We ARE in the process of setting up the new Xenite.Org on our new server. Unfortunately, after all the fuss I made about changing out our message board software a couple of months ago, I have not had time to finish writing my new system. So I have had to compromise on the new forums software.

We're going to use Universal Bulletin Board. It comes free with the new hosting service. I apologize for reneging on my previous announcements. There is just no way I can make this move and get the new forums software written. I may still be able to implement custom forum software in the future which allows us to do more than UBB. Or maybe UBB will be expanded to include other neat features.

However, I have been able to customize the new forums considerably. People will NOT be required to register unless they want to use special features (such as signatures) or edit/delete their own messages. So you will still be able to post anonymously if you don't want to give out your real name or email address.

I'm also limiting the number of messages to be displayed on a page to 15. This has been the greatest, most frequent complaint about UBB-style message boards. The topics are not shown as threaded discussions, and you cannot jump directly to new messages. I realize this will be an inconvenience for many people, but in the long run it's either stay with the WWWBoard scripts we're now using or adjust to the new system. Many of you have been complaining about the current boards, and also many of you have been trying to search recent archives which aren't yet available. So I think the move to UBB will work out for the best. I hope so.

Now, the good news is that we'll be expanding the number of forums we have as soon as we switch to the new server. I'm providing a list here. In order to make this work, however, we'll need help with moderation.

VOLUNTEER (sorry -- we can't pay anyone) moderators should be at least 18 years old (we'll need to collect some private information from you) and they should be able to devote at least 7 hours a week (1 hour a day) to monitoring the forums.

To begin with, we'll allow people to moderate 1 or 2 forums (your choice). We may assign more than one moderator to a busy forum. That remains to be seen.

Volunteers should SEND ME EMAIL with the following information:

Your full name
Your age
A regular email address (nothing with Hotmail, etc.)
Number of forums you'd like to moderate (1 or 2)
And 2 or more from the following list of forums (please provide alternates in case of conflicts)
Desired screen name for your moderator account

Please DO NOT followup to this message with any applications for moderator positions!

List of new forums

CATEGORY: Authors
Andre Norton
H.P. Lovecraft
Tolkien and the Inklings
Pulp Authors (Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, et. al.)
Fantasy Authors
Science Fiction Authors

CATEGORY: Fantasy Television
Renaissance Pictures (Hercules, Xena, Jack of All Trades, Cleopatra 2525, Young Hercules)
Sheena, The Jungle Queen
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World

CATEGORY: History
Pre-history (pre-literate cultures)
Ancient History (to 600 CE) <<-- This is an arbitrary cutoff date
Medieval European History

CATEGORY: Miscellaneous
Xenite and Herkulean Webmasters (no moderator required at this time)

CATEGORY: Movies
Dungeons and Dragons
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars

CATEGORY: Mythology and Folklore
Greco-Roman Mythology
Northern European Mythology

CATEGORY: Science Fiction Television
Andromeda
Farscape
Lexx
Stargate-SG1

CATEGORY: Administrative
Feedback
Administrative (private forum -- no moderator required)

I'll post more details on the new forums later on. They are not yet available for public inspection. People will, however, be able to use them as soon as we start moving Xenite.Org. You won't have to wait like the last time (at least, I don't think that will be the case).
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Xenite.Org: Science Fiction and Fantasy