Right folks,
First of all, as above, we've had a big overhaul to the shiniest newest version of the software engine which runs our little corner of teh intarweb. ("VB4")
So, with VB4 comes a good list of new and revised features, but the key ones you'll notice are:
1) The Blog system (and above is the proof that you'll notice things
) - The Wikipedia link posted above explains it pretty well (and remarkably without much spurious nonsense), but for those who have got down here without clicking said link...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog said:
A blog (a contraction of the term "web log")[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog."
...that bit sums it up quite effectively.
So, you can now start your own blogs, about pretty much anything (stuff which violates the rules (is offensive, illegal, profiteering etc.) is the poster's responsibility and liable to be deleted (with possible 'punishment' sanctions too) when we're alerted to it. Put simply... Use it, enjoy it, but please don't abuse it.
Also there is the new CMS (the Front (/Home) Page) - this is the tidiest and most functional system yet, and although there's not much there yet (we wanted to get the forum back up and running ASAP and tweak the other bits later) - you'll see stuff starting to appear there in the near future, and I'll post again in more detail.
Then there's the forum itself, there are lots of cool little tweaks and new features built into the way the board works, you wouldn't need to Google to discover what they are if you're a regular user as you'll probably trip over things as you go... I'm sure the vast majority of the new bits will be welcome (even if it takes a little while to get used to it). As regards the look and feel of the place, again - we're happy that it's more than good enough to get the forum back live for people to use - there will be some tweaks as we go along and we're already working on new functionality in the aesthetics department.
As regards Thanks and Garages and other little things we'd added in the previous version, well tough. They're gone. ...Only kidding
We'll try to get some of the more important/useful bits n bobs integrated again in the very near future - and NHN, if you're good, we might even try and restore your Thanks-count
More news to follow...
Cheers,
Rob.
