POTENTIAL CHANGES at MM - Feedback Please, Ten year anniversary approaching Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

The below email was sent to the membership on Saturday, April 06, 2013:

Hello {member_name}, and to those members eligible to receive bulk emails!

I can't believe it's SPRING in New England! As we approach a FABULOUS milestone on August 3rd: the celebration of TEN YEARS online, I am certainly planning time to dust off the cobwebs and cultivate those seedlings that are ready to bloom from my muse! Care to join in? There are some reminders about our poetry home that I'd like to share with you all. IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG! WHY NOT TAKE A BREAK FROM SOCIAL MEDIA SITES AND COME BACK HOME TO YOUR POETIC INTERACTIVE HOME? Thanks to Eric, Daniel, Larry, Wally and Alan in their limerick thread primarily, I caught wind of the SOS to try and make MM a more active forum as it once was.

Try your muse in this month's Pandora's Chaos challenge located at Monthly Challenges -> Pandora's Box. You must create a response to If Art Could Talk... After a long night out, you return to your house to find that every picture and painting in your house can speak to you. What do the characters in the artwork and photographs say? Your poem or story must incorporate the words, 'sight', 'wash', 'erase' and 'scene' and contain a minimum of 12 lines. Also in Pandora's Box is the newest Book Title Challenge.

Also, check out the latest Time Ten Challenge located in The Acropolis forum at . Perhaps the weekly ten word challenges will spark your muse, or even the Drabbles or Flashes?

I am also reminding all of some changes we made last year to archive the exhibition poetry forum, Plato's Pearls and change the format of posting in the poetry crit forums, Herme's Homilies, Seren's Synapse and Shogun's Psalms. Now, you can simply post a tag line either in the title description or in the beginning of your thread stating a desire for critique (CR) v. no critique (NC). That can be done by simply using CR vs NC with a star, or a series of stars if light, medium, & full critique is desired. As Merlin put it, "This way, whoever wishes critique can request it, and those not desiring a crit will not get one. This way, a person need not feel compelled to thoroughly parse a piece, which may be well beyond his/her capabilities at the stage they might be." This would in no way change the 1:2:2 rules - for each topic you post, you must still comment on 2 other member's posts (and if you seek a crit, then you must provide 2 crits as expected). Merlin's suggestion does not take away workshopping. We're all in favor of improvement and recommend it to those who feel they can benefit. The idea is to offer a choice to crit or not to crit, within the existing forums.

Lastly, I did a bit of house-cleaning and purged our inactive members (with a few exceptions) so you will notice our member count has changed significantly.

I DO hope to see you all soon wandering our lovely halls again. Don't feel like posting a poem - no worries - please stop by and perhaps leave comments to the threads you find of interest. We'd LOVE to hear from you!

Cheers all!
Cleo and the entire Mosaic Musings Management Team

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[Cleo_Serapis]

We've been having some discussions about revitalizing MM.

I will share some of the feedback in this thread a bit later on - and PLEASE do offer your input.


~Cleo

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hello,

I am encouraged by the feedback I've already received since sending the bulk mail over the weekend. Thank you so much!!

Change is always a difficult process but it is time for some housekeeping here at MM. Some of the feedback that I have already taken positive strides to complete include:

1. Moving threads from both the poetry workshopping forums, Fixed Form and Rhyming Poetry for Critique & Exhibition -> Herme's Homilies (831 threads) AND Free Verse Poetry for Critique & Exhibition -> Seren's Synapse (677 threads) to the ARCHIVES that have not had any replies since December 31, 2010 (I chose that date). The last time I did this was through December of 2006 so it was time.
   
2. Relocating the inactive forum: Member Recognition -> Valley of the Kings to the ARCHIVES
   
   
3. I am thinking we should revisit the IBPC again too. Why not? They only allow 2 poems per board now but we can certinly check into that again - I never had MM removed as a participating board so that was a good decision! This might generate interest again from members of other boards to check us out.
   
   
4. Another suggestion was to go back to separating the two poetry forums for both fixed forms and free forms so that they are for critique only. We would then add ONE non critique forum where poems would be posted for exhibition only as we had done in the past but decided to consolidate to reduce the total number of forums for posting your works in. I prefer NOT to combine the two workshop forums. In addition to keep the total number of forums down, I am still in favor of asking the posters to indicate theirr desired level of crit with 1, 2, or 3 stars FWIW.

What are your thoughts?

Cheers,
~Cleo

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hello,

Another change I just made this morning for you all:

I changed the layout of our "Miscellaneous Playground" category and sub forums there. Previously, the Announcements (Basilica) forum was tiered as a sub forum within that category. I have done two things this morning. Firstly, I changed that forum so it's no longer a sub forum embedded within that category. Secondly, I renamed the category itself (from Miscellaneous Playground) to General Announcements and Miscellaneous.

