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| Vampire Films A-Z |
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 Topic: Site Updates
The new items published under this topic are as follows.
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| Darkness Embraced Awards Are Back! |
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| On Saturday, May 21, 2005 Larae wrote : |
That's right! We have reinstated the long slumbering award section on Darkness Embraced. What is the award section? Well, for those of you that are unfamiliar with this, it is a website award given to various websites that meet our criteria. It's our way of saying Thank you for contributing to the community, you are appreciated.
If you have a website and you are interested in applying for our award or you are simply curious to see what the award looks like, please go here or find the link located in the "Navigation" block to your right. All winners will be listed and linked under the winners section.
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| New Topsite List Announced |
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| On Monday, April 04, 2005 Larae wrote : |
I have moved both “The Vampire Elite Top 100” and the “Darkness Embraced Top 100” to a new topsite list host at www.gotop100.com. The reason behind this transition is that my patience has finally been exhausted by topsitelists.com continuous bouts of unpredictable reliability. This past February, the list stopped functioning as it has done many times before, and it’s now April 3rd with not even as much as a glimmer of insight when this problem will be fixed. List owners are unable to contact members through the mass email on the topsite list, because as you can imagine, it’s broken too. Even if this is fixed, I know that there will come a time where it will unexpectedly happen again, and again. I personally can’t deal with it any longer.
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| Member Birthday Upgrade |
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| On Sunday, November 28, 2004 Larae wrote : |
Due to some coding issues in the previous Member Birthday section, I was forced to upgrade to a newer version with cleaner code. Unfortunately, the upgrade was not cooperating with the older files and I had no choice but to dump the old tables and start fresh. So I invite you all to re-add your self to the Members Birthday section again. If you haven't added your self, why not? It's fun, and we get to sing Happy Birthday to you on your special day! Well ok.. maybe not an actual song, but we can type it out, all you need is a little imagination to hear it. ;o)
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| Memberships Deleted!! |
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| On Wednesday, February 04, 2004 Larae wrote : |
I have done a little early spring-cleaning tonight with the member list. If you did not notice, we have gone from having 3,778 members down to 1055 members (unless more have joined since this posting).
All members who have not logged since October 1, 2003 have been deleted. Any member who did not follow instructions in the member prerequisite also have been removed. If you have come here to find your membership deleted, then you will have to go through the sign up process again.
Upon going through the member profiles, I found some things that were very disturbing or just plain aggravating to me. Unbelievably, one member posted an entire html source code from a geocities site for midi files in his profile. Now, what ever for? Another member posted a three paragraph question on vampirism that belonged in the forum. Other things such as “Don’t f**k with me, I’ll rip your throat out”, “Don’t talk to me, I don’t want to be bothered”, and “Hi I am here looking for a vampire to take me away from my problems, plz plz plz plz come take me, I am beggin you. I hate life!”, “Hi come visit my website I need members to make a coven” “hey, I’m lonely pm me or send a email cuz I am not hardly here”.
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| Internet Radio Rocks Darkness Embraced! |
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| On Sunday, January 18, 2004 Larae wrote : |
Yes, that’s right! Members at Darkness Embraced can now listen to a variety of music while surfing Darkness Embraced. The spot light station is vampire radio, operated by Romeoblu of vampiredirectory.com. A big Thank You to you Romeoblu.
So where is it and how does it work? If you scroll down on this page you will see a block to the left that says “Internet Radio”, just select a station from the drop down menu and it will immediately begin streaming live broadcast. I would like to suggest using the “Load in Separate Window” option. If you don’t, then as soon as you leave the main page to go into the forum, etc on the site, it will close out the music. Loading it in a new window allows you to surf freely anywhere on the site or other sites without stream interruption.
Any comments or suggestions about this new addition? Please feel free to add them.
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| Brand New "Vampire Only" Topsite List |
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| On Thursday, January 15, 2004 Larae wrote : |
I would like to announce that Darkness Embraced now has a brand new "Vampire Only" Topsite list. So if any of you have a site related to vampires and vampyrism, come over and join the list!
*Note* Sites must be at least 85% vampire oriented and contain no porn.
Visit the Vampire Elite Top 100 to add your site to the list.
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| Multiple Updates |
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| On Saturday, January 03, 2004 Larae wrote : |
There have been quite a few things updated or newly introduced to the site:
- Personal Classifieds: Darkness Embraced now offers personal classifieds to community members. Find that special someone or form new friendships.
- Birthday Module: Members can now post their birthdays so that other members can send you our best on your special day. You can also keep track of your daily horoscope and review the neat little statistics of members in a whole.
