Hey folks,

We're about to launch some changes that we've been thinking about for a long time. We feel like the old school behavior of rating and commenting on peoples profiles and photos has been forgotten and based on the feedback from a lot of long-time members.. we're not the only ones.

To help this we've decided to make some changes to the point rewards for rating profiles and photos and leaving profile and photo comments. Because of these changes we've also had to adjust some special ability bling items so they retained the same (or more in certain cases!) value.

Here's what we're starting with over the next 15-20 minutes, and we'll probably adjust these over time based on everyones feedback:

* doubled the base point value for giving and receiving 11 ratings to profile and photos.

* _drastically_ increased the base point value for giving and receiving non-11 ratings of profile and photos...

* _majorly_ increased points for receiving and giving profile and photo comments.

Because of these changes we're also making the following changes to special ability bling:

* reduced Auto-11's run-time from 24 to 12 hours.

* reduced Boomerang run-time from 8 to 4 hours.

* reduced Famplifier run-time from 6 to 3 hours.

The plan is for everyone to receive the same amount of points for running the special ability bling items listed above, only it'll take half as much time.

Hold onto your boots...

-mike

Hey guys,

So basically, the reason we've had to change it up is that it was simply to powerful as a feature. There wasn't enough space in the online bar for all the people who wanted to be pimped out. That leaves me with 2 options, A) I can make it so expensive (either using credits, ability points, etc) that fewer people can do it, or B) I can move it into space that will support the number of people who want to be pimped out.

I chose B.

We're still working on it to get people as much exposure as they had in the online bar, but we'll get there.It just take some tweaks and feedback from everyone to make it happen. 

-mike

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you guys know what to expect when we release the revamped fubar leveling system in the next few days. We're hoping to launch it by Friday, but it might come on Monday.

* We're going to reduce the amount of points required for all levels. To reach the top level (50) you'll need around 500M points. You currently need 700M to reach level 45, so it'll be easier for everyone. Our goal is to get more people leveling up.

* We've removed the road-blocks that really made it really annoying to level up: Fan 25 newbies at level 20, be at exactly 50% buzz at level 22, get referrals at levels 26/28/30, be a VIP at level 35, perform level up action for 15 members at level 42,

* Initially choosing an Angel/Demon side will only cost 1M fubucks down from 10M. Changing sides will cost 5M fubucks.

* We've reduced the pain on a lot of the existing requirements to level up. For example, the MuMM 500 vote requirement has been reduced to 25 votes. :-)

* We've added some new requirements to some of the levels that involve newer features on fubar. Such as, the achievement system, daily ranking, videos, Likes, etc.

* The 'Cyborg Jesus' level name from 45 will be moving to level 50. We'll be coming up with new level names for 45-49.

* There will be 1 or 2 'widow maker' requirements in order to reach level 50. They won't involve you spending money, but they'll probably involve some weekend planning. :-)

* We're still working on the extra abilities we'll be turning on for levels 45+, so I can't go into much details on them yet.

Also as mentioned before, we'll be trying something new at level 50. If a level 50 account goes inactive for more than 2 weeks, the account will drop back down to level 49. They'll still have all their points, but in order to reach level 50 again they'll have to do all the requirements over. When you run across a level 50 fubarian, you're going to know they're a crazy badass! :D

-mike

We've been working on some big changes for fubar!

First up, we're going to be adding support for Band Profiles. We're focusing on small / local / indie bands and will allow them to upload their music and keep in touch with their fans. Part of this will also be a daily contest where we can all vote on our favorite new music, and we'll be sending cash to the Peoples Favorite band each day. We'll also be doing a monthly contest and sending the best band $10,000! We're hoping to have this live on the site in the next 2 weeks. Stay tuned!

Next up is simplifying the referral process. I want to do better rewards for people who invite their friends and for those who's friends are actually online. To make this happen I'm going to simplify the referral process so (hopefully) there's less confusion. In the near future the only people who will show up in your referral list will be those who you've invited via email. We'll also update all the home pages to show you whenever your referrals are online. In addition, we'll be awarding you a bonus point percentage based on how many of your referrals are online at any given time. I haven't decided on the exact numbers, but it'll probably be a sliding scale from 1% - 25% bonus points. We'll also be awarding you a small percentage of the points your referral earns, as long as you're both online.

