Those of you who have logged in to the BLUF site in the last 24 hours will hopefully have noticed the request on the first page you see to set your preferences.

This is part of the changes that are going on behind the scenes to make BLUF more friendly to people who don't speak English and to provide new services to members.

If you don't click the link when you log in, you can do it via the Member Preferences link near the top of the members' home page, or the preferences link at the bottom of every page.

You have to give us a security phrase - which can be anything you like, as long as you'll remember it. This helps us make sure people can't do things like pretend to be you and ask for your email address to be changed. As BLUF gets bigger, I think we need to make sure we have systems like that in place, before any problems, rather than waiting for them to crop up.

On the preferences screen itself, you can select your preferred language, and also say which information you want to receive by email. 'This week on BLUF' will be a weekly summary email, as mentioned in my plans, and will be ticked by default. So too will the option for party information in your country and, if your country is in one of the other options, that one will be too.

So, people in Ireland, for example, will have the boxes for Ireland and UK & Ireland ticked. People in the US or Canada will have those options ticked. You can untick all the boxes if you like, or tick all of them - entirely up to you.

If you change the email address on your profile, you will now be sent an email, and you'll have to click the link to activate the address. You'll see a warning if four or more email messages from BLUF to you have been rejected, and we'll stop sending messages until you verify your address again.

There are some translations on the profile display and update pages, though it's not finished yet, as well as the preferences page itself. More pages will be translated over time.

We've also added some rules to the allocation of numbers, mostly to stop me having to keep notes on bits of paper. Now, when someone leaves, the reason is recorded. When we add a new member, they'll get the lowest available number.

A number will become available after 60 days for most people who are removed, and after 180 if the member is marked as deceased when they're removed.

Nigel

Following a couple of comments to me in private, I thought I'd just clarify the statement I made about re-using numbers of former members who have left or died.

Firstly, this isn't a new thing - it's been done before, and I'm merely carrying on. If you look around, and know someone has died or left BLUF, you'll see that their number may already have been re-used.

What's different is that I have now set a specific time frame that must elapse before a number is reused. I think it's actually going to mean numbers don't get reused for much longer than in the past.

As for the whole question of re-using numbers, I know there are periodic complaints "X has only just joined, and he's got a lower number than me.", "I've been a BLUF member for years, why can't I have a low number."

I think it's important to remember, BLUF is for people who are serious about their leather. it's not for people who are fanatical about collecting cruises on Recon to get to the top of a list, or 'friends' that they've never met on Facebook. And I don't actually believe anyone who thinks about it for a moment would imagine someone is a "better" or "more real" leatherman because they have a lower BLUF number.

If it's important to you to judge someone by how long they've been a BLUF member, you'll see when they joined in small grey letters on their profile; but you won't be able to work it out by their number.

Nigel.

I'm surprised to read that some BLUF members have complained about their membership number not being low - or rather, new members being given a lower number than an existing member and causing an older member to complain! How petty is that???
I have been a member for a few years now and I am more than happy with my membership number (1397) but that could be because it is easy to remember. A different membership number has never crossed my mind and I would be saddened to have to give my one up...
While I'm writing, I would take this opportunity to praise Nigel on the excellent work he is doing and from various streams I have read, the support he has been given by other members, like BRIGHTONBOSS! Well done to everyone involved - BLUF is definitely growing from strength to strength.