2000
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January
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- 1 January
Official Launch date of Version 1
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2001
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December
- 10 December
Signups enabled on Server 3, Pat is waiting for enough funds to purchase server 4, then signups can go there.
- 12 December
New website layout
The board listings and featured board is not yet available, it will be soon.
- 16 December
Old-Style Board Admin Back Online
This is when you logged into your admin account at the main Proboards.com page
(login > select server > find your board)
- 21 December
username.ProBoards.com Now Active
The start of the way we have it now (http://username.ProBoardsXX.com) but without the numbers.
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2002
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January
- 3 January
Moving all users on server#3 to server#2
To allow server 3 to be used for ad-serving
- 4 January
Fixed Accounts After Move
There were some problems with file permissions after the transfer of users from server 3 to 2. I've fixed this and you should be able to access your old posts just fine. I believe everyone could continue to post just fine during this time. ~Pat
- 4 January
Disabling Signups - Getting Another Server
Servers 1 & 2 are full, Pat is frantically saving for Server 4 at a cost of $420. (check the 'Servers online' list)
- 25 January
Upgrades
Some upgrades were released, these include:
-Sticky Threads
-Polls
-Global Moderators
-Improved PM Screen
-Alt+S posts message, Alt+P Previews, Alt+R Resets
-Many other minor enhancements
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June
- 11 June
ProBoards Version 2 Launched
Features:
- Improved search page
- PM all
- Reworked admin area (edit boards and edit categories)
- Staff able to modify and reply to locked threads
- access restrictions on boards (guest, member etc)
- Disable signups added
- Background image enabled
- poll results displayed without having to click 'view results'
- 22 June
New Feature & Updates
Search Members
Also, today we developed a new system for updating our servers so that when we add a feature to one server, it only takes seconds for every server to get the new update. Up until now we have always made our updates on server 11, and then propogated the changes by uploading the files individually to all of the servers. With this new system, all bug fixes and features will be added virtually at the same time to all servers. ~Pat~
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July
- 3 July
The New Ad Free Plan
Proboards teamed up with PayPal.com to prvide a means of paying to remove the ads, price was $6.99 for 50,000 pageviews or one month.
At this time there were banners and pop-up ads.
Also, for boards that receive over 1,000,000 pageviews in a month, there was an 'unlimited' option for $139.80
- 25 July
New Feature
Delete account (delete message board)
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August
- 27 August
Updates
The color chart was introduced for forum colors
and 90% of bugs were fixed
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November
- 2 November
New Feature
'Move board to another category' added
The introduction of the 'Forgot Password' feature.
- 8 November
Reporting TOS violation form added
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December
- 23 December
Forgot Your Password
The introduction of the 'Forgot Password' feature.
Interestingly, you had to go to 'proboards.com/Home-Forgot_Pass.html' and use the ORIGINAL board pass, not the current pass
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2003
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February
- 5 February
Version 3 launched with 30 new features.
- Quick login box
- Customise Images
- Modify Avatar list
- Main admin able to choose powers for other staff
- Lock posts when replying
- Set default font
- View staff in memberlist
- Mods displayed on every page
- IP's displayed in PM's for admins
- More advanced member search (IP, Registration date)
- And more
- 17 February
Shockwave Flash No Longer Allowed
Due to security issues related with Shockwave Flash files, we no longer allow the use of them on ProBoards. The flash icon has been replaced with an "emote" icon (the asterisk)
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March
- 1 March
Over 1 Million ProBoarders!
In February, we surpassed the milestone of reaching 1 million registered members
We now host 109,280 boards, with 1,018,652 members!
- 23 March
Recent Updates
In the "Custom Avatars" area of the administration area, you can now choose to reset your avatar list. This is useful if you have removed the default avatars and want to put them back.
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April
- 1 April
Dear ProBoards Members,
ProBoards has been in operation for over three years now. In this time, we have registered over one million users at over 120,000 boards. We have had much success from our loyal customers, and we thank you.
With the current advertising market, it is very hard to continue offering a free service due to the financial difficulties of running a site like this. Starting on May 1st, all of our services will be paid only.
Our rate will be on a per account basis, with a one time fee of $25 per account. There will be no more fees after this one fee. We hope that this will be a viable solution so that we can continue to offer these services to you.
We hope that you enjoy your experience with ProBoards and continue to do so.
Sincerely,
Patrick Clinger
Did anyone notice the date ? :P
- 26 April
Ad-Free Change - Effective May 1st
We will no longer be offering the "unlimited" ad-free plan (which formerly cost $139.80/month).
