Hey Everyone!
Been a couple weeks since our latest newsletter however we now have some updates and news to announce. First the updates.
Remix Competition Winner
The remix competition is a huge success, and we had a winner. Congrats to [MENTION=1946]DJ Cvince, the winner of the competition. DJ Cvince won a copy of the 2Pacalypse Now original pressing, shipped straight to his door, as well as the chance to have his mix featured in the next site mixtape. He also gets to wear the banner below in his sig. Special shout out to [MENTION=2072]Dj Tricki [MENTION=2476]c-boy for 2nd and 3rd place wins.
Site Speed
As you all know, we moved to our own dedicated server, to give the staff and me more control, better security, and better speeds on the site. While this move greatly increased our speed, there is always room to improve. During the first few weeks on the new server I worked on tweaking settings to get optimum speed. Once that was finished, I had a big task ahead of me. The only thing slowing us down at that point was two things. 1. The lack of what's called CSS Sprites on the site, and 2. some errors in the styles, causing the error log to make entries as people browsed the site. The site had to work double to load the site for each member, and write the error logs. This combined with the increased activity meant the site still wasnt as fast as some sites, like google.
To resolve this, I took it upon my self to fix both problems. Starting on Monday evening of this week, I worked late in the night to tackle each and every error in styles that was being logged, and to develop CSS Sprites. The result as you all should have noticed is a MUCH faster site. I have only completed CSS Sprites for the dark style so far, and will be working on the remaining styles soon, however I have fixed the errors in ALL styles. The result is a more than 60% speed increase on the site.
I hope you all have noticed the speed increase. Rest assured I will keep working to try and make the site even faster.
Shoutbox Upgrade
The shoutbox has been upgraded yet again to the latest pro version. Along with it has come even more new features including:
Private Message: This enables you to send private shouts to members in the shoutbox
Notifications: The option to turn off notifications that show in the shoutbox such as PM's, @ mentions, thread tags, thread quotes etc.
System messages: The option to turn off system notifications such as when an administrator or moderator changes a sticky, or prunes, etc.
Shout Style Override: Allows you to set the shoutbox style you want.
Shout Sounds: Allows you to enable sounds when in the shoutbox (Like instant messenger programs)
Shout Area Location: Allows you to set where the input bar is located. (top, left, right, bottom of the shoutbox)
Shoutbox Size: Set the size of the shoutbox that displays for you. This is good for members who like to talk in the shoutbox alot. You can set the shoutbox as big or small as you want.
Avatars: The ability to display users avatars in the shoutbox
Editor Options: The ability to edit the shoutbox editor to our liking, to include disabling any button you dont use/want.
There are lots more options, check them out by clicking the word Shoutbox in the top middle of the box, then choosing options, or by using the below link.
New Smilies Added
We added a bunch of smileys to the server. Thanks to [MENTION=911]Big G.O.V. for spending the time to download them all and get to me so I could add to the server. For a full list (with pictures) of the smilies, see the below thread.
vBulletin updrade
We upgraded the site to the latest version of vBulletin, once again making us the most update to date and secure 2Pac site on the net. This upgraded version includes a new mobile app identifier on the site. For more information, please see the below thread.
Facebook Integration
Now that we have our own server and better control, more power, and more speed, I have once again enabled facebook integration. This allows you to link your facebook profile with your site account. By doing this you can auto post threads/posts you make here on facebook, and auto post entries on facebook on the site here. There are alot of other features such as single sign on, friend sharing, profile sharing and lots more. Please feel free to link your facebook using the Connect button at the top middle of the page.
New Profile Fields
Added some more profile fields for everyone to update on their profiles. The profile fields are now as follows:
Biography
Location
Interests
Occupation
Favorite Song
Favorite Album
XBox Live Gamertag
Playstation Network ID
Wii Friend Code
Favorite Games
Favorite Movies
Favorite TV Shows
Favorite Books
Favorite Quotes
Favorite Sports
if you have any suggestions for new fields, please feel free to PM me or any mod, or make a thread in Letter to the President
And now for the news/announcement. As you know, the 15th anniversary of Pac's shooting and death are going to be upon us very soon. Over the past year, a few very dedicated and hard working members of this site, both staff and non-staff have been working on something huge. This is, without a doubt, the biggest and best task ever undertaken by anyone or any site on the 2Pac Scene ever, and I promise you will not be disappointed. Alot of you probably already know what it is, but please keep quiet for those who don't. I will announce more details on September 7th, as we count down to the 15th Anniversary of Pac's death on September 13, 2011.
As always, thanks for all the love and support on the site. Hope to see you around in the coming weeks for our big release.
