I cleaned the whole (user submitted) Custom Content section from broken download links. (In unrelated news but since I know this shows up on front page, we are also
still looking for Sims 4 cave scouts!)
Few notes about the cleanup:
- if the post had multiple links and more than half of them worked I left the post where it is, pointing this out just in case somebody still finds a broken link there. (there are few, I know that.)
- if most/all links were dead the files were moved into Missing files section.
- If the only given download link was to submitters own homepage/blog (which is forbidden in the sharing rules, there has to a direct download link present or the post will be removed) then the posts were moved to The Midden instead - if your post ended up there you can edit a proper link to it and PM me to move it back to where it was.
- However, if you really want to just advertize your site and not post your creations to Simscave you can post a thread for posting your site updates here. Using it is recommended, we get lots of people coming here for updates only!
- If the links worked but the images were down I also left the posts where they were because even with the pictures it is up to anyone to decide whether they want to download something or not and it's not our duty to monitor that pictures are present past their initial posting. + most missing pictures were in older threads anyway.
- in few posts only a picture of the sim was present and those were removed completely, for posting pictures of your Sims' we have Stories & Pictures board. If it's not an upload it does not go to the Custom Content board alright?
If you've downloaded a lot from our Custom Content and/or Sharing sections and even kept the stuff do check out the missing files board to see if something you have has been moved there and consider sharing a new working link so we can bring the file back. If you are a creator and have posted on this board also do check if any of your files was moved there and if possible submit a new working link. Sending a separate PM for every post I moved there would have taken me years so sadly that wasn't a feasible option.
I'll continue working on the same task on Sims 3 boards after few days since I need a break from staring at the forum now. Cleaning Sims 2 section alone took me days. (the time was spend literally opening every single post, testing all the download links if they work or not, correcting links that were written wrong, removing adf.ly links and replacing them with direct download links, changing the titles to contain note [Sims 2] or [Sims 2 - pics missing too] so that they can be told apart from Sims 3 posts in the Missing Files section, moving the posts to new boards, removing few spambots that had replied to the topics while at it...) I also still have to clean up the sharing areas and fix thousands of links there or to move the files in Missing files section, but overall I'd say the forum cleanup is coming together nicely. Sadly that also means that there's almost 500 posts in the Missing files section already which isn't so good.
If you encounter dead links you can still report them to either
this (Sims 2) or
this (Sims 3) topic and I (or some other mod) will move them to the Missing files board then. Phew. I believe that's all for the public service announcement for now.
Edit 30.12.2014: I finally finished cleaning the Sims 3 Custom content area too, now THAT was a lot of work. (the sim area alone went from around 30 pages to 11 after I moved out everything that didn't have working links or only links to users personal blogs.) If you had posted there do check if your post has been moved elsewhere and if possible provide fixed links.
Also pointing it out now, in case somebody would like some of their post completely removed give me a poke with link to the post(s) in question and I'll delete. This obviously only goes for upload posts with dead links, I won't agree to delete just any random posts and obviously you can't ask for someone else's posts to be deleted unless you can prove that the account used to be yours.
