Should HNZ convert to Zeta Boards?

[Alicia Barker]

Should Hogwarts New Zealand convert to Zetaboards?

Zetaboards is a forum system created by the same people who have made Invisionfree. Zetaboards will be actively developed this means that new features will be added with some frequency and bugs in the system will be worked out as quickly as possible to give way to more updates.
Zetaboards will give Hogwarts New Zealand a variety of new features and other things that will make one's experience on the website overwhelmingly more enjoyable and even easier.

A free conversion is available to all Invisionfree boards to become Zetaboards, and the next batch of conversions is upcoming -- this would be the best time for our board to "opt in" and become a Zetaboard.
Everything is transferred over (pips, emoticons, topics, forums, permission masks, users, signature, (except skins >_< ) and the url is redirected [So if you type in http://www.hogwartsrp.com or http://z11.invisionfree.com/Hogwarts_NZ it will redirect you to the new board].

Some of the new features we can look forward to if we choose to convert are:

[ul]
[li]"Joinable User Groups" Will allow us to set up student clubs in such a fashion that users simply go to their User Control Panel, view the clubs/groups, click join and then they're added to a list of members in said group. We can appoint leaders of groups, and set it so that the leaders must approve people to join, set it so people may join by invitation only, or so that anybody can join no matter what. Members are allowed to be in as many "Joinable User Groups" as they want/need.
We could also use this for members who've been on HNZ for over a year, so they could receive a forum all their own to post in etc.</LI>

[li]Member Blogs: Zetaboards has a special area for each member to blog, as HNZ is a role playing site, I would suggest be used to
1) Post one's character's biography
2) Post their relationships and
3) Keep track of plots, summarize plots, plan future developments.
(This may not be enabled immediately for us when we convert for administrative purposes)

[li]Addable/Editable user profile fields:
Admin on ZB can create new profile fields for members to use which will appear in their "mini-profile" (beside their posts) and in their member profile. I would suggest that if we converted we utilize these to be like "Wand" "Blood Status" etc. so other members can get crucial RP-related information at a glance. We can limit their options by making the input field a drop down list (preventing inappropriate input).
Also: One can be titled "Inventory" and this can list all a user's character's purchases. Cecily has agreed this will make vaults supremely easier for her.

[li]Able to create webpages: How Nick has created the affiliates page and all the shops is via the forum rules of different forums. ZB will allow us to create an entirely new page and encode it however we want with HTML etc. allowing for easier access and editing of such pages.

[li]Automatic Skin Chooser: We could create, upload etc. multiple skins which members would have the choice between

[li]New BB codes

<LI>[li]Infinite amount of sub forums!!! Yes, that's right. Now, we can have the Category of All around the Wizarding World, the Parent Forum of Obsidian Harbour, the sub-forum of Quality Quidditch supplies then the sub-subforum of the Staff room, and if I wanted a sub-sub-subforum of that which might be, I don't know... the stock room. So the Path would be:
Hogwarts New Zealand ->All Around the Wizarding World -> Obsidian Harbour -> Quality Quidditch Supplies -> Staff Room/Area -> Stock Room etc.

[/li][/ul]

Nick has also taken the time to create a new version of HNZ's skin for Zetaboards as it would not be converted with the board, you may view the newest version of the skin here.
Please also note that if we convert we will not be able to convert back, or at least not in the near future.

Fell free to login under the following test account:

Username: HNZTEST
Password: test1

The cons of converting have been outlined here.

 

[Zoe-Hope Weasley]

For Gringotts, will the money thing stay the same? Or will it be something different?

I think it's a great idea though!!

 

[Njord Aesir]

As long as it makes it easier on the admins I'm all for it.

One thing though, that ad section at the very top by the log in is kinda annoying. Can that be made different, the ads on Invision free are less annoying.

 

[Aurora Hades]

I think this is a great opportunity for HNZ!!!
I'm in for it.
By the way,what does 'BB' stand for??

 

[Laura O'Connor]

Ooh, I think you should! It'll make things way easier, what with the usergroups and stuff.

