News & Announcements

[Eke]

News & Announcements

All updates and news regarding to the forums will be posted in this thread by the staff.

[Eke]

Mini-Profile Backgrounds

You are now able to set a custom background for your mini-profile (the small box with info that appears next to your posts).

In order to do this, go into "Edit Profile" and then "Personal" and at the bottom there should be an option like this:



Please make sure to click the "Save" button next to the box after you enter the background URL, otherwise it will not save, and you will not be able to see your background.

If the box doesn't show up, refresh the page, it's an issue and it sadly can't be fixed for now. Also please make sure that you enter an image URL, otherwise your mini-profile might break.

Edit: Please do not use very large images, they will slow down the load for everyone. If you want to use a larger image (from Wikipedia) go
to the file page and size it down. If you can't, please choose another image.

[Eke]

Plethora of Updates

Over the last few hours there have been a bunch of major and minor updates to the forums, mostly aesthetic. I'll be going over them one by one and explaining everything in as much detail as possible.

Admin Checkmarks

I know several people "complained" when administrators first got the colourful names back over the summer, however at this point the coloured names have been removed and replaced with a blue* tick:
*explained more in detail later

Contest-specific Board Designs

Several contests have got contest-specific board designs, including backgrounds and colours relating to the contest's current theme. This has been an idea floating in my head for a little while, but I was never fully sure how I would go about doing it, today though, ✨💃 was asking me if it would be possible and I decided to look into it, and surely enough, it is actually possible, thus I've also put it to use.



If you wish to receive a design like this for your own contest, please message me either on the forums or on Facebook about it, make sure to include a background image, as well as a hex colour code that fits the current (or permanent) design of your contest.

Please note that I am busy a lot and I might not be able to edit your board design immediately, if this is the case, please avoid from bothering me too much about it, if I've told you I'd do it, and it's been a few days, feel free to remind me, but don't spam me about it daily. Thanks!

This also ties in with the admin ticks, as all hosts of a certain contest will also receive a tick in the colour that the contest's current theme is in, this includes admins who are the host of a contest, their tick is just recoloured.

Other Minor Updates

There have been two minor updates, the buttons on the forums now have a simple white design over the glossy grey design they used to have. This is just a personal preference of mine and I would be able to change it back should people object to it too much, but as of now no one has complained to me about it so I'm sure it's fine.

The other minor change is the post and thread numbers on boards now have a slightly larger font.

[Eke]

New Moderators Announced

The applications closed a week ago, and after discussions and considerations were done by the administrators, we have decided to reveal 3 people who will be receiving the position of moderator on the forums.

Without further ado, here are the three people who will be joining the staff as moderators.

SPOILER: Click to show

Callum

Callum was chosen by Eke, Jan, Dimitris and Jess. He was liked universally across the board and was a sure pick in the end. We admire Callum's pragmatism and well-spokenness, and despite being on the forums for less time than some other users, he has proven himself worthy of the position. Welcome to the team!

SPOILER: Click to show

nick

Nick was chosen by Eke, Daniel, Jan and Jess. He was also liked by everyone and we're sure he will make a fine addition to the team. Among other considerations, an American moderator will give more diversity to the staff, as well as help us deal with issues that may arise when everyone else is unable to deal with them. Welcome to the team!

SPOILER: Click to show

Blandine

Blandine was chosen by Eke, Daniel and Jan, though she was also liked by everyone else. Blandine has been an amazing member of the community for four years, and all of us have great respect for her. Among other considerations, a big plus for Blandine is her connections to parts of the forum that the other staff members don't often visit, but that are still integral parts of the forums, such as WWWSC. Welcome to the team!

Congratulations to all three of you, we are happy to be working with you in the future.

---

Besides these three, five other members were chosen or liked by some the administrators.

SPOILER: Click to show

Anesović, Aless, kev, Laurinda and MaRtIn

Thank you very much for applying. Sorry you were not chosen this time, but all five of you had excellent applications and were considered for the positions. We already had to increase the amount of moderators chosen from two to three, but sadly none of you were still able to make it. In case we ever need more moderators, we will surely consider all of you for the position.

A big thank you to everyone else who applied as well, all of you had great applications and the choice was hard to make. But without all of you, the forums would not be the same as they are now.

SPOILER: Click to show

ClassifiedCat Joseph Matilda MG Dominykas martinantidormi @thesirenscalling Logan Jens Josh's Tattoo (Inactive) alexeh Matt TheAri Julian @austria2002 Wysteria

[Eke]

New Forum URL

This is a small announcement regarding the forum URL, which has now been changed from ovsc.proboards.com to forum.songcontests.eu.

Everything will still function exactly as it always has. The main songcontests.eu domain currently redirects to the forum, time will tell what we will choose to do with the main domain.

Several slight changes have also occurred because of this:
• Firstly, mini-profile backgrounds can once again be changed through the regular profile editor.
• Secondly, the contest flairs have currently been removed for an unknown amount of time. They will be added back eventually, but not immediately.

