Welcome to Quarrels and Quills

In my effort to keep everyone up-to-date on the status of the site and the server we are hosting on, I wanted to let you know exactly where we stand.

As I had mentioned in a previous article, everything has been moved to the new server. On Tuesday, I turned off the old server, which was costing $100 per month. I have moved us to a cloud based server that has a variable monthly rate based on resources that are required. My original hope was for running the $40 per month plan, which was for 1 CPU, 512MB RAM, and 40GB drive. Unfortunately, the memory setting was way too low, so I had to upgrade it to 1GB of RAM, which is what brought it to the $50 I was reporting in my original messages.

On the 1st, I was forced to upgrade from 1GB of RAM to 2GB of RAM, as the server performance was still too sluggish. This now brings the total cost of the server to $75 per month, which is still less than the $100 per month that I was paying on the old dedicated server.

I do not anticipate any other changes to the server, as the memory is now more than sufficient (I'm running between 60%-80% usage) and I have more than enough harddrive space. Therefore, the $75 per month is what I will be paying.

Thanks to the support of many of you here, as of today, the PayPal account that pays for the server is at $330. The charge for the server comes on the first of every month, so we are good for another four months (July, August, September, October). In September, another site that I host on the server will be paying their annual fee, which will carry the server an additional three months (November, December, January).

So, I want to personally thank everyone who has been able to help, no matter how small it was. I am still looking for a job, and am hoping to have one soon. At least we can be secure knowing that the server is covered for a while longer at least. I am still accepting any donations or subscriptions you might be able to provide. Rest assured that everything that comes in to PayPal always goes back to the server and the maintenance of the site.

Thanks to the faithful support of several members here, the server is paid for the next six months. Thank you all for your help.

Now, as part of the process of keeping the site online, I have to migrate the site to the new server and deactivate the old server. I have already begun the process of migration and am trying to make it as seamless as possible. Sometime before the end of the weekend, I will be locking the forum to do the data backup and move the site over to the new server. There will be anywhere from one hour to 48 hours that the site will be down, depending on how long it takes for your Internet provider to update their information to point to the new server.

If you have any questions, please ask in this thread. Gary or I will be happy to answer them.

I don't generally talk about this, as I don't want anyone to feel obligated in any way. The fact is, Quarrels and Quills is hosted on its own dedicated server. I pay for this service each month from my PayPal account. The money comes from side jobs that I've done and a couple other sites hosted here, but that doesn't always cover the full cost. The Google Ads don't really make much at all. This means the remainder comes out of my own personal finances.

I don't mind paying these costs, but there are times that it does make it tight for me. If you are able to give anything at all to help me offset the costs, that would be greatly appreciated. You can either do one time payments or set up a monthly recurring payment if you have the ability to do so.

http://quarrelsandquills.com/payments.php

Everything I get from this will always go back into the site. If you cannot help, do not worry about it, just continue to enjoy the site and the friends here. This site is free to join and participate, and will always remain that way. Thanks to everyone for making this a very fun community of friends.

Due to some database issues that have cropped up because of some of the larger threads, the site now will be limiting the size of the threads.

After 1000 replies, the board will automatically close the thread and start a new thread with the original first post, the title with a part # appended, a note about it being a continuation thread, and the latest post to the thread.

The story then can continue on.

Hello all,

There have been some new items added to the site in recent days. One of them is the Activity Stream. The Activity Stream tells you what your friends have been doing on the site. Check it out here.

In addition, everyone's profile now has an Activity Stream Tab on it. It shows what you have been posting so that someone can go check it out.

In addition, the Arcade has been updated to the latest version and in the course of the upgrade, the script for updating scores has been re-added to the site. It was forgotten about several moons ago so that scores were not being saved. OOPS.

Some might say its so my high scores weren't gotten rid of. But I say no one will beat them anyway.

Okay so that's really a subliminal way of getting you to try.

Have fun as always.

One of the features of vBulletin that has never been configured until now was the ability to connect your account here on Quarrels and Quills to your account on Facebook.

http://quarrelsandquills.com/themes/...book_login.gif

This button appears at the top of the page to allow you to link your account with your Facebook account. Posts, comments, and blog entries you write here can then optionally be included on your wall on Facebook. If you enjoy Quarrels and Quills, and you want to share that with your friends on Facebook, then feel free to connect.

To connect, simply click on the Facebook Connect button at the top of the page. It will ask if you want to connect. If you are sure that you want to link your account to Facebook, then accept it. Make sure you check the box that asks you to link your accounts, so that the accounts will link properly.

Ok, I'm back, and my first order of business was to bring the forums to the latest version, as we were about a year behind on the patches. Unfortunately, some features were temporarily broken during the upgrade, and Gary is in the process of fixing them. Our usual theme will be returning as soon as Gary can fix the issues.

So, back to your regularly scheduled stories in progress.

I have been adding the smilies that we had back in our phpbb days back to the board rather slowly. I have just added a bunch back very quickly. All the orange smilies we started with have been added back to the board. In addition, I added some Light Yellow that I found on another board. I also have readded the big colored ones and the blue ones with big eyes. Check them out at your leisure.

In addition the Smiley box has been improved with the addition of a drop down for the smiley categories that I wrote. Now you can select the type of smiley that you want from the drop down. If you would like to see all the smilies we have, just choose "All" from the drop down.

Enjoy.

What is Play by Post Roleplaying?


While traditional tabletop roleplaying is done with the group all together in person and typically with rule books and dice, play by post roleplaying is done over the internet. It is similar to collaborative writing or interactive fiction. Play by post games are typically run on a message board like Quarrels and Quills.


Play by Post posts are typically in the third person which allows the different players to write their character’s actions and thoughts without it being put back on the player themselves. These posts need to be open ended so that the next person can continue the story unless of course the time has come for the conclusion of the setting to occur. This is typically the job of the Gamemaster if there is one.


The first post in a thread sets the setting up for the story to proceed. Subsequent posts are then a continuation in how the story progresses with each person’s character chiming in with their actions and dialogue.


In order for the roleplay to work, there has to be some rules set up and agreed to by the players. Such as all actions that effect another person’s character must be decided by that player. For instance, a player 1 cannot post, “Player 1 stabs Player 2 in the stomach.” Instead, player 1 posts. “Player 1 attempts to stab Player 2 in the stomach.” Then Player 2 can decide if the action succeeds, “Player 2 jumps back and avoid the stab. Then attempts to kick the knife from Player 1’s hand with a roundhouse.” Or “Player 2 is surprised by Player 1’s attack and the knife dives into his stomach. Player one swallowed and fell to his knees as the wound began to bleed. The light began to fade and he couldn’t see. And Player 2 fell to the ground and his life was expired.”


Another way is for the GM to decide who wins all the battles. Or to use dice which there are many online dice rollers.