Wittenberg

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Wittenberg (also known as Witt or less correctly The Witt) is the name used in Talossa for the Kingdom’s privately administered on-line discussion forum. It is currently hosted on Proboards.

The forum contains several individual "Boards", which serve to make it easier to keep different sorts of conversations (and business) separate and organized. Confusingly enough, “Wittenberg” is also the name of the most important of the Boards, the one at the top of the list that’s advertised as a “General all-purpose forum for discussing all things Talossan”. Each Board contains many Threads (conversations); each Thread contains any number of Posts (individual contributions to a conversation). Wittenberg posts show up on Google searches.

Every Talossan citizen is urged to have an account on Wittenberg, and most do. Besides citizens, accounts are given to prospective citizens and (by the Prime Minister’s special invitation) to non-citizen guests.

The administrators of Wittenberg are Lord Hooligan and King John. The administrators have power to edit, move, or delete posts; to move or delete entire threads; to reset passwords, change account settings, suspend accounts, even banish users permanently. Because of its importance to the national dialogue (since so many citizens are cybercits), there are some laws and regulations[1] that govern the administration of Wittenberg, but it nonetheless remains a private enterprise. This accounts for the nature of "Wittiquette," the rules of propriety that are enforced on Wittenberg. It also accounts for the administrators' ability to take occasional direct action, as when plagiarism[2] or obscenities are edited out.

History

Ryan Hughes created the first Talossan message forum in mid-1997: the Talossan Discussion Group, popularly referred to as the "Disco Group" (http://www.enteract.com/~ryan/talossa/talk/index.html). Shortly thereafter, Charles Sauls created another forum which he named "Wittenberg" as a project of his Schmeckenista Front for the Advancement of Cybercits. The name was chosen as an appropriate place for people to post things (like Martin Luther posting his theses to the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral). When Hughes left Talossa for Penguinea in late September 1996, he shut down his Disco Group, and Wittenberg was left as the hub of online interaction for Erteiers. Each subsequent primary message forum for Talossa has been named after Sauls' Wittenberg, with the number typically incremented after each change of host and/or administrator ("Wittmeister").

  • Wittenberg I - Charles Sauls' original Wittenberg, located at http://www.pacinfo.com/~saulsc/bbs. It had a black background and a particular feel that would later become iconic, and was repeatedly imitated.
  • Wittenberg II - When Sauls departed the country, Jon Peck took over. It was only used a short time.
  • Wittenberg III - This was the second version administered by Peck. It was intended to fix technical problems found in Witt II, but had many problems of its own. It was abandoned in short order.
  • Wittenberg IV - The third Witt with Peck as Wittmeister, this version saw long use.
  • Wittenberg V - The first Witt to be set up and administered by Robert I.
  • Wittenberg VI - Started on 10 Feb 2000/XXI by Tamorán dal Navâ, this board lasted for a year and a half until technical problems brought it down.
  • Wittenberg VII - This short-lived board only existed during the transition between Witt VI and Witt VIII.
  • Wittenberg VIII - Administered by Wittmeister Marti-Pair Furxheir, this Witt saw long service, from May 2001 through February 2003.
  • Wittenberg IX - Also administered by Furxheir, this attempted implementation of a new forum software was unpopular and used for only a few days during February 2003.
  • Wittenberg X - Wittenberg X (also administered by Furxheir) entered service in February of 2003/XXIV. It was the version of Wittenberg in service at the time of formation of the Republic of Talossa and was seized as the forum of the Republic from 1 June 2004/XXV.
  • Wittenberg XI - The current Proboards forum. Originally administered by Peter Hottelet, then transferred to King John.
  • Wittenberg XII - The now-defunct board used by the Republic of Talossa, after they stopped using Witt X. At one point the Republic changed hosts again, but instead of incrementing to Wittenberg XIII, the new version was referred to as Wittenberg XII(b). It was abandoned and archived after Reunision.

See also

External links

Wittenberg