[Pixalo]

After a year using the Pixalo DG theme and colours (colors to our American friends) we have decided that it is time for some housekeeping. As is normal with updates and housekeeping we have decided on a few small changes and also to give Pixalo a new 'lick of paint'.

The ‘Which theme poll’ suggests that the majority of our users prefer the blue theme. With that as our guide, we have now changed the main site to blue, as well as setting the forums/gallery and equipment review sections to be blue as their default.

If you have already set a different colour through your user control panel, then apart from the main site homepage appearing different you will see no change. If you have not made any changes in your user control panel, then you’ll be seeing blue everywhere just about now. We have no intention of removing your choice or forcing a theme style on anyone though, as such we will leave you the option to select any of our current themes (grey, red, black or blue) for yourselves. This can be done permanently (the system will remember your preference whenever you visit) through your user control panels, or on a temporary basis (per session), using the drop down theme changer in the footer on the Community Forums, Members Gallery and Equipment Review sections.


Crew Avatars

The more observant amongst you may also have noticed that the Crew no longer sport the distinctive Pixalo Avatars. We have removed them for the following reasons…

We feel it has led to Crew being separated from the members and us occasionally having our expressed personal opinions being treated as official Pixalo responses. As a site and community, we have very little need to moderate due to the maturity and common sense from our valued membership, thus making the Crew stand out has become unnecessary. In everyday situations it is to be assumed that any Crew postings are those of members first, the exceptions would be in threads such as competition updates and where Crew members are answering questions relating to the site or the way it works. There will be other exceptions but we feel confident that the maturity and common sense shown by our members will be able to recognise these when they occur. If there are any situations that require official Pixalo responses, they will be given from the whole team via the ‘Pixalo’ user Account, this account will also retain our logo as its avatar.

Admin and Crew will retain their ‘status’, this can be viewed under each members username in each post. Currently we have two tiers of status, ‘Admin’ which includes Dave and Steve (as the site’s owners) and also the Pixalo account. We also have ‘Pixalo Crew’ which includes all the staff members who give us their free time and benefit of their experience to keep the site running along. Despite the different status names we feel it should be noted that the Crew as a whole make all the decisions as a group, and they are in charge of the direction and day to day development of Pixalo.

In addition, we will also be retaining our bold name formatting on posts and in the ‘who’s online’ section of the site. This should allow anyone who may need to contact one of the Crew an easy point of reference, they will be able to find out who we are and also which, if any, are online at that particular time.


Finally, a personal word from Dave and Steve.

As the owners of Pixalo we would like to personally thank the whole of the Pixalo Crew. Stepheno and Sonsey (the first two to join us), Dabhand, Angela and Markulous. Together, they work very hard behind the scenes, keeping this site open and running smoothly for all our benefit. They are a tight knit group of exemplary people who we should thank and remember every once in a while. Other than us remembering them and posting words of thanks, they actually get far less from the site that any other group of members. By being Crew they are not allowed to enter competitions, be awarded Member of the Month, have any of their photography featured as the weekly photo and regularly miss out on the chances of prizes and other rewards that our regular members have access to. To make matters worse, occasionally they have to make unpopular decisions, remain neutral when posting in their official capacity and can become targets of disgruntled members. They do not get paid for this position and all work is done out of the kindness of their hearts.

For their past and continued help, input, advice and support, we would like to publicly thank each and every one of them.

[IanHoughton]

to all the Pixalo crew for their continued support, this is the friendliest forum I've ever been involved in.

[fionaB]

here here... a heartfelt thank you to all involved!

Fi

[silkstone]

Congrats from a prodigal!

[CathieT]

Thank YOU guys for all that you do for us!! This really is a great place to spend cybertime!!

[sawdust]

Yer I agree three cheers for the crew you do a great job you have my thanks

[P-E]

I would also like to pass on my thanks to the crew for the time and effort they put in to the running of the forum, it's much appreciated .......must say I personally did like your avatars and will miss seeing them

[KenCo]

Like the change especially on the home page....very nice!

[BeanPod]

It looks really great, you guys! Thanks for building and maintaining such a great and welcoming forum. Your efforts are much appreciated!

[JMitchell]

Well done guys, one of the best resources on the web!

[Gary Bagshawe]

Oh go on then... Well done all keep up the good work, it really is a great forum.
(It takes a lot to get a compliment out of me so you must be good)

[simpbow]

Alot of time & hard work goes on to keep it NO1 on the web, cheers crew for doing such a great job.

[LadyStardust]

I totally agree with all the comments above. Pixalo has made me a huge fan of forums, if they are run properly. My company is rolling out a similar forum approach for our staff, and I have contributed a few ideas to the mix based on my experiences here at Pixalo.

Thanks for making my lunchtimes a pleasurable experience

[silkstone]

Lunchtimes? Ah yes, nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more.

[P-E]

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but every time I sign in I have to keep changing the colour scheme to the one I use which is grey