Good evening and welcome to our first Bell Tree Direct of 2018. We have a few updates to go over today, from new rules to new events, so be sure to read from beginning to end! We'll start off with a few of the more major updates and end with a free gift from everyone's favorite angry mole.
Seashells For Long-term Members
Seashells are our starting-out currency that we give to new members, which helps them receive a free username change or other add-ons from the shop. Each new member is given 10 seashells to use in the Kapp'n's Seaside Shack shop. We will now also be giving 10 seashells to users after they have been members for 2 whole years!
Many people are looking for a fresh start after a couple of years, but may not have the bells for a username change. This will make it possible to get another free name change, or other add-ons if you are happy with your username.
The official requirement is 20 posts and two years since registration. Please be patient with the initial wave of seashells, as it may take a bit for them to be dispersed by the system to our two-year old and older members. Don't worry if you haven't been around for two full years yet. Your seashells will be automatically sent to you once you reach the milestone.
Discord Rules and Updates
We have had some reports about users' behavior in our Discord server over the last couple of months, so we've updated the rules and ways in which we will moderate the server. Please take a minute to read our new Discord rules:
New Discord Rules said:
These new rules will now be added to a new rules channel on the server. We will also start using a Gyroid bot to enforce a word filter, like we have on the forum. The sent message in Discord will be removed and logged if it contains one of these censored words.
As you can see, we will now be using forum warnings to warn users about inappropriate behavior in the Discord channels. We do not tolerate rude behavior on The Bell Tree, so anyone who is rude to another TBT member will be removed from the server. Please help us make the TBT Discord a friendly place for everyone.
Introducing Bell Tree Weeks
I am excited to announce a new mini-event that we will hold on a regular basis, called Bell Tree Weeks. Bell Tree Weeks are week-long forum events that offer small bonuses or goings-on centered around specific themes.
The theme of the week will change, but the themes can also be repeated. For example, a week could be centered around flowers, bells, old school Animal Crossing games, etc. They will start without any prior announcements, predetermined schedule, or order. When a new week starts, it will be posted in its official thread and a forum notice. Click here to read more and discuss this new event in its official thread.
The First Week Is...
Villager Week! Villager Week will be starting now and end on March 19th.
In this Villager Week, there will be three different things happening. Bells earned in Villager Trading Plaza will be slightly increased. The villager collectibles will also be restocked.
Most exciting of all, we have randomly selected 32 New Leaf villagers from their 13 districts. They will fight to the death until only one is remaining. It's up to you to back your favorite villagers in our villager popularity bracket. They will be paired in head-to-head polls where you can vote for them to move on. Read more about the tournament in the March 2018 Villager Week post, or click here to go right to the bracket. The voting will take place in the new Voting Booth board, which will be temporarily available during the event.
We also have another villager-related announcement to share next.
"Looking For" Threads Now Allowed
When Animal Crossing: New Leaf came out five years ago, many players rushed to find their favorite villager from other towns. We set up the Villager Trading Plaza board to help with these kinds of trades. However, there were so many threads made by people looking for particular villagers, that the board became flooded. We then created the Official Looking For Thread to keep them together in one central thread.
Now that less people are playing the game, we've decided to close the Official Looking For Thread after over four years and 40,000 posts. Users may now post their own personal "looking for" threads in the Villager Trading Plaza board. The staff will stop closing them immediately. Rest in peace, Official Looking For Thread: Aug 14 2013 - Mar 12 2018.
Two-Factor Authentication Login
With site security on our minds recently, we've decided to add an optional feature that can help secure your account. The primary reason we are adding this is to help protect the staffs' accounts, so while this probably isn't necessary to enable for most users, we're making it available for anyone who wishes to add an extra layer of security when logging in. You will find this in the user Settings page, under the "My Account" section.
Some of you may already be familiar with two-factor authentication from other sites. It works by giving you a code to scan into an app on your phone, Google Authenticator. The app will give you a number to input into the forum. This number changes constantly, which is how it helps secure your account. Every time you login from a different IP address, it will ask you to enter the current number. If you do plan on using it, we simply ask that you are careful about keeping the app or the ID it gives you, so you don't accidentally get locked out of your account.
Closing Threads In All Trading Boards
Users on the forum have been able to close their own threads in many trading boards such as TBT Marketplace and Re-Tail. However, two trading boards had been left out from this feature: The Museum Shop and Animal Crossing amiibo Card Post Office. Starting today, you will now be able to close your own threads in these boards as well.
Site Downtime Bells
Due to the repetitive downtime we experienced a few weeks ago, we are giving out 75 bells to all members. Thank you for being patient with us while we worked to get the server running properly. As you have probably noticed, things have been running much better since then. Unfortunately, Resetti is still grumpy from all the overtime he had to put in!
That's All!
I hope you've enjoyed today's announcements. Let us know what you think, especially about the new Bell Tree Weeks event. Feel free to also join the discussion in its new official thread, which is located in Bell Tree HQ. Thanks for reading!
