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The number was set at 8. Strangely, this is a holdover from the old system of allowing both positive and negative votes on posts. However the system does still require a maximum allowance even when only using positives. So I have bumped it up to 15.

I have both consoles during this generation. During that time, much has changed. Sony had a slow start, and Microsoft came out swinging. Xbox live was dominant, and Sony's network was pretty close to broken. Now that we're reaching the end of cycle for these machines though, I've noticed quite a difference. One was the launch of PS+ a couple of years ago. Sony has focused on core gamers, while Microsoft seems to be pushing more in the direction of non-gaming entertainment and casual play. Xbox Live has continued to add more TV channels and online media connections, while PS+ is offering free games. For the upcoming generation, I see this as a trend continuing. Microsoft wants to control the living room, while Sony (for now) appears to be more focused on providing for gamers. Sony also continues to keep many first-party developers creating exclusives, while MS relies more on third-party support. I will be quite interested to hear what MS has to reveal next month. Myself, I had an Xbox when everyone I knew was rocking the PS2. I have both a PS3 and an Xbox360, and my 360 games library dwarfs my PS3 library. When I want to watch streaming media, I have a Roku that uses 1 watt of power, so I'm not going to boot up a noisy, power hungry console just to watch Netflix. My needs may be different than others, but I need/want something that will play the games of the next generation. I don't need an all-in-one box to control my space.

One Boston terrorist dead, one to go. Shootout, American style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqo1Ad6spkY

Navy SEALs Spotted at Boston Marathon Wearing Suspicious Backpacks? (Not Seals, see update) Savvy Internet sleuths have found images taken from surveillance cameras of members of the crowd gathered at the Boston Marathon that appear to identify Navy SEALs. http://www.infowars....ious-backpacks/ Boston runners were warned: Squamish man Runners getting set to take part in the Boston Marathon were warned beforehand that they were going to die, said a Squamish resident who took part in the race. http://www.squamishc...ed-squamish-man Update Photos: Private military operatives hired to ‘work’ the Boston marathon Natural News has now confirmed that at least five private military contractors were operating on scene at the Boston marathon, and that they all carried black backpacks which look very similar to the backpack carrying the pressure cooker bomb (see pictures below). http://www.infowars.com/photos-private-military-operatives-hired-to-work-the-boston-marathon-with-black-backpacks-radiation-detectors-tactical-gear/

Explosions rock finish of Boston Marathon; 2 killed and scores injured With thousands of runners still on the course, two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing two people, injuring scores more and turning the city’s most celebrated event into a grisly spectacle of shattered glass, blood and screams. One of the dead was an 8-year-old child, a law enforcement official told NBC News. Video from the scene showed people fleeing and an enormous cloud of white smoke after two blasts went off about 20 seconds apart. Emergency personnel carried bloody spectators away. http://usnews.nbcnew...?lite&gt1=43001 Updated totals now at 3 dead, 140 injured (17 critical).

Looking at the Google news page just a few minutes ago. So the UK is now owned by HP? Sheesh, at least we let multiple companies run our government here in the US.

I'm certain the system isn't perfect. Over time, we've even been thinning out discussion related boards because of the overwhelming popularity of video boards. On one hand, I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to boost discussions on the forum. Considering how large our audience is, there is relatively little discussing going on. On the other hand, there is the concern about keeping the video threads "clean". Because people who go to those threads tend to be there with one objective, having to sort through numerous discussion posts isn't a good plan either. Having been behind these sites for a decade now and seeing what this looks like magnified 100-1000x this amount of members and posts, it's pretty much a necessity. One thing that was tested at one point was the creation of a related discussion thread in an appropriate board and having a staff member include the link in the first post of the video thread. That way people who wanted to carry on a discussion could be linked to the right place. As for what was deleted, it is unfortunate that a good discussion was lost, but if it was in a video-only thread it is somewhat expected. Currently for a moderator to shift posts from a video thread to a discussion thread, they first need to select and split the posts followed by moving the new thread to an appropriate board. Because this is time consuming when going through multiple threads, it is actually easier to just delete, which takes one click. What I will try to do for the future is to help streamline the process for a moderator to split the posts to a discussion thread.

Just watched Rise of the Guardians the other day. Good movie 8/10. Even better if you have kids as they will certainly enjoy it.

I've thought that too, as I've seen it in different sectors.

Ha, I actually had to find a new emote for that Luke.

If today wasn't Easter I'd be getting that start page for the site done. But as it is I am tied up with family, but I hope to get it launched later this week.

I should ask Ben, how is the campaign? I've owned it for about 3 weeks now and haven't left online play yet. Haha, nice. I will probably pick it up eventually on a sale or something for a couple days worth of amusement. I'd expect to see more like this as it's often easy to re-do an old game concept than to create something entirely new.

Depends on what you are looking for in a game. Those are the predominant ones, but you can find browser type games, alternatives like Fifa Street, or management type sims like Football Manager.

