Shireroth

Phase 1 of my Grand Plan for Shireroth is complete. While I might end up doing some minor modifications to the forum's visual style, I'm basically done with it.

Phase 2 is just beginning. This one depends a bit more on your help and approval than the first phase because I don't have administrative access on the server it involves, and because I didn't break the thing I'm trying to fix in the first place.

I'd like the entire Shireroth website to be wikified. I don't really see any good reason to maintain (as much as you can say we've been maintaining it) a static HTML site when it's so much easier to update a wiki. I can do a lot here, but unlike the forum stuff this needs little technical skill, so I'd prefer to have a task force for handling specific jobs in this matter. If Erik or the rest of you don't think this is a good idea, well, we'll strike it from the plan .

Phase 3 is somewhat more personal. I've never been MiniEx, and I'm so out of the loop of intermicronational affairs that the MNN looks like a zoo of strange names to me these days. Still, there was a time when I was omnipresent, and... I rather liked it, even if it only was omnipresence in off-topic fora. Once the site's been handled (or someone's taken upon themselves the job of handling it), I'm going to ask to be MiniEx. The first thing I plan to do in that office is to clean up our foreign relations list, since most of the nations in it are all dead and a few merely mostly dead. After that, well... it was never very Shirithian to spam every nation out there with requests for treaties, but certainly at least those we have dual citizens (or dual honorary citizens) with should be prodded.

Phase 4 is very personal and involves spending several years writing the Great Straylightian Novel .




... I also had a few words to say about what I really think of this revival, but I haven't really gotten my emotions straight on that issue yet. Thus, I really have only one thing to say right now: If you guys manage to recruit, say, at least two or three spiffy new people (and I mean new people, please don't try to bring Moose or Scott or David back even if they technically are backbringable), you'd bring me much greater peace of mind. You'd also bring me much greater peace of mind if, after phase 3, you all just decided together that the nation is dead and walked away, but it seems unlikely that's going to happen...

Regarding the wiki: during the months our wiki was down, MNN made a very very good one that's now the center of intermicronational wiki efforts. Normally I would be mad at them for copying Shireroth's idea, but they did it back when it looked like we would let ours stay broken forever, they gave us proper credit, and the past umpteen featured articles have all been on quasi-Shirerithian things, so it's all good. See http://mnn.mncentre.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

I strongly suggest you move everything you want foreigners to see over there, and convert Shireroth's wiki to a Shireroth-only sort of thing, perhaps the website Ari suggests.

By the way, I have been thinking about rejoining, but first of all I'm still not convinced this isn't another of our infamous two-week-revival-then-fade-into-obscurity-again things, and second of all I suspect I would end up being the annoying person complaining about all the stupid newbies who don't know what they're doing and how much better things were back in the old days. I'll see what happens and maybe find a compromise solution, possibly involving meddling from the outside.

I will say I really like this new trend of Ari being seriously involved in government. He's one of the few people who's both old enough to know stuff and easy-going enough not to cause some huge traditionalist vs. progressive conflict. Although thanks for nothing about revealing the whole Malarbor thing...and for not wanting me back

Ari's enthusiasm reminds me of, um, me. On other forums, where I actually have access.

So naturally I think he rocks.

Regarding the website, a wiki would work if you disable outside registration. I did that on a wiki I host. Let me know if you want the info on that (not that it isn't unfindable on the interweb, after all, I got my information from somewhere, too, but I offer for convenience). Otherwise, if you're looking for a content management system, there's always TYPO3, but I can't seriously recommend that unless you actually want to work with me to get a template set up (figuring out templates, whether in the one or other way, is painful and timeconsuming). Of course, I've never seen the wiki software be more easily template-able (*stabbed in the dark a lot, simply put*), but I digress...

Ari!

I hope you get to be MiniEx. If $Ari == $pinkgothic then that's definitely the job for you.

*still wants to help, somehow, even if that's probably going to end in, "NEIKE, FOR CHRISSAKE, LEARN TO SHUT UP," eventually* (Ahaha. I am not that easily deterred! S'far too fun making an utter fool of myself.)

Well, Scott, the reason why I didn't want people to go after you is that we've already got one ancient geezer here who can't stop being worried about the future, if we pull in more we're going to spend all our time worrying together and not actually doing anything useful... maybe if you're afraid that the revival will just die after two weeks, you should leave for two weeks (or about ten days if you're *really* worried and want to count from Mors V's inauguration, but that level of doubt isn't healthy) and only meddle from the outside if at all.

And Neike, thanks for the offer(s)... while I can perfectly well type "$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false; $wgGroupPermissions['user']['createaccount'] = true;" in LocalSettings.php by myself (or ask Erik to do the same anyway) it's/they're much appreciated anyway . Maybe... hm. You seem to know your way around CSS, maybe if you have ideas on what the new ShireWiki should look like you might want to work on that? Again this all depends on Erik's word...

Ari Rahikkala wrote:And Neike, thanks for the offer(s)... while I can perfectly well type "$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false; $wgGroupPermissions['user']['createaccount'] = true;" in LocalSettings.php by myself (or ask Erik to do the same anyway) it's/they're much appreciated anyway .

Gracias! That being said, I did kind of mean just telling you what settings you have to change to get the effect. But I see you've already discovered this yourself.

Ari Rahikkala wrote:Maybe... hm. You seem to know your way around CSS, maybe if you have ideas on what the new ShireWiki should look like you might want to work on that?

I'd love to!

I will give you full site access within 24 hours...

Sounds good Ari. A wiki just for Shireoth is certainly much more useful than a static website.

As to MinEx, having been a MinEx (well, MOFA) person most of my micronational career, I'm happy to help you get your head around the current state of affairs ... at least with most younger MCS micronations. I assume that we're completely ignoring the GSO ...

Andreas the Wise wrote:at least with most younger MCS micronations. I assume that we're completely ignoring the GSO ...

Offcourse.

That was proly gonna be my plan... Silly splinter groups...

What GSO?

God Smacking Onathopter...

we've already got one ancient geezer here who can't stop being worried about the future

HEY! I qualify as an Ancient Geezer!

SCOTT!

In the rememberance of the name of the Parliament of Audentior Before Whom all Mortals once Trembled, I'd be thrilled to see you back.

We all get discouraged, and it was Scotts' turn.

Ari Rahikkala wrote:What GSO?

I like your attitude

Hey.. I'm an old geezer too... you know...

Yeah, but unlike Scott you are [pretending to be] optimistic

Fair enough...

Kaiser Mors V wrote:That was proly gonna be my plan... Silly splinter groups...

They must be destroyed, lett trow a nuclear bomb on there heads

Time will proly take care of them for us.... it has in the past..

Shireroth, the nation that solves its problems (including death) by outliving them?

It's worked so far...

Ari Rahikkala wrote:Shireroth, the nation that solves its problems (including death) by outliving them?

Indeed!!

We should make that another motto.. or a slogan .. or something...

Sounds a great motto to me!

Yes!

Put it in bad Latin, it will sound good.

*Quietly recommends that the motto be whatever the Latin version of "Braaaiiins, braaaaiiiins" is, and let people work out the braaaiiins->zombie->undead->outliving-everything-else chain of references for themselves*

There's just one problem with that: How do you pronounce "cerebra" (accusative plural of "cerebrum") in a long, moaning, drawn-out way?

draw out the 'a' at the end...