board77

Edited my previous post as I said I would - I take it that Anthy has taken note of everything.



Prim, good point about the party!
I'm more of a white-wine person, myself. Just sayin'.
In case you want to stock up.

Quote:

Edited my previous post as I said I would - I take it that Anthy has taken note of everything.

ACKK!!! Did I mention I was WORKING the last two days? 14 hour days? Without potty breaks, almost?



Hobby, could you PM me with those salient points again? I can remember nodding when I read them and saying, "yes, I agree", but I have to admit I didn't commit them to memory or write them down.

Thank you!

Yikes - not even potty breaks!

Sorry, Anthy, I saw you had posted, so I thought it would be ok to edit.
PM is on the way.

Welcome to board77!



And welcome to the Guide to board77 thread. This thread is intended to give you an idea of the history and structure of the board, and a few quick references to helpful tips in navigating your journey here at board77.

First off, stop by our Welcome to b77 thread and introduce yourself! Even though we are opening the board on Sunday, June 26th, we are hosting an official Grand Opening Celebration on July 6th to fete our new members. This will also be an opportunity for current members to celebrate the end of the long process of laying the groundwork for an open board. Watch the Welcome Forum for more announcements about our Celebration!

For detailed information about how our member-moderated board is structured, please reference the b77 Charter index. There is a great deal of good information to be found there!

The History of board77(often abbreviated b77)

Where did you get that name?

Alandriel answers:

Quote:

In the days of the petition (Oct 04) I decided to open a free board on phpbb as a communication platform as discussion via email amongst so many people proved very cumbersome. And so, on October 27th, 2004 I signed up… and then had to come up with a name. For about half an hour I sat there in front of my screen… a name… a name… I didn't want an obvious reference to Tolkien. Just something.. welll… simple, innocuous. I went to make a cup of tea and then the number 77 just popped into my head. It's neither my birth-year nor did I ever think we'd get stick with 77 members. It just happened, call it serendipity – like so many other things just happen here

What happened when on b77?

Alandriel has also put together a timeline of events for b77, found here. It has a lot of good information about the early days on this board.

But I thought you were a closed board, or an invite-only board?

We were! Once the board starting growing past the first few participants, it became obvious that many people here knew they wanted this to be an open board. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the structure in place to accommodate that, until now. Hereis a great explanation of the history of our journey from closed/invite only to the open board you are visiting today!

Did it really take all this time to create an open board?

We have a great new forum, a history of the processes that have gone into opening up b77, Threads of Historical Interest. Into this forum we have moved threads relevant to the creation of b77 as an open board. Hereare the actual records of the effort and planning that went into the making of our self-moderated, democratic, open board. Major decisions were debated in committees and then submitted to the membership for ratification. Democracy can take a while!

The Organization of board77

Who are the moderators?

We have no moderators here on b77… or, more accurately, we are ALL moderators here on b77. This is a self-moderated board. We will rely on the expectations outlined in our charter, and on the vigilance of our members, to moderate our board.

Who are the admins?

Someday, it could be you! Currently, the list of admins—or Rangers, as we refer to them here at b77--- can be found here. Rangers are members of the board who have volunteered for this task (the volunteer pool can be found here)and who have established themselves as members of b77. They are only Rangers for a short period of time; people come in and out of their Ranger obligations on a rotating basis. In this way, the burden of administration is not carried by only a few people, and the people who are truly interested in participating in the administrative duties can have a chance to do so.

For a very complete and detailed explanation of the organization of b77, please refer to the b77 Charter index .

The Structure of board77

The board77 index has our forums listed. We have role-playing, lighthearted talks, serious discussions, Administrative discussions, discussions about movies, books, music, Tolkien, hobbies, m00ts… many interesting and enjoyable topics.

We also have a few forums which are a bit unique. Firstly, we have a Bike Racks forum, where participants in intense discussions can go to resolve their conflicts. Secondly, we have the Thinking of England forum, where more private conversations about intimate topics are conducted… this is a restricted-access forum. More details can be found here, and here. Finally, we have a new Member’s Lounge, where topics can be discussed between members only. This forum is not access-restricted to members, but it cannot be seen by lurkers. Conversations held here will not be available to information databases like Google.

But… can you help me figure out how to…?

Yes! Yes we can. There are threads that members have created, which are chock full of useful tidbits of information. The two most comprehensive threads that we have so far are b77 FAQ, and Acronyms, etc.

Here’s direct linking to relevant posts for a few questions:

• How do I post pictures?
• What does that acronym mean?
• How do I send someone a private message?
• Can I delete a post?
• How do I add a smiley? and How do I code a smiley?
• How do I make quotes, or highlight certain text?
• How do I get a spiffy byline under my name?
• How do I register an alternate name for Role Playing?
• How can I help out around the board? or volunteer even more?

But I have more questions!

Please don't hesitate to post questions here:Concerns, problems, questions etc. with this board or to PM a Ranger (here's the current list of Rangers) with questions.

If you have any questions whose answers you would like to see included in this Guide, or any feedback on the Guide whatsoever, please PM Anthriel... feedback is good.

