Just heard that our host will be installing some upgrades in the week between the 17th and the 21st of this month. They can't tell the exact time yet, but they hope it won't take more than 10 to 15 minutes. So if the site acts up or becomes unreachable for a while there, don't worry.

The script should work with the upgrades, but in case anything goes wrong anyway let me know. I'll run a few test once they are done, but it's always possible I'll miss something.

.. it was a real person after all.

If you write an introductory "about me" post that talks only about your business qualifications and post it to Episode Discussions of all places, chances are it's gonna be deleted.

I am pretty sure it was spam, but one never knows. ;-)

Let me know if anything unexpected comes up, but it should be ok.

You're now using the BSV version on the new server.

I hope I didn't create any bugs during the move, but if you notice anything, please describe the problem here: http://www.diabola.net/bsv/forum.php?go=read&no=25512

The old version is in read-only mode, but if you need to compare something or whatever, you can still reach it here: http://216.177.134.59

Should it turn out that this move didn't help with the lags or even make things worse, I still have the old server and can simply put everything back, so don't panic if this doesn't improve things.

Dia took care of it. As far as we know, those two links been there for a long time, undoubtedly unbeknownst to the author. They're gone now and we're hoping that's all there was. But still, be careful. Don't click on any links you see where it makes no sense for there to be a link. :)

I've been warned by an alert reader that at least one story on the BSV has Trojan links to viruses  in it.  The links are highlighted in the text.  PLEASE do not click on any links within the text of any stories. If you see a link - to anything - do not click on it. You won't like where it takes you.  Have forwarded the info to Dia and we will try to have these removed ASAP, but please be aware that we know of at least one affected story and there may well be more. There would be no reason for an author to insert a link into the text of a fic, so just assume, if you see such a thing, that it is NOT meant to be there. 'K? Thnx

PS If you see one, please let us know where you saw it in case these turn out to be something that has to be removed on a case by case basis.  Thanks.

I was trying to avoid taking up space here for this, but PLEASE, people, put your fic searches on one of the two threads for that purpose. One is titled AH fics (not that we expect many for that on this site, but we did have a little flurry of them a few months ago) and the other now reads "search for fics here, please" or something like that. I'm doing my best to keep them visible and near the top of the list of forum entries.  Which would be a lot easier if they weren't constantly being forced off by people doing one-shot forum threads to ask for fics.... Thank you for paying attention. :)

Someone mentioned having problems reading for longer periods with the white-on-black default skin. To help you with that, I added a third feature in the reading area, in addition to text size and the width or the text, you can now also pick whether you prefer light-on-dark, dark-on-light or the skin default setting. Of course like the other two options, you can also choose a default in the Account Settings - for example if you like the blacknwhite skin, but prefer to read longer texts in dark-on-light.

OK, looks like everything worked out.

Not all the changes will be visible to you, but some of the most important ones are:

~ new version of the editor
~ more textareas have been replaced by the editor
~ CAPTCHA for anon reviews and forum-posts
~ reply to specific post (forum)
~ choose text-width for fics (life or fixed via Account Settings)
~ Sort by: (Author | Title | Word Count | Date) in Updates and Complete

For those who preferred the textarea for posting fics, the new editor has a button called Paste as plain text if you use that and input the text you've prepared for the textarea, the editor will interpret everything correctly.

Oh, and the other admins can now activate accounts, so asking around in the forum should be enough that it gets back to someone who can help you out. If you've already tried registering and didn't get your email, please post your requested username and email-addy in this thread.

Now let's hope I didn't miss anything. (Before I forget, forget about Search for now, I'm only just getting around to that, so it still doesn't work properly.)

Looks like we survived the upgrade without problems, so far so good.

Since I wasn't sure what the outcome would be, I used the wait to give the code a bit of an update too, and while everything went fine, I'm still going to put the new stuff up. The code has already been tested, so there shouldn't be too many problems, but since I made changes to both the PHP-code and the database-structure, there will be times during the upload that parts of the site won't work.

I shouldn't need more than a few hours at most, so I'm asking you to NOT post or change anything while this message is up. I'll change the notice once I'm done.

(Yes, I have the old code here in case something goes wrong.)

At 2:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, January 29, 2011 our host is going to transfer all websites to a new server, so there we may be experiencing downtimes, and anything you upload while the transfer is ongoing (they suggest four hours, but who knows) may not make the move. Your best bet is probably to leave the site mostly alone during that time.

The real problem is that the transfer comes with a security upgrade, and it is entirely possibly that editing and/or submitting fic will no longer work afterwards. If that's the case, don't panic, I'll either move it to a new host, or change the script so it'll work with the new security settings.

If it comes to that, posting may end up not working for more than a few hours. Just so you're warned.

I'll put up another message to let you know the outcome sometimes on the 29th.

I have posted a new thread on the forum (Here) which has links to many of the entries on mechanics in the BSV General Tips section, as well as links to several entries on Riters_R_Us. I'm hoping that prospective new authors will take a look at this thread at the same time that they read the rules for posting and will get information that will help them avoid that dreaded rejection letter. The thread itself will be found in the Support section, but I intend to try to keep it visible in the forum entry box so that it is easily accessed by everyone.

The new betalist is finally online. Rather than explain how it works here, I put an explanation at the top of the old list: Betalist - Old Betalist. I'll add an FAQ entry as soon as I have the time.

Questions? Complaints?

