Thanks for all the kind words about func. I'm proud of what it's been so far and appreciate all the contributions of others that made it possible.

It's not just chat and banter that moved to discord, but all the other valuable activity of func too -- announcements of every new map release, organizing jams, posting WIP screenshots, getting help with mapping problems, and giving feedback on the work of others. These were the things that made it worth coming here. ALL of those have moved to discord. For the last year, if you only visited func and not discord, you have been missing out on a lot.

I share the concern that corporate-owned platforms like twitter or discord, and especially walled gardens like discord, are bad for communities, but, we do also have quaddicted and slipseer which are both community-owned and have forums, and might end up being more "sticky" since they are integrated with map/mod databases.

I'm sympathetic to the idea of "keep func going as it is" but... the spam moderation is an ongoing chore for me, which is one negative. Also, it feels bad to be putting time into a thing very few people use. But I recognize that some people still use it, just not many and not very much. Maybe I'll let it go for a while longer and see how it goes. 

i hope func will live in light_flicker mode. i visit it almost daily, it's automated habit already :>

thanks everyone for contribution! 

the spam moderation is an ongoing chore for me

Would enforcing user login for ALL parts of the board help with this?

I think right now the only audience that cares about the continued existence of this site are the "old soaks", as it were, the ones who are already part of the woodwork.

If all else fails, and the site essentially has to shut down... perhaps (and I'll probably get flack for this)... perhaps just do the above, and also close off the ability for new accounts to be made, so the site is still usable for existing accounts. Maybe trust a few mods to give people new accounts on request if they ask them in Discord or whatever, so we know it's not some bot or scumbag spammer.

That way the site can enter a new phase, that stops just short of the ol' "Grandad's Winchester in the backyard" trick.

An afterlife perhaps.

Or maybe dead...but dreaming. 

... and when Twitter blows up because of some US-politics related shitstorm, and Discord does something weird and disgusting, like getting all involved in AI-generated content, then this place can roar back to life. 

I understand that keeping this place running feels like a chore and that at some point, you gotta move on. I'd just request that, if you shut it down, please do it in a way that allows you to reinstate it quickly. And maybe leave a set of instructions with a few trusted individuals, just in case we need the place again and you're not around.

I think I'd also like to create a permanent backup and leave it with someone else in case I'm not around anymore at some point. I make regular backups of the database, but if something happens to me, it could all become inaccessible to the community.

It will feel sad to let this board go. In some sense, it's already gone, but still... it played such an important role for me over many years. And somehow, I haven't made the transition to the other community homes... I don't spend much time there. 

For spam filtering do Quake lore captcha, will filter bots and random spammers. 

You could also make it semi-subjective, in order to filter out wrong 'uns as a bonus.

"Do Shamblers have fur?"

"Do Fiends have eyes?"

"What texture filter mode do you play in?"

"Have you ever, even just once, and even if only by accident, played Quake using HD texture replacements?"

(Incidentally, the third one would block Shambler from posting, but you have to look at the bigger picture here.) 

Yes, no, filtered, yes, Rygel + DP, but it was a while ago. 

Looks like it's the special "goatse re-direct" version of func for you then. 

This is one of the websites I still visit on the regular. I don’t post much, but this place has been an invaluable resource for finding out about maps and mapping issues.

Even the older ‘mapping help’ thread posts have been invaluable in getting these Tremor maps working (signon buffer? Had never seen that one before).

Even if not every map gets posted here, it doesn’t feel proper to release a level and not have it posted here. Doing so almost crystallizes it, in a more permanent way that Discord and Twitter do not.

Thanks Metl for keeping things running this long. 

...wave, and retreat again.

Thank you metlslime for keeping the lights on for all these years, and thanks everybody for posting cool stuff and invaluable information.

So much has changed in 20 years - in our own lives, in the video game industry, in how we use the internet, yet this site still stands as it was, a humble middle finger to social media trends. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Perhaps an appropriate question to direct towards metlslime would be - what would you need to keep this site going? Money? Moderators? More user activity?

