I guess it has became necessary to do this.
It's a shame there's so much confusion from people about the site, I always see that disinformation being spread on YT comment sections and elsewhere. It's a shame, but hopefully the new system won't put modders off.
As long as we don't see a slew of people posting things akin to JH's old "Illegal Mods" videos it should be ok.

Damn thats alot of new changes that are going to happen. I do hope that people will be more open to release their mods and word spreads out of these changes so people might visit more and more.

I am wondering tough if the Old Colonials get to keep the blue name or something special like the 'Veteran' rank we already have.

And please god yes we need more screenshot contests. I've been dying for a challenge.

It is a shame it has had to come to this, From a personal standpoint. I always understood that Colonial was for active status within the community. Hell I was a colonial at one point but sadly too a long time away to start my family and lost it. I saw no big deal with it. Circumstances are what they are. Still not able to be as active as I once was. I comment when I can. Always try and add some support for the guys releasing fantastic work for us.

Always a GUNner

Van

Oh, okay I was a bit confused, I thought I was demoted, couldn't figure out why. It's a shame, but understandable.

will be interesting to see what further changes and updates come down the road at least things will be changing for the better and not give the appearance of being dead. best of luck guys

So that's why my name is now in this horrible brown color instead of the nice aqua green? Come on man, at least give me the chance to change it.

So wow, that explained a bit. The sudden pause in promotions/demotions for two months. Shame that drama had to ruin it, but I guess that it only proved how necessary a change was. Been hoping to achieve Colonial rank this year and I was doing my best to be as active as possible. Can we still have Colonial rank as an honorary status? I still want to work towards it and anything is better than this brown name LOL. YES! The Interviews were awesome!

There was a time I wanted those treasured mods that were locked behind a promotion wall, but to be rather blunt I learned rather quickly that there was nothing I really wanted behind there. Not to discredit the modders who put their time and effort into their projects, I just never found anything I personally wanted. I used to use some mods from there, but after the novelty wore off I saw myself visiting the private mods section less and less. There's nothing wrong with the mods and I was grateful that I was in the rare few who had access to them, but after my first year here they never really appealed to me.

That being said, I've always been more interested in GUN as an online forum rather than a mod vessel. The only problem is most people are only here for the mods and every wave of new users stay on long enough to earn their stripes and then leave shortly after, or they never make it and end up giving up on trying to earn that coveted green username. The hard truth is that the majority of users come here for the private mods and it is hard to deny that. Even the old motto, "come for the mods, stay for the community" reflects that. The only issue with the motto is that the latter half only applies to the minority of users who stick around. Giving up the one element that made GUN as popular as it is will put a dent in our numbers and user activity will decline. With no incentive to post and such a small number of active users, the site veterans will also likely leave the site, given that the site will now literally be a wasteland devoid of any activities or replies from those new users trying to get those mods.

Part of me thinks that this is just the way of the Internet. Things change and all good things must come to an end. The removal of the benefits of Colonial rank will affect far more than just mods though. It will affect the site as a whole. Expect to see less activity and less new users. Posts will become less frequent and less common. Things around here will likely feel more and more like an echo chamber every passing day. It's sad, but a very possible reality.

IMHO everything is going in the right direction.
I really like the idea of contests, but since Im fairly new here I hope its about screenshots or smth.
Also Mod Detective is brilliant idea - so many mods lost can be found again.

@Gavin Gold You're literally a stone throw away from the next rank, so it will change very soon.

@Heisenberg I also was very curious to see what the "treasure" behind the locked vault was, at any point anyone would be. As soon as you open that vault, what you see is not disappointment but you realise the treasure is the community and not the mods.

I still approve the idea of Colonial section and don't necessarily see it as locked off behind a wall, but more for protection to the modders in question.
Sadly that was never truely respected, I admit the change is a gamble but that's nearly everything.
Ever since Fallout 4 the community seemed to be in some sort of decline and it's a real shame.

This community is much more than just that so, the staff all took the risk and see if it pays off.
Changes happen whether they are good or bad, all we can do is hope for the best.

@CommunistDragon The Colonial rank is still there as a title, it just requires a post count one which needs more discussing how much exactly.
There are not a lot of people with the first few post requirement attempts.

@apraha91 The contests will mostly be screenshot based, sometimes more but that depends entirely on the contest community.


All these changes won't happen over night and will transpire progressively.

@Commander Wolffe Wait, really? I... have no idea what the next rank is or what I have done to get it, but good news then. Honestly, the thing I liked the most about being a colonial was the color. I don't actually used any mod from the private section, except for Drag's Upgrades from the Commonwealth.

@gavin gold you can see the ranks on the bottom of the main page, I dislike the brown colour too but it's just one rank in the line of ranks.

