Message to the Community Members of Stratics

[Kirthag]

From the Vice President of Publishing, Stratics
Lessie Z. “Kirthag” Mitch



Greetings fellow gamers and supporters of Stratics!

We are very pleased to announce a new direction for our beloved community which will take us through some changes to prepare our core systems for major overhauls and long overdue modernization. As can be expected, this could result in some service degradations or stoppages. Rest assured, we are doing this all very carefully so as to avoid any losses from our forums, content sites, and data bases - all which are vast and many. This is coming up very fast, so pay attention to our social channels (Facebook and Twitter) and of course these forums for alerts.

Spearheading this change and direction is our new President and Owner, Ryan “RonBron” Nielson. His new vision is very unique and promises to inject new energy, excitement and entertainment into our longstanding community. There is not much more about this topic that I can say – don’t want to spoil the surprises – but if it’s gotten me excited (and yes, I very much am so _very_ psyched over what I already know), you know it’s got to be good!

Ryan is the principal and owner of Baazaro Communities, Inc. Bazaaro Community, Inc. If anyone has made a donation (THANK YOU!) toward our operational costs over the past couple of days, you may have noticed a different company on your PayPal receipt. Baazaro Communities, Inc. is the holding company for our uber-secret projects currently under development into which our community will shift for future growth. Baazaro Communities, Inc. is a lot like what Valour Corp was to us - it is the company that owns all Stratics assets.

What is not changing are the core software packages (Xenforo, WordPress) that run our sites, our crack Writing, Moderation and Administration teams, and hopefully the community (that’s you guys). The same people who are managing and running Stratics are involved in all aspects of migrations – not some outside firm who doesn’t know who we are or how we think. Stratics is, and will continue to be, by gamers for gamers and game producers alike.

Stratics is not, nor has ever been, considered for deletion. Please, friends, set that far from your minds right now! Nasty Nargles are mischievous critters who apparently want to hex our beloved community! (Oops! Wrong reference!) Regardless, we’ve been here for 17 years (Yay! This month is our birthday!), and we plan to be here for 17 more - multiplied several time over!

If you see “RonBron” floating around our forums, feel free to poke him, offer him cookies from the dark side, submit him to the welcome Stratics members are so jovially known for, and by all means - invite him to a duel in whatever game you happen to find him in! Yes, just like the rest of us, Ryan is a gamer. I’ll let him decide for hisself to broadcast where his mad skills can be witnessed. ;-)

If there are any questions, concerns, wishes, dreams and awesome recipes you have, please don’t be shy! Share them – it is what communities like ours do. We share and grow to achieve a greatness few have ever considered would be possible. That is what we will continue to do.

So, GAME ON! And may the Force of your Daemon Lord guide your Starships across the vast seas of your wildest imaginations! (Just don’t forget to share it with us all at Stratics!)

As I signed in years past…

Mair soar!

Kirthag DiOrsae

NKA: Lessie Z. Mitch, VP & EIC Stratics.com



p.s. A formal press release will be published to Stratics.com and UO.Stratics to announce this change over on MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2014 after the full migration of all Stratics sites. The reason for that short delay is you - our brothers and sisters in gaming. YOU are important to us, and to express that - this "informal yet formal" notice is shared, first with all of you.

 

[Mithryl Elves]

As long as I get to keep hitting on Airmid (OmG So Hott) we're good to go on my end!

 

[Smoot]

grats to taylor glad you got some $$ sorry things didnt work out. know you put your heart into the site.

 

[old gypsy]

Gonna miss you, Taylor.

I'm still a bit numb (from shock?) over this announcement. "Change" is not one of my favorite things and, frankly, I usually prefer "antique" to "unique" these days. I'm also circling outside of the game-world event horizon since I refuse to do Facebook or Twitter... and that's one thing that's never going to change.

Best wishes to you, Taylor, wherever tomorrow takes you.

 

[AirmidCecht]

Thank you for a lovely introduction for @Ron Bron, Kirthag. I had the opportunity to introduce Ron (Ryan) to our leadership team and give our volunteer staff a quick QA introduction yesterday. It is nice for all of Stratics community to get to know him now too! Here's to a warm welcome and a passing of the torch. Welcome, RonBron!

 

[Taylor]

Best of luck, @Ron Bron.

 

[Lord Nabin]

@Kirthag

Well Done as usual my old friend. Your grace of the spoken word has always been amazing as well as you passion for community.

@Taylor

Thank you for all your hard work and devotion to the Stratics community over the years. The personal sacrifices you have made over the years for us we will never truly be able to repay. You have however built a lasting legacy which will travel on in our hearts and the future.

I am sure this legacy is just one of several you will create over your years. It is rare to find someone with the devotion, mental strength and drive (it shall be done attitude) .

