This plan was actually conveyed months ago, even before christmas last year... but there had ALWAYS been things which creeped in between forcing me to concentrate on something else. Servers that went down, migration of servers, forum security updates and not to mention a lot of hackers/scriptkiddies who are trying to hack into AF constantlly. Even now we sometimes have slowdowns due to these attempts. At least it keeps me sharp....

Anyway. what are the coming changes of AF for this year?

As the old veterans know, every summer AF's popularity gets a growsspurt. That's why almost every year around these times, there were server upgrades.

We've moved from a pentium celeron 1.3gz, to a pentium 4 2.8 Ghz, to a AMD XP 2.4 Ghz, to an Opteron 146 to now a dual opteron 246. In fact a dual opteron 246 and two fileservers.
This year, i can NOT afford an upgrade anymore. Basicly, we're almost at the top of technology chain of single servers. One more step and we're into distributed servers, which will costs me thousands of dollars a month.

So, I'm going to take another road to make it possible for AF to handle the expected load AND also to lay the first basics to the ultimate phase of AF. An AF-network.

As you all have noticed, the "portal", the shop, the download system, the contest-system, all of these sections looks the same. This isn't coincidence. I've programmed them in a way that they all can be standalone sites, but also linked to the forum.
Each subsite will be focussed on one section of the forum (surprise surprise, now you know why the forum was re-organized the way it is now! )

Logged in to the forums, and you're logged in in all those subsites. Basicly the holy grail of all IPB-forum owners, and only AF has it, because I made it personally

Although the subsites are not refined yet, they are already sharing resources and linked to the forums. But most importantly, they are all tweaked for performance to the EXTREME. Some tech-members might have noticed that the news-portal use 0 queries most of the time! A comparable portal (the old one we have) would have needed at least 15 queries

In the course of the coming months more subsites will be made and the existing ones will be refined.

By the end of the year, I'm hoping to have the AF-network complete.

These are in the planning for the coming months:

[Newssection]
The newsportal will be refined. Think of RSS-feeds, integrated commentssystem, easy-upload of pics, print to PDF.

[Entertainment]
*HKADB.net will be extended with several subsites to become the ultimate resource for entertainment. (our crew are now building a lyrics-site already)
*A completely new gallery-module. Emphasis will be laid upon performance, navigation and userfriendlyness. This gallery will be integrated with the forum and maybe hkadb.net too.

[Lifestyle]
A contentsection will be made to give the extra edge on lifestyle topics. This will be what afmag.net was supposed to become. A site where you can read articles on health, beauty, sports, advisories, occult, etc.
The subsection of this site will contain health and fitness tools, like bmi-calculator, recipessystem, training system, weight track system.

[Fun]
The contestsystem gave the clue away already, a hot-or-not section will be made.
Replacing the member's profile, an upgraded version of the af-center member's area will be made. You will be able to create your custom subsite about yourself on AF. Track your buddies, chat, make your profile page like xanga, have your personal gallery, etc.

[Forum]
Of course, new features will be installed in the forum too, but forum stuff will be on a low pit for now.

Of course, these are nice plans, now I still need time to make them reality, and I can only do it in the weekend, but this should keep you excited.

Wow so exciting! can't wait. Hat's off to you Athlon. Thanks again for doing so much improvements. new things all the time.

o.o Thats pretty wicked. so the servers that AF and its subsites run on would be able to support all these new features, personalized pages and all? x.x wow. AF is gonna be hugeee.

*smashy thinks he should donate as soon as he has money.

*smashy would like to ask a question though...
are there any plans for the return of the arcade?

wow sounds cool! af is neeeever gonna stop growing at this rate! thanks athlon - you rock!

with the custom made code, it won't be a problem. The subsites relies extremely on caching.




the arcade would return after i have reviewed every single line of the code. it is one of the most unsecure code available.

*Do®een thinks Athlon is the best programmer and most dedicated forum owner she has ever seen.

It is nice to see that AF will grow to a stage that it is invincible - tin har mou dik (sorry for my poor pinyum)

But will there be summer "break" like previous year?

Can't wait the arcade and the complete af centre (with items for sale) to come back so that no one will complain about the lack of use for AFz.

Wow!!!

*spazgal420 thinks that athlon is a genius and he rocks her socks off!

wow, this sounds really exciting. i'm really looking forward to the lyrics and entertainment subsites.

WOW i LOVE NEW THINGS!!
cant wait for the new update.
AF Is doing better and better each year..EXCITING!!

