Um, is this supposed to happen?

[Leg End]

Guys it's fine. Everything's fine. You're fine.

Yep. Fine.

Spoiler: Yes, absolutely totally fine.

EDIT: Odd, my profile picture appears to not be working now.

That'd be because you're on your "Pub Club" avatar, which isn't set so you're on the default. When the Pub switch is flicked again you'll revert automatically to your original avatar but for now, you can upload another if you like.

 

[The Enquirer]

Guys it's fine. Everything's fine. You're fine.

Yep. Fine.

Spoiler: Yes, absolutely totally fine.

EDIT: Odd, my profile picture appears to not be working now.

That'd be because you're on your "Pub Club" avatar, which isn't set so you're on the default. When the Pub switch is flicked again you'll revert automatically to your original avatar but for now, you can upload another if you like.

Good to know. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Jonluw]

So what I'm getting here is someone bought the esapist and has been running it slowly down into the mud since I left?
It's sort of sad visiting for once and seeing old avatars and names coming out of the woodwork exposing that the site has gone to shit...

And give me my psychedelic cow back damnit!

The new code of conduct is weird too.
I love my adblocker, drugs, and juicy twats.

 

[IceForce]

It could be that they're moving away from a guaranteed 'weekly column' format, in favor of a more 'random featured article' format (hence why they've scrapped all their writers and are going with a more 'freelance' approach instead).

Or it could be that Shamus's column just simply didn't generate enough traffic. Could be that.

I've been wondering why the escapist has been churning out more and more clickbait bullshit articles lately...

"The 8 best anime openings" a slideshow.
WTF? What the hell is happening? The whole deal here was to maintain some semblance of quality.

Where have you been? They've been churning out 'Top 8' lists on a daily basis for a good couple of years now.

And I always avoid them. Not just because they don't interest me, but also because each item of the 8 is on a SEPARATE GODDAMN PAGE, forcing you to click through 8 pages just to see them all. Seriously, why do that?

 

[Jonluw]

It could be that they're moving away from a guaranteed 'weekly column' format, in favor of a more 'random featured article' format (hence why they've scrapped all their writers and are going with a more 'freelance' approach instead).

Or it could be that Shamus's column just simply didn't generate enough traffic. Could be that.

I've been wondering why the escapist has been churning out more and more clickbait bullshit articles lately...

"The 8 best anime openings" a slideshow.
WTF? What the hell is happening? The whole deal here was to maintain some semblance of quality.

Where have you been? They've been churning out 'Top 8' lists on a daily basis for a good couple of years now.

And I always avoid them. Not just because they don't interest me, but because each item of the 8 is on a SEPARATE GODDAMN PAGE, forcing you to click through 8 pages just to see them all. Seriously, why do that?

They do that because ad revenue is proportional to the amount of pages a user opens. So by splitting an article into x slides, they get x times as much revenue on their uninsightful, manufactured crap.

I've been mostly gone for the last 4 years. I wouldn't say the site back in 2012 was quite as awesome as it used to be back in 2007, but it still felt like it had substance youknow?
Now I come back and what do I find?
I can barely see the remnants of the old, good, escapist floating around in this cesspool of a generic clickbait site.
And now I hear they're firing Kross and Shamus?
I'm going to have to go on another nostalgic Unforgotten Realms binge just to pretend none of this happened and I'm a kid again.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

This is slightly worrying... Not really happy to see my favourite website slowly crumbling...
The free pub club membership is nice though.

 

[Dizchu]

New avatar time I guess.

Sorry to hear about the layoffs.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

And give me my psychedelic cow back damnit!

it's here: http://cdn.escapistmagazine.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/293/293839.gif
Just set your new premium avatar to that address. The standard one doesn't go away (unless you replace it when not pubclub).

 

[IamLEAM1983]

This is slightly worrying... Not really happy to see my favourite website slowly crumbling...
The free pub club membership is nice though.

Your new avatar seems to have broken during the upload(s), all 0 size, so you'll need to try again.

 

[bluegate]

And give me my psychedelic cow back damnit!

it's here: http://cdn.escapistmagazine.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/293/293839.gif
Just set your new premium avatar to that address. The standard one doesn't go away (unless you replace it when not pubclub).

That really does sound like a pretty backwards way to go about things. Why not update the choose_avatar page to make differences between "normal" and "pub club" avatars more apparent? Show people both avatars and give them a nice radio button to tick to choose which avatar they want to use.

 

[Jonluw]

And give me my psychedelic cow back damnit!

it's here: http://cdn.escapistmagazine.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/293/293839.gif
Just set your new premium avatar to that address. The standard one doesn't go away (unless you replace it when not pubclub).

WITCH!!!!
YOU MUST BE BURNED AT THE STAKE IMMEDIATELY!!!

In all seriousness though, thanks.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Was it Kross who did all that weird coloring yesterday? Also everyone's Avatars aren't working. Even mind. Just failed to load all of them.

 

[IceForce]

Was it Kross who did all that weird coloring yesterday? Also everyone's Avatars aren't working. Even mind. Just failed to load all of them.

That's because we all have to reupload our avatars to make them work again. It's just that people (like me) are being lazy about it.

 

[JaKandDaxter]

Well have a laugh at this. I just got a notification on my Escapist profile that my post was quoted by me on GameTrailers. Which I did do because I though B-Cell was referring to the publisher club thing that's going on in GT too. And the computer even posted the link to GameTrailers.

