Sup?

[Cremuex]

Sup? I'm new here (obviously).

I've played a few other avatar sites (besides menewsha and gogaia a lot of them have shut down). I found out about you guys so I decided to join up.

It's cool to see the site has been around since 2015 (based on a newbie intro forum post) so it makes me feel a bit safer that you won't just be straight up disappearing as soon as I get used to it.

I'm interested in the avatars, the pet part of it (I still have a lot of reading to do so I'm not 100% sure what the pet stuff entails) and maybe making some new friends or doing some guild stuff.

Anyway, I hope you guys are having a good day, how's things for you?

[galled]

Hello! Welcome to Windlyn!!

Yes, it seems avatar sites are just not as popular as they have been.

Windlyn started as an educational sandbox for Diana and her friends, but has become a become project of love since then. Although it's kind of quiet while school is in session (she also works, but finals are next week), the development roadmap ahead is amazingly rich and full. So there's a lot more coming for Windlyn when time permits.

Have a look at Diana's Pet guide viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1520
The other useful guides can be found in the Help/Support forum viewforum.php?f=34

Then of course, you can always ask questions. Everyone is super-friendly!

We look forward to getting to know you. How did you find us? Do you have any hobbies? I'm a big movie buff and tech geek.

The day has been going great so far (got a new database hot backup routine working flawlessly!--probably only exciting to tech people...). How about yourself?

[Cremuex]

Mmm, I've read the guides now so I should be on top of things.

I found you guys because I was looking for some free online educational courses (like psychology or veterinary study) and I was going through my bookmarks since if I'd seen any I'd likely have book marked them. Then I noticed how long the tab was so I started cleaning it up and noticed how many are dead now (this is a pretty old computer). I saw some of my old avatar arts and that kinda lead me down a google rabbit hole. I found this site from the google image search of Rhellos. So yeah, long story short, internet rabbit holes!

How active is this community, if you don't mind me asking?

I don't really have hobbies per say, as much as stuff I do (depression makes me not enjoy things as much as I'd like). I used to draw a bunch when I was a teen, so I can kinda still do that, just not as well because I've not kept up with the practice. I do sewing (for cosplay and stuff). I used to do a bunch of RPing a few years back (both the literary kind and the LARP variety). I play vidya games (who doesn't these days?) so I've been trying to figure out how to play Isabelle in Smash, Lets go Eevee and whatever modded minecraft my computed can handle. I like avatar sites and pet sites. I spend a bit of time on forums (if you can count reddit a forum). I like learning things, talkin' philosophy, that sort of thing. I like friends but being an adult makes it a bit hard to make friends if you don't have a job and aren't studying (in January I start my Vet Nursing degree though, so that should give me something to do).

I don't watch much by the way of movies. Most of my viewing is youtube stuff or anime that my partner and I watch together. Speaking of my partner, he's a tech geek like you :3c I don't really understand most of what he talks about (I'm super simple in my knowledge of computers and honestly don't get most of the software side of things, like how much a GB is in terms of size other than it's less than a terrabyte and more than a MB). He's a software programmer so he likes to show my xkcd comics that I simply don't get. I love my nerdy man though even if he has to explain things to me like I'm a five year old. (He's endlessly patient like that and I'm bad with math so most stuff goes over my head even if I try really hard.)

What makes a database hot? Like I get that with programming stuff as soon as you fix one thing it kinda cascades into a bunch of new area's like a gorram hydra. So congrats on getting it to work properly :3c

My day is going ok. It's only 7am here so my partner just woke up and is getting ready for work. My sleep schedule has been whack lately. Anyhow, finding a new avatar forum site is a good way to start the day.

[galled]

Great! Glad you're coming up to speed so quickly!

Activity is relative and it varies depending on the day, time of year, and whether there's an event going on. We have a small community of regulars here that come and go, but it's always steady, but not crazy. For example, we have members from around the world, so time differences affect when they're online. Then being the holiday season, people are out doing holiday things, but we'll probably have some sort of holiday event shortly and activity will increase dramatically.

Thanks for the explanation. I always wonder how people find there way here.

Movies are in many ways modern humanity's way to bring philosophy to the masses! What is that quote? "All of life's questions are answered in the movies!"

I would think being a vet nurse would be rewarding. That would explain the interest in virtual pets too!

Heh, what makes a backup "hot" vs. "cold" is when it's performed. A hot backup doesn't require shutting it down. They also call it a "live" backup or "online" backup, but those terms aren't completely free of inaccuracies either.

Hope you have a great day!

[Cremuex]

I'm Aussie so I know how timezones can be. I'm glad to hear that there are regulars, I'm not a fan of when sites get so big you don't seem people more than once or twice in passing. I like to actually talk and get to know people.

owo A holiday event sounds lovely. Thankfully I don't have to visit anyone until after Christmas so I should be online for it and not miss my first event. What type of things happen for events? I know there's the event store in the shops, but does that use feathers or is there a special event currency that can only be used for that shop? Do you get things from posting or do lurkers also get pop up/screen overlays? I'm not asking for any spoilers, I'm just interested in what sort of stuff has happened in the past.

