Smashers,
AlphaZealot here, Smashboards owner. It's been awhile since the last time I did a update on the site and what is going on. As we have crossed the 150,000 member threshold in the last week, now seems an appropriate time to let everyone know about the health of the site. First, let's start with what we've been working on in 2014.
In late 2013 Smashboards was finally on stable enough ground that the site could help the community and its members. I've entered into a number of agreements with members of the community and event organizers in order to try to help grow the Smash community. If you are interested in sponsorship, contact me @
AlphaZealot
and be prepared to share a sponsorship deck. Below is a recap of our sponsorships in 2014.
Events
Register for The Big House 4 today! Smashboards is proudly sponsoring.
How to get Smashboards Stuff
With these sponsorships we also have begun launching Smashboards products - including the first ever Smashboards teeshirt! Today is the last day to order! If you attended any of the events that were sponsored by Smashboards you also had a chance to get free Smashboards keychains, bottle openers, and pens - if you are going to The Big House 4 in a few weeks make sure to keep an eye out!
Premium Membership has also been improved vastly in the last 12 months. Members in the Premium room actually get access to raffles for members only - the current one going on is for a chance to win a copy of Super Smash Brothers 3DS. If you want to know more you will need to sign up for Premium - but the short of it is that we've sent Smashboards backpacks, jackets, pens, Kirby's plushes, Wii Adaptors, bottle openers, and other goodies to those who have won the raffles.
Site Health
Yesterday was a crazy day with Smash Brothers Wii U & 3DS news coming out of Japan. We still see some downtime/page load failures during times of massive traffic spikes but in 2014 we have maintained 99% uptime. We are prepared to make additional investments as needed to make sure browsing Smashboards is a stable experience on the day-to-day, though sometimes things can't be helped when the entirety of the Smash fan base comes knocking at our corner of the internet. With that said, Smashboards has grown tremendously - here are some stats
The Smashboards social channels have also grown massively in the past year. The Smashboards Facebook page has over 30,000 likes and the Smashboards Twitter account has over 20,000 Smashers following it. Make sure to like and follow these accounts since we use them for getting word out about tournaments, streams (make sure to put your Twitch stream in your Smashboards preferences so it can be displayed in the widget), any site issues, or general urgent updates/news updates.
2015 and Beyond
Super Smash Brothers 3DS launches in Japan on September 13th and we are expecting heavy traffic. We'll make any necessary server switches/changes once we see how the site handles. The Smashboards Senate is currently drafting policy and outlines for how to handle the site and the Super Smash Brothers 3DS & Wii U forum sections - including concepts like how a backroom might function for these games. We will also be adding on additional staff in the coming months to help moderate the forums - if you are interested you'll need to speak with @
Xiivi
but know that moderators, super moderators, and administrators are also browsing and looking for strong candidates who may be able to help.
In addition to new and changing forum sections (we'll give me detail later), we also have a number of projects being worked on. One major project will be launching a guide section so that newer players can get information more quickly. Nothing, though, can beat the Smashboards character forums - this is where nearly all the information about each character, anywhere on the internet, originates from first. There are few ways easier to get into Smash then to get involved on the character forum that interests you.
We'll also continue work on already launched projects and will be looking to do more work with the community through sponsorships and other agreements in 2015.
To close this lengthly update - I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who is a member of not just Smashboards, but the Smash community. The community continues to grow and shine as one of the strongest in gaming - something many members have known for a long time but also something many new players learned through the Smash Brothers documentary in late 2013. The community continues to thrive off the strength and drive of players, organizers, moderators, and everyone who calls themselves a Smasher. Everyone needs to continue to do their part to make sure the community is welcoming and self-sufficient.
Thank you all for reading,
-aZ
AlphaZealot here, Smashboards owner. It's been awhile since the last time I did a update on the site and what is going on. As we have crossed the 150,000 member threshold in the last week, now seems an appropriate time to let everyone know about the health of the site. First, let's start with what we've been working on in 2014.
- January 2014 - Smash news portal launched: we recruited a few batches of writers and @
The Derrit
has taken the reins as editor-in-chief of Smashboards news content. Articles are now going up at about the rate or 2-3 per day and we are hopeful to see that increase. Keep an out for new Smashboards writers and ping @
The Derrit
if you're interested in writing. Smashboards offers a great chance to improve your writing skills and get your content seen by one of the largest gaming audiences on the Internet.
- January 2014 - Smashboards rankings system launched: this has been a big success for Super Smash Brothers Melee and for Project M, with data improving for Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Smash 64. At Smashboards, we try to support the entire tournament community and keep a history of all Smash tournaments, not just the one or two large events that get streamed during the weekend. With over 30 Smash tournaments happening every weekend it is more important than ever for organizers to list their event in a single central place - the Smash tournament listings, and to report their results via the result forum and rankings portal. To date there are over 1,500 tournaments catalogued in the ranking system and over 4,000 unique players tracking their rankings. If you're a player, claim your rankings today and if you're an organizer, go here to learn about the project. Interested in helping? Contact @Hylian to learn how you can get involved.
