Thursday, September 2, 2010

Upwards and onwards - the future is bright!

Good news everyone. At this stage, we seem to be in a good position to start our own forum at no cost and with the help of our own 'Webmaster' - hope he doesn't mind me using that term, and just laughs at my over exuberance! His name here will be TheMacOne.

Chocolate Cookie is about to come on board as a contributor here. She has been working behind the scenes to make this happen, and I cannot thank her and her partner enough for their commitment and assistance.

Coby is also coming on board the blog as a contributor so you may see some posts from her as well.

We expect to be able to have our own forum up and running very soon, so at this stage I am just adding a few contributors to the blog to help us get the new forum going.

We need a new forum name so any suggestions much appreciated.

Please put your hand up now too if you are able to be a volunteer moderator, so we can make sure this aspect will be covered. To start with, we will have to just jump on as and when we can to moderate. I trust that the ex-N.com forummers will behave themselves and our moderating will mostly be targeted on any new members, so this means we all need to look after the forum and report any concerns so the moderators can take appropriate action.

We need to consider the terms and conditions we want on our forum.

Keep any comments and suggestions coming please. Your input is the driving force here.

46 comments:

  1. Hi Baking Bunny and everyone else, I am finally here and very, very excited! Look forward to seeing everyone on our new forum soon.

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  2. Here are some name suggestions I made on FB (somewhat tongue in cheek):

    Domestic Imps? (as opposed to the "domestic goddesses"? :)
    Cakes & Cauldrons?
    Kitchen Coven?

    I just wanted to say that I am very pleased this forum is going ahead, FB is too confusing for the purpose.

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  3. As I just said on FB, Nigella Seeds sounds nice to me. It is food related, but has the (hidden) meaning of where it all begun. But this might seem totally geeky to everyone else, let me know. :D

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  4. I will leave details to everyone else. I am happy to go along with whatever happens. Just like the small community, but always willing to welcome newbies as I once was. Good to see everyone here. Happy cooking.

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  5. Actually, I quite like Nigella Seeds! I like the hidden meaning :-)

    But should the forum name be associated with Nigella? I know it was the one thing that connected all of us but, at the same time, we were really brought together by our love of food and cooking. I think I'm easy either way.

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  6. I was thinking about that too... Thus the seeds - a newcomer doesn't have to associate it with Nigella Lawson, as it is an ingredient all on its own. I'd personally like to remember also WHERE it started, but am fine either way as well. Majority rules, I think. :)

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  7. I would like to volunteer to be a moderator. I'm also happy to help in setting up the forum. Just let me know :-)

    Baking Bunny - I sent you an email earlier which I hope you have received :-)

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  8. I personally love Nigella Seeds as it does link us to our beginnings but is removed enough to move forward as it is an entity in its own right, just like us.

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  9. cremebrulee don't think I got your email. It is a bit confusing with email address names and knowing you all us user names. Please send the email again and I will respond. Thanks.

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  10. Hi guys, brilliant initiative. I'm very interested in joining your new forum :) What do you think of the new Nigella.com?

    Best wishes, LovingFood.

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  11. So much for 'new interactive sections' on the new site. I dont think I will be a regular visitor of the new nigella.com website myself.

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  12. Baking Bunny - I just sent a new email to you (directly, not as a message through this blog). Hope to hear from you soon :-)

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  13. This is all very exciting!

    BB, I am very happy to help out in whatever way I can. I'll stick my hand up for helping to moderate too, but I won't be able to do this every day. Will there be some kind of rota?

    Name-wise, I personally quite like Nigella Seeds. but looking at the depth of feeling on some of the FB posts (mine included!) I don't know if everyone will be happy with the Nigella-related name. I like it because, as I said in a FB post, although we all met because of our shared love of Nigella's food writing, we have morphed into something more than that. I quite like the association with the idea that the seeds of our cooking knowledge and growth were 'planted' by the Nigella forum, and continue to grow every day because of the shared knowledge and support of other forummers.

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  14. BB, i have a question. when you say contributor, what kind of contribution are we looking at? I'm pretty much at home all the time so i can help out a bit.

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  15. I like the name 'Nigella Seeds'. Also prefer new colour - it's easier on the eyes!

    Caroline, who bought her copy of Kitchen from Tesco today for £13.00

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  16. Thank you BB for setting this up. Fantastic work! Like Katherine, I'm currently home most of the time aswell, so I'm happy to offer my services as a Moderator if required. Thanks again!

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  17. I like Cappuccino's suggestion for a name. BTW, there is a middle way between fully moderated - most forums I belong to have moderators that keep an eye on things and are authorized to go in and delete offensive content or move topics around if they are in the wrong section of the forum, in combination with a report button that users can utilize if they have concerns about someone's content or if a discussion deteriorates into name-calling.

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  18. We will be doing the moderation like you suggest bettina, especially as all the ex-N.com forummers coming over are known to us and trustworthy. If anything doesn't work as we plan, it is our own forum so we will have the power to change it around.

    I am thankfully receiving many offers of help in regards to moderation so will contact volunteers to arrange this once we have the forum ready to go.

