Archive 2007-2008
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Company-Conventions-Stores-Ideas: About the Company:
Dear Jean: Webmom:
Archive 2007-2008
Jean: Can you update us on your plans to "do maintenance" on the BBS?
Sure I can. I'm rarely wordless!
The first thing to realize is that working on the BBS is akin to eating an elephant. The only way I can do it is one bite at a time. The second thing to realize is that it will take time. So please be patient with me. The third thing to realize is that the process is ongoing. Topics will be visited multiple times to be decluttered, vacuumed, and dusted until they are all bright and shiny.
When I started prowling the various parts of the BBS, I noticed that there were two types of topics. The first type is the "General Discussion" type--those that have interest to the people who play in the SFU, but the topics are not directly related to the SFU. These vary in the amount of usage they get.
My plan for this type of topic is to keep a maximum of around 1250 messages in each topic. When it hits that magic point, then the oldest month of messages will be removed.
These also tend to be time based, so when messages get more than a year old, I'll plan on deleting them. When that happens, I'll put an announcement in the topic and here so that people who remember there was something that they wanted to keep have time to pull that important message.
Then there are topics that are certainly closely related to the SFU and many of these need to be kept. However, when the list of subtopics is lengthy, it can be hard to find what you want.
As to how it will be done...sure, I could go in and delete anything that was old or not being posted in, but you (all the people who use and love the BBS) know your subject far better than I, and I want to draw upon that expertise. Therefore I won't delete anything without orders from one of the Steves, without permission from the "owner" of the topic, or without enough notice that I feel comfortable deleting the topic.
SFU topics that are active and have lots of subtopics can be neatened up with Archive folders. To see an example of what that looks like, take a look at "The Day of the Eagle comes early" here: Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: Player Campaigns.
SFU topics that have subject subtopics can have those subtopics gathered together by a larger subject folder. For an example, see "New Ships" here: Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Proposals Board.
You'll know that I'm working on your topic because there will be an announcement in the topic and I will post the information here as well. If I can determine the "owners" of the topic, I'll try to contact them by email as well.
The final part of maintaining the BBS is cleaning up the "oops" posts that we all make. If I see a post that says "Deleted by author" I'll go ahead and delete it as long as it hasn't been answered. If you posted in the wrong place, let me know here and I'll move it to the correct place. Sometimes those mistakes yielded as many as three or four posts (the original, someone who posts to say it should be elsewhere, an "Oops, I'll move it" post, and the post in the right place).
How can you help? Many of you already are! Let me know when a campaign is through and the campaign can be deleted (please, if the person running the campaign could do that, then I would be very happy). When I move to a topic, if you have ideas about how it can be best organized, let me know. Your thoughts are always valued.
Most of all, I want to thank all of you who play in the SFU and this BBS. You have all been unfailingly polite and understanding. You've welcomed me to your world and answered my questions, even about really basic things. If I can make this BBS better, then it is my gift to all of you.
Is there a way to reduce a topic to plain text so that owner could have a text copy before deleting it?
For instance, there might be a proposal that was rejected but the topic included lots of good information on rules subtleties and other ideas. If I had such a thread, and I might, I'd like to have a text copy without all the graphic of the "By" liner.
Additionally, some people might go back to their old proposal threads that are still pending acceptance or rejection or refinement, and summerize then with an updated proposal. Then Jean could delete the archives. Just an idea.
The only way to archive a topic is for the person who wants to archive it to do it by hand. -- Jean
After reflection, we're keeping with the current system. Topics are deleted, purged, trimmed, cleaned out, and so forth when necessary or convenient to the company. Topics are different. General discussions are just chatter, and will be cleaned out when we need to clear disk space. Proposals are deleted when edited into a Captain's Log or put in a product. Various other topics are "handled" in various ways. Q&A files are edited into CapLog articles and product development files turn into products. We haven't had archives before now and I haven't seen any problems.
