Welcome Back!

[Nautia]

Board is Back Up! If you're reading this, then this officially means that the board and its forums are back up at full capacity!

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Before we proceed, make sure to press CTRL + F5 to refresh your browser cache. Doing that should load up the new background and fix any mismatched / unloaded assets. Once you've done that, there's a few things I'd like to talk about using this announcement

Firstly...
Why did the forum get eradicated?

To be completely honest, I only have a partial clue as to why it happened. From what I can discern, the forum got corrupted when I purged its cache, a function that's meant to be done to refresh your board internally and is a common thing to do for maintenance. I'm not sure if its because I quit out of the page too early, or if an extension caused it, but somehow and someway the board's homepage got completely wiped.

We do know that the "Worldbuilding" tab and the rest of the site worked fine, but I wasn't satisfied with this and I wanted to try and fix things. My attempts led me to deleting the contents of a folder inside the board's "cache" folder, something which has been stated to be a safe thing to do, but despite that, it completely killed the rest of the board. Luckily, a lot of our stuff was already either archived or accessible via the database itself, so we technically didn't lose anything we've written, just the front-end of the board itself.

I don't want this incident to possibly repeat, so...
What am I doing to prevent it from happening?

I'd like to get into what I've already done first. Rather than installing the board onto InfinityFree via Softalicious, I installed the board manually using proper instructions. I think this is a lot safer seeing as I got to configure majority of the site's core settings, as well as make it use a database that I created and is hosted via InfinityFree itself, something which wasn't possible if I installed it via Softalicious.

The fact that we've got an easily accessible database now may seem like something inconsequential for you all, but this means one thing: Backups. A lot of backups. I have two options for this: I either stick with using phpMyAdmin to manually backup the entire database, or create a script which simplifies the entire process into just one or two button presses (plus I can make it automatic). I'll look into doing the second option when I get some more free time, otherwise, manual backups will be done.

On the other hand, I'm also a lot more careful with what extensions I install, how I delete things in the back-end, and with purging the cache. It seems like being a bit gung-ho has caused this. Even with this in mind, I still encourage archiving what you've written down in our discord channels (just by posting it, which is something we already do) or through other means.

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Anyway, the board is back up... What now?
There's a few new things!
First thing's first, I'd like to get into the theming of the board. The board's background is entirely new and ISN'T a screenshot from the Frieren anime. The style being used is still the exact same though. I suggest opening the color styles and using the lime green (or muted / darker green) option since it fits with the board's background a lot more.

Aside from the theming we've also got a whole host of extensions, both new and old. Here's a list of them:

• Background Forum

• Change Logo

• Genders

• Markdown

• phpBB Browser Push Notifications

• phpBB Media Embed Plugin

• Recent Topics NG

• Simple Spoiler BBCode

• VigLink

I'd like to give some attention to some of the new extensions, namely phpBB Browser Push Notifications! This gives us push notifications for any posts that happen in the board and it's accessible via the User Control Panel (or UCP). This'll be good for keeping up with the forum, and potentially make it possible for us to do roleplays here.

We've then got phpBB Media Embed Plugin and Simple Spoiler BBCode. The former allows us to embed / place YouTube videos directly onto our posts. This is just a neat little feature that I wanted to add since I know we'll eventually use it. The latter on the other hand allows us to do spoilers via BBCode, which I'm now realizing is kind of redundant since you can also use Markdown's spoiler feature. Doesn't hurt to have two options right?

We've also got the custom BBCode for Center, something I used in this post! It can be done by either pressing the "center" button up top alongside the other BBCodes, or by doing:

Code: Select all

[center]Text Here[/center]

Lastly is the Recent Topics NG. I'm sure you've seen this already when you first logged onto the board, but this should showcase the most recently posted topics in the board, so you can see what new stuff has been added without having to dig through a few of the forums.

[Nautia]

Despite having gone through the basic introductions regarding the new board, there's still a few things I want to talk about...
How do we feel about doing roleplays here?

I already know that this is something that all of you will be immediately against, but hear me out first. I'm not bringing this up as an option because I hate discord and I want to force more usage of the board, I'm suggesting this because I want roleplays to be canon. They won't be just a "what if" scenario, I want these roleplays to have lasting consequences for the story of the world, and I want them to allow characters to develop beyond their "initial" state.

