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If you think you've been swaplifted, and it's been one month or more, you should do two things: 1) Let the swap moderators (cupide430, grrrlennyl, Scylla, Silvertree, twistygirl) know. They have a list tracking reports of swaplifting. Letting the swap moderators know that you have been swaplifted is the only way that they will be added to the master list of reported swaplifts. Even if you leave feedback saying you have been swaplifted, unless you PM the swap moderators, it will not count against them. As a result of people not doing this, there's at least one individual that has reached the three outstanding swap limit that hasn't had their ability to swap taken away because none of the people that left feedback stating they'd been swaplifted have reported it. Please carbon copy the individual in the PM so they know that you have reported their outstanding swap. 2) Leave that person feedback. Be sure to include details in the comments section, such as "We finalized a swap on 10/19 for two catalog bottles. I sent my end on 10/21, and delivery confirmation says it got there on 10/26. I have PM'd them several times to make sure they've sent their side and gotten my bottles, but I haven't heard from them AND according to the message tracker, they haven't even read the message even though they've been to the forum several times since I sent my last message!". Leaving feedback will not only remind the individual again to send their items, but will let the community know that the individual has a long-outstanding swap. If your reported swaplift gets resolved, you need to let the swap moderators know so we can update that individual's record and if you left feedback, you need to edit it to update it.

Just a reminder that this is true even in your blogs.

Bumping because I just audited the feedback to compare the poor feedback/swaplift complaints against our official log, and noticed that several individuals have left feedback indicating that they'd been swaplifted by haven't contacted any of our swap moderators. This means that there are at least three individuals who should not have access to the swap forums, but currently do, and have been active in the last month. The ONLY way to get swaplifters banned from the swaps forum is to make a report to the moderators by PMing them. When we get three swaplift reports, they are GONE until they have made good, and if they get an additional three reports, they are permanently gone. Leaving negative feedback does not get someone added to our log of swaplift reports. When making a swaplift report to the swap moderators, you'll need to include the following information in your PM: who, what kind of transaction (swap/sale/purchase), what was swapped/sold/purchases (both halves, if it was a swap), when it was arranged, when your portion was completed, whether it was international/domestic, documentation (PMs, posts), if you've got it - but not strictly necessary We are starting to go through our old swaplift reports and add them to everyone's user notes as reminders, so that if you have an outstanding swap, you will be aware that it's been reported, so this won't sneak up on you -- not everyone that reports swaplifters to us leaves feedback.

Actually, changed my mind on how to proceed -- I just moved all the affected PMs to a separate table so you can access your older ones and still use the PMs. Anything after now should be good to go. If it was time-dependent, important: re-send.

If you have noticed this thread, the database problems we were experiencing has lead to a catastrophic error with the PMs and some PMs being read by people other than the ones who were supposed to be reading them. That's the bad news. The good news is that I know what happened, when it happened, and how to fix it. The bad news is that there are approximately 650 PMs that need to be manually sorted. This takes time. I have a final in ~30 minutes. I am NOT going to finish this before the final and will NOT be able to start fixing this until approximately 9 PM CST. I anticipate this should be fixed late tonight or early tomorrow, depending on how many PMs I need to renumber. All orphan PMs (PMs whose title / to / from information is here but whose actual PM text is missing) will be deleted and I will notify the original sender in some way.

Just a quick note: Once you click the "Close Topic" button for your swaps, you're done. You don't have to do anything else - your topic has been archived. Do NOT report your swap topics to be closed if you use the "Close Topic" button as it does archive your swap for you.

If you remember during last year's raffle, we moved to a dedicated server. It seemed large and huge at the time - a 3800+ dual core server with 2GB of RAM. A few months ago, we had to upgrade the RAM to 3GB. Not a big deal, we expected we'd need to have more member eventually, and our estimates for the third GB were pretty close to when we actually needed it. As those of you who surf late at night are aware, over the last few months, the forum has been slowing down (and occasionally locking up) during our nightly backup, and we've locked up during the day a few times. The technical support staff at LiquidWeb, our host, recommended that we upgrade the RAM. After considering our options, we ultimately decided to do a major server upgrade. Because Liquidweb is having a large sale on their top-of-the-line machines, and we were willing to do some modifications to our setup (namely, eliminate our RAID set up), it was cheaper to do the upgrade ($5/mo) than to add another stick of RAM ($20/mo). The biggest reason to do this instead of just another stick of RAM is that 4GB maxes out our current server's RAM capabilities. (The extra processing power certainly didn't hurt!) After that, we'd have to build a new server - and the prices wouldn't necessarily be as advantageous then and it could cost as much as $1,200/yr more. Anyway, our new server's still being built by LiquidWeb, and we don't know when exactly it'll be ready for us to start moving things over. It's quite the powerhouse, though: two of Intel's Clovertown processors (which are quad-core, with each core being 1800 MHz), with up to 12GB of RAM. We're only going to have 4GB, though - going to 8GB will cost an extra $100/mo, and going to 12GB would be $200/mo more. If that wasn't enough of a speed bump, we're having them install the php accelerator, and in the coming months, Invision is releasing a new version of the forum that has database improvements, which should also further speed things up.

