Well, everyone, it’s been a great year. This is my last day as Producer of the217.com, and I have enjoyed it. We have made several changes over the last year that I’m proud of, and I’m sure there’s much more to come. I’d like to greet Molly Durham, a buzz writer, WPGU music staff member and former the217.com intern, as our new producer. I’m confident that she will do a great job.

I’m going to continue working on the site in our video department, so you haven’t seen the last of me, but I want to say thank you to everyone who has given feedback over the last year. It truly has been a great experience.

Sincerely,
Elle

I am very very excited to unveil our newest feature on the217.com, forums.

We’ve been waiting to debut these for a little while, and today’s the day! We created them so people who were browsing the site could discuss community and arts and entertainment. We want these to be a place where people will discuss openly and have a good time!

Below, I’ve posted our policy on forums. The forums will be moderated, mostly for on-topic and appropriate content. We don’t like trolls, and you shouldn’t either.

So log in and post!
Elle

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The217.com encourages on-topic discussion about a variety of subjects through our community forums. It is our policy not to delete any posts based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove any posts or threads that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.

In a nutshell, don’t attack people or groups for no reason. If you think something sucks, explain why it sucks.

We’re definitely OK with critique of anything, including our own products and the sister products of Illini Media. Justify what you’re saying, though. You can explain why a story in the Daily Illini wasn’t well-written, or that you think a music review from buzz was way off the mark, as long as you explain what you’re talking about. We will also accept unabashed praise.

Don’t post anything inappropriate such as pornography, violent or threatening material. Racism and sexism and all other ism’s will not be tolerated. It’s 2008; get with the times.

On-topic discussion is the name of the game here. If someone starts a thread, reply to what they’re saying. Internet trolls (and trolls of any kind, they’re just creepy) will not be allowed to perpetuate the black hole effect of the Internet. For more information, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Don’t advertise your stuff here. It’s really cool that you’re starting a company or that you’re trying to sell your car (and brave, in this economy), but this is not the place for it. The Daily Illini has a great classifieds site, try it out sometime. We do encourage hyping your music/comedy/theatre show, however.

Reviews of restaurants and albums will be more beneficial to all members of the community on the Restaurants page or the Artist Index.

Don’t post something twice. Become familiar with the “edit” button. While we’re all fascinated by what you’re saying, it can’t be so good that we want to hear it twice. Break your posts up into paragraphs. Large blocks of text are known to cause eye strain. Capitalize stuff. Make an attempt at using good grammar.

Make sure your images are a reasonable size if you’re going to post them. A good rule of thumb is around 320×240 at 72 dpi. Do you like to wait 10 minutes for a thread to load?

No spam!

This forum exists so the community will have a fun place to discuss all manners of topics. Please keep it fun and lively. We want to be able to participate in the discussion and not spend all of our time moderating. The217.com was created to celebrate this great place known as Champaign-Urbana, and these forums were created in the same likeness. Show some love, people.

And now for the boring legal part:

The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Posts containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from posting on the217.com.

If you think we wrongfully removed your post, please e-mail the site producer at producer@the217.com. All e-mails will be read and considered equally.

Here’s some features you might not have known about the217 — or maybe forgot about:

-WPGU Playlist: Did you hear a song at 2:17 AM? How about 9:49 PM? Search through our playlist to find out what it was. While you’re there, you can read/write reviews, buy albums online, and view discographies and bios for the artists.

-Find a buzz near you: Don’t know where to pick up a hard copy of buzz magazine? Use our interactive map, click on your location, and we’ll show you where the closest buzz magazines are to you! They might be just around the corner…

-Restaurants open now: If you’re hungry, you’re hungry. That’s why we’ve got a complete list of restaurants that are open this second. It’s available all the time, and if you want pancakes at 9 PM or a hot fudge sundae at 7 AM, we’ve got you covered.

-the217.com myspace: This is new, and we’re working on the design and content currently, but this is where you can learn more about the site, talk to us and interact with our favorite local artists and personalities through our friends. If you make your way over there, friend us!

-the217 Flickr group: If you enjoy how beautiful Champaign-Urbana can be, join our Flickr group and add your photos. We even have a contest where we pick our favorite every week! Click here to see the contest rules.

And, as always, email me if you have any problems or questions about the site. We love feedback!

We’ve got some new happenings here at the217, so here they are:

We’ve added a local artist index, with a list of local bands from the Champaign-Urbana area and information about them. You can find their bios, discographies, contact info, photos, and more! If you’re in a local band and you’d like to be in the local artist index, please email me at producer@the217.com and I will add you to the index.

