Three years ago I wrote this:
Quote:
Off and on for the last couple of weeks, I've been tinkering with something off and on. Not frequently, and not for any long periods of time.
The Ectozone continues to grow as a site. I'm constantly looking for ways to upgrade it, make it a better, more interesting place to visit. And sometimes, I feel like something's...still missing.
And one night a couple of weeks ago, I went..."Oh, hell, do it...either it will work out or you'll realize it was a waste of time and you'll get that bug out of your system."
So I did.
I wasn't going to show anyone until I had some other material--some non-Ghostbusters material--ready for release, and I wasn't going to do that until I had Gozer laid to rest.
But sometimes it seems like fate has other plans in store. And last night, when GBHQ went down for an indeterminate amount of time, I could swear that I heard opportunity knocking. So a few quick modifications and additions later, here it is...
I hope you'll all take a look. I honestly hope Netsolo gets GBHQ back up pronto, but maybe this can serve as an alternative until he does. And even after that, like I said, I have some non-GB ideas I'm hoping to try soon...
Thanks for your support and patience with my whimsical diversions.
Fritz V. Baugh
Well, after three years, it was time for a change.
The Ectozone's design has been changed regularly since it started as my knowledge of web design became more sophisticated. The first version of the site, which started in May 2003, was pretty basic html and a few images (Go
here for some snapshots of the site's evolution over the years)
I launched Ectozone 2.0 on the first anniversary, May 2004, when I learned how to manipulate tables. Not long after that, in June 2004, I signed up for the very first Ectozone message board, one remotely hosted by Pat Clinger and Proboards:
http://ectozone.proboards31.com
It's design I also tweaked constantly, especially after Proboards upgraded their software in June 2005.
Ectozone 3.0 I debuted less than a year ago, in November 2006. This time it was stylesheets and a bit of Javascript that brought the party on. The message board was tweaked yet again, and the board and the main site looked more like each other than ever.
And now the next step.
I freely admit it was Bo Holbrook and his upgrade of the
Nightsquad Message Board about two months ago that sparked the latest round of changes. PhpBB was getting ready to release a new version of their popular software that completely blew everything else out of the water--and it looked to be at least a couple more years before Proboards would come even close.
I first signed up the domain name Ectozone.net back in February 2005, at first to keep it from being snatched up by somebody else, and at first I had designs of building a Digimon site around it. That didn't pan out, and I set it to redirect to the old message board--I looked at the "Free Hosting Package" being offered by GoDaddy at the time and it just didn't seem any better than what I was getting at Angelfire (Ectozone.com's host) or Freehomepages (the host of GBWC.net).
But a few weeks ago I discovered differently. 5GB of space. 250 GB bandwidth. PHP and MySQL capacities. And I knew that it was time to upgrade again.
The main Ectozone, ectozone.net, may not look much different than it did before. Maybe not Ectozone 4.0, but Ectozone 3.5. The Timeline, the Fan Fics, the Fact List, it's all still there, pretty much exactly as you remember it (in fact, if you have Ectozone.com bookmarks, it'll take you to the exact same page on Ectozone.net) But with Ectozone.net, a lot more things will be possible, and probably will happen as my knowledge of web mechanics slowly grows.
The biggest change, of course, is right here, the brand spanking new Ectozone Message Board 2.0, powered by PhpBB3. And it's all mine. Not Proboards'. Not Netsolo's.
Mine Uploaded, configured, and installed by Your Truly.
So feel free to sign up, take a look around, and maybe help fill the new place up with the same insight I got used to at the old board.
And in case you were wondering, the "old" Ectozone is still there. While Ectozone.com now redirects to Ectozone.net, if you feel like touring the old place just go to
http://archive.ectozone.com . The url is different, but other than that it's just like you remember it.
Special thanks to:
--Brian Reilly, who helped talk me into posting the Timeline, and thus gets a big share of the credit/blame for my role in the community.
--Ludicris and Andy Harness, who asked me to join the Ghostbusters West Coast, and thus also get a big share of the credit/blame for my role in the community
--Kingpin, Vincent Belmont, EGB Fan, my frequent collaborators and the unofficial "continuity committee"
--Bo Holbrook. As mentioned above, he inspired this latest move, and he provided some advice and insight that helped me put this place together. The style he chose for the Nightsquad board was easily adaptable to my purposes here.
--Doc Ryedale. The first friend I ever made in the Ghostbusters community, before he became troubled enough to fake his own death. I still miss him, darn it.
--Everybody else who's read, loved, and even hated my works over the years.
Now let's get to work making this place lively...
--Fritz V. Baugh