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April 2020 Update

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Touzen

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Hi everyone, and welcome to the new forum update!

The April 2020 update is the biggest one we have had in years. The forum software has been updated from the former Xenforo 1.5 version to 2.1.8, which comes with a multitude of technical improvements under the hood. They are too many to count, but just some examples would be a completely reworked admin interface which makes it significantly easier to maintain the forum, an improved post editor on the user side (lot more options that are easily accessed, some critical bugs that didn't allow people to edit certain posts have been fixed), and a generally increased performance level should be all things that should make people rejoice. Truly, we are back on a modern software and are ready for the next few years!

I have also invested in a professional design framework, which replaces our previous style and has given me a lot more options for adjusting the forum design. The newly created Europe Style 2020 design is replacing Europe Style 2017 and focuses on understated, easily read colors, while the framework itself works well on modern computer monitors as well as smartphones, which an increasing amount of users on the page are using as their main mode of accessing the forum. On computers, the new sidebar design makes use of the additional screen real estate. The avatars are also now very round, which looks nice and professional in my opinion - but feedback is of course welcome.

The Wiki had to be replaced with the upgrade to the new forum software and is now powered by another software that should let you continue were you left off. There are options to create templates that other users can use, the wiki geeks among you should be familiar with that - there's also discussion threads that can automatically be created in the Wiki forum. Please self-organize and create templates, most things in the wiki can already be edited by everyone but if the community wants to take things regarding making the wiki look nice into their own hands, I will be more than happy to give project leaders the additional editing options to go wild with the wiki.

One other noticeable change will be the end of Anonymous postings, as the Shadows forum will be phased out and eventually merged back into the World Stage. It was an interesting experiment that in the end however did not contribute to quality RP. Due to technical limitations, it is also right now not possible to change your own username, though I hope this will come back in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, please use the name changing thread and some staff member will help your shortly. Staff members also had some issues with their accounts fixed and should be able to assist in more ways now without having to involve me.

Some new BBcodes should also now be possible, and something that I have installed will make it easier to create new ones. Please create a thread if you are interested in providing me with new BBcodes to implement. Tables should now be possible, for example.

The software also has the ability to give us a Facebook-style multiple reactions system for posts (Like, Haha, Wow, you know...), I'll play around before committing to something.

Alliance forums are back, they can only be seen by people who are in the respective user group. I have empowered @Kadikistani Union and @Etruria to take care of the forums for their respective alliances. By clicking on your name in the top right corner and then Account Details, you can find "Moderated groups" on the bottom left side, from where you can add people to your alliance groups or remove them. That being said I kinda depend on you guys to look after these alliance forums, as I cannot see them. If there's any odd or illegal content, please reach out to me so I can take action. Also just let me know if the permissions as I set them up work or if I made a mistake and you cannot access some options in your forum. The forums should be under International Diplomacy. New alliance forums can be created by requesting admin action on the matter and will be granted based on whether an alliance forum is judged to be necessary.

Last but not least, the April map update is finally live. Hope it is what you've been looking forward to. Again a big thanks to Coro who continues to contribute a great service to the community.

Thanks for reading until here, let me know about any concerns or feedback you have, and enjoy.
 

Furlanìe

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didn't we pretty much all agreed to make the subforums accessible to everyone at least reading-wise? secret subforums are a big no for me

sorry for the double post but !!! can we get the [div] function back? it fucks up pretty much half my posts and my wiki as I used it to scale pictures everywhere
 

Touzen

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There's a new table tool functionI think it replaces the div function in thisnew software
It allows you to easily create tablesI'll check what we can do about div.
 

Remuria

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Nice stuff, and definetely a leap forward, but looks somewhat weird in mobile version.
 

Furlanìe

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There's a new table tool functionI think it replaces the div function in thisnew software
It allows you to easily create tablesI'll check what we can do about div.
Thanks, the table thing is really great, but is not as versatile as DIV, I used it for everything, would be a pain to fix every post and rescale every picture
 

Khemia

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What's an inline spoiler?

Epstein didn't kill himself.

Damn. I knew it.
 

Touzen

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Nice stuff, and definetely a leap forward, but looks somewhat weird in mobile version.

Thanks for the feedback and I agree, as a first measure I have made some changes that should make the layout display better on iPads and other tablets. Still a work in progress.

Thanks, the table thing is really great, but is not as versatile as DIV, I used it for everything, would be a pain to fix every post and rescale every picture

I will see whether it's possible to add legacy Div support.
 

Furlanìe

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I will see whether it's possible to add legacy Div support.
Awesome! Let me know whether you manage to add it or not, thank you.
After coping with an anxiety attack for all the changes, I admit the forum looks quite neat now
 

Remuria

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Thanks for the feedback and I agree, as a first measure I have made some changes that should make the layout display better on iPads and other tablets. Still a work in progress.

Sure thing. I don't think phones are the instrument of choice for posting anyway, at least for the wider player base.
 

Touzen

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Still working on the Div tags, it's not forgotten. Thanks for the feedback thus far!

There was also an issue that I could not see new users awaiting account approval, which affected 4 people. They have all been approved now.

There also was an issue that we could not see reported posts, and I see there have been some reported posts in the past. We are now able to see them and take action, thanks.
 

Thaumantica

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There also was an issue that we could not see reported posts, and I see there have been some reported posts in the past. We are now able to see them and take action, thanks.

Right, there does seem to be years back of problems we were unaware of. :eek2: Based on the log though it wasn't insane.
 

Thaumantica

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Deletes have been made, sins have been forgiven. It's all about tomorrow, not yesterday. 0 open issues.
 

Vrijpoort

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This is a very aesthetically pleasing update! Thank you! I would also like some sort of 'like' function to return. That was fun.

Question: could the 'view count' of threads that have more than 1K views be made more specific? Right now if a thread has more than 1K views, that's all we see instead of an accurate count. I like seeing this as it helps give me a rough idea of how many people have read my posts since I last posted. Without a 'Like' function, this is what I have been using to keep tabs on if my writing is garnering attention.

Thanks!
 
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