Looking forward to seeing some activity here... very clean looking layout. Where's that thumbs up icon? Oh never mind, I'll borrow one from somewhere else ~ ~?

Greets!  This is just one of the default templates.  Dude, I didn't realize how tough it is to find an open-source forum solution that doesn't have a security-threat list a mile long these days!  This one seems pretty powerful, but generating a template for it is incredibly difficult... it's more PHP than HTML.

At least, the hope hope goes, that by segregating the page portal (currently what's at http://www.skinyourscreen.com/site ) from forums and other specific functions, if one part gets hacked the remainder should still remain online and live.  In theory, of course.  e107 was a great framework (still my fav), but being an all-in-one is both a blessing and a curse:  Everything is virtually guaranteed to integrate properly, but if some malicious script-kiddie finds an exploit, then the whole thing goes down at once.

So, for the time being, everything here is kind of experimental.  I do like this forum solution, and it appears relatively secure according to various security reports.  The http://www.skinyourscreen.com/site itself may be a temporary solution to post site news and provide a mechanism for people to download skins and view the tutorials.  Investigating web software has kind of become a hobby in-and-of-itself, and I keep searching for the optimum solution.

Thanks for your interest and confidence   You're a benefit to the skinning community!

In view of earlier events I think your decision to keep the forum and main site pages seperate is a wise one, and at the risk of creating an echo in here I don't think you could have found a better looking or more efficient solution.
( Having a sleep check is a nobus, but it ain't Irish!  )
Look forward to you publishing the url and seeing some activity on the forum.

"A benefit"... not sure about that, more a blundering amateur, but I'll be around for a while longer.

( At the risk of seeming totally obnoxious could I point out that the parentheses either side of your url aren't required in BCC  )

Good call... still getting used to the new forum setup.  Keep using BBcode that isn't required or has been changed... a holdover from my Mambo days

Well that confused me Rich ~ I'm easily confused  ~ I popped in this morning and found that you had moved the furniture and changed the carpet.

What's with karma? Not sure I've got enough energy for anything too drastic 

  Anybody looking at the forums currently has an idea of what a sysadmin with his pants down is like

Trying to find a pre-produced template for SMF that has the general layout I like.  Then comes the tinkering with graphics, CSS styles and the like.  I wish I could code an SMF theme from scratch, but the templates are so PHP-heavy I get lost.  For the time-being, sticking with something that's got a two-column layout.

Karma - interesting feature.  Started playing with this in Joomla's forums and don't know if I like it yet.  Essentially, users can all APPLAUD a user (increase their Karma rank) or SMITE 'em (reduce their karma rank).  Each user can only do this on another user once an hour.  It's kind of a social-feature to determine who's replies rank higher.  It could also be set so only moderators and sysadmins can alter karma.

Thanks for the SMF recommendation... I'm very impressed!  It also appears to be the more secure forum option available in the open-source community.  Although they've had security issues previously, they ALWAYS resolve them quickly.  Great piece of software, too!

See?  I clapped just a little bit and your Karma's already to 10!

Rich I've been using SMF for about 3 years now and really like it compared to others. The community over at their forums are very helpfull, and have a large theming community. Good to see your site getting back to normal.

I also you you a debt of gratitude for the SMF suggestion, Axeman747!  You'd suggested this shortly after the chain-o'-hacks took the previous SYS site down.  I'm finding SMF to be a fantastic piece of software.  vBulletin and PHPBB had been tried previous to this (sticking to what I had experience with).  SMF has proved to be every bit as capable as the other solutions, with a better security track-record.

BTW:  Good to see you here!   - reminds me I gotta get my custom emoticons back up...

Glad to see the forum back up, and I look forward to all of the upgrades that are coming... but I had to re-register as a user , but that's no problem

Good to see (read) you, KJ!

Yup... unfortunately everyone's gonna have to re-register.  I could have migrated the entire database of user info over but was afraid that the database may have also been compromised by the hacks and didn't want to take any chances.

Aww, we lose our 'what superpower would you have' thread. I propose we start that one anew =)

"What SuperPower Questionnaire 2.0" - Littleweseth, you volunteering

This place breaks my heart... i come hoping that some of the old faces will show up, hey fellas... we really gonna let a bunch 'O' smuchs ruin this great thing that Rich put in place... we're bigga dan dat! let's do sommat... Vladan? you part of this?.... let's get it rolling then mate....

Come on people, post some skins!

   Mickeblue, you are truly a gem!  Don't feel bad about anything here, I've got no regrets.  Stuff just happens sometimes.

It's kind of funny how many things converged simultaneously: Nerio's life-threatening accident, site-hacking, verbal shoot-outs with Brad Wardell, and me switching almost full-time to a Mac...  and through it all, life continues to flow forward.  I looke back over the years at some of the fantastic skins that came pouring out of a few talented designers over a very short period, then they just kind of faded away (crumbutt, for example).  They eventually moved on to other things as priorities changed, hobbies, too.  Have wondered at times if that's what was happening to myself.

Skinning has been somewhat difficult after my wife sold the Toshiba laptop to a neighbor.  Haven't had my own dedicated Windows box to make anything on.  Interestingly, I started putting together my first Windows skin entirely on a Mac using VirtualPC.  William Jones has been asking for a Rainlendar port of my Autoclave skin for AstonShell for a few weeks and I finally broke down and started it.  Haven't skinned anything in a while and it's been fun to get the juices flowing again.  Will hopefully release it by this upcoming saturday, provided everything goes according to plan.

With regards to Skinyourscreen.com, there's a long-term plan in action currently for it.  Many of the community-type aspects will be distilled down to their most basic form while the other functions of Skinyourscreen are combined.  I've been learning Ruby On Rails and am rolling a new integrated solution for the site from scratch.  It's a fun prospect, considering I'm not a programmer, but it's been a valuable learning experience.  Hopefully the new setup will more tightly integrate the the things that have provided the core of SYS: fun conversations, Skinning Resources, and skins.  Rather than using a full-blown forum solution, we could probably get by with a simple chat-box system: it provides the spontaneity and contact accomodating to our level of usage.  Instead of a full-blown MediaWiki install for a skinning reference like SkinWiki, it can be distilled down to a few simple characteristics: descriptions, links, and dates.

My goal is to have a private beta of the streamlined site available to interested members by the end of July.  Ruby On Rails hosting has already been procured and testing is proceeding on a home-grown development server.  Full public release will probably follow a month after opening the private beta.  I'll try and post a project outline here as soon as possible to gather available input.

Dude, I still gotta Skype you one of these days to get you into the podcast.  My mic fried... looking for new solutions.