CycloneFanatic reaches 6-month mark - Please read
I just wanted to post about what I feel is a truly remarkable milestone for a sports community website during the sporting off seasons. We have officially hit the 6-month mark here on CycloneFanatic and things are going to get rockin' in no time!
While the past 6-months have been incredibly exciting for Iowa State Athletics and it's fans, the next 6-months are sure to be even better. I know that I speak for a lot of you when I say that I have never been so excited about the future of our programs and am ready for kick-off and tip-off as soon as possible.
It's fitting that one of the slowest news weeks of the past six-months just happens to be the week that we see our traffic grow even more than usual. We typically gain around a thousand additional hits each week on top of the previous week but this week we have already increased 1100 hits and the week is only half over:)
It's been about three months since I last talked about the traffic on the site as well as gone into depth on what I see happening on the site in the near future. I want to keep it a quarterly (+/-) feature to talk about the site and what I see happening not only to the end-users but also in the background.
As all of you know, I have moved the site to a new forum system and had done so without prior announcement over the weekend. I did this for many reasons that I want to talk about real quickly. The main reason is that I felt that I have not been able to introduce improvements and features to the site as quickly as I had anticipated and would have liked. I have promised some great features that not only draw the community together, but also serve as tools for people reaching out and having their voice heard even more.
I feel that I have let myself down by not being able to get some of these features and projects out to production status as soon as I would have liked. Some of the features that I'm talking about include "CyStats" - a homegrown ranking system for recruits, a chat system, document and statistic repository, photo gallery, and many features for the users to be able to see what they want, where they want on the site. The first step that I needed to take to get these new features out was to find a system that was not only stable and secure but also easy to develop for. I have limited resources and time to do coding and database work so I have to be able to get down and dirty with relative ease.
The above reason was the main purpose of this latest and FINAL system change. I found what I have been looking for and you the user will start to reap the benefits soon. One of the first features I have rolled out is a new countdown clock feature that each member can customize and have show in their signature on the forums. I currently have this feature live for moderators and am judging the demands this creates on the server before rolling it out to everybody to utilize. You will notice that some moderators have started using this system to count down to whatever future game or event they want to keep track of. It's a small feature but one that I know many of you will enjoy.
Here are a few more features that I wish to have in place in addition to those listed above; user options to see only specific forums, see their "buddies" site-wide, track topics and threads with ease, share photos of
ISU events/gatherings, create custom calendars of
ISU events, and to create an online store where we will have CycloneFanatic merchandise for sale at a low cost. The merchandise will possibly include shirts, hats, bumper stickers, etc. with all proceeds going solely to maintain the site (prizes and possible ticket giveaways are also in the fold).
With all of the new features planned, I am asking each and every one of you to step up and help keep the number of posts on the forum up and keep people interested in
ISU. I have scaled back the number of posts I create each day in the hopes that people can step up and fill the void. I will get back to regular daily updates on the frontpage as events unfold but I don't want to just post things that I don't feel comfortable in the accuracy of. The worst thing I can do is post things just to be posting. I would not run this site if I felt that people just wanted blabber, I know that you want information, insight, and news.
As far as site traffic goes, we have been incredibly consistent since day one and I do not for see that changing by what I see from the traffic logs. We started the site averaging around 500 unique member visits per day and that has grown to over 1,500 unique members each day with each of those members averaging three separate visits to the site each day. When I say unique members, that means actually unique login ids (people). I have kept the member list clean of 'dead' or abandoned accounts and we currently have 2,500 different members that have visited the site in the past 14 days. Not too shabby for a site run by some crazy fans from the midwest:)
To put things in simple terms, we are the fastest growing website run in the state of Iowa over the past six months (per the three web analysis tools that I utilize and trust). We are growing rapidly but we are remarkably clean of disparaging remarks and "trolls". We only have one actual banned member and that is truly unheard of for an internet message board community, especially a sports-related forum.
In closing, I want to thank all of you for the continued trust and support you have shown in letting me provide a place for Clones of all backgrounds to come together. The future of
CF and
ISU are incredibly bright but it all depends on each and every one of you to step up in any way possible. We are truly in the best position we have ever been in as Cyclone fanatics and that is something we need to take advantage of. Let us come together and defeat the biggest rival we have ever competed against, complacency. If we just wait for the success to come to us, it will never happen. Jamie Pollard has given us a new path to walk, let's make sure we cause a stampede...
With sincere appreciation for each of you,
Jeremy
Site-Admin
Important Note:
Please, if you can, make a donation to Iowa State University Athletics, as well as CycloneFanatic. There are many great things ahead for both
ISU and
CF but it costs a lot to compete and continue to grow. I encourage you to give money to
ISU whenever possible (I know it's not possible for all) but I also ask in my quarterly updates for donations for the site. The site has grown a lot and with each of those hits is an expense. I hope each of you will be very pleased with the features in development for the site and I think that now that we are on the future platform, you're really going to be very impressed. It hasn't been the easiest transition over the past six months from platform to platform, but we are finally at the level we need to be to get to the feature-set I think you all want.
If you feel that you benefit from this site, please take the time to donate so it can continue to grow and operate. I put everything I have into this site and don't ask for anything in return unless you feel you benefit in some way from being a member here. My goal is to get a new computer sometime soon to help with the development process and that will come out of my pocket, but any donations to help the site are much appreciated to help offset that.
You can make a donation to CycloneFanatic
HERE.
