The month of July is almost here and the site is a 1 1/2 months old now. People are starting to get a little antsy. If the past is any indication these next couple of months will be by far our busiest months. We rode the Halo 3 Beta wave for the start of the site and it worked out well. Now we are trying to get back to the basics and get the contests, tournaments and everything rolled out.

Staff

As you have seen there has been a LOT of change in the staff. You have to realize that when things like this happen it takes some time to get all of the newer staff orientated and into the mix. There is a lot of behind the scenes work we have to get them used to. I believe that all of the staff changes that needed to happen, have happened. That doesn't mean things won't change over the summer but everything I believe needed to change has. Just bare with us while the transition takes place.

Tournaments

As you have noticed we now have a dedicated tournament staff and the first tournament is on its way. The HoC Staff has taken a mostly hands off approach and let Tedums and his staff do their thing. We plan on letting the first few tournaments run untouched and then gauge the success after that. If there are problems or they don't run well we can recommend changes or make the necessary changes. Tournaments have been a big problem in the past and I believe that we need a certain type of person to be able to pull them off. Some people may believe that they are being ran a little to strict but I personally believe it is necessary. That being said, lets let the first few tournaments execute and then see where we are.

Contests

We are starting to roll out a few more contests, some cash. some not. The Sig of the week headed up by Dox will be rolling out very soon. We will also be bringing back the Arcade Challenge at some point, I think a lot of the question is what we will offer the winners for the contests that won't be cash driven. The weekly interviews will also be coming back soon. We are planning for another cash prize contest to roll out here soon we just haven't finalized what it will be yet.

Skins

We are planning on rolling out some new skins, eventually. We have had some setbacks in the coding department. For now we are going to just concentrate on continuing to modify our current. I know that a lot of you are anxiously waiting for a light skin and it is on the list I just don't think it will be anytime soon.

Video Hosting

There has been some confusion on this. These requests really need to come via PM on the site if we expect them to be track-able. I have no problem with you guys following up in AIM and working directly with a mod to upload/download but we need the original requests to come via PM on the site. It is also rather preferred that you upload them to mythica first if possible. I can duplicate them from mythica to our server in a matter of minutes. This is a lot more efficient than holding up peoples AIM for hours on end just to have the mod have to re-upload it when it's finished. This process takes a lot of time. When you make the PM request for hosting/announcement, please cc me in on the PM, I don't want the request itself coming to be but I want to be CC'd on it so that I can followup and make sure it happens. You also have to realize this is not an overnight thing. Sometimes the ball does get dropped but I consider this entire process at best a 24-72 hour process depending on how prepared you are and which mod is handling it. We will not announce a video that does not have our intro or text at the beginning saying something about halownage.com. There is no exceptions. There are some exceptions for hosting it. If you come to a mod and give us a mythica link and ask to host it and consider announcing it, then I can easily (if I am cc'd in) handle the duplication of the video and if it has the intro in it, it can be reviewed and possibly announced rather quickly. If you come to us and expect an AIM transfer, or bring us a video that doesn't have an intro, this is going to take awhile. You have to understand this. The more prepared you are the quicker the video can run through the process. This process will get better over time as our newer mods become familiar with the process.

Announcements

I know that there has been some general complaints about lack of announcements or videos. I want to remind everyone that we are a Forum site. Forum traffic is generated by the users. You submit the videos, you help spur the excitement. While it is our job to try to keep things interesting and provide as many announcements as we can we don't and won't always have them. The 'Other Halo News' section provides a continual feed of good and bad news about Halo related topics. Everything that hits HBO or Bungie.net will come across. The news and announcements will remain for site specific events and other 'special' things that come up. I will continue to work with the staff to think of ways that can keep the announcements active but there will be ups and downs. Some weeks there will be all sorts of things going on, others there won't be. You just need to understand what to expect. We will continue to do what we can to keep things interesting to the best of our ability. What you cannot expect is, for this site to be as active as established sites that have 30k users or have been around for 3-4 years. Over time as the site grows these problems will get better and better.

Misc

The HoC Awards system is being worked on by Dox and SloMoShun. We are making some good progress and you should see this roll out next month sometime.

Sites Future

As you know Syko was a main contributor to the site when it opened and his continued contribution depended a lot on where he got stationed (as a civilian) in Iraq and what type of Internet he got. Well his Internet is junk and he can barely even open a website. He can get on AIM but that's about it. That being said he will not be a primary contributor to anything going on until he arrives back in the states (he is currently set to finish in a year). This just means we need to rely on the staff a bit more than originally expected, this also opens up a potential spot for one of the staff to, at some point, move up to assist in admin type duties. I will play the same role I always have. Paul is very motivated to have a successful Halo Site. He is not in it to make a quick buck or to be a here today and gone tomorrow site. He is our owner and financial backer. He expects myself and the staff to run this place. That means that we are all in this through the good and the bad and the site will continue to grow. Things may seem a bit stale at times but we will do what we can to keep things interesting until Halo 3 is released.

As always your feedback is welcomed so please feel free to use this as an open forum to discuss any other things you want to talk about relating to the site.

Good write up V. I'm glad to see how the site is progressing and I currently have no problems with the site except for the tournaments. The skins are comming in soon so that good also. Hopefully one year will go by quicker than slower because it's not the same without Syko. Good luck to him though.

Good write up. This site is going to do good. Only complaint is the skins. This one is suitable but I would like others too. I know your working on it though. Like king said, the site aint the same without syko. P isn't active he just does behind the scene stuff. Convince syko to come back .

Great write up as usual.
I just wanted to say something, I think everybody noticed that lately, a lot of people make gifts for eachother, now it will not be every day like this, I realize that, but wouldn't it be a bit better to add a section that is called "The Christmas Tree" or something of that sort for all the gifts? I mean, most people just want to see people enjoy the gifts they make, and not show it off as it shown off enough by the receiver of the gift, so it's sort of innapropriate to put the gifts in the Show off forum.

If whatever I just typed up made sense, does it sound like a good idea? Does anyone agree? Is it possible?

Drop me a PM with the problems you are having with the Tournaments and we can discuss them.

I agree that Syko brings some needed 'spunk' to the site and that hands on feel that alot of you gain from playing and interacting with him. That being said he really hasn't been around enough for that to really matter. He's got things goin in life and there isn't much we can do about that. There isn't anything to convince. He is under contract for a year, and he couldn't come home for at least 3-6 months even if he wanted. He needs to do this for financial and career gains. =)

I don't want to make a bunch of forums or sub forums with little to no activity. I want to keep things consolidated. Off-Topic for example. We could easily break that out into 2-3 semi-active sections but I would much rather keep it to 1. This goes for all little subs that people could think of. They don't necessarily fit in the graphics showoff, but having them there or the general discussion is fine. I don't think its necessary to designate 1 section for every little idea people have. I would rather have a consolidated list of active forums.

great writeup
any word on how sykos doing?
if so please tell

Syko is doing fine. I talk to him at least once a day.

On a side note, can you please put the youtube vids that are in your sig next to each other?

Thanks.

I love the ballsack skin, why would I ever change it?