Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Good news everyone!

Every ending has a beginning, and in our case it was the end of the Nigella.com forum that propelled us into a new beginning. Change is often seen as a negative, but often great things come from change. The community spirit of the forum members continued as we discovered ways to stay in touch, via Facebook and a temporary blog. Banding together, we decided to start our own forum. We ran a poll to choose a name for our new forum from a short list of 6 names contributed by members of our online community, and we were on the way to establishing Through the oven door. We have become really proud of our name and it has come to mean more to us than merely just Through the oven door. Our hope is that over time it will come to mean something to you too.

It’s hard to believe how much work we have all accomplished in such a short amount of time. So much work has been going on behind the scenes and we thank you all for being so patient. It has taken a bit longer to build the site than we first anticipated, but that has enabled us to make sure that the site is a place everyone can enjoy.

We thank you all for your wonderful suggestions and ideas.  They all have merit and we have taken them all into consideration. We have concentrated on developing a site that is more user friendly and functional to use.  A lot of thought has gone into making this site and while we appreciate all of your suggestions, unfortunately some of them have not made it on to the site due to technical capabilities, time constraints, logistical and financial limitations.  We have kept track of all your ideas though and over time may be able to find a home for them on the new forum. 

We chose a forum design that we thought would be user-friendly, rather than becoming obsessed with finding the perfect background colour. We hope you all agree that being able to maneuver around the site with ease is paramount and that the “cosmetics” of the site can be changed over time.

As we are now broadening the topics available for discussion, the forum has been designated into sections but we have kept the number of sections to a minimum. There are also some enhanced features that should make your time on the new forum more efficient and enjoyable. You will be able to add photographs to posts, bookmark favourite topics, subscribe to posts in your favourite topics and manage such features on your own user control panel. Yes, it may take you a little exploration and discovery to learn how to use it the best way for you, but there’s no rush. Jump in, have a look around, and take a look at the forum feature videos that TheMacOne has produced to help you learn many of the features available on the new forum. We have all put a lot of work into this site to make your experience as enjoyable as possible and to make sure that the site is you-friendly!

This new forum was the work of many, and they all deserve our gratitude. We had TheMacOne heading up the technical side of the enterprise and he has exceeded all our expectations to design us a customised forum. Baking Bunny co-ordinating forum members suggestions and working with all the volunteer contributors. Chocolate Cookie working very hard behind the scenes and providing wonderful support. We had Cappuccino design graphics for the forum and we were very impressed with their suitability - they enhance the forum so much. Then there are the contributors of the written words; introductions to forum sections and specific topics. Thank you Teaboy, JonMc, Charlie, manic-mummy, Coby, JeanJean, CookALot and bakemeacake. 

Our aim from day one has been to provide a family friendly site where everyone from all age groups and all walks of life can come and feel safe in the knowledge that they are part of a friendly, nurturing and safe community.  We want parents to feel comfortable in allowing their young children time on our site. To ensure this, it is a community effort.  While we have an amazing team of moderators to keep an eye on things, we are a global forum and therefore we need to rely on everyone to govern themselves. We ask you to put a little thought in to your posts and replies and ask yourself – Would I allow my daughter, son, niece, nephew, grandson, grandaughter to read what I have just posted?  We hope that your answer is – Yes!!

A good site needs moderators who will keep the users best interests at heart. We have a team of volunteer moderators on board and we are grateful to them for offering their time and accepting this task. The forum could not run without them. They are a vital part of this forum, and will be known as Team Mandarin. The admin team of TheMacOne and Baking Bunny will be known as Team Alfalfa. The form of moderation we chose, was based on the poll on the temporary blog which clearly suggested that the majority wanted some form of moderation, but without the heavy-handed approach of the old forum. As such, new users will be subjected to full moderation for their first five posts, so we are able to weed out time wasters and spammers. Once you have passed this milestone, your posts will automatically load onto the forum. We trust you all to behave and abide by the Terms of Use on the new forum. There will be ‘report’ capabilities, and moderators will be able to place members back on moderation if they post items that do not meet the Terms of Use. In extreme cases of continuing bad behaviour, membership may be cancelled.

Please do let us know if you have any suggestions for us to consider for the forum. There is even a section for this under Website Information in the forum sections. 

And now for the news you have all been waiting for! We are just about ready to open the forum for everyone to register and use. The opening time will be UK time 1am Wednesday 15th September, which is 10am Australian EST. At the designated opening time, you may register on the site at:

Please be aware that we expect an influx of registrations and new posts and our moderation team will be working very hard to get through each user’s 5 initial posts as quickly as possible. Please bear with us during this busy time, as we expect everything to run much more efficiently and smoothly once the initial very busy moderation period passes. 

Again thank you to everyone who assisted in making this forum into a reality, and to everyone for their support and encouragement. We look forward to seeing you all on the new forum on opening day!

12 comments:

  1. Baking Bunny - TheMO - all of you!!!!!! Well done! I am as excited as a child at Christmas. Thank you all so so so much for everything. I wish I could have helped, but please - let me know if there is anything I can do from here onwards.

    I know that all the rummers are going to absolutely love the new Forum. Well done. And again - thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. And did I tell you.... It looks AWESOME!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well done guys, you all deserve a pat on the back
    But now you are gonna find out how bad my speeling realy is.
    Have just made the new site my home page
    Tea

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much BB and TMO for all the hard work - so much appreciated.

    By the way, my hand is still up to volunteer if you need any more help:-}}

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't wait! It looks amazing! Thank to everyone for all the hard work!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amazing guys! You've been working very hard :) Looking forward to the grand opening!
    LovingFood

    ReplyDelete
  7. WOW GUYS!...What an enormous amount of work! Well done!
    Thank you sooo much for it!
    I'm looking forward to join in again with everybody!!!
    Thank you thank you thank you!
    xxx
    Sispaddy

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello Schnuggles here - I have been watching events since the sad closure of the Nigella forum. I must say I am extremely impressed with the proposed new forum and am excited about taking part.

    Peace and Love

    Schnuggles

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thankyou so, so much, all of you, all of us too for keeping the spirit of togetherness alive. I am proud to be part of such an exciting new venture. Here's to us.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much to all of you. You are all amazing for working so hard on the new forum. So excited now! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I cant get in.

    have emailed..........


    cAKES :-((

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Cakes

    As per our announcement, the new forum is open for registration at 10am Australian EST today. Do let us know if you still have a problem at that time.

    Thanks
    BB

    ReplyDelete