As some you may have noticed, we've made a few changes around here.

The obvious one is cosmetic: we've changed the overall look and feel, and also added a separate front end for smart phones. We'll be tweaking these a bit as we get feedback, especially the mobile look which will probably undergo a complete overhaul or two before we're content.

We ran into a lot of issues with Internet Explorer 6 - that 10 year old version that was never quite right. If you're still using IE6 (and you really shouldn't be), you'll see the mobile look. If you want the full look and can't upgrade from IE6, try Firefox, Chrome, or some other browser. If you get the mobile look and you aren't using a mobile device or IE6, please contact me via PM.

And if you notice anything else odd with the new look, PM me. We've done a fair bit of testing, but tests can never replicate the real world.

Not all of the changes are cosmetic.

We have a new Posting Guidelines sticky; please take a few minutes to read through it. Nothing revolutionary - the DBR Boards have evolved and the guidelines needed to evolve as well. We reaffirm our commitment to civility and rational discourse while having fun talking Duke, sports, and other stuff too.

We're introducing a brand new feature, Comments. On posts especially better or worse than average, rather than saying "POTW" or jumping on someone, you can give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down and add a comment for the original poster. There is an icon, :) :(, in the lower, left part of each post for this. When you float your mouse over it, you'll see "What do you think of this post?" Remember, civility apply here, too!

We're going to play with comments a lot more in the future. For instance, we'll automatically highlight posts that get a lot of positive comments and automatically delete posts that are overwhelmingly panned. For now, give some feedback to the posts as you feel appropriate. Comments are reflected in points, and points are reflected in pitchforks by your username. You can only comment on recent posts, only a few times a day, and you have to spread 'em around between different members. You can see the last few comments you've received on your settings page.

So, come on in, poke around, and let us know what you think.

-jk