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July
- 14 July
ProBoards now hosts over 200,000 message boards with nearly 2 million members at those boards.
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September
- 2 September
ProBoards Goes Popup-Free!
As of this moment, ProBoards is now officially popup-free. All forums hosted by our service no longer have any popup windows.
We are doing this as a trial run to see if it is possible for us to stay popup-free forever. We are commiting to a minimum of 3 months where you will not receive any popups from ProBoards. ~Pat
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October
- 10 October
ProBoards.com now hosts over 300,000 message boards. This is a 50% increase in 3 months!
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2004
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February
- 26 February
ProBoards Now Hosting Over 500,000 Forums
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April
- 1 April
Due to complications with PayPal, Proboards are currently not able to accept ad-free payments.
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June
- 25 June
ProBoards Self-Serve Ads System Launches
Today we are launching a new service geared towards those people who are
interested in advertising on ProBoards message boards. We have developed a system
which allows anyone who wants to advertise on ProBoards to do so through one central Web site.
This new Web site does everything from helping you setup your ad campaign to letting
you track the results of your ads in real-time. You can find more details on the following Web site:
http://banners.proboards.com
~Pat
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December
- 3 December
Ad-Free Service is Back
Our ad-free service is back and better than ever! We are now accepting all major credit cards for this service.
- 19 December
ProBoards Now Hosting Over 1,000,000 Boards!
Receiving over 12 million pageviews per day
- 24 December
ProBoards Version 4 Open Beta
Today we are starting the ProBoards Version 4 Open Beta.
This is your chance to test out the new v4 software prior to it's public release.
We do not have an official release date yet for when all forums will get the new software, but you are welcome to give it a test drive ~Pat
There was a test board that support board members were able to login to without re registering.
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2005
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May
- 1 May
ProBoards Version 4 Released
Unfortunately Pat became ill, and server upgrades were delayed after servers 1 to 20 were upgraded
Upgrades were completed (in June ????? )
- 10 May
Second Southern California ProBoards Meet
Date: Friday, May 13th, 2005
Time: 6:30pm
Place: Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks
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June
- 27 June
New Web Site Launched
To match with V4
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Forum Sign Ups Enabled
After the upgrades, signups were enabled again
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July
- 23 July
New Support Server Online
New server to give better speed.
- 25 July
New Feature: Announcements
Craigs first feature
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August
- 1 August
New Feature: Limited Registrations
Limited Registrations is now completely finished and you can enabled it in your admin area via 'General Settings'. If enabled, to activate someones account, click into 'view pending members' in your admin area, and follow the instructions.
Regards,
Craig
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December
- 22 December
Proboards on TV
For anyone who reads my blog, they know that I went out to Houston to film a short advertisement that is going to be shown during the Houston Bowl. This ad is for ev1servers.net, but also focuses on ProBoards
Click to view!
Patrick
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2006
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January
- 25 January
New Features: Personal notes & Warning Bar
Personal notes: Similar to the existing Account notes feature. The differnce is personal notes are only visible and editable to the user who owns the account
Warning Bar: The option to display warning bars for users profiles
~Martyn
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December
- 10 December
International Credit Cards Now Accepted
As some of you may already know, from having seen discussions on General Talk, or trying to use ad free and noticing the new system, we now accept cards from countries other than just the US.
The full list of supported countries can be found here:
http://checkout.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=48115
To those Canadian users who had previously tried to use this service, but realised Google had temporally disallowed the use of Canadian cards, you will be pleased to know there is again Canadian support.
If your country is not on the supported list, unfortunately there is no way we can get support for you, as its down to Google, however you should be pleased to know Google are frequently adding new countries to the list
Martyn
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2007
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October
- 6 October
Support upgraded to v4.5
This forum has now been upgraded to ProBoards latest version, v4.5.
Over the coming days, we will be ironing out any problems that are found which weren't found during the beta testing, and then plans will be made to upgrade all servers and thus boards to the new version.
Regards,
Craig,
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2008
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January
- ?? January
Pat makes second Advertising video for The Planet (Server Hosts for Proboards)
In this video, Martyn makes his debut appearance
Click to view
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February
- 3 February
Version 4.5 Release
Over the next couple of weeks we will be working on upgrading all servers to our new version 4.5. Along with this release are a host of new features and speed improvements.
