Can you say "vee-four" !?

Hey guys,

Circumstances beyond me control had left me with no computer access/limited computer access for the last 3, 4 months. I have only just now started to have a decent computer available to me on a constant basis. However, I am confident I will be around on a constant basis for now. I should mention that down the road, there may very well be further circumstances I have no control over under which I will have absolutely no computer access. While this is all very unfortunate, I am happy to once more be among old friends and players from this great Jedi Knight community we have here.

The recent activity of both the JKDF2.net site community, and the editing community has led me to decide to roll out what I will now make the announcement for:

JKDF2.net - Version 4!
Coming Thanksgiving 2007 to a website near you

That's right, I am in the process of rolling out the next version of JKDF2.net. More expansive, user friendly, community oriented, and fun filled, JKDF2.net will be better than ever. My tentative deadline is Thanksgiving. I figure it's a safe bet as far as deadlines go. Until then, this site will be fully available all the way up until the transition.

Just a sampling of the new site will include:

• Brand New Design[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• A new administrative system, with different options for different user levels: Administrator, Moderator, Clan Leader, News Poster[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• Major Forum Improvements[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• Compliance with worldwide HTML coding standards[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• New Forums for Staff and Administrators[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• New features oriented towards the integration of Jedi Knight Clan forums with that of JKDF2.net's[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• Better integration with IRC[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• Cooperation with JKHub.net to deliver editing resources and developments to JKDF2.net[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• The availability of additional RSS feeds for personal use[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• Better tracking of changes to the site[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• The return of the JKDF2.net MediaWiki Wiki System[/*:m:1yzonimh][/list:u:1yzonimh]

As always - WE NEED YOUR INPUT!

Please post on the official suggestion thread:
https://www.jkdf2.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2432

Now as I understand it, Vallo, Andrew L, and other members may have a JKDF2.net redesign in the works. I have not yet talked to them, so I do not know the facts as far as progress, planning, and other features goes. Depending on their level of progress, I will be working to develop the site from scratch, or be working with their existing designs and plans to bring to the community the best site possible.

I have also noticed that a number of people have pledged their support to assisting with the website. This is a great sign of community support and JKDF2.net welcomes any help offered. I and other staff will work with those who have offered help to determine what needs to be done and what types of assistance might be needed.

So in other announcements, I would like to announce a JKDF2.net Staff Meeting! Among other things, I would like to discuss:

• The new opportunities of staff in the planned JKDF2.net V4[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• Existing plans for JKDF2.net and possible new ones[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• The current roles of staff members[/*:m:1yzonimh]
• The removal of staff no longer active within the community[/*:m:1yzonimh][/list:u:1yzonimh]

I figure IRC would probably be the best place to have such a meeting. An instant messaging service would also suffice. If this is an unpopular idea, I will simply start a thread.

Also, I am unsure who has access to what, so I would like to figure out who should be able to do what and so on. For example, there are people who I trust implicitly, and there are other people I just don't know all that well. So obviously in the best interests of the community, I would like to ensure all permissions are appropriate based upon roles.

From my understanding, this is a rundown of staff:

Level 1 - Members
Everyone - Regular access members: Junior, Senior, Elite

Level 2 - Clan Leaders
I don't know who would fall under this category, but this would be sightly above a normal member based on the fact that Clan Leaders would need access to special functions made specifically for Clan Leaders, and because of their status Clan Leaders would be permitted to make news posts on the front page of JKDF2.net.

As far as I know, there is only one member that currently falls under this specific category:
Prince_Yackerz

Level 3 - Forum Moderators
Forum specific moderators that have moderation ability over specific forums. From what I understand, this consists of:

Hyde
JKLE_Drew

Level 4 - Special Postitions
Special positions such as "Community Relations Manager" and "File Administrator". It is likely that no two members of this category will have the same permissions.

JKLE_Drew - JKDF2.net Community Relations Manager

Level 5 - Site / Forum Administrators
These users have full access to the site. Including:
- FTP
- SQL
- phpBB Full Access
- File DB

EAH_XxHeReTiKxX
HooyerDillingham
vallo
ANDREW L
Nesseight(Active?)
_Triscuit_ / JKSERVER
ORJ_JoS (Active?)

[/list:u:1yzonimh]
I simply want to figure out who is doing what. I am in no way trying to create any sort of "caste system" in which some members are better than others. But obviously we don't want any random person to be able to post news, just as we don't want to give moderators access to the whole site. Make sense?

Also I have noticed some small disputes over moderation such as topic locking. As always I encourage those who feel a staff member is making a poor decision to contact me so that I can fully understand where you are coming from and how best to resolve the situation. I can't fix something when I don't know what the problem is. I will say though that the staff has been doing an excellent job.

As always, questions, comments, and hateful nonsense may be sent to me via email at:

[email protected][/list:u:1yzonimh]

Good to be back,
- ReT

ruthless deeds return to harass their architect

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