It was recently updated

This is a forum mod that's related to a forum update! When we come back from our software upgrade, around the 26th, there will be a super cool new feature in the Swap forum, in the form of a little button. This button'll only show up in the Swapping forums, and only in topics that you've started. Clicking it will do three things: Close the topic, so no more entries can be added to it, Archive the topic to the Dead Swaps Cemetery, so it'll no longer be in swaps, and Award you one point for the trouble of closing your swap topic. Once the forum update occurs, you'll no longer need to click the "Report" button and wait for a moderator to archive your topic - you can do it yourself!

Also, for those of you who use the "Swapped With" profile field to track your former swaps and sales, you will want to back that up as well as we're going to be eliminating it.

I love the apothecary bottles for entirely different reasons! First off, they're so freaking durable. I had a fancy bottle - one like F54 came in - once, full of Rose Red 03. And one day, I forgot and left it out on the counter, in the lid of the box (instead of actually IN the box), and when I came home from work that day ... the cats had run into the lid, and the bottle had smashed against the floor. On the flip side, I've dropped the apothecary bottles a few times, and none of them have even cracked. Also, I imagine we've all got quite different tastes as to what's nice and what's tacky, and personally, I'd rather get a plain, durable bottle and be able to easily pour it into a fancy perfume bottle that *I* like. The kinds of bottles that the Lab would be able to provide at the costs they sell the oils at would either be too fragile (like the F54 one) or tacky. But most importantly, as someone who has literally hundreds of bottles ... man, storage is a bitch with these. I can't imagine what storage would be like if I had to deal with irregular shapes/sizes.

When we originally decided to allow decant circles, the rationale was to give people the opportunity to try scents that aren't available as imps before purchasing bottles from the Lab. This thinking does not work for Lunacy oils and other short-term LEs for obvious reasons. Therefore, starting with the next update we will no longer allow decant circles for items coming down in less than six weeks. Individuals who wish to sell or swap decants for any LE (including those that are ineligible for decant circles) are still welcome to do so through the Swaps or For Sale forums after they have received their bottles, within the existing price caps. No pre-purchasing of slots (as permitted with decant circles) are allowed in such instances. We do realize that this decision will come as a disappointment to some, but there are obviously other venues for this type of activity. With our community so closely associated with and supported by the Lab, we have long felt obligated to operate our Swap area in a manner that is most appropriate for such a relationship, rather than attempting to create the optimal secondary market environment. And it is with that sentiment in mind that this decision was made. Additionally, two other items worth mentioning regarding decant circles. Circles that have slots filled before they have been approved will NOT be approved. Even non-BPAL circles must be arranged in the decant forum NOT elsewhere on the forum. We have found a few errant circles that were arranged outside the decant forum and were most unhappy to see them, because they not only break the "no swapping outside the swaps forum" rule, but many of them also broke our decant section rules (for things like the number of circles run at a time or number of bottles in the circle). We thank you all for your understanding on these matters.

Just a reminder: this still applies.

I'm going to preface this with three things: 1) I had one of the turmeric-colored Moxie bombs, and I don't know how much they differ from the normal ones. 2) The bomb's 3-4 months old, if anyone cares. 3) I don't particularly like the scent of Moxie-the-oil. Despite my love for spicy blends, ginger is very much a hit-or-miss oil for me... and Moxie a miss (in part because it was just so strong, I'd smell it for ages). (And as you might guess, #3 directly relates to #2 -- in fact, it's the reason I waited so long to use it.) The scent in the bag was more orange-y than ginger-y. It was a little weaker than when I first got it, but still could be sniffed through the baggie. Once it hit the water, it was gone pretty quickly, fizzing up turmeric and scent. I could smell the moxie coming out of the tub and it didn't make me drain the tub and grab something else (like a particularly nasty smelling non-BPAL bomb did a few weeks ago). As is typical for BPAL's bombs, the water was silky, perfectly scented. There was some residue from the turmeric, but no oil - and nothing's worse than having slick tubs when you're trying to get out of it! My skin's soft and smells lightly orange-y and didn't need lotion. I actually prefer this scent to the oil! Overall, this is a perfect wake me up bomb - something I'd use on particularly early mornings or after a hard day (or week) when I've got plans to go out. I'm planning on buying one or two to have around for those long days of work (and I can see buying them more often once I'm back to working f/t rather than going to school).

