Northern Rhodesians Worldwide

Site Updates and Events in 2005

• Added a 1966 Automobile Association of Rhodesia map of Malawi, Rhodesia and Zambia to the maps section of the site.

• Added an icon to some links on the links page identifying them as supporters of the GNR. These sites are either hosted by NinerNet Communications, the company that sponsors the hosting of the GNR, or are closely associated with NinerNet in some way.

• Made available the message board archives post-February that use the new message board.

• Arthur has created a "favourites icon" (which may or may not be displayed at left by your browser), commonly called a "favicon", for the GNR. How and when you see this depends on your Web browser. Usually, if your browser displays it, it will be seen in the address bar and in your list of "bookmarks" (or "favourites") if you bookmark the GNR. In newer browsers it may also be displayed in the tab containing the pages you view on the GNR.

• All Names Directory functions have been fully restored, including the abilities to join the GNR and to edit your existing Names Directory entry.
• The default display period for the new message board has been reduced from 10 days to 48 hours to reduce the download burden for frequent visitors and those with slower Internet connections. Full archiving still needs to be implemented, but you can currently see all messages from up to a month ago by using the display options at the top of the message board.
• Sent a mass e-mail to all members advising of the fact that the Names Directory is fully operational once more, and reminding members of the upcoming Sinazongwe Soirée in Zambia in June.

• Moved the information for the Sinazongwe Soirée to its own page, which will be updated as new information is available. If you are considering going to the Soirée, please have a look at this page and contact Heather as soon as possible.
• Added Arthur's latest map to the maps page -- a map of Northern Rhodesia from 1948.
• Reinstated the inter-member Web-based contact system, so you can once again contact other members through their profiles in the Names Directory and via the "contact" link in the signature of every post on the message board. However, please note that, because the database that drives the Names Directory has still not been fully restored, and because it has been about three months now since anyone was able to log in to update their information, the incidence of outdated contact information will be higher than normal.

• Added some new links to the links page and removed all dead links.

• Reinstated the message board using a new system that will allow for far more flexibility when displaying messages.
• More attention will now be focused on updating the Names Directory and getting all of its functions working again.

• Most of the site has been restored on a new server, with the notable exception of the most used areas of the site, those being the message board and parts of the Names Directory -- i.e., anything that requires you to log in. These will be restored as soon as possible.
• As you navigate the site, you will no doubt encounter the dreaded "404, file not found" error. Until these files are replaced and everything is working again, these errors will be common.
• Observant members will notice that we seem to have lost a number of members. This is because the database was restored from a back up that preceded the 2000-member milestone. The missing members will be restored manually in the next few days. As a bonus we get to celebrate the 2000th member one more time.
• Finally, I (Craig) am still focused on getting everything working, so I am still not answering GNR-related e-mail. To that end the contact form on this site is also not working, so please be patient and most problems will no doubt be dealt with when full service is restored.

• The server on which the GNR was hosted until this date was hacked and the home page replaced. As a result, most of the functioning areas of the GNR were disabled. Some data was lost, but almost all of it will be restored from back ups.

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