New skins

I've just uploaded two news skins: Blanc and Vision, both by Kali. Blanc is basic white and black with no images, better for worksafe viewing and faster load times. Vision is also much simpler, and works well on mobile devices. Please note that in order to keep them simpler/faster, these skins do not contain all the features of the other skins.



EDIT: I have uploaded Noir, which is the inverse of Blanc.

Poll!

There is a new poll, so vote vote vote! Please note that polls are only viewable in the Photobooth, Valentine, and Lake skins.

The Site

It seems as though the problems viewing the site have been solved. If this is not the case for you, please let me know.

Site issues

Some of you may have noticed difficulty accessing the site. This is due to forces out of our control, but it should be resolved within the next day or so. Hang tight!



Don't forget! We have a twitter account for site status updates. Make sure to follow it in case there comes a time when you can't access the archive.

Signups closing!

The signups for the D/G fic exchange are closing in 24 hours. If you wanted to sign up, now is the time!

Exchangers, are you ready to exchange?

Signups for the next round of the D/G fic exchange start on Monday, February 1, 2010. Go check it out, if you're so inclined.

Help Haiti 2

The bidding for the first round is closed, but I think the lightning round is still going on, as is the requests post. There's a multi-fandom telecast thing this Saturday, and of course the same charitable organizations will take your money whether or not you're getting fic for it.

Help Haiti

There's a massive multi-fandom fundraiser going on over at Livejournal, and I'm joining in. Here's what I'm offering:

Fic, at least 2,000 words to whatever prompt the winner chooses. OR, if the winner prefers, I'm willing to go over their writing and critique as well as make suggestions for improvement - a solid beta job, with the bonus of getting honest feedback as opposed to a friend telling you it's great.

There's thousands of offers you can check out, and I'm going to go through and find as many of the D/G ones as I can to add to this post. Give to a good cause, and get fic - no down side!

If any of you volunteer, please let me know so I can add you. If any of y'all are bidding, don't forget you can always pool your money. There's a FAQ HERE, and you can always come to me if you have any questions I can help with.


(Masterlist of fandoms offered so far.)

New Help/FAQ

I've just released a new Help/FAQ page. Instead of the old static page, I've now put in all the questions as articles in a knowledgebase. It's now searchable. Also, instead of just plain emailing, I prefer technical questions be submitted as support tickets. This way I'll be able to track issues better. The new support site is available by clicking Help in the menu, or at http://www.dracoandginny.com/support.

Submissions are turned back on

Like the title says, you should now be able to submit and edit stories.

Fanart needed

I'm working on something which you'll all find out about soon enough, but in the meantime I don't want to give too many details. What I need, though, is an artist willing to work with me on a D/G illustration. I don't know what kind of recompense I can offer, but drop me a line and we'll see what we can figure out. Please?

ETA: Thank you for the responses! I'll be contacting the people who responded directly. :)

ETA 2: I sent email to everybody who had responded, but a couple of them were to hotmail. Since hotmail and gmail sometimes have trouble playing nicely, please let me know if you didn't get an email and we'll figure out another way to touch base.

Holiday closing

Sorry for the late notice, guys, but I got eaten alive by school. We usually close for two weeks so the Cabal gets to relax during the holidays, and that closing is going to start tomorrow (the 21st) and run through the 4th. We're going to try to get the forums up so that you have somewhere to go and, of course, the archive will still be here so you can read the already existing stories; we'll just be closed to new submissions.

ETA from Lyndsie: The forums are now reopen. Submissions are now closed, except to those who are validated to skip the queue. Unless you're validated, you will also be unable to edit your stories. Happy Holidays!

Great D/G Contest

Hello everyone. There's a contest going on right now that I thought you'd all like to know about. Remember Pud's Great D/G Contest? (Famously known for the cat burglar and mail-order bride stories of times past.) It's being started up again by Persephone33! This round is going to be stories revolving around a Time Turner.

You can see all the rules and lovely prizes at the Livejournal community for the contest. Have fun!

Editing of story text back online

You should all be able to edit story text now. Thank you for your patience. If anyone experiences further problems, please let me know.



ETA: I'm not sure why some of you are still experiencing the editing problem. My tests have no issues whatsoever. (Super weird.) I'm looking into it.

Adding & editing stories; FIA superstars

Hello all. Any problems with disappearing story text when trying to add stories/chapters should now be resolved. However, as of right now the feature allowing the editing of chapters isn't working. You can still edit story information such as category and genre, but editing the story text is impossible. It's related to the same problems as before. I know the cause and I trying to come up with a feasible way to fix it. With over 6500 chapters it's a bit of work!

