All Staff & Eve

[TheHolo.Net]

Those of you interested in helping moderate and or update this forum, please list your email addresses here.

I have set up this forum so that new topics and new threads cannot be made by normal posters until it has been approved by a staff member. It is also not set as the default forum for the Portal page's Article section yet either.

Eve, I have currently set you up as a moderator for this forum, but left your user title as SWFans.Net Poster. This is only temporary until we are ready to officially launch this project, at which time I will make your user title display correctly as a Moderator, make a boardwide announcement, and grant you moderative powers throughout the General section in its entirety. You should also be able to see and access the Mods/Admins forum at the bottom of the page now. There is some information regarding what Moderator abilities do for you and how to use them in a sticky topic there. Feel free to ask any questions. And that goes for anyone. :)

[imported_Eve]

Alright then. Thanks.

[TheHolo.Net]

You are welcome. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

We need to define some criteria for posting in this forum before I go ahead with the opening announcement, mainly for the general posters who may want to post in the forum and are then upset that there post never made it. A few I have in mind are.

<ul> New topics must be spell checked before submitting.
Professional reference to any type of obscene remark. I mean jokes are alright, but vulgar ones just won’t fly.
Must have some entertainment value of some kind. Someone rambling about what they may have done while watching a football game on Sunday, while possibly funny, probably wouldn’t serve much of a purpose. Ie: Informative or entertaining.[/list]

That is all I can think of at the moment, and I am sure a little re-wording to be clear and concise is in order. But I am just tossing out a few preliminary suggestions.

[Champion of the Force]

So is this forum visible to the general posting population yet?

[TheHolo.Net]

Not yet. I was planning on moving these threads first.

[Champion of the Force]

Phew. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

O_o :lol

[Nupraptor]

Sorry, had to take a quick jaunt out of town. Now that I'm here, I'm checking things out. My addy, as always, is Dark_God@DeadlySins.co.uk

[TheHolo.Net]

I think I am about ready to make the announcement, open the News forum, make the changes that link to the Portal page, and then work on making the Portal style into the default style, with that very name, Default.

[TheHolo.Net]

Posts the anouncement here for proofreading and to ask if it should just be a sticky topic in Box Office, Star Wars, and OOC, or if it should actually be an announcement.


This is to inform everyone of some changes that are underway around the SWFans.Net Forums.

The staff have been working hard on a new project that I am happy to announce and release to the visitors on this site. We have added a new section to our forums, a section called a “Portal” page. From this moment on, if you go to the URL http://www.swforums.net you will be greeted with a new page that is somewhat different, yet integrated with these forums.

On that page we plan to have news, editorials, and information, that can easily be found in a single place rather than having to scour the forums.

With this change, I am also happy to announce a new News forum. The News forums will be where stories that appear on the “Portal” page come from, and due to the visibility and nature of the “Portal” page, the new news forum will be what is referred to as a “Moderated” forum. A “Moderated” forum is one where any posts made must be approved before they actually become part of the forum. You can start new topics, or reply to current topics in exactly the same way you do any other, the new topic or reply, won’t appear in the forum until a staff member has reviewed the post and deemed it suitable for the forum.

Another announcement that coincides with the launch of the “Portal” page and the opening of the News forum, is our newest addition to the staff and the woman in charge of the news forum. She is in charge of it yes, but not entirely alone in its operation, as other staff members will also be helping in adding new articles/topics, and in helping to “Moderate” new topics and replies. Congratulations go out to Eve, and a hearty welcome to the staff of SWFans.Net Forums from the current staff. Thanks also go out to her for being willing to help us out with this new project.

For the time being, the “articles” posted on the “portal” page are being drawn from the Star Wars Films forum, but that will be changed once we get some topics going in the News forum.

One final announcement among the many, and I will hush and leave you all be. There is also a new Style Set for viewing the forums, which will very shortly become the new default style. Since the “portal” page will be the main point of entry for new visitors, the staff has decided that the style that matches it is best suited for our default style. You are still able to view the portal page using any style set you may have set in your preferences except for the text based styles. I am still in the process of creating a bandwidth impaired version of the portal page for that particular style.

Thanks for your time.

[Champion of the Force]

:: reads ::

Ok, the post looks pretty good. Just a few things to clear up:

1. Do we want to just call the forum News, or can we come up with a better alternative (something with a more Star Warsy type title perhaps?)?

2. One concern about having the portal link to SW Films is spoilers - if someone posts a spoiler thread its going to be viewable on the portal to everyone. Perhaps we should get a few threads into News first, then launch the portal leading directly to News instead?

3. Do we wish to maintain our current SWFans.Net Forums name for now, or do we wish to pursue an alternative name (eg. SWForums.Net, or maybe some other name?) to coincide with the launch of the portal page?

On the whole, everything's looking pretty good. :)

[Jedieb]

my addy eltmore@cs.com

[TheHolo.Net]

Thanks Jedieb. :)

Eve and I already discussed spoilers and I have seen that the spoiler vbCode tag does function on the Portal page from other topics that have been posted in the Films forum.