In the next month or so, we're planning on doing a small forum upgrade (the one I talked about a few blogs ago). One of the new toys we're going to install is eAccelerator, which is something that really doesn't affect you other than it makes the server go faster - kind of like how you can boil water faster in the microwave than you can over a low burner on the stovetop. Or at least, that's how the theory goes!

I really am not sure if this should go in Guidelines or Forum Mods, because it's both. One of the cool things that IP.Board 2.2 did was create "user notes". Now, these "user notes", as originally implemented, could only be added to the warning log through the Admin Control Panel (or ACP), which is all and good but useless if we want our moderators to use them. So, I wrote a fairly small modification to the warning system (and language and skin caches) so that our moderators could add them through the warning system without actually changing a user's warning level. (Unrelated, while I was there, I also added something so people will always get a notification when a warning is added or removed or a new reminder is added - we'll always be on the same page). This will impact how things are done around here in several ways, and we're still working out what exactly will happen. Right now, it looks like what may happen is this: for most things (duplicate topics, swapping outside the swap area, etc), instead of getting a PM or a warning, the first time will get you a reminder. A second offense will get you a warning. We may or may not take time into consideration (but, of course, will let you know how it ends up), so it could be that if it's been a long time, that second offense will just get a reminder as well. There will still be things that go straight to warning - but these are major offenses like trolling or abusive behavior.

