I am going dark for the day of Tuesday as a sign of discontent

for the heads of this site it will mean nothing, but hopefully will show how many are displeased with way new layout was handled

the saddest thing is that from what I hear, the gliches that the editors have with the submissions has not been totally fixed, and many editors are retiring

until wednesday, this is the wise signing out

please take out the basically all white layout, it makes the posts blend with each other too much, and it tends to give a slight headache; do a new color pattern, if possible, one similar to the old color layout

some of the "new stuff" is silly, and it was done by taking some items that made TVcom unique

you should do a merger of the new features that people will tell you to keep, and of the old features that were taken out that people will tell you to bring back

for example, I like no more scroll bars when signatures exceed the 200 height, which is what made many old computers go on the fringe, and it will stop mods having to give TOS to people with a 202 height signature, and just simply look for people who have signatures that are like 400 height; and they should bring back the % of the levels, and allow ratings of 9.7 and such, and take away just increments of .5

I know that the profile on top probably was made to give more room length wise for the posts, but it forces people to see the profiles as being in the way and it will get annoying; so profiles should go on the side again

make the layout firefox friendly, lot of us(myself included) use firefox or similar

most important of all, whoever did it should apologize for rushing forward, and not making sure there were NOT MAJOR GLITCHES; is understandable that there would be minor glitches but we talking major stuff, like problems with the PM system, making editors not able to accept submissions and such

some people think that "the refuge" is very exclusive

it is not, we are a litle selective, we want to know if the members applying are good people, and not probable trolls, so basically if the people who are applying come from TVcom, we want them to be at least level 3 or 4, and preferably with some activity at the blogs and/or forums, so they will have a certain history to judge them by.

and the site is mostly avatar, but we got lot of other stuff to talk about in different sections like other shows, politics and so on

and we allow people to be a little "off-topic" in the threads, so basically there is a more sense of community since is more likely to talk to everyone about anything instead of feeling constricted to "just talk about the shows" or having to go to so many different blogs just to be able to discuss with someone about *for examples* Hurricane Gustav, the election, the world series and who will get to the playoffs, college footbal and so on

and we do have journals that is pretty much like blogs

and I encourage people who are still members of TVcom to visit and discuss things at the avatar forum and other forums

it is a little more "constricted in here" because sometimes what one considers a "non-issue" might be something that is considered "disruptive or malicious" to someone else, even when is other 2 parties

we can have situations like if "jack" writes "Aang appereaded in every episode" and "Jim" writes "are you being foolish? don't you remember Zuko alone?" than "jack" writes "oh, that is right, Duh, how did that slip my mind?" than "sam" reports "Jim" for calling "jack" foolish

so I will not force people to come to the forums of TVcom, they do what feels more comfortable to them

plus having the refuge means that people can come over and talk to the people who were banned, and also means that it makes it less likely that the banned people will feel forced to "ban dodge" (which according to TVcom is illegal) in order to talk to their friends

is ok(for those who want to do it) to go to both places, one should not feel it will be a traitor if they don't go to one of the sites

ythe refuge is http://z11.invisionfree.com/Avatar_mocVT_refuge make sure to PM me after you sign up, so i can check your profile and approve you

Newbies: take your time and learn the rules, and learn the etiquete of the sites, and don't rush in your desire to post something you found(it might have already being found, and is in an earlier thread)

don't believe the myth that if you start threads you will level up faster

you get percentage points by the posts, not by replies to threads you start, and a regular post and starting a new thread are considered the same

all members: too many unnecessary threads is considered disruptive by the mods, so think before starting a thread

some members have different types of computers and browsers systems, and if your signature has a scroll bar, it will be disruptive to some computers, that is why mods might delete your signatures if it has a scroll bar

this in not "specifically in the rules"(but probably mods will consider it as understood as something disruptive) but please avoid having signatures that have a LOT OF BYTES, as those will usually be disruptive to members in dial-up, and in some cases of humongous sigs, it can even disrupt a high speed LAN

please avoid(unless is in an approved game thread) doing 3 words or less posts, and avoid unless it is necessary doing pyramid posts, they will be considered disruptive by mods

don't do "inside before the lock" posts or "fail" posts even if you feel it is deserving, the mods will consider it disruptive

don't quote an "offensive and/or disruptive post", it will be considered as if you had post it

ignore trolls, and let mods take care of them, if you reply to them, high chances is that it was what they wanted; and I don't think you want to make trolls happy, just report them and mods will decide what actios are warranted

