The Nexus Oscars (the Nexcars?)

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:03 pm

I know how you feel about wiki's, Shard. XD I think I know how to link and make things italicized, but beyond that... too confusing!

How would having a Nexus-server thing work? Would we all get a space on it so that we could upload images and sites and stuff to it? Or would it be a main page that we can just refer to for links, etc?

Shiolar · Post by **Shiolar** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:17 pm

I think the intention was for a central site to point to all the agencies, and explain what we do and so on.

Having a huge Nexus-server would be pretty cool, but prolly quite difficult to do well... We rack up a lot of bandwidth between us, I reckon...

Mystic Dragon · Post by **Mystic Dragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:21 pm

Yeah, plus that'd bring up the problem of legitimate uploads and illegal uploads. >.> I know we all love to share programs, but that stuff can get us into trouble if it's sitting on a server. Plus it takes up a lot of room.

So I'm thinking just a main page that we can all access so that links that need changing can be done by the owners.

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:21 pm

And we're not even connected to the other agencies, out there! XD Mystic! Set us up a Nexus corporation to help us pay for bandwidth fees! *laughs*

*watches as the Nexus becomes bigger then Neopets, with stuffed animals, etc. getting pumped out into malls across the US and Canada* X3 We can addict small children! >:D Oh, wait, we do that already. XDD *evil thunder-clap, lightning and cackling*

Mystic Dragon · Post by **Mystic Dragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:23 pm

Me?! O.O Eep.

Actually, I have been pondering making a Nexus store for a while. I can look into how much screen printed tees cost, and there's always the ever-popular bitches (keychains). However, issues of legality, copyright, and other such things have been putting a major hold on that idea.

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:27 pm

What kind of legalities? o.O

(And how do we market outside of the community? XD)

Mystic Dragon · Post by **Mystic Dragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:30 pm

Well... such as what worlds would be allowed. Anything remotely Pern-related is offlimits. That breaks McCaffery's copyrights. And then there's those who wouldn't want their worlds involved, which would mean that certain dragons (offspring, cross-breeds, etc.) would also be offlimits. Everything that comes in to be made into merchandise would have to be examined to make sure that it doesn't break any of these rules. Since there's a lot of us involved, every individual work would need the artist's consent. @.@ It is SO easy to get into lawsuits over things that can be bought.

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:36 pm

Ooh, yeah, no kidding. o.o' I hadn't thought of all of that.

There ought to be a Nexus-based dragon that's like... well, not common-currency, but something like Alskyr or Icarus, or /something/. Something with an infinite number of traits that anyone can throw in, but that no single person owns. Dragon-Utopia! XD *gets on a Marx-wig and beard*

Mystic Dragon · Post by **Mystic Dragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:41 pm

Well I was thinking mainly the Nexus logo for starters. >.> If we get permission. We could use it for shirts and the like.

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:51 pm

Woot, that's a good start. ^_^

Mystic Dragon · Post by **Mystic Dragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:53 pm

And as for advertising, the store would pay for itself. Once we got together a bit of cash, we could go to sites we frequent and ask for advertising space. I already know of one at least I'll try.

Skysong · Post by **Skysong** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:58 pm

So.. what's the goal of the whole Nexus-store thing? The money goes towards a Nexus-server or something, or is it going.. somewhere else? I don't really get it XD;

Mystic Dragon · Post by **Mystic Dragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:00 pm

Any money earned from the store would go towards maintaining this site, the Nexus site, and any advertisements we put up. Possibly, depending on how well it does, getting us into a Con sometime far in the future. (Far, FAR in the future).

There's also the question of whether or not we WANT to go to that stage. It would mean another huge change for the Nexus. The last one left us kinda rocky to begin with.

Shard · Post by **Shard** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:28 pm

Mystic Dragon wrote:Well... such as what worlds would be allowed. Anything remotely Pern-related is offlimits. That breaks McCaffery's copyrights. And then there's those who wouldn't want their worlds involved, which would mean that certain dragons (offspring, cross-breeds, etc.) would also be offlimits. Everything that comes in to be made into merchandise would have to be examined to make sure that it doesn't break any of these rules. Since there's a lot of us involved, every individual work would need the artist's consent. @.@ It is SO easy to get into lawsuits over things that can be bought.