When our price caps first came out, the world of BPAL was different. Most 5mL bottles were $12.50, 10mL bottles were available, there weren't many categories that cost more than $12.50 (just the Tarot Oils), and most LEs were $12.50-$15.00. These days, things are more complicated. Between price changes and new categories and the elimination of 10mLs and the availability of imps for previously unimpable categories, the methodology we used to determine price caps doesn't really work. As a result, we have decided to overhaul how the price caps for imps are calculated, to be consistent with our ideals and to make them significantly simpler. The basic rules of the price caps: 1) The price caps for imps, in general, is the Lab price of the bottle divided by how many imps that can be made from that bottle (5 for 5mL bottles, 10 for 10mL bottles), plus 50c. For example: imps from the general catalog ($15.00 for a 5ml bottle) would be capped at $15.00/5 + $0.50 - or $3.50. Imp-sized decants from Carnaval Diabolique ($20 for a 5ml bottle) would be capped at $20.00/5 + $0.50 - or $4.50. 2) The exception for this is when there are "imp packs" available. The price cap for these will be as follows: The Salon: $5.38 Tarot Oils: $3.33 Sephiroth / Qliphoth: $3.20 The Chakras: $5.32 Panacea: $5.14 3) The price caps for the bottles themselves will be decreasing from Lab price plus $3.00 to Lab price plus $2.50 - items priced at $15 will capped at $17.50, and so forth. 4) The price cap for 5ml decants from 10ml bottles where 5ml bottles are not available (such as the Tarots) are capped at 50% of the price cap for the 10ml bottle. So, the price cap for a 5ml decant of a tarot oil would be ($26.50+$3.00)/2 = $14.75. 5) This applies to oils sold by BPTP as well as BPAL. Since most oils sold by BPTP are sold in sets, the moderating squad will determine how much of the purchase price goes toward each item in the set. You may note that this is a DECREASE for many items. As a result, we are giving you until March 2nd to update your current swap-related posts accordingly. We expect that new swaps will be using our updated price cap table immediately. For your convenience, the updated price cap table has been copied below. Price caps are listed as follows: :: General Catalog (purchased before 8/2/06) :: $12.50 5mL Bottles / $19.50 10 mL Bottle Full bottle: $22 (10 mL) / $15.00 (5mL) Imp: $3.00 [*]$21.50 10mL Bottles (Tarot Sephiroth, Qliphoth) Full bottle: $24.00 (10 mL) / $12.00 (5mL) Imp: $2.65 [*]$23.00 5ml Bottles (The Salon, Panceas) Full bottle: $25.50 (5mL) Imp: $5.10 [*]$25.00 5mL Bottles (The Chakras) Full bottle: $27.50 (5mL) Imp: $5.50 [*]Unreleased Bottles Full bottle: $22 (10 mL) / $15.00 (5mL) Imp: $3.00 :: General Catalog (purchased after 8/2/06) :: $15.00 5mL Bottles / $24.50 10 mL Bottle Full bottle: $27.00 (10 mL) / $17.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.50 [*]$24.00 10mL Bottles (Sephiroth, Qliphoth) Full bottle: $26.50 (10 mL) / $13.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.20 [*]$25.00 5mL Bottles (The Carousel) Full bottle: $27.50 (5mL) Imp: $5.50 [*]$25.50 5mL Bottles (The Salon, Pancea) Full bottle: $28.00 (5mL) The Salon Imp: $5.38 Panacea Imp: $5.14 [*]$26.50 10mL Bottles (Tarot) Full bottle: $29.00 (10 mL) / $14.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.33 [*]$27.50 5mL Bottles (The Chakras) Full bottle: $30.00 (5mL) Imp: $5.32 [*]Unreleased Bottles Full bottle: $28.00 (10 mL) / $17.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.50 :: Discontinued General Catalog :: Because discontinued oils were not affected by the price increase, their prices will not be adjusted. General Catalog (including: Astrological Oils, Planetary Oils not purchased while as LE) Full bottle: $22 (10 mL) / $15.00 (5mL) Imp: $3.00 [*]Single Notes Bottles: $22.50 (5mL) Imp: $4.50 :: Limited Editions :: "Forum only" scents are included in this category. Additionally, note that due to our previous price cap structure, LEs that originally sold for $10.50, $12.50, or $13.00 for 5mL bottles or $17.50 or $19.50 for 10mL bottles are priced the same. $10.50 5mL Bottles / $17.50 10 mL Bottles $12.50 5mL Bottles / $19.50 10 mL Bottles $13.00 5mL Bottles Full Bottle: $22.00 (10mL) / $15.00 (5mL) Imp: $3.00 [*]$15.00 5mL Bottles Full bottle: $17.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.50 [*]$16.00 5mL Bottles Full bottle: $18.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.70 [*]$17.50 5mL Bottles Full bottle: $20.00 (5mL) Imp: $4.00 [*]$20.00 5mL Bottles Full bottle: $22.50 (5mL) Imp: $4.50 [*]$25.00 5mL Bottles Full bottle: $27.50 (5mL) Imp: $5.50 [*]$45.00 Formula 54 (F54) Full bottle: $47.50 (10mL) / $23.75 (5mL) Imp: $5.00 [*]5mL bottle Pumpkin Patch 2005 set Full set: $92.50 (5x 5mL) Single bottle: $18.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.70 [*]5mL bottle Pumpkin Patch 2006 set Full set: $90.00 (5x 5mL) Single bottle: $17.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.50 :: Black Phoenix Trading Post :: Items originating from the BPTP should be priced as-sold. This includes lockets, shirts, sets, and so on. La Fee Verte or Hellion Full set: $50.00 (10mL bottle + statue) Statue: $30.00 Bottle: $25.00 (10mL) / $12.50 (5mL) Imp: $3.12 (decant) [*]Naughty or Nice Inquisition Full set: $45.00 (5mL + t-shirt) T-shirt: $25.00 Single bottle: $20.00 (5mL) Imp: $4.50 [*]Trick or Treat Inquisition Full set: $50.00 (5mL + t-shirt) T-shirt: $25.00 Single bottle: $25.00 (5mL) Imp: $5.50 [*]Agony and Ecstasy Inquisition Full set: $45.00 (5mL + t-shirt) T-shirt: $25.00 Single bottle: $20.00 (5mL) Imp: $4.50 :: Twilight Alchemy Lab :: $25.00 5mL Bottles Full bottle: $28.00 (5mL) Imp: $5.50

Try looking at this thread for amber recommendations and this one for egyptian amber recommendations.