I truly and honestly had hoped it wouldn't need to come down to this, but I suppose it was a necessary approach for the so-called "law and order" aspect. But yes, I would hate to see this community become a former shadow of itself, and I honestly don't know if the community will flock to another forum or not, but it always have seemed "private mods" were the only, actual reason as to why people came here, and they're like "Oh, cool! Halo 4 Master Chief armor!", and "Oh cool, this Emperor Slyther guy made the dubstep gun and STAG armor from Saints 3", and/or if they were hoping to get their hands on Dragbody's armor packs, which he has spent alot of stress, sweat and effort to get all these models and port them for Fallout 3/NV/4 or wherever that may be.

But if people were just really here for that, and then they take off, then what kind of community are we by then? Just a very select few (like myself) who show up every now on and then on this very site, posting FNV screenshots as is my well known standard so far. I have often debated to myself as a modder of when I will soon make my mods public again, or start sharing mods in public. And I intend to do that eventually at one point, for those of you in question. The thing is, I treat my modding like a piece of art. I mean yeah, sure. It's kinda crappy from the start of it's inception, but as time progresses, soon as I get the motivation of ideas of when to do it, and how to do it, I get better at it. My form of art grows into it's own potential. But yeah, I don't think I'm well known enough to be attacked personally by "mod leakers" or those from certain sites (ModDrop, etc.). As it is, I've been more focused on my FNV screenshot arc alot, and I do intend to finish my tales of fiction. I'm not just showing what I've made with the modelling tools I am provided with to keep making these mods, be it armor/clothing, weapons, vehicles, military bases, interior tilesets, you name it.

Aside from that, my only issue with the rep system being broken and so misunderstood is the fact I am familiar with the old guard system, and I have a strong and healthy hatred for acts of "hypocrisy" and "double-crossing", but it's not my community, I'm not an overseer nor the founder of such a community, I just only want what is fair, and not just for myself. For everyone involved as well. Because I'm not very keen on taking hater votes just because some idiots don't like what they see, and I can't do anything to change the way they think, not at large. The asskisser votes don't really help me progress as an artist of my own work either, as it is almost identical to that being a small echo-chamber, as others have put it. I often push myself to learn something new, I need to learn something new, everyday. That's how I progress, and grow as a person. I am always open to constructive criticism, I am always ears open on any input of where I can improve upon my artwork and make it better. I've always been supportive of constructive criticism. Just not asskisser votes nor hater votes.

Ya ya, my boring two cents (about my modding plans, haha):

That being said, I'm just disappointed that the majority of those who even come to this community at all, are just here for the little things, and then they take off, never to be seen again, or even so much as make a post in three months less. I do hope it's a step in the right direction however. I would hate to see it's potential wasted on dead effort, but if there's anything I can do, I can't do much but, I do at least hope this community still provides me that platform to share my mods with everyone, because I sure as hell ain't going back to the Nexus, moderators over there can go F' themselves, because I won't be holding my breath when one of the asshats try to derive me of my patience, and provoke me into writing a hostile counter-response in PM out of sheer rage, and I know already the overseers and sentinels of this community have been alot more fair and helpful to me than what could be said for my previous experiences at the Nexus. Just my two cents. Not trying to start community flame-wars or any of that sort.

I'm just comparing that my experiences with this community have been,,, not exactly "perfect", but I would say the conditions here are more fair to me and not so partisan in any angle of any sort. And I do hope this site stays. And if half of the community has gone off, or haven't been posting as much, still... I'll be around, for as long as this site is...

Well, I suppose some of these changes were a long time coming. It's weird to see some of these systems go, but hopefully they can be replaced with better and more meaningful ones. It's sad to see that some people were able to ruin aspects of the site for everyone. As Slyther mentioned, my only worry would be people coming to the site and just batch downloading everything, never to return. I understand why people do it, but it in my opinion, it's just so antithetical to GUN's philosophy.

While I understand that maybe people misinterpreted the Colonial status as some sort of elite group, it seemed much more like a group of people who liked to contribute a bit more - it was a nod to that. People gave it it's hallowed status because of the access it granted, which I always felt dampened the position as a whole.

Regardless, it's good to see changed being made, it shows a willingness to try new things and better the site, regardless of whether or not I agree with the decisions or not. Here's hoping they work out!

@Emperor Slyther On one hand I wished to keep the system in place, it's been discussed many times before.

I've always been supportive for the colonial section as it safe guarded most of the works of modders who wished for their mods to be appreciated.

Though the sad thing is people will just download and leave regardless of the colonial section, the amount of demotions every month was evidence of that.

I had to lower my standards what I deemed a worthy candidate deserving the full privelage of being a colonial numerous times.
It had to be lowered so low just to be able to find a remotely possible candidate and even then the amounts of promotions where a tiny fraction of the demotions.

People just did not put any effort in becoming a colonial even though it's very easy to do.
It was not locked behind a wall of false praise and asskissing as some people where led to believe.

