We've Updated Again!

[Nicolas King]

Welcome back, friends!

We've just completed an update of our forum software. There are a number of changes you'll see around the board as a result.
A couple of the highlights include:

• Different topic types
  In different areas of the board you can now post articles (where the first post looks like this one - lots of space for text, user info minimized to the bottom), questions (where users can answer and answers can be voted on or the correct answer chosen - see here!) and of course, polls still exist.
  The off topic board lets you post all of these types of topics:
  
• Search Forums
  We can create default searches for you and save them in a forum (that updates regularly) to make certain types of topics easier to find. Like, for example, open RPs for you to join! Check out the Open RPs search forum here: https://hogwarts.nz/search-forums/open_rps/

But it's really a series of under-the-hood changes that are good in this update like:

• Username changes are now a default feature (we were using an add-on to do these!)
• Giphy integration is now default, as well (we were also using an add-on here, too!)
• The Xenforo-API was extended to allow alerts and not only PMs (when I get a chance to make the tweak, guess who won't be PM spammed by the gradebook anymore! Now alert spam is the new hip thing!)
  And I know you're all looking forward to this one:
  
• Minor tweaks to customization

You may notice a few things are different in a way you don't like, or a couple features were lost (maybe only for the time being) because those add-ons have been deprecated or not yet updated. We waited on this update until all the features we really needed were ready to go, and we hope you'll enjoy it and look forward to the continued tweaks as we keep changing things around the software update in the coming days and weeks!

As you discover things, why not share your learnings in Let's Learn Together?

Thanks for your patience during the downtime!

 

[Elliot Briar]

Ohh new stuff to poke at, thanks, Nick!

Love the search forum for Open threads especially

 

[Nicolas King]

Ohh new stuff to poke at, thanks, Nick!

Love the search forum for Open threads especially

It's even sorted by descending order of creation date (so the newest open RPs are at the top instead of just the most active ones - an active one made a week ago will be in the middle somewhere).

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

Thanks for the update Nick!! So much new stuff to explore!

Asking purely for myself, will the Article feature be available for posting things like Hogwarts Monthly that aren't RP posts per se, but take place in what are usually RP forums? I'm dreaming of a prettier HM

 

[Nicolas King]

Asking purely for myself, will the Article feature be available for posting things like Hogwarts Monthly that aren't RP posts per se, but take place in what are usually RP forums? I'm dreaming of a prettier HM

Yes!
Currently it's all our announcements and rules, and able to be posted in the off topic and on topic boards as well as biographies (guys, your bios could be beautiful).
Eventually, I'd love lessons to be articles (this may need buy-in from professors - but it might allow me to bring quick grading back!), and we can add that flexibility to selected other forums for people to post articles (the great hall being an obvious candidate).

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

BIOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSS

On that note, are we able to convert extant topics to the new formats?

 

[Nicolas King]

BIOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSS

On that note, are we able to convert extant topics to the new formats?

I don't know if users can (I would guess not - but if you discover you can, please share in let's learn together!).
If it's in a forum that supports that topic type a moderator can change its type for you.
A note on changing bios: Only the first post in articles appears in the new format, and replies look normal. But articles also allow for a lot more length! So it might just be that if you want an article bio you don't do replies to it.

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

Yeah, based on a quick skim of Ainsley's bio I don't appear to be able to change its type. I had just started going through old bios and completely reformatting them to a new style so I guess I'm gonna redo that new code AGAIN and start from scratch for fancy article bios

 

[Olivia Drage]

So excited about the open RPs forum. I'll have to play around with the new thread types.

Thanks for putting in all this work to the updates!

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

The idea of redoing all my bios is stressing me out but I may get to that one day I do like the look of these article topics a lot. I'd definitely be down to use them for lessons.

Thanks for the hard work, Nick! I'm immediately itching to start some open topics

 

[Nicolas King]

The idea of redoing all my bios is stressing me out but I may get to that one day

No stress, Daphne!
Emzies talked me off the ledge of forcing all bios to become articles, so now it's super chill no need to do it if you don't want to sort of thing instead of the stressful "my 5 reply bio is now the wonkiest looking thing ever!" kinda stress I was planning for this update initially.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

thank u emzies

 

[Stefan Archer]

thank u emzies

 

[Samuel Phillips]

The Article topic type seems so cool! and in addition to making bios pretty I think could be very useful for the next minister elections on site. It wont happen for a while yet obviously but using an article type topic to post campaign posters and answer questions from characters could be really fun IC!!

(I will absolutely make all my bios articles now if i ever get to completing them )

 

[Nicolas King]

Yes, I'm sure as we expand where the new thread types can be used you will all, in true HNZ fashion, come up with amazingly creative uses for them and enrich the roleplaying experience as a result.

 

[Samuel Phillips]

On that note it also seems useful for plot developments and I will definitely use the article type for my next plot development whenever that may be

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Thanks Nick!

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Oohh the article thing is so cool!!! I'm looking forward to seeing what people do with it. And the questions format is very nice as well.

Hahahah, 115 people ignoring the gradebook gave me a chuckle

Thanks so much for all the updates Nick!!

 

[Violet Fields]

How does the article look like? Will we get a tut?

Awesome job, Nick! As always.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

How does the article look like? Will we get a tut?

Awesome job, Nick! As always.

Hey Madz!

The article format is being used here, so the first post of Nick's is using the article format and then you can see how everyone else's replies look after that.

As for the tutorial, Nick's article post shows what it'll look like when you go to start a topic in an area that offers options. It's under the different types bullet point.

Hope that helps to clarify! If not, let me know and I'll PM ya!!

 

[Madlyn Ateara]

Hey Madz!

The article format is being used here, so the first post of Nick's is using the article format and then you can see how everyone else's replies look after that.

As for the tutorial, Nick's article post shows what it'll look like when you go to start a topic in an area that offers options. It's under the different types bullet point.

Hope that helps to clarify! If not, let me know and I'll PM ya!!

Gracias, Cyndi.

I skim through and miss on the important st00f.