Hello Lions!

Have you visited Gryffindor Common Room in the last week? If not, you really should start! If so, you’ve noticed a lot of changes taking place. Our DHOH Jenny has been working hard to bring some new features to all of our old Lions and our new Cubs! I thought I’d take a little time to update you on those new shiny things we’ve gained so far in the past few months. (And keep in mind things are still being added… so try to find a way to remind yourself to keep checking back to the forum to see what else changes in the upcoming weeks before the new term begins!)

First and foremost, my dears, I would like to point you to the Recent Status Updates box on the right side of the Common Room homepage (http://gryff.net/CR/ for those of you who are a bit lost!). It seems we are more and more growing to be like Facebook…  only a little better, since we have busier forums. :) In the past couple months, many things have changed about this little box. Now, you can add comments to other people’s statuses. Of course, that led people to say “we need a like button!” This week, we earned just that. WE NOW HAVE A LIKE BUTTON! So be sure to post some status updates and like your friends’ updates. You can also now access a person’s past status updates on their profile. Because of this, you can see what people have posted on your statuses in case it falls out of the “recent status update” box. It’s also a point of interest that you can also choose to be notified if someone comments/likes one of your statuses. Just visit that box in the upper right-hand corner of the common room (where it says your name), click your name, scroll down to “My Settings”, then go to “Notification Options” on the left-side tabs, and click it. There, you can choose what you want to be notified of and how.

Speaking of notifications, those of you who have been on a lot lately have noticed the new “Unread Notifications” box on the right hand corner of the homepage as well. And you’re quite confused why they won’t go away, even after you’ve clicked on it and read that PM. Yes, that’s a little kink in our new shininess. While you’re on your settings page, just click underneath the “Notification Options” tab on the left-side—yes, the one that says “My Notifications.” To get rid of them, just click the boxes beside them and hit “delete.” Simple as that!

We now also have some awards we are listing on members’ profiles. If you earn a Gryff award, it might be emblazoned on your profile! So far we only have GQT awards and point awards from last year, but those are a work of progress and something the staff is working on. We will also be giving out badges to those who earn a certain amount of house points throughout the year to be placed on profiles as well. For more info to those awards and badges the Awards Committee is planning this year, please visit here: http://gryff.net/CR/index.php?/topic/1219-awards-and-badges/ 

Our Gryffindor Radio site has also gotten a new face lift thanks to Professor Bynny, including its' new catchy name GRYFFTUBE. It includes music playlists, music blogs, and a blog called "TV Den Blog" which pretty much features everything else entertainment and fun images/videos found on the world wide web. You can also find a game room with a small collection of games, including Bedazzled and Minesweeper. Check it out today at http://radio.gryff.net

With all of that cleared up, I have GREAT NEWS for all of you old Gryffs who have missed the arcade for several years. It’s back!! So far we only have a few games (including Gryff favorites Mahjongg, Ms Pacman, and Battleship and a few new games), but we will slowly be adding more within the next few weeks, so make sure you keep checking back to see if we have added your favorite!)  You can find the new arcade on the top tab of the forum, or here: http://gryff.net/CR/index.php?app=iArcade

The staff has been working on making updates and changes to the forum and the way we operate it so that this school year will be Gryffindor’s best ye. We hope you are enjoying them!

Sincerely,
The Gryffindor Staff