By: TSA
I've told a few affiliates already that we were removing our affiliate list temporarily, but I also wanted to give a quick response publicly in case anyone else wanted to know what is going on. Until our new CMS is done, and we alter the site design to reflect the capabilities of the new CMS, we've removed the affiliates from the front page and from the "About Us" page.

Also, when the affiliate page does return, everyone will have to re-apply. Unfortunately, since we want to keep up appearances and want to adhere to higher standards, we will no longer just accept anyone who applies.

We also will have a limit on how many "Zelda" sites we will take because the majority of our affiliates have been Zelda sites since we were one before. Priority will go to bigger sites and onces that appear more professional and get more traffic. I apologize for this inconvenience, but I'd really like to break the mold that we're a Zelda fan site, as some people still continue to call us (they most not read the front page).

We're also altering the theme a bit. The "Zelda" look will be a selectable option, but we have a new default look coming very soon.

Lastly, about the ads, the server cost skyrocketed in January when we moved to our new dedicated server. Simply put, our media gallery and traffic on the front page requires serious CPU ability, not necessarily bandwidth. The minimum server type that could handle our site costs a pretty penny, and our ads don't even cover it (very close). We also do want to make money so we can purchase more products to cover and more digital equipment to help provide more media. Also, I would like to give the staff a little something every month.

If you have a beef with that, that's your opinion, but we're not a fan site and the majority (nay, nearly all) of our content is either self-produced (articles or media) or allowed for mass distribution (press release, press materials like screens and artwork and videos). We're phasing out the "other" materials which have no place on this site anymore.

There are some that read the front articles and news, and yet still feel that this is a Zelda site. But I don't want to bicker.

And what is the "other" materials by the way?

What do you mean by ,,other materials,,? Don,t say you will remove all the zelda soundtracks and guides again!!

By the way: As long as you call your site ,,the hylia,, it will be perseived as a zelda-site. You could better change the name of this site, if you hate that!

One last thing: Is this site still popular? I mean: When this was a zelda fan-site there were always much comments beneath the articles. Maybe everyone is still playing Zelda Tp (I have finished it), but I don,t see much comments these days.

Now this site has become a nintendo-news site you also mention rubbish games on your site (or games that are bound to be rubbish), such as Spectrobes and Turtles (licensed shit). There should be no place for such shit. Sorry, but that,s my opinion!

I agree. If you don't want to be associated as a Zelda fan site, a name change is in order. In my opinion, it would be better to invest the time and energy into a new site created by you with your views, goals and things you want to accomplish with this one now.

The name is the Hylia because it is originally a fan site. Besides whats wrong with that?

Making a new site would be pointless...the content would be...exactly as it is now? The new "appearance" in terms of the color scheme and image header will break that last Zelda stigma other than the name. I like the name, and it is pretty unique. I don't want some "generic" Nintendo name...

Ok, dropping affiliates because they dont get as much hits as the top sites do is pretty pathetic. TSA the more you do this kind of shit, the more people will hate you. Any making affiliates re-apply is also stupid. You are an ego centric son of a bitch. I miss ZHQ...

Give me a break. How hard is it to re-apply? E-mail me your site? There are worse things in life...

I haven't ever really followed the zelda community but i can sure see from the comments that change is frowned upon. Listen, I honestly think TSA is not trying to piss people off. He is trying to branch out and expand the site. I do not see anything wrong with this. Although we do appreciate our readers, most of the criticism is anything but constructive. You don't like the changes? ok, give a really good reason why we shouldn't change the site. That's my two cents on the whole matter.

That's how the vast majority of sites begin...start putting up ads to cover server costs --> traffic grows --> revenues starts exceeding costs --> webmaster gets greedier and greedier --> webmaster starts pocketing cash for self --> webmaster wants more money and puts up more ads --> website becomes essentially a "business," making money off of others' intellectual property

Please don't tell me you're going to follow this path, TSA....>_>

"making money off of others' intellectual property" as in Nintendo's property, the LoZ franchise, etc.

In truth, I do feel like you guys are going in the wrong direction. I used to come here every day and read all the articles for the comments, but recently I've only been ooming a couple days a week and not checking all the stories because (as Henrie mentioned) no one comments anymore.

The thing is, as a Zelda site, you used to provide quality material that I (or "we" or whatever, your audience) couldn't get anywhere else. You were focused on Zelda, and I was focused on Zelda, and that worked. There wasn't a lot of other stuff to dig through (I think, for example, you should have an extra section/tab/whatever that just shows all your Zelda material). Now most of your material is general news, and for that, I go to Kotaku (wider coverage, larger community, and in general more diverse and interesting conversation). Actually, I used to go to a Nintendo news-site everyday in addition to theHylia and Kotaku when I just got into the video game enthusiast scene online, but quickly dropped that general Nintendo news-site. If the Hylia becomes like that, I may drop you guys too.

