Northern Rhodesians Worldwide

Site Updates and Events in 2002

• As a Christmas present and a reward to the membership for a fairly successful year on the message board we have rescinded the Code of Conduct. We hope that this change will be accepted in the spirit in which it is intended. Look forward to some changes in the future which should make this an even better environment for all.

• We've added information about the Rhokana Review CDs that are being produced by Arthur to benefit the Whittemore children. Please see the Whittemore page for details about how you can order and pay for the CD. (You'll need to log into this members-only page with your GNR user ID and password.) CDs are £10, US$16, C$25, or €16, and can be paid for securely with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards in one of those currencies.

• Due to popular demand, we have made it possible for you to finely control what name or names is/are displayed in the signature of messages you post on the message board. You can now log in to edit your entry and look for the "Board name" field where you can specify what you want displayed. This will make it possible for you to include your maiden name (for example) in your Names Directory entry, but exclude it from being displayed every time you post a message. It will also make it possible for people to use a nickname by which they are more well known, if that is the case. (Thanks to Scarscalp, of course, for the suggestion.) This will not make posters anonymous on the message board, but has the potential to make some signatures less convoluted.

• In memory of those killed on September 11th, 2001, in the terrorist attacks on the United States, we have created an on-line memorial for two Northern Rhodesians who were killed on that day. Many of you already know about Edmund Glazer, but it was only recently that we found information on Rick Rescorla, who served as an inspector in the Northern Rhodesia Police in the early 1960s. Our condolences go once again to the families and friends of Edmund and Rick.

• Added instructions for adding entries to the obituaries page.

• Added the long-awaited obituaries section to the Names Directory. This is mostly for GNR members who have passed on, but we will add family or close friends of members if you wish. Please read the instructions if you'd like more information.

• Added automatically-generated lists of recent additions and updates to the Names Directory to the home page of the Directory. Now you can see who has joined the GNR or updated their entry within the last week.
• Also added a list of people whose e-mail addresses no longer work. This is not necessarily complete, as people are only added as they come to my attention. If your e-mail address does not work, people will not be able to contact you (that goes without saying) and neither will you be able to log into the message board to post messages. You can update the e-mail address in your entry after you log in.

• Added a book entitled "Wild Goose: The Life and Death of Hugh van Oppen" by Colin Baker to the biographies section of the GNR Book Store.

• Revised Arthur's instructions for sending photos to him. Please read these before sending photos to him. Thanks.

• Several significant updates to the Names Directory, including:
• The form for new members to add themselves to the Directory is back after a four-month leave of absence. We have half a dozen or so new members already (and I am working on ways of highlighting new members). Please spread the word, and if you're an existing member who is thinking of ditching your old entry and creating a new one, please read on.
• Existing members can finally edit their entries, which includes the ability to change your password to something more memorable. All you need to do is log in with your user ID and password and you can update any details that need updating, or correct those spelling mistakes you made. (And if you really hate having your maiden name displayed when you post messages, you can fix that too.) Forgotten your password? Never were able to remember it? Read on.
• If you have lost or forgotten your password, all you need to do is enter your e-mail address into the password recovery form and it will be sent to you. The e-mail address you enter must be the one in your Directory entry. If you no longer have access to your original e-mail address and you need to update your entry, please contact me. Please do not simply try and make a new entry.
• We have had requests over time to make some improvements to the way the Directory works. These changes are ongoing, but we have now implemented two of them. The first is that the towns or cities that people used to live in in Northern Rhodesia or Zambia are now displayed in the list of names on the left of the screen. This makes it easier to find people who used to live in the same place or places that you did.
• The second implemented request is a list of "missing" people that are being sought, which we are calling the "Looking For..." page. The great thing about this page is that you control it. If you are looking for someone, just log in to edit your Directory entry and enter the names of the people for whom you are looking in the so-noted space at the bottom of the screen. These names will automatically show up on the "Looking For..." page.
• I have also made a few cosmetic changes to the look of the Directory which I hope will make it easier to use. We also have long-term plans for a complete redesign.

