Announcements

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Buy a Katabatak print and sponsor Hypography. :autumnleaves:Fall:autumnleaves: Hypography Benefit :painting: Art Sale :painting: http://hypography.com/forums/members/turtle-albums-kitchen-drawer-picture967-hypographyprintscan02scaled.jpg Hypography Limited Edition Print $33 :hal_jackolantern: Sale ends Halloween at Midnight :hal_jackolantern: :bounce:BONUS :bounce: Free Basic Subscription with print purchase $10 Value 11" x 17" inkjet print on 32lb paper, numbered & signed. All proceeds go to support Hypography operations. Contact C1ay by PM to place your order.

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http://www.hypography.com/newdesign/quizoldcomputer.jpgTake our Computer History Quiz and you could win a puzzle from our puzzle store. From the first computer to the information superhighway - test your knowledge about computer history. The quiz can be found here: Science Quizzes Deadline: January 15, 2005.

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First of all...welcome to Hypography's new homepage. We have spent numerous hours on the upgrade, and so far it seems people are really happy with it. The next step now is to integrate our old news section (the "News" in the top menu bar) into our forums so that we can offer people to post articles and reviews and also comment on news etc. It will take a little while to get this up, but in the meantime please vote in the current poll about which features you would like.

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The forums have been converted from the old FuseTalk forums to vBulletin 3. For security reasons, all user passwords have been nullified. Follow the procedure in this post (click here) to reset your password. The upgrade went smoothly and I had no problems. However, there are some things you might want to do: 1) All avatars are removed from the user profiles. If you used one of our generic avatars, you can find them in the User CP (User Control Panel) after you log in. Select one you like or upload your own (max 80x80 pixels, 20Kb filesize). 2) HTML in signatures will show up as code. Clean up your signature if this applies to you. 3) Please edit your profile to reflect correct location, birthday (at least enter the month and day so we can get you on the calendar!), time zone 4) Also make sure you select the desired posting editor of your choice on the bottom of the options page (Basic, Standard, Enhanced). 5) Also check out the options page for subscription settings, private messages, instant messaging availability etc. And if there are problems, please send me a PM and I will look at it. Tormod

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On November 27, from about 0900 AM (Central European Time...that means it will happen during the night for our North American members), a planned and frankly long-awaited forum upgrade will take place. Our forums will be ported from the current software to a different platform. During the upgrade, the forums will be available, but it will not be possible to sign up or post new posts. The upgrade is expected to last at least 5 hours. When it is complete, a short message will be sent to all registered members (even those who have opted out of our newsletter). The message will inform you whether the upgrade was successful or not, and that the boards are (hopefully) open for posting. You will also find a link to the post about resetting your password. There are some important aspects of this upgrade which everybody will need to be aware of: 1. Password change All passwords will be deleted, and you must reset it manually. After the upgrade, an article about how to reset your password will be posted. You do not need to perform this upgrade until you want to post again - we are not locking anyone out. But please be aware that we cannot send you your new password since it simply does not exist until you reset it. That the passwords are deleted does not mean that you can log in with a blank password - the system wil not let you log in until you reset your password. 2. Things which are ported These features will be ported correctly: -all categories, threads, posts, and polls -signatures -usernames -private messages -images in messages (except smilies) 3. Things which will NOT be ported These objects cannot be ported: -avatars -passwords -smilies -HTML in posts -Private topics I will make sure that all the current avatars are available for use in the new forums - including the ones from the current competition. There is a new size limit on avatars: 80x80 pixels, max 20Kb size. This means that if your current personal avatar is larger than this limit, you need to edit it yourself or make a new one (or choose one of the default avatars). All smilies will be stripped out of the old posts. This is because the old smilies are image-based, while the new smilies are BB-code based. All HTML in posts will be stripped out. This will only be a problem for old posts so it should not have a large impact on your posts. If you have old posts with a lot of HTML that you want to retain, you can edit them with the new WYSIWYG editor after the upgrade. Some HTML will probably still remain, but most likely it will be visible as code since HTML will not be allowed in new topics (as is the case today). The "private topics" have not been taken into use by many users (it is *not* the same as private messages) so I don't think anyone will miss them. 4. New features Better search functionality - it is currently impossible to search the forums except for topic titles Faster load times - the news forums load much faster than the current software Better RSS feeds - you will be able to subscribe to an improved and more reliable feed with any newsreader Better moderator tools - our moderators will be able to have more control over their different groups New design - the new forums will have a distinct design. They are also skinnable, so we can have different styles for different sections More expansion possibilities - there are numerous add-ons for the new boards which we will consider adding in the future No ads for members - the Google ads will not be shown to members who have logged in (the rest of Hypography will still feature banners - this is how we pay for software and hosting) Improved messaging system - the Private Message system makes it easy to sort private messages in folders, send messages to multiple users, organize them by date or topic, etc. User Control Panel - you get your own control panel with options to change your password, avatar, e-mail etc.

