News / Admin Assistants November 2016

Following Louis' post opening positions in the management team of NE, we were happy to receive a couple of good applications, and over the course of some discussion decided to go with two candidates. So welcome ][ntamin22 and G Force as new Admin Assistants today.
 
To give a quick idea, the choice is based mostly on someone's qualities as a person. We need to trust you. From there, we look at the connection to the site, how much devotion and care for NE someone displays, how respectful and balanced the demeanour, how noticeable there is a desire to help and guide promising new members. Then there are a few more technical concerns, e.g. the level of English, and generally the ability to be a good communicator, how much interest there is for both LL and RCT2, not just either, and perhaps a few thoughts on computer literacy, Photoshop experience and knowledge of HTML.
 
So with the change of both ][ntamin22 and G Force on board now, I'd like to review a few things, and then address the management structure in a bit more detail.
 
In the past two years, there has been a certain management vacuum at NE. It hasn't done the site well, and I know I am partly to blame for it. Geewhzz and I had mostly turned our backs on the site. Lifes change, and before you know it you're a shit admin. We all need to be grateful to Liam and Louis, latter who had his own dip recently but did return, who continuously tried to keep a positive spirit at the site, perform some of the (very) laboursome back office admin jobs, while at the same time trying to organise and run contests on a site that isn't technically made to host them. So the effort and good will to make do is very applaudable, and I sure know I would not have had it the same way. Thank you Liam and Louis. We saw some quality RCT releases thanks to your work.
 
It is very hard to let go of NE completely. I spoke about this with geewhzz a couple of times and we both agreed that we don't want to completely. It's very clear that our proximity to the site from back in the day is long gone, and it's been overdue to adjust. As of the past half year, I have found myself visit NE more frequently again, and I notice a clear desire to care, so that I will stay on as an admin. I want to see how much I can reconcile my current lifestyle with the site.
 
I'll break down NE's power structure a bit more, because we usually never talk about this, and clarity is good.
 
- geewhzz is still the one paying for our hosting. He officially owns NE, and since he coded the site has technical control over it. He may or may not chime in here to post about his status, but I know he's "out" for the time being, so nothing should be expected of him, other than the generous fact that we can enjoy the site and the downloading of all RCT parks, objects, benches, tools, and the usage of this forum, for free, thanks to him.
 
- geewhzz and posix are the only two with access to the SQL database (=forum data) and the FTP (=park and object files). FTP access is important especially for contests, in order to host contest logos and benches on our own. Liam and Louis have had to find alternatives around this for recent contests, but I hope we can tidy this up, soon. The FTP is also where I put the files for my LL guide, the patches and trainers, etc., or where your post attachments go when you upload some. There is also a full backup of NE3's files here.
 
- geewhzz, posix, Liampie and Louis! all have the "Management Mask" applied to their accounts. This means you have ACP (=admin control panel) access. This is where you approve new members who have validated their accounts, where you ban people, where you create sub-forums (e.g. H2H team forums), where you create the respective permissions allowing only certain people in respective groups to see them, etc. Especially latter task is becoming a big headache in recent years, as from NE3 onwards the majority of contest setups and configurations were kept, creating about 80+ entries of different permission sets in the system which leave vast room for error and confusion. The only way to clean up though would be to delete old team forums, which we don't want. It's also a good record for us to know who was on which team in past H2H seasons, which NE4 at some point also parsed and displayed publicly on people's profile pages, if I remember correctly.
 
- Liampie and Louis! are the ones actively moderating the site, dealing with the day to day runnings, which are predominantly to (1) approve new parks, and (2) create aerial maps for them in order to go public. Further, there is the panel to maintain and the release queue to overlook. For example if there is more than one Gold candidate park, they will not release them on the same day, but let each have some time in the limelight. Liam has also created things like "Screenshot of the Month" or "#flashbackfriday" which he is running.
 
- ][ntamin22 and G Force are now stepping in. We have some ideas where we would like to see them most active, but we shall see how things turn out and where they push most.
 
- Other than geewhzz, all admins have in common that we exchange regularly, depending on our schedules, talking about site happenings and community desires, potential improvements of inner workings, and the NE policy making that comes out of it. ][ntamin22 and G Force will be included and have their say in these discussions. For example if we're discussing an upcoming contest, I will expect them to voice a thoughtful opinion what they think is a good or bad choice, what rules we should design, etc.
 
 
This is all from my side. I look forward to the new situation. I'll close by saying that NE has continuously proven people wrong who predicted its death time and again, and I'm happy and proud to see it live on year after year, with new talented people showing up producing new styles of RCT and quality releases. With OpenRCT2 being an urgently needed technical relief, at least the RCT2 side of things has been much rejunevated, and I am having my hopes still that RCTLL will receive a similar treatment at some point, because it is an integral part of NE, even if understandably young people today tend to forget that. So let's keep pushing the games, and let's keep wowing each other with the quality of parks you won't find anywhere but on here. ][ntamin22 and G Force, you are now having your hands on this more than ever.

Congrats Intamin and Gforce!

A toast to the new semi admins! And to all happy New Elementing!

Excellent choices, excited to see how NE develops from here

I agree. Both excellent choices. Well done to the two new assistants, and to the admin team as a whole. 

Great choices! Congratulations to both of you. Also nice to get some insight in to how the site is run. Thanks for taking the time to post this posix! I too am excited to see how NE will progress from here. 

 

Also a huge kudos to the admins for keeping this site running for all these years. It's really incredible. 

Great news, I like these appointments a lot!

 

Cheers for all the hard work all of you.

FINALLY!!! now all we need is adnin and we can have a North American takeover!!!

I'm very to happy to have both of you on the team, I think all of us will balance each other out nicely. Looking forward to get productive with you! Welcome!

Two great choices! Thank you for offering your help to keep the site kicking. 

FINALLY!!! now all we need is adnin and we can have a North American takeover!!!

I like the way this guy thinks.

Congrats Russ and ][22, You two are the perfect choices here. #LLNE 

It makes me warm and fuzzy to see this place still getting the love it deserves. Couldn't thank the admin team enough for making, basically, some of the best years of my young life enjoyable. With that said, I'm glad to see that same mindset pushed forward all these years later.

 

Congratulations to the new team members! Truly excited to see what the future holds.

Congrats, G Force and Intamin

Wait, I though adix owned the site.

 

You need to fix the coding, since apparently I am from Indonesia even though my static ip says I am from canada.

What's a Canada?

What's a Canada?

Canada is a North American country stretching from the U.S. in the south to the Arctic Circle in the north. Major cities include massive Toronto, west coast film centre Vancouver, French-speaking Montréal and Québec City, and capital city Ottawa. Canada's vast swaths of wilderness include lake-filled Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains. It's also home to Niagara Falls, a famous group of massive waterfalls. 

The flag is based on your IP so speak to your internet provider.

What is this "quebec" you speak of

 

Canada is a North American country stretching from the U.S. in the south to the Arctic Circle in the north. Major cities include massive Toronto, west coast film centre Vancouver, French-speaking Montréal and Québec City, and capital city Ottawa. Canada's vast swaths of wilderness include lake-filled Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains. It's also home to Niagara Falls, a famous group of massive waterfalls.

 

I'm sorry, but this is not entirely correct. The capital of Canada is Jakarta.

rofl