Patrick Clinger
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May
- 31 May
Explosion at The Planet Datacenter (Proboards Hosting Company)
An explosion in a substation at the H1 Datacenter in Houston Texas destroyed 3 walls of The Planet's electrical switchroom, The attending Fire department advised them to turn of standby generators that would normally keep The Planet operating, the result was that over 700,000 websites had to be shut down, Some of Proboards servers were affected in this, resulting in a loss of access to many boards.
The Planet swung into action, calling in all the staff to get a service running, even if limited, Proboards admins worked closely with Them to get a temporary solution together so that members of boards didn't lose touch not knowing what had happened, Proboards Support (although busier) was surprisingly calm, most members read the stickies, and posted in the right places.
On Saturday, May 31st at 4:55pm CDT in our H1 data center, electrical gear shorted, creating an explosion and fire that knocked down three walls surrounding our electrical equipment room. Thankfully, no one was injured. In addition, no customer servers were damaged or lost.
The Planet Customer Support Team
Source
(That page has a full set of updates)
If you want to know what a substation explosion looks like, click here, this is not the one involved, but gives an idea.
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December
- 9 December
8 New Junior Moderators at the same time
Support has always been open for members to help each other to get their problems sorted out
One problem is keeping them all in-line and following protocol
(i don't like to call them rules, they are there more for guidance on how to use Support)
With the increasing numbers of members, something needed to be done, i can't be on 24/7, and neither can other staff
So the introduction of Junior mods was made to mainly look after the Support Board on a day to day basis.
Junior Mods have just enough power to do their job, and a reporting system so that core staff can help them out.
A bonus is that when V5 is eventually released, these Juniors will have enough training to be able to cope with an expected influx of members all wanting assistance.
During V4 upgrade, it was necessary to open a secondary board for GT and GOAYB to ease the load at PBS, these juniors may be asked to help out there too.
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2009
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July
- 20 July
6 Junior mods were promoted to Mods, the other 2 didn't quite make the grade and were reverted back to members
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December
- 14 December
V5 Staff Alpha released
Staff Alpha is for the current staff (GMods and Mods) to help with testing and bug reporting
So far it's looking at pages with error codes, though we do get glimpses of what the board looks like
Though at this time we are sworn to secrecy, you will have to keep reading Pat's Blog here
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2010
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January
- January
Proboards get new offices
There's now an official office building, Admins and other staff actually go to the office to work instead of workng from home.
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May
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2011
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April
- 7 April
Proboards requires V5 Alpha testers
Alpha testing of Proboards V5 is due to start, this is a closed test so selected knowledgible members can check for errors in coding and operation of the new software
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June
- 16 June
V5 Beta testers required
Proboards is preparing to start closed beta testing, this is for any member who signs up to be able to test operation and find the bugs missed by alpha testers, having more members testing also means the test forum will be put under a bit of stress
Yes folks, this is where you can try and break the forum and report your success.
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2012
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April
- 25 April
Proboards V5 Open Beta
This is the announcement that V5 is now in open beta testing, this means that any Proboards member can head over to v5.proboards.com and login to stress test the forum, and of course to report any errors they find.
If this goes the same way as V4, the next stage is to launch Beta Zone, which is where forum owners can create a copy of their forum but as a V5, their members can then do their own testing without affecting their current forum to make sure their layouts will work under the new system before final conversion.
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June
- 1 June
New Domain Names
Users can now have an alternative to *.proboards.com with the introdiction of *.freeforums.net and *.boards.net
Patrick [ASE] was quick to spot the potential of pro.boards.net on the same day of the announcement.
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November
- 6 November
Proboards V5 Betazone Launched (Forums)
Members can request a betazone board, this will be a copy of your current forum, or a new v5 board, where admins can test the functionality of V5, a copy will have all your categories, boards, and members so everyone can try to find bugs and report them at support.
When V5 is fully released, these betazone boards will eventually be deleted, members are asked not to post any important stuff on there.
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December
- 21 December
Proboards V5 Open Beta Announced (Forums)
On this day of the Mayan Apocalypse, Proboards announced the upcoming launch of Openbeta, this is where forum admins can opt to convert their forums to V5 early, the date set for this momentous event will be 28 January 2013.
Full release should be about 2 to 3 months after this date.
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2013
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January
- 28 January
Proboards V5 Open Beta 2 (Forums)
Admins now have the option to convert their V4.5 forums to V5 3 months before full release.
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2017
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December
- 23 December
Proboards V6 Alpha
Alpha testing has begun in the Support board.
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