Been a couple weeks since our latest newsletter however we now have some updates and news to announce. First the updates.
Remix Competition Winner
The remix competition is a huge success, and we had a winner. Congrats to [MENTION=1946]DJ Cvince, the winner of the competition. DJ Cvince won a copy of the 2Pacalypse Now original pressing, shipped straight to his door, as well as the chance to have his mix featured in the next site mixtape. He also gets to wear the banner below in his sig. Special shout out to [MENTION=2072]Dj Tricki [MENTION=2476]c-boy for 2nd and 3rd place wins.
Site Speed
As you all know, we moved to our own dedicated server, to give the staff and me more control, better security, and better speeds on the site. While this move greatly increased our speed, there is always room to improve. During the first few weeks on the new server I worked on tweaking settings to get optimum speed. Once that was finished, I had a big task ahead of me. The only thing slowing us down at that point was two things. 1. The lack of what's called CSS Sprites on the site, and 2. some errors in the styles, causing the error log to make entries as people browsed the site. The site had to work double to load the site for each member, and write the error logs. This combined with the increased activity meant the site still wasnt as fast as some sites, like google.
To resolve this, I took it upon my self to fix both problems. Starting on Monday evening of this week, I worked late in the night to tackle each and every error in styles that was being logged, and to develop CSS Sprites. The result as you all should have noticed is a MUCH faster site. I have only completed CSS Sprites for the dark style so far, and will be working on the remaining styles soon, however I have fixed the errors in ALL styles. The result is a more than 60% speed increase on the site.
I hope you all have noticed the speed increase. Rest assured I will keep working to try and make the site even faster.
Shoutbox Upgrade
The shoutbox has been upgraded yet again to the latest pro version. Along with it has come even more new features including:
Private Message: This enables you to send private shouts to members in the shoutbox
Notifications: The option to turn off notifications that show in the shoutbox such as PM's, @ mentions, thread tags, thread quotes etc.
System messages: The option to turn off system notifications such as when an administrator or moderator changes a sticky, or prunes, etc.
Shout Style Override: Allows you to set the shoutbox style you want.
Shout Sounds: Allows you to enable sounds when in the shoutbox (Like instant messenger programs)
Shout Area Location: Allows you to set where the input bar is located. (top, left, right, bottom of the shoutbox)
Shoutbox Size: Set the size of the shoutbox that displays for you. This is good for members who like to talk in the shoutbox alot. You can set the shoutbox as big or small as you want.
Avatars: The ability to display users avatars in the shoutbox
Editor Options: The ability to edit the shoutbox editor to our liking, to include disabling any button you dont use/want.
There are lots more options, check them out by clicking the word Shoutbox in the top middle of the box, then choosing options, or by using the below link.
New Smilies Added
We added a bunch of smileys to the server. Thanks to [MENTION=911]Big G.O.V. for spending the time to download them all and get to me so I could add to the server. For a full list (with pictures) of the smilies, see the below thread.
vBulletin updrade
We upgraded the site to the latest version of vBulletin, once again making us the most update to date and secure 2Pac site on the net. This upgraded version includes a new mobile app identifier on the site. For more information, please see the below thread.
Facebook Integration
Now that we have our own server and better control, more power, and more speed, I have once again enabled facebook integration. This allows you to link your facebook profile with your site account. By doing this you can auto post threads/posts you make here on facebook, and auto post entries on facebook on the site here. There are alot of other features such as single sign on, friend sharing, profile sharing and lots more. Please feel free to link your facebook using the Connect button at the top middle of the page.
New Profile Fields
Added some more profile fields for everyone to update on their profiles. The profile fields are now as follows:
Biography
Location
Interests
Occupation
Favorite Song
Favorite Album
XBox Live Gamertag
Playstation Network ID
Wii Friend Code
Favorite Games
Favorite Movies
Favorite TV Shows
Favorite Books
Favorite Quotes
Favorite Sports
if you have any suggestions for new fields, please feel free to PM me or any mod, or make a thread in Letter to the President
And now for the news/announcement. As you know, the 15th anniversary of Pac's shooting and death are going to be upon us very soon. Over the past year, a few very dedicated and hard working members of this site, both staff and non-staff have been working on something huge. This is, without a doubt, the biggest and best task ever undertaken by anyone or any site on the 2Pac Scene ever, and I promise you will not be disappointed. Alot of you probably already know what it is, but please keep quiet for those who don't. I will announce more details on September 7th, as we count down to the 15th Anniversary of Pac's death on September 13, 2011.
As always, thanks for all the love and support on the site. Hope to see you around in the coming weeks for our big release.
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