Broomsticks And Owls

In the words of the Cybermen, we have been upgraded....* checks head - not metal, phew! * .

To celebrate the release of the final movie, I've update the forum to the latest version of phpBB. The last upgrade a while ago only seemed to half-work, but with a bit of tweaking and coaxing, this one seems to have done the trick nicely. If you do see any problems or glitches, please post them in this thread.

There are a few new features, mostly tiny ones but the main addition you may notice is something I remember Scellanis asking about many moons ago - there's now a quick-reply box that you can use at the bottom of every thread. At the moment I've activated it in all areas of the forum. You can still use the full reply editor complete with smilies and formatting options by clicking the "Post Reply" button like before, or the "Full editor" button. It would be great to know whether you like it or if you'd prefer things the old way.

Also there is a "Newly Registered Users" group. I need to check exactly how this works, but this may help in defeating the spambots as it should be able to be used to review posts of new members rather than letting new- spambot-users post their icky spam to the world immediately if they somehow get through the account approval process.

As far as I've been able to find, there seem to be a few extra anti-spam plugins that may be available too. I'll be experimenting in the next few days with these. If we can cut the huge numbers of spambots that are trying to join, it'll make it more straightforward to enable real members to join, and hopefully BaO's membership will grow as it has done in the past before the spambots started to attempt to invade in their droves.

Eeek...I've just noticed that there's been another new version released in the last few hours. Looks like I'll be upgrading again tomorrow too.

I like Quick Reply. It's handy for those of us with slow computers. Thumbs up, Paul. Thumbs up.

Awesome!! Can't wait to get a look at the new spam control stuff

Thanks for the positivity. The second upgrade seems to have gone well tonight, and I've put new anti-spam measures in to hopefully bounce those spambots away without them even getting through the sign-up process.

Instead of the "captcha" images which the spambots have cracked and seem to get past quite easily, new members will be asked to answer a question which should be easy for humans but hopefully should stop the bots in their tracks.

There is also an added ingredient to the anti-bot potion which should help further to keep them outside the doors.

Even if they do make their way in and then get approved, I've figured out the "Newly Registered Users" group settings...the first few posts of Newly Registered Users will now go in to a "Moderation Queue" and will need to be approved by a Moderator before showing up on the forum. Currently I've set things so that they'll need to have 8 approved posts before they can post unapproved. This number may be tweaked a bit as we see how things go with the new changes - I'd prefer it a little lower but we'll start at this level for now.

Yipee. Updates, updates. It's a reminder we're not dead.

Hee hee - no, definitely not dead. Just been having a quiet period for a while maybe, but now that the last movie has been released hopefully it'll get a bit more active.

If not, we can always archive everything and put it in a museum.

I haven't had any new inactive member emails in the last view days, looks like your question in the sign up is working. No wonder I feel lonely, its because I'm not getting the new email bing every 5 seconds. *giggles*

Hee hee - you could always sign up for a few of those "win a free ipad" contests. I'm sure they would love to send you some spam to get keep your email proggie binging away.


"Cluck cluck - did I hear a museum mentioned.*shivers* Last time I visited one of those it was full of stuffed animals. Eeeek!"

Just incase anyone asks any friends to join right now, I'm having some issues logging in to activate people so they will have to be patient and wait for Paul to return. Sorry.

Hmmmm... we need to advertise our roleplaying section or something. I haven't checked today yet, but I'm doubting there's a reply. It's my fault too that nobody replies, because I take so long to reply myself, but only because I never think anybody's going to reply... Sigh... I miss our old roleplaying group.

I've moved the RPG section upwards on the main forum index page. Hopefully new members may notice it a bit more.

You weren't lying when you said you'd moved it up. It's right up there! Thank you, Paul!

Hee hee - I'm wondering whether to move it right below the Great Hall, just temporarily for a few days to see what happens. Meanwhile, I've added a mention of the RPGs at the top right of the forum's header tonight, which shows on all pages.

Awesome! That's just awesome!