear for everyone who decides to post next. H2P has been there for a year and a half as of next Monday. We must be doing something right to generate the amount of traffic that we have. If you hate the site, it's as simple this: Don't use it. We are a happy community and if you want to be a part of that then great; If not, head on over to EJ. MMO-Champ has been one of the biggest supporters of the site since day one. I've got to say that I'm extremely disappointed in some of the immature and nitpicky posts I've seen here.

No one needs to post next, because this is really all that needs to be said.
Thanks, Veiled. -- <3 Kel