Gothic BC

I've just made the newest incarnation of Gothic BC live. I've been working on this since late October and I really don't know how many hours I've put into this to get it to a workable state. There is plenty more work to be done, but hey, I've been plugging away at this for almost 10 years now and there is always more work to be done.

So what's new in the new Gothic BC? ...

• User accounts: With the old site the only area you logged into was the forum. Now logging in is site-wide. If you had an active login to the forum as of December 27, 2007 your old username and password should work for the new site. Once logged in you can use the forum, comment on blog posts and other content, upload to the art gallery, create a personal profile page, with more features to come as I get to them.

  Certain things that didn't require a login before still don't, like uploading to the photo gallery, commenting on photos in the gallery (this will change, though, when I get to it), and adding links.

• Paid accounts: I know I am going to get flack for this, but there are now two types of paid account.

  The one I'm going to get grief over is the "Confirmed Adult User" account. You need to buy this if you want to be able to turn off the NSFW filter in the photo gallery. The subscription costs a measly $1/year. Anyone who wants to gripe about 8.3¢/month needs a reality check.

  The other kind of paid account, cleverly called "Paid Account" gets you a Gothic BC blog at this point, but I will be adding more features as time goes on. Even at the paltry price of $5/year I don't really expect this to be a big seller, particularly since I gave everyone with an active forum account as of December 27, 2007 "Early Adopter" status, which gives them a permanent paid account. Pretty much anyone who might have bought and account already has one. Ain't I the shrewed businessman? I'm so not doing this for the money.

• Way better calendar: The new calendar lets anyone add event (they still need to be approved by a moderator though). In addition to the public access I've also got "promoter" account type for the calendar. Promoters can enter their own calendar entries and edit them at will, with out having to go through a moderator. If you are a promoter, create an account and send me an e-mail to get hooked-up. Promoter accounts are free.

• Better art gallery: The new art gallery is linked in with the login accounts so artists can go back and edit or delete thier art at will. The new art gallery is also going to be curated - submitted art will only be displayed if it is accepted by our curators. The curators for the gallery will be Atratus, B.A. Visual Arts, Simon Fraser University and Valerian, Diploma of Fine Arts, Studio Major, Emily Carr College of Art and Design.

• News Aggregator: this is without a doubt my favourite new feature. The Aggregator picks up from a variety of sources including LJ, mySpace, ez-Board, and elsewhere to pull together the latest news about what's going on in one convenient space. Imagine that, just one place to go to find out what's happening.