We are about to head into the season of advent candles, advent calendars and Fulcrum is looking forward to the advent of its new website.
Ever since our launch in 2003 when we launched online, we have been supported by Chris Took who first designed the site at short notice and has helped us maintain and develop it. We are immensely grateful for all he has done behind the scenes as, without him and this site, Fulcrum would almost literally not exist.
Although there is not as major a redesign as last year, at the end of this month we move to a new arrangement and launch a new Word Press site (for those who are interested the current site is powered by Cold Fusion). We are trying to make this run as smoothly as possible but wanted to alert everyone to the transition which will happen later this week in the last few days of November. We are also aware that the current site has not been as fast and sometimes gone down in recent weeks and we wanted to apologise for that.
Those with Fulcrum accounts should get an email when the site goes live giving you information on how to access the new site and create a new password. Please do this as soon as possible so we can get details on the new system. There is also much more opportunity to tell us about yourselves in the new “users” account so please do add a photo and bio details as well as making sure you have a human user name.
In the new system we will have comments available on articles as at present but also on Newswatch items so people can discuss issues that are live and in the news as well as articles. A similar moderating process will be in place as at present.
This means that we will not discuss articles on Forums but in the comments section of the article itself. We have therefore had to rethink Forums. We are not transferring over all the Forum posts but will start from scratch. The old posts will be kept as an archive but not accessible online. Most of the discussion will now be able to happen in response to articles and Newswatch items and not require a forum. We sense, though, that there might still be a demand for a Forum where people can start other discussions. If you have views on that please comment on the Forum on this site.
While you will be able to comment on articles and newswatch items immediately, we may take a while to sort out Forums if there is a demand to continue them. Sorry for any delay but we want to get the rest of the site as ready as possible and we are now only just over a week away.
Look forward to hearing your ideas and response to the new site.
As so much whiteness fills the screen, I realise that this feels exactly like moving offices into a grander suite across town, except that this time the boxes are not mine to pack or unpack. It’s still a good feeling.
So to the WordPress Building… In the upper right corner of the lobby a concierge from Texas in a ten-gallon hat drawls a hearty “Howdy, Bowman” my way, which rather surprises me. How will the home page look when the furniture for the reception is all in place? How does all of this look in Android? Things may not be settled for a while, and indeed WP is flexible enough that they may never really need to be.
Will some art be hung on the walls soon? Will the poems now have sound files as well as lines of letters?
I think that Fulcrum are going to like it here.