Hey Monkeys!

First off, I should clarify a thing or two - I'm not abandoning this union, my personal blog is just saluting farewell to wider GS.

Meantime, the Apetacular is almost finished, just waiting for one more thing and we'll have fresh material to read shortly. Be warned about a really odd cover image.

Well, I just wanted to introduce a new feature I'm testing on the board, The Monkey Bar. Keep visiting it if you like, or ignore it if you don't think it's worth keeping. I'll keep an ear out for the monkeys' response. It's a tribute to a great little thing called The Crumble from one of my first unions on the website, and from my experience its always been a blast, so I hope you enjoy it too.

There will also be some new features popping up around the place gradually, and as always I encourage you to start topics you find interesting, games and non-games related, and also to invite your friends along for the ride.

(1) Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish you all a splendid 2009!

I hope it is a wondeful year for every monkey and also our tree.

(2) Images Disabled

After waking to something of a minor crisis with my Photobucket account this morning, I managed to restore the front page, banner and avatar to their former selves, though the same cannot be said of the previous Apetaculars. So, for the love of God, do not scroll down and look at the ugly things. Though our ugly signatures are sadly inescapable. Things will look normal again in just over a week, so that you can actually invite your friends along to a polished-looking union that doesn't look like Bandwidth-exceeded Town.

It also means that the union emblems will be unavailable until the 10th, hence our signatures look a bit scary right now, but thereafter, back to normal, and new ones will be posted to reward your participation, contribution or excellence. I apologise for the ugliness.

(3) Welcome to Newly-Appointed Alpha Monkeys

Also, I should take this opportunity to CONGRATULATE AND WELCOME our TWO NEW OFFICERS:

Foolz3h and BrokenPezHead

who have been fulfilling various duties about the place and will be with us at least until the end of March 2009.

2009 basically welcomes a new phase where we rotate new officers from amongst the monkey ranks, two at a time, in addition to permanent charter monkeys, to give as many chimps as possible the opportunity to participate and contribute in an alpha role. 

If you would like to be considered for the next slot simply look lively about the place and contribute intelligently and you shall not be overlooked.

And so we face a new year!

New Monkeys

Firstly a warm welcome to the new monkeys who have joined the ranks. Don't forget to introduce yourself!

If you would like to invite more new monkeys to the tree, you can find the invitation feature at the bottom of the Admin Page.

Also we will be welcoming some new temporary officers very soon. 

And New Monkey Bling

There are now a couple of new shiny coloured emblems in the Official MWSU Emblems collection for you to add! Whoopee!

Chattermonkey - for starting 3+ topics of 10+ posts length over your time here. So don't be afraid to start a thought-provoking conversation of your own!

Soapboxer - acknowledging those who finally landed THAT Editorial after much work. Good on you.

Also, you can grab an updated version of the union banner if you wish. You know, the one that's pretty much ruddy with V's overkill - ahem - ruddy with...life.

If you need any technical help at all putting your emblems together, please don't hesitate to PM me, I'm more than happy to help, or put all your emblems together in a picture editor for you. Same for the banner.

Oh, and don't forget to HYPERLINK you bling to the union address, in the interests of promotion.

And New Monkey Reading

Hopefully, GS Christmas season crawl forbidding, we will be giving you the final Apetacular (Christmas edition) of the year to read.

Hey everyone,

Indeed, monkeys are more advanced than man.

As you may have noticed (and if not, refresh the union page a few times ) I made a new banner for the union.

It's a lot simpler and tidier than the original prototype and hopefully more professional-looking. I tried to illustrate the humour and intelligence I think our board encapsulates.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Gaming Chimps and WriteOn! Nominations are now open!

Submit your GCC an WO! Nominations nominations now for potential winning/publication in the NOV/DEC Apetacular. Speaking of which, our panels are currently at two apiece, with a vacant position on each panel. Stay tuned if you may be interested.

Short Stories

There's now a thread for submitting short stories to share whenever you like, or whenever inspiration comes. Looking forward to reading them.

Also don't forget to participate in our current caption competition. Heh.

Have a great week everyone.

Hi Monkeys,

Dropping by for a check up on the health of the tree, and to see how you all are faring. It's certainly nice to see the familiar faces.

(1) Leadership

Thank you to Chili for her valuable assistance to me and her gracious stepping down. I will be fulfilling leadership duties anew from November 7, and will be very active for about the tree for a considerable amount of time. From there we'll be able to figure out together some new intiatives for the place, and chat about some issues mentioned like recruitment as we figure out some kind of communal vision. Meantime feel free to discuss these things and what you would like to see the tree become, and any really standout ideas will get genuine consideration.

