It would be nice to see a separate thread for server status. I currently cannot get on survival and something is wrong on spaceblock. I cannot /sh h, /warp anything. It seems some people are playing normally but I cannot.
I have noticed that the owner and staff of this "the AEM" network rarely let you know what is going on with the server until after they did something. But they sure let you know when a sale is and how you can donate! They communicate that very well!
Spigot itself was having issues yesterday. As of now, I believe most of the issues were resolved with the network restart. @feng_shui And as far as not informing players about what's wrong, sometimes the only person who knows what's wrong is Alex or our dev Fuzzy. If we can't get ahold of either of them, we, rather than spread false information, say nothing. I apologize if this is unacceptable to you.
Thanks for your response Meg. I def didn't say it was unacceptable. It was just a notable & important observation. And since the forum is a place to communicate, I think server status should be posted, so at least we know someone is on it. Even if the post says: the server is offline at this time and Alex or dev Fuzzy are trying to be contacted, would be appreciated. The last weekend when they had the 15% off sale start. The server was down the entire Saturday and never was there a post that the server was down and/or why. We are the customers, at least we could be communicated to-out of common courtesy. Not all of your players are teenagers. May I mention that I noticed that after I first joined the server the server went down for some reason and players began posting on the forum "we've been hacked" or "something crazy happened" . These posts were quickly deleted because they were incorrect and made by young players obviously, HOWEVER, no1 communicated what happened and why until much later, I think this was in October. Again, these are just observations and shouldn't be taken personally, instead, use them in away to learn. Again, I never said "this is unacceptable"-this was a judgement on your part.
Unfortunately, and this is something that I would like to see change, only Alex, Ethan, Volk, & Nick can post anything under the announcements section which appears on the front page. If we can, most of us try to post updates in the respective server forum or in game. It's never as prominent as something on the first page would be but once we get info, we try to post as soon as possible. I definitely agree that communication is very important and we don't always get the information we need to get it out to you guys in a timely manner. We will do better in the future.
I understand the restrictions to the announcements but wouldn't a server status forum be just as effective. Whenever there is an outage members or staff could turn to that to share information. I have seen the horrible speculation and think simply communication would eliminate a good chunk of it. Posts don't have to be in depth or detailed but a general idea that someone is aware of the problem and possibly an estimate on how long the server will be out would be nice. I am fairly busy some days and cannot just sit and wait but the towny bug makes it important I log in and check town balance almost immediately after a reset. Like feng_shui stated, these are just observations and general improvements I would LIKE to see, I love AEM and just want to help make it a better place.
Kiro and Alex did respond to the one thread that wasn't deleted on the very day the server was down. If I recall, the server was down from about noon to 2 in the morning EST. The issue was addressed on that day in that one thread.
Whilst I agree notice regarding outages, with expected resolution times, would be nice; It is not something that is trivial to change. Most outages are due to a lack of Alex or others being available to resolve the problems, and if they aren't around to resolve problems, they aren't around to post status updates. No. Customers are defined as those who buy a product and/or service. The server is open for free for players, and you never buy anything. Donation ranks are a "thank you" gift for donating, and NOT a purchase. As such, while I agree with most of your message, you hurt your own argument by presenting it in this fashion. The issue you are talking about here. Status was shared regarding the fact the server was down, however the "why" and details of what happened can't be posted until they have been investigated and verified! Often details cannot be shared due to security or data privacy requirements.
