New Academic Year, New Sinner

[Admin]

Finally, a NEW SINNER is on the way!
(And this time, I mean it!)

The new site will be launched as Freshers' Week begins and will feature a brand new messageboard system, brand new maps of the town, and a brand new wiki-style guide to St Andrews.

Your username will be transferred over to the new site, with the email address you specified when you registered (make sure this is up to date - details below). All you need do is sign into the new site through the welcome page and the transfer process is complete.

We've chosen to use phpBB as the engine for the messageboards, as it will be more reliable than the existing messageboard system, with fewer bugs. All the existing content will be transferred over to the new site, so you won't miss a thing.

More details after the jump... (click the link to read more)
The Maps have been divided into useful sections, detailing the locations of Halls of Residence, Pubs and soon we'll also feature shops, cash points and other really handy info. And if you'd like to learn about any of the places highlighted on the map, click on the link and you'll be taken to....

The Sinner's Guide to St Andrews.
At last! A user-editable, wiki-style guide that you can update at any time of day or night, instantly. We've adopted MediaWiki's engine - the same one that runs Wikipedia, so you should have no problem finding your way around the guide, or editing the pages. A lot of content is in there already, but we want to make sure that the Guide is a collective, community driven project, so we've provided the framework and we ask that you, the members of The Sinner help contribute to the Guide.

This way, we'll build an unbiased Guide to St Andrews together.

We've got pages ready for your societies, sports clubs, academic schools, favourite pubs and eating places, and even things to do should your boredom reach a stage that even The Sinner can't overcome! If there's something that we've missed out, feel free to add it!

You can see more here: http://thesinner.net/images/sneakpreview


I'd like to thank Fawksie, Sunil, Orudge, Sweet and Hash9 for all the work they've put into helping develop the new site. Their tireless efforts behind the scenes have really paid off.

[s]Before we transfer all of this site's content over to the new site, please make sure that your email address is correct (login, then go to "Account Settings". This is in case we need to email you a new password from the new site. [/s]

[theshadowhost]

sounds good - like the wiki idea if people actually contribute

[hr]

[Power Metal Dom]

I'm almost certainly going to miss the good ol' Sinner but this does sound like a lot of work has gone in. Love the Brain Lang pic! Will mod privileges remain?

[hr]

Like flames on fuel...upon metal I drool

[orudge]

Moderators will still be given moderator permissions on the new site. This may not happen immediately on the new site, but it should be sorted within within a few days of the new site going live.

[hr]

http://www.owenrudge.net/
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37103734

[Frank]

The opposite of Congress?

Sounds good. I enjoy new forums. Hooray.

[hr]

"There is only ever one truth. Things are always black or white, there's no such thing as a shade of grey. If you think that something is a shade of grey it simply means that you don't fully understand the situation. The truth is narrow and the path of the pursuit of truth is similarly narrow."
Also, some years later:
"here we are arguing about a few uppity troublemakers with a bee in their bonnet and a conspiracy theory."

[Thalia]

Is there a reason for the green theme colour? Not that that is hugely important compared to having a working site but i've never really liked the green much and there's something about the green with the new sinner logo that looks a bit Irish-y. Is that just me?

I would have thought blue would work better - it's the colour of the saltire (aka St Andrews Cross) and is also used in the university crest.

[hr]

You've been nothing but an angel every day of your life and now you wonder what it's like to be damned...

[ct3012]

So by the start of Freshers' Week do you mean tomorrow or Monday?

[Fawksie]

Quoting Thalia from 13:27, 19th Sep 2008
I would have thought blue would work better - it's the colour of the saltire (aka St Andrews Cross) and is also used in the university crest.

Bit late! I spent a few days recolouring phpBB's default (blue!) theme to match the green and Sunil did the same for MediaWiki. Not something I'd want to repeat in a hurry I like the green personally. We could have gone back to beige/brown/pink/salmon/adobe/whatever that colour was that we had before green...

[Anon.]

Quoting Thalia from 13:27, 19th Sep 2008
I would have thought blue would work better - it's the colour of the saltire (aka St Andrews Cross) and is also used in the university crest.

You mean "coat of arms"... the University doesn't have a crest.

I think blue would look a bit supermarket-ish.

[Fawksie]

Quoting Anon. from 17:28, 19th Sep 2008
You mean "coat of arms"... the University doesn't have a crest.

Shield, surely. Does the University have a full coat of arms? If so, I don't recall having seen it.

[Thalia]

eh, crest, coat of arms, whatever - you knew what i meant

So is there a reason for the Irish green theme? Perhaps the registered users could vote for a better colour

[hr]

You've been nothing but an angel every day of your life and now you wonder what it's like to be damned...

[orudge]

Maybe, if the registered users would also like to change all the graphics and the coding, too.

[hr]

http://www.owenrudge.net/
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37103734

[Anthro3]

Quoting Thalia from 18:35, 19th Sep 2008
eh, crest, coat of arms, whatever - you knew what i meant

So is there a reason for the Irish green theme? Perhaps the registered users could vote for a better colour

[hr]

You've been nothing but an angel every day of your life and now you wonder what it's like to be damned...

I don't like the green either.

[ekpyrotic]

Looks beautiful.

[Power Metal Dom]

I've always liked the green theme personally. Maybe the stick, green, nature? I dunno, whatever it is that makes it work...it does!

[hr]

Like flames on fuel...upon metal I drool

[Fawksie]

I don't know why this incarnation is green, but I imagine the new one is green because this one is.

[crystalclear]

wow sounds well good. i'm proper excited! lolz.

[Admin]

I think the previous colour was 'capuccino'. Well, it was variations on brown.

The new site is green simply to maintain the colour scheme of the existing site. Perhaps in time we'll modify it, or introduce the option of personalised skins once you've logged in.

But the main emphasis of the new site is the content and the features.

We'll be going offline here (the existing site) very shortly, and once the new site comes up and you've updated your password record so that the new site has verified your account, I'd like to see you all adding content to the wiki so that the new students have the best, up to date information possible.

For the first few weeks, the site will definitely be a work in progress, but we'll put together a messageboard specifically for suggestions and bugs.


The next step is publicising the site to get the freshers involved!

We've got loads of flyers ready to go, but we could do with a hand distributing them.
If you're free over the weekend, please email admin@thesinner.net and we'll sort out some flyer drops. (We're mainly looking for people in halls, although some flyer distributors in town would be appreciated too).

Finally, we need a couple more people to help out at the Societies Fayre/Fair/Fare/Faeyre, so if you've got a big gob and an upbeat personality, drop us a line at admin@thesinner.net

See you on the new site!

[orudge]

Woo, new Sinner.

[Duggeh]

I must request, from the off, limitations on the size of sigs. I cannot abide having to trawl through forums where every wab has got the last 20 songs played on their audioscrobbler jammed under every 1 line post.

Elsewise, good to see the site finally moved from the buggy and archiac to the modern and slick.