Post by |ADMIN LEFFIE| on Jul 9, 2013 23:34:39 GMT -5
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Hello members of Phantom Manor! This is an extremely important annoucnement that EVERYONE needs to read, including new and upcoming members. It affects everyone!
I’m sure you’re all aware of Proboard v5, the version of Proboards that our forum is being converted to in December. I have personally tested Proboards v5 using the Phantom Manor skin, and find PB v5 to be very disheartening. Its user interface is not all that user friendly, and the admin interface is even more confusing.
In light of experiencing problems with Proboards in the past, including the Terms of Service that are much stricter than on other forum servers, the staff and I have decided to move Phantom Manor to Jcink.
I know this may sound scary, as PM is a rather large site. I know many people have recently created new characters, and I’m so sorry to new members who will have to transfer to another site having JUST applied to this one, but don’t worry, the application will hardly differ at all, except maybe a few add ons.
This is a very big change, and many people might be put off by it, but because of the even BIGGER change that Proboards v5 would bring, and the fact that I’ve personally been on many a Jcink site and found better quality skins, features, and Terms of Service, we feel it’s the best choice for the future of PM.
What is Jcink, you may ask (if you’re not aware of the server)? What about my threads and characters? What codes will work and what codes won’t? How do I navigate this new forum? What does this mean for plots?! THIS IS SCARY OMG NOOOO!!!
I know these are questions you’re already thinking, as I myself have gone over them in preparation for this announcement. And, I have prepared responses to them!
- First off, don’t be scared! We’re moving to make it easier on our members, not harder! Jcink actually has a very user-friendly interface (though the admin interface is a bit scary, we’re going to handle that as best we can)! It has a variety of cool features that make the RP experience far more enjoyable for everyone! Here are some of those features that I’ve come across upon RPing on other sites that use Jcink:
*Color-coded Member groups
*Larger avatars!
*The option to have a profile song
*An awesome user control panel that lets you customize way more stuff!
*A private messaging alert system, that lets you read any messages you have the moment you get on the forum!
*doHTML enabled coding (which allows for far greater coding template experience!)
*And last but not least, the amazing account linking feature! This feature enables RPers with multiple accounts to link them all together, so that you don’t have to logout and log back in, or save any passwords! This is especially useful for members with more than one or two characters! - Your threads, unfortunately, won’t be converted to Jcink. Invisionfree has an option that you can convert an entire forum to a jcink forum, but Proboards does not, unfortunately, which means your threads and apps will have to be left behind.
- HOWEVER!!! This does not mean that they will /stay/ that way! We’re going to be changing the app up a bit, just making it cleaner and easier to navigate, but all the information you put in it will mostly stay the same, so all you have to do is copy and paste any character’s apps! Threads on proboards can actually be copied all at once by clicking the “print” button at the top of a thread’s page, which means you can copy and paste any important, character history involving threads over to Jcink, which will then be archived in a special folder.
- Current threads that you are roleplaying right at this moment can also be copied this way and saved, and then you can continue after the last person that posted on proboards. It might look a little messy for those threads, but believe me, the rest is worth it!
- Unfortunately no codes will transfer from proboards to Jcink. Your thread trackers and thread templates will have to be redone, unless you’ve gone simple and made your own coding that can be changed with ease (though tags like bold, italic and underline are the exact same!). Don’t worry, admins can help you convert if you need it, and believe me, we’ve got lots of work to do as well!
- Plot wise, characters can choose to retcon (erase in history) threads that were never finished on Proboards, or retcon characters altogether and start afresh. It really depends on the player and character in question, but the plot of the new Phantom Manor will be focused on the Phantom characters interacting with the village and the outside world, as well as the villagers playing a more important part in the future. Of course the plots will be in liquid (muddled) time as they’ve always been, to allow you more freedom and less constricting plots for individual characters!
- Speaking of threads, we’ve noticed one of the problems in the past with PM is threads being left and not finished for a long time. So, and this is /only/ after we move, threads are asked to be completed within two (2) months after their conception. Large group threads will probably have three (3) months, but this is undecided as of now. This is simply to cut down on threads and clutter, and to make it easier for members to manage.
- That being said, we understand that muse and/or busy RL schedules might not allow for full completion of threads. If a thread goes past the two month rule and is still not finished, a staff member will contact you and ask what you want to do with the thread. If you and the other party want to continue it, and you have a clear (soon accomplished) goal in sight, you may be granted one (1) additional month to finish it. If you and the other party just don’t know what to do with it, you’ll be allowed to summarize what would have happened in the thread together and end it then and there. There’s no penalty for not finishing a thread, just like there’s no penalty for dropping characters. Sometimes the muse just isn’t there. Of course when finishing threads in this manner, don’t forget that both participants must be in agreement!
- A rather large group thread that we’ve been waiting on to do will have to wait until after this move: The Masquerade. We’re shooting for later on this summer for the new forum to be open, so just after it’s open we will be having the Masquerade. Rather than having one large thread that never gets finished (see the Secret Santa thread), the Masquerade will be a separate board that will have a variety of threads in different settings. This should make it much easier on members to manage, and it’ll be easier to keep up with who’s doing what!
- Last but not least, the site shop is finally going to be up! You’ll be able to spend points that you’ve acquired from the Proboards site as soon as you get over there!
A variety of other features will be available on the new Jcink forum, and things will be much tidier and easy to manage. We’ve already finished setting up every board on the new site (including new boards as well). The skin will be made by my good friend Julia, who might also be joining the site! Canons might be expanded in the future, and Original Characters will play an increasingly important part in the canon characters’ lives!
In order to do some early preparing for this move, in this thread we simply ask everyone who is going to make the transfer to use this form to state which characters they are taking and which characters they are dropping. We figure some members have been waiting for the chance to drop certain characters, and maybe even take up some new ones! You may also reserve canons and faceclaims ahead of time, but if you do so just know that once all your previous character apps are completed and re-accepted your newer apps should be completed as soon as possible! When you transfer your app to the new PM, it’s asked that for the characters who have had a history on the manor (ie: all characters not recently accepted), you add a short one to two paragraphs detailing that history for future members who were not on the Proboards site!
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Characters you’re keeping:[/b]
[b]Characters you’re dropping:[/b]
[b]Canons and/or faceclaims you want to reserve:[/b] (only one per player, and you don't have to reserve the faceclaims you already own)I know this might be a bit overwhelming for everyone, but we staff are here to help! More information concerning threads and character histories will be coming soon, so don’t worry, you don’t have to deal with everything just yet! Feel free to ask questions about the move!
-The Administration Team
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