If there are any further issues, please report them to me.

Also, for those of you who donated for the new hosting and agreed to be publicly thanked, you get a gold star! You'll now see a little star in your profile next to your member status. A couple people didn't get back to Mynuet on whether they'd like to be thanked or didn't give their username, so if you want to claim your star let Mynuet know. I'll be working on making it appear in the story listings and such next to the author names, but I've been sidetracked by these other issues. ; )

Now reopen!

If you're seeing this, then the site is back up and running. I'm still keeping some features under wraps for the time being until we get an idea of our resource usage, so everything except the main archive is still offline. (All part of being a victim of our own popularity, sad to say.)

Also, you guys are awesome and we reached our donation goal within a day or so. : ) Hopefully we'll be okay at our new home for some time to come. *crosses fingers*

Hosting Fees Drive

It looks like we're going to have to switch hosting companies, which means it's time to pass the hat around for donations. I'm unhappy about having to do it, given we paid for two years in advance and it's been less than a year, but there's not a lot I can do about it. I will definitely be asking for a refund, I can assure you.

In the meantime, if you have it in your heart (and pocketbook) to help keep the site running, please feel free to send your donations to my paypal account - mynuet, and then that's at gmail.com. At this point our exact target amount is kind of fluid, but I think it will probably be around $200.

I'm in awe of Lyndsie for her awesomeness, as this morning it looked like FIA might have to shut down permanently, and now it looks like we can live. (And thanks to Elyaeru for her help, too!) I really hated the idea of shutting down, and I'm hopeful that we can find a way to stay open indefinitely.

So, yes. Donate if you can!

Hosting issues

Unfortunately I have to let you all know that in the next few days you may see features disappearing. I believe I'll probably shut down everything but the main archive, if only temporarily. We've been notified by the host that we're using too many resources on the shared server, so I'm trying to solve the problem. I'll try to keep everyone updated as things progress.

New Affiliate

I'm happy to announce a new affiliate—The Next Files, a Harry Potter Next Generation archive. If PHBs are your thing, check it out. (Though I should add that it's not just for our favorite Pink Haired Babies, but for any offspring whether their parents got together in canon or not.)

Vote! Vote! Vote!

The D/G Fic Exchange nominations are all in, and it's time to choose your favorites! You have to have a Livejournal account to vote, but otherwise just go HERE!

Voting closes in a week, so don't delay. :)

Nominate!

The DG Fic Exchange is finished posting the fics written this time around, which means that the floor is now open for nominations! Who wrote the best Draco? Which was the best kiss?

Nominate your favorites! And may the best stories win. :)

ETA:
Stories start here and continue through to the most recent entries, here. The nomination post had been members only, but I'm told that was a snafu that got fixed, so you should be able to go in and nominate to your heart's content now.

Change in Site Rules & New Feature

We've made a small change in the site rules. The rule has always been so that an author could only submit up to three chapters per day. We've now added the additional stipulation of a maximum combined word count limit of 15,000 words. So, 15,000 words or three chapters, whichever is reached first. Additionally, the maximum word count limit per chapter is now 15,000 words.



I've also added a word count sort feature to the Browse pages (this includes most recent and lots of other pages). If you all could try it out and let me know of any problems, that'd be great.

More ficcage stuff.

Signups for the fic exchange have closed, so now it's time to write like the wind for those of us that joined in, and to wait anxiously for the posting for everyone else.

While you're waiting, though, you could pop over to this Livejournal community and sign up to write a D/G drabble this weekend. They're a general fiction community and do different pairings week to week, and this week's is our beloved OTP! I just signed up to do a drabble, but there's unlimited slots available, so feel free to come get your write on.

D/G Fic Exchange!

The next round of the the D/G Fic Exchange is open for signups! (And actually has been for a few days now. Sorry for being late, again.)

There's a cap on participants this time around, but there's still a few slots left, if you hurry. See you there!

Site update

Hello all. I have just completed the site upgrade. Unfortunately, due to a problem during the process, I had to restore a backup of the site that was downloaded several hours before the update was completed. This means that any changes made the site - including but not limited to new reviews, change of preferences or favorites, new registrations, and new passwords generated - will have been reverted to how they appeared at the time of the backup. This affects anything done roughly between 3 and 11pm PDT. If you have any trouble with your account, please don't hesitate to let me know.


Now, as to the surprise I mentioned. Enjoy. (Again thanks to soundspretty, who made the updated Valentine skin.)