=][= THE B&C IS ABOUT TO CROSS THE RUBICON PRIMARIS =][=

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, if you’re one of those hobbyists that dislikes the Primaris line, imagine I chose some other title indicative of change and improvement.

For years we’ve been promising a site upgrade and server migration. Well that is finally going to happen. For really reals this time! For the last few months, the team has been working on testing the new software. We’re in the final stages of making tweaks to get us ready for Zero Day.

Some time Very Soon (shortly after Memorial Day), the site will be taken offline.

=][= UPDATE =][=

It looks like Thursday will be the day that we go offline. It will be some time after 6 A.M. CST.

=][= CARRY ON =][=

A number of things will then happen:

• First, some structural changes are going to take place (moving/re-naming categories and forums). We’re also looking at creating some new forums, some of which have been suggested in the past. The overall intent is to reduce vertical scrolling while keeping the organization intuitive.
• Next, the tech adepts will do the hard work of converting the site to the new software.
• After that, the artificers will give the site a shiny new skin. The new skin is a little different from the legacy skin, but it will still be recognizable as the B&C.
• After that, a whole raft of settings and other newness will be updated and implemented.
• If all goes well, the site will come online in two weeks (or less). If there are complications, we might be down for up to a month.

Here are some of the things that you can look forward to:

• You will be able to upload images directly to posts without having to upload them to gallery albums first.
• Avatars/Profile Pictures are changing. You’ll still be able to use an avatar. If you don’t, however, instead of the stock grayscale Space Marine photo, the system will use the first letter of your display name.
• Cover Photos! You’ll be able to customize a cover photo/header image for your profile page. You can see the one I’m currently using below.
• Reactions are being expanded. Currently we have only “LIKES.” The new reactions will include “THANKS,” “HAHA,” “CONFUSED,” and “SAD” (and we’re considering more). While Confused and Sad don’t confer any reputation points, the other three do. Members are currently limited to 20 LIKES per day, but this will increase to support the full range of reactions you might give (we haven’t settled on a number yet, but it will be sufficient to allow you to give a reasonable number of appropriate reactions each day.
• There will now be ACHIEVEMENTS. When you perform certain actions, you might gain an achievement that will award either a reputation point or a badge, or both. Some achievements are tiered, so making N posts might get you an achievement, getting Nx10 posts might get you another achievement, etc. There may also be some manually awarded badges. We have a few starters (tied to the Legio B&C), but there is a lot of potential to use these for contests/challenges, contributions to the site, etc. You can see a few of the test badges (these are not the final badges that you’ll see) in the screenshot of my profile page below.
• Clubs! Members will be able to create, join, and participate in clubs. These will require admin approval to ensure that they are sufficiently related to the WH40K hobby. Clubs will allow members to participate in specific endeavors. We expect that clubs will replace a lot of the special projects and permission masks, but there is a lot of potential with clubs that we expect will develop organically. Creating, joining, and participating in clubs have the potential to result in achievements being earned.
• Calendars! We already have a calendar, but it is woefully underutilized. With calendars being included in achievements, we hope that the new and improved calendars will be used to better effect, though we expect that realizing the benefits of the calendars will happen organically.
• Reputation points will earn you rank advancements. These are outside of the Frater Domus, Moderati, etc. roles and are an indicator of your relative level of experience and participation at the site. You can see a test image for the highest rank that I’ve achieved in the screenshot of my profile page below. Ranks don’t confer any special privileges or permissions and are more chrome to give a quick indicator of how active and experienced a member is.
• That ugly orange "Edited By" line is now much more discreet (and it's not orange).
• The Leaderboard will show who is “winning” each day in terms of participation, reactions received, etc.
• The email system will be reactivated. This means that members registering new accounts won’t have to contact the admins via email, or hope that the admins don’t think their accounts are spammers/bots (we get almost 100 spammer/bot accounts registering each day). This will also speed up password recovery, being automated rather than relying on one of the admins to receive and act on emails.
• Logging in will be by e-mail address and usernames will be removed.
• Titles will be gone. This won’t affect most members, but the mods and admins enjoy our spiffy titles (e.g., mine is “Fidelis Militus” and it appears above my profile picture). We have a crack team of cyber monkey nomenclature servitors (CMNS) that labor to craft each new mod’s title, and they’re going to be pissed to be out of a job. We’re in negotiations with them to keep them on board, though, and to just award titles in a secret hazing ceremony. Besides, many of the mods have business cards (for if we ever get to venture out to WH40K events to represent the B&C) and our titles are on those cards.

