The Closure of the Reflex Sims Forum

It was a sad day in the Sim's 2 community. The Reflex Sims Forum has closed. RSF offered some of the best creations EVER and I guess without any warning - it was gone.

I have read it HERE at Sims Cave - that all of the creations there were backed up and that the site may exist again under a new name.

I want to welcome any members or creators of RSF to Basic, if they would like. Basic is a friendly Sims 2 Community and all are welcome here. To me, I feel that forums sometimes become families - and I sincerely hope all that have lost each other can find one another again.

Hunter

You're not going to believe this, Hunter, but I had just received notice of a PM from a member at Reflexsims Forum that very moment she closed the place down. It was this past Thursday night, around 6:00pm or so.
When I had tried to visit the forum to read my PM I saw only this notice:

It is with my deepest regret that I am closing the Reflexsims Forum. Much love to you all. Carol (Greeksgal)

She also has this message posted on her Reflexsims site main page (not the forum):

Sadly I must say that Reflexsims must distances itself from the forum, because of discrapancies in cases of piracy and loyality. Still I wish all forum members everything well.

I wonder what exactly happened and why Carol decided to close it without notice to her staff/moderators and members? Are there more details describing the issues at Sims Cave? I'm not a member there, so I couldn't view the page you mentioned.

I think my biggest issue with this, is the members being treated with such disregard and lack of consideration. For their loyalty and out of respect for those who spent time there and were a part of the forum for so long, it seems to me giving them all a heads up on such a decision wouldn't be too much to ask.
The same thing happened over at InSim, didn't it? One day it was there, the next, "POOF"! ... upsetting many members, especially staff members & those who had downloads and stories there.

I am not sure why the owners of these forums feel they must pick up and leave without any warning?

I just returned to Reflexsim's Forum and found this notice (an update):

It is with my deepest regret that I am closing the Reflexsims Forum. My heart is broken over this entire situation, which I know you will find hard to believe. And everyone is correct that I should have given a reason first. I just couldn't choose between two friends, which Natalie knew would tear me apart. My closing the forum had absolutely nothing to do with taking sides what-so-ever (between Natalie or Marcela). Natalie is a very strong resourceful woman and I knew that she would have no problems starting a new forum that she could love and care for her own way. I didn't delete the forum and it was still fully intact so that all information and attachments could be provided to their appropriate owners. The only thing I changed were the permissions to access the Admin Panel and shutting for forum to the "off" position. I wish everyone the very very best. You all deserve it tremendously. For those who want to find the old Reflexsims team, they are currently located at the Sims Cave while in the process of building their new website, The Black Pearl.
Much love to you all. Carol (Greeksgal)

Interesting...internal strife is what it appears to be, huh? Like I said, I'm not a member of Sims Cave (may join, as I've been meaning to), so I couldn't read any more of the details.

BTW, thank you for this:

Unless my web host DELETES my forum - I would NOT abandon my forum members for ANYTHING or ANYONE. If I can not or do not want to run my forum anymore - I will pass it on to someone who wants to.

I am glad and grateful you feel that way!

THIS was posted at Sims Cave by Lorry:

[quote author=Lorry link=topic=6904.msg74948#msg74948 date=1234484073]
To Simscave

I hope you dont mind me using your forum to alert all members of Reflexsims Forum, that the owner has, without any discussion, closed down the forum.

It is a very sad day, but we will we up and running again ASAP

Updated Post ;)

When I first posted this message I was more than distraught. It took me 3 times to edit the few words I had written, I was shaking so much I could barely type.

I was asked by a RSF member if I could update this post for people reading this for the first time due to the size of this thread.

What bought about the closure of our precious forum.....Marcela and Thomas from TSR

This all began when Marcela (owner of Reflexsims.de) came to our forum and posted a demand to all staff in the Moderators section of the Reflexsims Forum. We were TOLD, not asked, to ban all known pirates and file sharers. If we didn't do as Marcela asked, then we were to resign our positions as staff. The staff were united and refused to bow to Marcela's dictatorship. She likened us to Nazis and said our forum had become a Black Pearl (this is a ship from the movie 'Pirates of the Carri bean') in order to harbour pirates.

Finally on Friday the 13th day of February the owner of Reflexsims Forum, Carol or commonly known as Greeksgal, without any discussions with Jonesi or any other member of staff, not even a warning, she went to the Admin panel and changed the permissions, allowing none of us to enter the forum, which I now believe has gone.

This is the most despicable act I have ever witnessed, and although Carol clicked the button, it was at the hand of Marcela, who, btw, found no support when she made her demands on the staff of RSF

Shame Shame Shame

Now for some good news.

Jonesi in her wisdom, had saved our forum to a harddrive! So hopefully we have lost nothing.
With the help of BlueSoup and Pescado the forum is in the process of being uploaded. You all know how huge RSF is, so this upload will take some time, and with a failed connection yesterday, we just ask that you be patient.

Our new name will be Black Pearl Sims New NAME, SAME STATUS = NEUTRAL

We would love to know that you have found us, so if you could leave a post at the end of this very long thread, we would appreciate that.