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  19. I can chip in, I spent some time on the internet on most days and I've got time so that's great.

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  20. TheMacOne has done a quick check for us and unfortunately Nigella Seeds is unavailable as a forum/domain name :( Keep the ideas coming, I'm sure we'll come up with something that is available.

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  21. Too bad. How about The Mixing Bowl? I think it was cmdsmith that came up with it on the FB page, it's one of the most popular suggestions there.

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  22. Ooooops, I think that one is also taken! Boo.

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  23. I look forward to joining our forum. I rarely visit blogs but will bookmark this one.

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  24. Hi All - a few days with computer trouble and all this happens - what a turn up for the books!!!

    My hand is up, BB :-} Pleased to help in any way I can.

    Many thanks to you all for doing this.

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  25. Right here are my name contributions...

    TheMixingBowl

    WhisksandWishes (as per Mandy's better corrective suggestion on FB)

    TheStockpot

    TheChoppingBoard

    ThroughtheOvenDoor

    Spoonandspatula (or does that sound like a fetish group harhar)

    MashChopGrate

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  26. Ok everyone I have all suggestions collated from here and Nigella Friends FB page. I will narrow it down and search for available domains and check with TheMacOne and then give you all a shortlist of possible names to vote on.

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  27. Hey all, shortlist is incoming. Watch out for the poll very very very soon!

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  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  29. Hi all, that was only me deleting that last post (nothing sinister lol). Think I have now worked out how to post with my 'old' forum name and avatar. So nice to see you australiaman :) I am really starting to feel like I'm home.

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  30. Good to see you "guys". Happy cooking

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  31. And so the list grows. Hello everyone. Hope everyone is feeling ok today/tonight. You all take care now. Have to mention that I broke the diet big time last night. Choc caramel slice, 'health cake', can you say that?? Happy cooking.

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  32. Australiaman, if you are going to break a diet, then chocolate caramel slice is well worth it!

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  33. I loved it Mandy_C. More importantly, I am hoping that all our friends in Christchurch New Zealand are ok. There was an earthquake there last night. All of us in Australia are fine, it only affected New Zealand, Christchurch specifically I believe. Happy cooking.

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  34. Charlie, you found us. I am sure that is 'you'. Happy cooking.

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  35. Just been checking the news on that earthquake in NZ and looks like just minor injuries but quite a bit of damage to infrastructure and buildings. I am relieved there have been no serious injuries.

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  36. Good news that no lives have been lost in the NZ earthquake. I have been checking the Nigella and Nigella Friends FB page. Thanks to those who have asked about me. I am here (obviously) but I am not posting on FB. I will lurk on both facebook sites however to keep up with the news. I must say I am really impressed with how you ladies organise yourselves. Thanks for the hard work and time put in. Good to hear that someone has been in contact with Ms "Cakes". Send her my regards please. Happy cooking.

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  37. I must say that I am impressed with the photos posted on the Nigella Friends FB page. You have all just been "Keeping Calm and Carrying On". The pictures look great. All that food...It is encouraging me to eat more!!! Happy cooking.

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  38. Australiaman, thank you - yes it is me, only I have been able to drop the number 1 from my username :) It wouldn't be the same without seeing the words "Happy cooking" around here! Great to see so many familiar names joining :)

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  39. Hi Charlie and everyone else. It is great to see people getting together. I am not exactly ancient but if someone told me twenty five years ago that people from all over the world would be able to meet and keep in contact almost instantly and easily, who would have believed them? Just as well BakingBunny is quick and smart. It really was like a massive storm with people running everywhere with nowhere to go. BakingBunny and others put out the lifelines to help. We just need to be persistent, positive and patient to find everyone that wants to be found a link them together again. Happy cooking.

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  40. I totally agree Australiaman! It is indeed a unique situation here, those lifelines are running around all over the world. Incredible really! Three cheers for BakingBunny, hip hip hooray!!

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  41. Hi everyone.
    I am MummyMcC and am available to volunteer.

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  42. Just finished some FB lurking. Good to see Catpoet is connected and jtcw. Who else is still out there looking? Can we have pashpa's lemon squares recipe posted somewhere here or on the new site? It was the recipe I used to do a 'check out' of the new Nigella site and the recipe did not come up, as someone has stated on FB. I hope our NZ friends are doing ok in Christchurch. Please come home everyone. Let us know you are out there. Happy cooking.

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  43. I keep hovering over the avatars on the 'following list' to see who has joined us here.
    If you like, can everyone post a short message to say hi and let us know you are ok. This may help to reinforce the connections for our 'mind maps' of who is where. Does that make sense? Good morning BakingBunny. You must be happy with how things are going on this blog. Happy cooking.

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  44. cakes is here.bewildered. hope I can keep up.


    cheers old friends!

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  45. Ms 'Cakes', you survived! I was very worried about you. So glad you joined us here. We missed you already. I think we should all celebrate the arrival of Ms 'Cakes'. Oh happy day. Happy cooking!!!!

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  46. No need to worry about this old stager, Aussieman.

    I am a surviver.

    cheers

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