The improvement is simply that Jean will warn you when she's going to delete and old topic or trim out a current one (RWM, etc.). If you want to get a copy for your personal use, get it yourself before it is deleted. Reposting would be a violation of our BBS compilation copyright, so just keep the file for your own use.
We just don't have time for ADB personnel to do the archiving, and we just don't need to use the space to archive discussion files that aren't really relevant anyway. The relevant ones are already processed in the appropriate manner.
Andy V.,
I have created a perl script that uses wget to grab any topic and convert it to a text file.
Heck, I am tempted to use it to create my own RSS feed of the BBS. Though, the BBS does not lend itself to that format.
Hey Mom 
,
Is it possible to change the background color to the board to a very light grey color or something similar? I know from years of working with confrence room projection systems and Powerpoint that that really helps cut down glare and you don't really notice the difference.
I'm asking becasue I just had eye surgery and the glare from the default white backgroud is killing me. I know, two days after getting my eyes worked on and I'm on line. But I have the doc's permission as long as it doesn't cause strain.
After discussion, the decision was made to keep the colors on the BBS as is. -- Jean
Would it be possible to create some sort of web input form that forces people to enter errata in the correct format? This would probably have to be done outside of Discus.
This proposal was studied and rejected. However, notes for how to enter a line item report were entered into appropriate topics. -- Jean
Regarding deleting topics in the SFB Proposals Board...
The only people that the S.W.O.R.D. may hear and obey in that topic as regards deletions are the G.O.D. and Petrick Who Controls All Things Star Fleet Battles.
I never make that decision myself. Not ever.
If a person emails or posts and tells me it is an obvious oops (I thought I was in Campaigns, but was in the Proposals, please make it go away), then that is a different matter.
In another topic, it was asked if it were safe to assume that if a word didn't get bleeped in a post, it could be used safely.
The answer is no.
Discus requires that every bleep-able word be defined by the administrator.
Not every variation of every word is entered in our "Bleep Dictionary". The Steves most likely assumed the people who would post on the BBS were polite and civilized and wouldn't use words that would make a lady blush.
Gentlemen,
As you can tell, the G.O.D. has adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy. We cannot afford flame wars if we want to release two major products at Origins. Truthfully, the "interesting" posts yesterday cost me hours of time, interfered with SPP's time, and obviously got SVC involved as well.
If you think the words "liberal", "conservative", "Democrat", or "Republican" as you are typing, consider your post carefully as you are most likely delving into politics.
If you type a person's name in a post, think about saying what you are typing to a person that loses his temper easily. If you think it would cause that person to get upset, don't post it.
Even if you would never participate in a flame war, consider that your words might be the spark that starts it among others.
Common sense and courtesy are what are being asked of you, gentlemen. Respect for your fellow gamers so they can enjoy the BBS is part of that courtesy. Common sense should tell you that if we are dealing with individuals on the BBS, then we are not working on products that you want to see. Maybe you don't care about X-ships, but you need to realize that we won't start the next product until these are finished. For example, every week that X-ships is held up, SPP will not be working on G3 or Early Years or his part of the next Captain's Log. I will make no progress on the RPGs until both Captain's Log and X1R are finished.
Finally, if I tell you that you are on thin ice, believe me. Don't test to see how much further you can go. "I was posting while you were posting" is no longer an excuse. You can hit the edit link and delete your post. You can email me and ask me to delete your post if an hour has passed. You can post in the Dear Jean topic and ask me to delete your post if email doesn't work for you.
Working together, we can keep the BBS a pleasant place to visit and have stimulating, but polite conversations. As I have written before, you are some of the brightest and most knowledgeable people I have encountered. I enjoy reading what you think and what you believe. However, we all, including me, need to be careful how we express ourselves and make sure we are obeying the BBS rules.
Hi Jean,
I was reading the input guide from CL#36. Rule #2 for capitalizing proper names I noticed that SparrowHawk is listed. Is this the proper capitalization for that unit?
Thanks
Yes, it is. SkyHawk, SeaHawk, NovaHawk, FireHawk, FlameHawk, and so forth.