And finally, probably the biggest change to the site in the last 12 months: we'll be revamping all existing levels and adding 5 more. Our goal was to remove the road blocks (500 mumm votes? who's idea was that anyway? lol!), make it quicker to move up the levels, and get the top level members of the site to have used all the functionality we currently provide. The requirements for the higher levels aren't as crazy as they used to be, but they'll be more of them. Also, a fundamental change will be happening for our max level members (level 50 after the update): you'll only stay level 50 if you're active on the site. If you decide to take a break or stop using the site for some period of time (rite now we're thinking 2+ weeks), the account will drop back down to level 49. You won't lose your points, but if you come back to the site you'll need to do the level 50 requirements again to level back up. The idea is not to have a bunch of max level accounts floating around the site that people don't use. When you see a level 50 member, you'll know they're a hard core fubar bad ass. :-)

I'll post some more details about the updated levels in the next few days.

ps: to reach level 50 we'll have at least 1 'widow maker' requirement... you'll probably hate us when you see it, but it's pretty bad ass. we're currently testing it now internally to make sure it's doable. we won't ask you guys to do anything we won't do ourselves. ;)

-mike

I want to try something new. How about a simple little contest where I give away a happyhour each day, for free? Sounds like a great idea to me! :D

To be entered in the contest, all you have to do is go to the photo in your fubar album that you'd like to submit, click the 'link to photo' link under the photo and copy the html embed code with the thumbnail and paste it into a comment in this blog post. the photo should contain YOU and any of the following:

* wearing a fubar t-shirt.

* wearing fubar skivvies (the "i *heart* babyjesus" ones might get you extra brownie points!).

* fubar written on your body somewhere (tattoo's count!).

Bonus points will be added for members of the armed forces who're currently deployed, strippers, and people who are generally supportive of the website. I'll give away a Happyhour each day, based on any comments from the previous day. You can submit the same comment/photo on different days if you like, but please don't post the same thing multiple times for the same day... that'll result in my panties getting in a wad and you being blocked.

Please, no NSFW links. Have fun, and good luck!

edit: please refrain from posting 'i vote for x'. it's my contest, i'm deciding without anyones help, and it makes it harder for me to find the photos in the comments each morning with all the random comments. thanks! :D

-mike

WINNERS:

09/22/2010:

09/23/2010:

09/24/2010:

09/25/2010:

09/26/2010:

09/27/2010:

09/28/2010:

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10/04/2010:

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10/07/2010:

10/08/2010:

10/09/2010:

10/10/2010:

10/11/2010:

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10/14/2010:

10/15/2010:

10/16/2010:

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10/26/2010:

11/13/2010:

11/14/2010:

11/15/2010:

11/16/2010:

11/17/2010:

11/18/2010:

11/24/2010:

Hey everyone,

We're doing some *major* site maintenance Tuesday starting at midnight and lasting until Wednesday at 8AM PST. The maintenance may only take an hour or so, but if things go pear shaped, it may last until 8AM PST. Hopefully it'll be on the shorter side. :-)

During this maintenance window, the site probably won't be reachable for anyone. It'll start coming back soon after, but won't be stable and reliable for a few hours.

For those curious, we're moving all the servers to a new location. We're hoping it'll eliminate many of the network outages we've been having over the last few months. We're up to about 150 servers and there's only 3 of us moving them.. so your patience is appreciated! Cheers,

-mike

Have fun!

-mike

A few days ago we turned on the ability to tag your fubar friends and random objects/items in photos. In the next few weeks as we get more tags entered into the system, we'll start adding some searching and grouping features around the tags. Make sure to get your photos tags if you want them included! There's also a few achievements associated with the tags to make it more entertaining. To add tags to a photo simply click the "My" menu item at the top left of the page, then select "Photos". Under each photo you'll find a "Tag Photo" link, click that and you can enter your tags.

Soon we'll also be letting you tag people who aren't on fubar, that should be good times. :P

If you have any troubles or ideas to make the photo tagging better, feel free to leave a comment in this blog or in the Support blog. Have a good weekend everyone!

-mike

We've created a waiting list for random people off the street and we'll notify them when there's room to join.

For now, the only way to join is to be invited by someone already on the site.

werd.

-mike

We're about to launch the Bling Polishing feature on the site. This is simply a way for everyone to earn more points and have their old bling work for them. :-)

It's free and everyone can polish bling. If you have bling that needs polishing, you can polish a few yourself but you'll want to get other people to come polish it for the maximum amount of points. Both the polisher and the polishee (is that a word?) get points.

It works like this:

All bling items have a few levels of cleanliness. Every 24 hours they get a little 'dirtier'. Whenever they're polished, they go back to their perfectly clean state and the polisher and polishee gain points. The number of points gained by both people are effected by all bonuses (Happyhour, buzz, etc) and by the credit value of the item being polished. More points are earned by polishing higher value items, however, it's linear. We did this so there isn't a benefit for having really high value bling and there's no penalty for having a bunch of 1 credit bling items.

The number of bling items you can polish per person is limited to a reasonable amount (for example, 10), but the number of people you who's bling you can polish is unlimited (well, technically we have a very high limit for the number of Polish actions you can do each day, but that's just to prevent abuse.).

There's no penalty for not polishing your own bling. They won't go away or anything like that, they'll just look a little dirty. :-)

Here's a few screen shots of the bling items in various states of 'dirty':

If you mouse-over 'dirty' bling on anyones public profile page, bling inventory page, or look at your own bling you'll find a tool-tip like this:

Next to the 'Polish' link is a number showing how many more of this members bling you may polish that day.

Have fun!

-mike