Unfortunately my IRL friends aren't much into avatar sites or I'd give them the heads up to join (They did goatlings and flight rising for a bit but not the forums or anything). Speaking of friends, do you mind if I add you to my friends list? You seem cool so I wouldn't mind talking with you more if you're not terribly busy.

Mmm, I just don't really have the money to go to the movie theatre and I don't trust myself to download anything without getting viruses (my mother used to use limewire so I kinda gained an aversion from that). I'm trying to think what the last movie I saw was... I'm not sure if it was Deadpool 2, Avengers infinity war or the My Hero Academia movie. Time is just a weird thing to me where everything just kinda melts into each other and it's hard to organise what happened before or after when. Do you have a favourite genre? As you might guess I'm into the marvel cinematic universe a little but I also like PG kid movies (like Disneys UP and stuff). The detective pikachu movie looks good too, gotta wait a year for that though.

Mmm, I always wanted to be a vet when I was a kid but my mother said I couldn't handle it because I don't like seeing animals in pain. I thought I might as well try, and if I can handle the nursing stuff I might move on to being a full vet :3c

Ok, I get ya now! Or at least I think I do... I'm picturing something like when a site changes a system but in duplicate? Like if someone has a site but then they want to add a feature so they do it with a copy of the system while the main thing is still running but you can still test it without it effecting the main site in case something goes wrong? I kinda feel like I understood but by trying to explain it back I've gotten confused because I'm not sure if it's the same thing you're saying or if I'm thinking of a different process. Or is it more that you've just done a save without editing anything, like when you save or make a back up of your system onto a removable hard drive?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Welcome to our wonderful world of WIndlyn!

I am so happy you found my charity thread...pick out the items you choose and let me know. Also check out the links in my signature for my game threads where you can chat and earn extra feathers for your rolls.

You probably won't see more then a handful of people online at a time but I find if you post someone will eventually answer! So leave us a post!

The World of Windlyn is continuously expanding so you never know when something new may appear. Events are generally around the holiday schedules. Novalia in the past has been a daily item event so you have to log in each day of the event. Check out the lore and past events on the Forum page for past history.

My personal favorite is the gifting events where we buy a mystery box gift it and the person we send it to gets a random item. I also like the find a pengwing or easter egg events where you can get up to 20 a day which contain new or past items (not in the shops) or feathers. Our community does not seem to handle the treasure hunt events very well though for some reason. There is usually a story that goes along with the major events as well...and some events lead into new releases...as with the fishing pond and the questing.

Fishing pond every 8 hours, questing every 12 hours. Games 3 scores per game per day count for feathers.

[galled]

We have a lot of members from Oz. They're usually on later in the day. I'm sure they'll welcome you!

Christmas in the summer would be odd for me. I once spent Christmas in Florida and that was odd being warm, but now that I live in S. California, I'm used to it not being cold.

Anyway, yes, smaller without clique's is better. We're all very friendly, so feel free to drop in any threads (except private role play ones of course) and you'll have a lot of new friends!

Christmas (Novalia--Windlyn's Winter Holiday) events, like most events here, are designed to foster cooperation and build community by sharing and helping each other. Sometimes there's special "currency" which are more like tokens to buy items. Other times, it's just special event-only items as the prizes for participation. You'll get the hang of it, or you'll figure it out along the way as we all do!

Please do add me! I like new friends!

I'm on and off throughout the day, like the rest of our regulars. Chat away!

That sounds like a good plan and you should try it. A small piece of advice: Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something you think you can do.

Yes, you got it. It's allows backing up (taking a snapshot) while the system is running. You could use it to run a parallel development version of the site, but while we do have a development version of Windlyn, it doesn't need a live/accurate database on it. So one is part of the other, but the basic premise is having a daily (or how often we feel is OCD!) safe copy of Windlyn in case we have a drive failure, which we've had before and will again, but we hope won't happen again anytime soon! (Finger's crossed!)

[Cremuex]

Ohai Lemon :3c

Thanks for popping in!

I still have to read through the Lore and past events and stuff. I'll get there after I've done the washing and some other chores.

I'll drop by your threads after I've posted here. It's always good to have a hang out/base to chat in. I was thinking of maybe making a guild but idunno what I'd put in it. I would ask how much the mystery boxes normally cost but I'm sure I'll find out when I go read up on them later.

Good to know the cool downs. I've done one of the quests (the sunlight chick, I think her name was Aurora?) but the dark one seemed a fair bit harder. I've already done my daily games, but hopefully I've get a bit better at them with practice. The fishing pond is gonna take a bit for me to get used to, I get that it's three times a day, but my brain is probably going to fall back on twice a day.

