Hey all!  As the the DNN community has grown and become more involved, we've been seeing some very long discussion threads lately.  Which is friggin' awesome, by the way!  But it makes keeping up with comments tough sometimes.  The answer: comment sorting!

I've enable a new feature on DNN that allows you some control over the way you view the comment threads.  Look for the controls at the very top of each thread.  The system will remember your settings and apply them to all comment threads.  Enjoy! -G

The 3.1 update has already been widely addressed in multiple fora, including Justice's review here on DNN, but the discussion on cutting has clearly been re-opened after the big impact these penalties had during the Western and Eastern regional tournaments.  After boutcasting the majority of those bouts, the letters B, O, and X are nearly worn off my damn keyboard.  I feel like I, too, need to express frustration on the cutting issue. 

The San Diego Reader has this enjoyable post about one fan's discovery of modern derby, what it's all about, and the graphic details of the San Diego Derby Dolls' injury history.  The post can also now be known as one of the few things that makes Bonnie D. Stroir cry.

In response to a couple of comments and a direct request, I've added some new code to the DNN site today that  allows quoting previous comments in your comments.  A useful and common feature that we've been lacking.  Subject lines will also be filled in automatically now in a more intuitive way (though you can still change them to whatever you want).

More proof that we listen!  Keep those suggestions coming and we'll continue to build DNN for your derby pleasure. 

In other news, I've decided to suck it up and go to ALL 3 major WFTDA tournaments this fall.  DNN will be seeking sponsorships to help defray the costs of doing live coverage.  Get in on the ground floor and we'll give you the best bang for your derby-fan-targeted buck!

[EDIT] - We quickly realized that the auto-subject thing, though convenient, led to a lot of very nondescript, non-useful comment subjects in our home page "Discussions" box.  So that's disabled now.  You'll have to type in your own subject.  Be creative!  You can even swear!

For us visual learners, here are some quick, ugly and totally unofficial tournament brackets:

[ wildly incorrect brackets removed ]

Nevermind....  These were based on the much simpler brackets of last year.  I'll try to put new ones together in the next couple days that include all of the consolation / double elimination bouts.

Hi folks!  Most regular readers have probably noticed a new item on the main menu: Boutcasts.  This marks the official launch of the Leadjammer Boutcast service that many of you have enjoyed in the past. 

I've installed a new module on the site tonight and it comes with a great deal of joy, not to mention hard work on the part of many people.  The module provides core integration with the Derbymatic database and provides the improved Recent Scores and Upcoming Bouts listings you can now see on the front page and on the Bouts page.  We will continue to tweak and add to these listings in the coming weeks and months.

And get logged in!

Everyone knows that DNN is the place to go for derby news and that you have to do the free registration thing if you want to join the discussion (or protect your killer derby name), but did you know that there's another incentive?

The DNN site is programmed with a 15 minute cache lifetime for anonymous visitors. This helps the site perform better during busy times, but it also means that you could be waiting up to 15 minutes to see news that your logged-in brethren (sistren?) can already see. Logged-in users see new stories and comments immediately. So why wait?

Are you kidding? Of course there will still be a leadjammer.com. It just won't be a derby news site anymore.

I'm totally stoked about this merger with DNN and Have Derby Will Travel. The three of us have been leaders in the field of derby news for a couple of years now and now we will be unstoppable and thoroughly awesome.

For what it's worth, I'd like to toss in my 2¢ about the MVP awards at the National Tournament. X and Miss Fortune are both awesome and certainly deserving. But I just didn't like the way the MVP had to be chosen from the final bout.