Discord might replace #terrafusion, but not a forum like this. I looked at Slipseer for the first time just now, very new and modern, but kinda empty feeling.

Here's a random story: back in the mid-2000s, when I lived in a house with no internet access, I would download the entire Mapping Help thread to an html archive, so that I would have a troubleshooting reference. It really helped and I learned so much. I think I did the same for the General thread, just to pretend I had friends.

It's nice to see both a steady trickle of new faces learning about Quake for the first time, and the old farts who've been here since the beginning. 

Wow 20 years. Thank you metl for all you have done. And thanks to Sleep for backing this baby up. I'd be sad to see func as an archive only. But the spam moderation issue is completely understandable. A lot of work for a handful of people.

Do what you need to do metl.

With that said, if there was support for multi-media posts (screenshots at the very least) this place would probably thrive again. Or at least be more attractive to posters.

There are studies that show engagement increases dramatically with images and video. Not sure if this is even possible but if you are going down, go down swinging.

My 2 cents! 

I haven't mapped for years, but because I did, I definitely appreciate the dedication that's kept you all going.

If the workload is too great to keep jackasses out, then you do what you need to do. You'll still have my respect.

What have I been doing? Wood carving. 

That's actually really cool. I've been doing little woodworking projects myself like gift boxes and iPad holders. It's nice to break up computer time with a hands on work. Also you can't cut your thumb off making a map so woodworking is much more dangerous and sexy! 

Quake fits my dark moodiness. I truly love it's atmosphere. The lighting, player movement, music and ambience... the sound of an Ogre dragging his chainsaw. "STOP! You're dulling the teeth!"

You guys should know that the dedication you each have put into Quake and this community have helped fuel my creative process.

Cheers Fuckers!
jester wip 

It's clear from that photo you take chainsaws seriously! Beautiful work. 

I didn't realise everything had moved to discord. Probably best I don't go looking, it'll seep into more of my limited spare time.

Anyway so I guess it's not the posts that's the problem since only members can post, but account creation from spammers? Why don't you put multiple captchas or at least Google Recaptcha on the account sign up, as well as email verification? At the moment it doesn't look like there's anything stopping them. 

This place look like an old-good home, leaved by citizens, but not abandoned. Many of them, even mostly of every grew up here became a legends for now.
So this place should sill alive in any way, becose legends must live forever. 

Maybe I've just finally aged out of the internet, but I managed about 3 days on Discord before I got left behind by the transience of it all. There may be a shit load of "content" being spewed out on it, but we won't be able to go back to it in 20 years time, nor will we want to. That throwaway culture has a very negative effect on the quality of discourse/content being posted, so it's useful to have somewhere like Func_ which can almost triage the deluge of shite being posted on Discord/Twitter/etc. 

You did better than me. I only last 15 mins before throwing my hands up asking what the appeal of discord was. 

It's hard to believe it's been so long. The board is still here, Quake is still here, and the community is still here, and somehow feeling even bigger than it ever was, regardless of the fact that most of it has moved to new premises.

There's always been something nice about func's (and Qboard before it) simplicity and weird narrow layout. On modern computers it's especially weird, but I still love it. I guess that's because it's from a time when everyone made their websites themselves and there weren't auto website generators like there are these days. Thanks for all the hard work building and maintaining this place, Metlslime!

While it's indeed sad that activity has really dropped off here due to people moving to other sites and Discord for chat, I hope the site stays up for a bit longer, as I want to make at least one more release post if anyone is still around moderating (or reading) this place a couple of months from now :)

Thanks everyone, it's been fun! 

me too BTW.... 

I rarely post, but this site is a time capsule for me and my Quake adventures. would make me sad if it will vanish at some point (although understandable)..

thanks to everyone involved throughout the years. you helped foster a wonderful community and lots of great memories. 

🍻！~ 

This website brings me so much nostalgia it almost feels like a drug.