Official Site Launch/Update Thread

[Syko]

First of all, I'd like to welcome each and every one of you to the new Halownage.com.

As most of you know, there is a little bit of history here, and with this URL. All that is in the past now, and we're all hyped up for the new, improved, ORIGINAL HoC. What's in store for you guys ? Read on.

We weren't ready to launch the site just yet, as you can readily tell. It had been in the works for several weeks, but we didn't want to rush anything and end up short changing something. We wanted it to be perfect. That all changed when it was brought to my attention this morning by a few members that the site had some new admins. Mike and I knew nothing about it, so Mike did a little research on it and found a thread on SitePoint.com where Shark had sold the site.

Immediately we both felt betrayed, seeing as how he sold the site to a company. I was ok with selling the site to Shark, thinking that he might actually take as much care of the site as Mike and I tried to do. Obviously he didn't have the same passion or love for the site that we did, and it showed at how easily he sold the site. We were furious, and chose to go full steam ahead with the launch of www.halownage.com.

Even though it doesn't look like we're close to being ready at all, I assure you that we are. We just finished design on one of the TWO CUSTOM SKINS that we are getting, and are waiting for it to be coded as we speak. If all goes well, you could see it in the next day or so, but realistically it could be by the end of next week. Paul should be getting the other custom skin finished up in the next week, so there will be the other one. Both custom skins are dark skins, but that doesn't mean that we forgot about you guys that like the light skins. We will have 2 lighter skins for you to choose from, making you stay here at Halownage.com that much more enjoyable.

As you can see, we've all been busting ass on the site all day. Mike set up all the usergroups, the behind the scenes mods, and all the logistics on the back end to make sure that everything goes trouble free as usual. Dox and I have been working for about 8 hours straight today on finishing up the skin. For those of you that think it's not a big deal, you've never dealt with me before. Dox, Russia, Amrit, and all the other gfx guys that have tried to make me a sig will attest to the fact that I'm an anal asshole and want it to be PERFECT, and have no qualms about asking someone to redo something even if it's close to being finished. You're my boy Dox, and I thank you for all the hard work you've put into the site so far. Paul's been tracking down all the server info that we needed and helping us get all the accounts set up that we need in order to run the site daily. If all that doesn't seem like enough work to get done in a day, remember that all 3 of us have FULL TIME JOBS, and were still able to get it done. Remember that passion/love that I was talking about ? Yeah, there it is guys.

Why Halownage ?

Ok Syko, so you guys have the forum up and running. Why should I stay here now ? Well let me just give you a little insight into the first few months of the site.

Montage Contests !!

First off, we're going to start the site off with MONTHLY $100 MONTAGE CONTESTS. That's nice, but other sites have big money contests, so what good does that do ? Well every montage that we receive and have exclusive rights to will be submitted for the monthly contest. Out of all the entries, we'll also be having a HUGE MONTAGE CONTEST at the end of the Summer. Prizes are expected to be a MINIMUM OF $500. That could EASILY go up. All that we're going to require for both contests is that we get EXCLUSIVE hosting rights, and it will be checked.

Cool, a montage contest. What else ?

Themed Clip of the Week!

We'll still have the clip of the week contests that we had in the past, but the difference is that this time instead of paying out points, something that most of you could have cared less about, we'll be paying out CASH. $25 to the winner each week, to be exact. Just one more reason for you H3 guys to make sure that you record each gameplay and go back and watch them again if you think you've got something worth entering. All the clips will be hosted and voted on by the members.

Tournaments!

You can also expect to see some CASH TOURNAMENTS coming your way as well. The plan is to start off with a massive FFA tournament, followed up shortly thereafter by MLG Style tournaments. All of which will have cash prizes, and all will be more than worth your while. If I were you, I'd start planning on getting a team together and working on my teamwork. Hell, it could be an easy $100 or so.

Future Plans!

Believe me when I tell you this, we have a TON of things in store for you guys. I just don't want to give away all our plans just yet, but I promise you you're in for ONE HELL OF A RIDE !!!!!!

Mods & Admins:

Now most of the faces you'll see around here are going to be familiar to those of you from Halomega. They were all mods there for a reason, and have established a trust with the admins and the members. There are also a few new ones, that some of you didn't expect to see.

Admins:
Piggedy
Vorlx
Syko

Mods:
Cipha
Tattie
FxL
Legendz
Russia
Brohan
Pooner
Phenom
Kossick
Heister
Draco
Soulja

While it might seem as though we're overstaffed on mods, we're going about things a little differently this time. Each mod will have a primary forum that they're responsible for, as well as watching the rest of the forum. We're going to be just as strict on the mods as we are the members this time, so you guys help us keep them all in check as well. The mods have all been informed that we're going to be very strict on flaming/spamming, and will deal out the punishment accordingly. Keep that in mind whenever you decide to go off on someone.
Regs/Donators:

Seeing as how this is a new site, there will be no special Reg/Donator section for a while. Once we start getting members that have been around THIS SITE long enough to justify it, we'll revisit the idea of having a Regs only section.

Now to address some of the questions/suggestions that you've had already:

Several members made the comment that we should have a tournament staff to handle the events we run. This has already been discussed and we're working out the logistics behind the scenes in an effort to make sure that everyone has the best experience possible.

Pooner and a few others have asked about Avvy limits. We're still working on the actual size that we're going to use, we just have to see what they look like on the new skins before we can make a final decision.

If you have any other questions about the site or what we've got planned, feel free to contact any of the admins as we'll all be able to answer the questions that you have.

I know that you've all been flaming/spamming like crazy so far, and we figured that we'd let you have your fun on the site. It all stops now, as the mods are going to start issuing warnings/banning people from now on. You had your fun, and if you missed out on it then I'm sorry. H3F and Halomega.com would love to have you there flaming/spamming it up.


We're back baby, and BETTER than EVER !

Syko

[Eyezayhuh]

1st post bitches
j/k
well nice to see the real hoc back up hope it all goes to plan
we should make one beta tage with clips from hoc folks

[KiNG TRiCKY]

this sounds like its gonna b crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy

[E z e k i e l]

You guys did an immense job getting all this up. My hat goes off to each one of you. Hopefully, this whole ordeal has been a big knock on the head to all you guys reading this, and you join us all in making it 10x the site any other forum could be.


To HoC! Cheers.

[•T•]

Best of luck to you guys. I always like having a second forum to visit if the other gets too hectic or something stupid breaks out. I plan on visiting the almost daily, and actually posting, which I didn't do at Halomega.

Oh, and since this like a clean state. Let's make it a clean slate between me and a few of the members. I'm not hard to get along with, at all. I've had many disagreements with Conor, Russia, Brohan and probably some others. Let's just keep the peace, and at least try to get along.

Good luck Halownage.

[Soulja]

Nice Writeup Syko, The Skin is the Sexiest thing ever!!

[DayQuiZzZle]

Sounds fantastic, i hope this site blossoms to be a pretty work of art

/ghey

[_RicaNeSe]

Lol @ the old HoC. There moving to a better server, or as they say.

Can't wait to beat the old HoC in members, and activity soon.

I would like to maybe try to get into some sort of a tournament staff spot? But thats 100% up to you guys, hope im not sounding like a d-bag or pushy.

Sites lookin great Justin & Mike.

[Evlmidget25]

Great writeup. This site its going to turn out great! Glad to be a part of it.