- New Login Module: No huge change here. Just a few added bells and whistles.
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| Member Journals |
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| On Sunday, November 16, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Darkness Embraced now supplies journals to members. There are just a few things that I ask of anyone that would like to have one. The requirements will be listed when you visit the link. Any comments or suggestions are welcomed. Enjoy!
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| Something New Has Been Added |
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| On Friday, November 07, 2003 Larae wrote : |
I have added another artist, Jason Beam, into the art galleria. When you have a moment, take a few out to view his impeccable work. We also have had quite a few additions to the Writer's Guild (formerly fictioneer). I have noticed that no one is really leaving any commentary on these writings. Please try to do so, these writers are hungry for your feedback. I have also added a dictionary to the site, I thought it would be something we could all use from time to time. It's right here on the site, so no worries of trailing off to some place with pop ups. I have also added a spellchecker link that will open in a new window. This will allow you to spell check your work without leaving the page you are working on.
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| Gallery: Technical Difficulty |
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| On Saturday, October 25, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Last night, I upgraded to a newer version of the gallery due to present security exploits. Unfortunately, all did not go well with it. I have been able to recover some data, but not all. There are alot of photos that could not be recovered and the comments were a total loss. Looks like we have to start over with that. My apologies.
If you find your photo in the gallery, please send me the name of your picture file(your.jpg) as seen in the member gallery, your member name, and another description of your photo to replace what I have posted. I would also like to note that members who have not been active on the site for a long time have been removed. Sorry, but those are the rules.
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| Sentence Structure And Literacy Officially Enforced! |
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| On Thursday, October 23, 2003 Larae wrote : |
All administrators agree that the present circumstances concerning Internet Lingo/shorthand/slang, sentence structure, and literacy is developing into a rapid problem on Darkness Embraced.
We have corrected posts, ranted, and explained our reasons as to why none of it is acceptable, yet, it continues. Officially, as of tonight, any more comments from members that incorporate use of Internet jargon/slang/shorthand, improper sentence structures, or numerous spelling errors, will simply be deleted.
I can not comprehend the difficulty that many of you seem to have with this simple request. What is it? Are you that lazy that you can not hit the shift key when using a proper pronoun? {“i” instead of the proper English rule of “I”} Is it too much effort on your part to type out two extra letters? {“U” versus the proper English standard “You”, “R” versus the proper English standard “Are”, “ur” versus the proper English standard “Your/You’re”} And what about a space after punctuation? What? Did someone run off with your space bar?
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| Chat room: New Restrictions |
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| On Thursday, October 23, 2003 Larae wrote : |
The chat room is now under password restriction. Any members wishing to use the chat room must now contact the Administrators of the site through private message for the password. The password will be rotated on a 24 hour base starting each and every night at Midnight EST. The ability for any member to create their own room is restricted as well. Members may request authorization from the administration to lift the restriction for them to create rooms of their own when desired. Those members who have been “problems” will not be granted access and any member found giving these “problem” members the password will be banned from further use of the chat room.
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| New Articles on Vampirism |
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| On Sunday, September 14, 2003 Larae wrote : |
I have added two new articles to the modern vampirism section. Both articles were written and contributed by anajiel, a.k.a. DarkenAngel. Both articles relate to vampirism from the psychological and social perspective. Anajiel was very attentive to detail with her research with both articles producing an excellent read. I encourage everyone to read both "Proof? Is That Too Much to Ask?" and The Psychological and Physical Effects of Vampirism If you would like to leave any comments regarding these articles, you are welcomed to do so here.
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| Forum and Theme: How to fix it |
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| On Friday, August 29, 2003 Larae wrote : |
I have been notified by a few members about a few bugs with the new theme and forum, so if your experiencing any problems, please read this. You will have to configure it from your end to get it to show properly.
Forum problems: Black sreen, can not see posts at all, or can see forum, but colors are distorted making it difficult to read the posts.
Main Theme: Seeing half of new theme and half of old theme. Blue colors and yellow text..
Here is what you need to do to correct this:
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| Theme Change |
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| On Friday, August 29, 2003 Larae wrote : |
As I am sure you have all noticed, I have changed the theme for Darkness Embraced. The name of this theme is eternalnyte, I do hope all of you like it. If there is a chance that you do not, please remember that you can change themes by selecting the "change theme" link located in the member tools block. Constructive feedback on the theme change is welcomed and appreciated. Thank you.