  

• The mobile skin will offer a lot more functionality.
• The custom BBCode will probably go away. This will affect a number of specially crafted and formatted articles, especially in the Liber forums. This will also affect all of the Resource topics and the various tabulae, so I’ll be re-working each of those over time. Note that the loss of custom BBCode breaks a lot of members' signatures, including mine.:(
• The painters will probably go away. The code for each is embedded in the legacy software and it would take a miracle to separate it in order to integrate it with the new software. We might look at creating new painters in the future, but this would have to be a community effort.
• Blogs! These won’t be a Zero Day release, but will come some time down the road. Blogs were extremely popular and we always wanted to bring them back. Each member will be able to create their own blog for sharing their hobby content and thoughts.
• Pages! These won’t be a Zero Day release, either. Some of you may recall the Librarium, and article functionality that we had. Pages will update that capability, but may provide a lot more. We haven’t fully wrapped our heads around the full range of possibilities that pages will offer, and we expect that much of that will be realized organically.
• And there is more stuff that you'll find out about later!

Here’s a screenshot of the top of my profile page:

We expect that work will continue after Zero Day as we continue to refine things and as we get a better handle on the new hotness.

As with any change, there will be some aspects that individuals may not like, and some changes that you’ll have to get used to. Overall, however, we believe that the long-overdue software upgrade will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the site and the hobby. We hope that you are looking forward to this as much as we are!

=][= FOLLOW UP =][=

For those of you that aren't sure about the email address associated with your account, instructions for figuring it out can be found here.

You will need to use the Full theme to check your email address. If you're using the Mobile theme, you can switch to the Full theme by clicking the button at the bottom center of the screen.

Don't do what one person did and create a new account. That kind of laziness is frowned upon. If you really can't figure it out, contact the administrators and we'll be happy to help you out.

=][= CARRY ON =][=

Edited May 31, 2022 by Brother Tyler

[Joe]

I like the look of these changes. Glad the day has finally come.

[Cyrox]

All of these changes sound incredible, looking forward to the new changes - bravo to all involved and thanks!

 

Quick question - does everyone start at the same rank irrespective of longevity, or will some of the veteran members here see that reflected?

 

Thanks again

[Brother Tyler]

Ranks are automatically calculated by the system. In your case, your current reputation is 860 and your rank will be based on that score (or whatever it is when we do this). All lower ranks are also awarded automatically. The starting rank is Aspirant and the highest rank is Venerable.

 

Achievements will start from scratch, which is kind of a bummer.

[Slave to Darkness]

Dont like the email only login, I have no idea what email account I have used for B&C. Other than that everything sounds ok. Dont know what Im gonna do when the sites down though, maybe go outside and talk to real people. *shudders*

[Halandaar]

All sounds good and interesting, although I am wary of a "leaderboard" for participation given we already have people who are a bit too fond of inflating their post count with two word non-contributions.

[Codex Grey]

The custom BBCode will probably go away. This will affect a number of specially crafted and formatted articles, especially in the Liber forums. This will also affect all of the Resource topics and the various tabulae, so I’ll be re-working each of those over time. Note that the loss of custom BBCode breaks a lot of members' signatures, including mine.

Can you explain what custom code refers to? Is it custom as opposed to standard? Will some code features remain or does this just mean all functionality from the code mode go away?

 

And if some things will go away while other things will stay, It would be nice to know what.

 

That ugly orange "Edited By" line is now much more discreet (and it's not orange).

I am unreasonably happy about this. Edited May 24, 2022 by Codex Grey

[Brother Tyler]

Dont like the email only login, I have no idea what email account I have used for B&C. Other than that everything sounds ok. Dont know what Im gonna do when the sites down though, maybe go outside and talk to real people. *shudders*

 

It turns out that logging in via email and not display name is much more secure, especially since emails aren't shown.

 

If you don't remember which email you used to create your account, check your profile. Alternately, you can contact the admins.

 

Can you explain what custom code refers to? Is it custom as opposed to standard? Will some code features remain or does this just mean all functionality from the code mode go away??

Many of these are custom BBCodes. Standard things like bold, italics, etc. will remain, but things like headers, buttons, etc. are custom and will probably go away.

 

All sounds good and interesting, although I am wary of a "leaderboard" for participation given we already have people who are a bit too fond of inflating their post count with two word non-contributions.

The leaderboard is more about posts that receive reactions from others and not the posts someone makes.

[Dont-Be-Haten]

Ranks are automatically calculated by the system. In your case, your current reputation is 860 and your rank will be based on that score (or whatever it is when we do this). All lower ranks are also awarded automatically. The starting rank is Aspirant and the highest rank is Venerable.

 

Achievements will start from scratch, which is kind of a bummer.

Excited for the changes!

 

Will we be able to keep all our old badges in our sigs? It's going to be really weird not logging in as DBH anymore...I've done it for so long.

[MARK0SIAN]

It sounds good! Just to confirm though, we don’t actually have to do anything do we? Once the site is back up we will just log back in as normal (with the email address) and our profile will have automatically been transferred?

[Xenith]

All sounds good and interesting, although I am wary of a "leaderboard" for participation given we already have people who are a bit too fond of inflating their post count with two word non-contributions.