As for the name of the Forum, I am open to suggestions, but don't really have any ideas.

As for the forum name, I have reconsidered the thought to change it. SWFans is our identity and should remian our identity I think. I have changed all the links that used to lead to the old SWFans.Net website to where they now link to our portal.

[Champion of the Force]

I have seen that the spoiler vbCode tag does function on the Portal page from other topics that have been posted in the Films forum.
Not everyone uses the spoiler code. Some people just post a thread with the title 'Spoilers Inside' then leave it at that - happily posting away the spoiler information without bothering (or realising) to cover it up.

As for possible forum names:

Rendezvous Point
Senate Floor
Jedi Council
Holocron Network
... etc etc etc (could be made up of a combination of those)

Or we could call it 'Portal News' or something. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

Another reason why the News forum is "moderated".

[imported_Eve]

Why don't we just call that forum the Portal? It sounds star wars-ish, and well, it feeds into the portal page.

Eh... who else is helping me in the new forum? Just Brian so far? I just wonder because I am only on in the evenings during the week. However, I guess other posters may provide content, its just a matter of if its approved, right?

So I post a topic, and then even we have to moderate our own posts? I may have some questions. If anyone is on AIM, contact me at Hydro Eve.

To address your primary issue: obviously not all topics will make it into the portal page because of the fact that many may JUST be something we already know or not more newsworthy than the next thing. And if it doesn't make it there, its not like they don't have MANY forums for discussion and postage.

Anyway, thanks for having me. :)

[Champion of the Force]

Another reason why the News forum is "moderated".
I've lost you - I thought you said that you would be linking to SW Films for now until you had some news up.

Is SW Films moderated to? :huh

BTW, I like the name of 'Portal' for the forum, or 'Portal News'. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

The link to SW films will hopefully be short term.

And we will not have to moderate the posts of staff members, an email will be sent regardless of who posts in the Forum, but can be ignored if the name of the poster in it is a staff member.

I like Portal News. :)

[Nupraptor]

who else is helping me in the new forum?Well, I am, for one. Gotta pull my weight around here. :p

[Champion of the Force]

Ahhhh, that's fine then. :)

[Champion of the Force]

Chnaged forum name to Portal News.

I also put in my e-mail address so I will also receive notification of new posts. :)

[imported_Eve]

Thanks Nupster.

Yeah Portal news... good call.

I should round up some subject matter tomorrow night. I may also have a weekly commentary on the NJO books, as I am reading them.

I LOVE the Yuuzhan Vong. (Ogre knows that LOL)

[Champion of the Force]

I may also have a weekly commentary on the NJO books, as I am reading them.
Hopefully this may kick-start some discussion in the EU forum, which is pretty slow at the moment. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

I am going to start working on the change over to make the Portal style the Default and be named as such as well, along with adding it to the style set drop down.

Dave: Is the quote button in replies giving you any trouble while using the Portal style?

[Champion of the Force]

Originally posted by SWFans.Net
I am going to start working on the change over to make the Portal style the Default and be named as such as well, along with adding it to the style set drop down.

Dave: Is the quote button in replies giving you any trouble while using the Portal style?
Nope. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

I have since found the error in the style and fixed it. :) looks like we are all ready to rock and roll. Now all I need to do is work on the text based portal, or at least as close to text based as I can get it without afftecting all the styles portal views.

[Jedi Master Carr]

First the new portal looks really cool. Now as far as its name I wouldn't call it Jedi Council because the people at the force.net might get a little angry. I think portal news would work but I like The Holocron Network better but it looks like I am outvoted. Oh well I can supply some commentary of NJO books too if you would like I have read every one so far, probably be good to start with Star by Star since its the newest one and most controversal. Well here is my addy if you need me jedimcarr@hotmail.com

[TheHolo.Net]

Looks like the database errors bit JMC but good. :p

Did you want to help moderate the forum JMC? Approve topics and replies to existing topics.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah it did I didn't think that it went through at all and I kept going back trying to add it. Oh well I got rid of the extra ones. Sure I wouldn't mind helping out if you need some assistance.

[TheHolo.Net]

Thanks. :) The more the merrier.

[Champion of the Force]

:: looks a new thread layout with Portal theme ::

Ogre, it seems as though the dark grey bars you've put in above and below posts to split them up don't seem to fit with the rest of the theme IMHO. I think it looked better the original way.

That's just my opinion anyway. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

I'm still playing a bit, trying to spruce up the default style a bit before the vBulletin board of the month voting starts. I'm going to try a gradient color from the border color to the alt color that is just sort of off white here in just a minute.

[Champion of the Force]

Ok then. :)

Just so you know, I think the table colours of the forum page need to switched around (if you're intending to keep them) so that the thread titles have the lighter colour behind them.