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| Book Updates |
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| On Saturday, August 23, 2003 Larae wrote : |
I have updated the books section with a brand new "Fae and Elven" category. You will find three books in the new category by Laurell K. Hamilton, "A Kiss of Shadows", "A Caress of Twilight", and "Nightseer" in which her characters are based off of sidhe (fae) lore. Also, I have added "The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series" which Laurell K. Hamilton has authored as well. If you have read any of these books, please leave your opinion and rating of them in the book section. Thank You.
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| New Section for Writers |
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| On Thursday, August 21, 2003 Larae wrote : |
We now have a new way of displaying our creative writings here at Darkness Embraced using a program called fictioneer. It has a more organized and professional feel. I think that all of you will enjoy it much better than the latter. All writings, fiction: vampire, gothic, pagan, mystic, and poetry: vampire, gothic, pagan, mystic and music lyrics are all now located in this area. Please do not place any further writings in the forum as this area will be closing soon. Any questions or comments are welcomed.
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| Rearranging and Additions |
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| On Saturday, August 16, 2003 Larae wrote : |
As you can see, I have been moving things around on the site. Hey, what do you expect?, I am a woman after all. We do these sort of things. lol. But on a serious note, the motivation for doing so stems from feedback and observation. It appears to me that many visitors and members alike have a difficult time navigating the site.
Studying the layout, I have tried to use my best judgement as to what I could change to make things more user friendly. Some things that I felt uncessary have been taken off the site, as well as some new things that I feel will be beneficial have been added. I started with a complete renovation of the members block which is now the "member tools" block. I am not quite finished rearranging other areas of the site as of yet, but I am slowly getting there.
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| Member Gallery: Comment Restriction Lifted |
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| On Saturday, August 09, 2003 Larae wrote : |
As you can all see, the comments have been returned to the member gallery. I am hoping that this will not be a repeat mistake and that everyone here can act mannerly and responsibly. I do not want to have to listen to my conscience saying "I told you this was a bad move".
For those who are relatively new to the site, the comment system within the member gallery was disabled some time ago as a result of ill-mannered comments and the continuous disregard to the set of guidelines and various warnings posted by the moderators and myself. Frustrated and disgusted by this, I pulled the plug on the comment system.
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| Site Additions and Updates |
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| On Saturday, July 19, 2003 Larae wrote : |
The comments in the member Gallery have been disabled due to the noncompliance to guidelines from a select few. To those who played by the rules, my sincerest apologies.
I have added two more myths to the vampire mythology section. Myths from Armenia and China. Much thanks to ransim for her contribution with the vampire myths from China.
Also, another film has been added to the film database, "Habbit" from 1996. If you have seen this film, leave a comment and let us know how you rate it, if not, perhaps it would interest you when you are in the mood for renting a good vampire movie. Thanks to headdown for suggesting the film. Comments, feedback, suggestions? Please feel free to leave any you may have.
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| Another NEW Chatroom |
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| On Monday, July 14, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Well members, I have attempted once again to find a good remotely hosted chat room. The bad news is I couldn't find any that I could host from another server. However, the good news is that I said to hell with remote hosting and installed our very own chat room. You can try it out here
Members can make their own rooms, private message each other, etc. Please, play around with it and give me your feedback. If you find any bugs I would like to know. I should also mention that there is nothing I can do about the background colors as it is hardcoded into the script. But I think we can all live with that as long as the chat works!! :)
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| Member Gallery: Picture Deletions |
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| On Saturday, July 12, 2003 Larae wrote : |
As warned a few weeks ago, members who have not participated on the site outside of the member gallery, are now being deleted.
So, if you find that your photo is gone, then you know why. This is being done for quite a few reasons. The first thing is web space. I do not see where I should be nothing more than a holding spot for your photo. However, if you participate in the forums, or contribute essays or other writings, review films, books, etc, then I don't mind. This shows that you have contributed to the community in some form or fashion.
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| Community Calendar |
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| On Wednesday, July 09, 2003 Larae wrote : |
As many of you may have already noticed, I have been working on a community Calendar for the site. I thought this would serve as a beneficial addition to our community. With this calendar, members can post their birthdays (so we can wish you a happy birthday), Post community events on either the club scene or other related gatherings (examples: renfaire, rpg, vampire ball, convergence, etc.). If you can think of something else that may serve beneficial as a category, please let me know. The color scheme still needs some work, so bare with me on that one for awhile. It's been some what of a pain to work with.
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| Out With The Old.. |
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| On Saturday, June 07, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Good news to all the members who wanted to see changes with the Chat Room. We now have a more improved one. I believe that this one will serve members better than the latter. I know many wanted one that could handle multiple rooms, and that is only one thing that I could not supply. But there is a nice private message option that you can talk to users one on one. Other features include voice chat (haven't quite figured out how it works yet, but it's there), the ability to kick and ban someone who may be causing problems (please don't abuse this!) and, you can surf other pages without it interferring with your chat conversation.