New stuff!!!!There is always alot of surprises from such a great forum.

*love*knots thinks athlon is a really good admin
*love*knots thinks it could be better if AF quiz will be back again

Athlon,

Thanks a lot for all hard work, and we will always love this forum.............

Damnnn athlon, so pro. Even though I have no idea what half of the stuff means..it just sounds so pro!

wow.. i am impressed by the efforts you put in to make the AF forum a success!! cheers to you, athlon, the AF forum is going to be an even more wonderful network to hang around!!

*purplexx salutes to athlon's ingenuity
*purplexx is a computer idiot

WOW! This sounds awesome! Thank Athlon for all your hard work.

wait soo im confused is the shop open again or what?

**My-Secret-Love* think Athlon has done a great jon with AF..

I don't understand everything, but basically the subsite method will lessen the pressure on server load? It's always nice to see new features though. A forum this big would mean we'll never get bored.

great job with improving AF! it makes us happie!!!!! ^^

im totally amazed on the idea to customize our profile page...it would be like friendster/myspace? cool

*AdrianChan thinks Athlon and AF totally rawks !!

not much of a techie person myself but it certainly sounds awesome! do keep up the great job!

Thanks Athlon for spending so much time into your forum. Keep up the good work and thanks again. Also to those you help you out.

I cant wait 4 the changes.

Good Luck Athlon

oh wow. AF is already marvelous, and with all these added features, AF is seriously going to be the best man!

*lingalicious thinks athlon deserve a huge reward for this(:

Just want to say THANK YOU for everything. Your updates help give a better understanding of what's necessary to keep this great site functioning and constantly improving. Thanks for all the time and hard work.

Thank you athlon for updating Af and spend lots of time in it for us Thank you!!!

Thanx alot athlon! AF is certainly getting better and better!

I'm gonna guess that since I don't know what half of that stuff means, it's uber cool and high-tech and WAY over my head. Way to go athlon.

*cornflake claps for athlon.

=D!!
YAY!!!!

So glad for the new changes!
AF just gets better and better. =)

More changes..WOW!!! This will keep you busy. Thanks for all your work to make this AF site a great success!!!

wow...i'm really impressed! thank-you for taking your time to do this. i enjoy coming to this site a lot.

yea thx and something odd with me that i don't use firefox as a web browser that everytime i go into Af (saved favorite site) it pops up af is being attack and pls download firefox to log on to it and i have to go on asianfanatics.net (i still hate firefox personal reason) and thx and i will keep supporting with donation for paypal (money aint the problem with me)and u want to add high money option.i already post one up but i post 1 here that like make the payment like to 150 to 200 cuz im on a roll to beat pple on donating most money lol(boredom) or u can just add it for me or watever is fine

I think everyone thinks the same but. you are just awsome sirrr

wow! that sounds really cool. i can't wait it is going to be great! thanks athlon

OMG!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!! I dont understand half of the stuff athlon just said, but yeah, sounds really good. haha. Keep up the good work!! AF is the best forum ever!! (never get bored, ever!)

Yeahh

same here...he's a very complex men...

sounds very sliq... nice work

I'm new here so I'm not sure what you're talking about but then, good luck =D

Been a member since last year. The site has improved so much and there is so much more now.
Continue the good work. I do wonder.....are you fulltime working on AF or do you have another daytime job?

o.O i can't wait!! >.<;;

My hats and everything off to you and all of the forum crew! Good job and good luck guys!

im new....tiz site aready seems wonderfull...
if upgrade it summore...it would be fabulous......
thanks!!!!!!!

thanks so much for the improvements to the site.
yup appreciate your efforts to make the site even more fabulous.

I am not new here but my mind is still new. =)
I really enjoyed myself here and able to read news,exciting topic and etcs and even this announcement.
AF and all the members really into it a lot and help to bring the best for us.
Thank you so much.

WOW!!! i really can't wait! GO ATHLON!

WOW!!! i really can't wait! GO ATHLON!

I... think I understand what you're saying... I just skimmed it over... but ok. That's cool.

i cant wait for the arcade and to buy stuffwith afz, i got so much i don't noe wat the heck to use it for and i will continue donating money and i can donat from 150 to 300 a month total up or $400, to support the payment for the server renting and still continue be like that for few more month then(ill be gone forever)

wow xD the plans are coming true at last =)
go athlon

Ah, nice o_0 Everyone knows so much about computers here. ><"

lots of hard work and too much for me to read hahaha