Digibutter News Message Board

You can now rate games and write up a review.  Just go the game's profile or board and click "Review".   Select your rating (bad, good, or great) and type what you liked or didn't like about the game.

Your ratings will show up on your played/beat game lists, and you can click the "reviewed" link on a game's page to see all the reviews.

So, played any games lately?  Let us know what you thought!

It's almost here!  The stream of gaming news is steadly increasing as big announcements are made and new games are shown.  Here are the Big 3 press conferences:

• June 14th @ 10AM PT : Microsoft
• June 15th @ 9AM PT : Nintendo
• June 15th @ 12PM PT : Sony

I personally am excited about seeing the Nintendo 3DS, and hopefully we'll finally see a redesigned/slim Xbox 360.  Do you think there will be any surprises this year?

Three years, wow.  Looking at last year's annerversary and the first brings back good memories.  There is no denying that this community has changed, gotten older, and some have moved on.  I feel the focus of the site has become hazy... is it about Super Paper Mario?  Nintendo?  Video Games?  or none of the above?

I still believe overall that this new format, launched last September, is for the best, but I also listen to everything you say.  I have made many changes since that first launch, and will continue to do so.

I would love to rekindle those good memories I mentioned earlier, from ye digibutt of old.  I think by refocusing and in some ways reverting the site will help.  So here is the plan...

I will break the site up into multiple websites, each with their own focus.   One for video games in general, one for Nintendo nuts, and one for digibutter.nerr.  More sites will be added as the need arises, like Crump mentioned having comic or anime sites.  They will all be connected, by sharing data as needed, and you will have the same user account on each.  Digibutter will be freed to focus on community and having fun, and it's look can change too.  Hopefully we can bring back that special something that has made digibutter our crazy internet home for three years.

This change won't happen overnight.  Especially since I will have very little access to a computer and internet all this spring and summer.  But I will have plenty of time to think and plan about the future of the site, and I want to get it right.   What say you nerrs?

Sadly not many people are discovering the world of Super Paper Mario anymore.  The name "digibutter.nerr" doesn't mean anything to most people.  In fact everytime I mention "digibutter dot nerr, dot biz" to anyone they always give me a puzzled look and walk away. :(

So as the site goes in a new direction, becoming more about gaming and gaming-culture in general, I feel it needs a new name too.  I have decided to use a nametagdammit and change it to The Bitlands (bitlands.com).  The name still retains it's SPM roots, but this is more appealing to the masses.  Plus, I made a schweet logo!

Some great contestants this year!  The awards have been given out and the winner of Sammer Bowl III is...

Robo Sammer MK3

Congratulations Slim!  Second place is MeowMixer's Stealer Of Bikes, and third goes to Nastasia's Master of Puppets.  View the winners here.

SAMMER BOWL III

The epic battle of the Sammer Guys is back!  Edit your profile to submit your sammer.

After Sammer Bowl Sunday, we will vote to decide the winner.

Do you have what it takes to compete with Sammer-Guys like past winners Gallavanting Hero of Soft Drinks and Seeker of Bukkit???

Ever find a post interesting but you can't think of anything to say?  Well now you can express yourself with just a few mouse clicks.  You can now Like, Dislike, or Cookie a post.  Just click the "Like?" link.

• Like - You think the post is good, funny, worthwhile, etc.  Liking also might show agreement or appreciation.
• Dislike - You don't like the post.  This could mean it's lame, or you just disagree with it.
• Cookie! - This is your favorite post of the day.  You can only give out one cookie per day.  nom nom nom

You can't "like" your own posts.  Also you can't change your like after you give it.

Are there any other options you would like to see?  Or does like and dislike cover everything?

BECOME A FAN

.........................................................................................................
(so i can stalk you)

Your "home page" shows a stream of posts fed by many message boards.  Now you can choose what you want to appear in that home stream.  Edit your profile and select your "home stream".

The choices are:

• All - See all posts made anywhere by anything
• All Gaming - See all posts in any game or gaming news board.
• All User Posts - See all posts made by any user (and any bot-posts with replies)
• Subscriptions - See all posts from all the boards you have subscribed to.
• Custom List - See posts from your own collection of boards.

The default option is "All User Posts" (which is how it's always been).  If you are not logged in, you see "All".