---

Yeah, Chrismas in the summer here has Santa in flip flops and beach wear. It's really weird. We've replaced the reindeer with kangaroos too. It's just a weird upside down topsy turvy thing.

I'm a bit cautious with the vet thing because I don't want to get into too much debt, which is why I thought nursing would be a good way to test the water and see if I could handle the study load first. My family wasn't the most encouraging but I've gotten away from them and I've been doing a lot better because of it.

Thanks for keeping the site updated :3c I don't know much about servers and stuff but I assume they cost something (unless you're just running it off your own personal computer at home or something like that) so if I stick around for a week without losing interest I'll donate to help out a bit. Thanks for all the hard work you guys have put into it over the years. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help out :3c

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Volunteering is a good way to see if you like a job too.

[npixelz]

Welcome, welcome, to the world of Windlyn!

[Cremuex]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Lemon Cheesecake
Yeah, I like volunteering. I get depressed if I spend too much time at home not doing anything, so it's good for me to get out of the house and interacting with people more. That and you learn new skills and it's something to go on a resume when you've been out of work for a while.

[galled]

Yeah, Chrismas in the summer here has Santa in flip flops and beach wear. It's really weird. We've replaced the reindeer with kangaroos too. It's just a weird upside down topsy turvy thing.

LOL, Santa and his roos! Quite fitting!

I know there's a Hawaiian Christmas song. Are there any Christmas in Oz songs? Just wondering now that you mentioned the roos.

I'm a bit cautious with the vet thing because I don't want to get into too much debt, which is why I thought nursing would be a good way to test the water and see if I could handle the study load first.

That sounds wise.

Thanks for keeping the site updated :3c I don't know much about servers and stuff but I assume they cost something (unless you're just running it off your own personal computer at home or something like that) so if I stick around for a week without losing interest I'll donate to help out a bit. Thanks for all the hard work you guys have put into it over the years. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help out :3c

Aw, just doin' my job.

While it is work and frustrating sometimes when it doesn't go as planned, it's oddly satisfying when it's finally up and running the way it should. (That OCD thing again!)

Yes, of course there are costs involved, unfortunately. Everyone on staff volunteers, but the hardware upgrades and tech related things we can't do remotely, and monthly ISP connection costs money. I believe I have contributed the most toward Windlyn dollar-wise, but we have a few active regulars that have been very generous month after month. We still haven't taken in enough to cover costs so I've take up the slack. If you can donate, it's very appreciated! But if you can't we understand and it won't detract from what we do or our enthusiasm. We're just happy our friends old and new, and ones we haven't met yet, come around and enjoy everyone's company and Diana's work!

I believe, and I think you'll discover it for yourself as well, that the Windlyn community is very special and unlike others. I'm proud to do my small part in keeping it accessible to the world!

[Cremuex]

There are a few Aussie Christmas songs.

Six White Boomers is about the roos that Santa uses, but most other Aussie Christmas songs are more knock offs where they just change the lyrics a little (like jingle bells and the 12 days of Christmas). We also mostly do normal American/European Christmas songs over Australian ones. We still play White Christmas and stuff. We're pretty Americanised and most shops play those songs.

Siz White Boomers, Aussie Jingle Bells,

We're pretty trashy, we almost take pride in how awful it is and you might not know what some of the lyrics mean (like here thongs mean flip flops not knickers), but if you really want to subject yourself to it you can.

[galled]

LOL, thanks for the links!

I've read that White Christmas is the all time best selling song of all time. I think that most Christmas songs are really catchy and put me in a good mood, and I guess retailers think a happy shopper buys more!

Trashy can be fun. We have plenty of trashy Christmas holiday songs. I like 'em too, but I'm partial to the "classics."

So did you pick out a pet yet?

Just FYI, it's finals this week, so many are busy with that. Things should pick up by the end of the week.

Have a great day!

[Cremuex]

Yeah, I picked out two pets that I'm growing. I might end up with one of each but so far I have a Blue Lemonade Platypi and a Austra Pollotein. I can guess what that Platypi is but the Pollotein is a big ? for me. I have no idea what it's gonna be and I've looked at a few peoples pets on their profile.

I'm at the incubation stage but I did by some soap/conditioner/food for them when they hatch. I assume I just need to get the exp up for them to hatch and that'd just be a matter of time since I can't find a 'hatch' button anywhere it makes me think it'll just happen automatically when the conditions are right. I've got a cute little bunny in my avvie to keep me company though :3c

I don't mind it being quiet, there are still people posting so it's not completely dead. I do think I'd be better when finals are over and people are on holidays. Everyone will be less stressed from school and the event will be on.

You have a good day too! I'm gonna be going into the city (it's about an hour away by train) to go to the markets and the aquarium and wildlife park to see if there's anything I can pick up for my partner's parents for Christmas. His mum likes animals like I do so it might be nice to get her something from there. I already sewed her an apron but it's not much in comparison to the three toys I got for her dog. I don't want her to think I like the dog more than her @_@ (Even though I do like dogs very much).