Veteran members: please be nice to the newbies, instead of calling them fools try to guide them to the proper steps

sometimes threads can be buried in page 5 or more, and are hard to find, or a question they asked might have been post number 2339, and the thread goes to a new page at post 2341, and no one saw the question, so they feel forced to ask again the question

is easy to "kick" noobs, but it is more impressive if you try to convert a noob into a newbie and eventually a good member

use "courtesy language" and not harsh language

you might get a good friend if you answer them with "I am glad for your enthusiams but there is already a thread for that in *url* " rather than "you dork, why you did this thread? we already got one about this"

sometimes the "intended message" might be different than the "perceived message"; so examine what you wrote before clicking "submit post"

use common sense and try to use Owlistic principles

always trying to be a friend

Wiselad

It was a great ride, one that we had been waiting for so long. One that obviously disappointed many shippers, specially the Zutarians. Some of them accepted what Bryke envisioned, others could not accept it, and that started a bitter view of it right from the start, if they were spoiled or they were one of the people who read the "book". We got some who were disappointed of how Aang reached the Avatar State, or how he dealt with Ozai, as they take a superficial view of it, instead of trying to view the way Brike saw the dynamics and personalities of its main characters. We even got some minor surprises like the way Appa was sweet to Nyla (the mount of June) and some highly laughable moments, like Sokka thinking that Appa ate Momo. One can't say it was perfect, but I got to say that for me it was a 9.5 out of 10.

I want to deal with what are considered the major issues of those who were highly disappointed, and we start with the shipping. Get over it, it was what was in the DNA of the series from the start, as Bryke mentioned. For me, it was what was the most logical outcomes. Katara was strongly hinted from episode 101, but was completely solidified at the end of Crossroads and start of book 3(220 and 301), mixed with some hints of hopes for the Zutarians. Suki was the first crush of Sokka, if some don't remember that, she came before Yue. Yue was probably the first actual love of Sokka, but he began to be in love with Suki when they saw each other again. Many started seeing it as dead after she and her warriors faced Azula, Ty Lee and Mai; so much that Tokka became a strong force, but many saw that unless it was shown Suki was dead, Sokka and Suki still was the most logical choice for Sokka. Sukka was solidified after the Boiling Rock(314 and 315), only dying if either Sokka or Suki died. The same thing happened with Maizu at the Boiling Rock, after that episode the only way it would not happen is if Zuko or Mai died. Most of the ones who didn't see that were the People who supported Zutara, or ones who didn't like Mai's character. We never got solid evidence from Bryke, but it has been strongly hinted that Mai and Zuko were at least solid friends during their childhood, and hinted that Mai might have been hurt when Zuko was exiled. So even thought their hookup seemingly came out of nowhere(specially to ones who didn't see the magazine comic between 220 and 301) it was something logical.

the second issue is how Aang was reconnected to his Avatar state, as I mentioned before in another blog; Aang was able to let go of Katara in crossroads and reached the avatar state(but not mastered yet). When he was about to master it he got hit by Azula, and that was what "locked" the Avatar state. A strong hint of what was to happen came in 301, when Aang could not recall what happened until Katara went to heal his back injury, and suddenly he remembered the moment when he got hit by Azula, and remembered exactly what happened at the Ba Sing Se cave. At the finale, when the rock hit again his back's scar, that triggered again his connection, and he remembered all the knowledge of all past Avatars, he got reconnected to all of them, not just to the earlier 4 which was established in the "escape from the spirit world" and thus was able to go Avatar state, but at that moment it was all Avatars in the body of Aang, he had not mastered Avatar state yet. He even Spoke as the voice of many when he almost killed Ozai.

the third issue for many is that Aang didn't kill Ozai. Some because they wanted to actually see blood, because they don't try to see what should be the correct thing for each character. Killing Ozai would have been the easy thing to do, but it would not have been what would feel right to the persona of Aang. What happened was hinted in 3 places, the first one was the reluctance of Aang to kill Ozai, than when Yangchen spoke to Aang, she told him "duty to the world" came before duty to "one's own values" (which is different than worldly desires which many people confuse) so that no Avatar was able to be enlightened like so many airbenders in the past. The third hint came on the words by the turtle, who told Aang basically that in the earliest time it was understood that it was not about the elements, but about the energy that made bending possible. And the turtle might have helped make things easier for Aang to reach the Avatar state when it touched Aang at the head. healing his connection to the Avatars of the past, only needing to be triggered.

Why Bryke went this way with Aang? as I told earlier, Aang already "let go of Katara" in the way many didn't see it, as they thought letting go meant giving up Katara forever. at the moment "Avatar State" in the body of Aang was about to kill Ozai, Aang took control of himself, and chose to go with his values, and decided not to kill Ozai, Aang chose his "self values" over worldly duties. at that time he mastered the Avatar State as it was shown when Aang eyes lit up again than it went out again, but we saw he still had the Avatar state powers, that indicating Aang was in control, not the Avatar state of him. Also at that time, when he saw another solution, is when Aang was the first Avatar to be "enlightened" and he was able to "lifebend" and manipulate the energy, and thus able to take the bending powers of Ozai.

I think it also means that if Aang wants, he can also "give bending powers" to those who don't have them, but that is up to Bryke. So the fact that Aang didn't kill Ozai makes perfect sense for the persona of Aang, just like it makes sense for the persona of Katara that she didn't kill the killer of her Mother. We should not be blinded by our own "worldly desires" (Zutara, seeing blood and death and other stuff) and not seeing that Bryke did what was correct for each of the characters of the "Avatar the last airbender" world.

the only thing that was disappointing, but that was from the book interview, was that they chose not to establish that some airbenders were able to go in hiding and escaped the Sozin massacre of the airbenders