Actually, anything *specifically* pern related. Dragons, anyone and I mean *anyone* can sell in any way shape or form. You guys know there's a book called Dragon Rider now, right? Somewhere, target has it. It's not a Pern book. Their level of legal nazi-ism is pretty far waned at this point. You'd have to actually advertise somthing *as* a Pern dragon, which we wouldn't.

I think if we had a store each of us who *wanted* to donate images for use, would do so knowing that specific image would be sold. It wouldn't have to reflect our individual sites at all, or our worlds. After all, WE are responsible for Icarus, Alskyr and the Nexus. If someone didn't want their particular image to grace a t-shirt that's fine, they don't have to send one in for it.

And yeah on a nexus site, I would say:
Splash page for the Nexus
Link pages to our Agencies that mimic our actual pages
NO filesharing/downloading, except for temporary clutch pickups (which I think would be less taxing on a bandwith anyway, but helpful to all of us in the long run to not have our own geocities sites swamped every time we have a pickup. not to mention save poor Photobucket their bandwidth.

)
Link to forum (here)
Relevant rules and regs/joining info

It wouldn't have to be a huge project, just somewhere that each of us could have a directory and post our fresh hatching info, if we have hatchings much any more...

Right now as it stands, I have the space for such things on Ilya's Reductio.com account but I don't have a clue how to use it since it's not a server I'm familiar with (and it confused me when they sent me the info...). I've considered droppin-the-fork as a temporary area for such things, but they ARE still geocities and sadly geocities doesn't support a cgi-bin for some reason. (UNLESS someone can tell me if I just 'create' the thing and use a stock program, or what?)

Babbling!

Hungries! Eats!

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:28 pm

We'll see about that, I think. The whole board is maturing and picking up new members and such as it goes along... it may be possible to do that, at some point. I don't think we're ready yet... it seems like something that would take a year or more of honest to goodness planning!

As for the splash-page stuff, would the links-off that mimic the actual sites just be pages that try to 'sell' the actual site? *confused!*

Mystic Dragon · Post by **Mystic Dragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:34 pm

And a LOT of effort on the part of whoever heads the project. @.@ A lot of us just don't have the time.

LakotaWolf · Post by **LakotaWolf** » Wed May 03, 2006 2:50 pm

Dev mentioned a lot of this, including the Nexus collective mainpage/site >__> and I re-mentioned it. I have plenty of space on my three webpages, and they're not Geocities or anything, so I wouldn't mind a bit making a subdomain specifically for the Nexuspage, and I'm online so often it wouldn't be a hassle for me to maintain it and update it. So, yeah, I'll donate that, if we go that way. In fact, I might make a template page anyway and see what everyone thinks. :}

Also, I think a store would possibly make a lot of problems... not only because of the legal issues, but also the marketing. There are a BILLION Cafepress and Zazzle stores out there with dragons on the merchandise. Who will care about our stuff? Plus, if it's only us who will be buying it, that's silly. We should just make donations to maintain the site.

Plus, we have to ask ourselves, is merchandising/commercializing going to totally destroy the atmosphere of the Nexus? How do we choose whose ideas, whose dragons, whose pictures go on the shirts or keychains? We all know that Phe, Dray, and Skysong are awesome artists and their stuff looks professional, but is that fair? Do we really feel like becoming a corporation (not literally, but figuratively.) Do we really want to advertise and likely end up picking up tons of bots, spiders, and the like?

I know these options are months in the future, but we can't just be like "oh gee, we'll worry about them when we get to that point!!" because then we won't have time to consult lawyers or anything. I think we should try to be as professional as we can be if we choose to go this direction, and do EVERYTHING (and I do mean EVERYTHING) by the book, down to asking a copyright lawyer a zillion questions. But again, I'd like to say: do we WANT to go this direction? We have a lot more members now, but we're still a relatively small "operation" XD Plus there would be a lot more pressure on all of us, especially the prolific artists, to hatch out lots more dragons and make new stuff and update and be even more awesome etc. etc. etc. It's a little frightening.

I'm sorry to always sound like the wrench thrown into the gears, but I've been watching things like this happen on the internet/furry/adoptable world for a great many years, and most endeavors end in disaster or general infighting. I just want to make sure we're ready, because I love this place way too much to lose it ;_________; ::plays Nexus National Anthem and waves flag with Nexus logo on it::

Shiolar · Post by **Shiolar** » Wed May 03, 2006 2:53 pm

You're probably right, Lakota. There would be a lot of stuff to consider before actually getting into it. But as a side note, I think a Schattarneki would actually look pretty good on a T-shirt.