Travel Safe my old Friend

*Stands in silence and raises a glass of Good Old Moonglow Red in Salute, the rest of the tavern follows as well and with a wave of his hand the love traveler leaves through the door and shuts it behind him*

*as everyone settles down to their tables, Flips a small bag of gold to the tavern keeper*

"For as long as this gold will last you leave the door slightly ajar and a lantern outside as a welcome for our old friends return"

 

[Taylor]

Thank you, @Lord Nabin. I'm grateful for your support of Stratics, both public and private.

 

[Lord Nabin]

@Ron Bron

Welcome aboard and Hang on tight!

*Kicks out a chair in welcome for the new traveler wandering in through the tavern door."

*waves over the tavern keeper*

"Please some food and drink for this one. He is going to need his strength"

*turns back to the new traveler*

"Please sit, put your boots up and relax a bit, The trail ahead is often steep and stony"

 

[NuSair]

I really don't care for change like this, and the entire letter is just corporate speak. One of the several times it happened to me personally is when Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast, said the exact same things. Within 3 months, myself along with over 1/3rd of the company was let go, most of the product lines were shut down and other negative changes.

Good Journeys Taylor. May the light of the Blessed shine on thee.

 

[Alexandra88]

Welcome @Ron Bron , wishing you the best!

 

[Viquire]

Welcome @Ron Bron and thanks to @Kirthag .

I'll be interested to see your ideas as they unfold.

 

[Flagg]

I really don't care for change like this, and the entire letter is just corporate speak.

Heh, this. It is easy to see digital pen obeys Kirthag's hand welll; the whole thing is awesomely written. Just that it looks awesome in same fashion sports car would in middle of an old, wild beautiful forest. This reads like an international mega corporation speaking up to stockholders and down to blebs million miles away. It reminds of Sony, Nokia,Microsoft press releases. You read it and when done, begin wondering what is going on.

Technically( as in, when we speak of the stuff underneath the hood) Stratics has been an absolutely awesome Forum for a very long time. Actually, I don't know of any that'd be more convenient to operate. My only little unfair complaint is the ambitious and perfectly understandable desire to branch out into general purpose gaming site;it has resulted in 800 active UO players being able to enjoy 500 Dead-on-Arrival boards for games nobody here really plays. Instead of busy UO boards and 999 utterly desolate places of silence, they could have one single sub board for Other Games. - > More life.

Considering how well I like Stratics, I'm not all that excited about "major overhauls and long overdue modernization." As is usually the case with good international Corporation press releases to stock holders&plebs, it is completely impossible to have any kind of an idea at all of wtf any of the things said in OP actually, - in practice - mean.

Also, I really mislike knowing Stratics is now owned and ran by some mysterious random suit who like as not goes around buying services such as this for living.

 

[Ron Bron]

@Ron Bron

Welcome aboard and Hang on tight!

*Kicks out a chair in welcome for the new traveler wandering in through the tavern door."

*waves over the tavern keeper*

"Please some food and drink for this one. He is going to need his strength"

*turns back to the new traveler*

"Please sit, put your boots up and relax a bit, The trail ahead is often steep and stony"

*Takes the chair and finishes the drink*

"Aye, maybe with enough drink I won't notice the bumps."

*Chuckles and orders a drink for Nabin*

 

[Ron Bron]

Thanks for the welcome aboard. And thanks to @Taylor. I'm excited to see where this goes. Don't worry @Smoot , we've got the Geek Squad on the way.

 

[Glenny glenn]

Im sorry im not well versed in what goes at stratics, would anyone mind telling me what this is changing? Has the board been sold? Im not really understanding the press release as it sounds like he died rather than moved on with its tone.

 

[Yadd of Legends]

Do the changes include faster screen loading times? *hopes* I want simple and fast.

 

[Tina Small]

Welcome, Ron Bron and thank you and good luck to Taylor!

I do have a question I'd like to throw out there: With this site being as expensive as it is to operate, are there any plans to try to spread out the costs among the users and require forum members to begin paying a monthly or annual fee to use the forums or to use the resources on the uo2.stratics.com website?

Thank you.

 

[Lady Michelle]

@Taylor Sorry to see you go best travels to where ever you go

@Ron Bron Welcome to Stratics

 

[popps]

Thank you very very much Taylor for all of your hard work and dedication to Stratics and best wishes to you for all your new projects !

Best wishes also to Ron Bron and his new role in Stratics. Out of curiosity, may I ask whether you have played Ultima Online ? What do you think about the game ?

 

[Ron Bron]

Welcome, Ron Bron and thank you and good luck to Taylor!

I do have a question I'd like to throw out there: With this site being as expensive as it is to operate, are there any plans to try to spread out the costs among the users and require forum members to begin paying a monthly or annual fee to use the forums or to use the resources on the uo2.stratics.com website?

Thank you.

Negative, but I appreciate the suggestion. Donations will always be welcome! We are working hard to find other ways to make the website sustainable without constricting access.

