It soon became pretty obvious that I didn’t have to do much. The people, the members, who joined Asrai.org were the best I’ve ever seen. Polite, friendly, loyal. For a forum administrator, you can’t ask for better members. After two whole years, you are still the best bunch of people out there. After two entire years, we have not been forced to issue a single ban. We have had only a couple of warnings handed out (compared to my days as a moderator on Druchii.net when we had 2-3 warnings per week and 1-2 bans per month – no offence to Druchii.net of course). I don’t know how these wonderful people cam to Asrai.org, but I am wholeheartedly thankful that they did. A community is nothing without its members, and you’re all very wonderful. Thank you.
Two years after the first careful steps, we have come a grand distance. We now have over 2300 members, we are closing in on 100 000 posts, and we have reached over 30 million hits (and that’s only since we moved to woodelves.org). That’s about 43 000 hits per day! We are also the first of the bigger communities to move to the new phpBB system, which I hope help profiling us against the others. It still takes some time to get used to, but I have not had many problems with it so far. I want to keep Asrai.org modern and user-friendly, even if that requires some changes and upgrades from time to time. I hope this hasn’t caused too much hassle for you all.
So before I get on to the fun stuff, I just want to make a toast to Asrai.org, for the members who make the community into the great place it is! Cheers! And happy birthday!
Birthday Present Number 1
In line with our desire to be modern and fresh, the long-awaited Dark skin is now complete and ready for serious testing and wrecking by you all! It took a lot of work, and it is my very first attempt at a new skin, so don’t be surprised if it isn’t as jaw dropping or awe-inspiring as you had hoped. I’ve also been restricted to MS Paint in the process, which made it take longer than I initially had hoped (all those gradient backgrounds, colouring pixel by pixel…). But after many man-hours of hard labour, it is finally done!
Based on the proSilver skin, this Dark Forest skin is not a cardboard copy of our old skin. With all the new functions and the way skins are built, that would have taken ages. Instead, this was created. It is set as the default skin for all new members, but I did not want to force anyone into changing. Thus, you will have to go to your User Control Panel and choose Board Preferences and change your forum skin to “Dark Forest” to see the new skin. If you encounter any problems or see some strange colouring, do not hesitate to inform me! I need all the feedback I can get on this skin.
EDIT: I never intended to force the new skin on anyone, but I made a little mistake and I accidentaly changed the skin of all our members to the new one. Feel free to change back if you want.
The forum icons and the thread icons (all 31 of them in total) are created specifically for Asrai.org by Mel’Reyna (whom I snatched from Asur.org.uk). The icons are a tree for regular posts, a pin for stickies, and an exclamation mark for announcements. She also made a horse icon for moved threads. The woody buttons in posts were made by me. The new banner and the new signature image are also her work.
As for the new signature image, it is only an addition to the old one we had. To add one of the two images simply add this picture into your site signature:
http://www.asrai.org/siggie.png
http://www.asrai.org/siggie2.png[/center]
More of these will be come available further ahead. Don’t be ashamed to try and make a banner yourself. If you like our community, spread the word!
Congratulations!
Birthday Present Number 2
In the early days of Asrai.org, there was a lot of talk about creating a Web Magazine for Wood Elves. After being involved in a few of them, I know they require more than volunteers to make it work. So I began planning other ways of bringing accumulated information in large batches. The solution came from Yak in early September last year. He wanted to create a Grand Project, with many tactical articles written by a group of dedicated writers and displayed somewhere on the site. Fluff stories and Painting & Modelling articles would also be included. We (the current staff) all loved the idea, and we set up the usergroup and created a dedicated forum for it. Unfortunately the Grand Project suffered from the same things as all projects suffer from; lack of activity.
It was scheduled to be released last Christmas as a Christmas gift, but it failed. Then we tried to get it done for January, but that failed even more. With Yak then going away (i.e. being buried under a large pile of work) the project never got off its feet. I still think the idea is great, and I still think we should go for it. That is why I am now actively searching for writers for this article library feature. Some people are still in the usergroup, some people have been added recently in my last effort to get this off the ground before today, but I hope a few more will sign up the next few weeks. To get more people interested, I have decided to show you the article library page and put the link up.
