Breaking News: is this the end of fansites, goodbye Habbox?

[AgnesIO]

The whole thing is laughable. For the 200th time, banning VIP or other donations schemes will NOT make me buy from habbo. Even when I did play, I still refuse to buy from then.. 1) there prices can be destroyed on a certain *REMOVED*, but also if you get hacked or scammed or whatever, they really couldn't give a damn.

I say Habbox ignores their threats, as realistically they will NOT do anything. They need to remember that fansites have pretty much saved them over the past year...

Sent from my HTC One X

Edited by Samanfa (Forum Moderator): Please do not avoid the filter.

[Okeanos]

As every sensible person has said, fansites are the foundation to the Habbo community.

right, so anyone who thinks otherwise is according to you not sensible? fansites are not the foundation of the habbo community, if they were they then they would have many more users. i resent the idea that only fansite users contribute to the habbo community, that is not true. most popular rooms on habbo have no fansite affiliation at all.
a lot of people here think that fansites provide a service to habbo, they dont. they might provide a service to some habbo users, but that is a completely different thing. in my experience fansite users buy less credits and spend less time on habbo than non-fansite users.

[HOSKO02]

@Okeanos - I'm surprised you've a) pushed for this and b) are proud of it, it seems you've gone down a dark path recently Sam for any semblance of recognition - at no matter what cost to your reputation or character, which seems to be greatly misrepresented by yourself and ironically, held in high regard.

I've been a donator to Habbox on multiple occasions, though I've surely spent more on credits over the years than I have on here. There are many reasons why I approve of this:

Sulake needs to ask themselves, why am I willing to pay for this service alongside theirs?

- Near 24/7 up-time that has continued undisturbed for years
- Quality, respected content that sets the standard for rival fan-sites
- Many users here have directly influenced the happenings in the hotel positively
- Habbox creates community events in-client all the time (more than staff I'd wager)
- More detailed content on Fansites like Habbox, Habborator etc, that they likely host more Habbo related content than the poorly designed Habbo site itself.

On a general note, fansites offer a huge margin of information about Habbo, things that Sulake has always neglected to archive and present publicly, the fansites do that job for you, for free, Sulake. A company cannot be without its history. Fansites own Wikis now, ever expanding on the sheer size and scope of Habbo related info, sponsors, timelines, digital currencies and items, controversies, influential figures etc. All this informs new players and current players about what Habbo is, was and where it is moving, all the best game franchises, TV shows, film canons and MMORPGs have successful, unofficial Wikis. All the listings of badges, furniture items and campaigns are better stored on Fansites than in-client, with most pieces ads0_looking_alot_like_this - we're always cleaning up and clarifying Sulakes mess.

Many commentators here have talked about the internalisation aspect to Sulakes recent moves, with attempts to retain centrality of control. This issue here is that increasingly online, brands have to relinquish a part of them to the wider community, officially and unofficially. Look at the benefit Twitter and Facebook give the brand, people spend money on Facebook, are they going to disassociate with them? No. Because the mutual relationship makes gains on both sides, even when a site like Habbox makes little to no gain, and throws what little it does into charitable causes. It deserves every right to be a power house of profit making glory, as its very existence hinges on the promotion of Habbo, I would've thought this obvious.

Habbo is missing a top-dollar Public Relations opporunity in promoting fansites' growth and aid to Habbo players, all the while keeping them engaged and informed on the Brand, hell, the community on this forum is 10x what transpires on the client nowadays regardless, maybe they should've brought the community forums and guestbooks back if they wanted to elbow in on that market, too bad, another poor decision for the long list. Not to mention non-direct affiliates, like Youtube (somewhat directly affiliated), Wikipedia, Archive.org, that all host content that users enjoy, the history and details on Wiki, the look, feel and imagery of the hotel on Youtube and the exploration of its history at archive.org.

