And now some sugar for your sour grapes!

Well... now that our season bit of silliness is behind us, I think we've learned something... next year, the moderators and admin have to come up with a new ruse that isn't as transparent as this one. Well, at least we have a whole year.

In the mean time, I have an exciting announcement that will effect everyone.

ATS 2.0 is in the works!

For the past month, Bob88, Simon, and myself have been tossing around ideas on how to improve ATS. Well, the biggest and most important idea is happening right now, an upgrade to a much improved infrastructure.

If all goes well, AboveTopSecret.com will be moved to a dedicated server before the end of the month. For those who care about details, the new machine is; Pentium 4 2GHz, 1 Gig RAM, 7200 RPM hard drive, RedHat 7.3, the new host's network features 4 OC3 backbones and emergency generators. This is a serious new machine, on a serious new network that will be able to support the growth of ATS.

To put it more simply, the bandwidth and performance issues will very soon be a thing of the past!

Now... as happens with all things of this nature, there will be speed bumps. So as we transition to the new server and chase the bugs out of any new software, we hope you'll be patient as we work things out.

As Simon, Bob88, and myself complete important steps in the conversion process, we'll keep you updated.

Sounds like a really nice machine you guys are getting. I am wondering, why would someone pay to have this site up and running and then go out and buy a top-of-the-line computer.

In my world, I don't spend money on something that isn't going to make me money or give me information.

So, I'll ask one simple question. Is ATS getting paid off to provide gov't officials info on members and getting paid with cash and a new CPU. Or am I just being paranoid cause of the war and the fact that:

1. ATS will have a new program, what's wrong with this one?

2. ATS will have a new, powerful CPU.

3. The attitudes of the mods and admins has changed since I first came here (kind of like they're involved in a civil war)

I guess I just don't understand why ATS would upgrade equipment and programming during a war, in a recession, and without making any money.

Anyone care to explain?

ATS will be hosted on a different server, that's all...
Maybe, MAYBE the webste itself will be changed a bit, but i can assure you, this forum wont be killed, thats no joke...

I believe the server belongs to william himself.
They are gonna put up a banner advertising program to get some money for the server and other stuff.

And no, we are not funded by the gov't.

ps you can always donate something via the pay pal thingy on the main page


William has more info about all this.

Yup...

Another thing a lot of members don't know is that I have a pretty long history of experience in Internet advertising/marketing.

We'll be working on a program of banner advertising that is non-intrusive and doesn't disrupt the community, while still providing at least enough income to pay for the hosting, and hopefully a little change left over for Simon.

Sure the economy sucks, but some sectors don't suck too bad. We're in a slow period for online/Internet concepts and ventures, but it is brief as the second wave of big growth is less than two years away. You heard it here first.

Originally posted by William
For those who care about details, the new machine is; Pentium 4 2GHz, 1 Gig RAM, 7200 RPM hard drive, RedHat 7.3, the new host's network features 4 OC3 backbones and emergency generators.

A Pentium4 2 Ghz ? Booooooo.....

It can't beat my new AMD 2.7 Ghz !

Just kidding. I'm really happy.That's a very good new for all of us !

Ahem... is your AMD running... um... ah... WindoZe by any chance?

RedHat 7.3 screams on a P4!

The forums will be turbocharged.

Originally posted by William
Ahem... is your AMD running... um... ah... WindoZe by any chance?

What's the problem with AMD and WindoZe ?

well...windows...no comment, but AMD rocks. And William, why not a newer version of RH? I have to admit, my RH screams as well on my AMD

4 OC3 lines....Grommer drools all over himself....

sounds like it's gonna be a much better setup.

speaking of processors, I just upgraded today as well!! from a 1.2 AMD Athlon, to a 1.8...not too shabby.

[Edited on 1-4-2003 by Grommer]

But William: will we have new mouse-mats and are you going to start paying the electricity bills?
Seriously: a splendid suite of upgrades: how is the "filter anything and everything connected with Tyler" module on the firewall going?

Grommer and other Linuxites...

The machine is not "mine" but a dedicated server package. Thus, I'm limited to the service-plan offerings of a packaged management application. I had some AMD options to choose from, but the available AMD boxes and software combinations weren't as overall rock-solid as the machine we're ending up with.

Estragon...

Yes, unfortunately, everyone will need to upgrade their mousepads in order to use the new ATS 2.0 discussion forum. Upgrade instructions will be available five days before the new forum launchs.

And the Tyler filter is going nicely. However, an executive decision was made not to prevent Tyler from posting, but to automatically convert each post of his to contemporary non-explicit homosexual poetry. We felt this best reflected a sound strategy at dealing with Mr. Tyler.

I'm sure we'll all bend over backwards to help you with the filter, William.

William:

In the new world order of ATS Will ATS be able to host avatars?

Possibly.

I'm looking at allowing file upload capabilities for members beyond a certain level... for example, three stars.

In the end, it's up to Simon what features he would like on his new site.

Here is a thought: for those beyond a certain status, or possibly by a subscription type of thing, maybe get a few megs to store/host pics, documents, ect, sort of a personalized ATS web page?

Just a thought

good to know william that even though you stepped down as admin ur still doin a great job, not to say that bob88 and simon aren;t doing great to

go mods/admins *whoot*

Thanks guys!

noticed the 2.0 upgrade announcement i can;t wait to see the new forum up and going

Originally posted by f16falcon
noticed the 2.0 upgrade announcement i can;t wait to see the new forum up and going

Yeah, I saw it too, seems someone is still stuck in 2002 ! William, is that you?

On a more serious note, thanks for the upgrade and all the hard work and dedication you guys put into the site!!