Streams can be customized even further by hiding boards or users you don't want to see.  When you "hide" a board or a user, those posts will not appear in your stream.

The different streams are in the Streams section in the upper right, so you can view them anytime.  For example, if you want to check out the latest gaming news, click the gaming stream.

Hopefully the concept of "streams" of topics is easy to understand.  Let me know what you think.

Oh look at that shiny thing gleaming underneath your Christmas tree!

The site now has achievements represented by a gold, silver, and bronze medals.  So a single achievment has three different levels.  The first two awards are:

Old School Digi - awarded to original members.  Edit your profile to set your "old username" to get your medal.
Tree Decorating 2009 - awarded to people who competed in the tree contest.

Right now there are only two awards but expect more to be added soon after I work out the details of the points system.  The idea is that each award gives you points (more for gold, less for silver & bronze).  The points will determine your ranking.

The winner of the 3rd Annual Tree Decorating contest is...

Nastasia!

Runner-ups are:

Manpersonguything

and Beat

Letting you submit free-form drawings resulted in some very... interesting Christmas trees.

You didn't think I would forget one of our oldest traditions did you?  Unlike previous years, we don't have any ornament items to hang... but instead now you can decorate your tree how ever you want!

Go to "Edit Profile" and click the "Edit Your Tree" button.  It will take you to a photoshop-like tool where you can draw on your tree.  When you are done drawing, click File >Save to finish!

Voting will begin this weekend,  so you have time to get your tree looking good.

You can view someone's tree on their profile page.  Yep, we now have user profiles that show your tree, stats, posts, and games you own/want/play/beat.  Expect a lot more stuff to be added soon too.

Lots of new stuff on your Edit Profile page:

You can now link your old digibutter account to your account here.  This will help people know who you are and let you claim your old username.  It will also set your joined date and may be used in the future for rewards and to pull down other stats.  I will eventually remove this ability, so link it while you can!

You can also set your username (it defaults to random letters & numbers).  This will help us tell people apart even if they have the same name, since no one can have the same username.  Also the link to your user profile is now easier to remember... digibutter.nerr.biz/profile/username 

In addition to your username, you can set a password.  So you can now login using a regular username/password as an alternative to OpenID.  This is a good backup incase your OpenID provider stops working.  Click the old-school login link at the bottom of the Sign In page.

I now auto-collapse the posts and load more on the page.  Click on the grey info bar to expand a post and see it fully formatted.  Clicking on the topic title opens the topic in it's own page.

You can still Quick Reply, but you can also now post fully formatted replies on the view-topic page.

I think I like this.  You can scan the list of topics like you do in regular forums, but you can still quickly view the full post in-line without loading a new page.  I also try to give hints about what the topic is about by showing if it has an IMaGe or VIDeo.  Post formatting/images are now more visible too. 

I know some of you don't like using your OpenID to login, partly because you are stuck with whatever you started with and it probably sucks (like Windows Live).  To help solve that problem you can now add a new one to your profile.  So if one stops working, you now have a backup!
Just "Edit Profile" and then click "Add another login account". 

I recommend using myOpenID.com.  That's what I have been using and I haven't had any problems.  Google seems to work well too.

(If you ever accidentally created a new user, let me know and I can merge them)

I may give another copy away in November if you missed out.

The game page shows screenshots, videos, and latest discussion posts and will soon show ratings and user reviews.

You can also say if you want, own, played, or finished a game.  So browse the games and build up your collection!  http://digibutter.nerr.biz/boards/browse/games

I have noticed a few parts of the site are a little slower now, like when viewing "All Gaming News".  I will try to make some changes soon to speed it up.  Let me know if you find any other issues.

FYI, this is the fourth digibutter server.  Those Bandwidths can't sit still for long!

But no one needs that, cuz you monitor this site 24/7 right? ... RIGHT!?

Now you can post to any user's board. This is considered a "direct message". There is a checkbox to make it private, which makes it a "private message". Only the sender and receiver will be able to see the private message. Anyone can see public direct messages. There is a new link at the top of the page for you to easily see all messages sent to you.

Also, you can now set the privacy for an entire message board. Click on Manage link at the top of one of your boards to see the settings:

• Public: Anyone can see and post to this board.
• Protected: Anyone can see & comment, but only you can post.
• Private: Only approved subscribers can see & post.