Good evening and welcome to our surprise midnight Bell Tree Direct! We know that waiting for Nintendo to announce a new Animal Crossing Direct has been difficult, so we'll start with a big announcement of our own!
Introducing TBT 3.0
In 2010 we announced what was called "TBT 2.0." It was a brand new version of the site, powered by the vBulletin 4 forum software, which is what we have continued to use for the last decade. While it has served us well for all these years, the internet has changed a lot since then and it's once again time for a brand new version of the site! That's why, after many months of planning, we are happy to finally announce that we'll be upgrading from vBulletin 4 to XenForo 2.
With Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the horizon, TBT 3.0 will be timed to coincide with the incoming surge of activity. We don't currently have an exact date, but you can expect the change to happen in early March. It may take some time to get used to at first since this is a completely new upgrade, not just an update. With XenForo, TBT will run better, be more secure, have more features, and allow us to more easily create even more features. However, XenForo is also very similar to vBulletin in many ways, which is one of the reasons why XenForo 2 was the natural choice for our software upgrade.
We are converting the forum's data, which means you will keep all of your posts, private messages, visitor messages, bells, and collectibles. It will still be the same TBT that you know and love! As for new features, let's take a look at some of the things that will be included with TBT 3.0:
- Better mobile functionality
- Quote notifications
- Threaded private messages
- Alerts
- Mentions with @username
- Trade system
- A usable image uploader
- Discord integration
- Reactions (more than just likes)
- Full list of emojis
- Brand new design
[newbannertree][/newbannertree]
On the other hand, changing forum software also means that we'll be losing a few features that you might use here, including the following:
- The Blog Tree will be retired and archived
- Some forum add-ons bought in the shop will no longer have any functionality
- Differing avatar sizes between users will no longer exist, but will show in different sizes on different parts of the forum
We'll provide replacements for some of these things, such as compensation for users who own the Avatar Width Extension. While we've decided to retire the blog due to lack of use, we'll be considering an Animal Crossing focused alternative for those who use it as their town blog.
As mentioned, part of the upgrade includes a brand new design. It's not ready to show yet, but we included a teaser above. Over the next month we'll unveil the new design, explain new or changed features, and make more announcements to help make this transition as smooth as possible. We look forward to sharing more information with everyone as we're able to, so be on the look out for additional Bulletin Board threads about TBT 3.0 in the future.
Staff Applications Open Once Again
Staff applications are open again! Back in August, when they were previously opened, we mentioned that it would be several months after the new game releases before looking for staff again. However, we decided to open them one more time before it starts to get a lot busier here. If you applied in August and would like to resubmit the same application for consideration, there is now an option in the application form to do this so you won't have to fill it out again.
Similar to last time, we are currently interested in adding more moderators than project staff, but applications are open for both. If you've recently been less active compared to the past, we'll be more understanding this year since a new Animal Crossing game hasn't come out for a while. However, if you're selected, you'll have more to do and we expect that you'll be active again. Please be aware that you must be at least 18 years of age to be considered. For more information and to apply for a position, click the link below:
Forum Downtime This Wednesday
The forum is moving servers this Wednesday, February 5th, which means it will be down for some time. After a year on our current server, things have been running faster, but we want to be even more prepared for March 20th. We will keep you updated as the date comes closer. While the forum is down, we'll also be posting updates in Discord and on Twitter.
Game Week Coming Soon
There was only one more TBT Week that was teased in our Official TBT Week thread that we haven't hosted yet: Game Week! It will be starting in two weeks, on February 16th.
You'll have one last chance to play our TBT Arcade games that you may remember from TBT Fair 2017. Since the Arcade will be left behind with vBulletin, it won't be coming back again! We'll also be hosting some game nights and tournaments for Nintendo Switch games like Super Smash Bros, Splatoon, Pokemon, and Mario Kart. This will be the perfect time to play some other videogames before your gaming is completely consumed by Animal Crossing.
Two Bell Giveaways!
Today is 2/2/2020, so we have 2 bell giveaways for you! We're giving out 20 bells twice to an unlimited number of members, as long as they're redeemed within one week from today.
We hope you enjoyed this TBT Direct. We'll have many more announcements about TBT 3.0 in the coming month, so be sure to check back often! Also feel free to ask any questions you have about this upgrade and what it means for you. In the meantime, also be sure to check back on February 16th and the following week for our new Game Week event. And don't forget that we'll be down for some time while moving servers in the middle of the current week.
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