Xray the Enforcer

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Nice catch. Yes, that looks to be the case. I dug up three more threads with tags, and they serve error messages as well.

Ran, is there a way to turn that field off entirely? That way, anything that's tagged will still be usable?

Hey Ran, just FYI -- the Sphinx API error is coming up for me when I click on threads.

Thread in question:

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/121222-whats-for-dinner-5/

Nope. Still the keyword placed between a set of colons (one on each side of the keyword)

:ninja:

This happens every time that we do a major software update (happened twice before). So, understandable and even to be expected. Still, a giant PITA.

Shit. Did this update remap all of those emojis?

:tantrum:

good suggestion, Pod. I'll add it.

Good catch on Melbourne. I was just too damned lazy to google when I typed this up. :blush:

Also added the bit about volunteering.

It occurred to me the other day that there hasn't been a WorldCon outside of North America in the three years since the Game of Thrones TV show debuted. And GRRM will be a Guest of Honor at many smaller conventions over the next couple of years. As such, there are probably a lot of fans who are not familiar with the World Science Fiction Convention in particular, SF conventions in general, nor with and the Brotherhood Without Banners and our protocols for dealing with conventions, hotels and convention space.

The World Science Fiction Convention, aka WorldCon, is a long-running annual convention centered around genre fiction. It is primarily a literary convention -- that means that most of the focus is on written works, most of the panelists are authors, and much of the dealers' room is filled with book sellers. That said, each WorldCon usually has dedicated tracks for media (TV&movies), gaming, filking (that is, folk singing with an SF/F bent), and costuming. It also features group activities such as "Walk with the Stars," dances, a Masquerade, combat demos, crafting, small discussion groups with authors, signing sessions and a bunch of things I am probably forgetting. There's also the Hugo Awards ceremony. And parties. Lots of parties.

Unlike the big media conventions (think SDCC), WorldCon and most smaller literary SF/F conventions are fan-run. They are not for profit. And, at least in the case of WorldCon, the convention moves around to a new city everywhere to be as inclusive as possible to those fans who might not be able to afford a cross-country or intercontinental trip every year. In recent years, WorldCon has been held in Melbourne, Montreal, Chicago and, in 2014, it will be in London.

Each convention has a specific convention committee (con com), which is broken down into different departments and staffed by volunteers who have specific duties and goals to make WorldCon a success. Departments include: Hospitality, Programming, Accessibility, Member Services, Facilities, Operations, Housing, etc. Each of those departments is headed up by a seasoned convention runner, who then has a support staff of volunteers (many of whom are interested in learning the ropes of convention running). The con com is our liaison to all hotels, convention space and WorldCon-associated activity.

It is through these committees that all things pertaining to the convention and official fan events happen. We do not talk to hotels ourselves. We do not talk to the convention center ourselves. And that's for the best, all around. Please: DO NOT EVER CONTACT THE HOTEL OR CONVENTION SPACE ASKING ABOUT EVENTS, OR ATTEMPTING TO PLAN EVENTS.

So, how does this whole thing come together? I, the current Baroness of the BWB, and the group of BWB who've proven to be reliable and gifted at con-running, do much of that preparatory work. I won't name them all, but those individuals include Fenryng (my Master of Coin), Regina, Mormont (European Castellan), Stubby (Wrangler of Wombats) and Ser Mel T. For example, when the BWB wishes to rent a suite for a party, we have to contact the right person with the con com and specifically request that.

Once the core BWB team lays the groundwork, we call upon volunteers to help us pull everything together. That mostly happens at the convention, when we send one group out to shop for groceries while another group sets up the party. And so forth. So believe me, when the time comes, I'll be looking for volunteers.

What is the Brotherhood Without Banners?

We are a George RR Martin fan group.

What do you do at conventions?

We go to panels. We sit on panels. We volunteer to help run conventions, site-selection voting, and at the Hugos ceremony. We throw parties. We hang out in the bar. We hang out with each other. Some of us cosplay. Some of us are into combat demos. Some of us just really dig books.

Where will GRRM be making appearances?

www.georgerrmartin.com/appearances/

I'll be updating this document as need be.

Robb, when your mom says to run, you run.

A thousand voices cried out in unison...

