History of Naturist-Corner
During August 2007 Tony found that his favourite naturist forum was less attractive than when he joined the previous year. He admits being partially to blame as he only posted infrequently. Unlike many other people he decided to do something to enhance his on-line naturist interest and thought he could design and run his own site.
After about a month thinking about it he decided to use a YaBB forum. Not only was the price right but it offered excellent help and backup and had the additional advantage of allowing the user to modify all aspects of the site.
A few days more went by and he decided on the name. This was actually important as he needed a name to register. He also purchased a hosting package with the same company his family site was on.
The domain went live during the second week of October 2007 only a few weeks after the idea had first entered Tony's head. He then had the task of downloading the YaBB software He then spent the next two weeks configuring it and uploading it to the domain. The site finally went live much to Tony's relief on 3rd November. This was not the site as we know it. Initially it was kept in maintenance mode. That meant it was not available to the public which gave him the opportunity to learn more, to fiddle and faddle and get it right!
Just as the site was getting ready for release a newer version of YaBB was released. As Tony was a comparative newcomer to the software this caused him major headaches but he struggled though updating the Forum and transferring the posts and settings. There is no doubt that Christmas 2007 in Tony's house must have been a stressful one. During this period he decided the site would be ready for business on 1st January 2008. He invited about 20 people to pre-register. The site had an encouraging start as the site was already listed on a couple of search engines.
Disaster struck on the 14th January when the site crashed as the result of being hacked. It took a week to sort it out and get on line again. Tony has commented that he faced a huge learning curve concerning site security and how thankful he is for the early members who stuck with the site during this first crises.
All went well for the next few months and Tony thought he could relax. The site progressed though a number of upgrades and a steady increase in numbers. Suddenly, about a year after the idea of a new site came to Tony the site faced the second crises.
This crisis started with a glitch which caused the loss of about three days of posts. To compound this the hosting company decided to inform Tony they didn't allow this type of forum software on their server. Tony comments mildly that he was not a happy bunny! That comment is no doubt an understatement, but he did the right thing and went away on holiday. As it was a wet holiday in Wales it gave him time to think and on his return carried out research to find a better alternative. Having chosen the current host which welcomed the site but cost a bit more, (we'll have a whip round later) but he told the previous company what they could do and where they could go!
Needless to say, with Tony's luck the changeover had its difficulties and the site was off-line from 8th to 12th September.
They say that all good things come to and end, but so too do bad things and so far, fingers crossed, the site has settled down. Numerous modifications and enhancements have been made to the site including 'Membermap', 'Events', 'Galleries', the 'Shoutbox' and so on. Several further changes and amendments continue to be made but these are more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The site celebrated its first birthday on January 1st 2009 and has been featured twice in H&E Naturist with positive comments.
The story of the site would not be complete without thanking Tony for creating the site and Irene, Tony's other half, who allows him to sneak off with his laptop to work on the site. Thanks must also go to the Moderators, Administrators and the Beta Team who keep an eye on the site, come up with fresh ideas and have become part of the site.
Submitted by Davie