SoylentNews

was a bit lazy last night, but instead of fillrect terrain we have terrain images (atm only land and ocean).

website now has a png logo, and players can access their latest map using http://irciv.port119.net/?pid=<player_id>

example: http://irciv.port119.net/?pid=1

haven't pushed to github yet. will do tonight (australian time).

coming up next... playing with the map image generator to get settlers and warriors on the map. wanna try png maps for antialiased layers, as long as the files aren't unreasonably large.

Wooo, that nearly killed me to finish it. It's going living at 20:00 UTC (4PM EST), which is the start of our peak hours. We'll be revising it based on community feedback and if other important points come up as time goes on.

Of course, words means only as much as the actions taken behind them, but I think we've been relatively consistent in meeting the goals I outlined. Here's a small sneak preview for those who read my journal til the whole thing goes live

Statement of Purpose

Our aim is to stand in stalwart opposition to these trends. We will be the best site for independent, not-for-profit journalism on the internet, where ideas and free discussion can take place without external needs overshadowing the community.

have been having some difficulty with my internet connection, so progress has been a bit slower than i would like

set up an apache vhost on my dmz server for the IRCiv website, and coded a little php web app that will allow exec to upload map images to the website using a private key, and displays an image based on a map filename passed in the URL (validated to allow only a alphanumerical chars)

the IRCiv logo is displayed in a gif format (less sexy) on the IRCiv webpage @ http://irciv.port119.net/
thanks to mrbluze for use of his domain and also for some style guidance on the logo

pushed to github: https://github.com/crutchy-/test
note: irciv.php is in scripts directory and contains most of the game functionality

coming up next... making IRCiv upload map images to the website when a player moves

This is a generic journal entry posted entirely so that you can tell me I'm awesome, call me a dick, or impart useful information since SN lacks a messaging feature and I'm not giving out my email address.

The PR company I'm currently contracting for hosted a conference this morning for folk in the group on the subject of content pollution. The area the presentations were made in was right next to the IT office - my boss is obviously considered far too disruptive to be allowed to be on the same floor as anyone other than the receptionist - and I caught a few of the points as I nipped in and out picking up equipment inductees.

All the presenters were PR people in good standing and the main topic revolved around dealing with the deluge of inconsumable content that swamps communication platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube every second of every day with "trod on dog turdz lolfail!" and videos of the aforementioned hound depositing the future foot warmer on the pavement while the cameraphone holding braindead idiot laughs hysterically. Then they got down to hints on how to actually do something about this. Hints like choosing a suitable medium for your particular message. Ensuring your writing style accurately conveys the motivation behind the piece. Make sure that content posted for clients will make some traction with the audience.

Effectively, a lot of people who think themselves very smart and creative have just realised the following, which when boiled down like this would have been far quicker to present, rather less self-serving and much more honest:

1) Idiots are Idiots
2) Diarrhoea is Diarrhoea
3) Writing, Photography and Film-making are professions

That's right you overpaid dickheads! People have been considering these problems online for decades; I was considering all this at university 15 years ago and it wasn't a new subject then. Considering that everyone at this conference was a PR professional working in an Internet-based arena, anyone who actually learned anything from any of the presentations should have been fired for incompetence the moment they nodded sagely as a bullet point appeared on the screen.

I did not see a thing in any of the presentations that wouldn't have been sneered at by any sixth form* teacher of the subjects under discussion. I never realised teachers got paid so much - they should do considering how much it seems you have to know to work in PR. It used to be said you had to sell your soul to work in PR, but the evidence now suggests the deal is actually for a large portion of your brain.

*high school

updated unit movement, added settler, got active unit cycling working

made up a simple logo to (eventually) go on the IRCiv website
for now its here: http://wiki.soylentnews.org/wiki/IRCiv

pushed to github: https://github.com/crutchy-/test
note: irciv.php is in scripts directory and contains most of the game functionality

coming up next... building/setting up the IRCiv website (to eventually host player map images)

put movement of active unit into a function

created <init> and <quit> reserved aliases in exec (irc.php), which i'll eventually use for loading/saving game data (in addition to timed saves).

used cmd.php (attached to * alias which runs on every received line of data) to fire commands on a 330 numeric event (whois/logged in as) to make startup a bit easier - automatically sets player alias lock to "civ" (in game channel only) and outputs a status command, so that when a player joins a game channel, they can start moving their active unit pretty much straight away (after a 2 or so second delay in processing login script).

