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Admin announcements - updated January 5, 2009

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:15 pm
by Bruce N H
Hello all,

This thread exists for official admin announcements and policy statements. Responses and other feedback will be directed to appropriate threads.

The admin team

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:18 pm
by Bruce N H
An open letter to all C-C forum members
SavaTheAggie wrote:Regarding forum rules and enforcement

We, the admins here at Classic-Castle, don't like enforcing rules. Now before you go off and think that you can go off and do and say whatever you'd like, think again. We do not like enforcing the rules, but we will do so without hesitation.

We do not like enforcing the rules because we want everyone to have fun here, and when we have to enforce the rules, it usually means someone isn't having fun.

We created Classic-Castle.com so that fans of LEGO Castle would have a place to gather information, and we created the C-C forums so that those fans could have a place to share information and MOCs, to further enjoy their stay at our website.

Have fun here at C-C, that is the purpose of this place, but don't prevent anyone else from having fun, either. That's just about the only cardinal rule we have. Posting in the right place, staying totally on topic, while important, are really only minor things in the long run, and we admins try to fix them as soon as possible. However, as soon as C-C stops being a fun place, we, the admins, have failed at our jobs.

Enjoy yourself, share your ideas and creations to your heart's content, we welcome you to do so with open arms. If you have a problem with another member, do your best to work it out offline. If you need the help of an admin, that is our job, and we'll be here to assist you. If rules need to be enforced, we will do so as quickly and as fairly as we can.

Do your best to follow the few rules we have, be courteous to your fellow LEGO fan, and most of all, have fun.

--Anthony

Edit:

I just finished deleting 10 or so bogus users off of our forum. These users were either blatently or covertly advertising something, and were not contributing to this site in any way.

To give an example, some were advertising locations to find dates or where to buy cheap perscription drugs, and those were the tame ones.

If you see a new (or old!) user that has signed up that is advertising such things, or you suspect something is amiss, RAT THEM OUT!

Tell an admin or a mod immediately so that they can be dealt with as necessary, please!

While we do not allow children under 13 years to join our forum, we WOULD like to keep this forum clean and safe enough to where they could browse it.

Thanks,

--Anthony and the C-C Team
To alert us of any inappropriate users or otherwise respond to this announcement, please PM an admin or post a notice in this thread.

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:22 pm
by Bruce N H
Add yourself to the Classic-Castle Map!

Nathan Wells has created a Frappr map to show the locations of CC members. Check it out and add your location.

Further discussion of the map belongs in this thread.

Bruce

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:30 pm
by Bruce N H
Forum Ranks
Lord_Of_The_LEGO wrote:Alright folks, every two months or so we have a new member starting a new topic about forum ranks, so I've decided to make it simple for everyone and Sticky a list of all known ranks. There are more ranks to be discovered. But remember, don't post just to up your rank. Please do not make further "What are ranks?" threads. Thanks!
Lord_Of_The_LEGO and Formendacil wrote: 0-9: Gong farmer
10-24: Serf
25-49: Villein
50-74: Peasant
75-99: Freeman
100-149: Laborer
150-199: Apprentice
200-249: Foot soldier
250-299: Artisan
300-349: Bailiff
350-399:Archer
400-449:Journeyman
450-499:Reeve
500-599:Steward
600-699:Squire
700-799:Gentleman
800-899:Man-At-Arms
900-999:Landlord
1000-1199:Councilor
1200-1399:Merchant
1400-1599:Sheriff
1600-1999: Master
2000-2399: Knight
2400-2799: Knight Bannerett
2800-????: Baron
All discussion of forum ranks should go in this thread.

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:32 pm
by Bruce N H
Not your pulpit
SavaTheAggie wrote:Classic-Castle.com is not your pulpit.

Do not preach your personal sentiments, be it religious or political. Keep your personal beliefs personal.

Do not preach that you've been offended, be it by religious or political sentiment. Keep your being personally offended personal.

If you have a problem with a member, contact a C-C Team member, either by email or PM. If you need to let out your frustrations, contact a C-C Team member, either by email or PM.

--Anthony
Any questions or discussion of this policy should go in this thread.

Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:14 pm
by Bruce N H
Hey all,

I'll shift Troy's July 17, 2006, announcement of chat here and unsticky his original announcement thread. Any discussion of this announcement should go to this thread.
Troy wrote:I am proud to announce that CHAT has returned to Classic Castle!

http://www.classic-castle.com/gtchat/index.html

The new chat software is a more robust implementation than what we used to have, and as it does not rely on PHP/mySQL it should hopefully be less prone to hacking.

The style has been integrated to match Classic Castle, and I am currently updating the smileys to the LEGO versions.

Give it a try and report any issues back here.

Thanks,

Troy

Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:23 pm
by Bruce N H
Here's Ben's announcement about the privacy policy. Please post any questions or comments in the original thread.
architect wrote:Classic-Castle.com has decided to enact a Privacy Policy:

http://www.classic-castle.com/privacy.html

It clarifies what type of information we collect from members of Classic-Castle and what we do with that information. Classic-Castle.com does not share information with anyone outside of the Classic-Castle Team without your permission.

