vab423

er, yup, you're right, of course, Skigeek - you said "off-topic threads have subjects." My bad; liking topicless a little too much, I guess. My point is that SOMEONE set up the banter-type whatever thingamabobber for just such a reason, so why start crying foul? I'm merely offering a 3rd party disinterested opinion - I don't participate in those topics because I'm not particulary fond of them myself. I'm just saying that if the reason is as beebs, the moderator, said is because (s)he doesn't like reading through it, then don't make it sound so sinister by calling it "spam." Just say "we are making this rule because we don't like reading such nonsense." I wouldn't claim to be in the know or anything, but as far as it using up resources, I would imagine that is the site owner's judgement. I don't have a plethora of knowledge regarding web sites, but certainly one-line posts aren't as much of a resource hog as shareable files or pictures in CJs, right? Anyway, moot point since the word has been handed down. Thanks for your time. @sloppet: oxymoron is a phrase comprised of contradictory terms, such as "government intelligence" or an "educated guess"

Originally posted by: SkiGeek [Applying this rule to threads that do have a topic would be silly. Say that in the diabetes thread, for instance, two people got into a conversation, one newly diagnosed person asking questions, the other with years of living with the condition answering them. That would clearly be a 'hearty conversation', not a 'spam conversation' which Vandy thoughtfully demonstrated earlier in this thread. Originally posted by: Duke87 Anyway, on topic now: a reccomendation for how to avoid confusion: perhaps a new subforum should be created tor "topicless chatter", the relevant threads moved there, and this rule just applied to that forum. Would that be doable?quote> I think everyone is forgetting something here: even off topic threads are supposed to have a topic. If we really wanted to be the meanies that some people think we are, we could remove all of the "topicless chatter" threads as a violation of that rule. The two post rule seemed like a reasonable compromise. quote> Skigeek, you said it yourself ... in a DIABETES thread, there is a specific topic. In a topicless thread, there is no topic. Which is why I'm confused as to how one can say "even topicless threads have a topic." Isn't that an oxymoron? Some other moderator actually gave a valid reason for instituting the rule, cutting through all the drivel: because HE (or she) doesn't like to read through all the one- or two-line posts. While I do not agree with it, at least that person is honest enough to give the real reason. And as one person pointed out, this topic has been a perfect forum for people to flame other people's posting styles. I have the utmost respect for Vandy but his definition of hearty chatter (which might not be exactly what he said because I can't scroll back far enough to read his original post) doesn't work for everyone and, quite frankly, isn't appropriate in every situation. For those of you old enough to know the phrase, think "*****tail chatter." While perfectly fine amongst friends, it's not generally appropriate in the workplace. So why isn't the converse true? The more rules you have in place, the more likely it is you will find that more people look for loopholes. For example, if you tell a kid not to hit, pinch or sock his sibling, he will more than likely bite his brother and then say, "but you didn't tell me I couldn't bite." Sometimes it's better to have GUIDELINES which allow for flexibilty in dealing with specific issues. I would also like to point out that when there are too many rules in place, it becomes a full-time job to monitor and enforce them. EDIT: Oh brother I just noticed the board software censored my phrase in the above paragraph. **** is another word for rooster. ****tail is also what sophisticated people call "drinks"

Originally posted by: Vandy Of course, I also believe in Superman and that pigs can fly so take it for what its worth... Vandyquote> Vandy I'm so glad you posted this while I was editing my post otherwise I'd be in violation of the law - oops, I think I am because it's a two-post width not one but thanks for this. I laughed as I took a drink and spit a little water on my monitor.

