I am looking forward to seeing these builds!

New blood is key and as i said before making new players welcome

Most of the old player base quit because they grew up, left school, got jobs and generally got bored with minecraft or just simply dont have time to play.

Sadly it isn't true that there are 3-4 players on all the time, it is often zero apart from evenings in the US.

And yes whilst my suggestions do need players to help, I would expect that to be mainly staff.

As far as vanilla is concerned, it isn't an aesthetic thing, it's a geek thing! Some of us just have that mind set. It also means you can update the day the new version comes out and are not dependent on others. We do get players come on and go oh no homes or tps that's not vanilla and just log straight off. Each to their own.

Would going semi vanilla help. Well it would probably improve performance and some cheats would be prevented. But there are options out there - semi vanilla and more 'vanilla gameplay' . The semi vanilla I think is most comparable with CM and has been going a similar time has 3 players on at the moment, the same as us and generally has similar nos. As far as I know that has stayed with homes, tps and not much else.

On charged creepers, we get loads in our mob farm. Simply build a general mob farm and a way to separate out the charged creeper and its target.

CraftyMynes is Crafty's Mynes and comes with all Crafty's geeky facilities. As for ranks, it costs a fortune to run this server every month and people need the incentive to chip in, the most effective one being extra homes, I don't know a busy server that doesn't have homes and tps apart from no grief, where you can have a smaller map.

Pardonning cheats is an interesting one. I have often wondered about a 2 year amnesty. Mainly because most cheats are very young and a couple of years makes a big difference. Allowing people back on alts has pros and cons. And yes I agree it favours older/wealthier players. I doubt pardonning historic cheats would bring players back and more likely would upset those that don't cheat.

I'm with Timmy on this, I like that CraftyMynes is genuinely vanilla. Most of the core players like that it uses the genuine mojang jar.

We went round this loop maybe 4 years ago. We had a vote and semi vanilla was seriously considered but I think you would lose as many players as you gain.

There is confusion out there as to what is vanilla. Vanilla is in a way what you make it. Teleports and homes don't make it not vanilla and let's be honest we enjoy those facilities.

As for why numbers have dropped, its a combination of things. They always do after a few months of a new map, as core bases are built and boredom sets in. This new map we had a massive no of past players return and it was great, but its September now and schools and university term is starting. I also know we lost some players to Baldurs Gate! Mainly though the recent exodus I'm sure is due to the amount of griefing. I remember myself leaving for a month before i could face starting again after my base was griefed, it is hard to get motivated to start again.

Getting new people to join is mainly down to three things - votes, critical mass and welcoming. People come on the server because of the first two. They stay when they feel welcome and make friends.

So how
to get more votes. Personally, I would love to get rid of phantoms for votes! Rewarding top voters?

Critical mass - players don't join if they see 0 players on the server. They may as well play sp. They start to join if they see 3 or 4. Maybe some of the staff and loyal players can watch for the numbers being low and join even if they are mainly afk or just for a few minutes.

Welcome. Making sure to say hello and help new players. Taking time to chat to people. Everyone can help with this. You can also invite your friends.

Crafty is very kind in keeping this server going. I am sure he subsidizes it hugely. And whilst he may not be obviously visible to you all I can assure you he is available when needed and does take everyone's suggestions seriously.

Brilliant as ever Rillo, I expected no less! Fantastic build.

I was asked about Continuity and PresenceFootsteps.
Continuity sounds like it is purely aesthetic.

Are these allowed

Awesome. Far too scary for me though

All minecraft maps are stored in files that contain data for 512 x512 blocks, which is 32 x 32 chunks. So this is quite a big area.

Let me make it quite clear - we have no evidence that anyone is cheating to find bases. So many bases have been griefed in such a short time, that it is no surprise that cheating is suggested.

The general feeling having investigated this is that most bases are found by flying the roof for portals and other signs of activity and then checking out the local overworld area. None the less we will remain vigilant in searching out any use of unfair methods.

For those of you new to building on raid grief server, here are some tips.

Other methods of legitimately finding bases, include infiltration of groups, by befriending or buying coords. Not everyone plays nice, I'm afraid. Make sure the person you invite to your base is really who they say they are.

Higher entity numbers, fully grown kelp in oceans, and any other signs of player activity are all clues a base may be nearby.

Build far out and avoid basing on diagonals and NSWE axis as players follow these. Also keep away from the border. Its a place to visit. Build far out in the nether ( beyond 25k ) or base far out in the end. These are much safer. I have seen some fantastic bases far out in the end, and yes it is possible to get villagers there.

As someone who has lost bases in the past, I fully sympathize with those who have been griefed, but this is something I've thought about and it simply wont work to have safe areas for builders. Some exceptional bases have been protected in the past but it only causes jealousy and resentment amongst other players.

As there is no evidence that anyone has been cheating other than the number of bases affected, it is not acceptable to make baseless accusations in chat or in this forum.

Crafty has kindly extended the world border and this should make it possible to build reasonably safely, if you take careful precautions.

Enjoy the server and the extra room for exploration, have fun and I'll see you on there.

Have fun

Tez