- August 2014 - Media section launched: this has been a huge endeavor to catalogue over 3,000 Smash videos and it will require continued expansion/help in order to tag players and characters in videos, especially with the launch of Smash Wii U and 3DS. Contact @Warchamp7 if you are interested in helping with the Media section or produce content you would like added to the system.
In late 2013 Smashboards was finally on stable enough ground that the site could help the community and its members. I've entered into a number of agreements with members of the community and event organizers in order to try to help grow the Smash community. If you are interested in sponsorship, contact me @
AlphaZealot
and be prepared to share a sponsorship deck. Below is a recap of our sponsorships in 2014.Events
- Apex 2014
- CEO 2014 (Smashboards added a $500 prize bonus)
- Smash the Record (Smashboards donated $250 to St. Judes)
- PAX Prime 2014 Panel: The Smash Community - Past, Present, and Future with Alphazealot, Samox, Hungrybox, and D1
- The Big House 4 (Smashboards is providing a $500 Good Player Fund)
- VGBootcamp
- Clash Tournaments
- Smash Studios
Register for The Big House 4 today! Smashboards is proudly sponsoring.
How to get Smashboards Stuff
With these sponsorships we also have begun launching Smashboards products - including the first ever Smashboards teeshirt! Today is the last day to order! If you attended any of the events that were sponsored by Smashboards you also had a chance to get free Smashboards keychains, bottle openers, and pens - if you are going to The Big House 4 in a few weeks make sure to keep an eye out!
Premium Membership has also been improved vastly in the last 12 months. Members in the Premium room actually get access to raffles for members only - the current one going on is for a chance to win a copy of Super Smash Brothers 3DS. If you want to know more you will need to sign up for Premium - but the short of it is that we've sent Smashboards backpacks, jackets, pens, Kirby's plushes, Wii Adaptors, bottle openers, and other goodies to those who have won the raffles.
Site Health
Yesterday was a crazy day with Smash Brothers Wii U & 3DS news coming out of Japan. We still see some downtime/page load failures during times of massive traffic spikes but in 2014 we have maintained 99% uptime. We are prepared to make additional investments as needed to make sure browsing Smashboards is a stable experience on the day-to-day, though sometimes things can't be helped when the entirety of the Smash fan base comes knocking at our corner of the internet. With that said, Smashboards has grown tremendously - here are some stats
- 150,000 members - adding about 150-200 new members daily
- 15,500,000 post database - top 10 largest forum on Xenforo forum software, the second largest gaming-oriented
- Averaging over 8,000 posts across the site daily and rising
- Broken the record for posts-per-day twice in the last three months - the new record is 14,436 posts in a single day
The Smashboards social channels have also grown massively in the past year. The Smashboards Facebook page has over 30,000 likes and the Smashboards Twitter account has over 20,000 Smashers following it. Make sure to like and follow these accounts since we use them for getting word out about tournaments, streams (make sure to put your Twitch stream in your Smashboards preferences so it can be displayed in the widget), any site issues, or general urgent updates/news updates.
2015 and Beyond
Super Smash Brothers 3DS launches in Japan on September 13th and we are expecting heavy traffic. We'll make any necessary server switches/changes once we see how the site handles. The Smashboards Senate is currently drafting policy and outlines for how to handle the site and the Super Smash Brothers 3DS & Wii U forum sections - including concepts like how a backroom might function for these games. We will also be adding on additional staff in the coming months to help moderate the forums - if you are interested you'll need to speak with @
Xiivi
but know that moderators, super moderators, and administrators are also browsing and looking for strong candidates who may be able to help.
In addition to new and changing forum sections (we'll give me detail later), we also have a number of projects being worked on. One major project will be launching a guide section so that newer players can get information more quickly. Nothing, though, can beat the Smashboards character forums - this is where nearly all the information about each character, anywhere on the internet, originates from first. There are few ways easier to get into Smash then to get involved on the character forum that interests you.
We'll also continue work on already launched projects and will be looking to do more work with the community through sponsorships and other agreements in 2015.
To close this lengthly update - I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who is a member of not just Smashboards, but the Smash community. The community continues to grow and shine as one of the strongest in gaming - something many members have known for a long time but also something many new players learned through the Smash Brothers documentary in late 2013. The community continues to thrive off the strength and drive of players, organizers, moderators, and everyone who calls themselves a Smasher. Everyone needs to continue to do their part to make sure the community is welcoming and self-sufficient.
Thank you all for reading,
-aZ
any who Nice to meet you Mr.AlphaZealot thank you for providing me with non stop news through this amazing website 
and congrats on the epic milestone here's to another 150,000 members 
PARTYCHU!