Sorry for the lack of screenshots. I don't have an active tinypic account to upload on the internet.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of your posts has been quoted by JaKandDaxter!

JaKandDaxter:
It is happening at the escapist. Here's the thread, and a post about this is below.

-Jak-:

LetalisK:

Btw, why is my avatar suddenly gone? And why am I suddenly a Pub club member? I've never paid for that. I should go ask Kr....*cries*

Were actually having the same question over at GameTrailers (yes its still up). Practically all of us who has a profile from 2014 and before have been given premium status. And we had to re-upload our avatars. But we do get a bigger avatar size fortunately.

I read membership can be given as a gift. There was one suggestion that someone did some messing around as a parting gift to being layed off. And since the same thing is happening here on the escapist. This is likely not a bug.

View Post: http://www.gametrailers.com/forums/jump/664.936281.23588730

These notifications can be turned off in the forum options

 

[fix-the-spade]

Shamus gets canned, the techs are shown the door - is the management honestly trying to get the site closed? I don't mean to be brash, but it feels like it's bad decision after bad decision as of late.

It doesn't site like anyone is trying anything, it looks awfully like The Escapist is about to be closed down. Which given Defy's record would not be a huge surprise, however enormously sad it will make me.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

This is slightly worrying... Not really happy to see my favourite website slowly crumbling...
The free pub club membership is nice though.

Your new avatar seems to have broken during the upload(s), all 0 size, so you'll need to try again.

That's what I thought at first, but it seems to have just fixed itself.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Welp, that's what happens when YouTube swallows all gaming content, I guess. You downsize and downsize and downsize and downsize until, well, there's not much of anything left. Then you close doors, and your former content providers and/or employees start a Patreon for an independent YouTube channel. Which is kind of cool.

Pretty much the same way GT is being reborn as Easy Allies.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZrxXp1reP8E353rZsB3jaA

They've got less of a focus on reviews planned, but that could change depending on how much money their Patreon pulls. As for the locals, Grey and Cory already host Erin Dies Alone on its own site, Yahtzee could probably switch back to YouTube and also start a Patreon, and the lot of us could more or less convert to regular YouTube commenters and Twitch followers.

 

[JaKandDaxter]

Welp, that's what happens when YouTube swallows all gaming content, I guess. You downsize and downsize and downsize and downsize until, well, there's not much of anything left. Then you close doors, and your former content providers and/or employees start a Patreon for an independent YouTube channel. Which is kind of cool.

Pretty much the same way GT is being reborn as Easy Allies.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZrxXp1reP8E353rZsB3jaA

They've got less of a focus on reviews planned, but that could change depending on how much money their Patreon pulls. As for the locals, Grey and Cory already host Erin Dies Alone on its own site, Yahtzee could probably switch back to YouTube and also start a Patreon, and the lot of us could more or less convert to regular YouTube commenters and Twitch followers.

Problem is YouTube doesn't provide the environment for in depth discussion that forums do. Neither does Twitch, particularity when the comment section gets crowded by the looks of it (I don't have Twitch).

But yes, YouTube is swallowing all gaming and non gaming content. Ad block is also another problem, and is partly responsible for GameTrailers demise. The Bonus Round for instance had to be slashed because it was a full scale TV production that involved flying in industry guests, and providing hotel rooms for them. Sure ads can be intrusive, but if people really love the sites they visit and want to support the site staff. They have to turn off ad block, or accept they are part of the problem of the demise of quality free to visit and watch gaming sites. Cause the only other alternative is a subscription base model, which corporate sites are moving pretty slow or not at all to transition to. And not everyone wants to put up cash out of their own wallets.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

The only other alternative is a subscription base model, which corporate sites are moving pretty slow or not at all to transition to. And not everyone wants to put up cash out of their own wallets.

Oh, I know. It's one heck of a Gordian knot to slice, seeing as most people will keep looking at ad-supported sites and go "Meh, I've got Adblock."

Google's targeted ads are slightly more tolerable than whatever dreck outside providers shell us with (I mean, how many "free" mortgage ads do I have to see in a single day?), but the overall insufferable nature of ads is still prevalent. Plus, several courts still consider the use of Adblock to be legitimate - so yeah.

I figure some pissed-off ad agency exec is going to pull a Trump one of those days and claim that blocking ads should be a crime.

 

[JaKandDaxter]

Oh, I know. It's one heck of a Gordian knot to slice, seeing as most people will keep looking at ad-supported sites and go "Meh, I've got Adblock."

Google's targeted ads are slightly more tolerable than whatever dreck outside providers shell us with (I mean, how many "free" mortgage ads do I have to see in a single day?), but the overall insufferable nature of ads is still prevalent. Plus, several courts still consider the use of Adblock to be legitimate - so yeah.

I figure some pissed-off ad agency exec is going to pull a Trump one of those days and claim that blocking ads should be a crime.

My favorite kind of sites to visit (sarcastically speaking). Are those that say they have nice pictures of nature for instance, on facebook. There's 20 ads on the first page on all sides, plus a pop up one. And they don't allow for one page viewing since that's bad for traffic ratings and ad revenue.

Not to mention such sites are poorly put together and the backgrounds look terrible. Its a pretty crappy scheme to get money.