Hi there! We're back today with a small Bell Tree Direct for you, the first since back in December. Today's Direct is written by both myself and Jeremy bringing you today's announcements on The Bell Tree:
The Big Red Apple
The conclusion of our fruit series of collectibles is finally here with the long awaited release of the Apple collectible today! It will be available in the TBT Shop for purchase for 199 Bells when the Shop re-opens in 15 minutes from this post, or 4:15pm Pacific Time. Some other items will also receive a small restock at the opening. Good luck.
We have plans for an Apple restock at a different time sometime next week as well, so stay tuned for that.
The Big Red Toy Hammer
But wait, there's more! It's been a long time since we've had a new collectible come out, and everyone already knew the Apple collectible was coming already so... here's a brand new unexpected collectible: The Toy Hammer!
You'll be able to pick it up for 1499 Bells alongside the Apple collectible when the Shop opens in 15 minutes from this post, or 4:15pm Pacific Time.
Staff Retirement
Today, two of our staff members will be retiring from the moderation team. We want to thank ZR388 and Thunder for their years of work and contributions to The Bell Tree community as moderators. Each of our moderators play a crucial role in running The Bell Tree, by managing reports, helping users, running events, and participating in staff decision making. This is why Thunder and ZR388 have been an important part of The Bell Tree for the last two years.
ZR388 started as an IRC operator at The Bell Tree and helped us form TBT’s chatroom community into what it is today. In 2013, she became a moderator of the forum. Since then, she has helped moderate the forum and run multiple events, including TBT Fair 2013 contests and Easter.
Thunder has been an active member of TBT since 2008 and became a moderator in 2013. He is most known for his contributions as a graphic artist, creating avatars, banners, and many of our collectibles. His collectibles have been an important part of TBT’s events, including TBT Fair, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and The Woods events. Thunder has also helped run many of these events, including TBT Fair 2013 and 2014 contests, Valentine’s Day, and Easter. The chapter of Thunder's modship has come to a close, but he will continue to help the staff with graphics and events from time to time.
Staff Applications
Although we now have two mods fewer than before, we have been preparing to welcome additional members to the team for the last couple months. We are hoping to add two to four new moderators to TBT staff and will therefore be opening applications for the first time this year.
As we explained above, a moderator is responsible for managing reports, helping users, running events, and making decisions with the staff team. We are looking for users who are mature, objective, and trustworthy. To find out more about the responsibilities and requirements of a moderator, and to apply or recommend another user, go to the application page here: Staff Applications
New Shop: Booker's Corrections
Town’s favorite police officer and longtime administrator of its Lost and Found, Officer Booker, has come to TBT to help its citizens with a local problem. Users have been accidentally sending bells and collectibles to the wrong person, but he has a solution! Now, with his new shop, Booker’s Corrections, Booker will retrieve and resend the bells or collectibles. Make sure you only use these correction items when an obvious mistake was made, such as a misspelled username. Booker can smell a scam from a mile away!
TBT Rules & Guidelines Update
The Bell Tree Rules & Guidelines were also updated today. The most significant change concerns exchanging TBT bells and collectibles for real world items with real world value. We've broadened this rule to lessen the influence of real money on TBT's virtual economy.
Next, we've expanded the post quality rule to further explain what's expected of users' posts. The purpose of this guideline is to limit the amount of posts that don't offer anything to the discussion its posted in or the forum as a whole, and raise the overall quality of posting on The Bell Tree.
The following line has also been added to the "Respecting Others" category:
Animal Crossing World
A big update to TBT's previous sister news site ACNewLeaf.com launched this week: Animal Crossing World! Look no further for the latest Animal Crossing news throughout the year!
Here's a selection of some of the Animal Crossing news that hit this week from E3 2015:
- Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival party game announced for Wii U with amiibo this holiday
- Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer releases September 25th + new trailer
- A closer look at the eight Animal Crossing amiibo figures coming this holiday
- Take a look at 25 of the Series 1 Animal Crossing amiibo cards, plus packaging details
- Skin tone options finally come to the Animal Crossing series in Happy Home Designer
The Museum Change
The Museum board is one of our longest standing boards throughout TBT’s history, and has always been a great place to share creations with the community. Whether that’s a piece of art, a signature, a story, or something else entirely. Over the past few years however, the board has transformed into more of a marketplace than a showcase.
We think it's great that there’s a large buying and selling art community on TBT, but it’s taken over the rest of the board. If you go in there to post a recent creation of yours, your thread may easily become drowned out by the endless shop threads.
This is why we are now splitting the marketplace side of the board into it’s own sub-board inside of TBT Marketplace. The Museum will return back to its original roots, as a place to post your galleries and creations, while all trading-related threads will belong in the new TBT Marketplace sub-board.
Content which belongs in The Museum:
- Gallery or showcase threads; you may include a link to a shop in the other board
- Seeking feedback/criticism/"I made this thing!" threads
- Anything else related to a creation you've made and does not involve a transaction
- Shops
- Looking to buy/sell/trade threads
- Contests and giveaways
- Anything else that involves a transaction
Proposed TBT Marketplace Change
Currently, users (and their shops) selling Animal Crossing items and services for TBT Bells are posted in the TBT Marketplace away from the rest of Animal Crossing trading in Re-Tail and Villager Trading Plaza. While it has been working this way for a while now, there may be a better way to organize it.
We've been considering moving all Animal Crossing trading with TBT Bells out of the TBT Marketplace and into the rest of the Animal Crossing trading in the Re-Tail and Villager Trading Plaza boards. This means that both AC Bells and TBT Bells would be traded inside of these boards, and neither would be traded inside of the TBT Marketplace. All Animal Crossing transactions would take place in one place.
If you're a user of these boards and like to trade Animal Crossing bells and items, let us know whether you think this will be a better way to organize the trading boards. Please share your opinions about the plan in the stickied thread in TBT Marketplace or let us know if you have suggestions for different methods of organization.
Two More Board Reorganizations
The TBT Smash scene now has 100% more platforms. Our Super Smash Bros. board, formerly called Final Destination, has been changed to Smashville. The first reason for this should be pretty obvious. Smashville is a favorite among Smash fans and is also pretty representative of us here at TBT because it's from Animal Crossing. The second reason is because of its representation of Super Smash Bros. in its name. Like its sister boards, Pokemon Center and Splat Zone, the name Smashville tells unfamiliar users that it's for the game Super Smash Bros.
The next change we made is splitting the Animal Crossing: New Leaf boards into their own category. This is because of the recent addition of the Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival boards. Due to the size of the Animal Crossing category, we've split it up between Animal Crossing: New Leaf and all other Animal Crossing boards.
Five Million Posts!
The forum recently reached the milestone of five million posts! Our last bell give away was all the way back at three million. This time, it will be a little more challenging to earn the post milestone bells. Name the country that has around the same population as TBT has posts and use it as the code in the following redemption link (use all capital letters).
http://www.belltreeforums.com/credits.php?code=CODE
The first 50 users to use the code will receive free bells!
Farewell
Thanks for joining us for our announcements today. We hope to see you around the forums, especially later this year when two new Animal Crossing games launch in September and during the holiday season. It's going to be busy!
And of course, there will be a restock of some other items in the Shop at 4:15pm Pacific Time besides the brand new items. Make sure to check that out!
Until next time!
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