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I just sent out the November newsletter and realized I made a BIG mistake. IrishEyes had put together a great newsletter, but I messed up the content index. It says this month's profile is Tim_Lou...but it is of course TINNY! Tim was profiled last month...my apologies to Tinny. Thanks to Irish for the great newsletter - I hope everyone enjoys it!

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It seems the same people keep getting the quiz right every month. First Prize: The book "Northern Lights" by Lucy Jago (Amazon.com link) Winner is: Uncle Martin! Congrats. Unc is currently "on leave" from Hypography for personal reasons - a good read is good for you old chap! Runner Ups: Each runner up receives a Multipuzzle 1 from our puzzle store. The winners are: Bo and Alps. I know both of you have won puzzles before, but now you have an extra Christmas gift to give away! Congrats to all the winners. And don't forget to take our new Winter Quiz!

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The next prize quiz is: Winter Quiz Aaah...winter: Snow, ice, and cold weather. Add some sports and science and you have 20 questions to test your winter knowledge. http://www.hypography.com/quiz.cfm?id=34305 I am sure this one will be too hard for you lot. :) Good luck. And thanks to Yvonne for making the quiz!!!

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I've had a few questions lately about who is in charge around here. As for who is the boss - you are in the able hands of Tormod, who is the site editor and forum admin, and IrishEyes, who is both an admin as well as our Communications Officer. Lately GAHD has also joined the admin team. If someone happens not to be aware of it, the three of us share the administrative work in the forums and Gahd and IrishEyes have the same role as me - that is, handling all kinds of tasks like responding to people, following up topics, giving warnings, and even banning users if someone goes too far. They do not need my permission to do anything, so any of us are the one to look for if you feel like you are getting flamed or otherwise need the attention of an admin. Also, our excellent team of moderators (Aki, Alexander, Tim_Lou, Bo, and Sanctus) are each responsible for their own categories and also keep an eye on what goes on in the other groups. So they are also among the leaders of the Hypography forums, and can respond to your questions. Use the private messaging system to get in touch with us. You do that by using the little "lock" icon which is displayed in every post by one of us. This will only work for registered users who are logged in. Of course, you are always welcome to contact me directly with questions about how the forums are being ran, or questions concerning membership, technical issues etc. I hope this clears up any confusion there may be. PS - Uncle Martin is also one of our highly regarded admins. Due to personal matters he will be unable to help out for a while.

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Some of you have noticed that things are a little different around Hypography these days. And if you've taken the time to check out the new software version, you know that more changes are coming very soon. Change is a good thing, right? If you agree, then you'll enjoy knowing that Hypography has some new people "in charge". This is necessary in order to help the site run smoothly. These new Mods will work with the current Mods (now known as Admins) to help keep topics 'on track', make sure members adhere to our FAQ, and spice things up a bit when needed. We are all here to have fun, and hope that you will treat the new members of the ModSquad just as great as you have treated the rest of us. So without further ado... your NewAndImproved MODSQUAD: Bo Alexander Tim_lou Aki Sanctus as well as: Tormod - Site Editor Uncle Martin - Intelligence Minister IrishEyes - Communications Officer Gahd - Another Weird Canadian We look forward to helping make HYPOGRAPHY the best science Forum on the web. With your help, it shouldn't be hard to do! Thanks for your interest, and HAPPY POSTING!!!

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The winner of the first prize in our Endangered Species Quiz is: Rabia Abu Bakar, 18, from Pakistan! Congratulations! The first prize is a complete set of puzzles from our Geometry Puzzles Store! Runner up: Well. The old man is at it again! Dear old Uncle Martin strikes for the third time and wins a Multipuzzle 1. What are you going to do with all your puzzles? Out of 320 completed quiz results, only these two managed to get all the questions right! Now make sure to take our latest prize quiz and be the NEXT winner!

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Finally! The only quiz that really matters! Here is...the Norway Quiz! http://www.hypography.com/quiz.cfm?id=34299 Show your worth - how much do you know about Norway? ...and of course, there are prizes to be had. Draw date: November 16 2004.

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Folks, I would like your input on this. The current forums lack a lot of functionality which would help us build a better sense of community. Therefore I have bought a license for vBulletin http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/ and will implement it as soon as possible. However, we will first find out how to import all the data from the current forums, since there is no automatic import tool. We also need to build a new template which matches the colors and feel of Hypography, rather than the standard vBulletin templates. There are some important decisions to make in the process and I would like your feedback. Basically, it is about the import procedure and whether we can start from scratch or whether we have to import everything, which might prove a very difficult task (not that we will not try). 1. What we will most likely lose in an import: Private messages, avatars, some of the personal settings. 2. What we could do in place of the import: Make ONE post in the new forums for each of the old threads with a link to the old thread saying "This is a continuation of the following thread in our old forums" and just let the discussion go from there. 3. Why this upgrade is necessary: We will gain a lot of new functionality like a user control panel where you can control your private messages, subscriptions, buddy lists etc in a much easier way than today. We will get the ability to create sub-forums in the different categories so that we can split the major categories into smaller groups when necessary. We will be able to send out e-mail messages on a regular basis to keep people updated (optional for all users) and to send out important system notices (required). Also, the forums will appear faster, more flexible, and it will be easier to find relevant threads for new users. It will be easier to find the LATEST posts and not always be directed to the first page of a thread with 100 posts only to have to navigate several pages to get to the end of it. Each user will also have more personalization possibilites - more avatars, more smileys, better posting tools, better topic subscription tools, user rating functionality, MUCH better forum search etc etc. I would like some input on these points: 1) Would it be okay to leave the old forums up with a "These are our old forums for archive purposes" (as stated above) and start over in a new forum? The new forum would have the same basic category structure to begin with, but no posts (except if we go for solution (2) above). There will be a CLEAR link to "Find our archives here". 2) Would you be willing to go through the registration process again so that we can be sure that all members are correctly registered in the new software? We will correct the "post count" when so that nobody starts at 0 if they already have posts in the current forums. Please post with a short response to 1) and 2) and any comments you may have.

