The Reputation System has been enabled. The following changes have been made to the system in order to make it more user-friendly:

1. The reputation user spread has been lifted. You are no longer required to find other people to rep before you can rep the same person on a different post.
2. The daily reputation cap has been lifted. You can now rep as many posts as you wish.
3. A comment is now required to give reputation. This is to make the system distinctly different than the Likes System. The Like System is a way of saying you like something without giving a comment, while the Reputation System is a way of telling a person why you liked their post.
4. Negative Reputation is no longer allowed. This was causing more problems than any perceived benefits. If you disagree with someone, there are more mature ways of handling it than negating points from the person.

Note: The amount of points required for each level may be adjusted due to the removal of reputation caps.

The following two thumbnail reported issues have been resolved:

1. Inline attachments are not displaying as thumbnails.
2. Certain user's avatars are breaking the layout in What's New?

The default view when going to thefinalfantasy.net/forums has been adjusted. Guests, users not logged in, as well as users who haven't confirmed their email will now see the Forums as the default view. Everyone else will still see the Activity Stream. This was done so that people who have not joined the forums can get their feet wet easier.

I'm working on adding support to allow you to choose which view you want to open up when you visit the forums. For example, if you always go to the blogs first, you could set that to be your default view.

Without further ado, the TFF Light layout is live!!! :lick: You can select the TFF Light layout by scrolling to the bottom of any page, select the drop-down menu at the bottom left corner, and choosing TFF Light. You can also change the layout through your user profile settings. There may be a few tweaks here and there in the near future if I notice anything funky looking.

The TFF Dark buttons have been updated to be more visible. The buttons should no longer be close to invisible on the bottom of posts, etc.

Ever wonder if there are posts waiting to be moderated but don't feel like going through a bunch of clicks to find out? Well look no further than the Quick Moderation bar conveniently located near the top of the Forums tab!



You will quickly see what threads, posts, etc are awaiting your approval.

Mod: "But Merlin, I've never needed that before... why do I need it now?"

I'm glad you asked! One of the latest features of the forums is a super secret set of filters to block out those pesky bots! Should such a bot get caught by our patent pending web of spam-catchery, the thread, post, etc will be put into moderation. That's where you come in. You need to take the next step and bash the user into...erm rather validate what was caught. In the unlikely event that a real user was snagged, you can quickly release their post from the moderation prison.

In this post I'm going to explain a bit about the new Experience Points System. First, let's look at where you can find the main part of the system.


Here you can see that I have circled the Experience tab at the top of the forums. By clicking the tab you will be taken to the Experience Point System and all it's oodles of information.






This is what the Experience Points main page looks like. There are several tabs here which show you different information.

• Insight Experience: This tab shows you information on your current level, how far into the level you are experience-wise, your activity level, and your various awards and achievements. The HP bar is the red bar under Level. As you gain levels you will gain more HP. Don't worry, you cannot lose HP. The yellow Experience Points bar shows you how close you are to your next level. Finally, the green SP bars show you how active you are. The more active you are, the higher your SP.
• Ranking: Shows you how you stack up against the rest of the forums.
• Group Ranking: Shows the top social groups. Similar to Ranking but for groups.
• Awards: Information on the various awards you can earn. Only one person can hold any given award. For example, if you have the most referrers, you can earn an award. If someone else gets more referrers than you, you lose the award and it is given to that person. More awards will be added in the future.
• Achievements: Achievements are similar to awards, but anyone can get them and keep them. Be careful though as some acheivements can be lost if you no longer meet the requirements for it. Not all achievements will tell you how to earn them. You'll have to discover the mysteries of how to unlock the achievements on your own. Keep in mind that we have forum rules and that breaking them in order to get achievements is NOT a wise move.

This is how the Experience Points System looks in the User Profile of a person. You can see similar information to what you do in the main Experience Points tab at the top of the Forums.





Finally, here is how the posts look now. The HP, EXP, and SP bars are at the top. In the left-hand sidebar you can see your awards and achievements.

One of the changes rolling out with the new version of TFF is an all new way to write your Journal! Check out the Blogs and start your own. Not only can you post your Journal entries, but also your own personal works, such as stories and art!

In the near future all Journal posts written in the Journals forum will be migrated to Blogs. I can't give you an exact date on this but it is definitely on the short list of things to get done. In the meantime, your previous Journal entries will be kept safe in the Journal Forum.

A good idea for your first Blog entry would be to link to your archived thread in the Journal Forum.

Gone are the days of static announcements and topics informing users of the rules. You can now find the forum rules by clicking on the Forum tab and then on the Forum Rules link in the links below.



You will be unable to post, send PMs, etc until you agree to the rules. If you try to post, the forums will redirect you to the rules. Please go through them for a refresher course or if you never read them do so now. After reading the rules, you will find an accept checkbox and a submit button at the bottom of the page. Once you have accepted the rules you will be able to post, PM, etc.

Keep in mind that if you violate the rules and are warned, you will be required to go through the rules again. :smash:

Well after a few delays due to technical glitches and phantom mods like Petz(who here remembers Petz? ) I've got the new version of the TFF Forums open to the public. I'm creating a series of blog posts with helpful tips and tutorials that will help explain some of the changes.

You may wish to follow my blog as I will use it to keep you updated on the latest upgrades and changes that will take place in the future. This is just the ground work for more to come. If you see anything strange going on, please let me know so I can look into it. This was a huge update so there are bound to be glitches here and there.