[Eke]

User Profile Redesign

In light of many major and minor changes to the forum, a user profile redesign has been long overdue. The previous design, while functional, was admittedly not very pleasant to look at and I've decided to revamp it entirely.

Without further ado, this is how your profiles will look like from now onwards:



The cover photo can be changed to anything you wish, to do so, edit your profile and you can find the box to change the image in your "Personal" settings, right above the mini-profile background option. In case you don't have a cover image set, your mini-profile background will be used for the profile cover.

I'd appreciate any feedback for the design, feel free to leave it anywhere you wish: Random Discussion, Facebook, shoutbox etc

[Dimitris]

New Staff Members Announced

Due to the recent departure of two members from our staff, Christian and Nick, it was decided that the forum staff was in need for more members. That's why the administration has discussed and decided to add 3 new members that join the staff as moderators. The last submission period was taken into consideration for the choice of our new staff members.

Without further ado, here are the three people who will be joining the staff as moderators.

SPOILER: Click to show

Anesović

SPOILER: Click to show

Aless

SPOILER: Click to show

kev

Congratulations to all three of you, and welcome to the staff! The rest of the staff is looking forward to working with you in the new year.

[Callum]

Important Announcements

Regarding the Exchange of Nudes

Between December 2017 and June 2018, the staff was made aware of multiple serious allegations against various members. All allegations that were made were backed with evidence, and were simply irrefutable. Consequently, the staff have today decided following many rigorous and insightful discussions on the issue to discipline two members: Jan, who will be demoted and temporarily banned, and Apostolis, who will receive a longer temporary ban.

It must be acknowledged that this situation was not easy for any of the staff in what was clearly our most difficult case to deal with. Initially we had handed down earlier penalties in private that turned out to be useless and unfit for the offences at hand, although we must stress that we had no intention to undermine any member of the forums. Every time we made a breakthrough, there would always be a setback or a new development that would make us rethink everything. Regardless, we could have handled the situation much more effectively and much more quickly, and for that we apologise, especially to all of the members who are personally involved.

The heading says enough about the situation. While the staff has no control over the exchanging of nudes themselves between members, the staff do not recommend that you exchange nudes online no matter whether the exchanges are mutual or not, due to obvious risks such as the possibility of sextortion, for example. People who are under the age of majority in their home country should not be engaging in the exchange of nudes regardless.

If any member of the forums approaches you and either sends or presses you for nudes against your will for whatever reason, you should inform the staff at once. This is a criminal offence and subsequently this forum has a zero-tolerance policy towards it in accordance with EU online law and the American COPPA act (the latter as this site is hosted by ProBoards).

We hope that with tonight's outcome, we can all move forward as a community, begin a new clean chapter and carry on business as usual.

New Warning System

Previously, warning percentages were handed out lacking a distinct system and this has caused debate both within and outwith the staff, as often many people would be wondering why they received a greater warning percentage than someone else for a similar offence. It also eases the stress off the staff as we no longer need to discuss what percentage someone receives.

The new system is outlined in the table below. We will continue to use percentages, although the way in which we will distribute them will be much more uniform than previously.

Penalty	Examples of offences warranting the penalty
5%	Being a nuisance, tasteless use of bad language
25%	Flamebaiting, incessant spamming
50%	Spiteful attack on member, repeated short-term offences
Temporary ban	Reaching 100%
Permanent ban	Creation of multiple accounts, inexcusable act(s) against forum

Members who currently have a warning percentage applied to them may have their percentage edited in order to fit the new system. Typically this means it will be rounded to the nearest appropriate percentage. Nobody will be rounded up to 100%.

[Dimitris]

Changes in the Forum's Administration

In light of some minor changes in the forum's administration, the staff has agreed upon the removal of some inactive staff members. Due to that, it has been decided that both Liev and Rick will be demoted from administrators. We would like to thank both users for their contribution in the staff for as long as they have served. Nevertheless, they can both be re-promoted in the future if they ever wish to be back to full duty.

With that taken into account, and after the recent removal of another administrator, it has been decided that 2 moderators from our staff will be promoted to administrators. Considering their work in the staff the past few months, the staff has agreed on the promotion of both Aless and Callum to administrators.

Regardless of that, all the staff has put work into making the forum better and I would like to thank each and every one of you, regardless of your position.

[Eke]

New Rule Concerning Signatures

As forum staff, we recognise that signatures are a fantastic way of showing yourself off and supporting your favourite countries and songs in contests. However, we also believe there must be rules concerning signatures, as oftentimes they can be too large or contain too many images, which slows down loading times for everyone and ruins the reading experience.

From here on out, these will be the rules applied to signatures:
• a signature can contain no more than 4 images, with a maximum of 2 GIFs;
• a signature's overall length must not be detrimental to the reading experience;
• if any signature is found to be in violation of these rules, the staff can, and will, take it upon themselves to edit it without your permission;

If there are any signatures you believe are currently in violation of these rules, please let us know.