Welcome! If you would like to continue to guess -- rather than be spoiled -- for upcoming events, avoid all forums (yes, even General Chatter and Entertainment) except the Still Reading forum. We don't control for spoilers anywhere but there, although we do try to edit obvious spoilers in thread titles elsewhere.

Presumably the person who made them. That was Kat in the past but I don't know if she has extras. These last two years, a person who prefers to remain anonymous made the buttons.

Chances are, we'll have some in San Antonio. You could probably ask someone to pick one up for you and they can mail it to you once the con is over.

Just updated the site with Titancon 2012, Lonestarcon 3 and Loncon 3.

There are multiple pages dedicated to ASOIAF and Westeros fandom on Facebook, and that's awesome. Awhile ago, Lodey and Stego were kind enough to launch a FB page that would be a clearinghouse for BWB information, which they (and now I) think would be a helpful addition to the BWB website and threads here in the BWB subforum.

We see it as a great way to get info out quickly and to reach people who only check this subforum once a week or less. All of the main discussion will happen here, but we want to make sure people are informed of stuff in a timely manner, and so the most number of people can get together and share some drink and stories, and perhaps forge a few new legends. :)

Lodey has been doing a great job maintaining the page over the past few months, and I hope that he'll continue in that role. Mr. X and I will supplement as stuff comes up. You can find us here:

https://www.facebook...bookmark_t=page

Many thanks again to Lodey and Stego for this!

LILITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:love: :love:

[mod] Do not discuss each other, discuss the show. Thank you. [/mod]

continue discussion of Ep 208. Remember, keep it classy and civil.

Part two for the Ep 07 discussion.

Remember, please be civil to each other. If you seen something that you suspect might be out of line, don't flame back. Use the report button. Thank you.

[mod] First off, do not assume that your words are not offensive to people. And everyone, please be polite and do not call people names, even ones that seem obviously benign to you. Secondly, this thread is way over post count limit and it's time to put it to bed. [/mod]

HOLY SHIT WE HIT THREE THOUSAND BUCKS!

:commie: :cheers: :commie:

Big thanks to everyone, and high-fives to WetHair for doing the math and then taking action. :D

EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE PASSED THE TARGET, if you want to contribute, then please do! Costs are only going to go one way in the future.

Absolutely. Ran went with a conservative target, but in reality all of those pre- and post-target dollars will be invested in hosting and hardware to keep this site operational under our new traffic loads (which have skyrocketed thanks to the show).

Just wanted to thank Trisk and everyone else who has donated thus far. Up to $2666.50 $2716.50 and hopefully still going! :grouphug:

(Repost for those who don't visit the book forums)

I've seen people post time and again how much they love posting here, love the books, love/hate/lovetohate the TV show, love the discussions. There are a lot of you out there -- we saw our ranks nearly double as the first season aired -- and that's great.

But it's time to give back to the community you profess to love. We're having a fundraiser right now, and we're looking to get as much money as we can to finance desperately needed hardware upgrades and maintenance. Ran set a conservative $2,000 target. There's really nothing more awesome than blowing past your fundraising target, so please make our holy-shit-we-made-it-to-$3,000 day and chip in $5. Or more. Whatever you feel comfortable donating. The fundraiser goes through next Wednesday, so if you don't have the cash now, you can wait until after payday to contribute. The ChipIn contribution widget is on the left side of the page.

Here's Ran's official announcement, with helpful links:

It's that time of year again, folks, to support the Westeros.org community. It's not just the forums and website, that have seen far more activity and membership than they ever have, but it's also the Wiki of Ice and Fire (the premiere ASoIaF wiki on the web) which is one of the most visited parts of the site -- well over a million unique visitors per month, coming by to look up all the details that you, the community, have put up there to share your knowledge and love of the series.

If you've ever used the resources of Westeros.org, discussed a theory on the forum, browsed the wiki -- please consider chipping in a bit of money for the fundraiser! The funds raised will go directly to our wonderful server admin Sparks to defray the costs of hosting , and allow us to start looking into upgrades that might further improve the speed and stability of the servers.

ChipIn allows payments through credit card or Paypal; sorry, we can't take money orders, cheques, or cash, but we do appreciate the thought! Besides clicking the donation links here, you can use the widget at the left sidebar to leave a contribution.

Many thanks for your time, consideration, and (we hope) your donation!