In keeping with the new pattern of quarterly update threads, here are the updates so far for Q1 2013. Also, Luke wouldn't stop bugging me to actually announce things, which I always forget to do. SoccerShouts Diet To better focus our efforts on active areas, the Kit Bag was shifted back to being a subforum of the Training & Equipment board. The Italian and Around the World discussion boards were wiped and all posts moved to a shared Other Teams and Leagues board. The Prime skin was also dropped. This affected exactly 0 members and no one was using it. A new skin is currently being worked on with a hopeful release date by the end of the month. Latest topics are still shown on the sidebar, but latest posts have been dropped. For similar but expanded functionality, just use the View New Content link at the top of all pages. Trim your links One of the newer features added was a Shorten URL link added to the top of all pages. Clicking that link will allow you to make a short link out of the current page you are viewing, or any link of your choosing. A number of shortening services are available, such as bit.ly and tinyURL. Sometime this quarter we also have plans to launch our own branded service which will be added to that menu. Ads Just a small change to the ads so far in that logged in members will no longer see the ad that jumps around on the board index. In the near future, I have plans to test adding a block size ad within the first post of a topic but again this will be limited to guest viewers only. As always, Premium subscribers see no ads at all. Post Points Posts are awarded for creating new threads and replies. Creating a popular topic also rewards you, as you get points on replies to threads you create as well. Currently points are broken down as follows: New Topic: 1 point Replies to discussion threads: 0.5 points Replies in video threads: 0.05 points Points awarded to topic creator for replies: 0.5 points Some boards have slightly different point values, such as a large bonus for creating an Intro thread, and Word games which does not award points. These points can be used as an alternative to spending money to get a premium subscription. In the Points Store, you can get a month of Premium for 200 points. The system has only been in place for a week and some members already have 25+ points, so nothing impossible. Certainly not as the site grows and more posting takes place. Other Thoughts A huge thanks to Luke for a very generous donation this month. This money is being used for the new skin, getting the URL service started, and a well funded ad campaign to help promote the site.

I apologize for that. I actually forgot to do a bit of topic moderation after making the changes. What I have done currently is unpinned all but the match threads, leaving the rest to rise and fall normally if they see any posting activity. Ben or an admin can make changes to the pins as needed from here, but it looks less crazy there now. Something else I am in the process of doing is setting a cutoff date at 90 days for discussion threads. What that means in that by default when you view a board only threads that have been active within the last 90 days will show in the topic listing. The rest of the threads are still there, and can be found either by manually changing how much history to show or through search. But in making this change, users will no longer be presented with a list of topics that haven't been posted to since 2011. As for posting activity, that is something we've continued to struggle with for a long time. Generally most members that have registered here haven't found us looking for discussions and so 'hit and run' from the videos instead. So the best we can do is continue working on building the site and hope that as more members sign up on the site, more participate in discussions.

This is likely the last update for the first quarter, but does outline a handful of changes to various sections. Based on forum use for posting, many subforums have been removed. In the English section, the Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United boards have been removed and all of the threads now share the main English discussion section. Similarly, Real Madrid was removed and combined with the main Spanish discussion board. The Humor subsection of the Lounge was simply removed, although the content has been stored and can be reactivated in the future. Pending changes include the removal of the French discussion board, to be combined with Other Teams and Leagues. Other Sports in the Off the Pitch category may be removed, and the Training/Coaching board and subforums are also being considered for changes. For now, no actions are being taken on these Pending sections, but are being watched for activity as we move into Q2. Shouts.tv should have more details beginning Q2 with a homepage for creation of short and custom url's. This will help the site operate independent of SoccerShouts.

Excellent thread. I'm going to pin this.

Unusual for you Luke. She has clothes on.

I do try to find some positive stuff when I can. Usually the news isn't so nice. Let's see, the other day a bit north of here in North Philadelphia a couple of jackasses stole a police car, ran over the cop and drove around plowing into other cars before being caught, and then we have North Korea on the verge of starting something they probably shouldn't. So yeah, good news is appreciated to balance all the dumb stuff that is far more common. Okay, actually the stolen cop car thing is kinda funny, especially with clips in gif. http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2013/03/06/10-incredible-gifs-stolen-cop-car-chase/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCnjAi7ZNWI

Good week for animal stories.

This small dog is getting the credit for saving a missing three-year-old in Poland, after the girl was discovered lying in a marsh with the dog beside her. Temperatures slid to a bone-chilling 23-degrees while the child and her canine friend spent the night outdoors. And while little Julia did develop frostbite, firefighters say that if it weren't for the pup's warm body, she would have died. "For the whole night the animal was with the girl, it never left her" said a firefighter, explaining that the dog truly saved her life. Just another hero pooch following his instincts and proving that there's no match for a loyal dog. [Source] It's good to see a news article once in a while that isn't depressing.

There is no reset, but the sort order is latest visit, so if you visit a thread and then view it again at a later date your name will be bumped to the beginning of the list.

Topic visitors is something else I was testing. It should be updated immediately and is visible in most forums. I'm not really sold on it being something that is greatly useful though, so it may not be kept permanently. You are also the first person to have even mentioned it and it has been up for a few days already.

Server was taken down today from approximately 9-10am UTC (GMT). During this period vital server applications PHP and MySQL were updated to current versions. These lengthy updates are very rare but important to ensure continued support for new applications, stability, and security of the site and server.