If a Habbo user makes Youtube Partnership money creating Habbo videos in a 'Lets Play' or show format, are they do be attacked and removed? Or are they promoting the brand and hitting thousands of potential players daily? Look at the strength of Machinima and the Minecraft communities in this area, the views and brand image everywhere - absolutely invaluable. Maybe Paul La Fontaine could've taken his head out of his arse and slapped that on his Real-Time Social Gaming lecture slides in 2011, then perhaps he'd not be a smear on everyone's lips and comments and a continued exemplification of the failures of Sulake.

[Okeanos]

@Okeanos - I'm surprised you've a) pushed for this and b) are proud of it, it seems you've gone down a dark path recently Sam for any semblance of recognition - at no matter what cost to your reputation or character, which seems to be greatly misrepresented by yourself and ironically, held in high regard

oh for goodness sake how many times do i have to repeat myself? this will be the last time i say it. i did not push for this (my original post in this thread was a JOKE!) but i am pleased about this change nonetheless. that is a COMPLETELY legitimate opinion to have and does not mean im out for 'recognition' as you put it. i have always held this view because it is what i believe, please do not suggest that i have simply adopted it to get a bit of e-fame or big myself up.

i have and will always say what i think regardless of whether that opinion is popular or not. i really do not care if my 'reputation' (an odd notion, i wasn't aware i had a reputation to protect) is damaged in your eyes. do you not respect people who are honest? that is a failing on your part, not mine. your implication that anyone who agrees with this change does so only because they have an agenda and not because it is what they actually think is both facile and churlish. forums are for discussion, but you can't discuss anything unless you concede that some people do not agree with you. have you really deluded yourself into believing that everyone on habbo is opposed to this change? :rolleyes:

[Grig]

oh for goodness sake how many times do i have to repeat myself? this will be the last time i say it. i did not push for this (my original post in this thread was a JOKE!) but i am pleased about this change nonetheless. that is a COMPLETELY legitimate opinion to have and does not mean im out for 'recognition' as you put it. i have always held this view because it is what i believe, please do not suggest that i have simply adopted it to get a bit of e-fame or big myself up.

i have and will always say what i think regardless of whether that opinion is popular or not. i really do not care if my 'reputation' (an odd notion, i wasn't aware i had a reputation to protect) is damaged in your eyes. do you not respect people who are honest? that is a failing on your part, not mine. your implication that anyone who agrees with this change does so only because they have an agenda and not because it is what they actually think is both facile and churlish. forums are for discussion, but you can't discuss anything unless you concede that some people do not agree with you. have you really deluded yourself into believing that everyone on habbo is opposed to this change? :rolleyes:

Before forming an opinion, I would think you would need to read up on some definitions of words, such as "taking" money. No one is taking anyones money here. People donate at their own free-will, I'm unsure in which crazy deluded dream you made up the fact that fansites were taking people's money away.

The fact of the matter is, it's extremely hypocritical of you to use an enjoy a fansite since December 2006 and then decide to go against it and report some thing. If you're so extremely unhappy over fansites asking for mere donations to help with the tough server costs or costs for competitions etc. then no one is asking you to visit, and have this holier-than-thou attitude of 'Look I spoke to Powertoo and woo fansites aren't getting anymore donations'. You come across in an almost mocking fashion, so I'm sure you expected no sympathy from this thread.

You're fluffing around a lot and not giving any concrete positives that this step will actually create. All you're doing is saying oh look how great this is, rather than presenting an argument. No one is going to take you seriously by what you've said so far otherwise.

[Jackeld]

well in this case, if having the opportunity there for fansite members to donate at there own free will, then surely it is wrong for habbo/sulake to have a "purchase credits section".

> donate to habbox/any other fansite and you get bigger avatars, coloured name etc.
> donate to habbo and you get credits.

There's not much of a difference really; especially when the argument extends from "asking users for money".

