=][= CHANGES ARE COMING =][=

[Brother Tyler]

We have a few changes that are in the works, but these will be rolled out over time. For now, I'm only going to tell you about two of the changes.

 

The first is a reorganization of our Forums. This is what you'll see in the very near future (notes are in italics):

 

++ GUESTS, ADVERTISERS, AND LOGGED OUT MEMBERS ++

+ REGISTERING AN ACCOUNT +

+ RECOVERING ACCESS TO YOUR ACCOUNT +

+ ADVERTISING AT THE B&C +

This category and the forums within are only seen by guests and by members who aren't logged in. The forums either point to or duplicate information that is provided elsewhere, but it appears at the top of the site to give these visitors important information without having to search for it.

 

++ WELCOME TO THE BOLTER & CHAINSWORD ++

+ WELCOME +

This forum and category are only seen by new members in the + FRATER NOVUS + group, welcoming them to the community and providing basic information as they begin their participation within the community.

 

++ COMMUNITY ++

+ NEWS, RUMORS, AND BOARD ANNOUNCEMENTS +

+ AMICUS AEDES +

+ EVENTS +

+ INTRODUCE YOURSELF +

+ THE LEGIO BOLTER & CHAINSWORD +

 

++ SITE FEATURES ++

Links to each of the other (non-Forums) site features such as Blogs, Clubs, etc. are provided here (in addition to appearing in buttons at the top of the site).

 

++ AN ETERNITY OF WAR: SETTING AND LORE ++

+ AGE OF THE IMPERIUM +

+ AGE OF DARKNESS +

+ BLACK LIBRARY +

 

++ STRATEGIUM: RULES AND GAMEPLAY ++

+ WARHAMMER 40,000 GAME +

+ WARHAMMER: THE HORUS HERESY +

+ EPIC SCALE HORUS HERESY GAMES +

+ KILL TEAM +

+ NECROMUNDA +

+ ROLEPLAYING GAMES +

+ PBP GAMES +

+ OTHER GAMES +

 

++ FORGE: HOBBYIST CREATIVITY ++

+ GENERAL PCA QUESTIONS +

+ WORKS IN PROGRESS +

+ HALL OF HONOUR +

+ TUTORIALS AND HOW TO'S +

+ THE LIBER +

+ FAN FICTION +

+ Fanthology +

+ SPECIAL PROJECTS +

+ Legio Imprint +

 

++ IMPERIUM ++

+ ADEPTA SORORITAS +

+ ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES +

+ BLACK TEMPLARS +

+ BLOOD ANGELS +

+ DARK ANGELS +

+ GREY KNIGHTS +

+ SPACE WOLVES +

+ ULTRAMARINES +

+ ADEPTUS MECHANICUS / MECHANICUM +

+ ASTRA MILITARUM / IMPERIALIS AUXILIA +

+ IMPERIAL KNIGHTS +

+ TALONS OF THE EMPEROR +

+ THE IMPERIUM OF MANKIND +

 

++ CHAOS ++

+ CHAOS DAEMONS / DAEMONS OF THE RUINSTORM +

+ CHAOS KNIGHTS +

+ HERETIC ASTARTES / TRAITOR LEGIONES ASTARTES +

+ DEATH GUARD +

+ EMPEROR'S CHILDREN +

+ THOUSAND SONS +

+ WORLD EATERS +

+ REALM OF CHAOS +

 

++ XENOS ++

+ AELDARI +

+ DRUKHARI +

+ GENESTEALER CULTS +

+ LEAGUES OF VOTANN +

+ NECRONS +

+ ORKS +

+ T'AU EMPIRE +

+ TYRANIDS +

 

++ ORDO ADMINISTRATUM ++

+ ABOUT THE COMMUNITY +

+ BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD 101 +

+ BUG REPORTS +

+ THE SUGGESTION BOX +

 

Here's a rundown of the changes:

 

We're moving some categories up in the sequencing. Not counting the two categories that are only visible to certain members (the ones in orange text), the first two categories that you'll see will remain the same (++ COMMUNITY ++ and ++ SITE FEATURES ++). We decided that we wanted the next three categories to revolve around the three pillars of the hobby: lore, gameplay, and hobbyist creativity. Prior to this, those three categories were scattered throughout the sequencing, with the metafaction categories appearing above most of them. We believe that it is very easy for members to find the metafaction categories and the corresponding (sub)faction (sub)forums in which they are interested, but members often overlook some of the (sub)forums dedicated to the three pillars of the hobby because of where they appear on the site. By consolidating categories and (sub)forums and moving them to the front of the sequencing, we hope to see more participation in discussion about these pillars of the hobby. Each of those pillars and their corresponding categories and (sub)forums is discussed in the following three paragraphs.

