Hello, fellows.

In case any of you haven't noticed, I have decided to cancel the subscription for the TF2 server. We simply have not been getting enough players or donations, and some of the money from the UNF coffers had to go to it (only $40) so I finally had enough. I suppose I will try to jump back into the TF2 pool later, but right now there are too many servers and thus more competition from large server networks. Some clans, for example, have 8 servers on TF2, and most of them are full. That doesn't sound good for many server owners like me, who would only maintain one server. IMHO, the only independent servers that can succeed in the TF2 market right now have either extraordinary server owners (Axl) with already large communties from other games or are 24/7 orange/2fort/warpath servers. TF2 also doesn't have the cool modifications right now that would allow a specific server to be distinguished like UNF is for TFC, as Vinculum pointed out a while back. Mapping, I have heard though, is easier for source games, so if some mapper within our UNF community can find a novel idea (even a vote map) within the source sdk then I will listen. Personally I don't have time for such ventures now because I am going to be starting college in a week.

TF2 is a great game, but right now UNF TFC still remains our safe bet for the future, although I can assure you based on the slow trickle of donations these past few weeks we will have far fewer than 32 slots in the not too distant future.

Eternal Howl

Well hello all! I haven't posted a news update here since September 2007, so after 9 months I figure since I have time now I will give you a much needed server update. If you thought my September update was long-winded, you may be surprised by the length of this one. Then again, it has been nine months. So without further ado, I will begin.

Backtracking to December: December 2007 was a very special month for us. With your help, we set a UNF server record that has not yet been broken. In December you donated $415 to the server, more money than has been contributed in any other month before or since. Yup, $415 in ONE month! At that time that total alone was enough to keep the server up for 4 full months, and that is mainly why the server is still up today, because of that epic month. However, Our coffers (money supplies) are beggining to run dry right now, so it is still imperative that you continue to donate to keep the server up, unless you wish there not to be a server anymore. As you can see, this month has seen a resurgence in donations and our $150 month goal has almost been met. Good job guys; keep it up! And as always, thank you thank you thank you. I could not do it without your help.

So we saw December come and go, and January come and go, and in their midsts I forgot to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Yeah, that must be the most belated Happy New Year ever, since we are halfway into it, but whatever. Let's get some shoes.

In that time, I have also updated the donation benefits. I will post them here now and update them in the "Donations" section later. Basically, if you donate $25 or more, you get: your own bot, your name in the MOTDs, your own trail, and your own single color glow. Second time donors of $25 or more get: a UNF T-shirt, a personal sound wav, and a double-color glow (like glow christmas). Of course, anyone receiving these benefits as first time donors will not be stripped of them, but then again most of the first time donors don't have their own sound wavs anyway since they never sent them to me, so whatever. The main thing we need to worry about is keeping the server up, because you can't have most of the benefits without the server being up. And just something worthy of note: any new donors will have to wait on tshirts, because I am all out of the old ones and have not had new ones desgined yet. I would have them if that tshirt design contest didn't go haywire.

Also, for those who did not know, UNF now has a new online temporary banned list, where you can view a list of all temporarily banned players by the admin_tempban command (since February?) in one big list. The list includes players still banned and those whose bans have expired. The banned and unbanned each are highlighted in their own separate color. The list can be found at http://www.unftfc.com/banned.php and I have decided to let everyone access it, so the password is "banned" if anyone needs it.

Something random: register on the forums, not on the main site! I understand it may take a while before you can actually post after registering on the forums, but that is because I personally have to validate you as a new member. That is the job spam bots forced me to undertake.

And now, fast forward to today. Obviously in 9 months our admin team must have changed, right? You betcha. Here are your current admins:

Eternal Howl
RedButton
HURRICANE
Turbo9000
ZOP
BadAzZ
Cangri
grifter
Zorn
DiE
OutLaw
EBGuy
(OA) Mindless

The newer admins on this list are (OA) Mindless and OutLaw, so do welcome them to the admin team. Also, UNF does in fact have a new Head Admin: RedButton. Welcome him as well.

Also, now that I have played TF2 and want to get a server in the future, I figure I might as well save up until that time comes. So make sure now when you donate you specify to which server you want your donation to go to.

Have a GREAT summer, and I will see you all around!

Love,
Eternal Howl

The mecklenburg swimming pool group pictures, 12 in all, can be found here.

Hello. I am announcing updates concerning donator benefits, admins, and server rules.

UNF is doing better. We have a fairly sizeable amount of money in our treasury, but it is only enough for short-term success. I would hope that the server being up will not deter people from donating, because donations are still appreciated at this point. Again, if you haven't received your donation benefits yet, notify me immediately and I will give you your goodies upon your request.

Here are the benefit updates (FOR DONATORS OF $20 OR MORE ONLY)

1. Your own glow color
2. Your own bot
3. Your name in the MOTD
4. A FREE UNF T-Shirt shipped to your mailing address
5. I will give you five hundred times more forum points than the amount you currently have, if you are registered on the forums.
6. Consideration for administrative duties
7. Your own trail color

Also, we have a new admin. Please welcome BadAzZ to the admin team. BadAzZ is UNF's first ever admin from Denmark. He should help with the time zone differences.
Also, I have decided to change a server rule and replace it with another. From now on, cursing will be allowed. Only racism will not be tolerated. The cursing problem became too hard to enforce because people kept bypassing the filters. We are not going to kick a third of our players off. The new rule that I am replacing that with is:

From now on, there shall be no B-hop, bunny hopping, frogger flipping (whatever you call it) on UNF.

Due to recent and consistent attacks by spammers and spambots, I have decided to heighten registration security for our UNF forums. Some of you may have already noticed this when you tried to register, while some of you may not have. In case you didn't know, from now on anyone who registers will not only have to provide a valid email address to be confirmed, but will also need to go through some bureaucratic red tape. I, my friends, am that red tape. I am taking it upon myself to "officially" grant new members posting rights because although the email confirmations slowed forum spam down to a point, there were still bots registering and posting porn pictures, filled with merciless sodomy. Now that I have to confirm a member, I can reject the people or bots who obviously are just in it for the spam. Bots and spammers, I know who you are; it's not hard to figure out. As a matter of fact, I have pruned (deleted) all recent spambot registrations, and do not plan on stopping. I have also deleted some accounts of the UNF members who hadn't logged in for one year. To the rest of the members of our UNF family, I apologize for any inconveniences caused by my new policy, but I have exhausted all other options.

Admins, you will notice I have granted you all admin forum access. You can now post and make suggestions like you used to. You may now quit bugging me, HURRICANE!

-Howl