Meet the New Owners: Jupitermedia Corp.
A few days ago, JP completed the sale of Antionline.com to Jupitermedia Corp. Most members probably know our company from using some of the sites we run on various high-tech topics. We currently serve more than 20 million monthly visitors at our sites, best known under the names of our two networks, internet.com and Earthweb. Among the sites we run are CodeGuru.com, Developer.com, ServerWatch.com, ScriptSearch.com and eSecurityPlanet.com. The list goes on and on.
First, to answer a question many have raised, the site will continue as a public message board. That's the reason we acquired it.
The transition of a site like this is a major undertaking, so you are likely to see minor changes happening gradually. Right now, our priority is to move it to a new, faster network provider and prepare a more powerful server to host it once it moves.
There will be minor changes but we bought the site from JP because there is a community of professionals who come here for security information. We recognize the value of that community and we are going to be making sure the community has a good place to meet. Our primary business is selling advertising and running conferences, so you will soon start to see ads again. But no pop-ups or pop-unders (except at some point we may run a survey to ask you about your interests; that is so we can run the site better).
You can expect to see ads from the major security firms. And we will work hard to make sure the ads aren't obtrusive. Our goal is to significantly improve the performance of the site. The ads will not slow it down.
We also hope to run a security seminar at some point in coming months where Antionline members will get a chance to meet in person and share expertise.
Right now, we're still trying to figure out how to improve the back-end. We are quite familiar with the mechanics and moderation issues that surround communities like this. But JP created a highly customized platform and he's told us that some of the performance issues you now experience are tied to that points system. So we are going to have to de-construct some of the code before we can optimize it. We may have to make changes to the features available to users, but it's too early to say.
One thing some users may not be happy about: we don't think the Chat server is the best use of the bandwidth. We will keep the Chat service running for a few more weeks, but our priority is to make the message board run more smoothly. When that is done, the Private Messages will be more useful because it should become relatively quick to log in and out of here. In consultation with JP and some other members, I think we will try to come up with some suggestions for an IRC host where members who agree to meet.
One thing that will be added is server logs. I know that a long time ago, some members were concerned about them and so JP turned logging off. But we will be following the same privacy policy we have been using for years. We track server traffic solely for statistical reasons (to count traffic). If you're concerned about what that means, here is the privacy policy we have followed at our other sites and which we will use as we host the site...
http://www.internet.com/corporate/pr...acypolicy.html
We have much to do on our own end so we can get those performance upgrades online. But I wanted everyone to know who was taking over and what they had planned.
Finally, I'm not the only person involved. Now that the site is going to be supported by a company with a 24x7 IT department, we will also have other people involved in running the site. We're going to try and expand the roles that many volunteers have made, so that the site can be an even better resource for security professionals.
I'm sure you'll have other questions. We'll do our best to answer them.
- JupMan