We've started a new beta list - to be used only for beta information. Only one sign-up so far. If you were on the previous list and want to continue to offer your services, please add your name and contact info to the new one. Let's keep the old one around for adding tips, comments, and continuing discussions, but please use the new one for listing and finding betas. Thanks!

Some of you may have noticed that we've had some...what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, impolite visitors (no? you don't think that's the word? lol) on the chat and the forum lately. Not much I can do about the chat, although I have notified Dia, but I can and will delete any gratuitously rude, vulgar and pointless forum entries. We have no problem with the forum being used for discussions - even if they become heated at times; but anonymous posters who are there simply to be rude will be treated with all the consideration they deserve. If you see something and it doesn't go away quickly, let one of us know, will you? Thanks.

Just a quick note for those submitting a story...

Please remember to read the submission rules, you will find these in the 'Support' section if you would like to check them in advance, you also have to agree to them when submitting the story.

If submissions do not comply with the rules they WILL be rejected. The moderators' decision is final, so if your story is rejected for whatever reason (and if it is, you will be told why in an email), please do not email us to argue the point. We are happy to answer any questions you have, but arguing will not make us validate a story which does not comply with our rules.

I was going to do a long rant here, but I think I'll just point down to Dia's post from last March. I'd add to it: I, personally, (don't know about the other mods)will only edit and correct those challenges submitted by people who are obviously not native English speakers. Anyone else will get tossed if it's full of misspellings, netspeak, and so forth.
Please check through the challenges already up (and, yes, I know there are a lot of them)to be sure that yours isn't too similar to some already there. Ditto for fics aleady written. If we know that there are already a lot of fics with the same theme as your challenge, we probably won't put it up.
Also - PLEASE do not keep submitting the same challenge over and over just because you haven't seen it yet. If you submitted it, we got it. We either haven't had time to do anything about it yet, or we didn't take it for one reason or another.
Thanks!

OK, you know what, I don't care if this is going to make me sounds like an absolute bitch, I'll say it anyway.

Story submissions on this archive are moderated, our rules say things like "proper grammar and spelling", so why is it so hard to figure out that the same rules would apply to the challenges? I get that you don't want to bother someone about proofreading those few lines, that you may not have the option to spell-check the text, or that English may not be your first language, but goddammit, there is no, absolutely no excuse not to capitalize the character names! And chat-speak? You've got to be kidding me!

I proofread and fix up the submitted challenges, but it would be nice if you could at least make some effort.

I've decided that if it is obvious that you didn't even try to spell things correctly and form coherent sentences, I'll not try to fix it up either, I'll just delete it. I'll make sure to add a note about that on the challenge submission form so everyone knows about it before hitting Submit.

Sorry to everyone who does make sure to use proper language and spelling in their submissions, this rant was obviously not directed at you, and your stuff will be in no danger of being rejected. This is for the people who think chat-speak in a challenge is fine, while capital letters and punctuation are optional.

If you register an account using an AOL email address, chances are you won't receive your activation email. If you have a non-AOL address available, use that; otherwise let me know, and I'll activate your account by hand.

For most of you this post will seem odd, but those that have seen/can see a certain other post will know what this is about. Everyone else, just forget about it. LOL

I do not, have not, nor will I ever delete a fic or account if it hasn't been requested by the author/member in question. Besides me only BSB has access to those features (because I saw no reason to revoke her rights when she left), and I seriously doubt she did anything like that either. Neither Always_jbj nor Slaymesoftly have the rights to do anything but validate/reject fics and post in the News section.

The only way I will delete an account/fic, is if it was specifically requested. And even then I will verify your email address first to make sure the request didn't come from a third party who wants to harm you. (The last time I deleted something was ComedyOfErrors a few months back, because she wanted all her stories gone form the web for personal reasons.)

If your fic/account suddenly disappears and you don't know what is going on, you contact me and ask! It could be a DB error, in which case I might be able to find the file and fix the DB entry. It could be an error in the code, in which case I absolutely NEED to know about it, because it could happen again if I don't fix it. It could be you accidentally deleted it yourself. It could be that someone hacked into your account (stole your pwd), and deleted things to spite you. The only thing it will never be, is me deleting something without your explicit request.

Ok, a new tip for those of you that have problems recieving emails from the site.

Check your spam-filter (the local AND the online one) and see if you have a so-called whitelist. Add the following address to that list: httpd@web14.websitesource.net

That's the addy the server uses to send the emails. It's NOT the addy that shows up in the FROM: part of the header, so don't let that confuse you.

I'm stepping down as owner of the Bloodshedverse and giving it to Dia, who has already done sooo much work on it already, she deserves to get full credit for it! I'll still be around and am in no way 'leaving' the fandom, I just know that it is in my best interest (and the BSV's) to hand it over to someone who can give it the full attention it deserves! Thank you Dia for your willingness to take over!! *hugs you*

Yep, it's me again! I just wanted to mention quickly that while reviews are what authors 'work' for, opinions and reviews that border on rude aren't really appreciated. So if you're being an ass? Please stop. Thank you!

Authors, when you post a story that has been beta'd, please don't forget to thank that wonderful person(s) in an author's note! Thank you!

In light of Buffy/Spike Central not being online right now and Spuffy Realm's space limitations, I just wanted to assure new/returning visitors that you are more than welcome to register and enjoy the site REGARDLESS if you post fic or not. Happy Reading!