The past 12 months
There has been a lot of things going on in the past year, so lets start.
A few months ago we noticed a downfall in activity and we decided to completely change Mad*SpoT from the "Warez, Hacks, Passwords" type of a community to a "Hacking & Security" type of community.
It included removing warez content, that grew up so big (around 600k topics) that it was slowing down the server, we then added two new skins, of which one was dark and the other was bright, the bright one became our default skin.
Unfortunately, even before our activity went down, drawn to life commitments, some of our most loyal and active members (including A-J, drAGz, sniperX, etc.) left the forum.
Also, as 2010 started, StrSpeed (who has recently been promoted to an administrator) was forced to leave the forum, due to technical reasons.
Fortunately, he came back after several months and Mad*SpoT continued working with all staff members on board. However, not so much time passed when dAd0 decided to use this summer the best way he could (personal reasons) so he stepped out of Mad*SpoT. We're expecting him back as the autumn starts.
From the security point of view, Mad*SpoT still remains the #1 website in the underground which has not been hacked in 2 years of up-time. Today, we are also introducing some completely new changes in Mad*SpoT (including a new skin, new sections, radio, and more) that we hope, will establish Mad*SpoT even more as a Hacking & Security related community.
The future changes for better community
Over the past three weeks, Mad*SpoT's hard working staff have spent most of their free time discussing how they can better the Mad*SpoT community and turn it into one of your favourite forums. The idea is to create a community equal to the name, "Mad" spot. We will focus on providing fun activity for geeks, nerds, "imagineers," and boffin's alike, with forum additions including "Programming," "Logical Discussions," "Webmasters," "Healthy Life," and additional Hacking & Security forums.
We have also added a new skin based on the Prosilver template of phpBB3, which offers a better user interface and navigation. The style was edited by Greeny with help from the rest of the staff, from the Cerulean theme (
http://www.gamexe.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3328&style=9) by Daniel St. Jules. As well as a new skin, we have also discussed and added a few modifications that are probably unnoticeable, but greatly helpful in making your Mad*SpoT experience that much better, including Automatic Redirect after posting, a shoutbox, and a couple of small modifications which we hope will help the community converse with small talk.
On top of new forum additions and style, we have brought back the old Mad*SpoT Radio! StrSpeed will be leading the Radio with help from various other staff members, which we hope will bring forth some user/site activity, with music themes, quizzes, scene discussions, and more! Please check the Radio forum for more information. (
http://www.mad*spot.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=160)
Check the links next to those buttons
