MeetFighters News

Dear AllFighters,

Yesterday I have moved the site to a new server, hopefully one that will prove faster in those busy hours than the one before. In peek hours, the site typically serves a few hundred pages per minute; and I estimate that the new server will be able to keep up with the present rate of growth for a while.

Unfortunately big changes have a tendency to cause problems. Last night, the automatic update mechanism (the one responsible for security updates) decided to update a software package that I have patched myself for this site. Unfortunately this undid the patch by overwriting it with a newer version! This has caused all kinds of hell breaking loose!

I would like to thank everyone for reporting these problems! I could fix them all very quickly, but your feedback has been useful.

So, the new server seems to be serving pages much quicker. It is the nature of things that the associated monthly costs are higher. If you are happy with the page and can spare the money, please donate! (The site's existence is not at risk if you don't so there's no pressure, I'm just looking to share the costs and motivation.)

Other changes since the news/2012-03-04 March site update:

• There is a new calendar feature available to all users.
• The Help & Support page now shows previous help requests by the same users, providing some context. Also, all supporters can now see the escalated entries.
• Added "Translate" buttons to all comment streams.
• Added an "Unread messages" and "Unreplied messages" views to the messages page.
• Fixed a bug that caused the gallery tab not to display on mobile browsers.
• Date selection on various pages has been improved (with a new date picker widget).
• Fight Venues now show map and location information.
• I can now delete superfluous Fight Venues.
• The "Search" form in the lefthand column looks nicer.
• Lots of small bugfixes and enhancements.

Looks like I've been busy there :)

Dear members,

I have changed the Fight Venues page this week. It is now a bit more wiki-like: any member with three or more past opponents can go and edit the pages there. Hopefully this will provide more up-to-date information, turning this neglected part of the site into something useful.

Also, you can now submit private fight spaces and I added some more facilities (e.g. sauna and massage).

In other news, I am working on a calendar feature. It's coming along nicely.

Smaller changes since the last site news include:

• Translation updates. Members of the translation team will start getting special medals, just like the site supporters. (See green medal on right!)
• A cleaner Bugs and Suggestions page.
• Match Requests now show the date of modification.
• Messages now show links to the messages that this message is in reply to.
• The left column of the site has been reordered to show "Your account" more prominently.
• Miscellaneous fixes.

Hi everyone,

I would like to start with a big thank you to all the people who have helped me run this site. I'm thinking about the guys who have helped translate and are active on the Help and Support page. It takes a big burden off my shoulders and frees me up to improve the site!

So, starting this month, the top 5 supporters get a special medal on their profiles. It looks like a red gem with the AllFighters pictogram on it. (I will also be giving something similar to the localization team soon.) In addition to looking cool, the supporter medal grants all the little perks that donating members get.

Want to become a site supporter? If you are black or brown belt photo moderator, have at least 3 recommendation and willing to help the site, apply with management! :)

In other news:

• I have completed a big performance tuning on the site. It should be considerably snappier in those peak hours.
• E-mail notifications of messages are now limited to at most 1/hour.
• I started purging users who haven't logged in in over a year. This involves deleting their blogs, their profile data and other residuals. The end effect, in addition to freeing up some system resources is that these old profile names are again available and someone else can register them.
• Redesigned the Administration page, grouping all the options in three broad categories. This should make it a bit easier to find what you need. I also removed all these links from the "main" pages in the interest of cleaning up the interface a bit.
• I have split the list on the photo management page into four tabs (profile, private, gallery and unmoderated) to make it the interface a bit easier to understand. I also moved the photo upload form to a separate page.
• Fixed a bug that occasionally caused the unread message count to become negative.
• Lots of behind-the-scenes changes.

On a brighter note, there is a new site feature, called the Match Request. Enjoy! :)

Dear members,

Unfortunately I bring you sad news for the otherwise happy new year. Last month, one of our members has died in a fight, apparently one that he has arranged on this site. The news reports that I have read are a bit sparse (and sometimes downright wrong) on details, and a police investigation is ongoing, so I am not in a position to go into details.

This really made me think hard about safety, and what I could have done to prevent a tragedy like this. Now the deceased was an experienced fighter, who has been practicing various combat sports and MMA since childhood. He knew and loved fighting better than most of us. There's little advice or warning that I could have given him that would be of use. I also realize that this site has facilitated lots and LOTS of matches, none of which have ended in tragedy during the three-year existence of the site, until now.

Still, I have a feeling that I had an indirect role to play here, and so, I'm thinking about what I can do to promote safe fighting. As usual, any tips are welcome. Let's try to deal with this constructively, without over- or underplaying the issue or scaremongering. This is both an isolated incident and a wakeup call.

Site updates follow:

• The Chat system has been upgraded; it now supports international letters better. It also has a webcam feature! (Flash only.)
• You can re-activate your e-mail address by requesting a new activation code. This is useful if your e-mail address was bouncing and the system deactivated it.
• A bunch of small, behind-the-scenes fixes.

On an unrelated note, Happy New Year!