(2) Apetacular

Apologies for the slowdown on the nominations and publications front, and the subsequent limbo. I am pretty sure we should be able to kick things off and keep momentum again from November or December. Though I think it most convenient to start on a fresh slate, in the interests of acknowledging great writing, wins by any especially worthy pieces during the period the Apetacular's publication was paused can be negotiated.

(3) WriteOn! Panellist

Seeing as that advert was on in your faces for quite some time, perhaps some of you might have been wondering about the outcome. I am very pleased to announce that Author_Jerry wrote the best critique and submitted on time, the valuable things required of our panellists. Thank you and congratulations Jerry!

(4) Thank YOU

Last but definitely not least I owe each and every single monkey hanging around the tree in my absence a big thank you for your patience and loyalty to the union, and enthusiasm to see it pick up again. Looking forward to joining you very soon for some kinda banana fight in the tree.

A bientôt!

~Veni-vidi-vici

There is one vacant chair on the WriteOn! Panel that melodramatically cries to be filled. If you are interested in joining Orkhammer007 and I on the panel that selects and comments on the best non-gaming-related blogs nominations once a month by The Apetacular press deadline, now's your opportunity.

To take advantage of unusually slim pickings for this month, we're launching a little writing competition of sorts with the nominations we've got. I decided it would be better to actually see who has the more powerful quill rather than simply give the role to a decent writer I personally know well simply because I've tracked them longer. I have seen glimpses of very good writing among the trees and clever opinions and would like to coax you out of your shells to share such wit for the monkey community.

The winner will earn the position of WriteOn! Panellist, including swanky logo and entrance into the archives of credit for contributing to our Apetaculars.

TO ENTER:

1) Hop on over to the June WriteOn! Nominations thread and READ the three nominated blogs.

2) SELECT the blog you think displays the best writing skills, or a topic choice or opinion well-expressed and worth commenting on.

3) WRITE a few paragraphs of YOUR thoughts on the blog in which you:

*Justify your choice of winner (it's no small call- you permanently give the user our emblem)

*Give your opinion on the topic (you may disagree or agree as raucously as you wish)

4) PM YOUR PIECE to veni-vidi-vici with subject title "WRITEON PANEL ENTRY"

Do your best to STAND OUT from other entries -make us laugh, make us think, be original. You don't have to fit the mould of the comments of panellists so far, just as long the basic criteria are ticked.

Provided its author is able to continue to fulfill their writing responsibility once a month, the best entry will see a monkey bumped up to the table.

Good luck to you!

My last issue as Editor for a while. Congrats to all winners. Enjoy the read!

Heya Monkeys,

*Well normally it's around this time that we produce The Apetacular for your reading/laughing pleasure, but it seems like we're a wee bit behind schedule for this one. So just a little bit of a heads up that there's a delay. Thanks for your patience.

*Also, thank you for inviting new monkeys into our midst, I'm always happy to see the PM that new chimps have moved in. Please make them feel welcome, and if you're new please don't forget to introduce yourselves so I'm not the only one who knows who you are.

*Thanks also to everyone who's been posting really interesting new topics. New branches of discussion are always welcome. Pun quite unintended.

*Finally I'm going to revamp the union banner a bit. Um, okay, a lot.

Some of you might be able to see the new lined paper one up right now, but that's just temporary. Please feel free to object to keep it if you feel so inclined. I feel like the banner looks a little too flat, need something more atmospheric.So I'll be playing around a bit, feel free to drop by and give me your approval/disapproval in the comments section when you see it change so I know what you folk like, seeing as we'll all have to stare at it when we climb up th tree. Your input would be very much appreciated.

Thank you all!

Hi monkeys,

I am stepping down as Leader of the MWSU for a while.

Recently a very dear family member had something of a severe medical complication and for a prolonged and difficult recovery period needs some extra support. Personally what he's going through is affecting me a lot emotionally and I am investing my time to care for and help him.

Unfortunately this on top of maintaining two major scholarships at Medical School means I will be especially time poor from now until November.

Considering this situation think I didn't feel I would able to continue with the responsibilities of leader to the standard I believe the union is for this next while. I take it as my responsibility to ensure these responsibilities are transferred into capable hands while I'm not able to fulfil them.

From working a little with her on The Apetacular I decided ChiliDragon would be the best person for the job, and offered her the task a couple of days ago.

She has been kind enough to accept for the next 6 months (apologies officers, I keep saying 5).

I am not leaving the union at all (which means I can't even be lame and say "I'll be back" in an Austrian accent. An Australian one will have to do). I will remain as active as possible as an officer until the demands lighten up so I can be back in earnest to do what needs to be done. While I'm not able to, I didn't consider it fair for me to occupy the chair (ew, it rhymes).