 

The current ++ IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE ++ is being adjusted, losing the + OTHER GAMES + forum and its subforums, retaining the + BLACK LIBRARY + forum, gaining the existing + AGE OF DARKNESS + (dedicated to the lore of the Horus Heresy era and prior times), and gaining a new forum for the + AGE OF THE IMPERIUM + (dedicated to the lore of the setting from the time the Emperor was interred on the Golden Throne through the present). The overall category is being re-named ++ AN ETERNITY OF WAR: SETTING AND LORE ++ to make its purpose clear.

 

The current ++ STRATEGIUM ++ category is being expanded. First, the three forums currently in that category (+ OFFICIAL RULES +, + TACTICA +, and + LIBER VICTORUM +) are being combined into a single forum dedicated to the Warhammer 40,000 game. All of the forums and subforums that are dedicated to various games are being moved into this category. The concept is that discussion about rules, tactics, army list composition, battle reports, and anything else related to actually playing the game will be discussed in the forum named for the game. And for those games that don't have a dedicated forum there is the + OTHER GAMES + forum. Of note, the subforums of the + WARHAMMER: THE HORUS HERESY + forum (+ Rules +, + Tactica +, and + Army Lists +) will be merged into the parent forum since there isn't enough activity in any of those subforums to warrant their existence. The overall category is being re-named ++ STRATEGIUM: RULES AND GAMEPLAY ++ to make its purpose clear.

 

The current ++ FORGE ++ is being expanded from just discussing aspects of painting, converting, and modeling via the + GENERAL PCA QUESTIONS +, + WORKS IN PROGRESS +, + HALL OF HONOUR +, and + TUTORIALS AND HOW TO'S + forums (and the latter's subforums) to also include other aspects of hobbyist creativity, including + THE LIBER + (DIY creation), + FAN FICTION + (speaks for itself), and + SPECIAL PROJECTS + (wide ranging projects). The subforums of + TUTORIALS AND HOW TO'S + (+ Bases and Terrain Tutorials +, + Painting Tutorials +, + Modelling Tutorials +, and + Photography Tutorials +) will be merged into that forum and tags will be used to identify tutorial types. The overall category is being re-named ++ FORGE: HOBBYIST CREATIVITY ++ to make its purpose clear.

 

The metafaction categories and their (sub)forums remain virtually identical to their current state in terms of what they cover. You'll notice that the names of a few are changing to make their intended subject matter clearer, but these (sub)forums have been intended to cover these factions for years. As a general rule, we are including the Horus Heresy counterparts in the (sub)forum names now. For example, the current + ADEPTUS ASTARTES + forum is being changed to + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + and + ASTRA MILITARUM + is being changed to + ASTRA MILITARUM / IMPERIALIS AUXILIA +. The one notable change in these categories is that the current ++ ADEPTUS ASTARTES ++ category is being merged back into the ++ IMPERIUM ++ category and the + GREY KNIGHTS + forum will become a subforum of the + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + forum. We're still limiting the Astartes subforums to those Chapters/Legions for which there are codices/codex supplements, with the others covered in the parent forum because there isn't sufficient content about those other Chapters/Legions to warrant dedicated subforums.