We want GUN to be a thriving active community again where mods are nice addition and not the main course, so we've decided to implement these changes and can only hope for the best.

As for the current way of locking the colonial section away, it was preferable option rather than just tear it entirely down and let the masses run off with the mods.
Resulting into a middle finger to all the mod makers.


As for the colonial title people are getting the wrong idea atm.
It's accessible for everyone to gain: It has a set post count that is still up for debate with the rest of the staff.

The Paragon rank has been lowered from a requirement of 500 posts to 250 which is perfectly reachable for anyone if you put in a little effort.

I was definitely surprised when I saw my name with blue rank.

I guess these changes were inevitable, modding community can be salty sometimes and drama can't be avoided whatever you do, like we have seen in the past. Mod thieves are one thing, they don't appreciate the work modders do for them.

I could have left once I got what I wanted, but it's nice to come here from time to time to check new pictures and such or any interesting topic, also post something as well if I have something worthwhile.

I'd like to see more contests for sure, I like making "art".

to be honest i dont think having mods locked away by the specific rank was what brought people to the site in my opinion, i think the majority people that come here are for the mods that are available that you cant get on nexus. i mean yeah it probably made people stick around due to the lure of what could be locked away.

personally i do feel like that things like how the site looks affects first impressions as well as incentives for posting and regular updates/content. the reputation system as whole i dont think it mattered as a whole i do think something maybe like a thanks option for posts etc would be a good idea.

the changes you got planned are a good start and i hope for the site to improve.

Interesting changes, good luck on the transition and I hope it goes smoothly!

That's basically where it's at. The REAL treasure of this community, IS the community, just as others have said. Considering I also had and/or still have considerable access to all the private mods, but to tell you the truth, they don't interest me in even the slightest. I usually like downloading individual mods and playing them until I get bored and find something new. But that's not why I'm here. Sure, the exclusive mods were a fun grab, but seeing as a modder I too am capable of making such art of my own hand, and so I have done that from the get-go.

And anything I'd do at some point, I do hope it helps at least motivate the community more, and I'd love to see more of the contests, events, and the things that go on, and hopefully all this COV-19 scamdemic bullshit hasn't neglected any effort of the community so far. That or people are just busy with certain things. So I'll try to get some of my mods uploaded at some point, but the community isn't about that. It never has been, it never will be. Organization is key.

Yet I find it somewhat funny, that all it took from my end was one PM to everyone in the overseers and sentinels group. Seeing one sentinel was unable to deal with it, so I had the impression the overseer group had that reach. But then, Wolffe informed me in PM, stating that the only person who could ever track the rep votes was none other than DVAted himself. But yeah, I think knowing the rep system from when it was working at the young age of this community 2.0, and how it can be a broken piece of shit now, I don't blame any of this on GUN or it's site engineers. But like I said, after raising enough noise in hopes that I would get the names of my recent attackers and their reasons why they downrep'd my latest screenshot post in general, waiting patiently for a solution to the problem and then a week later or so, BAM! Here it is. I do not know if it was my PM to all staff members that caused the motivation to change this, that or someone else may have had similar issues and also raised the attention to the overseers/sentinels.

Of course, I'm not catering to emotions whenever I've been wronged, nor will I allow anyone to take advantage of them. But yes, I don't exactly want this site to become a mini-4chan full step. Of course, there are alot of salty motherfuckers around the internet, and I've known that salt for a long while. I don't give a flying damn what people think of me or my works in general, they're welcome to like or not like, who's to judge? But in the laws of fair balance, I believe the guilty should be accused not because the jury and witness believes personally that he/she is a horrible person, it's like "Hey. I don't like you, and I want you gone off this site." kind of mentality, and that's what I don't want either. No legal action is ever done without the weight of evidence, the burden of proof that the accused has ever done anything wrong, opinion or not. It's not about what you know, it's about what you can prove in the courts, right?

Still though. I've gotten used to this community for quite some time, even I had the wrong ideas thinking that FO3U/VGU knowing how private it is, I didn't feel the most welcome when I first came onboard. But I progressed on there the most I could, and doing it more considerably here on GUN, and I think I'm comfortable to where this community is. Change can be a burden, even for a modder of the old guard like myself. I don't think anything could go wrong but, I'm very skeptical about Forumotion, as a former friend of mine cautioned they weren't always a straightforward bunch. I just hope we find something eventually that works in replacement for this wonderful community, I would love to see it more active again.

I'm not trying to be a community hero, despite my current profile title. I have that basically to describe me as a modder from back at the Nexus in the day, that I was a considerably well known modder back then. And I do strive to become that legend once more. Perhaps even out-do myself based on everything I have learned, but yeah. Once again, not about me, never was about me. I refuse to be a leader of another group, I got enough to handle my own. If what I've done recently was a step to save the community from becoming that small echo-chamber as others have said it, I guess I can take praise on that. But I refuse to lead unless people demand it.