Brother Tyler

And on that note, we'll lock this. There are plenty of other current/recent discussions about areas where hobbyists have concerns about the game(s) supported here. We don't need to be knocking external sites and people who aren't here to defend themselves.

All of the banner images were deleted (my only guess as to why they were showing up is that they were cached). More importantly, some of the BBCodes no longer work, especially the tables and captions. At some point, I'll probably create new templates that members can copy, paste, and modify. With the formatting tools/buttons, however, as well as things like the BBCode Guide (many BBCodes will continue to work until Invision decides to stop supporting them), the Paint Color Hexadecimal Codes (still incomplete especially with the Tone range coming out), an article about Understanding HEX Codes, and an announcement about some buttons that were added to the formatting toolbar*, it's much easier for members to create attractively formatted articles. * I wasn't able to get the h1-h6 buttons added, but I think Invision has included them in the 5.0 software that we'll be updating to later this year. * I really need to create a tutorial to help people use the headers, especially with images.

While there are a lot of things that might be done, aside from the possibility of pulling the Heretic Astartes out into their own category, this is all we're likely to do for now in terms of restructuring. We need time to (a) let the dust settle, and (b) see how things work before we consider another round of changes. There are a few things that we've put on the back burner, but those require some preparations elsewhere to be supportable.

By now, you’ve probably noticed that we did a little restructuring to reduce the vertical scrolling. We observed that the restructuring we implemented last year forced a lot more vertical scrolling for those members who focus on the (sub)forums for the (sub)factions since those categories were moved to the bottom of the site (even though we reduced the overall number of (sub)forums in that restructuring). There was a purpose behind that change, and that hasn't changed, but we still want to reduce scrolling where possible. To do this, we changed the forum hierarchy so that many forums that used to be top-level are now one level lower, becoming subforums under a top-level forum. Here’s a summary of the changes: The ++ GUESTS, ADVERTISERS, AND LOGGED OUT MEMBERS ++ and ++ WELCOME TO THE BOLTER & CHAINSWORD ++ categories (you can’t see the first category unless you are either an administrator or are logged out/not a member, and you can’t see the second category unless you are either an administrator or a Frater Novus) have been merged into a single category, with all of the “forums” (actually, they’re links to topics that appear in the + ABOUT THE COMMUNITY + and + BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD 101 + forums) becoming subforums under a new + IMPORTANT INFORMATION + forum. The “forum” links in the ++ SITE FEATURES ++ category are now subforums under a new + SITE FEATURES + forum. The tutorials for each of these features will be moved from the + BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD 101 + forum into this new forum. The + EPIC SCALE HORUS HERESY GAMES +, + KILL TEAM +, + NECROMUNDA +, and + ROLEPLAYING GAMES + forums have become subforums under the + OTHER GAMES + forum. The + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + forum and its subforums have been pulled out of the ++ IMPERIUM ++ category and now form their own ++ ADEPTUS ASTARTES ++ category above the ++ IMPERIUM ++ category. The + ADEPTA SORORITAS AND THE ECCLESIARCHY +, + ADEPTUS MECHANICUS / MECHANICUM +, + ASTRA MILITARUM / IMPERIALIS AUXILIA +, + IMPERIAL KNIGHTS +, and + TALONS OF THE EMPEROR + forums are now subforums under + THE IMPERIUM OF MANKIND + forum. The + CHAOS DAEMONS / DAEMONS OF THE RUINSTORM +, + CHAOS KNIGHTS +, and + HERETIC ASTARTES / TRAITOR LEGIONES ASTARTES + forums are now subforums under the + REALM OF CHAOS + forum. A new + XENOS + forum has been created in the ++ XENOS ++ category and all the other forums in that category are now subforums under the new forum. All the ~ Albums & Images and ~ Blogs “subforums” (actually, they’re links to the corresponding (sub)categories within the Blogs and Gallery features) have been shortened to simply Albums & Images and Blogs. The net result of all these changes is that there is far less vertical scrolling. In the vast majority of cases, forums that appeared on the front pages are still visible on (and accessible from) the front page. However, any subforums beneath those (now) subforums are not visible. This affects the traitor legions who have their own codices (Death Guard, Emperor’s Children, Thousand Sons, and World Eaters). We may adjust that portion of the change if we determine that it is adverse to those subfactions. Regarding the (new) + XENOS + forum, that now provides a place where members can discuss all the other xenos species that populate(d) the galaxy. This includes the Megarachnids, Enslavers, Rangda, Zoats, etc. We’ll be moving discussions about those xenos species from where they are currently found and into this forum, but you are welcome to report any such topic to speed the process up.

While there are certainly some Chapters that are little more than carbon copies of their predecessors, the variation found within the official Chapters makes it very clear that successors can often be notably distinct from their predecessors. The textbook example is the Mortifactors, one of the Primogenitors, which has developed to incorporate the headhunting culture of their homeworld, Posul, such that they are quite different from both the Ultramarines Legion and most of the other Primogenitors. Another example is the Exorcists, who incorporate an occult theme that is quite different from the other scions of Rogal Dorn. Ultimately, while a Chapter may be influenced by its predecessor (if that predecessor was involved in its initial development), the more important influences are from the Chapter's homeworld and the world(s) from which it draws its recruits. A Chapter bearing the gene-seed of Lion El'Jonson could very easily incorporate cultural influences that are quite different from the European stylings of the Dark Angels Chapter. One whose thematic elements draw upon Ancient Egypt could be fascinating and distinct.