You need to scroll down to find it on the page as I have not changed the order in which the categories are displayed, however, this should make things easier to find with regard to where to post general announcements.

for your suggestion Daniel!
~Cleo

[Cleo_Serapis]

One more change I just made was that I re-ordered the Challenges and Competitions category and the Site Information category.

Previously, Site Information was #4 on the page sequentially with Challenges & Competitions being #5. I swapped them around so that now you will see the General Announcements category & sub forums following the Site Information sub forums and the Challenges and Competitions sub forums (since it is very popular) just after the Prose category & sub forums.

I think this makes more sense.

Cheers,
~Cleo

[Psyche]

Dear Lori,

You've been hard at work, Lori

Changes are fine with me, nothing drastic, as far as I can see.

I'll send you some ideas to ToT asap. via PM.

Right now, I'm most upset about the latest terrorist (?) activities in the U.S.A. A series of frightful events. I just viewed the explosions in Waca, Texas on the telly. I understand there may be many dead, and hundreds wounded.

I apologize for mixing topics. Just want to express my sorrow to all members who live in the U.S., and hope that none have been affected.

Love and prayers to all,
Psyche (Sylvia)

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hi Sylvia,

Some of this items that you, Liz, Snow and I have been discussing I will post my response to here below. Seeking feedback...

1. I am in favor of IBPC participation again. I don't think the membership should vote on nominations, but instead perhaps the first 2-3 noms can be sent, unless entirely inappropiate. In that case the staff can chat about them and determine which to send.

2. I'm in favour of doing away with the "no crits" in the 2 poetry forums. I always did hesitate to merge crit and non crit together. I think we should put Plato's Pearls of Wisdom (exhibition only poetry) back underneath Seren's Synapse (free verse for crit) in the poetry category up top and just state that this forum is for those who want to post works for exhibition only (non-crit) just like it was before. I do not feel comfortable merging fixed form (Herme's Homilies) and free verse (Seren's Synapse) together into one critique forum - we've gone back and forth a few times on this one before. The star system can still be used to identify the level of crit desired.

3. The names of the categories and their sub-forums are clearly defined, with the original naming conventions at the end of each forum. This will stay as is to maintain the original design idea at start up a decade ago.

What do you all think?
Cheers,
~Cleo

[Rhymer]

Not a new idea but a plea/request.

For some days now, I've been unable to post my answer to April 13th challenge - Ten Times.

In light of the 'clean up' of th site, I am wondering whether I was also 'cleaned out?' as I had been somewhat indisposed, as was my wife, so postings from me were sparse. On the other hand it may be littloe more than a glitch (on 3 different computers?) that is preventing my posting? I am able to see and read other postings and contributions, but all other attempts have failed. Not even sure if this will go through?

If this goes through without trouble, it will perhaps highlight a problem. Could you check for me please? Ciao Rhymer.

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hi Denis,

NO - you were not 'cleaned out', lol! Last Sunday and again yesterday, (unfortunately just as we're reviving the site), there was a hack attempt which failed (they never actually got to execute any code, make invalid posts or retrieve any files from the system). But, it did cause the site to react (disallow posts) until we reset the server. We have applied some security patches and continue to monitor the situation and will apply additional patches and code changes as they become available.

The more technical jargon to this (as Peter (Imhotep) states) is:

Ultimately, a forum is just a piece of software. The software is written in a programming language, in Invision's case it's HTML and PHP. The web server (software called Apache in this case) accepts incoming connections from users and translates those requests into actions that Invision (through PHP) needs to process. Invision uses a PHP<->MySQL interface to store and retrieve changing content and statistics (posts, users, post count, online users etc). Once the request has been processed PHP formats the HTML (mostly static, think skin) output and PHP (dynamic, think content) output into a web page and Apache sends that response out to your browser.

So this specific problem is not a specific hack against Invision but a PHP bug exploit. Changing forum software would only fix the problem if that software is doing extra checks on the data and strings that users are sending through to make sure they can't crash PHP. Peter restarted the server again like last week. Should be good. He's also looking at his little log scanning program. It's supposed to look for new core dumps every 10 minutes and restart the server if one exists. Shouldn't be too big a thing to fix, just need to whittle down exactly what bug they're tripping and filter for it...

So sorry for the inconvenience!

If you should have any issue again, please feel free to email me directly at: lkanter@mosaicmusings.net OR cleo_serapis@yahoo.com.

Best,
Lori

[Imhotep]

Hi Rhymer and everyone else,

I can say that it's not you. It looks like there have been a couple of recent hack attempts against the site, one on the 14th and one on the 21st. The attack attempts to exploit a bug in the underlying system software to allow posts from unregistered people so they can put up advertising spam posts. However, in these cases instead of exploiting the bug and allowing the invalid posts, it crashed the "post" function itself, which required a restart of the server to restore service. After this happened on the 14th I installed a number of security patches and thought that it had fixed the issue, however it would appear that the same thing happened yesterday. I'm going to keep looking into the exploit to see if there are new security patches which will permanently address the issue, in the meantime I am writing a script which should detect when the system crashes and restart the server automatically, so the downtime would be limited to less than 10 minutes.