Also could you please take a minute to Thank Ferris and the wonderful people here at Simscave for allowing us to use this forum as a temporary home. Without them we would not have had this contact point.

And another THANKYOU to BlueSoup and Pescado who generously offered their help to Jonesi in order to upload our forum. Jonesi could not have done this without their help

Keeping Updated

Jonesi has started a thread in the link below with any important news or updates

http://www.simscave.com/index.php?topic=6947.0

In closing I would like to say that we, the staff, never discriminated against any member because of their belief. The forum always remained neutral and we hoped, a very nice place to visit.

R.I.P. RSF :(
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I LOVED RSF and had such great appreciation for the creators there. Really among some of the best work I've EVER seen. Sometimes you couldn't tell the difference between a Crate & Barrel catalog AND THEIR CREATIONS. Anyhoo.......I find it totally F***ed up that ONE PERSON would pull the plug on so many due to the urging of ONE or TWO people. What a WEAKLING. Sorry - she can apologize all she wants to. This is MY quote that I left at Sims Cave. "Mom doesn't burn the house down with all the children inside JUST BECAUSE DAD told her to."

I want to stress again - EXCEPT with a decision that is not my own (i.e. the forum host SHUTS ME DOWN) - I WOULD NOT ABANDON MY FORUM MEMBERS EVER EVER EVER. IF I get tired of it, don't want to do it or simply can not do it - I WILL OFFER TO PASS IT DOWN TO A FORUM MEMBER WHO WANTS TO RUN IT. I will NEVER just SHUT YOU ALL DOWN.

Now on a Happy Note. I am so glad that all of the members are finding eachother and gathering at Sims Cave and that they will RISE from the ashes that Carol created.

To the new site - which will be run by people WHO love it and NOT dictated to by Sims Nazis of the World.

The Sims is a GAME. It is meant to be FUN and trying to run a dictatorship within it, to me, is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE.

I've been sort of keeping up with RSF off and on.

I agree Hunter, it's F*****ING game. And, I said this somewhere else, can't remember where offhand, but, it's amazing how one game can bring out the best and worst in people.

And, she was in fact weak. Amazing how one person can do that to another. With InSIM, Eric and Kathy just gave everything to someone else and just left. The guy knew nothing about the game or the "Community" itself. Never bothered to get to know anybody, including staff. His downfall was his attitude.

In a lot of ways, I'd love to see TSR crumble. But, Thomass wields too much power, he proven that more than once.

I'm glad you'll give us notice if you decide to move on.

Oh wow, I was going to say if it was just a disagreement between members then it's really rude to just shut the place down without a word of warning. But I see it's another paysite v. freesite / piracy dispute. It's a shame that issue has to be such a dividing force in the community. It seems to be tearing more and more sites apart these days and it's getting simply ridiculous. It makes me glad I've kept a low profile and managed to hang around sites that are nice and more drama free like this one. It's good to know that you are so devoted to your forum and members, Hunter. I have no doubt you'd never pull a stunt like that.

Quote :

What bought about the closure of our precious forum.....Marcela and Thomas from TSR

This all began when Marcela (owner of Reflexsims.de) came to our forum and posted a demand to all staff in the Moderators section of the Reflexsims Forum. We were TOLD, not asked, to ban all known pirates and file sharers. If we didn't do as Marcela asked, then we were to resign our positions as staff. The staff were united and refused to bow to Marcela's dictatorship. She likened us to Nazis and said our forum had become a Black Pearl (this is a ship from the movie 'Pirates of the Carri bean') in order to harbour pirates.

Finally on Friday the 13th day of February the owner of Reflexsims Forum, Carol or commonly known as Greeksgal, without any discussions with Jonesi or any other member of staff, not even a warning, she went to the Admin panel and changed the permissions, allowing none of us to enter the forum, which I now believe has gone.

What a freakin' shame!
I am imagining that since Lorry mentioned Thomas from TSR had a hand in it, that he was behind Marcela's decision to give the "ban all pirates or fire the staff" ultimatum. Otherwise, what part did Thomas play in all of this nonsense?

I have to say, I am proud of the Reflexsims Forum staff for standing up for what they believed in. GOOD FOR THEM! I am glad not a one of her staff supported Marcela.
Why would Marcela give the forum such an unfair ultimatum after all this time? Her staff had never discriminated against any member because of their beliefs, before.
They were a neutral zone. So, why would she feel compelled to change that and dictate "It's my way, or I'm shutting you down" NOW?

Oh well. That's all water under the bridge, isn't it? I just have a hard time getting my mind wrapped around the psychology of these incidents.
Em's right. This paysite vrs freesite (which often leads to piracy) dispute is tearing up our Sims community.
It's all so ridiculous. Like a couple of you have said, "It's just a game", for crying outloud. We're supposed to be having fun, not getting wacked about this kind of thing.

Thank goodness Jonesi had the forum saved on a hard drive. Brilliant thinking on her part. If anyone can resurrect Reflexsims Forum (now Black Pearl Sims - I love it!), it would be Pescado.