It can be really freaking expensive, but keep in mind: you don't have to use what the pattern calls for! Like, the shawl I made last October/November/December actually calls for this yarn that's $25/hank and you need 15-20 hanks. No freaking way, man. I ended up using eBay-purchased Noro (which ended up being $7/hank) - but could have used all sorts of other yarns instead. One of my favorite places to buy yarn? Knitpicks.com - good quality, fairly cheap (their worsted wool is $2/110 yds for the dyed stuff and $3.50/220 yds for undyed). They don't ship to the US, but I'm sure you can find someone to ship it to them and then on to you! So, like, a bathmat? You're talking, goes-in-the-bathroom, gets-wet-and-stuff bathmat? Use the cheapest washable yarn you can find. (My grandfather used to hook rugs using it - it's soft, washable, and super duper cheap.) You may need to do some gauge math - use a bigger/smaller needle, change the number stitches - but really, it's a bathroom mat. Nobody will care that it's a little too big/small except for you True story: I was wearing Lady Eleanor to work one day - they keep the office really freaking cold, like 64 - and one of my coworkers came up and complimented me and asked where I bought it. When she found out I made it, she asked how much I'd charge to make another. I told her that at minimum wage plus material costs, she'd be looking at a good $400-500 and that it'd take me at least three months to do. She blanched and stopped asking me about my knitted things. But the real irony in that is most of what I knit is about a week's worth of work - two or three if I'm being slow and lazy (scarves, mittens, cat toys, and I'm branching into socks as soon as I clear out my current projects). Most of what she saw me in that had been knit, I bought! Most of the east coast doesn't know what cold is. Even up by you - the lows for your area have been about what the *highs* here have been. And that doesn't include windchill or the snoooooooow... Anyway, I haven't seen above-freezing since early January. for me!

ROFLMAO because one of my bestest friends in college is a drag queen, and I remember how much fun he and I had shopping. Hell, he's still one of the first people I call when I wanna go out and spend serious money on clothes ...He also is the one to point out that drag queen stores sell shoes in my size, and I will be forever grateful for that. Do you know how little fun it is to buy shoes when you are FORCED to go by catalog because nobody carries your size?

I actually couldn't smell anything - though my sister could, so I suspect that like TKO, Ugh is just in an olfactory blind spot. None the less, after a hard day of painting preparation (stripping wallpaper, fixing holes, blahblahblah), my back was aching so I gave it a go. The water was the same silky, moisturizing water that I've come to expect from fizzyBooms, and I actually was so relaxed that I fell asleep. By the time I woke up (way post prunedom) and went to bed, I can't say that there was any muscle aches. I'm definitely going to be buying more of these in the future!

Seduction's actually not one of my favorite Panaceas - it's one that so ylang-y that I can only take it in small doses. None the less, I tried it anyway. It's slightly pink, which I found to be cute. The bomb was strongly scented - sandalwood and rose and ylang (but not as much ylang as I'd thought there'd be). I'm a decadent soul and used the whole bomb at once. I find many bath bombs to be slightly drying but this was moisturizing without being overly so. I enjoyed the silky texture of the water. I must have a different type of tub than the ladies who went before me, because I didn't have any issues with the pink trying to stay behind - it went cleanly out. The smell was strong enough that I could lightly smell it sitting up in the tub, but not so strong to be overpowering (like Fantasy Bath's bombs can be). The scent was mostly roses for me, which I enjoyed. My towel lightly smelled of sandalwood for days afterwards, but that's not really a negative, because I enjoy the smell of sandalwood.

Oh see, I love knitting scarfs and shawls. They're long enough that I have to focus, and there's all sorts of interesting patterns (of varying complexities) and yarns out there, and you can make scarfs for all occasions (not just for the cold winter - cute scarves for accents for work or play!). ...but that said, it took me a few times before I found a pattern that was easy enough to do that interested me enough to finish it. My first scarf attempted became a foot long cat toy. My second ended up becoming something that's either a hat or a neckwarmer, depending on how it's worn, because after I put it down for a few months, I couldn't remember where I left off.

White musk is a very light musk... just a soft hint of musky goodness. I love layering with it and love my bottle greatly

Three of the IP.Board mods I'm working on for the new forum version are things that better integrate the censura feedback with the forum. The zero-th thing - something that's not a mod, but a feature of 2.2 - is that we're going to restrict login names to a-z, A-Z, and 0-9. It's unfortunate that we'll need to do that, but censura poops on characters. The first thing - we're going to be adding a "feedback" button to the skins for the swaps forums, or something along those lines. This way, even if someone doesn't post their feedback link, it's immediately available. We've actually got the skin doing this in our test forum, we just need to make buttons! We actually cut this from our additions, because it doesn't work for all the skins (and I mean that in an aesthetics sense, not in a technological sense). The second thing - I'm going to set it up so that feedback pages are created when people register. It's actually mostly done, but we can't test it until we transition the forum to 2.2. The third thing - top secret because I'm not actually sure if it's do-able, but it involves a new way of having the swap feedback in the user profile. (Update: doable, but I don't have the time to do it right now, so it's on the back-burner.)