- Welcome to Snow Castles.
Recent posts
#31
Random Access / Re: What's the best ice cream?
Last post by Moondog - Sep 21, 2026, 11:47 AMQuote from: James GWhat's the best ice cream?It's gotta be chocolate chip cookie dough, but I'll settle for cookies & cream. Maybe someday somebody will make one that has cookies, chips, and the dough!
#32
Random Access / Re: What's the best ice cream?
Last post by James G. - Sep 21, 2026, 11:21 AMThis highly scientific chart should explain everything you need to know about ice cream vs. sherbet.
As we can clearly see, sherbet is to ice cream what cottage cheese is to yogurt.
Soft serve is, of course, off the chart.
| Creaminess | |||
| Iciness | Ice Cream | Yogurt | Queso |
| Sherbet | Cottage Cheese | Hot Cocoa | |
| Italian Ice | Slushes | Juice |
As we can clearly see, sherbet is to ice cream what cottage cheese is to yogurt.
Soft serve is, of course, off the chart.
#33
Random Access / Re: What's the best ice cream?
Last post by Tester - Sep 21, 2026, 10:51 AMtheir all frozen deserts james... you eat tem w spoons. there is no real difrence. sherbert is more like ur 'ice cream' then softserve is!! if u hav no prob callin softserve ice cream ice cream then there r no reson to sya sherbert isnt.
#34
Random Access / Re: What's the best ice cream?
Last post by James G. - Sep 21, 2026, 10:46 AMSherbet is not actually ice cream. It has much less milk fat, for one thing.
They say the main difference is in the ratio of dairy to other things; ice cream is mostly dairy, while sherbet is more other (fruit juice, or maybe something like flavoured corn syrup, if it's too cheap).
They say the main difference is in the ratio of dairy to other things; ice cream is mostly dairy, while sherbet is more other (fruit juice, or maybe something like flavoured corn syrup, if it's too cheap).
#35
Random Access / Re: What's the best ice cream?
Last post by Tester - Sep 21, 2026, 10:39 AMi disagre james. vanila is rly boring. it is just plain ice cream. tats y evbody ads things to it. like at mcdonalds, they add teh choclate to it.
anyways. lime sherbert is the best! after taht maybe orange, and tehn rasberry.
anyways. lime sherbert is the best! after taht maybe orange, and tehn rasberry.
#36
Random Access / What's the best ice cream?
Last post by James G. - Sep 21, 2026, 08:09 AMI'm fond of vanilla; there is no such thing as 'plain vanilla'. It's a very complex and exotic flavour and is highly underrated! If there could only be one ice cream ever I think that would have to be it, and in fact, many other flavours are just people mixing things in with vanilla anyway.
Since I tend to mix coffee in with ice cream, there's also something to be said for latte flavours where that is effectively pre-done. I saw one the other day that had 'coffee concentrate' listed as one of the ingredients.
Since I tend to mix coffee in with ice cream, there's also something to be said for latte flavours where that is effectively pre-done. I saw one the other day that had 'coffee concentrate' listed as one of the ingredients.
#37
Announcements / Tweaks & Changes (2026-09-20)
Last post by James G. - Sep 20, 2026, 02:29 AMHere's some more updates on what's been going on lately, over the past few days.
Zeroth, we got some new star icons in the other day, to replace the old boxes. The member stars, as I said, are the nicest I've ever done. The staff stars may yet need some work.
First, I added a few new boards. Some of these may have actually gotten in before yesterday, but they're being mentioned now. This includes Random Access, the Game Board, and a number of hidden staff boards.
Second, there's now a new set of community principles and rules, stickied in this board. These may need to be tweaked as we go forward, but I hope it will be good enough to start out with.
Third, I've added a number of modifications which I expect will improve the user experience. Some of the more substantial ones include:
Details: You can now hide text or images in something like spoiler tags. This code can be accessed with the black triangle in the post editor, like so:
Scrolling Buttons: There are a couple of buttons on the bottom-right side of the screen to help with moving up and down the page quickly. My early tests suggest that these may need adjusted, but it's a start.
