Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work behind the scenes at TF2's largest trading community? Do you have interest in helping the Steam trading community? Do you have magical powers, extreme good looks, or work well with other members in a team environment?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Outpost Team might be for you! Outpost continues to expand across multiple platforms, and as such we're looking for more staff to handle our ever-increasing load of support tickets sent into us. We have recently rebuilt our application process from the ground up, which will allow us to get to know applicants a little bit better so we can make more informed decisions about who we pick for staff.

If you'd like to learn about our Application process, including our requirements and application forum, head to our Staff Applications sub-forum on our Steam group: http://gtm.you1.cn/groups/tf2outpost/discussions/1/ - by reading the stickied topics you can find out exactly what it takes. If after you've read the requirements and think you have what it takes, consider filling out the application.

Tip of the Hats is an annual charity livestream event benefiting One Step Camp, a nonprofit organization that provides children coping with cancer the opportunity to experience childhood and close community at camp.

They will be streaming all weekend and will be accepting donations for charity. We hope you'll all consider participating.

Watch and support here: http://www.twitch.tv/tipofthehats

~ Sneeza

Some of you have already started noticing a few changes we've made, so here's a list of what we've actually done:

• Upgraded search! We've completely re-coded the search system, and upgraded some underlying infrastructure to allow us to do more advanced searches with much faster response times. This should also help reduce load on the database for an overall faster website. We've been having reports of some search results not working properly. If you experience this, post your exact search inputs (including filters) in the Bugs section of the forums.
  
  
• Toggle items and trades. You can now reopen trades with the click of a button! You can also toggle items between deleted and active, so this should help reduce the amount of new trades you'll need to keep re-making.
  
  
• Trade offer links! Valve recently launched the ability for users to send a link that allows users to easily and quickly send a trade offer via Steam Trading. We've implemented this as a setting, and the link will display on your trades.
  
  
• Some smaller stuff. New effect image icons (thanks to Brad Pitt from backpack.tf), the Find modal auto-focuses, the ability to make the header stick at the top of the screen.

We're always looking to add new features or ways to improve, so throw your suggestions at us on the forums! It may take us time to read them all and implement them, but we'll get through them all.

Let us know if you find any bugs. If you're having an issue with the Javascript on the page not loading, then try clearing your cache or doing a hard refresh (Ctrl + F5).

~ Sneeza

http://www.twitch.tv/ablegamers

TF2WH and the AbleGamers charity have teamed up to host a charity livestream to raise money and awareness for AbleGamers, a charity dedicated towards improving the quality of life for children, veterans, or any person with disabilities with the power of video games!

They'll be streaming for another 23 hours or so, and lots of community figures will be stopping by to say 'hi'! Come watch and support a great cause.

~ Sneeza

As mentioned near the end of September, we've been working hard planning and integrating some big new features for you! Here's the list of big stuff:

• Premium rank! Goodbye donations, hello Premium rank! You will soon be able to upgrade your account to Premium on the site directly via BluePay. Premium rank is also on a subscription basis so you'll never have to worry about losing your auto-bump! Unfortunately we won't be able to take items for payment, however, BluePay supports all major credit/debit cards including pre-paid cards that you can purchase at your local shop! We also offer the option of purchasing Premium credit via Paypal, which will give you x months worth of Premium that you can simply re-purchase after it expires.*
  
  
• CS:GO support. With the advent of CS:GO items hitting the Steam economy, Outpost now supports those items as well. Be on the look-out for the official launch of CS:GO Outpost in the coming months!
  
  
• Updated inventory selection. You can now easily switch between which of your game-specific inventories you wish to view via a handy drop-down menu on your backpack page.
  
  
• Easier site navigation! Switching between TF2 Outpost & Dota Outpost got even easier. Just click the arrow next to the Outpost logo to select which Outpost site you want to view. We've also removed that clunky top navigation bar to simplify the site design.
  
  
• Graphical tweaks! We've spent a lot of time tweaking different elements of the site (actually, we've worked our way through every last block of CSS) to help improve readability and the overall feel of the website.

In addition to new features, we've added some new staff members as well so your reports and appeals will be handled faster than ever before. Most reports now are handled within 2-4 hours or less!

* Users that have donated in the past will be given Premium credit worth around 3x what they donated. If you donated less than $10, you'll receive 6 months Premium credit. If you donated $10-$20, you'll receive 12 months and if you donated above $20 then you'll receive 24 months of Premium.

Why transition to this model?
The fact is that once a critical mass is reached, donation perks are just not sustainable. TF2 Outpost reached that size long ago, and this is the best way we have found to continue the website without destroying it. In addition, item trades are very problematic and a legal grey area in terms of income, we can't continue to be taking them in such volumes.

~ Sneeza