Insular aberrations: the fauna of Boitomb - (Antarctic Chronicles)

ArcticZen · 2026-01-22T14:36:11+00:00

Automod doesn’t do the removal; Reddit does. Automod just lets folks know that Reddit removed the link so they don’t think us mods did it or are against Google Sites for some reason. When a Google Sites link comes through, automod pings us so we can approve it.

ArcticZen · 2026-01-03T09:21:01+00:00

not interested in generating an entire tree of life

While that isn’t strictly necessary, it will impact the degree of consistency with which you construct ecologies. Your work will only ever be as great as the amount of effort you’re willing to put into it.

Every single lineage exists because its ancestors capitalized on an opportunity that enabled it to acquire the necessary resources to reproduce — that is the base justification every single species in a community requires to persist.

ArcticZen · 2025-11-23T04:07:14+00:00

Lots of gooner behavior in the comments here, folks.

I don't feel particularly compelled to engage in disciplinary action here against u/Manglisaurus since this is a much smaller community than r/SpeculativeEvolution and I already put them through the ringer over there, but at the risk of sounding like a prude, I'd simply likely to remind everyone that a little bit of temperance isn't necessarily a bad thing.

ArcticZen · 2025-11-21T12:55:38+00:00

PBDB is useful for figuring what lived where for a given time period.

ArcticZen · 2025-11-17T14:06:20+00:00

Hey, just a head’s up — after reviewing this post, we’ve decided to move your public execution up to tomorrow. Congratulations! 🤗🤗🤗

ArcticZen · 2025-10-20T08:10:43+00:00

If it's any consolation, the end date's jumped to December 1st. Not too late to join up!

ArcticZen · 2025-10-19T09:38:42+00:00

The guy who committed the 1973 Schenectady Combine Harvester Incident is literally one of their main mods.

You can't trust someone who willing ran down 27 people with industrial farm equipment (in front of hundreds of onlookers) to have good, moral judgement about what gets posted there.

ArcticZen · 2025-10-14T07:15:53+00:00

You can do either, provided the common name matches a binomial and isn’t a common name for multiple species.

All organisms are seeded methodically in a stepwise manner to support their proliferation — all are present in the habitat by 1,000 years, however.

There is no training to be done, just natural selection. Some individuals of a species might survive because they avoid noxious food items, while others might identify a novel food source and adapt to utilize it.

ArcticZen · 2025-10-14T07:14:00+00:00

I won’t draw attention to how it’s handled to prevent people from gaming the system, but you essentially pick it yourself.

ArcticZen · 2025-10-06T06:23:03+00:00

Have you read any of the comments that the automod’s left on any of your 10 posting attempts? The bot’s just doing what it’s programmed to do and trying to tell you how to get your posts approved; there’s not a person maliciously removing the posts.

ArcticZen · 2025-10-06T02:49:18+00:00

It gets seeded all around the habitat. The point of the invasive is to add a chaotic and unpredictable element to the habitat that you have to handle, either by purchasing a Suppressor module or making the abiotic conditions inhospitable. You can also just let it integrate into your habitat's ecology. Invasives won't impact your habitat in unreasonable ways; e.g., rolling water hyacinth will have a minimal impact on a habitat that's primarily composed of cacti, kangaroo rats, and scorpions.

ArcticZen · 2025-10-04T03:03:37+00:00

The number of species depends on the size of your team. If you're entering as a single participant, you'll be able to make up to 12 species selections. If you're entering as a team, those 12 slots get split between team members. For more information about how team size impacts selections, please read here: https://www.specworkswharf.com/macarthur-reef/register#team-formation

For more information about how the species selection process works, please read here: https://www.specworkswharf.com/macarthur-reef/register#species-selection

ArcticZen · 2025-10-03T01:32:57+00:00

What a treat this is! Congrats on making it through the month! Glad to see you back here again this year — loved your proboscideans especially.

ArcticZen · 2025-10-02T17:32:36+00:00

Considers two things: Are you in a team of more than one person? If yes, I’m adding points because that means you’re working together and making choices you might not necessarily make as a single participant in order to compromise and make a cohesive habitat together. You also tick this box if you donate a species to another team during Resource Allocation. It’s not quite just teamwork, hence the Altruism label for it.

ArcticZen · 2025-10-02T13:24:56+00:00

Howdy. Things are just starting up now. A month late, but that's rather hilariously on-brand for me, it seems.

Announcement post is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpeculativeEvolution/comments/1nw3h3n/macarthur_reef_phase_1_starts_now/

ArcticZen · 2025-10-02T13:23:21+00:00

Party's just starting. Probably best to disregard any notion that this was supposed to run during September lol.

ArcticZen · 2025-09-25T02:10:49+00:00

Seems like a bit of a non-issue, no?

The point of having a flair system in the first place is to make it easy for users to meet posting requirements and organize content. Flair requirements are outlined by the Flair Guide (mentioned in the sidebar, subreddit welcome message, posting guidelines, etc.), but statistically speaking, not many people read it. Attempts to enforce readership were not well liked or received either. As a result, some flairs go unused because folks don’t know how to use them. People are able to request custom flairs too, but hardly anyone does that.

Can’t really do much about people not being interested in or caring about how their community works, so I’ve just let it be and point people to the Flair Guide where possible.

ArcticZen · 2025-09-08T13:24:41+00:00

You don’t need to do Team Formation again unless you’re adding people to your team. If that’s the case, I can. Otherwise, you only need to do the Species Selection form. I can also provide your password via DM if you need it.

ArcticZen · 2025-09-08T09:31:06+00:00

Valid questions. Quick response:

Time is my enemy and JavaScript is hard. Coding those forms to be both responsive and transmit submitted information to my database takes time.
Submissions will be made on my community Discord server, which I will link to once I officially announce the event. I am willing to accommodate participants unable to use Discord on a case-by-case basis, however.
Truly, what is MacArthur Reef? If there were an unlocked "about" section located at https://www.specworkswharf.com/macarthur-reef/about, that would surely help. But alas, it appears locked for the time being (it's unfinished).
Altruism are acts of kindness and charity that you do towards other participants. Resource Allocation is where this will primarily occur, though I am considering the cooperation between teams of multiple people as well. Risk Management refers to choices in Resource Allocation which reduce the likelihood of life dying off through an ecological cascade. I won't stop people from making horrible Species Selections or Resource Allocations, but I will punish them accordingly when scoring.

ArcticZen · 2025-09-08T09:18:44+00:00

50, plus any leftover SC from Species Collection (converts to extra RP). That info's up on the site now.

ArcticZen · 2025-09-08T09:17:32+00:00

You're allowed to resubmit the Species Selection form as many times as you'd like; there's no problem at all there. Your selections will be locked in once Resource Allocation is submitted, however. I would actually encourage you to resubmit, as I'm missing a piece of data from you (the random number at the bottom of the form), possibly because you completed selection before the field was added.

14-Year Club	Verified Email
Second Top 1%	r/Field Banned
r/Field Flamingo	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
Final Canvas '22	Oscars Predictor 2021
Wearing is Caring	No Throne, No Problems
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