NBrid and the Hall of Changes
03.07.02
bonestormer
NBrid tried to do the 'website thing', but it just didn't work out. Was it too ambitious? Maybe, but at least we had one of the coolest websites out there for a short time. Now NBrid is compacting, simplifying, and going back to its roots as a community.

Before there were 4 Gateways (News, Chat, Guild, and Boards). Now there will be just two, each with equal importance: "NOG" and Boards.

Let's start with Boards. What this is should be pretty obvious. While one of the newer Gates (if you consider NBrid started in a chatroom and then next made a simple website for news), it has been around for ages. In fact, this month is the two year anniversary of the NBrid Boards existing at ezBoard. Always wondered how we got a "pub20" board there, huh. For the first 6 months it was barely used at all. But as stated many times, with the release of PSO on DC, it took off. While its traffic has ebbed and flowed over the months, overall it has done the best of any Gate in the past year. Therefore it will take a much more prominent focus in NBrid.

In order to help with this, a few people will stop being cheap and donate a few bucks to our Community Chest (have you?...). This will allow us to go Gold ($30/6 months). Which basically means no more freakin' ads! That won't be the only change. When it does go Gold, it will be given a brand new coat of paint. There will also probably be brand new forums, maybe even useful ones! Who knows how far it will go. Maybe actual board mods? Hybrid is taking care of setting-up this half of the new NBrid, so go bug him.

The other aspect is the biggest change. It is also a whole new aspect to NBrid. Right now though it is more of a concept then anything concrete. As such we are calling it "Project NOG". You NBrid old-schoolers probably remember this name. It used to stand for "NBrid Online Gaming" (our supposed 'clan'... wait, did I say clan? I meant gaming group). Now it's an acronym for "NBrid Log". What this supposes to be is a weblog style website, think Slashdot. Basically this is just a listing of news posts organized by categories. (Note: This is NOT a 'blog'. A blog is a sub-form of a weblog that is much simpler and more like a diary.) The idea to do this comes from the popularity of the boards. There are similarities between the two, the big difference is the weblog is better suited for longer posts like articles and reviews. We think the weblog will be a nice companion piece to the boards.

This will allow people to sign-up for "NOG" and be able to post articles/reviews/news/ect. New sign-ups at first will probably be moderated, but long standing members who have submitted to NBrid in the past will now be able to INSTANTLY add something to the site. No more 2 week wait. No more complaints of edited material. No more work on my part.

Work on "Project NOG" is still on going. For the layout we are going simple (so at the very least there is no more 2+ minute load time) with big, bold colors. Hopefully a sort of "cartoonish" or maybe "kiddie" look will be obtained. If you look at the current Beta version you can see we are trying to keep a few past aspects and graphics. Notice how that each of the main parts are colored just like one of the Gates of Evo! That said, it is just one idea to see where this can go, and to test out the scripts. Any ideas on what you would like to see, let me know (don't all rush at once) since I am responsible for this half.

Wait, don't panic! Evo will not be lost. It will just be moved (and well no longer updated). So you can always go back and look at its greatness, or browse through its archives of articles. Plus in order to help NOG start out, expect a few classic articles to be posted.

At the end of this month our domain name is up for renewal (July 27th). Since NameZero is asking so much, I am switching registrars (see the Boards for more on this). Because of this there will be a few 'bumps' in the road in trying to access NBrid. First, anyone with an "@thissite.net" email address should be aware if you use it a lot, you may lose a few emails during the switch (they will be returned to sender). There is nothing that can be done to prevent this, sorry. NBrid.net should not go down, but there may be a period where "boards.nbrid.net" doesn't link to the boards (but it should at least send you here). That said when "NOG" goes live there will be a period where the URL is down. We will have to update our DNS information and this can take 48-72 hours to propagate across the internet. Hopefully we will let you know when these changes will happen exactly, but just so everyone is aware.

So there you have it. An update on the changes taking place in NBrid. One aim is too simplify it all. There was just way too much before so that each part was hardly used, if at all. The main aim of all this though is to give it a much more "community" feel. Where all the members can be active participants in everything that goes on, and in fact are responsible for everything that goes on. I say 'members' hesitantly because with this change the old "member list" will be no more. 'Members' will instead just be those who regularly post on the boards or on the weblog.

There are no exact dates for any of this as of now. Expect all of it to kick in at the latest sometime in August though. It will be in plenty of time for the start of the fall rush of games. Oh yeah games... I haven't played a videogame in months. There is plenty to do in summer anyway. Plus I'm preparing for a flood of game time this fall. All starting with Super Mario Sunshine at the end of August...


-Bone



Links of interest:

•Project NOG (beta): nbrid.digitalrice.com
•Nbrid 1.0: home.talkcity.com/imaginaryPl/nbrid (member list funny stuff!)
•NBrid v.5: blake.prohosting.com/~nbrid
•NBrid v.6 (EVO): nbrid.nicewebshost.com
•NBrid Boards: pub20.ezboard.com/bnbrid

 

 

 
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