Important things. Like new features!

So... new features?

What do you think of the new options so far?

Has anyone found the emoticons set yet? 
 

Hint: Look for the smiley face in the Forums editor options.

Text.

Feature!  Note that forums anti-spam precautions/controls do lock down links and image in any user's  first ten posts. That it doesn't TELL them they are currently under 'new user' rules, is a little less beneficial... but then, I suppose you don't want to tell a spammer that they just need to post more to get past that limitation.

As the description on the Security Office says, posts there are only visible to Staff. The reason for that is that I wanted people to be able to post problems if they have issues with registration and can't access the forums otherwise. But leaving the forums open to public / non-registered use also makes it vulnerable to spammers.

So the solution is.. .the Security Office will accept posts from anyone, logged in or not. BUT, until a moderator ok's it, those posts will remain hidden from everyone but Staff. So basically, only I get spammed.   But don't worry. If you post a bug there, we'll see it.

Feature that you may or may not have missed. Especially if you weren't looking at the details when you registered your account:

Our PM (Private Mailing) system. You get to this by clicking on the blue Inbox button in the well over on the right sidebar, just below your user panel (that's the one with your avatar and the logout button). That's only available to registered users... but it also has some settings that allow you to opt out or be 'hidden'. There's a Settings button just next to the Compose button when you're on the PM page (from clicking on Inbox). Most people are staying hidden... which means when someone tries to send a PM, your name isn't visible in the available people list. *I* am not hidden. Which means that I'm always accessible via PM. Note, that if you want to carry on a conversation with someone, you do not have to be visible. Reply bypasses the need to see a name. So you can PM someone who is visible and even if you are hidden, they can reply to you. The default setting is HIDDEN.

You CAN completely opt out of the PM system, which means you can't even use it, in or out. The default setting is to OPT IN.

Also, the PM system will email your associated email address when you receive a PM. That email will come from the site. Not the individual sending it. You can turn this off. The default setting is to RECEIVE EMAIL.

Any reported abuses of the PM system... especially to harass another user... WILL be handled harshly. It is possible for me to establish group mailing lists and to 'mass mail' all users with the system. I can also override your chosen settings. I don't intend to do so... but if I need to get a message out to everyone quickly, I may do that... of course, the site also allows me to mass email all accounts... so using the PM system to do it is probably unnecessary.

If you have a valid use for a mailing list/group and would like one set up for your group, let me know. (ie for a group project that it would be helpful for you to easily communicate between members - one thought for this would be for the WIKI team to have a group list... not only would the WIKI team be able to keep a running conversation on what they were doing, it would give anyone who had a report re: wiki issues a place to report to). Of course, using the forums as was done on the previous site is also valid.

The publication dates SHOULD have already been visible on stories. So, I'd appreciate it if you'd recheck where you were looking and see if you can find them. Or, if you cannot, please tell me with more accuracy where specifically you are looking that you cannot see the date.

As to author names on the 'preview boxes' again... this IS visible in a number of places. It is NOT in the carousel displays, which... sadly... is something that the developers decided wasn't important to show. We can't seem to win, really... the nice layout that I'm using on the "Recent" stories release page is sharp looking and has options for all the critical info... except... it doesn't paginate. So if I use it for the full collections, it will try to display all 600+ pieces on one page. On the other hand, the carousels have fewer options and aren't quite as 'clean' looking... but they allow for pagination and display of the full collection in one small module. If I were more savvy with PHP, I'd steal what I like from each and make a grid layout like the Recent page with scrollable pagination like the carousel.

However... author name 'should' be fairly obvious, right? We don't swap characters much, so if you see a Shieldwall story, it was written by me. If you see a Pejuta story, it is written by Elrod. And if you are looking for specific authors to read... you can look in the right sidebar and just go to that Author's page. Or use the Tag system to pull things up. And if you're looking for release dates... there's the calendar.

Also, side note since you mentioned it in the intros. We didn't lose the reactions this time. We just haven't migrated much of the forums yet. There were a couple different ideas in mind for it, some of which required people to already have accounts going before we moved things over. But I think our current idea will be quicker and will bypass a lot of that sort of issue anyway. So, most of the previous (since 2015) forums WILL be moved in over here as time and patience allows. Dan's done a lot of the migrating of content while I've been dealing with functionality, registrations, and that sort of thing. Once things settle in and I'm sure everything is working the way we want it to... the 'mass movement' of older forums will begin

And for those who want some real nostalgia... I have been working through a data dump of the old crystal hall forums when I have the time and patience to do so. So some of that might reappear too.