Neil

In short, no.

Yep, another good suggestion. This same idea was kinda suggested in a previous thread in this very forum: http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2553 A Links Directory is certainly on my "to-do" list so hopefully you will be seeing it sooner rather than later.

Good suggestion. You should now find a Quick Reply box at the bottom of each thread.

After a tricky upgrade the Gallery is now open once more. As you can see there is still a few broken links and cosmetic problems with the Gallery section of the web site but these will be fixed soon. The important thing is that the Gallery is completely functional and new photos can be uploaded as well as viewed as normal. But if you encounter any problems then please post a description of the problem in the Technical Problems forum. And now for some more good news! As we are now on our own web server one of the great advantages we have is that disk space is not the issue it once was. In fact 60GB is available to this web site alone with extra space available if required. Taking this fact into account I'm glad to announce that the maximum number of Private Messages a registered member can store in his/her profile has been increased from 100 to 250 with immediate effect. In addition to this the maximum amount of disk space you can use to store your uploaded photos in the Gallery has been increased from 5MB to 20MB per registered member. So lets see those photos!

Don't worry everyone. We are finally back online on the new dedicated web server! I'm very pleased to report that the move went perfectly with all facilities on the web site now working after the move with the one exception of the Galleries. This is currently closed while I make an update to the Gallery software but I hope to have it re-opened later on today. Everything else however should be working just fine. Notice some differences? Yep, this wasn't just simply a move of the web site I performed. I also decided before the move to "refine" the style of the web site and then launch this new style during the move. Many thanks to CraigDDG for the cool title banner graphic at the top-right above! The portal front-end has also been replaced with new portal software and vBulletin has been upgraded to v2.3.3. This update only fixes a few minor bugs so don't expect to see any new features just yet. Now for a couple of things to look out for. DNS propagation is still in progress which means, depending on your ISP, some people will still be accessing the old and closed aberdeen-music.com web site while other will be accessing this web site. Until your ISP updates their DNS information then there is nothing I can do about this I'm afraid. Just be patient. As always though makes sure you are looking at the latest version of the web site and not a cached copy. Always try pressing CTRL+F5 to force a refresh of the page if you are having problems. All the cookie settings are the same as before so you should all still be logged in if you were before. If you are having problems logging in/out then look in your cookies directory and delete any "aberdeen-music.com" and "www.aberdeen-music.com" cookies and then log back into the web site. If you are still having any problems then please post a message in the Technical Problems forum and I'll try and help you out. Once the new web site has "settled down" then I will post a further announcement soon on some of the new features that and enhancements that will be implemented now we have the luxury of our own dedicated web server! Have fun.

Fasthosts do indeed offer dedicated web servers for 999 a year but your bandwidth allowance each month is a pathetic 5GB. This web site is currently using over 20GB a month right now! The server we are moving to has a bandwidth allowance of 500GB a month.