Staff Page: There's now a link showing everyone who is currently on the staff.
Links: This is intended to help store hyperlinks to other websites. The idea here is that Snow Castles would be something of a 'web portal' and the links would all be to websites that are approved according to Snow Castles standards. Of course, this takes some doing, both to meet the standard and to make sure that the site stays that way, but we will see how it works. I don't think this is publicly usable yet, but it is installed and I hope to fully roll it out soon.
There are also a variety of backend mods intended to help improve site formatting, crack down on bots, or do other things that should not directly impact users' experience. One of those includes a mod to restrict double-posting; members should no longer be able to double-post until about a week has passed. The old rules, which restricted this by fiat, will be updated as soon as is practicable to note that this is now a preset limit, though we will still have a restriction on repeatedly bumping dead topics.
Thanks for reading and for your participation in what we're trying to build here. Feel free to comment on how we're doing in the response thread.
Zeroth, we got some new star icons in the other day, to replace the old boxes. The member stars, as I said, are the nicest I've ever done. The staff stars may yet need some work.
First, I added a few new boards. Some of these may have actually gotten in before yesterday, but they're being mentioned now. This includes Random Access, the Game Board, and a number of hidden staff boards.
Second, there's now a new set of community principles and rules, stickied in this board. These may need to be tweaked as we go forward, but I hope it will be good enough to start out with.
Third, I've added a number of modifications which I expect will improve the user experience. Some of the more substantial ones include:
Details: You can now hide text or images in something like spoiler tags. This code can be accessed with the black triangle in the post editor, like so:
This is not a spoiler Expand...
But it does have hidden text inside!
Staff Page: There's now a link showing everyone who is currently on the staff.
Links: This is intended to help store hyperlinks to other websites. The idea here is that Snow Castles would be something of a 'web portal' and the links would all be to websites that are approved according to Snow Castles standards. Of course, this takes some doing, both to meet the standard and to make sure that the site stays that way, but we will see how it works. I don't think this is publicly usable yet, but it is installed and I hope to fully roll it out soon.
There are also a variety of backend mods intended to help improve site formatting, crack down on bots, or do other things that should not directly impact users' experience. One of those includes a mod to restrict double-posting; members should no longer be able to double-post until about a week has passed. The old rules, which restricted this by fiat, will be updated as soon as is practicable to note that this is now a preset limit, though we will still have a restriction on repeatedly bumping dead topics.
Thanks for reading and for your participation in what we're trying to build here. Feel free to comment on how we're doing in the response thread.
#38
Announcements / Community Conduct
Last post by James G. - Sep 19, 2026, 03:52 PMPrinciples of Conduct
My interest as an administrator isn't preserving users' freedom of speech, but in maintaining a tranquil atmosphere in line with Christian principles. Anything that disturbs my sense of peace, or that I would feel ashamed for any friend or family member to see, aren't in line with that.
This isn't intended to stifle discussion of serious topics (I want those I interact with to feel comfortable opening up), or to judge those who don't 'measure up' to some standard. But I'm not inclined to suffer obscene, profane, hostile, disrespectful, and such like conversation if I don't have to, and it seems reasonable that I shouldn't have to on my own website, which you are visiting.
Someone's attitude and direction are what matters most. A contentious person is not likely to tarry long, but if you are trying to get along and are honestly forgetting, we can work with that.
Rules
These are universal rules that apply in every case, unless they are repealed or altered by the staff. Violations are likely to result in disciplinary procedures.
1. Do not post, upload, or link to anything profane, occult, obscene, rebellious, racist, destructive, indecent, illegal (according to Texas law as of this posting), immodest, hostile, of low character, or anything similar to or reasonably evocative of such behaviour.
2. The staff may apply disciplinary measures, including locking threads, removing posts, and/or giving warnings to users. Do not publicly comment on or discuss disciplinary procedures carried out by the staff. If you are concerned or confused about disciplinary procedures, whether actual or hypothetical, you may privately question the staff.