IRCiv wiki page created: http://wiki.soylentnews.org/wiki/IRCiv

latest source pushed to github: https://github.com/crutchy-/test

next up... adding a settler unit and getting the active unit cycle function working

IRCiv is a little game (and game engine of sorts) for building stuff like in "Civilization"-branded games.

Currently it piggybacks as a couple of scripts for the exec bot. Refer to the wiki for more info on exec: http://wiki.soylentnews.org/wiki/IRC:exec

Implemented some basic unit movement last night. Can use "up" or "u" action on the active unit (along with equivalents in the 3 other directions).

The game is being gradually developed/tested most nights (Australian time) in the #civ channel of Soylent IRC. Feel free to join, but be aware that you may get pinged by the bot a fair bit (you're always free to duck in and out whenever you like of course).

Other stuff that has been implemented already:
- auto-login on join/logout on part
- logins based on nickserv account name (using whois), so means that players must be registered with nickserve
- supports nick changes
- map generator has been developed (random landmasses based on a couple of parameters)
- map image dump
- map text file dump
- player settings and flags system
- player active unit status output to either game channel or private message (based on "public_status" flag)

Currently development is mainly in PHP, but using the exec bot system, game features/modules can be developed in any language.
Each command runs as a separate script in its own process instance, but can easily communicate with IRC and access persistent game data.
The project is open-source (GPL2) and can be found here: https://github.com/crutchy-/test
Feel free to fork or pilfer, but please share your changes/derivatives.
Anyone interested in contributing to the current project, look for crutchy in #soylent or #civ on IRC.

UPDATE: 2014-04-28T09:08Z - The info below is now out of date. The relevant voting round is over.

--------------------------------

I have noticed that voting for the site name is under way. On the left of my screen I can see a "Name Voting News" box, with important information.

Anyway, I thought it might be useful to have notes about each site name suggestion, all gathered in one place.

In my opinion, the thinking behind the name doesn't have to be immediately apparent. It's okay for it to need some explanation. (When I first heard of Slashdot, I didn't realize what it was a reference to.)

I've seeded this with my own thoughts. Feel free to add comments, and I will aim to edit this to incorporate them. Can you think of any good reasons for or against any of these?