I think all this is very sad, but I'm glad they will be re-opening! I especially think is wonderful that they kept the name, The Black Pearl! Talk about poetic justice!

Dear Hunter, you are a caring, gracious, and marvelous person! You did create a wonderful home for us here, and I'm glad to read that you will not abandon us!

OMG, thanks for this news.
There are really people out there in the lovely sims world that i never want to meet in real life.
Also, some people really acted very unprofessional. Very lame and rough. Freak Show!

But anyway, it's never too late for a new beginning. I tend to look forward and move on to higher stages. Let the idiots just be idiots. Sorry for being a troll, but ain't i right?

And after all there are still nice places around, such as this forum.

Thank you, Hunter, for running this site. And thanks for commenting on my blog ;)

I hope you will get much more visitors!

BTW: Black Pearl is an excellent name. Very cool to just overtake Marcela's "idea" :)

TonyX wrote:

OMG, thanks for this news.
There are really people out there in the lovely sims world that i never want to meet in real life.
Also, some people really acted very unprofessional. Very lame and rough. Freak Show!

And after all there are still nice places around, such as this forum.

Thank you, Hunter, for running this site. And thanks for commenting on my blog ;)

I hope you will get much more visitors!

Thank You So Much for Your Kind Words Tony!

I'm VERY thankful for the write up you did of Basic at your Blog.

I agree whole-heartedly that there are a lot of Sim Site owners out there and people in the community who do NOT behave as they should - I hope that people will NEVER think of me as "unprofessional" or "someone they don't want to meet in real life". I try to treat everyone as I like to be treated - and that translates to the game and this forum, as well. Coming up through the ranks of creators and site owners (and I KNOW I'm NOWHERE near the league of many) - I've met a couple who are a tad on the RUDE side. I've had creators LAUGH at me when I first started and insult work I've done and make fun of pictures that I've taken of my work........just been awful. I hold NO ILL WELL towards those creators or site owners - BUT I've made a promise to myself to NEVER be one of them. Everyone is welcomed at my forum and I would NEVER insult one's creativity. EVERYONE has to learn somewhere - and insulting them while in the process is cruel and potentially damaging to that person's self esteem. I am STRONG and no one would EVER break me - but others could decide to NOT try their hand at creating again, and I think that's very sad.

Being fair - I also have to say I've met some REALLY cool people in the Sims Community - among them, my very active friends here at the forum and quite a few others. They KNOW who they are and I hold them in the highest regard. I just think it makes no sense to be nasty and selfish and cruel - there is ENOUGH of that out in the world. The Sims is a GAME and should be about fun. That's always been my feeling and always will be. The day it's NOT fun for me anymore is the day I walk away - I refuse to become bitter, rude, or OBSESSED by WHATEVER power I THINK I've attained in the Sims Community.

I'm glad you visit and I hope you do more often..........I still plan on doing some kind of "calendar" shoot or centerfold type thing for my models as you recommended awhile back.

Thanks AGAIN Tony.

That's terrible that some people were so rude to you, Hunter. I've seen that same rudeness directed to other creator's in the sims community and I think it's awful. I believe in either say something nice or don't say anything at all. If you're going to be critical at least try to be constructive and helpful instead of nasty about it. And if you don't like something or it's not in your taste, just move on. I think a lot of people have forgotten it is supposed to be a game and it's supposed to be fun. That's why I got into creating, for the fun of it, because I enjoy doing it. I do it for myself and if anyone else gets enjoyment or use out of it, then great. If not, then that's ok too. I wonder how so many people (downloaders, creators, and site owners) have gotten away from that.

The calendar idea sounds neat. I bet that would turn out really nice!

SimEm wrote:

I believe in either say something nice or don't say anything at all. If you're going to be critical at least try to be constructive and helpful instead of nasty about it. And if you don't like something or it's not in your taste, just move on. I think a lot of people have forgotten it is supposed to be a game and it's supposed to be fun. That's why I got into creating, for the fun of it, because I enjoy doing it. I do it for myself and if anyone else gets enjoyment or use out of it, then great. If not, then that's ok too.

Well Said M'Lady. I see we're on the same page........I KNEW I liked you!!!!

lol Aw, thanks. I like you too. I feel luckier and luckier all the time time to have only been active in forums where the other simmers are nice and supportive, because it seems like there are quite a few in other places who are not.

Wonderful!
I've already bookmarked the new site in my Faves. Thank you for keeping us abreast of this situation, my friend.

With all of the drama - I thought it was great to be able to kind of close this post on a positive note.

I'm so glad they were able to save what once was and MAKE IT BETTER.

I'm also happy to say that jonesi has accepted affiliation with us!!!

That's terrific. I have always admired Jonesi's work and her generous policy. She's one of the reasons I joined the Reflexsims forum, unbeknownst to her.
I discovered her work at MTS2, actually.

I agree Sugah.

I actually think the group of Artists at Reflexsims are the most talented in the community. I've said before (somewhere) that it's often hard to tell the difference between their work and a Crate & Barrel catalog.

I'm so happy to be affiliated with them!

A big congrats on your affiliation, btw!!!