3. Do not attempt to enforce rules on your own. If you are concerned about the contents of someone's posts, you may privately report them to the staff.
4. We believe in authority and the chain of command. If there is a difference or contradiction between a lower-ranking staff member's post or ruling, and some higher-ranking staff member's post or ruling, the higher ranking staff ruling takes precedence. (This is judged based on their ranks at the time.)
~ ~ ~
Regulations of Use
All regulations of use are subject to modification, alteration, or exceptions, on a case-by-case basis with the staff's permission.
1. If a staff member edits your post, do not change, add to, or remove the sections of the post that they edited.
2. Do not publicly share private messages unless you have the permission of everyone who was involved in the discussion. If you are concerned about the contents of private messages, you may privately report them to the staff.
3. You may edit your posts. However, you may not 'scrub' old posts by removing all of their content or replacing it with something substantially different when it breaks the natural flow of conversation.
4. Do not post LLM-generated text, images, video, or audio, except in staff-created threads that are focused in some way on LLM content or in threads where staff have approved LLM-based entries. In the latter case, you must note that your post included LLM-generated content. This includes but is not limited to output from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Siri AI, and such like. An exception to this policy is that LLMs may be used to translate your words into English or other languages; however, in this case, it is good form to note that the translator was used.
5. Do not register more than one account.
6. Do not 'double post', that is, post another reply to a topic in which you have the last post; you should edit your post instead. The exception is if there is a substantial length of time (e.g. several days) between the two posts.
7. Posts shouldn't include unnecessarily large quantities of images or emoticons (especially if they're not wrapped in spoilers).
* * *
Preset Limits
These include some (though possibly not all) of what members cannot do that they may be able to do on other platforms.
1. You cannot change your name on your own; unrestricted name-changing lends itself to confusion. If you want a name change, submit your request and the reason you want it changed to the staff, who will review and either accept or deny your application.
2. Avatars (profile pictures) may not exceed 70x70 pixels.
3. Signatures may not contain more than 300 characters, and they may not exceed 4 lines in length.
4. Images in signatures may not exceed 40x40 pixels.
These last three are all to reduce distractions from post content.
5. You may not delete your posts. This is to prevent users from posting something in violation of the rules and then removing the evidence before the staff can see it. It also prevents users from waking up on the wrong side of the bed and attempting to destroy all of their prior contributions.
* * *
By consistently following these principles, rules, regulations, it is my hope that the Snow Castles site and forum can be a safe place for anyone to visit. If we amend these rules, I expect there will be a post in the announcements board clarifying what was changed, and possibly why.
Thanks for your attentive consideration.
My interest as an administrator isn't preserving users' freedom of speech, but in maintaining a tranquil atmosphere in line with Christian principles. Anything that disturbs my sense of peace, or that I would feel ashamed for any friend or family member to see, aren't in line with that.
This isn't intended to stifle discussion of serious topics (I want those I interact with to feel comfortable opening up), or to judge those who don't 'measure up' to some standard. But I'm not inclined to suffer obscene, profane, hostile, disrespectful, and such like conversation if I don't have to, and it seems reasonable that I shouldn't have to on my own website, which you are visiting.
Someone's attitude and direction are what matters most. A contentious person is not likely to tarry long, but if you are trying to get along and are honestly forgetting, we can work with that.
Rules
These are universal rules that apply in every case, unless they are repealed or altered by the staff. Violations are likely to result in disciplinary procedures.
1. Do not post, upload, or link to anything profane, occult, obscene, rebellious, racist, destructive, indecent, illegal (according to Texas law as of this posting), immodest, hostile, of low character, or anything similar to or reasonably evocative of such behaviour.
2. The staff may apply disciplinary measures, including locking threads, removing posts, and/or giving warnings to users. Do not publicly comment on or discuss disciplinary procedures carried out by the staff. If you are concerned or confused about disciplinary procedures, whether actual or hypothetical, you may privately question the staff.