• (1) absorbingnews.com - Just to be taken literally?
• (2) achetee.com - a phonetic writing of HT? Why?
• (3) alphadot.com - Has "dot" at the end, like Slashdot.
• (4) altdiscuss.com - "alt" is a usenet prefix, and implies alternative discussions to those you'd get in the mainstream
• (5) apt-get-news.com - A reference to Advanced_Packaging_Tool Possibly suggests a favouring of Debian-based Linux OSs, as opposed to non-Debian Linux OSs, or non-Linux OSs?
• (6) baconnews.com - Love of bacon seems to be a bit of a common theme in the USA, and has also hit Soylent - especially the IRC channel. Might put off over-sensitive adherents of certain religions.
• (7) bangdot.org - Punctuation character (written as a word), followed by "dot", like Slashdot. "Bang" means "exclamation mark"
• (8) bayesianews.com - Refers to Bayesian machine learning? Evokes the way news is handled here? And the way the best comments filter to the top?
• (9) beardrhetoric.com - Nerds are more likely than average to have beards? (Not these days)
• (10) boardkey.com - "keyboard" with the words switched around
• (11) chattrnews.com - chattr is a command line tool, "change attributes". It is also the word "chatter" with the final vowel dropped like Tumblr and Flickr
• (12) crosslog.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (13) dailybacon.net - Love of bacon seems to be a bit of a common theme in the USA, and has also hit Soylent - especially the IRC channel. Might put off over-sensitive adherents of certain religions. Daily bread is a common phrase (example). Also a lot of newspapers are called Daily [something].
• (14) deltachroma.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (15) devnull.com - A reference to the null device
• (16) dotbang.org - 2 punctuation characters (written as words), one of which is "dot", like Slashdot. "Bang" means "exclamation mark"
• (17) dotsalt.org - Reference to this kind of salt? Includes "dot", like Slashdot.
• (18) dupenews.com - A common theme on Slasdot was whinging about duplicated stories. Also, news-for-nerds sites rarely provide original news. We "dupe" other sites' stories, and discuss them.
• (19) eigentime.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (20) epsilonnexus.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (21) fetanews.com - "Feta" is an abbreviation of "fuck beta"? "Beta" refers to the new Slashdot UI. Feta is also a cheese.
• (22) firingsquid.com - A play on "firing squad". Why? Do we use Squid?
• (23) forkbeta.com - A play on "fuck beta"? You can "fork" software, but perhaps we've forked the Slashdot community? "Beta" refers to the new Slashdot UI.
• (24) forkdot.org - You can "fork" software, but perhaps we've forked the Slashdot community? Ends with "dot", like Slashdot.
• (25) freedefy.com
• (26) freedivide.com
• (27) fuckbeta.com - "Beta" refers to the new Slashdot UI.
• (28) futurians.com
• (29) gammavortex.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (30) geekcard.com - A common theme among geeks. Example
• (31) gitgot.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (32) grepcutnews.com
• (33) grepnews.com - A reference to Grep#Usage_as_a_verb
• (34) hashsalt.org - Reference to this kind of salt, and hashing?
• (35) hecknews.com
• (36) ionews.com Reference to I/O
• (37) iorevolution.net Reference to I/O
• (38) iotanexus.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (39) itarium.com
• (40) legitworksite.com - "Legit" is an abbrevation of legitimate. This is tongue-in-cheek humour.
• (41) li694-22.com - Comes from the internal name of the Linode server we were running on (li694-22.members.linode.com).
• (42) linevertex.com - A slash is a line. A point (dot) is a vertex. So this is probably a reference to Slashdot.
• (43) lostdash.com - Anagram of Slashdot
• (44) lowlevelnews.com
• (45) ls-lnews.com
• (46) makemesmart.com - "Make me smart". Smart = clever. This is tongue-in-cheek humour.
• (47) minddivide.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (48) nerdcard.net - A play on "geek card", which is common theme among geeks (Example).
• (49) nerdcraft.com - a reference to the game Mine Craft? Or to the "Netcraft confirms" meme (mentioned here)? Or simply the craft of being a nerd, similar to other words suffixed with "craft" like witchcraft.
• (50) nerddiscourse.com - Just to be taken literally?
• (51) nerdgloss.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (52) nerdnewsnet.com - "Nerd news", just to be taken literally. "Net" can be used as a suffix.
• (53) nerdpost.com
• (54) newschattr.com - chattr is a command line tool, "change attributes". It is also the word "chatter" with the final vowel dropped like Tumblr and Flickr
• (55) newsconfig.com
• (56) newsdotorg.org
• (57) newsgrep.com
• (58) newsignal.com
• (59) newsisyou.com - possibly inspired by the Soviet Russia meme?
• (60) newslash.org - A play on "new Slash" and "news lash"?
• (61) newsping.com
• (62) newstat.com
• (63) newuucp.com
• (64) nntpping.com
• (65) noncorpnews.com
• (66) noncorporate.com
• (67) nunexus.com
• (68) omnidiscuss.com
• (69) pipebeard.com
• (70) port119.net - 119 is the TCP/IP port reserved for NNTP (Usenet)
• (71) primedelta.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (72) pulsedot.net - Has "dot" at the end, like Slashdot.
• (73) reslashed.com
• (74) salientnews.net - Sounds similar to "Soylent News", but removes the "Soylent" implications. "Salient" means "Most noticeable or important"
• (75) salientnoise.com - Sounds similar to "Soylent News", but removes the "Soylent" implications. "Salient" means "Most noticeable or important"
• (76) saltdot.org - Reference to this kind of salt. Has "dot" at the end, like Slashdot.
• (77) salthash.com - Reference to this kind of salt, and hashing?
• (78) shpxurnq.com - ?
• (79) sigmanexus.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (80) sigmavortex.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (81) silentmews.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (82) soylentnews.com - The current name. Coincidentally, a genuine nutritional product called "Soylent" has just been released. In theory, trademarks shouldn't be a problem.
• (83) squintfeed.com - Two words that roll off the tongue nicely?
• (84) stealthnews.com
• (85) sudonews.com - "sudo is a program for Unix-like computer operating systems that allows users to run programs with the security privileges of another user (normally the superuser, or root)"
• (86) techmatter.com
• (87) thegarlic.com - Reference to theonion.com
• (88) uuengeek.com - "Uuencoding is a form of binary-to-text encoding"
• (89) yottatalk.com - "yotta" is the SI prefix for 10^24
• (90) yottatech.com - "yotta" is the SI prefix for 10^24

So ... I've recently gotten back into minecraft, and figured that perhaps there are other MC players here at SN, so I wanted to know if there was enough interest to setup a MC server in general. I'd probably use CraftBukkit, and I'm open to running mods if others are interesting. Leave a message below if you'd be interested.

Mods I'd like to run:
  * Traincraft
  * Railcraft
  * Mystcraft (useful for getting new ores without having to reset maps; age creation would be restricted to admins though; mystcraft is a server hog).

Leave your thoughts below.