I want them to occur here in this board because it'll be significantly more accessible that way. Rather than having to go to Discord and view it there, we can simply view it in our browsers alongside other bits of the worldbuilding. I'm also for the roleplays of Euphonia Mageia being in this board because I know how flimsy being in Discord can be. This fiasco with the age verification alone is proof of that, and if we're given reasons to back out, there's a chance we'll end up losing important bits of our story because we left it behind in Discord. But that's just a hypothetical though.

Another point I want to bring up—a more practical and realistic point, is the fact that it'd be easier to archive the happenings of those roleplays in this board. Yes, I do have a tool to archive Discord chats, but the roleplays being here means that they'll be backed up along with the rest of the board, meaning I don't have to constantly update it whenever something new occurs in a roleplay. It'll all just be one click away.

This is exactly the reason why I installed the push notification extension (which you can receive both on PC and Mobile). I want the board to be easier to monitor and easier to catch up with. If it isn't enough, let me know and I'll try to implement other solutions. Aside from that, there's something that Lumi brought up regarding why she's against doing roleplays with a forum:

"We like to talk about our roleplays"

Or something along those lines at least. I believe that we can still easily talk about our roleplays in the server itself via #ooc or another new channel. We already do this somewhat when we talk about worldbuilding plans and OCs in the #world-building and #oc-planning channels. I don't see a reason as to why we can't do it on Discord. If people want separate OOC channels for separate RPs, then we can either create a whole new category of channels, or make a forum channel for Discord.

All in all, I don't want to move all aspects of the our roleplays here, just the roleplaying itself and not the OOC chats.

I hope that people would be at least willing to try out one roleplay in a forum so we can see how it feels like. I don't want this to be an idea we suddenly abandon even though I've already made quite a few points as to why I think it should be done here.

If it isn't wanted though, then it isn't wanted. I've stated my case to everyone, I won't force it if nobody wants to do it, that'll just kill the fun of the roleplaying.

[Nautia]

One last thing I'd like to talk about...
My stance regarding AI imagery usage for the board.

I'm going to be frank, I know this'll affect you badly Valk, and I'm sorry. But I just personally can't bring myself to see AI generated images on this board. I'm not going to act all righteous about this, this is purely because I've grown a hatred for AI generated images. It feels like so much of the soul behind the art has been taken away, and it just feels cheap and generic. I want our board to feel like it was made with love and care, something that we crafted with our hands and our minds.

But philosophical and moral stances aside, I want to talk about the practicality of this. First thing's first: I understand that money is an issue, hence why it may seem AI art is the only option. But I'd like to bring up the classic methods of face claims and picrews. I know that good ones are a pain in the ass to find and that you might not exactly get what you want out of it, but I personally think that it's better than using AI generated images.

You also have the semi-premium option of using video game customization for your character designs. There's quite a few games with pretty in-depth character customization, such as FFXIV (even more when modded), Monster Hunter (World, Rise, and Wilds), Street Fighter 6, Black Desert, Code Vein, Where Winds Meet and much much more out there. Sometimes they won't give you exactly what you want, but you'll have finer control over how your character looks. If you want a free option, I highly suggest using Where Winds Meet. You can only really make humans but the character customization is so insane that someone was able to basically import John Cena's face onto it, and have it be 95% accurate.

Then there's the premium option: art. We've got artists in the group, and they can draw our OCs. This is only if they have the desire to do so and if they have the time. Please artists, don't feel like this is an obligation you should fulfill. Don't feel like you're pressured to do art for everyone, we've got options. Alternatively, if you've got money, you can commission artists as well, and I highly encourage commissioning people in our group so we support each other. It's an unlikely option though seeing as we're all broke, but it's there nonetheless.

For every rule, there's got to be an exception. I'm only fine with AI generated images if its being used as a frame of reference for drawings (since I know some people have a hard time only having a description of what the character looks like), but I'd personally rather not have them in the board itself even if they're being used placeholder images.

I can also offer my "skills" when it comes to designing characters in Final Fantasy XIV. I'm constricted to what's in game and what mods there are, but I think it's expansive enough to make most humanoid characters possible. On top of that, you get a cute little photo with it!

tldr; I'm heavily against AI generated images being used in the board, but I'm fine with it if its being used as a reference for art that's being made.