The BoRCom Forums are back and better than before!
With deep gratitude towards a certain Seal I know who also happens to be a master problem solver, the forums are now fixed and niftier than they were before.
I gave them a new look and trimmed some of the forums and the pesky bug that was preventing the creation of new accounts or the editing of old accounts has been squished.
Please click the link to the right and visit the forums. They've sat dead for way too long and I'd love to see some life there.
Thanks.
Forum on!
Strega
Mornin', Folks!
Well I did it. I got brave and I done went and did it.
In the neverending battle to combat spam and the spammers who have no life outside their small spamming spheres, I have installed MT Blacklist at last. Go, me!
MT Blacklist is not a cure-all. It is an open list of spammers that is added to by users as they receive spam. It's a great concept and while I have no idea if it actually works for spam control or not, it was definitely worth a try.
MT Blacklist works from the server so although you will see nothing different in your admin panel when you log into your blog, trust me - it's there.
MT Blacklist will only allow you to block/delete comments to blogs you can rebuild. The address to add to the Blacklist is HERE. Although you can only delete comments in your blogs, if you import the list after you delete the comments, everyone else can use it as well so I ask that you take that extra step. Just follow the step by step and you're done.
Currently there are 2859 blocked addresses on the MT Blacklist and you can see the list HERE. It's pretty extensive, should work.
So there it is. One small step for combatting spam, one giant step for BoRCom.
Please let me know if you notice a difference!
Blog on.
Strega
Greetings, Bloggers!
Yes, the muse lives!
I have finally returned home after an extended stay up at my parents. It's not often we get an opportunity to spend almost two months with family and not worry about anything else. I needed it and I return to you refreshed, revived and recharged.
I've had much catching up to do and I believe it's all done for the moment. Allow me to break it down for you all and make a few comments.
** The Shadow Siege Player Aid Blog has been added to the Blogroll here on the Grimoire, hopefully this will be of some assistance for SS players and those seeking new games.
** The Grand Alphabetical List of BoRCom Blogs has been updated so all graphics match.
** Blog and Website of the Month will return in March, again I ask if you want free publicity for your website (personal or game related), please send me the URL.
** All blogs waiting to be created have been created. If you are missing a blog, please email me.
** For those of you who use Livejournal, I have made a Blogs of Roleplay Community (BorComBlogs). I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it but now that Six Apart has purchased LJ, I figured it could be useful. If nothing else, it's one more place for you to promote your blog and your game. Come on by and sign up!
** There has been much attention lately given to the surplus of spam in comments. I've addressed this issue previously but basically it boils down to this: I will eventually install MT-Blacklist now that I am back but in the meantime it requires a bit of attention on your part. I have very few rules on BoRCom, it's pretty much just keep it RP. I don't like rules in excess but sometimes they are necessary.
I have gone through and deleted over 10,000 spam comments for you all. This is something I will not do again. While it is a bit tedious, the comment elimination process is not difficult and when done once doesn't require repeating. All you have to do is:
Go into "list and edit entries."
One by one, click each entry.
At the bottom of the entry screen, click 'closed' and unclick 'open' for trackback.
Click 'save.'
Delete the comments for that entry.
Rebuild.
I also recommend the IP Ban function, I was checking the Activity Log and there are quite a few 'throttled comment attempts from...." in there, it definitely helps.
Comments take up space when they start to add up. Bloggers need to maintain that part of their blogs. I can't have blogs with several hundred comments hogging space on the site. Blogs left with hundreds of spam comments that continue to grow will be warned via email to the author and then deleted.
** Thank you to our first donor of the new year! With the server move coming with the Spring and everything else going on, donations are deeply appreciated. Funds are kept in a place even I cannot get to until it is time to spend them only on what they are meant for, my personal promise.
** MT 3.15 will be coming shortly. I plan to offer people the choice of which version of MT they want their blog to be upon creation. I don't want to uproot all the current blogs, many of you aren't interested in the technical aspect and would not appreciate a forced upgrade. I feel your pain and will not inflict this on you. I will work with anyone who wants to upgrade and needs help but I'm not going to make anyone move.
However, this means a second domain must come into play. I'm stuck on a name, I've thought of moreblogsofroleplay.com, blogsofroleplay2.com, enchantedeidolons.com, to name a few. I'd love feedback on this, my head is reaching a brick wall on it and maybe one of you can light the spark. Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email, all ideas are welcome!
** The following blogs and authors have been removed from the system for three months of complete inactivity starting from their creation date:
A Tail of Two Tauren - Owa
Aryhm - Majcher
Distant Memories to Come - Mallir
Fury - Fury
The History (His Story) - Morthoseth
Mullington - Denara Alliere
Rauve - Rauve
Relic - J
Shenorah - Stefan
The Solemn Order Templares - Folken
Valthonis - Alex Zecchino
Vestige and Victuals - Slazzarus
Xaithia - Xaithia
** This post will also be sent via Notification. My apologies to those of you who actually come here and read the updates but I need to verify who if anyone uses the Pop3 email accounts given out. There are more email accounts than there are blogs and I'm working to reconcile that.
Please take a minute when you receive the notification and let me know if you use and/or want the @blogsofroleplay.com email account. It can be as simple as sending a reply with 'keep' or 'cancel.' I want the people who use it to continue to have it but I'd like to clear space and cobwebs off of those who do not.
And that is it for the mid-February update! I thank you for giving me a few moments of your time as you read this.
Blog on!
Strega