It’s competition time again! We challenge you to be the first member to increase your post count by one thousand posts! You can find the full list of prizes, as well as the terms and conditions, here. Prizes include a custom rank, a custom banner set, and a place in our soon-to-be-released Hall of Fame!

We also want you to help us out by voting for our next style. You have a choice between Ice, a light blue style; Wildfire, an orange and black style, and Rainy Day, a dark blue and grey style. You can check out the voting for it here, but you’d better get voting as you only have until the 24th to vote!

So what you waiting for? Go check out the links above today!

It's time for another set of celebrations here at Artificial Sweetener, but we won't be going quite as overboard as we did for Christmas. For Valentine's Day, we now have J'Adore as our default style and a new section called Heart-Shaped Box for discussing all forms of relationships, not just romantic ones. We will also be giving you the opportunity to send Valentine's Day cards closer to the day!

Would you like your very own piece of Artificial Sweetener, so that even when you're away from here you can still drink from your AS mug, show off your AS keyring or wear your AS necklace? Of course you would! And not only that, but each purchase from the store contributes towards the running costs of the site!

New products are being added constantly, so keep an eye on it. You can find the link to it at the bottom of the page about the chatbox, or check it our now by clicking here!

Ladies, gentlemen and mischievous dogs named after medieval wizards, we have won an award!

The staff over at phpBB Communities said about our lovely home:

"Great content, the layout, ease of navigation the colors and draw of Artificial Sweetener did it for me. I simply enjoyed the surf experience of Artificial Sweetener. Balanced site regarding the style and colors all coherent with the theme. The staff team looks awesome, the first look is what could make people register to the site."

You have no idea how proud I am right now. It took me about ten minutes to write three sentences about the site because I didn't know how to explain the site in just a few lines. Thank you guys SO MUCH for making this place such an awesome forum to be a part of.

Cookies all round!

Yes that is right, it is time to say goodbye to our Christmas & New Years celebrations. Our Let It Snow style is no longer, Santa's Grotto has been packed away, & the arcade no longer has a Christmas section in it (but some of the games have stayed, it's up to you to find out which & where they are living now).

A few things have happened around the site since I was last able to update, so here is a list of some of the things you may have missed if you haven't visited us in a while!

• We celebrated the birthdays of both Anno & Melia
• We celebrated both Christmas & the New Year
• The Games Room board was merged with the Cyber Cafe board
• We had some minor changes in the arrangement of the site
• The Advice Column was given a new look, along with some rearranging, & we brought to you the Surgery board
• We introduced a new style, called Amazon
• The site was updated to the latest version of phpBB3 - 3.0.10
• We (Melia) named our reindeer
• Our mystery was solved
• A Gallery Updates Thread was started

All that is left now is our sad goodbye to our Christmas celebrations. On the behalf of all the staff I hope everyone had a good & safe Christmas, & has a wonderful New Year!

As previously announced we have commenced our Christmas Celebrations at Artificial Sweetener. Here is a list of current activities you can participate in around the site!

• Santa's Grotto - a special board for all things Christmas related! Including games, stories, and other surprises!
• Secret Santa - sign-up ends December 5th.
• Candy Cane Gifts - where you can give a virtual candy cane to any member or staff member of the site.
• Name Our Reindeer - the staff discovered a reindeer hanging around, & it's up to you to name it.
• Build a Gingerbread House - here you get to decorate your very own gingerbread house, but I wouldn't suggest you then eat it.
• Trimming the Tree - a game where you pick a number & then have to complete a task that goes with it.
• The Fireplace - where you get to make your very own Christmas stocking & the members will fill it up with all sorts of goodies for you to enjoy!
• Artificial Sweetener Heights - our very own Christmas mystery where it is up to the members to solve who is taking missing staff members, & where they could be disappearing to.
• We also have a Christmas Style called 'Let It Snow'

Christmas here at Artificial Sweetener has begun! We have our new style, Let It Snow, as well as some new rank colours. Then we also have Santa’s Grotto where you can discuss all things Christmas-related, & it is also where all of our other celebrations (such as the Secret Santa, Artificial Sweetener’s very own Christmas Mystery, Christmas Stockings, & more coming soon), will be held.

Sorry for the lack of updates, the two staff members updating this have both been away and without internet access recently, making it a little hard to update sadly lol.

Here are some new things you should go check out at Artificial Sweetener!

• We now have a separate forum purely for the sharing of news articles, called the Newsroom.
• The Posting Contest results have been announced
• The Advice Bureau has been moved to the Soapbox and renamed the Advice Column and Compliment City has been moved to the Speakeasy.
• We have a new style called Artodia: Air Green which is a lighter style than 1BlackOut, which might not be staying much longer.
• We have a cool new text effect where you can add a shadow to your text.
• The gallery is going through a few changes. New shows and pictures are being added, along with a film section. If there are any shows/films that you would like adding, now is your chance to speak up. 
• New games have been added to the arcade. See our Arcade Game List for full game list.