Almost exactly 1000 days ago, I created my account on the first version of Xboxyde on the production server. It was just a few days before X03, and everything was ready for the (not so) grand opening. 1000 days later, the site did not change that much from what I wanted it to be and that makes me very happy. What makes me even happier is the incredible, for me at least, success of the site. And now with Playsyde along with Xboxyde, everything is starting to move very quickly, and we have to start thinking about some changes. Nothing drastic, don't worry, but make sure you read on inside the news, and leave a comment!
Update : The paypal donation page is now online, over there

Some numbers

If you know me a bit, you are aware that I love to list a few numbers about the site from time to time. So for your, or at least mine, enjoyment, here are some database statistics about Xboxyde and Playsyde:
- 2951 visible news
- 15489 validated accounts
- 3315 accounts with at least one message in the forum
- 14705 private messages sent
- 2580 files
- 764 being exclusive
- using 99.9 GB of disk space
- creating about 150 hours of content!
- 1894 galleries
- with 24822 images
- 89 "first 10 minutes"
- 11718 topics in the forums
- 231993 messages
- 1607 being in boulet-time mode.

As for Xboxyde web stats, I think this graphics is better than anything I could write:

VU = Unique visitors during the whole month.

The future!

Now for the really important part of this news, with the future of Xboxyde/Playsyde and maybe later this year a Wii site.
I'm sure most of you have enjoyed Snoopers footage of the upcoming games during E3. He sure worked hard to get as much content as possible, and he did a great work. But it certainly could have been better, first because he just couldn't go to all meetings, and second because he wasn't able to upload all the content from the show floor or even from his hotel.
The solution is simple: Send more people to the big gaming events. Unfortunately there is a catch: it will cost a lot of money. Until now I've always been very proud of being able to pay for everything about the sites either with the advertising, or with my own money, but there is a moment where I have to start changing my way of thinking if I want the sites to keep evolving.
So starting tomorrow or sunday, I will put a paypal donate button on the site. You guys will be able to send us (or not) any amount of money you want. Anything will be appreciated. This money will be used exclusively to pay for our travel expanses when going to games show, starting with the TGS, and if possible to add even more download servers so they do not get as slow as what you experienced during E3.
One very important thing though, is that this donation won't give you any special privilege on the sites. And most importantly, you will not lose anything if you do not donate, except this awesome feeling that you helped us bringing you some incredible content of course ;)
If in the future I decided to give some special stuff to our generous contributors, it would be something new. I *do not*want to remove anything if you do not donate. I want everybody to enjoy the -YDE sites as much in one year as they do now, even if you can't or don't want to contribute.

As for the other changes, the download page will be completely changed hopefully next month. I don't think anyone will complain about it! This should especially be helpful for the first time visitors, but I'm sure everyone will be happy with it finally losing all the clutter.

Some changes on the forum are planned, with an ignore function being already in testing. This was the most wanted feature I've been asked to code. A few more things will also be rewritten, but it's mostly on the back-end side of the site, with lots of AJAX niceties to come for our awesome admins and moderators.
Speaking of moderators, I'm sad to say that Plumbdrumb asked me to remove his moderating rights because of personal issues. He'll still be around, but he was doing an excellent job with the moderation, and he will be missed. To replace him, Roxwell has been nominated to moderator a few hours ago, let's all welcome him!

I'm eagerly waiting for your comments! Also do not forget that I'm not the only one working on the sites, Manager is doing an incredible job with the news, and Snoopers can be awesome when he wants to :D. The mod team also deserves some greetings!