Welcome, students, parents, directors, and fans to the 2009 season!!
Welcome to ILMarching.com. For those of you that do not know me, my name is Dan Balash, and I am one of 2 new administrators of Illinois Marching Online. Mark Overholt (trumpetking5) and I took over last December from ILmarching, who we owe a debt of gratitude to for building this site to what it has become.
We have been gearing up for the 2009 season, and we hope you all have as well. A lot has been going on here at ILMarching during the off season including a complete redesign of the site (thanks to Mark and Nick Fouts), and a new logo (thanks to Chris Klaus).
We have not had an update in a while and we thought we would share with everyone what has been going on, the rules around here, and some new things we will be doing throughout the season.
First, the rules of the site:
1.) If you have fewer than 5 posts, you CANNOT POST A NEW TOPIC. This prevents us from being flooded by spammers. There are exceptions made on a case-by-case basis. If you’re really wanting to contribute something, there’s probably a topic on it anyway. Try looking in the Contests/Scores or the General forums. Otherwise, just talk about the existing topics. If you’re a serious poster, it won’t take long to make substantiative 5 posts.
2.) We reserve the right to delete your posts, or delete everything you’ve said and replace it with something we want to say. If you want to be sure you’re safe, PM an admin or a moderator before you post.
3.) You are not anonymous on this forum. We have every single poster’s e-mail address and IP address(es). With under 5 minutes of work, we can locate who you are and where you have posted from, usually within a couple of city blocks. If you wouldn’t say it in front of your own band director, you probably shouldn’t say it at all.
4.) Band directors get special treatment on these forums. If you’re a band director and you have any sort of feedback/concerns, e-mail me directly. I strongly prefer that you e-mail from your school account, so that I can be sure you are who you say you are. In addition, if you are an educator and you post on the message boards, please PM me or email me so I can change your account status.
For all the rules, visit the Message Board Guidelines at http://s8.zetaboards.com/ilmarching/boardrules/
Now, we’re done with the rules. On to the fun stuff of marching band:
1.) Each bands’ page has been updated to include their show title for the 2009 season. Do you know if your band has their repertoire listed for this year? Check ilmarching.com/bands_check.php to find out. If your band is in red, you do not have a 2009 show listed with us. PM Mark or I, email one of us, or just post it on the forums.
2.) We have a lot happening this season. We are going to be doing predictions for most (if not all) shows in Illinois this season just like last year. Those will be posted on Wednesday each week.
3.) We also have a new feature this season. Directors from across the state have graciously allowed us to ask them questions about their show, how they run rehearsals, among other things. Those will run on Tuesday and Thursday each week, from the first week of competition, all the way to the Thursday prior to ISU. More information will be forthcoming on this exciting new feature, including a schedule of what bands are doing it. Also, we are looking for a few more bands to participate in this. Interested? E-mail Dan.
4.) Anyone who writes a review of a show can send those to us, and we will post the reviews. The reviews must be unbiased. We had a few reviews last year if you want a reference.
5.) We will be updating scores for each show as usual. So that means if you have official scores for a show, email them to us. The quicker we have them, the quicker they will be posted on the site. They will also be posted on Twitter and the Facebook Fan Page.
Which brings me to the next point: Illinois Marching Online has entered the frightening world of Web 2.0. We are on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. We will use Twitter to update scores of whatever shows the staff is at, plus news going on around the state. We’ll also use the Facebook Fan Page to update users of scores as well. Tell your friends that use the site to become fans of the Illinois Marching Online page as well!! We’d love to catch Indiana Marching’s Facebook page user-wise. As of this edit (Friday, 7/31 at 10:30), the Indianamarching.com Facebook Fan Page has 1,223 fans.
Here’s the links to each site:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ilmarching
To follow the ilmarching updates on your cell phone, text the following to 40404: Follow ilmarching Note: Standard text messaging rates do apply.
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ilmarching
Facebook Group page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=40992838496
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Illinois-Marching-Online/64742541413?ref=ts
New this year is the CafePress online store, where you can get all of your wares with the Illinois Marching Online logo on it. Great gift for others or yourself. Spot others wearing the same shirt!
CafePress:http://www.cafepress.com/ILMarching
Videos: Last year we introduced our partnership with Quick Draw Films to provide video of Illinois Marching Bands. When it was first introduced, we simply directed you to our YouTube channel, where a few videos have been posted. Over the course of the off-season, we have revamped the video section, and added some more videos from past seasons. That new page is located at: http://ilmarching.com/videos.php, or you can click the Videos link in the menu bar. When you first load the page, you will notice it is similar to a tv channel, where something is always playing. With this, we have the capability to do live feeds from a few shows…and hopefully we will be able to do that. But for all those other times when there isn’t a live feed, you can either watch what is playing, or you can use the On Demand feature of the player. To get there, you can either click the ‘On Demand’ Button at the bottom, or the ‘Menu’ button on the right of the player. There you can select the show, and then the band that you want to watch. We hope everyone enjoys this new section!
Finally, we have one more new item this year. Illinois Marching Online has always been a free site for its’ users. Keep in mind, however, the people that run this site are volunteers who have donated (and will continue to) hours upon hours of manpower to this site to make it what it is today. We will continue to do everything in our power to improve it even more, including some new features that we will try to roll out this year. Just think-this time last year, the site was nothing like it is now. We have redesigned the site, upgraded the message boards, and added a videos section, just to name a few things.
Everything comes out of pocket for the site-hosting fees, advertising fees, tickets, gas, among other various items. If you like what you see, would you please consider donating with Paypal? There’s also a donation button on each of the main pages. If you do not have a credit card, and still wish to donate, we can work something out. Email Dan to discuss this. We understand times are difficult, and we will definitely appreciate any contribution that you make. In addition, as our way of saying “thank you,” we will have different levels of contribution, where the staff will give different items to thank you for donating to us. We still have to work this issue out, but we promise you will be thanked properly. You will also be publicly thanked on the site as well.
Well everyone, again, we are glad you are here. Stay tuned throughout the season for the latest scores and reviews and good luck to all of the bands in Illinois. We at Illinois Marching Online hope everyone has a fun, safe, and successful season.
-The Illinois Marching Online Staff
Staff emails:
Dan: balash@ilmarching.com
Mark: moverholt@ilmarching.com
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