[for Valerius Claudius Iohannes, Curator:]
Salvete, Romani viatores!
The month of Ianuarius, and particularly its Kalends, is a time of transitions, and has long been considered a good time to start something new. In old Rome, we'd be swearing in (and at!) the new Consuls and such. There aren't anywhere near enough of us in the SVR to keep a pair of Consuls well-fed and -entertained...but we can inaugurate other things. Thus, we are pleased to announce that, as of Kalendis Ianuariis 2762 (2009 CE), we will be launching a new Forum.
Where: http://societasviaromana.net/phpBB3/
NOTA BENE: As of New Year's Day, Kalendae Ianuariis AUC 2762 (Jan-1-2009), the new "phpBB3" Board will be our current and official Forum, and the old Board will remain in the Archives. From Ianuaria on, all postings will need to be made on the new Forum and Collegia.
Why: Rather than upgrade our aging, Spam-ridden phpBB2 Forum again, M Octavius Gracchus, our Gracious Web-Host, has set us up a phpBB3 Board. It has more (and more customisable) features for the users, better tools for the admins, and the graphical registration confirmation that Spambots love to hate. >({|;-]
For one thing, we can now add attachments to posts and PMs, including images, documents and text files. We can save, e-mail, print out or otherwise share whole topics. We can use links and images in our signatures. The Avatar uploader actually works now. Marius' long-standing PM gripe has been resolved: We can now send a PM to more than one person at a time, including to the admins as a group. And, Yes, on the new Board our tunics and togas appear under our avatars. <g>
How: Log in to the new Forum the same way you would here. It will recognise your handle, but may ask you to pick a new password. If so, you'll get a confirmation e-mail with your temporary password, after which you can log on and go to your Profile (oops, "User Control Panel"...the options there are many, and will provide a full session's worth of entertainment/tweaking all by themselves). There you can change your temp password into the one you really want. Inquire here if it does something different for you than it did for me.
What: The first thing you'll notice is All That Blue. If you decide you like it, you can keep it; otherwise, patientia vobiscum--we're working on it. The aesthetics of these Fora are controlled by templates ("skins", more or less). The Board came with the blue skin, and there's an option for the old-style subSilver if you want it to look and behave more like this one. (The current Board is subRed, also with a subSilver option.) If we want something else (we Curiales do), someone knowledgeable will have to create the template for it. Some Boards have several such skins for the user to pick from, some quite handsome, and a small cottage industry exists for making them. Tibi Draco's already on the prowl for one or more that will suit us.
Post Transfer: Octavius installed the new Forum on 24 October; yes, it's taken the admins much of the time since to learn the thing. Posts made in this Forum since 24 October are not on the new one and cannot be gotten there unless either their authors or an admin carry them over by hand. So far Marius has been transferring materials from the Curia, as well as the Fasti from 24 October on. The trouble with that is, on the new Board, all the transferred posts look like they're by Marius. If anyone has a favorite recent thread they'd like to see on the BB3, see if you can get the authors to copy their posts over. We especially encourage November and December's newbies to re-post their intros.
= = = Marius' Tech Corner = = = (skip if your eyes start to glaze over):
"The BB3 came with some pre-installed user classifications: Guest, Registered User, Moderator and Administrator, each with its own set of accesses. I created a new one, Sodales, and put all the definitely-SVR members in it. I doubt I've accounted for everybody. I could only make a definite assignment if the member's Board handle was/is semi-similar to his or her Roman name, and said Roman name was on the Album Sodalium. I bumped Board and SVR join dates as one way to make sure. All the same, I expect I'll need to add several others' logins if they turn out to be SVR members. If you're a Sodalis but find you cannot post to the Comitia, please notify me! (Until then, you're still a registered user.)
"As things stand, a Guest (browsing without logging in) can see all of the fora except the Res Publica section (the Comitia and Concilium). A Registered User ("Boardmember") can see, and even read, the Comitia and Concilium, but cannot post or vote there. A Sodalis can do anything he wants to in the Comitia...except delete his own posts. Neither can a Moderator or an Admin(!) delete his own Comitia posts. He'd have to ask another admin to do it. That should avoid the situation we ran into with ex-Consul Tiberius Coruncanius, who deleted all of his posts, including Consular edicta(!), when he left the Societas...he knocked a good-sized hole in the Archives, to be sure, and we don't want it to happen again.
"On my end, I seem to be able to do all the everyday things I ever have. It's been a matter of getting familiar with the look and the logic. It's been an adjustment, certainly; but as it stands, the BB3 does the same security sorts of things this Board does...with considerable nuance and a little more emphatically." >({|:-)
=== end Tech Talk ===
We have three weeks to Beta-test the new Forum to death. Please romp all over this thing, experiment with the User Control Panel and other features, PM the admins and each other, and let us know what you think! Questions, concerns and suggestions especially welcome; we'd like for this thing to suit as many of you as possible before we make it permanent. After all, if it ain't workin' for the customers, it ain't workin'!
(Teaser: We're holding onto some really good stuff until we make the jump: Google Earth Ancient Rome, latest Adlocutio and other delights!)
This pronuntium is made jointly by the Curatores and Aediles of the Societas Via Romana.
Optime valete, Cives omnes!