Important Site News!

Hello dear members!

For financial reasons and because the place hasn't seen a major update since 2004 I am in the process of updating our beloved site.

The first important change to note will be a move from our current host to a new host at the beginning of August 2010.

Our current hosts have been great but business is business and I want more bang for my buck (with exceptionally less buck!) so that I can do more things with the site, things that have in part not been possible because of our current host.

So stick it in your diary,

SITE WILL BE CLOSED AS OF 1 AUGUST 2010 FOR UP TO 7 DAYS.

Now some of you may be wondering why a downtime of 7 days? Well one reason is that apart from wanting to make sure the site transfers correctly and any loose ends are tied up, shot and dropped in the ocean I am also in the process of completely changing Gatchamania.net as well.

I am writing a completely custom forum and site for Gatchamania.net. Our current forums are seriously out of date and were originally written for PHP4, the upgrade to PHP5 saw some of the functionality break and the site is technically a mish-mash of hacks and add ons that never supported each other or the original software.

So I have been developing this new site on and off for over a period of 6 months and would like to push ahead with the update.

It is my intention therefore to replace the forums with this new software which will initially lack many of the features we currently have, allowing you to make only the most common actions on a forum (read, post etc).

Now before you start to worry the reason for this is because I want to involve you guys in the development process.

There are an awful lot of features on the current site which are never used or don't work in the ways which you guys would like them to work (the Fic Library for one!) so I want to involve you in helping me to build this site up piece by piece until we have exactly what we want.

Additionally I want to make the site more secure, user friendly and I want to take advantage of newer technology to offer you more.

So get ready for some BIG changes peeps, the change is a coming!

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Thanks Cep

Gatchamania.net Administrator

Wow, Cep! That is really exciting news! Although I'm sure I'll be suffering from withdrawal during that week, it will be wonderful to see the new changes.

Bless you for all of the hard work and financing that you put into this place! I believe it has become the #1 Gatchaman site because of you! You've made a lot of fans very happy!

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

Hear hear to all that's been said, Cep!

We don't say it often enough - but all your hard work, the bucks you spend on us - is all very much appreciated!

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Exaggeration misleads the credulous and offends the perceptive. ~Eliza Cook

Cep ... you're killing me, dude ...A whole week?!?!

How will I survive? HOW!!

LOL!

Groovy on updating, though. I am looking forward to seeing the new format and your new ideas. It'll be totally worth the wait...

Just make sure we all know how to find the site when you switch it on over.

If there's anything I can do to help out, just LMK ...

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Sighhh

Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.

Hey, Cep, I hope all goes well! Look forward to seeing the new look.

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Perspective Alters Reality

Are we still going to be able to edit posts if we see spelling errors and stuff?

Are the Gatchamaniac/OOC/Sidebar posts going to be in their own section/board?

Green, are you still copying and pasting the IF?

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Candi

Hollywood is a land of money and cowardice.

-Henry A. Lee, Cracked.com columnist

I second 'character of the week' thread sections. That way, we can consult them for any reason (research, settling bets/arguments, just for fun, etc).

And a section for James's wonderful information about darn near everything Gatch.

Will older posts be archived in some way? I know we've often come up with interesting trivia and ideas in our discussions.

Although this means a change in position on the 'favorites' bar for Gatchamania. Darn it.

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

Will the web address be exactly the the same? Just making sure.

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Candi

Hollywood is a land of money and cowardice.

-Henry A. Lee, Cracked.com columnist

Assuming the new website is searchable like this one is, I would say the "Let me draw your birdstyle" thread is easily enough found.

As much as I agree it is a great thread, if we were going to list threads we would like to have easy access too, I would have a list before that one. And I am sure others would have differing opinions than mine.

You know the saying, you can't please everyone.

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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

You're right, Cloud.

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Candi

Hollywood is a land of money and cowardice.

-Henry A. Lee, Cracked.com columnist