• Added an extra step to the process of sending messages to members through the Names Directory. In addition to highlighting a bug in the script which has caused a problem for some people, I am hoping that this step will highlight to the "Nigerians" the futility of trying to send their scams (which are too long to fit) through this system.

• Updated all of the scripts associated with the Names Directory to attempt to thwart the circumventing of checks imposed on messages sent to members. Without locking down the Directory to outside access completely, this is about the best I can do to attempt to persuade spammers (specifically the moronic perpetrators of the Nigerian 419 scams) that it's just not worth their while trying to use the GNR.

• Added a great article by Tony Bruce of Glendambo Publishing to the Northern Tales section entitled "Memories of 'Operation Noah' -- 1959".
• Various cosmetic updates all over the site to update some of the text.

• Made several changes to various things related to the Names Directory including: display of maiden and former names in the main list; better handling of place of current residence (including adding that information to the individual listings); removed string of displayed zeros for people who have chosen not to enter a birth date; added a field for names of children; and added maiden and former names to post signature on the message board.
• I am still working on the form for adding oneself to the Names Directory. It's proving to be a bit of a challenge to make it "smart". I will get it finished as soon as possible and make an announcement here when it's available once again.
• Once I have the form working, I will turn my attention to allowing people to edit their entries. As always, I appreciate your patience. Thanks.

• Changed the message board from Pacific Time (PDT and PST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), aka Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC).

• Updated the text on the main page of the Names Directory.
• Finished some enhancements to the process for sending messages through the Names Directory to make it more secure and reliable.
• Added a new page of tips and suggestions for using the message board and the rest of the site.

• Password protected several members-only areas of the site (including the posting page for the message board, archived message boards, and the old Names Directory) and distributed user IDs and passwords to all current members.
• Set up a Web-based system to allow the contacting of members through their Names Directory entries without revealing their e-mail addresses to the public.
• Added an event on April 27th in South Africa for ex-Rhodesians and/or ex-Zimbabweans to the events page.

• Updated the text on the main page of the Names Directory to make clearer the instructions for having an entry modified or deleted.
• Removed the linked e-mail addresses from the summary (yellow) frame of the Names Directory and moved them to the individual detail pages.
• Attempted to hide all e-mail addresses in the Names Directory from automated e-mail address harvesters or skimmers, by creating a graphical representation of each e-mail address readable only by a human, rather than a textual one which is easily read by machines. This may not be foolproof yet, but it's a step in the right direction to making the GNR a Web site on which the e-mail addresses of members cannot be harvested for spamming purposes. I continue to work towards this goal, and I think that this step will shut down most e-mail address harvesting robots currently in use.
• This new system imposes a strict length restriction on e-mail addresses. Because the graphic which is automatically created by the server is set at 400 pixels in width, any e-mail addresses that need more room than that will be truncated. Please check your entry to see if your address has been truncated. If it has, please e-mail me and I will rectify the situation.

• Added a link to BookZambia.com to the links page as well as to the main menu at the bottom of every page and the menu at the top of the message board. If you need accommodation in Zambia, you can now book on-line through BookZambia.com. A portion of the proceeds of any bookings made through this link will go towards defraying the costs of the care and feeding of the GNR Web site.

• Updated the News page to remove dead news feeds, update or remove links to Zambian news sites, and reformat the page to account for the removed feeds. The page now loads much more quickly.

• Corrected an oversight in the Names Directory. You can now include the name of your spouse in your entry, which might make it a bit easier to identify and link people. I still recommend that couples each create their own entries. I plan to make maiden names more visible when I figure out how to do it without messing things up.
• Added Covos Day Books to the links page and to the list of book shops in the GNR Book Store.
• Minor updates to the About this Site page.
• Re-linked the Post a Message link to the message posting page, thereby bypassing the Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct remains in force, but it serves no purpose to annoy regular posters by making them click twice to get to the posting page. All the scarry legalese remains on the posting page, and the Code will once again be inserted between the message board and the posting page when/if the Code is updated so that everyone is aware of the updates.

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