 

As per BT. Quality of post/forum interaction, and not just quantity, is something we are keenly aware of and has been taken into consideration. 

[Tyriks]

I'm really excited to use the new site. Hopefully it's on the shorter side of transition time!

[Brother Tyler]

It sounds good! Just to confirm though, we don’t actually have to do anything do we? Once the site is back up we will just log back in as normal (with the email address) and our profile will have automatically been transferred?

Correct, absolutely no work will be required on your part. Your profile and all of your content will convert.

 

The only thing anyone might need to do is figure out which email address they have associated with their account.

 

Will we be able to keep all our old badges in our sigs? It's going to be really weird not logging in as DBH anymore...I've done it for so long.

Yes, your signatures will be there. Some of them don't work, however, so you might have to reconfigure them.

[infyrana]

Great news on the site being strong enough to move forward and get improvements!

 

*Edit* - Answered just above, shows how long it takes me to write a post lol - Same query as above - will this be a site upgrade and retain our user history including messages, galleries / profile information and signatures etc, or will we need to save them offline and upload them when the new site is back up and running?  I gotta work out if this e-mail address is still active >.<

 

 

With regards to posting achievements, I hope that it doesn't become a reason for people to post one word answers to boost their post counts for 'leveling up' their username.  I don't wish to be gated out because my 'ilvl' isn't high enough

 

Good luck with the upgrade, not sure what I'll do with all that extra time 

Edited May 24, 2022 by infyrana

[Slave to Darkness]

 

Dont like the email only login, I have no idea what email account I have used for B&C. Other than that everything sounds ok. Dont know what Im gonna do when the sites down though, maybe go outside and talk to real people. *shudders*

 

It turns out that logging in via email and not display name is much more secure, especially since emails aren't shown.

 

If you don't remember which email you used to create your account, check your profile. Alternately, you can contact the admins.

 

 

Sorted. :tu:

 

Any advice on what to do when the sites down though?? I have forgotten how to human. :lol:

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

How do you find out which email you used to create your account ?

[infyrana]

Sorted.

 

Any advice on what to do when the sites down though?? I have forgotten how to human.

 

Plan out a Heresy armour when you don't have rules or available models that you're wanting to use ... and wonder what the heck you're doing! :D  Might give me more time to finish up more of my current 'in progress' project, but I'll also be missing the chit chat of ideas and info.

[andes]

Will the light-mode IP.Board desktop theme still be supported? The default dark-mode theme looks awesome, but is really rough on my eyes.

[Slave to Darkness]

 

Sorted.

 

Any advice on what to do when the sites down though?? I have forgotten how to human.

 

Plan out a Heresy armour when you don't have rules or available models that you're wanting to use ... and wonder what the heck you're doing!   Might give me more time to finish up more of my current 'in progress' project, but I'll also be missing the chit chat of ideas and info.

 

Already got a work around for how to paint my Mk6 when they are out, buy box, paint Fire Hawks, play 1st edition... 

 

I am gonna miss seeing what others are up to though. :(

[Cyrox]

 

 

Sorted.

 

Any advice on what to do when the sites down though?? I have forgotten how to human.

 

Plan out a Heresy armour when you don't have rules or available models that you're wanting to use ... and wonder what the heck you're doing!   Might give me more time to finish up more of my current 'in progress' project, but I'll also be missing the chit chat of ideas and info.

 

Already got a work around for how to paint my Mk6 when they are out, buy box, paint Fire Hawks, play 1st edition... 

 

I am gonna miss seeing what others are up to though.

 

 

We could come up with a hashtag on Instagram for when the B&C forum is offline, and then post pics there using the tag and we can see what everyone is doing

 

#bolterandchainswordrubicon or something better 

[Dudley Nightshade]

How do you find out which email you used to create your account ?

In “My Settings”, under “Email & Password”.

(Thankfully, because I had also forgotten.)

[Halandaar]

 

 

Plan out a Heresy armour when you don't have rules or available models that you're wanting to use ... and wonder what the heck you're doing!   Might give me more time to finish up more of my current 'in progress' project, but I'll also be missing the chit chat of ideas and info.

 

Already got a work around for how to paint my Mk6 when they are out, buy box, paint Fire Hawks, play 1st edition... 

 

I am gonna miss seeing what others are up to though.

 

We could come up with a hashtag on Instagram for when the B&C forum is offline, and then post pics there using the tag and we can see what everyone is doing

 

#bolterandchainswordrubicon or something better 

 

#bolterandchainsword is already being used by members of the forum and (as far I can tell) that's what whoever runs the B&C instagram account uses to find posts and share them.

[Cactus]

Sorry, I follow a different calendar. When is Memorial Day in euro-dates please?

[Tyriks]

Sorry, I follow a different calendar. When is Memorial Day in euro-dates please?

May 30, this year

Edited May 24, 2022 by Nemesor Tyriks

[Doctor Perils]

Oh wow, so like in a week?!