And after the Bandwidth Benefit Festival: Dear members, This e-mail is well overdue but Ive been hanging on as long as I could so I could give you the very latest news regarding the future of aberdeen-music.com. Remember that Bandwidth Festival event a wee while ago? Well, I have good news for you all. It was a complete success! First, how much money was raised? Well, as most of you that are reading this e-mail actually attended at least one of the events I think you all have the right to know. After all it was your money at one point! Here is the breakdown of what was raised: Day 1 - Moshulu Event - 800 (at least) Day 2 Dr. Drakes Event - 300 Day 3 Lemon Tree Event - 400 The Donation Bucket - 100 Previous PayPal Donations - 110 This makes a grand total of: 1710 Pretty impressive stuff I think you will all agree. Most of the money has still to be collected and banked but that is my fault more than anything else. One more reason why this e-mail is so late is simply because Ive had very little spare time recently to concentrate on aberdeen-music.com. But the money has been raised and this goes a very long way to securing the web sites future. As some of you may know aberdeen-music.coms new home has been online for a number of weeks now. While many people were frantically running around making the Bandwidth Festival the huge success it was I was quietly working in the background shopping around for a good deal on a dedicated web server. You may remember that I stated in my last e-mail to you all that it would require 3500 a year to keep aberdeen-music.com going. This was an estimate and a pessimistic one at that. I can now confirm for you that the new, actual annual running costs for aberdeen-music on a dedicated web server will be only 2400 a year. Want even more good news? Ive also been busy speaking to a number of people who have come forward and asked to become official sponsors of aberdeen-music.com. Already the web site has three proud sponsors contributing collectively 105 a month to the web site. And Im continuing negations with a further three potential sponsors at this moment in time. Those of you good at math can quickly see that even if monthly sponsorship money fluctuates (as it almost certainly will) that when combined with the money raised from the Bandwidth Festival the end result is that aberdeen-music.com is secure for at last a year if not longer. Please take time to support our sponsors by clicking on their advertisements and visit their web sites. Ive tried to ensure that any aberdeen-music.com official sponsors will be sponsors that are relevant to the audience of the web site. Remember that by supporting them, you are indirectly supporting aberdeen-music.com as well. Due to the overwhelming success of the Bandwidth Festival I really would like to see this become a regular annual event. This would ensure that the funds required to keep aberdeen-music.com would always be there and ensure its long term survival. I intend early in the second half of next year to set-up another working group to help organise such an event. So remember to keep an eye out for announcements if you want to get involved next year! And so the new dedicated web server has been purchased, built and configured. What next? Well, the big move has been organised and I urge you all to read the following important post very carefully: http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5081 The move is going to be a big operation and hopefully a successful one. Yes, aberdeen-music.com may be closed for up to 3 days but I can assure you all it will be worth it in the end! And so I would like to end this e-mail with my very overdue expression of sincere thanks and gratitude to all those involved in the Bandwidth Festival. From those of you who attended, to the musicians that played, to the volunteers that made it all happen. Thank you so very much. You have successfully saved the web site! Many thanks, Neil.

When: From 8pm Friday 21st, November till Sunday 23rd, November. What: The aberdeen-music.com web site in its entirety is moving from a shared web hosting environment to a new, dedicated web server with another hosting provider. During the move all sections of the web site will be closed and inaccessible to the public and registered members. Why: The web site is now too popular and too large to be able to be hosted within a shared hosting environment. This move will be a fairly complex operation and there is bound to be a few teething problems on the new web server once the web site has been re-opened on there. So please be aware of this. All data will be exported to the new server and so no posts, private messages, photos or avatars etc should be lost. There will be no requirement to re-register on the forums when the web site re-opens. Ive also taken the opportunity to refine the style used on the web site so you will notice quite a few changes to the web site after the move. The most significant of these will be the change to the portal front-end. Although the web site *should* be open and working again on Sunday I cannot commit to a time of when this will be. As the web site is moving hosting providers then DNS information needs to propagate around the Internet and this can take up to 72 hours to complete. And finally, the new web server has yet to be fully optimised. This means that it will almost certainly appear to be slower than the previous server even though it has much more resources available. Server optimisation will take place after the web site re-opens so I can get a better idea of what load is being put on the server. In short, please be patient is things appear to be slower and broken! These will all get sorted out bit by bit once the web site is re-open. And once everything settles down and the move is complete then the fun will really start to begin.

