Ask the Staff v8

[ArryGrotter]

Originally Posted by ccollinsmith

I may be wrong, but I think they deleted all the Common Rooms, plus the Sorting Hat.

That makes sense then. Looks like all of the quibbler section (including the contests) is gone.

[mexicant]

Yes, there were many social groups that got deleted. The house common rooms were a part of that, as were all social groups that had no posts for the last year - which was a reprieve as it was, because originally all groups with no posts for the last three months were going to disappear.

That said, let's try to keep this thread to questions and leave out the chitchat. ^_^

[freelantzer]

Thanks for the replies. I couldn't see that link in the skin I am using, but I found it now.

[ccollinsmith]

With the Sorting Hat gone, are old CoS sortings still applicable or can we choose our Pottermore House if we want to create a Common Room?

[gertiekeddle]

May we postpone the question a little bit? We just don't know the future of this site yet and if there will be new areas like a re-instalment of the sorting possible, house common rooms, etc.

The Quibbler Contests archives are in the general archives area.

[ccollinsmith]

Originally Posted by gertiekeddle

May we postpone the question a little bit? We just don't know the future of this site yet and if there will be new areas like a re-instalment of the sorting possible, house common rooms, etc.

Sure. No problem. I understand.

Originally Posted by gertiekeddle

The Quibbler Contests archives are in the general archives area.

Thank you! Thank you! A million times thanks! I never would have found them if you hadn't told me they were there.

[xhanax315]

What happens to the threads when sub forums are inactive, like the Stone.

[Alastor]

Originally Posted by xhanax315

What happens to the threads when sub forums are inactive, like the Stone.

As gertiekeddle already said, we don't yet know what will happen with the forums.

We do understand that our members are worried about not knowing what will happen next, but as we don't know either we can't help. So we have to ask for more patience for the time being. Sorry!

[twinsrule26]

I was wondering if the latest on-line threat ,the Heartbleed bug has any effect on us here ?

[Alastor]

I'm no expert on internet security, but this seems to be a bug in some encryption software called OpenSSL. As I understand it, only sites with https urls have this vulnerability. CoS has http only without the s. Which means CoS should be perfectly safe.

But Facebook is on the list of sites where you need to change your password.
http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/
http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-what-to-do/

And here is a site where you can check any https site you want to know if it's affected:https://lastpass.com/heartbleed/

Also phones running on Android 4.1.1 may have this bug. http://mashable.com/2014/04/11/devices-running-android-4-1-1-vulnerable-to-heartbleed/

It seems nobody knows if any Deatheaters have taken advantage of this bug before it was detected and repaired, but changing one's password on any site where they might have would be a good idea.

[twinsrule26]

Thank You Alastor for the great info.

[Goddess_Clio]

This is a major long shot but I'm wondering if there is a way to recover old deleted PMs. I know that old threads can be archived and I'm wondering if in that archiving process a snapshot of the whole discussion board, including PMs or other information saved behind a username/password security check, is saved.

Oh, and wasn't this forum supposed to be shut down?

[Alastor]

Originally Posted by Goddess_Clio

This is a major long shot but I'm wondering if there is a way to recover old deleted PMs. I know that old threads can be archived and I'm wondering if in that archiving process a snapshot of the whole discussion board, including PMs or other information saved behind a username/password security check, is saved.

I don't think deleted owls exist anymore.

Originally Posted by Goddess_Clio

Oh, and wasn't this forum supposed to be shut down?

It was. But then Mugglenet showed interest in taking over. Looks like the negotiations stranded.

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by Alastor

I don't think deleted owls exist anymore.

BLAST IT ALL!!!

It was. But then Mugglenet showed interest in taking over. Looks like the negotiations stranded.

Hmm... nothing like driving away a large portion of the membership only to keep the forum open. The only reason I came back today was to see whether I could figure out a way to recover my PMs.

[gertiekeddle]

I guess agree a lot with that.

[adrienie]

I wrote a message on my profile and then deleted it. Now it perpetually says "adrienie has deleted this message." Will that ever go away?

[Hes]

Originally Posted by adrienie

I wrote a message on my profile and then deleted it. Now it perpetually says "adrienie has deleted this message." Will that ever go away?

Only staff can hard delete messages aka obliviate things forever.

I´ve done that for you

[adrienie]

Originally Posted by Hes

Only staff can hard delete messages aka obliviate things forever.

I´ve done that for you

Thanks!

[gertiekeddle]

One chance to claim the forums can perform magic, Hes...

[Hes]

I actually had to think really hard if Obliviate does the trick... need to brush up on my spells ^_^