Ok guys, there have been lots of suggestions on how we can make this forum easier to use and better as an online resource... I've taken as many onboard as I can, but as always please do give me a shout if you have more ideas!

Firstly, I have removed the 30-day limit on how long threads can be widely viewed without having to search for them. Now the viewable time is dependent on when the last post was made, relative to the content of the forum... so for example the Q&A and organisation-specific forums never expire, but the Off-Topic forum threads go invisible after 7 days with no posts. I think that while this will increase thread necromancy, it will also stop those panic attacks when our members lose important archived information!

Next up, I have added a couple of new sections - the House Rules and Member Articles. Both are linked, but require a little definition:

House Rules relates to the way you play your PH games, in the absence of official GW material. Home-brewed codex lists, or advice on 'counts as' rules would all be great examples of what to put in here. I'm hoping that very soon some people will take on the xenos races in the same way RogalDorn has written up his Squats army lists...!

Member Articles is more to do with speculation and reinterpretation. Whereas the Q&A section and organisational background forums deal in canonical facts, this will be where we want to see reworkings of old rules, essay/thesis material regarding canon, or even just a place for people to present well thought-out arguments about the current fluff. I don't want to see pointless bickering and "that's wrong" comments, but rather I'd encourage you all to behave more academically - let's have some reasoned debate about what could be, rather than what GW says categorically is or isn't.

We've seen a lot of debate regarding the intentions of PH characters in the novels lately, and discussions about implicit events or attitudes in the M31 universe, so I don't think we will have much trouble getting into the mindset I'm looking for here! I will be adding more of the older topics to this area as they occur to me, but please feel free to start new threads. And since we have a whole new section, I've appointed a new member group to take control of it! The Remembrancers are those members who show aptitude for writing in a reasoned and informed way, but who also show more creativity than most. Think of them as similar to the Lore Masters group, but dealing in artistic licence rather than necessarily hard facts.

Aaaaaaaaand without further ado, the first member I have promoted to this position is our long-standing scribe GagocTheAncient! For now, he will be in charge of moderating the new forum sections and other connected areas... but I hope to appoint another one or two as the ball starts rolling on this. If you wish to volunteer or nominate someone else, please do drop me a line.

Finally, the April Display Case article will go up as soon as I have mastered the images to my own servers, hopefully this afternoon... [drumroll]

Sounds like all good changes as far as I'm concerned, although maybe make the Off Topic posts last... 10 days, as well as maybe a sticky for the Rogue's Gallery post?

I'd just like to take this oppurtunity to say thank you ShroudFilm. You've certainly put a lot of time and effort into this site, and I for one really appreciate it.

On the subject of changes, I agree with Benedict Arnold that the Rouge's Gallery deserves a sticky; its probably the most relevant thread in that section of the forum. The one week limit seems a little short, but I don't think it will be an issue; after all, one can still change the time filter to "from the beginning" and see it all anyway.
The two new sections look good; I especially like the idea of the Member Articles section - open, intelligent debate is, I think, very rewarding. And it would be nice not to "have the book thrown" at you whilst discussing GW's supposedly imaginative, creative universe.

In any case, these changes all look quite positive to me, and thanks again for the time you've put in.

Just noticed we have forums for the Custodes and the Astartes but not one for the Sisters of Silence. Maybe we should have one to cover all the bases as it were?

Do we have any SoS articles yet? :P If we start to get material for them, then I will start a new forum for 'em, as it were.

How about a sig width enforcement? :D

Bloody blimey, that's huge... PM sent to Benedict.

Fixed. It also doesn't help prevent side scrolling to take a picture of it and post it. :rolleyes:

Liking the changes. Keep up the good work... Just one thing tho, i cant start new topics, why?

You can now. You have to post non-spam to get promoted into the Imperial Citizens group, and now you're in! :D