Please read the policy. If you have any questions you can post them here.

The CC Team

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:04 am
by Bruce N H
Here's something about posting images in the forums. Please follow up with any comments or questions in this thread.
Bruce N H wrote:Hey all,

A few notes on posting images in the forums, since we've had a number of new members recently.

Please don't post images over 400 pixels wide or high in the forums. It messes up the forum formatting and slows things down for people without high-speed connections. If you do post over-large images, an admin or mod will generally remove them from your post.

If you want to edit your images (and you should), you can certainly use any software that came with your camera, something like Photoshop, or the free program Gimp. Kevin wrote a great article about how to download and use Gimp.

To post an image in the forums, it has to be already hosted somewhere on-line. Two common free services are Brickshelf and Flickr. Some details about each of these services is found below.

The proper syntax for posting an image is as follows (remove the asterixes):
[*img]http://www.imageaddress.jpg[*/img]
If you wish the make the image a clickable link, the syntax is as follows (again, remove the asterixes):
[*url=http://www.websiteaddress.com][*img]http://www.imageaddress.jpg[*/img][*/url]

If you include an image in your sig line, it should be 100 pixels high by 400 pixels wide, or less.

Brickshelf
You can sign up for a free Brickshelf account here. When you first post something to Brickshelf, it is not immediately visible to the public until Kevin (owner and moderator of Brickshelf) okays it. This is to prevent someone from posting inappropriate content. Usually it will become public within a few hours. In the meantime you could wait to post the link in our forums, or you could post a deeplink. To find the deeplink address, keep clicking on the image on Brickshelf until you see only the image, with no border of Brickshelf banner. The address should end in ".jpg" or ".gif" rather than "cgi=?i########". For comparison, this is a deeplink:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/brick ... et6085.jpg
This is not:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3210579
You might also want to post thumbnails in your post. Brickshelf automatically creates thumbnails when you upload images. When you are looking at the page of thumbnails (e.g. this), right-click (or control-click for you Mac users) on an image to get the address of the thumbnail. It should end in "_thumb.jpg", like this:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/brick ... _thumb.jpg

Flickr
You can sign up for a free Flickr account here. You can also pay to get enhanced features on your account. Unlike Brickshelf, Flickr is not exclusively LEGO, but it does have a lot of additional features like the ability to comment on photos or create user groups. I'll leave any further comment on the relative merits of these two sites to others. One nice aspect of Flickr is that it automatically creates several different image sizes for you. When you upload an image to Flickr, such as this, you'll notice a little icon above the photo saying "all sizes". This takes you to a page that offers you different choices. This makes it easy to choose an image that is smaller than the 400 pixel limit for the forums. To get the address of the image, right click (or control-click) the picture and copy the image address. It should look something like this:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/4530 ... 2aee_m.jpg
When posting images to Flickr, it is helpful if you added a "LEGO" tag, as this will help other LEGO fans to find your images among the other Flickr content.


Other image hosting sites
In addition to these two sites, there are a number of other image hosting sites you can use. I won't go into any additional detail on these.
Exclusively LEGO sites: MOCpages, YouBrick, MOCshow, Brickery, BrickImage, MyImages (1000Steine members)
General image hosting: Maj, PhotoBucket, ImageShack

Bruce

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:47 am
by Bruce N H
Here's an essay on Common Courtesy for Contests. Follow up questions and discussion in this thread.
JoshWedin wrote:In the past, issues have arisen that we feel need to be dealt with before we enter the contest “season”. Keep in mind the following guidelines as you participate in current and future contests.

1. Someone has taken the time to write the rules, so take the time to read them. In fact, read them several times. Your questions might be answered simply by reading the rules again. Normally the host doesn’t mind answering your questions, but it can be frustrating to continually answer questions that the rules already cover.

2. Running a contest is hard work. The person or persons running a contest aren’t getting anything out of it. They are volunteering their time, energy and/or Lego to the contest. Don’t give them a hard time or they may not wish to run it again.

3. Refrain from criticizing the rules, guidelines, categories, or prizes. If you don’t like how the contest is run, feel free to run your own. But do not put down those who are doing so already. There is no need to complain about the categories, as no one is forcing you to enter. Even if you don't like them, look at them as a challenge. You will be surprised at the creativity inspired by a restrictive category. As for prizes, remember that donors are giving away Lego they could have kept. Hearing people ridicule the prizes they donated may make them reconsider doing so in the future.

4. Follow the rules. Don’t try to find loopholes or wriggle out of them by some kind of technicality. You can figure out what was intended by the rules, follow them. Do not ask for exceptions to be made for you. Also, do not ask that deadlines be extended because you are running out of time. This is unfair to the other contestants.

5. Remember that you are not running this contest. If you feel that entries are not within the rules or that other contestants are cheating, do not correct them. Feel free to contact the host, but do not publicly critique the other contestants or their entries. The host will let you know if they are within the bounds of the rules.