Basically, my point is 1. Stick to what you're good at, and 2. Provide what others can't. Those both being regular Zelda coverage. Otherwise, you'll become redundant. I get the feeling you're trying to become like Gamespot or IGN, but nobody really cares about those guys anymore. A blog site like Kotaku will get visited daily, but for many people, that need is already filled (and ironically, you recently moved to shake the blog image, so meh).

In conclusion, I have to say that pretty much the only regular contributor whose opinion I can respect is TSA's, largely a function of his being an adult and having some wider understanding and commitment to Zelda and Nintendo. And it really feels like a lot of the people here are just kids who don't know what they're talking about, who get their only news and perspective from the people here at theHylia. No offense to anybody else--but I came here because the people here were knowledgeable about Zelda, and if they start talking about other stuff, I'll be much less interested.

Very well said, Aelynsage.

Wow, Aelynsage makes a convincing speech...

But, I gotta say, not all "kids" dont know what they are talking about. I also came here because I knew the people were very knowledgeable. The first time I came here the site was still ZHQ and no the Hylia. I remember it was during an E3 and I did not trust any other site for the coverage because ZHQ was providing excellent one already.

TSA, your view of how to expand the site is valid. But there's a limit to how many changes you make until you completely change the purpose of the site itself. We know you want a more professional look and everything, but part of this site being so great and fun to visit everyday is the comments (believe it or not). Discussing our opinions and all that. At least we actually comment about the articles because I've been to other sites where the comments reach the thousands but just because the people act retarded and post stupid smileys or dumb comments.

Anyways, I'll keep coming to this site, w/e changes are made. But think about every possible outcome before doing such radical changes.

One thing that im definitely going for in Programming the CMS and parts of the site is interactivity. I want to expand a bit on the user part of the experience and actually have things such as User submitted articles, including game reviews and such. Not so much for the sake of having them to cover content (i agree with the comments on the content being somewhat spotty and lackluster) because ideally the staff should cover that but so that the average user can actually get their opinions on a matter out there (so long as its well written and not inflammatory.) and have it read by a decent number of people.

Thats just ideas though.

If you want people to stop viewing you as a Zelda fansite, then stop categorizing Zelda news differently from all of your other news. You have a mushroom, Wii, retro consoles, etc. for generic news, but you have a Triforce for Zelda news. I seriously thought that the only reason you were covering less Zelda was because the amount of Zelda news is a little low after the release of a game.

"Today, The Hylia aims to be a major Nintendo gaming news site with up-to-the-minute news, exclusive features, unmatched media content and quality reviews."

The issue I am seeing is many regulars are getting annoyed we are going further and further away from a Zelda site. I've always said I wanted to run a site for a living, my own site. I wanted to expand out, and I also wanted to cut out uploading "illegal" stuff or stuff that was just redundant info straight from the games that anyone could post.

We aren't a Zelda site, and in time, the majority of all our content, even the media, won't even be Zelda related. Yes, right now a lot of the stuff up is Zelda related. 100% of the new stuff is official news updates, original editorials, reviews, or original media. Some of the media is press release materials. Those last few things make it perfectly legal and morally okay to make money off a site. Simply uploading scans of Zelda stuff, writing out the info found straight from the game, and basically everything except for the occassional "editorial" is not savvy in my book to make money off of. Our old site, making money off of it would be wrong.

I believe making money to cover server costs isn't too bad, even for fan sites. This isn't my job, I have a primary job, right now we just want the several hundred dollars a month to cover our server costs. Additionally, even though we get games free from companies, we do not get them all, and the staff has to purchase these. That's a cost related to the site, and we also would like to cover that.

We also need to travel to events to cover them for the site, and though we typically get in for free, a lot of out-of-pocket cost arises from travel, lodging and food. Let's not mention the cost of equipment to capture media. I had to buy a new PC with a new PCI Capture Card (the capture card I am still trying to get), a new DVC to record footage of events and to record DS footage at a respectable quality, a camera for photos of the events, and a laptop to update from events.

I'd also like to pay the staff something every month for their work.

So, we do not make "money" off this site that supports our normal lives. In fact, we don't come close to that. I don't think we ever will. This site is still done because the staff love to cover Nintendo.