On Creeping BBS Expletives . . .
Gentlemen, I have been forced to delete some expletives recently. Please remember that our BBS can be read by youngsters and the mothers of those children.
I know I am Victorian in nature, but Anglo-Saxon references to fecal matter and sexual acts don't belong in polite company (really, even if you use the Romance language equivalent, those aren't usually appropriate on the BBS, but at least they aren't inherently offensive).
If you think that the system will bleep you, then please check the preview. If it isn't bleeped there, it won't be on the public viewing.
If you would say "Pardon my French" (which should really be "Pardon my Anglo-Saxon" as most short, rude, crude, and socially unacceptable words are Anglo-Saxon) after a phrase you used in mixed company, please don't write it here.
Thanks for your cooperation in this.
Jean,
I have capitalization questions that I know you could answer, if you would, please.
1. Should "communication station" be capitalized in a fiction story, as in:
"Turning to the communication station, she said..."
2. Should any part of "base commander's office" be capitalized, as in:
"The Captain enter the base commander's office."
3. Should "captain" be capitalized, as in:
"Passing through the doorway, the captain entered the room."
(I don't believe it should be, but am checking with you to be sure.)
4. How about various departments or specific areas of a ship, such as:
"He came from the engineering room."
or
"She is the chief commander of operations."
I'm going to answer those in part so that Jean can correct me if I'm wrong.
In the contexts you've given #1 through 4A are not capitolized because the are things, not titles. If you were to put "Communication Station" on the communication station door or quote about a communication station, then you would capitolize it.
The base commanders office is simply a thing. A base commander my be a person but it is not a title. As in: "Michael went to the police station and read the big sign, "Police Station."
In #4b operations would be capitolized because it is being used as a name as in, "She was chief commander of Operations."
"Chief commander" is not capitolized because it is a thing, not a title, but "Operations" is a title in this case.
Michael...
No caps. No how. No way.
You might could on the very last one, but that is because it is a substitute for the "she" and her title (although it sounds more like a description than a title).
2. The captain entered (lower C and "entered") would probably be preferred. However "No, Captain, don't touch the switch!" would be correct. If you can write Steve in place of the title, it gets capped.
Now, if you make it a "proper name" or a title, it does get capped: Commander Johnson went into the room.
Loren, the reason that operations wouldn't necessarily be capped (and I wouldn't know that until I nibbled at SVC and SPP until I understood the ramifications of the decision) is that "Operations" is probably not the "real name", but "Operations Department" might be. (As soon as I understood it, then it would go in my version of the Cap Guide which is all annotated in purple.) That is one I would ask SVC about to verify its "real name".
She is head of engineering.
She is head of the Engineering Department.
Commander Jones is in charge of the Engineering Department.
Shirley Smith, Mechanic First Class in the Engineering Department, snickered to herself when the baby-faced lieutenant asked Sarge if he were sure the warp engines were up to par. She knew the answer would be, "No, Sir," a slight pause and, "they exceed 'par' by .05%."
"Commander, we have a problem."
The commander barked out orders to her staff.
Does that help?
Please, NOBODY answers questions for Jean.
Jean,
Is it a huge bad thing to add the year to the updated column for all the subfolders (as it is from the main folder)?
That sure would be handing, in the absense of the date sorting feature.
The short answer is no, not with this version of the software. -- Jean
Jean, we currently have Other Games, Other Wargames and Roleplaying Games in the General Discussion Topic.
Can we rename Other Games to Other Games (Digital) and Other Wargames to Other Games (Tabletop) as titles? Makes it easier to know which archive to dig through for that review of Titan or Civ IV.
After much discussion, the answer was no, -- Jean
Reminder to Check Your Profile
I'd like to remind each person to check his profile. When a company officer sends email to your address on file, you are responsible for knowing and complying with the content of that email, even if you never check that email address. If it is invalid, at least we may get a bounce (sometimes days later) to let us know, but we cannot know that you are not reading it.
While there, you may want to see what else has changed.