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 2:57 pm

XD Considering we tend to get into spats without the help of general outside pressure, we definitely aren't ready right /now/... but I still think that it would be neat if, even years in the future, the Nexus moved along to a point like that. It'd just be neat to see this place become 'famous', I guess. I think you have a point with such attention possibly ruining its current atmosphere, though. It's more of a whim then anything!

As for the splash-page hosting, why not set something up with Lakota or Dev (or Shiolar, or anyone else who offered) while we're waiting on a generic Nexus-server sort of thing? We'd have to transfer stuff over eventually, but why wait to get started on something like that?

(;P And a Schattar' fur-coat would be pretty snazzy too--*gets bricks and tomatoes flung at her* --Ack!)

hksherra · Post by **hksherra** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:01 pm

But then there's the question about who would be able to access the splash page if it was held on someone's personal server... Is there any way to put a different password on part of the site so that it wouldn't be limited to the ones that owned the site? It just worries me a bit because say... we host it on Lakota's server and she gets run over by a truck one day... We lose the page! And allowing other people to access it would take off the unfair pressure to whoever is hosting it to make all the updates and changes that everyone may want...

XD And I don't really know much about servers, so if this is a really easy problem to fix then... yay!

Shiolar · Post by **Shiolar** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:14 pm

It MIGHT be possible with my server to set up an area that everyone can access. I'll have to check on the settings options, though. My current setup gives me access to the whole server. Like, not just stuff that I'm hosting, but the Teamspeak server, the Counterstrike server, the Windows files, all that stuff. Obviously widespread access to that is a bad idea. So I'll check and see what options there are.

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:20 pm

You could always tell people to PM you and ask for the password, once it's all set up, so that random lurkers don't get their hands on it. o.o'' Or people who, y'know, are likely to delete all of the info, if only by accident.

If it's only a splash page with links, I don't see why everyone needs access to it. True, an accident could happen, or someone could change their mind and suddenly revoke privileges (A certain person whose name starts with a 'K', anyone?) but why not keep two or three people with the ability to update, then just open a thread on here that allows people to propose changes--which any of the two or three people can implement?

Shiolar · Post by **Shiolar** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:26 pm

That could work yes. Since the splash page would be the info about us and links (and info?) for all the agencies, it wouldn't need a lot of updating anyway. Unless we have a page for various clutches that are available as well? *shrugs*

Yakima · Post by **Yakima** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:30 pm

I would love my own paid-site, too...and I could probably work in the payment if I go through E-Starr's $5 one - but it's what to call my own domain that has me baffled!

LakotaWolf · Post by **LakotaWolf** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:36 pm

XD I might have to shave a Schattie someday to make a fur coat >__>

Anyway XD I think I can either seperately-PW a subdomain, or give the PW to a few of the forum-Mods who I know I can trust. I was at one point going to give Dray a subdomain on my site, but then I think she got her stuff working so it wasn't necessary :} but yeah, I don't mind that.

::really hopes she doesn't get run over by a truck:: ;_;

LakotaWolf · Post by **LakotaWolf** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:13 pm

http://www.splintyr.com/nexus.html

Example splash page. Obviously there's nothing much there yet XD What do you all think?

Also, I've made nexus.dragonbytestudios.com, though it's not up JUST yet because some nameservers have to be changed and fun stuff like that. There is a seperate FTP to that subdomain alone, with its own PW, so that everyone or just the mods or whatever could access it, and thus upload files or download the index/individual pages and edit them.

::is still hoping she doesn't get run over by a truck... was a little disturbed by the mention of it, actually :P ::

hksherra · Post by **hksherra** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:15 pm

Aw... I'm sorry, Lakota! I shall send one of my best dragonknights to watch over you! There are no trucks in thy future!

LakotaWolf · Post by **LakotaWolf** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:32 pm

Maybe a small car or an SUV, not a truck? X3

hksherra · Post by **hksherra** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:37 pm

XD Nope nope! Not even them! My dragonknight shall take care of it! Shall I send Tenken to watch over you? X3

Post by **Dray** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:41 pm

The only significant vehicles in your future are the ones that you'll be driving. ;P No worries, Lakota-lovely!

>.> I think I'm on a light-kick, lately... so I'll let other people judge the splash-page. XD I can't get light blues and whites out of my head right now!