Yes (see the linked tutorial).

That's good to hear. We're still working on fixing the issues I previously described; and we're looking into other things that might help, too. For example, one thing that bogs the system down is working through all the achievements for each and every member. While we pruned a large number of zero-activity members (not new/recent members, just old ones), we are considering reducing the achievement progressions from 20 milestones to something lower (numbers ranging from 8 to 15 - we're going to play around and see what works). Reducing the achievement progressions has cascading effects on rank and discipline, so we're being methodical about that (i.e., it won't be a quick decision/implementation). And we're also looking into a way to reduce the vertical scrolling that members have to do to get around the site. That has been in preparation for a while and you might see that Very SoonTM.

Yes, members can delete their own images.

We are requesting assistance from the members in cleaning up the Gallery. For background about the Gallery and why it is an essential feature supporting the community, see this tutorial. We are looking for your help in three areas: Delete any of your albums that are empty. Consider breaking multi-(sub)faction/subject albums into multiple albums, each focusing on an individual (sub)faction/subject. Ensure that each of your albums is in the correct category. Empty Albums We are looking at ways to clean the database up, and one of the culprits is empty albums. Many members create albums with the intent of populating them with images of their miniatures, but then they don't upload images. These albums then reside on the database, taking up space (a very small amount of space, mind you, but the aggregate adds up). In addition, empty albums waste other members' time when they are poking around in the Gallery to look at images - they click on an album whose name piques their interest and then see that there's nothing there. Deleting empty albums, then, frees up space and frees up members' time. Multi-(sub)Faction/Topic Albums While most members think of their albums solely as a place for them to store images online so they can include them in their posts, there are actually members who enjoy browsing around directly in the Gallery to look at images. Often, their interest is focused on specific (sub)factions. For example, someone might want to look solely at images of the Blood Angels. Another member, meanwhile, might want to look at images of the Adeptus Titanicus game. To that end, the Gallery is organized by categories that allow members to focus on specific (sub)factions, games, and types of content. While it's easy for a member to just upload all their images into a single album, that adversely affects other members' ease of focusing on specific subjects when browsing images. By confining individual albums to individual subjects, you enhance members' browsing experience. Since members can move their images, it's relatively easy to create individual albums for specific subjects and then move images around in their albums. Correct Category As mentioned above, placing an album in the correct category helps members to focus their time on their desired subject matter. If someone wants to look at images of Necrons, they should be able to find those images in the Necrons category (which falls under the Xenos category). When an album is created, it defaults to the Miscellaneous category. While it's very easy to select the appropriate category, many members ignore this step. As a result, (a) the Miscellaneous category is filled with albums that should be in other categories, and (b) people searching for albums/images of specific subjects have to search through both the category for that subject (e.g., Blood Angels, Orks, Adeptus Titanicus) and the Miscellaneous category. And on that note, if you think that the categories need to be adjusted, we are always open to suggestions. We don't want to have too large of a list (which would make things unwieldy), but we definitely want a selection of categories that allows for sufficient granularity and specificity. The + SUGGESTION BOX + is always a good place for this, but you are also free to post your suggestion(s) as replies to this topic (for as long as this topic remains on the front page of this forum). Your assistance is appreciated.

I don't recall any official Chapters whose Chapter badge has been portrayed or described as being similar to the one in question. At this point, I suspect that it was either (a) something they came up with to show a little variety, and/or (b) a clever way to have some Chapter that might someday be called the "Warhammers" or something like that. There is the Hammers of Retribution Chapter, but their Chapter badge is unknown. For now, I would just chalk this up as GW showing without prescribing.

Locking this now. You know the deal: Please create a separate topic for each release/group of closely related releases so we can have a focused discussion for each. I'll go through and move posts in here to the newly-created topics once I'm done dealing with some admin work.

Yes, it has been affecting everyone.

Since the game is in the wild now, the topic has been moved to the + OTHER GAMES + forum.

There is a combination of things going on. While our Techmarine, @WrathOfTheLion can provide more technically correct information, here's a rough roundup as I understand things. The main culprit is that the daily backups are taking up inordinate resources - far more than they should. While we have these scheduled for lower use times (relatively speaking), they are still taking far too long. We're looking at ways to reduce the strain they're causing, which may include reducing some of the achievements (the counting of achievements for each member appears to be a significant factor). The database and php also need to be fixed. We are also planning for an update to Invision 5.0. One of the things we need to do for that is improved hosting - our current servers aren't sufficient for Invision 5.0. So we're exploring whether or not to continue with self-hosting, albeit on improved servers, or switching to a cloud-based hosting service.

We've observed that Monday is typically the worst day.