 

The other change you'll notice is that we're going to adjust the sidebar blocks. The intent with this change is to better promote the other (non-Forums) features. We haven't quite hammered out the exact details here, but you can expect the following:

• Blocks for recent blog activity and recent club activity will be moved to the top of the page, appearing where you currently see the mission statement.
• The mission statement image will be removed, replaced as a banner in the rotation.
• The existing blocks for recent blog activity and recent club activity in the sidebar will be removed (since they're going to appear at the top of the page) and the other sidebar blocks will be expanded to give more content (though we'll try to get the total vertical space to be somewhat close to the space needed for the categories and (sub)forums).
• The blocks in the sidebar and the top of the page will appear in all of the forums and subforums (not just on the main Forums page). Some of the blocks that appear on the main Forums page won't appear on the (sub)forum pages, so the other blocks may be tweaked. The good news here is that the vertical size of the (sub)forums is consistent so we can fine tune the sidebar blocks to align with the (sub)forum height.

The Forums restructuring and the changes to the sidebars/blocks will happen in the next seven days (not sooner than Friday).

 

Spoiler

 

 

There's nothing to fear.

 

[Matcap86]

6 hours ago, Brother Tyler said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

 

There's nothing to fear.

 

 

Sir, to quote a wise man: "There's two things wargamers hate: Change, and the way things are now."

 

Good luck with the restructuring!

Edited August 14 by Matcap86

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, the initial restructuring has been completed. There is still some fine-tuning to complete, but that will be minor.

 

One thing that didn't work as planned was moving a few of the sidebar blocks (recent blog entries and recent club activity) to the top of the site. Instead of creating a carousel for each as I thought would happen, it created a list. That was contrary to the intended outcome, so I nixxed it. I still moved the mission statement image from the advertisement position into the banner rotation, however (you won't see it if you're using the light theme).

 

The sidebar blocks now appear in all of the forums rather than just on the main Forums page. You'll see the most recent 8 blog entries, the 8 clubs in which there has been recent activity (all clubs, not just the ones in which you are a member), and the 4 gallery albums that have been recently updated. This puts the total vertical height of the blocks at about the same height as each forum.

 

I've begun moving topics, mostly from + AMICUS AEDES + into other forums. In most cases, these are the + AGE OF THE IMPERIUM + (any topic about the setting/lore) and + WARHAMMER 40,000 GAME + (any topic about the rules and playing of that game). There are some cats and dogs that have been, and will be, moved into other forums, however. I've only gone through the first 10 pages so far, getting the topics that are recent/active. As I have time, I'll slowly go through the rest of the pages. Any topics that have been archived (i.e., in which members can no longer post replies) will remain in + AMICUS AEDES +. If you see any topics that you think either should be moved into other forums or which you think I've moved into the wrong forum, please REPORT them so we can take a look and, if appropriate, move them into more appropriate forums. In most cases, I didn't leave the move link.

 

While I moved a few topics from the + HOMEGROWN RULES + forum into the forums in the ++ STRATEGIUM: RULES AND GAMEPLAY ++ category, most were moved into the + SPECIAL PROJECTS + forum. The goal with these is to find the right home for them so that they can continue to be developed into a finished product. In cases where a topic is just one person presenting their homegrown rule(s), these might be developed as blogs (in the Blogs feature). In cases where the topic is intended to allow multiple members to collaborate, these might be developed as clubs (in the Clubs feature). In either case, the finished rules should be presented as articles (in the Articles feature) and/or files (in the Downloads feature). Both of those features create an announcement topic that now appears in the + NEWS, RUMORS, AND BOARD ANNOUNCEMENTS + forum, and those topics will be moved into the appropriate ++ STRATEGIUM: RULES AND GAMEPLAY ++ forum (i.e., the forum that belongs to the game for which the rules were created). What I think might happen is that we'll create a new category in the various resource topics and homegrown rules efforts will be linked therein, providing top-of-the-page visibility; and these might even be presented in multiple forums. For example, a set of homegrown rules that is a fandex for the Exorcists Chapter might appear in the + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + and + WARHAMMER 40,000 GAME + forums. What we really need now, though, is for the "owners" of the various homegrown rules efforts to take a look at the + SPECIAL PROJECTS + forum (which is locked for posting/replying temporarily) and determine if they're going to conduct these as blogs or clubs, or, if the rules are finished, they want to post them as articles and/or files, then REPORT the topics with your decision as the report comment so that I can help you with the transition.

 

The new arrangement will be jarring at first and many members are likely to bristle at it. Give it some time (two weeks or so) before providing feedback. I expect that we'll fine-tune other things, but I want to give everything a chance before we just throw things out.