And to answer everyone's nagging about the Zelda issue, we're a Nintendo site that specializes in Zelda content. I said that awhile ago. The comments are down now because it is a down time in gaming. Come March, when GDC hits, watch...everything will spike again. It's how it is with all sites that cover gaming - there are highs and lows depending on the news.

But I mean...I'll remember all this in a month when our staff my be granted something extremely awesome...something a long time coming for what happened to me at the end of 2005. If it happens, I think it will cement this site's popularity for the year.

If you don't want to still be considered a Zelda site you may want to change your name from "The Hylia" to something.

I was going to launch my own Nintendo news site last summer, but the host I was using (I'm using a free one, but it's still good. Complete Cpanel and such) was hacked and everything was lost. It came back shortly after school started again so I wasn't able to do anything. So, I decided that this summer I'd make my website - only it'd be a Zelda site instead.

You had a Zelda site and now you're going in a news direction. It's like we switched. XD

I liked this site because it is the most complete zelda site that I know. The only things that I really miss are the translated manga,s. But I can find those on zeldalegends.com, so it doesn,t bother me.

All gamers have one favorite game franchise. My favorite franchise is zelda. Therefore I want to be part of a community. I love to read the opinions of the site-makers and the general public. I feel part of this community!

However that does not mean I support the new course of nintendo. Until now I am very unimpressed with almost everything I saw on the wii. But deep inside I know I have to buy a wii in the future if I want to keep playing zelda games.

I don,t care if you cover other games when there is no zelda-news, but I don,t like that it is now the main-focus.

For General gaming news, I go to Ign. After that I visit this site in the hope that I find new zelda-artwork/tricks/articles/commercials that I have not seen before.

That brings me to Aelynsage. I agree with him. Stick to what your best at. And that is providing the best zelda-coverage available. One example: Tingle rpg. As far as I know this was the only site that REALLY covered this game (review included). I really loved that!

Well said TSA.

Anyways, I have enough going on in my life as to be worrying of such silly things. I'll keep supporting this site no matter what. Just keep up the great work, and I, and probably everyone else, will be expecting awesome coverage of GDC.

Well now that I understand what TSA is doing I respect that. Besides who said every gamer has one faviorite franchise? I don't I like lots of games but I don't stick to them like a true fan. So I guess I wanted to tell TSA to go ahead and do what he thinks is necesary.

You guys need to understand that as a Zelda site, TSA
s ( Our ) options are very limited and will stagger rather quickly. You can't provide people with new Zelda news everyday for a whole year. The Hylia has been trying to do that for the past years and came to a conclusion that it's just not feasable.

We're not trying to be the next IGN, Gamespot, Kotaku or Joystiq. We want to be a Nintendo website that is specialized in Zelda. Even though we change our appearance and overall news coverage, we will always (try to ) have the best Zelda news out there.

This is a new concept for us and we're still in the making so don't expect awesome articles that will blow you away right now. Such things take time. But trust me, when the time comes, we WILL have awesome articles, not to mention exclusive articles and we WILL blow you away with that.

Please don't think that TSA is trying to be a sell out just because he's replacing his garage with an office. Everyone starts out that way. There's no way around it if we want to provide you, our reader, with the best site and content as possible.

Change is scary sometimes, we all know that. But give it time, and you'll realise that it's not all that bad in the end.

( Not done yet,heh )

As for comments, I agree. I like my share of reading other people's comments aswell and I hope it's only getting better.

The fact is is that sites like Kotaku and Joystiq who are both blogsites that provide news from the overall gaming area, have people from different directions. Sony fans, Microsoft fans, Nintendo fans and Misc. Fans. Which is the the reason why said websites have so much comments because it's always about the console wars.

We at The Hylia don't have that thus our discussion are rather limited.

I just wanted to clear that up.

Hey Witless can you tell me how to become a staff member of The Hylia. I've always wanted to but I never had enough guts to ask till now.

Capturing footage of Tingle RPG is on my to-do list.

That,s nice to hear!

Eh. I liked it better when it was a Zelda-centric site, I hardly ever visit anymore, let alone read the stories. This place doesn't interest me anymore, sadly.

But, I'm not asking you to change what you're doing. It isn't my website! xDDD I personally think you MAY be heading in the wrong direction, and you'll probably lose a lot of regulars. Then again, you'll probably gain quite a few new visitors, so hopefully that balances it all out.

My favourite version of The Hylia was definetely the "blog" version. :)

Good luck!

''Eh. I liked it better when it was a Zelda-centric site, I hardly ever visit anymore, let alone read the stories. This place doesn't interest me anymore, sadly.''

May I ask why you liked it better? We're still the same, but with more news.