Apologies for the inconvenience,

[JustDaniel]

Glad to know that y'all are working behind the scenes.

Sorry for the hack attempts just when we seem to be gaining some speed again. I hope that it will not slow folks down or discourage anyone!

deLighting in the growing participation, Daniel

[Rhymer]

Hi Rhymer and everyone else,

I can say that it's not you. It looks like there have been a couple of recent hack attempts against the site, one on the 14th and one on the 21st. The attack attempts to exploit a bug in the underlying system software to allow posts from unregistered people so they can put up advertising spam posts. However, in these cases instead of exploiting the bug and allowing the invalid posts, it crashed the "post" function itself, which required a restart of the server to restore service. After this happened on the 14th I installed a number of security patches and thought that it had fixed the issue, however it would appear that the same thing happened yesterday. I'm going to keep looking into the exploit to see if there are new security patches which will permanently address the issue, in the meantime I am writing a script which should detect when the system crashes and restart the server automatically, so the downtime would be limited to less than 10 minutes.

Apologies for the inconvenience,

whew what a relief! For a time I wondered what offence I might have committed, but could think of none. Next I did extensive checks of my computers - as I said earlier - keep three desktops running most days when I can get to use them, mostly for reasons many would not udnerstand, but, age does play its part, as dose my lousy eyesight. Lol! Now I can rest easy and assured the site remains under close scrutiny and in good hands. Had visions of reformatting and reloading yet again . Thanks again for the good news. Hacking and Spam seems to be on the rise again despite all manner of programmes loaded to try and prevent their unwanted intrusion. Keep up the good work. Ciao Rhymer.

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hi - an update for all:

Yesterday, I updated the IBPC forum with new links, 2 new boards and updates about IBPC here on the forum. I also made several updates to our home 'static' pages at www.mosaicmusings.net as well. I had been remiss there.

An option I am thinking about is to reinstate the poetry exhibition forum, which would allow for both the fixed and free verse forums to be for critique solely once again. I may also move up the general member news forum (Basilica) so it's inthe newbie forum (would rename that category to newbies and member news).

Stay tuned and feel free to offer your input too.
~Cleo

[Psyche]

Wow, you've been very busy, Lori!

Thanks a lot for all you're doing for us

I'll peek around to see the changes you've made.

Hugs,
Syl***

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hello all,

I want to gain some feedback on this idea: I am thinking of adding back the poetry exhibition forum, Plato's Pearls of Wisdom, back to the poetry category as its own forum. What this would mean is that you would NO LONGER post poems you do not wish to receive in depth critiques on in the fixed forum, Herme's Homilies, and free verse forum, Seren's Synapse. Those would go back to being used for critiques only.

That would entail me revising the forum rules/descriptions in both of them as well as retaining the star method for level of crit desired. In the poetry crit forums, Herme's Homilies and Seren's Synapse, you can simply post a tag line either in the title description or in the beginning of your thread stating which level of critique you desire. That can be done by simply using a series of stars for light, medium, or full critique. This would in no way change the 1:2:2 rules - for each topic you post, you must still comment on 2 other member's posts.

Your thoughts are welcomed.
~Lori

[Cleo_Serapis]

Based on member suggestions, I have moved up the General member annoucement forum,The Basilica, to the top of the forum, and combined it with the Newbie introduce yourself forum and category. I renamed the category to: Newbies and Member Announcements.

[Psyche]

That's a great improvement, Lori!

And I also approve of the idea of using the forums for critique only. I seldom know what to do in Hermes and Serens because members -myself included- forget to say what they want.

This way, anything in the forums will be critiqued; and the Exhibition Only forum will change things back to how they were. Much better, IMO!

That's all I have to say, thanks a lot for all the work you're doing!

Now take care and post a poem yourself...

Cheers,
Psyche aka Syl***

[Cleo_Serapis]

Back by popular demand. . .

I have just completed the steps necessary to reinstate the poetry exhibition forum -> Plato's Pearls of Wisdom. This will allow for both the fixed and free verse forums to be solely for critique once again which I believe will cause less confusion - this is how the board was prior to 2010. In addition, I have created an archive forum for the exhibition only forum for posts older than 2006.

I also re-wrote the forum blurbs as well as revising the forum participation rules for the fixed forum and the free verse forum as follows: Please state the form, metric or rhyme scheme used in your topic description for the benefit of critiquing and post a tag line either in the title description or in the beginning of your thread stating your desired level of critique. That can be done by simply using a series of stars for light (*), medium (**), or full (***) critique.

Cheers!
~Cleo