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Ahhh... well after something like three hours in a Skype vidioconference, Azhrei and I worked out and put into place the new structure for the "UserCreations" part of the forums. (Thanks for the work and patience Azhrei!)

The final structure didn't change from what I had proposed (and reported in the "THE FOURTH AGE COMETH" thread") except:

• We've added a "help request" sub-forum appropriately titled "Requests for HELLLLP!"
• Each sub forum will have a directory thread very similar to the one for frameworks found in "User Creations/Campaign Frameworks".
• NEW threads can only be started in the "User Creations" forum, but not in the sub/sub-sub forums. You can post in EXISTING threads!

Basically, after you've searched all the other sub and sub-sub forums for an answer - you go here. To help make your search easier the directory threads will actually exist "User Creations" with a shadow topic in the appropriate sub forum. To manage all this I (and maybe sometimes Azhrei) will be regularly checking User Creations for new threads and moving where they should go.

Our hope is that in the long run the sub and sub-sub forums will be nice, clean, and every thread right on topic to that location. We want people to look at the structure of User Creations and be able to zero right in on the answer. The structure and decisions we've made are based on actually going through the entire User Creations area looking at what was to be found where.

Getting everything moved and organized and listed into directories is huge undertaking and thus is going to be a *long* process. Please bear with us and keep the feedback coming.

has this something todo with the entire user creation section currently being locked down?? No single thread can be edited or replied to, they are all locked.
I've already pm-ed Ahzrei about this.

Yeah, some kind of mistake with the way the forum locking works. I thought it would allow replies, just not new posts. Apparently I was wrong. I'll look at it when I get back to the hotel tonight.

Well, that seems a bit of a pain. I created a new forum access role, "Replies Only". Then I set the "Registered Users" group to use that access role. This had to be done for each forum, and for each user group (such as "Registered COPPA Users", "Newly Registered Users", and "Post Approval Users").

Fortunately, I only had to do this for one forum and then could use the "copy forum permissions" function. So I set four groups and then copied; hopefully it came out correct. Please let me know if it didn't!

To summarize:

• Regular users should be able to create threads in User Creations and User Creations > Request for HELLLP!, and that's it.
• Replies to existing posts should work everywhere except in individually locked threads.
• Polls are turned off everywhere except User Creations. If you want a poll associated with your framework, please post in User Creations and GD or I will move it to the appropriate spot.

didn't it work this way before you made this change? I mean new FW's were added in the 'user creation' section and when enough interest was shown, you could 'poke' a site admin to move it to the 'reply only' FW section.

So what's changed in respect to that?

All of the other subforums being included in the "cannot post here" mode. And the reorganizing of the subforums in general (new subforums created, viewing order changed, etc).

check! I noticed the new sub forum, very clean look and helpfull!! And indeed the 'drop-in' section used to be a 'open' forum.

Hi everyone...

I've been absent for the past week and - well sitting here in a hotel in South Florida trying to recover I finally have time to post.

Last Thursday I left for a gaming con in LA (I live in Spokane, WA) called "Orccon", run by the group "Strategicon".. I had a full plate running RPG's pretty much from 2pm Friday with my last session at 9 am Monday.

Saturday, about 45 mins into my 8pm session I got a call from my wife I've only ever gotten one other time in my adult life... "What are you doing? Are you sitting down?..."

She just took the call that my father had died.

The group and con were gracious - and being unable to really leave LA until my flight on Tuesday I pressed on.

I landed in Spokane about 11pm Tuesday, back on a flight to Ft. Lauderdale 6am Wed morning that took several plane changes and got me there after 10pm East Coast time.

Services were Thursday, burial was today (that's a small story in itself). And I'm in a hotel trying to take it all in.

One thing I said about my dad - I had a "he was a gamer - and he was my dad". I let my brother have my dad's flag even though I'm the oldest - my brother is the one who dealt with all my dad's hospitalizations and crap over last 12 years - it rightfully belongs to him.

In talking with my wife I remembered I had something that can almost be more important than the flag - in 2005 he had quit gaming due to problems with his hands and eyesight - he came to Spokane for a month and gave me *ALL* his gaming stuff, books, characters... and is collection of dice - including the large ones he had to use so he could see the numbers.

Anyway, in thinking about that I remembered (dont' ask me why) that I have let this project sit stagnant. That's going to be the case till sometime next week while I process that my dad's gone.

I do appreciate your understanding.
Al

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, Al. Please accept my condolences.

My father-in-law passed away last year. It had been a long, slow process and we knew the end was coming, though not the day and time. Still, it was tough for my wife to lose her father, and the ensuing arrangements were difficult to make without getting teary eyed.

I wish you strength during this difficult time.

*peeks in* thanks Azrhei, you put a smile on my face.

Fortunately I got home tomorrow, beats Florida

The family has been batting around what to put on dads headstone. 3 lines of 15 chars spaces included. A few are trying to focus on the fact he was a cowboy in his day - forgetting all he was besides just a cowboy. After pointing out that they were forgetting about everything that made him who he was I suggested:

Cowboy, Soldier
Father, Friend
Grandfather

No matter what the selfish part of the family decides - that's how I'll remember him, as I roll his dice at the table.

Ok...

I've been bangning my head on the keyboard trying to get things moved - and which gets interrupted by the wife wanting to go shopping, LD phone calls about the family member who robbed my dad's house after the funeral (Guess they had a key) for several thousand dollars of stuff...

and now all my permissions have changed! I can't move anything... ARRGG

Azrhei has been notified.

Ok, last post in this thread, and it will be locked after this...

I apologize for being absentee - if you've read the thread you know I lost my dad and my niece (sister's kid) robbed the house for an estimated $1,000 plus. Also Azhrei had the pleasure of me bugging him with access problems. Seemed like he'd fix one thing and two more would crop up. But he's been patient.

The "bonus" problems with my dad's estate wasn't just my family and I having to get the estate closed out but also with the creditors who were demanding payment and were trying to serve my brothers and I with lawsuits (I'm easy to find, dads exact same name). Fortunately the brother who is the lead on all this was able to fight them off - I guess a "+1 Sword of Holy Smiting (+50 vs Lawyers and the like)". So for now at least that battle is over.


As of right now I'm dedicating today (Friday) and Sunday to catching up. Y'all have been patient and it is time I get back to work.

Later
Al B.