[TheHolo.Net]

I switched those colrs around as you suggested, and I think the new gradient bars around posts give the metalic feel that the theme does now, though a little differently. :)

[Nupraptor]

I'm having trouble switching to the Portal style. I select it in my CP and it doesn't apply. I select it from the drop down and it only works for the forum summary page: when I click a link (to go to an actual forum), it switches back to the "Original" style. Gonna have a look at things shortly.

[Champion of the Force]

1. The metallic bars do look better - they blend with the theme (the grey-only bars before really stood against everything else and were distracting). :)

2.
I switched those colrs around as you suggested ...
Wrong way around matey - I said the light colour should be behind the forum/thread title, not the dark colour. :lol

Now the main page has it that way as well - before only the individual forum pages had it that way (which is why I suggested changing it). :)

I'll go and fix it up.

[TheHolo.Net]

Having trouble logging out? It sounds like you have a corrupt cookie too. Probably a result of the software upgrade and not logging out consistantly.

[TheHolo.Net]

Originally posted by Davwj
1. The metallic bars do look better - they blend with the theme (the grey-only bars before really stood against everything else and were distracting). :)

2.
Wrong way around matey - I said the light colour should be behind the forum/thread title, not the dark colour. :lol

Now the main page has it that way as well - before only the individual forum pages had it that way (which is why I suggested changing it). :)

I'll go and fix it up. ahhh, I misunderstood. Are you sure you don't want me to change them? I still have my search and replace application open and am familiar with which templates need switching. :p

[Champion of the Force]

Yes please. :)

I thought you changed it within the style options only, but after lookign there i see you must have changed it within the templates themselves. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

All done now. :)

[Champion of the Force]

Not quite. :lol

I think the colour behind the 'Topic, Posts etc' part in the individual forum pages should be switched from white to the grey colour.

BTW, was there another column yesterday (maybe for thread icons)? I seem to recall the last 'Posted by' column being grey yearerday instead of white today. :: scratches head ::

[Nupraptor]

hmm... I just deleted all my cookies a short time ago.

[TheHolo.Net]

Not being able to switch style or have them not stick when using the drop down was the exact problem that I resolved by deleting my cookies.

As for the columns and colors, there were never any grey columns in any of this style, that is all new today. They were all white before.

[Champion of the Force]

As for the columns and colors, there were never any grey columns in any of this style, that is all new today. They were all white before.
Yep - I got muddled up with the Basic - Light theme. :x

[TheHolo.Net]

Please quit switching the table head and category head colors, it mucks with a few other area too. I now understand what you meant and will make those changes.

[Champion of the Force]

I noticed that too and changed the table heading colour back to white. :)

Don't think I've touched the category coulour though.

[TheHolo.Net]

Okies, thanks. :)

[Champion of the Force]

Okay, new problem. :lol

... ducks as Ogre throws stuff at him

Actually just a curiosity - on the main page all the columns are white *except* for the 'Last Post Date' column, which is grey.

I just wondered if it was meant to be like that, or if it was a mistake since all the other columns are white. Doesn't concern me either way, but I thought I'd just ask. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

I did that on purpose, as I made two columns in the thread list that are next to each other the same color too. I want it to be a little different than the standard alternating colors. :)

[Champion of the Force]

At first it looked weird, but after about 5 mins or so it grows on you. I like it. :)

I also like how in the reply screen all the previous posts are in alternating colours too - helps seperate them a bit so you don't lose track.

Speaking of having columns/rows the same colour side by side - the same thing happens in the Basic themes in the user profiles, but I think that may be a mistake there. :lol

PS. If you ever want to you can go and change those profile templates to match all the other templates - I've grown to like your custom profile template now. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

It has a very much more symetrical feel the way we have it set up now than the standard alternating colors do. :)

I'll do that for you sometime. Its a little of a pain to get the colors switched to where they will work good, because I mixed hardcoding a few and replacement varibled a few but I'll get it done. :)

[TheHolo.Net]

I've done pretty much the same thing with the Who's online display, but it won't look exactly right for Mods and Admins because we can see an extra column in it.

[Champion of the Force]

The PM section up the top of the main page is all grey - might look better with the '# messages' part being white.

[TheHolo.Net]

Thanks. :) All fixed.

[TheHolo.Net]

Checking for the error we used to get when submitting a new reply

EDIT: We're all good. :)

[Champion of the Force]

You might want to take a look at the 'Members' screen - unlike the rest of the board it still has the old alternating colour scheme applied with the category titles still having a white background (instead of grey like the rest of the board).

[TheHolo.Net]

I'll have a look at it and make some adjustements. It kind of looks like tubedogg may have mis-spoke at vbulletin.com, since our site isn't in the list for those being voted for this December. :(

[Champion of the Force]

I tried following the link you mentioned earlier but it came up saying I had to be registered. :\

[TheHolo.Net]

The topic was probably moved to a locked/private forum, or deleted. :(

[Champion of the Force]

Natch. :\