Management of Stronghold Heaven

[Lord_Chris 267]

Dear Lords and Ladies,

Over the past few years, a decrease in contributions by Stronghold Heaven staff has led to the collapse of this fansite. Earlier this year, the forums and downloads were officially locked by one of the senior Administrators from HeavenGames management. This meant that as of this point in time, Stronghold Nation is the only major fansite & option outside of Steam, although specific community groups like the Unofficial Crusader Patch (UCP) do exist.

After discussions with HeavenGames management, I can confirm that I have been chosen and appointed to run this community and open it back up to the public once more. Over coming weeks and months I will look to refactor and significantly improve the website and its offering to members and the public. I would like to see both SHN and SHH work in tandem with one another moving forwards, and there is much collaboration potential between the two communities, most notably in things such as cross-site Tournaments and multiplayer games.

Stronghold Heaven will remain independently operated from Stronghold Nation, however both websites will be run by myself moving forwards. This follows the acquisition of the Stronghold Fandom Wiki, currently in progress, and the previous acquisition of the former Stronghold Knights fansite (albeit domain name only for now) by Stronghold Nation. The old SHK database does still exist but there are current difficulties in navigating its whereabouts. If you do still have any content from this website, please let me know and I/you can upload it to SHN with appropriate credits in place.

If you are interested in getting involved, there are numerous ways you can contribute:

• If you own a Stronghold fansite or website on anything related to Stronghold, I will soon be updating this page: https://stronghold2.heavengames.com/community/links/ It would be good to have an updated link archive on those websites still operating, considering this one is probably 15 years out of date.
• Any problems you are aware of on either the Stronghold Heaven or Stronghold 2 Heaven websites. I will look at and conduct a thorough review of these once everything is ready.
• I will be looking to grow the team, so if you are interested in getting involved or contributing, please personal message me on this forum. The same offer also extends to Stronghold Nation.
• Lastly, please share the word. Given the nature of how the internet is evolving many traditional communities are collapsing. I think it is important to maintain and look after these, considering how important it is to build up a knowledge base over time, and ensure things continue to operate in the future.

With today's decision I can commit to keeping the SHH forums open to business for the forseeable future, and Stronghold Nation operating as the largest and most well maintained fansite in history. The site itself (SHN) has a number of future plans which will be announced in due course.

Kindest regards

@ Lord_Chris

SHN Owner & Webmaster

[Isaiah 26]

It's good to see you taking over Stronghold Heavens. I was a bit worried when I saw it was closed. Though, I do wonder if there is a point to having two forums under the same management; how should people decide to post here versus on the Stronghold HeavenGames forums and likewise when it comes to submitting maps?

[Lord_Chris 267]

When it comes to maps, that is a simple one - only Stronghold Nation will be open for map submissions at the moment. There is simply too much administration involved.

I suppose when it comes to where to post - both communities have a different audience and reach different people. It depends on your point of view and what is a priority for you, what I can say though is that Stronghold Nation is likely to have a bigger reach and more activity at least at first, as well as exclusive coverage of Warlords, as it has not been undergoing the kind of neglect HG has. Don't forget, this is probably 15 years in the making. I remember noticing all these problems (and had discussions with at least one staff member on security issues) back when I first started Stronghold Nation, which was one reason I started the site originally.

[Planewalker 14]

Man, I used to post on SHH a lot (as Lord_Tanthos at that time) when I was a teenager. I appreciate your preservation of it.

Edited August 11 by Planewalker