[Special]

are sulake really ceasing donator subscriptions on forums because they think it's diverting users from purchasing credits directly from them? haha more fool them they're biting the hand that feeds them by driving their own user base away, sulake surely should be promoting this type of community (donator and all) not killing it off, especially since players have been in decline since 2010

this is the beginning of the end for habbo, i can't see habbo lasting much longer if they have this kind of greedy sentiment

[Okeanos]

Before forming an opinion, I would think you would need to read up on some definitions of words, such as "taking" money. No one is taking anyones money here. People donate at their own free-will, I'm unsure in which crazy deluded dream you made up the fact that fansites were taking people's money away.

The fact of the matter is, it's extremely hypocritical of you to use an enjoy a fansite since December 2006 and then decide to go against it and report some thing. If you're so extremely unhappy over fansites asking for mere donations to help with the tough server costs or costs for competitions etc. then no one is asking you to visit, and have this holier-than-thou attitude of 'Look I spoke to Powertoo and woo fansites aren't getting anymore donations'. You come across in an almost mocking fashion, so I'm sure you expected no sympathy from this thread.

You're fluffing around a lot and not giving any concrete positives that this step will actually create. All you're doing is saying oh look how great this is, rather than presenting an argument. No one is going to take you seriously by what you've said so far otherwise.

if you want to have a discussion about the definition of the word 'taking' then fine, but you do take the money which is offered to you so i dont understand what point youre trying to make. it seems to me that you are splitting hairs, presumably because you have no other argument to make.

either you didn't read my post or you are putting words in my mouth. let me be very clear, i did not report habbox, i said to powertoo (in a room where a large group of habbos were discussing fansites) that many still accept money from their users. i was not the only person to say this and staff know this happens anyway. i do not care how i come across to be perfectly honest, i have given my opinion without being rude or offensive to anyone (which is more than half in this thread have done). its amusing that you think everyone who uses habbox has some sort of obligation to defend it. if you want my allegiance then youre going to have to earn it. i come here sometimes to post on the forum, does that mean i cant express a negative opinion about fanistes? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Grig]

if you want to have a discussion about the definition of the word 'taking' then fine, but you do take the money which is offered to you so i dont understand what point youre trying to make. it seems to me that you are splitting hairs, presumably because you have no other argument to make.

either you didn't read my post or you are putting words in my mouth. let me be very clear, i did not report habbox, i said to powertoo (in a room where a large group of habbos were discussing fansites) that many still accept money from their users. i was not the only person to say this and staff know this happens anyway. i do not care how i come across to be perfectly honest, i have given my opinion without being rude or offensive to anyone (which is more than half in this thread have done). its amusing that you think everyone who uses habbox has some sort of obligation to defend it. if you want my allegiance then youre going to have to earn it. i come here sometimes to post on the forum, does that mean i cant express a negative opinion about fanistes? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Oh sly move turning it right back at me, bravo!

As to you visiting fansites, you supporting the removal of precious funding from them, could make a few struggle and even eventually become defunct. We defend the system, not Habbox itself. The system does not "take" money from users as I have echoed in my previous point, we accept donations at the user's free will. You may say that I'm simply rephrasing it, but that is a completely different tone.

In that case, you could say Habbo is taking money from users, Ebay and just about every other pay service on the internet. That argument is completely defunct. Let's go around and close the Red Cross website, because they are taking money. How dare they, those evil warlords.

[Dessi]

I'm personally completely against donations being taken away. Registering it as a NPO would be the smartest thing to do if Habbo Staff aren't lenient on this policy, but this makes me laugh- Habbo charges for "extra" services, i.e. HC, but their fansites aren't now able to do the same? Anyways, donations in some form or another will always happen. Right now, I'm donating my time to type this, like I was donating my time earlier to read the replies and this thread in general.

Also, I'd really like to see that email. I'm on HxF all the time to read but I made an account to reply to this post, that's how annoyed/angry I am at Staff trying to shut it down.