by andylegate » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:46 am
I believe that if there are Ages on the ULM whos mirrors are broken, stay broken, and all attempts to contact the writer of that Age have failed, then yes they more than likely should be removed, or at least put in a "Inactive" status on the Website and not reported by the ULM program until the writer contacts Trylon.
On the other hand, if an Age is on the ULM, and the mirror works, even if you have not seen any progress or changes whatsoever, I don't think anyone should remove it, unless the creator(s) of that Age want it removed. Just because an Age has not progressed, should not be a valid reason to remove it from the ULM, that's not really fair, nor nice for that mater.
Even though there may not be much there, someone took their personal time to try and create something. It is also a mater of history, and shows how things were as compared to how things are now.
So I don't think they should be removed just because there has been no visable progress. As long as the link to it works, it should be left alone. Maybe moved to a section called "Pre-GoW Plugin Ages" or something like that.
As far as all the other Ages that other Writers are working on, but are not up on the ULM, keep in mind that many of those Writers don't want to place their creations on the ULM until they are ready. The downloads here and there on the forum are there not because they are ready for people (with one exception, and that was me as I didn't have server space at the time, but that's changed and my Ages are on the ULM now) to look at them as a final product yet.
They post them here and there to ask questions, troubleshoot problems, or to get opinions.
However, you will most likely have a tough time forcing a Writer to post their Age on the ULM simply so that others can check the progress of it.
There are several Ages being worked on by Writers who are taking there time for one reason or another. They have RL constraints that allow them only a little time here and there to work on their Age. Yet even others are taking it slow and easy to make sure they have a quality Age before they are done.
Then there are advances in the plugin. Every time the Tool Team comes out with a new plugin so far, it has always contained new features that Writers want to use in their Ages.
A good example of that was the first plugin that allowed us to put sounds in the Ages. The problem is that the plugin also changed the way that many things were done, and also allowed for better texturing of the Ages. So many Writers that were close to being done, or had made a lot of progress had to go back and re-do many things and make it even better.
The latest plugin is yet another fine example: animated textures.
I'm learning how to use them right now so I can make the water in my Ages animated. It's also a chance for me to go back and make things look better too.
Last, but not least, is server space issue. Keep in mind in order to put the Age on the ULM, you have to have your own server space somewhere. The ULM does NOT host the files. It simply acts as a coordinator for where they files are. Many people can't afford server space, or have to rely on charity from others.
The Maintainers just now found a way to use our server space with the ULM so that the server does not crash. We have tons of room now, and Nynaveve our Guildmaster Webmaster is offering room for aspiring Writers for their Ages. So hopefully this will help those that need the server space.