I'm walking Chili through the production of this upcoming Apetacular and setting up some systems so things should run more or less smoothly anyway. If not I'll still be around to throw coconuts of rage at, though you are certainly tree-shaking under a most capable leader in any case.

So! There's no need to be shocked, and certainly not worried, when the PM pops up in your inbox in a couple of weeks. Good times lie ahead for our good tree. Thank you for supporting me thus far. Be sure to give Chili your full support as she leads the madness. Three cheers for Chili, Huzzah!

In other news:

*Congratulations to the participants of our first union debate. A job well done.

* Don't forget to keep inviting good writers you've seen around!

* The Apetacular is coming...are you ready? *sinister music*

Literally took ages to post and even longer for all featured authors and columnists to write, so enjoy the best of what this month has served up!

Well, as you can see, the promised union directory has been made, to provide a slightly more purposeful as well as aethetically-pleasing homepage. You do not even want to know what kind of insanity, pain and patience was required to make such a piece. In retrospect, I am horrified at my persistence. I had to fight with GS for every freaking pixel. But it's up now, and I am happy. Until I have to edit it.

On the issue of promoting the union, thank you all for your input, I think we'll reconsider the promotion technique. At the moment links in your blogs and signatures, as well as inviting everyone you believe would be a worthy contributor, is all we'll have. However I am putting the union to "applications/invites only" for now, but I'm still listening to your thoughts in the thread/in this comments box.

EDIT: Reopened to all users

A good day to all!

Hey Hey Monkeys.

A big thank you and congrats to everyone for cooperating with union signatures/emblems. Damn, you impress me every time. Add "super-efficient" to the list of things these monkeys can do. So now can you juggle for me too? Pretty please?

Learning the Ropes and a Welcome to our Newest Members
Well I just wanted to give you all a heads up that the Monkey's Guide to the Union is now attached to the Union Rules, and that should clear up any confusion regarding how each of our features functions. If you still have any (sensible) questions though, feel free to send me a PM.

Also a big, screechy welcome to all the lovely folk who recently joined us in the tree. Again, I'd direct you to our aforementioned Union guide, to help you get into the swing of things here. Also, don't forget to introduce yourself!

Signposts coming
Finally, this union homepage will have its look revamped shortly with the addition of a directory to assist with navigation. So watch this space!

ALSO: SOUND OFF HERE, we want your opinion!

Happy chattering to all.

Just a brief reminder to all monkeys of a few things.

(1) Hyperlink your signatures and emblems

Displaying the union signature bar and emblems is an important way to promote the union, but it has come to my attention that many are not hyperlinked, which is just as important. Please remember to do this.

1. In the editing window, highlight the signature/row of emblems.

2. Click on the linked chain icon.

3. Copy and paste the union homepage URL into the "Link URL" box and click insert.

All done!

(2) Invite your friends along

Invite friends who you know would make a thoughtful contribution to our union, or any of the many users who are writing exceptionally well, or who you have seen about leaving thoughtful comments/forum posts. We currently have 54 members and an active forum, but progress is the order of the day and our dream is for high-quality union growth, which is made possible by you!

(3) Our second issue of The Apetacular is coming!

Are you ready! Blog nominations and caption comps are closing soon so get in quick if you still have submissions to make!

Thank you monkeys!

The inaugural issue has been launched!

Dive into the MWSU's Apetacular Magazine, a showcase of the best Gaming and Miscellaneous articles from Gamespot, as selected by our panels.

Thank you for your input Monkeys, February nominations have now closed.

The Panel of Gaming Monkeys has managed to stay still long enough to begin the selection and commentary process in honour of the best games blogs. Speculative hooting and screeching may now commence in the comments section if you so desire, as opposed to in the nominations thread, to avoid clutter for the panellists.

All your nominations have been considered for WriteOn! as well, and the Panel of WriteOn! Monkeys is now determining the one who will take out this coveted prize. Here also, you may screech and hoot in speculation in the comments section, though I draw the line at any Monkey taking bets, except of bananas for our tree stocks them in abundance.

Click on the title for further information.

That's right, MWSU has its own DIY emblem system, which can be found here right now! These emblems are handmade by the leader and are endowed with the full honour in which they are bestowed. Bear them honestly, for your own and everyone else's sake. New emblems will be posted continually, to recognise various achievements and acknowledge community involvement, so keep checking back on the thread!

Our various features have NOW BEEN LAUNCHED, so dash over to the board to submit the contributions you found now!

A visually stunning honour, in addition to the emblem, for the winning entry and author will be revealed shortly. Watch this space.

Our union was formed in a record 14 minutes, purely by coincidence, despite the founders' time differences, so eager are we to start the monkey madness! Congrats to our Charter Monkeys!

Here's (click on the title) a brief update on how things are shaping up, and what you can expect very soon.