3. Do not attempt to enforce rules on your own. If you are concerned about the contents of someone's posts, you may privately report them to the staff.
4. We believe in authority and the chain of command. If there is a difference or contradiction between a lower-ranking staff member's post or ruling, and some higher-ranking staff member's post or ruling, the higher ranking staff ruling takes precedence. (This is judged based on their ranks at the time.)
~ ~ ~
Regulations of Use
All regulations of use are subject to modification, alteration, or exceptions, on a case-by-case basis with the staff's permission.
1. If a staff member edits your post, do not change, add to, or remove the sections of the post that they edited.
2. Do not publicly share private messages unless you have the permission of everyone who was involved in the discussion. If you are concerned about the contents of private messages, you may privately report them to the staff.
3. You may edit your posts. However, you may not 'scrub' old posts by removing all of their content or replacing it with something substantially different when it breaks the natural flow of conversation.
4. Do not post LLM-generated text, images, video, or audio, except in staff-created threads that are focused in some way on LLM content or in threads where staff have approved LLM-based entries. In the latter case, you must note that your post included LLM-generated content. This includes but is not limited to output from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Siri AI, and such like. An exception to this policy is that LLMs may be used to translate your words into English or other languages; however, in this case, it is good form to note that the translator was used.
5. Do not register more than one account.
6. Do not 'double post', that is, post another reply to a topic in which you have the last post; you should edit your post instead. The exception is if there is a substantial length of time (e.g. several days) between the two posts.
7. Posts shouldn't include unnecessarily large quantities of images or emoticons (especially if they're not wrapped in spoilers).
* * *
Preset Limits
These include some (though possibly not all) of what members cannot do that they may be able to do on other platforms.
1. You cannot change your name on your own; unrestricted name-changing lends itself to confusion. If you want a name change, submit your request and the reason you want it changed to the staff, who will review and either accept or deny your application.
2. Avatars (profile pictures) may not exceed 70x70 pixels.
3. Signatures may not contain more than 300 characters, and they may not exceed 4 lines in length.
4. Images in signatures may not exceed 40x40 pixels.
These last three are all to reduce distractions from post content.
5. You may not delete your posts. This is to prevent users from posting something in violation of the rules and then removing the evidence before the staff can see it. It also prevents users from waking up on the wrong side of the bed and attempting to destroy all of their prior contributions.
* * *
By consistently following these principles, rules, regulations, it is my hope that the Snow Castles site and forum can be a safe place for anyone to visit. If we amend these rules, I expect there will be a post in the announcements board clarifying what was changed, and possibly why.
Thanks for your attentive consideration.
#39
Site Discussion / Re: Announcements Reply Thread
Last post by James G. - Sep 19, 2026, 12:40 PMI do like the stars. The staff stars were already above average for my icons, but the member stars are the prettiest I've ever made. Perhaps I'll have to go back and try again to see if I can get something nicer going for the staff. I don't begrudge members beauty but it's disparate.
I admit I'm not sure what you mean with the "post roles", though. I don't *think* I directly tweaked anything graphically like that; in the most recent (undocumented) changes, I added icons, tweaked member and staff powers (not permanently, probably; I'm still not sure what all I want to do there), and added some boards. Because the member stars are smaller than the boxes, that might inadvertently change how the profile looks, but that wasn't a goal.
I admit I'm not sure what you mean with the "post roles", though. I don't *think* I directly tweaked anything graphically like that; in the most recent (undocumented) changes, I added icons, tweaked member and staff powers (not permanently, probably; I'm still not sure what all I want to do there), and added some boards. Because the member stars are smaller than the boxes, that might inadvertently change how the profile looks, but that wasn't a goal.
#40
Site Discussion / Re: Announcements Reply Thread
Last post by Verdauga - Sep 18, 2026, 10:56 AMI like the change to stars instead of boxes, and the downward shift of post-roles.