ATTENTION CURRENT MEMBERS! I would very much like to have any feedback that you would like to share even BEFORE we open on Sunday ; and certainly after. Please PM me with any and all suggestions. I would LOVE your feedback... it can only serve to make this document more clear, and useful, to our n00bs-to-be! ~Anthy


Above all, just relax and have fun. Welcome, again, to board77!

I still need a couple of links... I can dig them up, given a little time, but I need to get my daughter WAY downtown to buy chocolate frog molds to make Chocolate Frogs for her Hogwarts class, right before I take her to volleyball <sigh> I'll be back later tonight to refine this some more!

Wow, you've sure put in a lot of work on that Anthy!

The only thing that stood out to me is under "The Structure of Board77":

Quote:

More details can be foundhere, and here.

You need to add a space in there.

I really like the friendly, welcoming tone.

Anth, I will take a closer look at this later, but let me just say that its gorgeosity knows no bounds.

Very well done. Very friendly and approachable and attractive. It also looks quite useful.

WOW!

WOW!!!!!!


This is Anthy. :cheers

A couple of link fixes (e.g. there is a new RP registry thread up) but otherwise I really like it. It flows very nicely and makes me feel just fuzzy when reading through it.

http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/viewtopic. ... um=board77 b77's history/Chain of events (old history thread)

Threads of Historical Interest - there will be a summary thread soon to link to and also 'Acronyms' etc. will most likely be redone.

However, the 'direct' linking does not really work well, so perhaps, instead of linking you can just mention that those two threads contain
FAQ answers questions like...... The Acronyms (or rather the new thread when up) contains information on.....
The 'direct' link only show the top of the very first post so I think just mentioning what kind of info is contained where should suffice.

Thanks for all that hard work!

_______________
Resident witchâ„¢

This is lovely, Anthy.

Wonderful Anthy.

Wow, Anthy, that is totally beautiful!

It's easy to read, friendly, welcoming, and has all the information in it, too!

I just re-started the list of current Rangers under the admin-ID, though, so that link should now go here: http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/viewtopic. ... um=board77

Thank you for the updated links, guys... this is exactly the kind of feedback I need!

Quote:

The 'direct' link only show the top of the very first post so I think just mentioning what kind of info is contained where should suffice.

Alandriel, that IS true on some of the links... especially the ones which link to your new (and beautifully organized) FAQ thread. You put so much info on the first page, the first page is repeatedly the right place to send people!

But for some of the other questions.. like the "how do I quote" question... I linked straight to a post where that was discussed. Hobby made a comment somewhere (I just looked for it, but can't find it) that I thoroughly agree with... it is frustrating to have to look through pages of discussion in an "info" type thread when you want a specific question answered. I remember some of that at TORC... a "go to this thread" link would take me about 10 minutes to find the answer I was looking for.

You and laureanna both have info in those threads that I don't have direct links for... that's why I mentioned the threads themselves, first. I imagine that n00bs, once they discover those threads, will cruise around there freely and glean all kinds of useful facts.


Oh, and another thing... some of the threads I want to link to are not yet created. Jn had a couple of statements that I believe she was going to make into threads; one on the history of the invite forum, which I'd like to include. Also, can Mossy go ahead and start the Welcome to b77 thread, so that I can link that into the Guide?


As to the timing of this stuff...

How about I let people on the committee make suggestions for a day or so, and then post it in Welcome? Then the accompanying Administrator thread can go up in Welcome, too, so we all have something to link to.

I've created the new "spot" for my version of this thread in Welcome; here's the address:

http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/viewtopic. ... um=board77

I'll incorporate the changes suggested here, along with the link to Mossy's welcome thread (bless that little kumquat! ) and move this whole thing over to Welcome tomorrow.

I haven't changed anything, yet, btw... I'm saving all your suggestions for one big edit!

Prim here—I just made the eventual Guide thread in Welcome:

http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/viewtopic. ... um=board77

Once the Guide is in Anth's thread in Welcome, any Ranger can edit that link into the first post of the Administrator thread (something like "Redirect: LINK") so people following the link to the Adminstrator thread will end up where they want to go.

Great work Anthy! Bravo!

Thank you Anthy

I am so glad you guys all like the document! <whew!> I was kind of worried about it... so much of it, like explaining the idea behind the mods and admins and stuff, was really my "take" on it. I'm glad that my take jibes with your take!

Or are ya'll just being nice?

Anyway, I edited in the new address for the RP registry, the new address for the Ranger list (twice), the address for the new welcome thread, and the address for Alandriel's history of b77 thread.

I am still missing the address for Jn's synopsis of the history of the invite process... has that thread been started somewhere? Just want to get it in there... before Sunday .

I edited out some typo-type boo-boos, and added some "flair"; I also added a comment directed at the current membership, which I will edit out before Sunday .

I do hope they can see it... <worries>

Bit late here, but it looks really good, Anthy! Very friendly and welcoming and informative and whatnot. Didn't see anything missing.

Thanks for doing this, oh wonderful papaya.

Oh, and can a Ranger type go ahead and un-sticky and lock Farawen's guide, so that it can start traveling down the forum? It might be a bit confusing for a n00b if BOTH are there, up at the top.



Thank you, Mossy girl... you are such a little smidgeon of apricoty goodness!

Done. It's now resting at the bottom of page two.