Over all, I think that this will make some of you very happy. Any feedback will be appreciated.
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| Site Updates |
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| On Sunday, May 25, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Two more night clubs, Alchemy DC (Nations) and Dark Hours have been added into the Travel/Nightclubs section. Much Thanks to ransim for her submission and review of both clubs.
Also, Darkness Embraced has been given two more awards from Tracy of Dark Dwelling. Thank You so very much Tracy.
It may or may have not been noticed, but I also changed out the contact form from Bravenet to my own php form. The decision was made due to the big ugly page that is now displayed after the form is submitted. I would like to change the button exchange one as well, it's causing visual difficulty when new members try to join. grrr! So if anyone is aware of a remotely hosted free email form service with minimal ads, please let me know.
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| Bonified Nutcase |
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| On Monday, May 19, 2003 Larae wrote : |
I knew that eventually that I would be dealing with some fruit loop coming along with the "I am immortal" song and dance, and well, here he is everyone. Meet Santino77856, aka, chad the vampire. I am sure some of you have already seen the posts that he has made on ash_night's photo in the member gallery, as well as a few comments on others. Seems jr. here has decided to take discord with my opinions of Anne Rice being a fiction writer, and nothing more. He believes that a vampire has told Anne rice what to write, and he is some sort of follower and has decided to start his own cult to lure in more nieve individuals.
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| IMPORTANT!! Members Losing Ability To Acess Forums |
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| On Sunday, May 11, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Members,
It has been brought to my attention from one member that there is a existing problem with some members having the ability to access the forums. If you are a member and are having this same problem, please leave a comment and let me know so I may correct this for you.
Last night I installed a few security fixes to better secure members user names and passwords, However, it has caused a glitch within the forum. My apologies to everyone for this.
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| Site Updates |
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| On Tuesday, April 29, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Just a little note to everyone on something new I have added to the site. Members can now change the theme of the site from the main page. You no longer have to go into your user account to do so. Just select the provided themes from the drop down box on the top left where it says theme changer. (you have to be logged in to see it). Although a very small change, I thought it would be a good one for those who like variety. In other news, Darkness Embraced has one the Gold Award from Gothic Underworld. Thank You jez and vlad! :)
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| Vampire Films |
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| On Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Larae wrote : |
For all you vampire film buffs, I have added over 30 more vampire films with synopsyis's into the film database. Also, I wanted to make all of you aware that you can rate and add your commentary to any of the film listings. This will help others who are looking for that right flick to watch this Friday Night...so go ahead..don't be shy! Give Siskel and Ebert a run for the money. *grins*
I will also be working through out other areas of the site while the opportunity presents itself, so I will keep everyone updated on any more new changes.
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| Something New Has Been Added |
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| On Friday, February 21, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Darkness Embraced now has a forum. You can find the link on your left under the members section. Now the trick is getting all of you to step out of the lurking shadows and make your presence known. Aw, c'mon..don't be shy, no one will bite you, and if they do, I am sure it will be done out of affection. :o)
Other new additions to the site are to include a new guestbook and a article in the vampire myth section. The previous guestbook provider, freebok, has went from a free to pay service. I am not about to pay for a service that I can implement myself, so bye bye freebok. So if you have a moment, please sign it. It's looks so lonely in there.
The article I mentioned, is based upon "Ka", an ancient Egyptian term based on the "astral body" and often referenced in connection with the Psychic Vampire.
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| Dark Link Directory |
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| On Monday, February 17, 2003 Larae wrote : |
Over the weekend, I upgraded to a later release of postnuke and installed some security patches. All went well with the exception of the Dark Link Directory. When I did the upgrade, it wiped out the entire web link database. I was able to recover all links with the exception of a few.
If your site was one of those few, I sincerely apologize and invite you to add your link again.
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| Site Updates, New Submissions |
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| On Saturday, November 23, 2002 Larae wrote : |
Last Sunday, I had to make a unexpected out of state trip. There were some fatal health issues within the family and I did not have the time to make note of my absence on the site. But, I have now returned home, and all is well within the family. I do apologize for any confusion this may have caused with emails, submissions, etc..
On a good note, I was made aware that Darkness Embraced was featured in the Uk's popular publication of Bite Me Magazine (Issue 11, Internet Reviews section, pg. 38). I was very impressed with the review that it was given. Here is what was written:
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Real Vampires
Vampire Misc.
Occult