The two post rule means that after Person A posts, Person B and Person C must post before Person A posts again.quote> Sounds like rules to a board game. I truly believe that NO ONE -- Staff or participants -- desires that people not have fun when interacting in a thread. That would be so counterproductive to the health of ANY Web site. The SimTropolis membership demographics are very broad -- young members, middle-aged members and old members (no offence to any group, please -- I, myself, am one of the "old fogies" on Staff) and it would be ludicrous to believe that we all think and act the same. Nonetheless, there is a framework within which we all can operate -- the Rules of SimTropolis. Even within that framework, using the suggestions I've outlined above, we should all still be able to have fun and great interaction amongst ourselves.quote> Vandy, with all due respect, actions speak louder than words and believe me, the rules and moderating (in general) around here are SCREAMING, "you will have NO fun around here unless you have fun MY WAY." It's much like the little kids who are playing ball but, unfortunately, the kid who owns the ball insists on making up his own rules to the game. If the other kids don't like it, tough for them. As a disinterested mostly lurking 3rd party, I have seen a significant decline in politeness, general camaraderie and lot/bat quality in the approximately 1.5 years since I first joined. The oppression lately has been overwhelming. Technically the definition of spam is unsolicited bulk messages or message flooding. I hardly think that two or three messages in a row could be considered flooding. I'm guessing what's being discouraged here is having someone reply to previous posts separately, but rather to consolidate all posts in one message? I'm guessing this rule is in effect throughout all sections of the board? For example, if an author releases a lot and has 20 questions about the lot in his or her showcase board, he or she should answer every question in one post rather than answering each post individually. Theoretically, you are correct - within the framework of the rules everyone *should* be able to have fun here. In reality, there is broad interpretation of the rules and the very fact that there are different standards in different forums and for different people make it very difficult for people to have fun around here. EDITED AGAIN BECAUSE OF RESPONSE BY SKIGEEK ABOVE: So this rule is not applicable to other forums? Maybe it's easier for the moderators to remember the rules since they have specific areas for which they are responsible. However, for the regular user who visits more than one location, having a different set of rules in different areas makes the rules much harder to remember and more easy to break. There are 6 counties in a 50-mile radius where I live. Could you imagine how difficult driving would be and how many traffic tickets I'd have if the driving laws were different in all 6 counties? Has anyone ever considered the idea of having a consistent set of rules throughout the board?

Also, creating a new folder for plugins dosen't work. I tried it once and the game would not read it. quote> That's the point, raul39. If you think you downloaded something that's screwing up your game, you make it so the game doesn't read those files (either by renaming the folder or moving it out of your game). If your game functions normally without the custom content, then you know the problem is with something you downloaded.

If you believe the problem is a custom lot or mod, did you try moving all of that stuff out of your plugins folders? Typically most people use MY DOCUMENTS\SIM CITY 4\PLUGINS to save custom content, but you may also have to check in PROGRAM FILES\MAXIS\SIM CITY 4\PLUGINS also. I'm not sure if SimCity 4 looks in folders other than the default ones it creates, so you may just be able to rename the PLUGINS folder to something else and then start the game. Otherwise, you can move the files elsewhere on your hard drive. If you can residential to grow, then you've narrowed it down to at least something you've downloaded. Then you just have to figure out what. Good luck.

but Vab may have misled you just a bit. A lot of the older packs from the BSC indicate that they have been replaced by a Mega pack so there is no reason to d/l and install them.quote> I must respectively clarify what my friend about me misleading you a bit. Please note she said *some* (well, actually, she said a lot but one word is easier to emphasize than two). While she may be technically correct, installing haphazardly without regard to date may overwrite an "essential" file and then the queries don't work like they're supposed to. And I'm pretty sure that some of Grampa Al's farms had props that may or may not have made it into a MPP. However, I see we have the much more qualified than any of us, Ms. Barbyw, chiming in and she is the definitive answer regarding all things props. (pssst, FanG, you and I are gonna have to have a little chat later.)

Radiodude, can't answer your question specifically, but I have most of the BSC custom content, including the farms, nearly all of Simgoober's stuff, a lot of SFBT residentials and various other creators, and I estimate the props/textures files use about 250-300 MB (I think that may be an overestimation) -- my entire plugins folder is under 1-GB FYI, RAM has nothing to do with the amount of hard disk space -- a 200GB hard drive, however, should be plenty big for whatever you want to download from here. You may have to make multiple trips with your flash drive as you indicated it was only 256-MB. Otherwise, you can always buy a larger one (they're always handy to have for other things, anyway). Hope this information is helpful to you. edit: I noticed BB mentioned reading the readmes for all the prop links -- which is always a good idea. However, if you are downloading *all* the props and whatnot for BSC/CSX, be VERY CAREFUL when installing everything. I recommend making note of the upload dates of everything you download and install everything in reverse chronological order (oldest first). When you get to the mega prop pack installation, make sure you read the readme BEFORE installing, because you'll have to delete some of the older props that were consolidated into the MPP's. It sounds like a pain in the rear, but easier in the long run, IMO.