So, yes, I think theoretically we can force people to use it!
Only
if they have no knowledge of the phpbber admin panel. If they are already quite computer literate then they have no need to go practice. You've noted Holby was active on the practice board. I know Ro also signed up there, checked it out, and was also a temp Ranger. Neither of them had any reason to go and practice.
As I said, the last Ranger to go practice was Tinwe and he began his Ranger term over 60 days ago. So
there were no upcoming Rangers that should have been practicing over there until this week. As of last week, the board was still there. It seems that this was unfortunate timing.
It's not just the immediately next Rangers who are supposed to practice there - anyone can do that at any time!
Right, and people did that when it was first created. They got to mess around and the novelty wore off. We can't make people go visit it especially if they don't have an upcoming term.
What I meant in my previous post, is that we should've put more stress on the fact that the board exists and is meant to be used by everybody who is interested in serving as Rangers at some point.
Again, I don't agree that we could have done that. No one had an obligation to the experimental board except for me since I created it.
So it's my fault it's gone, because I wasn't aware boards would be deleted if there weren't any posts every 60 days. I am aware of that now and will do my best to prevent deletion from inactivity from happening again.
I apologize for being negligent.