16:37, 9 January 2008 | 25 Comments | [ Add comment]

This is something I have been meaning to do for a while now and today I have finally gotten around to doing it. All files and images marked as "Adult-only" are now blocked from viewing for non-members, and those members who have specifically chosen to block the content. By default adult-only content is blocked on the site. In order to view adult-only content on the site you need to be a registered member, logged in, and toggled the adult-only view settings in your preferences.

The reasons behind this are typical and common place across the web; to protect "minors", censor inappropriate content for people at work, and help those people who don't want to accidentally stumble across this content.

At the moment it is only the uploaders of files and images who can toggle the "Adult-only" content flag so I ask uploaders to use their own mature judgement on using the flag. If your file uses or shows nudity or quite graphic violence then please turn that adult-only flag on. I'm sure you're tired about some people moaning about not wanting to see your content in their game so this is the perfect way to give them no excuses and stop them complaining for good.

14:44, 7 January 2008 | 9 Comments | [ Add comment]

I just wanted to inform you all that there may well be some file downtime over the coming days while I make some changes to the file structure of the site. The site is outgrowing it's current harddrive and I'm having to do a bit of recoding to accommodate spreading the site across multiple harddrives.

Hopefully there won't be many issues and service will be like normal for most of you!

Edit: The system has now been recoded. I have noticed that the upload progress meter isn't currently displaying correctly. If people find any other problems please let me know ASAP. I can't fix the problems unless people tell me about them!

13:12, 5 January 2008 | 35 Comments | [ Add comment]

After doing some grundgy looking around in the server log files I found a number of bandwidth leechers all originating from China. Bandwidth leechers cause mini Denial of Service attacks as they take up multiple (often 50+) connections and use up the servers entire bandwidth, meaning people either cannot connect to the server or download at very low transfer rates.

Aside from IP banning these people, which isn't very preventative in this day and age, I will also be looking to limit the total number of connections each IP can open on the file server. This limit will probably be set at 3. What does this mean? Essentially, you will only be able to download 3 files at a time from a file server, or, if you use a download manager and have found a way to get it to work with this site, you will only be able to make 3 threads for your download.

Hopefully we'll all be seeing faster downloads and less IPS Driver errors on the site very soon!

12:06, 3 January 2008 | 15 Comments | [ Add comment]

Late last night the 500,000th official member registered on TESNexus. This marks a great milestone in the site's history. The 250,000 member milestone was reached on October 13, 2006 and the 100,000 member milestone was reached on the 30th of March 2006.

As I've said before, whether you enjoyed Oblivion or miss the Morrowind hay-days, you cannot deny that the Elder Scrolls community is unparalleled. On average there are 500 people registering on this site every day with traffic on the increase, rather than on the decrease. It's brilliant to see.

The next milestone shall be at 750,000 members rather than one million.

00:27, 29 December 2007 | 20 Comments | [ Add comment]

I've been meaning to get a staff page up on the site for a while. It's important that the folks who help to keep this site in tip-top shape get some recognition. I'm sure you've all been dying to know more about the ugly mugs who work on the site, so now's your chance. Head on over to the staff page now but be warned; it's not for the faint hearted!

12:52, 26 December 2007 | 1 Comments | [ Add comment]

For those who like to keep up-to-date with changes made to the site I thought I would post up a recent change log. I only like to announce major changes to the site in the site news, but if you didn't know I keep a log of almost all changes I make to the site, big or small, in the Change Log section of the forums.

• A YouTube BBCode tag has been added to both the site and the forums, so you can now include YouTube videos in your mod descriptions and comments. Usage instructions are in the change log topic
• The image share section has had a reshuffle of its image pages to include the new tabbed navigation system that was recently adopted in the file database.
• Several pages, including the category lists and search results now use a drop-down menu to navigate page links. Many categories and searchs produce results with literally hundreds of pages to browse, so a more space efficient method of displaying the page list was needed
• There is now a link under all comments on the site allowing you to report comments that are rude or abusive to moderators
• You can now edit your comments directly via the site, rather than going to the forum thread to edit
• A new sort option, "Uploader", has been added to category and search results. This allows you to order results by Uploader name, ascending or descending.
• The browse category page now correctly shows the date of the last file upload in that category

If you haven't already I recommend reading my recent interview with gstaff on the official Bethesda Blog to catch up on all the major updates planned for the site.

19:55, 22 December 2007 | 19 Comments | [ Add comment]

The first stage of voting at the 2007 Mod of the Year awards at ModDB is over and it's now into the gritty stage. The contestants have been rounded down to 100 hopeful mods from a range of games. The only Oblivion mod to feature in the list is Nehrim: At Fate's Edge, a total conversion for the game, listed in the "Best upcoming mods" category.

Now, I don't know where I, or the folks on the Nexus forums, have been, but this mod looks pretty damn cool. I'm not a regular at the official forums so this topic might have been beaten to death over there, or it's possible that because the mod is being made by Germans they don't really interact much with the English modding community, either way I hadn't heard of it before today, and it looks like I should have. Shame on all you people for not letting me know.

Anyway, their site is meant to be at www.nehrim.com but the link isn't currently working for me. Either way take a look at their YouTube vid and try to tell me it doesn't look cool without knowing you're a tard.


Linky to video

14:58, 19 December 2007 | 13 Comments | [ Add comment]

After I launched the new tab navigation for the file database I thought it only proper to poll people on whether they make use of tabbed browsers like FireFox, IE7 and Opera. The results are in:

Yes, I open most links in new tabs
3513 votes (78%)

Sometimes, for select things
411 votes (9%)

Nope, I'm living in the past
225 votes (9%)

Tabbed browsing?
351 votes (7%)

It's nice to see that most people have moved into the new millenium.

The new site poll returns to the fantasy gaming scene a little more asking that age old question; Might (fighters), Magic (mages) or Stealth (assassins/thieves)? You know the drill.

18:46, 18 December 2007 | 3 Comments | [ Add comment]

A little self promotion never hurt anybody, right? GStaff, the community manager at Bethesda has recently conducted a Q&A interview with me. Here's a small tidbit:

"Any exciting plans for the site that you’d like to share with the community?

Lots and lots of plans, as always, but I’m often loathe to speak too soon just in case I hit a snag. I hate to disappoint people. I’ve got plans for new sites that I won’t discuss, but when it comes to TES Nexus there’s always things on my list. To name but a few:

..."

Head on over to the article on the Bethesda Blog to get the full scoop!

17:16, 12 December 2007 | 5 Comments | [ Add comment]

Due to a nasty hardware issue with the server the site runs on I have had to revert the mysql database back to the most recent stable backup, made around 36 hours ago. Unfortunately that means all file data between now and that time has been lost, including new files, edits made to files, images and mirrors. Forum data is safe, so any comments made should still be visible.

I apologise for the problem. Please help spread the word to those authors that might not read this message.

Thanks to all the people who emailed in letting me know the database had done a timewap!