6. Do not complain when highly skilled builders and/or people with large collections enter the contest. They have just as much right to enter as anyone else. They have spent the time it took to build up their collections and skills. They deserve to be recognized. They did not get where they are by luck. It takes time, practice, and patience. Complaining about them only shows off your unwillingness to put in the time it takes to succeed.

7. Do not complain that someone “stole” your idea. You do not own a patent on innovative ideas that you may have discovered. If you don’t want the idea used, then don’t post it. On the other hand, if you want to use someone else’s innovative technique, consider contacting them first. That way any hard feelings are nipped in the bud.

8. Congratulate the winners. When the winners are announced, don’t complain or whine because you didn’t win. They did not win because they were “popular”, had “bigger collections”, and any other reason. In fact, many builders have been virtually unknown before winning a contest. They didn't win a popularity contest, they won because they built what the judges felt was the best entry.

9. Lastly, always remember its supposed to be fun. Let's keep it that way for everyone and we will be doing this for a long time to come.

Thank you,
The Classic-Castle Admins and Mods.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:44 pm
by Bruce N H
Leak policy
Troy wrote:Classic-Castle.com is revising its policy on leaked information about future LEGO sets. In the past it was the policy that no discussion of leaks was permitted.

This is being changed to allow for the discussion of "legitimate" leaks. This means that set information that was come accross in a legitimate manner is open for discussion.

Example:
The availability of the new Harry Potter sets on the ToyWiz Website.
http://store.yahoo.com/dragonballzcentral/lehapo.html
As these are now publicly available, and ToyWiz is a legitimate LEGO retailer, such information is fair game for discussion.

Example:
Scans of officially released publications, such as LEGO Magazine of catalogs in current sets.

Information that is obtained illegally is NOT open for discussion.

Example:
A retail employee looking through the stores computer system for upcoming set names. This is proprietary information that the employee has no business looking for, so it is NOT open for discussion.

Example:
Scans from a retailers / distributors catalog. These catalogs are for use by stores in ordering future sets and are not for public discussion. Scans stolen from one of them are NOT open for discussion.

If you have a question about if something is appropriate, ask an admin BEFORE posting it and causing an uproar.

Troy
Discussion/follow-up should go in this thread.

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:02 pm
by Bruce N H
Hey all,

Recent changes in the admin and mod teams are discussed in this thread. Go there to follow up with any discussion. Plus we've added an additional mod, as announced in this thread.

The current admin team is:
Troy - Forum ID: Troy - aka King Mnementh the Bronze
Anthony - Forum ID: SavaTheAggie - aka Lord Sava of Aggie
Ben - Forum ID: architect - aka Baron von Ellermann
Bruce - Forum ID: Bruce N H - aka Precentor of the Scriptorium
Josh - Forum ID: JoshWedin - aka Chevalier de Chèvre
The admins are in charge of policies, site design and running official site events.

The current mod team is:
Rocco - Forum ID: rogue27
Adam - Forum ID: ottoatm
Michael - Forum ID: Formendacil
Caylin - Forum ID: Darkie
Jonas - Forum ID: Maedhros
Mods assist in the day to day activity of the forums.

The admin alumni are:
Lenny - Forum ID: Glencaer - aka Marquis d'Krakhed
Kevin - Forum ID: Bricksidge - aka Philosopher-King of the Gong Farmers
Nathan - Forum ID: Lord_Of_The_LEGO - aka Earl of Wells
Admin alumni are those who served the Classic-Castle community for several years, but due to life circumstances have chosen to step aside from their admin roles

Finally, it's most important to remember YOU. The people listed above help guide the site, but everyone is encouraged to participate. Good conversations in the forum need people to conduct them. If you want to create an article or have a great idea for a contest or other event, just let us know. We want everyone to be involved in creating this site.

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:41 pm
by Bruce N H
Forum opgrades and changes to new member registration

From January 4, 2009
architect wrote:The CC admins are taking several measures to reduce the amount of spammers joining the Classic-Castle.com forums. First, we are temporarily suspending new registrations until grading is completed for the Colossal Contest VI. This period of time will likely last three to five weeks.

Next, we are requiring that all existing CC forum members without any posts to post at least once. This shows that you exist as a real Lego castle fan and not a spammer. Please see this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=16409

We will delete any account without a post in one week.

Finally, we will be upgrading the forums to the latest php system. We should be able to include the existing posts in the new setup. All new members will be required to post why they are interested in Lego Castle and post within the first week of their membership.

CC Team

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:28 am
by JoshWedin
A new rule has been put in place in Classic Castle chat.

Impersonating other members is not allowed. The consequences may range from temporary gagging to a permanent ban.

Thank you for your compliance.

Josh

Re: Admin announcements - updated January 5, 2009

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:29 pm
by Bruce N H
I've set this thread free, as all of the information found here has been incorporated into the CC FAQ.