I'm pleased to announce that slightly earlier than intended the long awaited Photo Gallery section is now open for business. This new section replaces the Webcams section that despite winning a stay of execution failed to become any more active and so I have decided to permanently remove this section. My original intention was to open the Gallery when the move to the new dedicated web server was complete. But this is still some weeks off due to the lack of free time I have to prepare for the move and due to further work I wish to do on the web site before I move it. However, I can confirm that the brand dedicated web server has been purchased, built and has been online for a number of weeks now. More news on that in my post-Bandwidth Festival e-mail that will be sent out soon! So what is this Gallery section all about? Well, it is a section open to all registered members to upload their own photos directly from their own computers to the web site as well as view and comment on existing photos. Obviously, the primary purpose of this new section is to allow you all to see photos of your favourite local bands, musicians and gigs. But I have also permitted people to upload and create their own personal photo albums to share with all other registered members. At the moment you can only upload photos into the Member's Gallery but if you wish your photos to be added to a new category then please send me a private message or e-mail. For example, if you upload lots of photos of a local band and you want them made available under the Local Bands section then let me know and I will move them there. There is one big restriction in place and that is each registered member can only upload up to 5MB worth of photos. This isn't much I admit but once the move to the dedicated web server is complete then this will be increased significantly. Like everything else on this web site this new section will only become popular if you all contribute to it. I know plenty of you like to see photos within the forums well now if your chance to get your forums up online for all to see. So please start using the Gallery and let me know if you have any problems or if you have any suggestions or comments regarding it. Please note that like the forums if ANY offensive or pornographic material is uploaded to the Gallery then it will be removed immediately and the member that uploaded the material banned from the web site without hesitation. Also note that until this web site has been moved to the new dedicated web server then bandwidth remains at a premium. And so the Gallery section may be temporarily closed without prior notice if it looks like that the web site will exceed its monthly bandwidth allocation. But the Gallery will only be closed until the move to the dedicated web server is complete and no photos already uploaded to the Gallery will be lost. Have fun!