The Library of Educational Articles Feature – The LEAF
(Note that the background is still only made for the usual skin, the same goes for the chatroom – Will be fixed in a near future)
So far, only a small number of articles have been finished (by me, Tethlis, Hyarion and Lord Voldemorten), but more are to come, and more writers are needed. However, there’s the golden motto: Quality over Quantity. We may need more writers, but we hope to get the best ones and that they take the opportunity to write the best god damn article ever! Your work can improve the site for us all. An article doesn’t have to be long, but it should be detailed and written in a way so that a new member would understand what you mean. It doesn’t have to have the best spelling, but your points must be understood (spelling is fixed in proofreading – as long as I understand what you mean).
Take the opportunity to help your fellow Asrai. Take the opportunity to get your name in pink! Join the LEAF Writers. Whether you join or not, I hope you enjoy what is, and will be, written. Congratulations!
Birthday Present Number 3
The last and more prestigious present. This present (or rather ‘these presents’) are given to some special individuals who have helped the community in different ways and fields the last year. As you all know, or have noticed, Asrai.org have no ranks depending on post count. Instead we give custom titles to people who deserve them. This is one of those ways. Each winner of these awards will be given a custom title for as long as they wish to wear here on Asrai.org. I hope this will inspire the rest of you to do great deeds and be generally helpful and friendly.
Just as last year, administrators and moderators are not eligible to receive this award; it is their job to be helpful and friendly and knowing and good and and and… Besides, they already have a custom title But I hope you will all agree on the final four for their work in the respective sectors. There are three hobby-aspect-awards (if I may call them that); “Best Tactician”, “Best Painter & Modeller”, and “Best Armybuilder”. On top of that, we have the prestigious “Most Helpful Member Overall” award. If you think I’ve been babbling on for too long now, don’t worry. Here’s the four winners:
Best Tactician: Tethlis!
For his undying participation in tactical discussions, always sticking in his helpful and accurate head when something interesting appears. Tethlis is not afraid of thinking outside the box, but he knows how to carry almost any army to a victory. He very seldom misses a rule, and he always keeps his friendly face – no matter how many times he has been forced to answer the same question. See Tethlis’ work in the new LEAF Article Database. Congratulations, Tethlis!
Best Armybuilder: King Leonidas!
For his remarkable innovative thinking in his Greek Phalanx army and good results with it. King Leonidas surly showed that a Wood Elf army is more than just Dryads and archers. He is not limiting his army to the usual styles, and he thinks outside the box (sometimes outside the room in which the box is stored ) to create interesting new concepts. See King Leonidas' armylist {here} (correct me if this is an old list), and pictures of that army {here}.. Congratulations, King Leonidas!
Best Painter & Modeller: Anardakil!
A very tough decision to make, with a lot of good candidates springing up late in the race. If they continue to be as good, they will surly compete for next year’s awards. Anardakil is most known for his autumn army – complete with bowstrings – seen {here}) and for his many well-placed comments when trying to help the fellow painter. His general tips and tricks and constructive criticism earned him this award. Congratulations, Anardakil!
Last, but definitely not least:
Most Helpful Member Overall: Hyarion!
For just recently engaging in this hobby, Hyarion is one of the quickest learners out there. His friendliness and helpfulness has earned him many new pals across the community, as well as this award. Whenever someone is new, Hyarion is there to welcome that person to the site and to help out with the first armylist or the few tactical questions. He is never shy of a discussion and gladly shares his experiences and thoughts with whoever likes to listen. For his undying friendliness, Hyarion has received the award for Most Helpful Member Overall. Congratulations, Hyarion!
A big congratulation to all of our award winners, as well as everyone else who make sure this community is the best one online! Cheers!
Forum Hop Arounds
Some of you may have noticed that the Arena of Death forum is now gone. It has been merged with the forum formerly known as The Meadow of Tales. That forum has now gotten a new name and a move down to the outsider forums to emphasize the multi-race approach of that forum. The story-telling and fluff forum is now called The Grove of Tales and can be found in the third category of forums.
Now let the festivities begin! And please participate in the Asrai Scavenger Hunt competition in the Off Topic Forum
Nagathi
Asrai.org Admin & Owner