Its a matter of accessibility, really. The chance that the average Joe browsing Moddb will download and try Scorched goes up drastically when they can get their hands on it without having to leave Moddb. It could also be useful in case of a sudden server crash or website error; people can still download without having to jump through any hoops.

On a different note, it might be a good idea to appoint a sort of 'community manager' to take care of the moddb updates. It would streamline the process, and it would mean that Gavin wouldn't have to try and juggle PR work on top of everything else. I'd gladly volunteer; I spend plenty of time on that site anyways.

Awsome, what do I need to do to allow/help you to do that?

When you set up the page for it, did you check the four boxes at the bottom of the page to allow the community to add articles, media, mods, and downloads? if those boxes are checked (they are by default, I think) then that end of things as been taken care of.

What we'll need to figure out now, though, is the process for the articles. would you prefer to contact me when you'd like an update, or let me time them myself? While working on them, would you like me to post article previews somewhere on the forum, or email the WIPs to you directly? As a general rule, I prefer to have at least two people - in addition to myself - proofread my writings, simply to catch technical and stylistic errors. Whether we go beyond that and lob the WIP articles into the public forum doesn't really matter to me. For screenshots, I'll most likely source them from the new gallery that you've added, but I may put in a request every once in a while for when I'm doing a mod spotlight, or similar.

This is going to be fun.

We can use what ever process you find more agreeable, don't feel the need to impose one. Do you me to post as well, e.g. New versions or do you want to do that to ? I guess you can post items here before you put them on moddb if you want some proof reading. Thanks Gavin.

count me in as a proof reader. i have zero writing talent, but im good with a spellchecker

should proof-reader be hyphenated, one word, or two?

(answer: yes : )

Alright, that'll work good. Where in the forums would you like me to post? I might be able to get a start today - right after my photography run - and have something for us by the weekend, depending on how creative I get. If I have time, I'll probably end up staging a few extra screenshots for the occasion, highlighting some of the weapons and such.

Just as a thought for the future, what would you say to a scheduled 'Dev-Team Deathmatch' with a developers versus players setup, for a bit of publicity and a chance to answer some player questions about the upcoming versions? It would be after our first few articles, of course, to get the proper build-up, but I figured I should stick the idea out there.

The dictionaries I use list proofreader as one word, but I've seen it hyphenated or split in some places. I personally prefer it as a single or hyphenated word, though, for the way it reads.

Not sure, is general a good place for it or perhaps the developer forum.
A dev / player match would be awsome, trying to find time is the issue. You can probably tell from my commit logs most of my free time is pretty late.

Already uploaded the v42.1 core pack for the public. We can update that
as work progresses.

I suppose i could input several of the Mods in the propper area once i get time.

Not seeing it one the page; are you sure you hit the right button?

I've gotten a start on the article, and I've hit the point where some screens are needed. I've already staged a few (going to stick 'em in the gallery once I finish typing this) but if you've got anything specific you'd like to see/add, give me a shout or send me a link.

Question: Is the Super-Shooter-Sunday thing going to be consistent? If it is, it could be a great addition to the article.

I would love to have a weekly event where there are lots of players, would be an incentive for me to play more.

I've got a rough, basic news post put together. Quite rough and quite basic at this point, since I still need confirmation about whether to include Super-Shooter-Sunday and the iphone version. I'm also considering some more screens.

Just noticed Gavin's post this morning in the dev section; if we're that close to the next version, do you want me to focus on that instead of v42.1? It would make for a stronger article (an actual release instead of "Oh... hi! we've been around for a while and just decided to start advertising a bit to increase popularity.") and give me more to talk about. That, and I could lob that v43 beta footage that's on youtube in there.

As things stand, here's my rough draft:

reads nice(ly: ).

thoughts, if you dont mind me bring critical.

if i was writing something formal or, you know, for a publication or whatever, personally, id lose the serial commas
especially here:
"...news, updates , and features you can handle"
and there's something screwy with your commas here: 'classic, “mother of all games,”'.

im not much of a grammar nazi - i often skip it completely (that and obsolete apostrophes ; ). i dont think theres any fixed rule when it comes to serials. i nearly always skip a comma before and unless theres a new clause or im parenthesising.

how about british spellings? i think most people in england would spell modernisation with an s and favourite with a u. (i know, we have a z on the home page - jumps out at me : )

also, personally, i wouldnt capitalise the internet. (i mean, assuming i wasnt skipping caps completely).

i think that's all i can come up with. not a lot wrong with that at all.

ps:
youre gonna hate me as a proof reader.

Supposedly, the practice of not using serial commas in journalism stems from an attempt to save space in the narrow confines of a newspaper, and is much more common in the UK than America. I've heard the arguments both for and against, and tend to use the so-called 'Oxford' comma out of both habit and preference. In either case, I doubt the average internet-user would notice. I do agree, though, on the 'mother of all games' bit.

For both the spelling differences and the capitalization of the word 'internet' I was going by pure dictionary reference. I was writing it both rather late and early, and I went with whatever the spell checker felt like saying. It's a flip of a coin, honestly; I've used both British and American spellings in times past, so whichever we go with doesn't really matter to me.

I've actually had occasion to teach [what passes for] English a time or two, so I'm used to attacking and being attacked for niggly details; sorta fun, actually.

tis fun. there seem to be a lot of subtle differences between american and english. far as serial commas, im with you. whatever works. and i always think, if you know the rules, its your prerogative to break them. (i knew you did already : )

something that always irks me is people confusing pronouns with contractions.

not to hijack the thread. it's interesting how language evolves. for example, it's becoming quite common for people to skip capital letters and apostrophes where theyre not absolutely necessary. i know a lot of english teachers must shudder at the thought, but it makes sense in this era, i think. punctuation marks are clear enough in typed up content so that we dont need them
(id guess thats where capitals for new sentences stemmed from - hand written stuff where a full stop isnt always clear). and contractions are so widely used, i think its fair to skip apostrophes unless theres risk of confusing the word for another.

its a lot quicker to type in lower case only, too, especially if youre one handed. far as capitalising proper nouns, i usually skip that too unless theres risk of confusion.

the internet, anyway. far as im concerned, isnt. the internet isnt a place or a thing (not anymore), its more of a kind of global entity. there are people around whod argue about this to death, but i think, if you dont capitalise the world 'in the whole world', you shouldnt capitalise the internet as in 'an internet wide phenomenon'. mustnt ramble : )

Here's a preview of what the article will look like with images and the video in place; thoughts?