Our calendar search function is up and working! If you’ve tried to search the calendar for the last few days and it hasn’t been working, we’re sorry — hopefully you found what you were looking for. However, it’s working again, so head on over to the calendar and search by date, venue, title, and more.

Keep out on the lookout for:

New photo galleries coming soon! We’ll have a module in the sections where you can view photo galleries better than ever, and I’ll let you know when that happens. Expect a lot of photos from the summer.

New bloggers:

Liam on “With Tongue“: A blog about LGBT lifestyles, issues, and more. He’s been sparking a lot of debate and conversation lately, so head on over there and join the conversation.

We’ll be getting many more bloggers soon, so keep your eye out for more blogs on LGBT, music, and summer life in Urbana, which will be written by Sarah Clemmons, a current WPGU staff member and a pretty rockin chick.

That’s all! Stay tuned for more updates!

Even more new blogs added recently, check them out:

708 Bass Place: A music blog written by Josh Fisher, who loves those deep bass guitar tones and wants to share the love with you.

Streetwalker: No, it’s not what you think (get your mind out of the gutter). If you see Erin Gillman out with her camera, strike a pose! She’s taking pictures of fashionable people in every day life.

Sometimes we here at the217 make a mistake, and we’re sorry about that. We recently used an old picture of local band The Beauty Shop in our centerpiece, and their lineup has changed. We also had their incorrect contact info in our artist index, which has been changed. So sorry about that, and if you want to see how great The Beauty Shop is, head over to their myspace and check out their upcoming shows or listen to their music, maybe you can even buy it (*gasp*)! I personally recommend it.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Local Music Awards are tonight. It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks for everyone here at the217, buzz, and WPGU, but the night is finally here. We’re doing a lot of cool stuff with the awards this year, so if you can’t make it out to the show or want to catch some post-coverage, the217 has got your back.

Right now, you can catch a schedule from the buzz. You can also tune in all day long to hear WPGU playing a lot of local music. From 3-6, The Red Baron will be broadcasting live from the Highdive, and from 6-9, Ashley E. will be doing the same thing. They’ll be giving updates and doing interviews on the air as the night goes on, so tune in to WPGU.

Matt Fender will also be live blogging the entire event, which you can find on the LMA page. We’ll have photo galleries being updated live as the night goes on, and you can catch video performances of all the bands tomorrow morning. Have a little Corn Desert Ramblers with your cornflakes.

We hope to see you all at the LMA’s tonight, but if you can’t catch them, hang out with the217 because we’ve got you covered.

Even more bloggers have been added recently, so you can definitely find something that fits your tastes, or at least someone to argue with.

The State of the Union: A blog written by Chris, who wants you to know his opinion about anything and everything, and a lot about society in general. His first post on political correctness is very interesting.

Dice & Mice: A blog written by another Chris, who spends a lot of time gaming in all capacities and wants you to know about it.

Also, be sure to head over to our spanking new blog page, which is far easier to read and features pictures. I know you all like pictures. Don’t lie to me.

Now! They are fantastic.

Another Castle: A video game blog written by Nikki, a girl who really knows her stuff when it comes to gaming.

$5 Cover, Priceless Coverage: A music blog written by Chris, who goes to all the shows you want to know about. He even provides a neat poem at the end of each post.

Warrior Poet: A blog written about anything and everything, authored by Carl. Check out his random musings about life, shoes, dogs, and anything else he finds interesting.

Stay tuned for more blogs being added all the time! For now, you can see all the recently updated blogs here whenever you want.

Hi everyone-

Elle here, your trusty new producer of the217.com. I’ll be blogging about various happenings on the site, letting you know what’s new and what you should look at, as well as fixed bugs or honored requests so that you can use the site to its full potential.

I’ll also be around C-U, talking to those people in the community that make this place so great. I’m starting a weekly video series called “the217 sessions” where I’ll be interviewing people or groups around town, so check that out as well. Hilarity and/or exclusive live performances may ensue.

We’ll be doing a lot of exciting stuff on the site in the coming months, so rest assured that I’ll let you know about it. We want to be your number one place for all things Champaign-Urbana, as well as a one stop shop for entertainment, discussion, and more.

If you ever have any comments, questions, concerns, or something just plain isn’t right on the site, shoot me an email. I read everything I get and I’ll take it into consideration, because we want this to be your site.

I’m very excited about making this the best website it can be, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the217.com!