 

[Lemina Troque]

Okay, well I've read the bit Alicia posted, and I really don't get why we wouldn't? So why is there a poll? Like is there any downsides to ZB is basically what I'm asking =P

 

[Nicolas King]

Unfortunatly there is no similar money code for Zetaboards -- which is a down side. We could come up with something similar, but it'd probably only be admin editable. I'm working on ideas for it, but it is a down side (which I didn't have the time to type out last night.)
Another negative is the ads Njord, agreed, unfortunately we cannot alter the ads on Invisionfree or Zetabords (location or anything, ever, no matter what).

As to the entire list of cons they are as follows, though most will only be experienced by shopkeepers and admin:


* Galleons code will not function on Zetaboards and when it won't most members will have a marker in their signature that looks something like %mh%500%mh% where the 500 was how many Galleons they had. We could easily post a notice simply asking members to remove this if we did end up converting
* The skin would not look as good as it does now. (It'll look exactly as I have it on the test board)There are things such as where the advertisements are placed on the board I cannot alter -- I'm trying and have tried my best.
* The star code will no longer work, however, I have a suggested alternative in the pros.... (The special group/forum)
* Members may have to become used to new user CP
* Administrators are no longer able to change a user's password from the Admin CP (However, if necessary you can alter their email then ask for an email validation of the password or something. ) [I believe this was done for security purposes].
* If HNZ is converted, it will take me an hour or so to install the CSS and all the images properly (That is after they convert it; so two weeks estimated conversion wait -- then one hour for me )
* As of now, you cannot mass PM people. (Admin only really do this now anyway )

Also, BB code is the coding you use in posts, for example:

[quote][/quote]
[b][/b]
[color=red][/color]
[center][/center]
[list=1][/list]
[url=http://www.hogwartsrp.com]HNZ[/url]

 

[Nicolas King]

As long as it makes it easier on the admins I'm all for it.

One thing though, that ad section at the very top by the log in is kinda annoying. Can that be made different, the ads on Invision free are less annoying.

I just realized what advertisement you're referring to, that style (the square box) is only when you view the board as a guest. When you log in it becomes elongated like the IF ads.

 

[Kale Thomas]

Wooooow, I like it a lot. I fully approve of changing to zeta! Yay

 

[Nicolas King]

Glad you like it Kale.
I wonder, if you've voted no, could you -- if you feel comfortable -- state why you may have voted that way, so that other people can see your side of things and the admin can perhaps see if we've missed something about this whole thing?

 

[Zoe-Hope Weasley]

Even if there is no way to figure out the new way of calculatin the galleons, I'll be alright with the old way, and I'll ask the other goblins' if they're alright with it too.

 

[Nicolas King]

That's very cool of you Zoe, thanks.
Like I said, I'm looking into it, and as Zetaboards grows more codes will be scripted that may allow us to actually do this -- though I'm not sure anybody will want to try it again (seeings how short lived this money code has been before we've found something else @_@ )

 

[Estrella Drage]

So, I'm still considering this. It may be a good addition, but-

What is happening to all of the rps that we have posted over the time we've been here? Are they still going to be there?

Nick, I'm a little confused. Will it take two weeks in duration to convert the site itself? (Meaning we won't have HNZ for two weeks)

 

[Nicolas King]

Everything is transferred over (pips, emoticons, topics, forums, permission masks, users, signature, (except skins >_< )

It clearly outlines that old topics, forums etc. are transferred over during the conversion in the explanation.

Also, two weeks is the estimated time frame for them to complete the entire round of conversions, I don't believe we lose HNZ at all during that time frame and if we did it'd be for a day at the absolute most when the converter is actually doing HNZ.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

I really like it alot!!
When will the change happen? Assuming the majority of people vote yes of course.

 

[Nicolas King]

The change will happen, assuming the poll ends on time, sometime in the next two weeks.

 

[Nicolas King]

The voting has ended with those in favour of the conversion having been in the majority.