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Congratulations to Freethinker who is the first to reach 2,000 posts (and outdoing the competition in every way). A very special Hypograpghy t-shirt will be on your way soon...if you can PM your address to me (don't forget which size you need)! I lack words for his extremely fine contribution to our forums. Yes, there have been controversies over FT's posting style, but at the end of the day a lot of us have had a large number of very interesting discussions with our house atheist. Thank you very much for being such a great contribution to our forums. Way to go, Freethinker!

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Okay - the FIRST PERSON to reach 2,000 posts will receive a FREE Hypography t-shirt. Wonder who that'll be, then. Also, every user who reaches 250 posts from now until December 31, 2004, will receive a t-shirt as well. The only rule: Absolutely *no* fake posts to increase your score, okay? For those who already *have* more than 250 posts, another 100 posts will get you a t-shirt. Fair enough? That's one post a day on average from now through the end of the year. If you can't make it, buy one from http://www.cafepress.com/hypography If you have any other ideas for competitions let me know and I'll think about it.

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Thanks to Yvonne we finally have a new prize quiz: The Endangered Species Quiz will test your knowledge about some famous endangered animals, and why they are close to extinction. First prize: Our Complete Multipuzzles pack with 5 puzzles. Two runner-ups will receive our Multipuzzle 1. Check out the prizes in our Puzzle store (and buy some while you're there). http://www.hypography.com/i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif Now go at it folks! You KNOW you can do it! Just make sure you get it right before October 15.

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jeej! -Bo

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I think it's about time we restart the Hypography newsletter after about a year's absence. The forum is now so full of new topics every week that I thought we could do this: 1) List of latest active topics 2) List of new topics 3) List of recent articles/press releases, if any 4) List of new links, if any Anything else we should put in there? It may sound more like a "Hypography Digest" but maybe that would be effective right now. I want to make sure people are kept up to date on what happens. I can't put a lot more effort into it than that right now but I think it would be a good start. The frequency could maybe be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or whatever. Maybe every Friday? Monday mornings? I don't want everyone to be spammed to death so of course this will be optional for everyone. After signing up for the forums, the newsletter will arrive once and then the user will have the option to opt out of it. Any thoughts? Pros? Cons?

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Our FAQ has been updated heavily. Please read it by clicking on the FAQ button above.

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As indicated by the topic title, Hypography will be holding it's FIRST OFFICIAL Convention. This Convention will take place at a time and location to be determined... BY YOU!! That's right, you - the member - will get to help pick the place and date for this historic event! There is currently an informal poll to determine the meeting location in the "Watercooler" Forum, under the topic "Dream Vacation". Please feel free to check out the topic and vote for your favorite location. The votes will be tallied sometime in the next month or so. Please vote so your voice counts. Also, please post and let everyone know if you are seriously interested in attending this "Convention", or feel free to send a PM to either me or Yvonne, letting us know that you are interested. We will be 'in charge' of organizing things, mainly by default and because it was our idea. (In truth, the idea was a shameless ploy on my part to get to Europe for a shopping trip without my kids, and Yvonne was nice enough to give my idea some thought, and since she's married to the site owner...well, hey - now we have a Committee!)http://www.hypography.com/i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif The proposed timeframe is next spring/summer. We need to decide what works best for the people that will be attending. So far, the Irishes and the Tormods are going to attend the convention. If it's left up to us, and we are the only 4 attendees, we will send you all postcards from a lovely villa in the Tuscan region of Italy. However, we hope for more respondants and attendees. http://www.hypography.com/i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif

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There seems to be no end to the technical problems these days. I have asked our ISP if there is something wrong and they have a technician checking out the server. If you encounter problems, I'd be very happy if you could copy the error message and either mail it to me at tormod@hypography.com or simply post it here when you get the forums back up. If you get message like this: "Connection to JRUN server closed", "Invalid domain name", "Bad Host" (funny one, that) then you are getting a server error and I would like to see it. Since I don't run the server myself I don't see those particular errors, I only see the ColdFusion errors. Please feel free to post experiences with the site which warrant my attention, too. There may be bugs around which I haven't caught yet. Remember I'm just back from vacation so reporting a bug doesn't mean it gets fixed. http://www.hypography.com/i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif