With the Internet being flooded with bots and generated spam, search engines are getting steadily worse, and the overall quality of content is declining. To represent this trend, I think it's most appropriate to make this Thanksgiving post worse than the prior years. There are a few options of how to do so:


Option 1: Get political

Being an election year, an easy way to make a bad post would be to just reference the election. However, doing so would be a bit redundant, since we already have many bad posts on this topic located in a more appropriate subforum, and I wouldn't want to take the spotlight away from my past self nor my fellow community members. Therefore, I'm ruling this option out.


Option 2: Have AI create the Thanksgiving post

This was actually suggested by the community, and it seems like a good idea on the surface. With ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion becoming more and more sophisticated, all I need to do is write a quick little prompt and they'll take care of it for me.

First up is ChatGPT:



I suppose AI has advanced far enough to hurt my feelings, at least. But as long as Stable Diffusion can give me a decent enough turkey drawing, I think I can make this work...



And now I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight. No, I don't think this is the type of content I want representing the front page of our community: AI is not the solution.


Option 3: Don't post at all

By not making a Thanksgiving post at all, I will perhaps let down some of the community, but it perfectly encapsulates my message on the decline of the Internet. This is by far the easiest option, and ultimately the option I'm choosing to do.

... Fuck.

Greetings,
Staredit.net is issuing the following warning to all map makers and players, advising that the individual known as 'Alykzandir' has engaged in map theft at an egregious level. It is possible from the information we've gathered that Alykzandir may be the most prolific thief in all of Stacraft history. We believe the following maps have been outright stolen or had meaningful credits removed on his account:

-Pokemon Battle Stadium (Original by Darkghost_1)
While the newer versions Alyk had put forth include significant changes and improvements, the removal of the original author, combined with all underlying locations/systems seeming to be preserved would indicate that this map is not properly credited.

Location Comparisons from original and stolen versions available here.

-Diablo 2 RPG / D2 Town RPG (Original by Bo[KEL])
Originally a Korean map that was translated by pct.zero. Alykzandir seems to have removed any reference to the original map maker.

You can readily compare the original and stolen versions on SCMSCX.

-Gauntlet RPG ChapelofSkorm / Gauntlet RPG: 2023 (Original by Zpothu)
The first of two Gauntlet maps bearing Alykzandir's name. On Alyk's edits, Zpothu's name is completely omitted.

-Gauntlet Zero RPG (Original by Zpothu)
No, this is not a duplicate, Alykzandir stole the same map, twice. Gauntlet Zero which he has represented and credited as his sole creation is actually a further edit based off Zpothu's original map. When analyzing the locations, strings, and triggers it becomes very apparent that it is the same map being further modified. While we recognize the significance of the changes in Zero from the original, we once again condemn the removal of Zpothu's name.

The original Gauntlet by Zpothu is here. You can see further edits by others here here here here, the underpinnings can be seen in the 'Skorm' version Alykzandir has stolen here, becoming 'Gauntlet 2023' which direclty underpins early Zero versions.

You can compare Alyk's 2023 and Zero's demo version here.


-ImScn - Master of Pain / Impossible - Master of Pain (Original by -fishgold-)
While -fishgold-'s name is still preserved in some of the strings we believe this to be an oversight as Alykzandir credits only himself in the map description. The changes look to be exceedingly minor in scope.

-Legend Of Qua'Teras / Qua'Teras RPG (Original by Big-Fat-Homo)
Another blatant theft, the original and stolen versions can be seen here and here.


Speculative:
Although we cannot identify the original, based on comparisons to other Alykzandir credited maps we believe Castle of Koopa to have its underlying systems ripped off of another bound.

WHAT IS MAPORINO
Maporino! 2021 (the exclamation point is mandatory, or so I've been told) is a community event organised by the youtuber Jayborino, where content creators hailing from various RTS titles can participate.
Each person/team can submit one scenario and have it be showcased by Jayborino, as well as potentially various members of the community who can decide to participate in the event.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Starcraft: Broodwar - both 1.16 and Remastered - is one of the several strategy games showcased throughout the event, and therefore I thought that it could be nice to encourage some of the SEN folks to participate.
I know we have many campaign-makers, as well as people who made awesome RPG maps, and I think that they all deserve to be seen. This is an opportunity to try and grow out the widely understood mapmaking community, even if it's just by a little.

Should one decide to submit a map, it has to be a single scenario - but it can be bundled with a mod, if that's required, it can be an EUD map, and it can make use of already-existing assets; it doesn't have to be made from scratch, it can even be something you made a while ago, as long as it's otherwise eligible.
Keep in mind that this will be just a showcase; not and in-depth review, and so maps that go on for more than an hour would be unlikely to be shown in their entirety.

WHEN? WHERE?
Entries can be submitted up until Friday April 9th, 2021 11:59 PM EST, through the Jayborino Discord/email - https://discord.gg/WxwUJYC

Watch this video for more details -