 

[Ron Bron]

Thank you very very much Taylor for all of your hard work and dedication to Stratics and best wishes to you for all your new projects !

Best wishes also to Ron Bron and his new role in Stratics. Out of curiosity, may I ask whether you have played Ultima Online ? What do you think about the game ?

I used to play UO for several years back around 99-05. It is a great game and I played with my brothers and a couple friends. I'm currently most interested in Guild Wars 2 though. Also following SOTA with some eagerness...

 

[NuSair]

Thanks for the welcome aboard. And thanks to @Taylor. I'm excited to see where this goes. Don't worry @Smoot , we've got the Geek Squad on the way.

Geek Squad is awful and try to up sell you on things you don't need.

 

[spin]

Welcome and thank you @Ron Bron

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

*Waves to Ron*
Welcome, you WILL have fun, no worries ;-)
Greets
Ron

 

[Oscar the Grouch]

@Ron Bron Welcome! No cleaning out my trash can though, boss.

 

[Kirthag]

Heh, this. It is easy to see digital pen obeys Kirthag's hand welll; the whole thing is awesomely written. Just that it looks awesome in same fashion sports car would in middle of an old, wild beautiful forest. This reads like an international mega corporation speaking up to stockholders and down to blebs million miles away. It reminds of Sony, Nokia,Microsoft press releases. You read it and when done, begin wondering what is going on.

Technically( as in, when we speak of the stuff underneath the hood) Stratics has been an absolutely awesome Forum for a very long time. Actually, I don't know of any that'd be more convenient to operate. My only little unfair complaint is the ambitious and perfectly understandable desire to branch out into general purpose gaming site;it has resulted in 800 active UO players being able to enjoy 500 Dead-on-Arrival boards for games nobody here really plays. Instead of busy UO boards and 999 utterly desolate places of silence, they could have one single sub board for Other Games. - > More life.

Considering how well I like Stratics, I'm not all that excited about "major overhauls and long overdue modernization." As is usually the case with good international Corporation press releases to stock holders&plebs, it is completely impossible to have any kind of an idea at all of wtf any of the things said in OP actually, - in practice - mean.

Also, I really mislike knowing Stratics is now owned and ran by some mysterious random suit who like as not goes around buying services such as this for living.

Well, @Flagg , thank you! I'm flabbergasted that someone thinks I'm able to write as good as some international corporation press release authors! That makes me feel oh-so-warm-and-special inside, I just wanna hug you to death! You play Diablo?

First, we are not a general purpose gaming site - that happened once before (this girl remembers it well) and nope, not gonna happen again. We've been condensing our efforts to be more efficient, and that will continue. Stratics is not just forums... Stratics is guides and commentary about select games we all love. Not everyone on the planet plays only UO. I play somewhere around 17 games, 5 of them I'm utterly dedicated to. I started in UO (Nov. 1997) but that, alone, is not all my gaming. Many others here also play other games - as all of our interests are wide and varied. Stratics is _highly_ selective of the games it supports and works with - that will not change. But Stratics is not "just about" UO. We are gamers (all of us) and we write for gamers (all of you) while providing a way for producers (the creators of those games) to get feedback and communicate openly with all of us.

Ryan is a gamer, just like the rest of us. He's been around some - but I'll let him speak for himself. I can definitely say, no, he's not some "mysterious random suit" who buys domains. That be someone else.

 

[Captn Norrington]

Welcome to the wonderful Stratics community @Ron Bron!

Thank you for taking care of Stratics during it's time of need @Taylor I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.

 

[Acid Rain]

The King is Dead, Long Live The King!

*shock* Taylor you did an awesome job here, sad to see you go.

Welcome Ron and best wishes for you in this new en devour.

 

[Acid Rain]

My exact sentiments Captn.

 

[GhostHeretic]

all the pokemons around me saying say something ... but shadows don't really like to converse
^_^ so meow woof to Taylor and meow woof to Ron ^_^

 

[GasaiYuno]

I guess we shall see what happens then

 

[Capt. Lucky]

We certainly welcome Ron with open arms! So Taylor, what's the plan now your a billionaire? Gonna float the Caribbean in the yacht?

 

[Taylor]

We certainly welcome Ron with open arms! So Taylor, what's the plan now your a billionaire? Gonna float the Caribbean in the yacht?

Hehe. Stratics has always been a labor of love. My investments into the site outweight the sale. I've been a volunteer since I started in October 2009, and I'm leaving a volunteer October 2014. The friendships forged, experience gained, and lessons learned were the valuable part for me.

 

[Vince]

@Taylor - Buddy I am so sorry to see you go. You genuinely offered a huge dedicated effort to Stratics. I've not seen a single person (and not to offend anyone) work as hard as you did, while bleeding so much for it in the process. If anything is true, it is that your work was underappreciated.

@Ron Bron - Welcome aboard! Don't worry too much about filling someone elses shoes. Focus on treading your own path instead

Fly dangerously o7