As you may have noticed, it has been very quiet from the News Team during the past months. Behind the scenes, we have been busy discussing the situation in the team and ways to move forward. We have tried hard to find viable routes for the team not only to stay afloat, but also to thrive like it has in the past. This has sadly not worked out, and as the general activity on this website continues to decline, so does motivation to keep the team going. We have tried to revive and develop the team by hosting applications several times, but these efforts have unfortunately borne meagre results. Without new members to share the workload and bring in fresh ideas and perspectives, it is no longer possible for the team to function.
With all this in mind, it is with great regret that we now announce that we have come to the difficult decision that it is time to say goodbye to the team. This means disbanding the team completely, ending a long era of collaboration between writers and layouters that has resulted in countless articles about anything and everything. It has been a tough conclusion to come to, so you can rest assured that we have done our utmost to reach a different outcome. Disbanding a team is not something that we take lightly. In this case it is necessary, as all other possibilities have been exhausted. We really wish things could have turned out differently, but we have reached a point where we can no longer keep things going.
Over the years, we have published articles about nearly any topic you can think of, shifting between serious subjects and more lighthearted ones. Some of our most well-known pieces surely include these magazines, in which we month after month have been giving you the latest updates about credit sets, competitions, events and more. We have provided you with entertainment and new additions to your wardrobes with our many puzzles, and you yourselves have in turn given us art pieces, jokes, and user of the month nominations to fill our pages.
In this last magazine, we have been joined by some former members of the team, who have come back to collaborate on a common project one last time. We would like to thank these members – Amren, Era, Libertas – for doing this with us, allowing us to finish off this run on a high note.
Over the years, members have come and gone. They have all, in their own ways, contributed with their amazing writing, layouting, and coding. We would like to thank each and everyone of you, both current and former members, for your hard work and dedication to making this a better team. Without you, this would never have been possible.
As we now reach the end of an era, we would also like to thank all you trusty readers who have been with us throughout this amazing journey. Without your input and contributions, our work would not have been as enjoyable as it has been. So thank you, once again, for being with us all this time. With that, it is time for us to say goodbye.
Yours sincerely,
The News Team
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Throughout the years, we have done multiple different concepts to show off and appreciate the people and teams contributing to making VP a great place to be.
Designer Appreciation (DA)
One of our longest ongoing concepts have been the Designer Appreciation articles, or DA for short. These articles have given us all a chance to get to know the amazing designers on VP better, as well as showcasing the insane progress they have made from their first designs. It has been an honour to do the interviews, and we are very happy that the series have been so well received. You can see the one most recent DA article here, featuring none other than ShadowJess.
Team articles
Another concept we really enjoyed making was our series on all the different VP teams. The goal was to give the users a better view of what happens behind the scenes in the teams. This was done through a mix of informative text and interviews with current team members to get their perspective on how the team works, both with the day-to-day practicalities, how much time the members spend on the work, and other tidbits and information helping those who would apply in the future. You can find the one we did on our own team here.
Monthly Magazine
And finally, last but not least, is our Monthly Magazine! The purpose of the magazine has been to create a place to give out VP-related updates, as well as an opportunity to do something together as a proper team. Therefore, the magazine has always been one of our favourites to do. It is crazy that the first magazine was published in January 2019! So much has happened since, it is absolutely wild!
The content of the magazine has changed throughout the years, depending on necessity and feedback. A few pages have been consistent through all the magazines. These are Competition Updates, Team Updates and VP News that together have covered the general ongoing things on VP. Other than that, it has varied a lot. In the beginning, we had Admin’s Corner where the admin could come with news and updates - over time, this got changed to Editor’s Letter and came a way for us in the team to either sum up the month or talk about specific things. The magazine also used to include a Fun Page where users could send us everything from drawings to jokes that were then showcased. Unfortunately, due to a lack of participation, we had to remove that page. Instead, it has been replaced by various fun minigames made by the talented coders on this team. For some magazines we have also had a fashion page, whose content has been varied but always somehow related to VP (see for example this test to find you NT style icon!).
User of the Month (UOTM)
One concept that has been done in multiple different ways, but most recently as part of the magazine is User Appreciation or User of the Month, UOTM for short. The goal of this segment has been to highlight a user that is active and bringing a positive influence to VP. Some of the featured users have been nominated by friends, and others have been picked by us in the team. Some have given a small interview themselves, and for others we have asked their friends to tell everyone what they appreciate most about the user. Common is the fact that all the UOTMs have done their best to improve VP, either through work in the Teams or by just being a great person.
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Over the years, hundreds of articles have been published by the News Team. Here are some of the writers’ favourites.
This is my favourite article that I made, together with Era who made the beautiful layout. I learned so much when working on that article and did a lot of research. I also really appreciated the debate in the comment section, it is interesting to hear others' opinions.
I really love this article since it was a big collab within the team with both writers and layouters working on it and the main idea was to use our gaming interest to share our excitement about new games that were released during the year.
This is, without a doubt, the article I have had the most fun writing, making it an obvious choice as one of my favourites. And now, three years later, reading this again is such a throwback to a different VP era.
This is one of the articles I have had the most fun writing, while also getting an excuse to dive deep into a topic, so for that reason it is a clear favourite.
I just love the layout on this one, it is so cute and fits the theme perfectly. And what can I say, I love interactive bits!
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