It has long since passed but for historical purposes here is the e-mail that was sent out to all registered forums members just days before the festival began: Dear members, This is the very first e-mail I have ever sent en masse to all of the registered members of aberdeen-music.com. And I hope the next, last ever e-mail I send out will be congratulating everyone on saving aberdeen-music.com! This e-mail aims to not only make you all aware of the Bandwidth Benefit Festival (yes, I know you are probably all sick of hearing about this now!) but also explain why the festival is taking place and what my future plans are for the web site. This is a lengthy e-mail but I would appreciate it greatly if you would read it to the end. Without further ado, the latest event information for the Bandwidth Benefit Festival is as follows: Day 1 - Saturday, 11th October 2003. At Moshulu (over-14s permitted) from 6pm till 10pm: - Alyssa's Wish - Black Atom - Deadloss Superstar - Hot Mangu - Quik - We Become Less DJs: Stephen + James WBL Comperes: Chris Robertson + Craig Fudge The band running order will be decided on the day. Tickets can be bought on the door for only 4. They cannot be purchased in advance so make sure you get to the doors early so not only do you not miss the first act (first band will be on at 6.15pm!) but also to ensure you actually get in. Yes, this gig could sell out! There will be a local band merchandise stall so if you want to sell your band's merchandise, fanzines etc then just bring it all along and we will sell it for you! Day 2 - Sunday, 12th October 2003. At Dr. Drakes (over-14s permitted) from 2pm till 12.00am: - Emma Forman (acoustic set) - Marcy's Monster Parade - Orwell - Paul LTP (acoustic set) - Pure Lead - Small Enclosed Area - Sirius - StewCat (acoustic set) DJs: AUBL DJs The band running order will be decided on the day. Tickets can be bought on the door for only 3. They cannot be purchased in advance. There will be a local band merchandise stall so if you want to sell your band's merchandise, fanzines etc then just bring it all along and we will sell it for you! Day 3 - Thursday, 16th of October 2003 At The Lemon Tree from 8pm till 12.00am: Emma Forman Onion Terror Useful Idiot Jody Cooper DJs: TBC Ticket prices have yet to be confirmed but they will likely be 3 on the door. More acts have still to be confirmed for this day. Even at this late stage any of details above are subject to change. So make sure you keep checking the official thread for this event where all updates and changes will be posted: http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3038 Dont know where the venues are? Then just use the handy venue locator facility on the aberdeen-music.com home page to find out! Why is the benefit festival being organised? Well, this event is taking place in order to raise money for the aberdeen-music.com web site. As some of you know the web site has simply become too popular for its own good and my current web hosting provider have told me that the web site must be moved to a dedicated web server soon or face becoming shut-down. It might sound like a rather nasty ultimatum but my web hosting provider have been very understanding and have even moved the entire web site to a faster, more powerful shared web server to simply avoid having to shut-down the web site in the short-term. But I cant push my luck with them infinitely and so the leap to a dedicated web hosting environment must be made sooner rather than later if aberdeen-music.com is to continue to go from strength to strength. By my calculations aberdeen-music.com will need approximately 3500 a year in order to stay afloat on a dedicated web server. As the web site currently earns absolutely no money at all (it has been funded out of my own pocket up until now) then this needs to obviously change. Im hopeful that an event like the Bandwidth Benefit Festival will go someway to raising this total and if the event proves to be a success then I would like to see the benefit festival become a regular, annual event. However, this alone will not be enough and so I have had to unfortunately turn to more traditional methods such as advertising in order to attempt to get the web site to generate an income. As you have no doubt seen on the web site I am currently in the progress of trialling a number of different online advertising programmes to see which will actually generate some money for the web site. I can assure you that although there are plenty of banners on the web site just now this will become reduced in the following weeks as an advertising programme is selected and the others removed. I am no fan of online advertising and so I will try to make the advertising banners as non-intrusive yet effective as possible. It is a tricky balancing act. I have also identified three other sources of income for the web site. One of these many of you are familiar with and that is making donations to the web site via PayPal. I have been very impressed by the number of donations I have received from members and significantly members who have donated to the web site multiple times! The donation pot sits at a healthy 105 and this is after a 60 deduction for the photo gallery software component but more about that later. But again, donations alone are not enough although they are very gratefully received and I continue to encourage you all to donate if you can. Remember, there is no minimum donation amount and every penny helps me get nearer that 3500 target. The second source of income is sponsorship arrangements. At the moment a number of parties have expressed a desire to become sponsors of the web site and Im glad to say that all the parties that have shown an interest so far are people involved with the local music scene already. And these are exactly the kind of people I would like to see sponsoring the web site. However, discussions are still on-going as to what form this sponsorship will take. You can at present already sponsor sections of the web site. There is more information about how to do this in the following post: http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2087 Announcements regarding new web site sponsors will be made in due course. The last source of income is arguably the most controversial: A subscription program. Now, before you start to panic let me inform you now that this would be an OPTIONAL subscription and not something people would be forced into paying in order to use the web site. I do intend to offer an optional subscription program to existing registered members after, and if, the web site is moved to the dedicated web server environment. No registered members will lose any features or access to the web site if they dont subscribe to this program. However, those that do subscribe will be entitled to a number of new features that do have a significant cost implication (hence the requirement of a subscription). I have yet to decide what new features will be classified as these premium features but I can tell you the subscription rate will be small (probably around 2 a month) and will be handled through PayPal. Subscription will be a monthly basis and you will be allowed to cancel your subscription at any time. More information about this will be released when the subscription program is launched if the web site is moved to the dedicated web server. What are the future plans for aberdeen-music.com? As you can understand the future of aberdeen-music.com is very much unknown at present. If the web site is unable to move to a dedicated web server in the next couple of months then its entire existence will sadly be under threat. However, let us assume for a moment that enough money can be raised to move the web site to a dedicated environment. What new features can you expect to see? Well, one of the most popular feature requests is now a feature actually already implemented and this is the new Photo Gallery section of the web site. This section cannot be opened yet as I do not have enough bandwidth to spare at the moment (another problem that will be resolved by moving to a dedicated web server). When this feature does open, and I really hope it does, then registered members will be able to not only upload and maintain photo galleries of local music events such as the Fudge Awards for example but also upload photos of local bands. Members can also maintain their own personal photo galleries so gone will be the days of having to find a web host to upload the photos of your mates to! Other new features I have in the pipeline are a new Classifieds section of the web site which will ultimately replace the Wanted & For Sale forum if it proves to be successful. There will also be a comprehensive Links Directory where members can submit their own links both related to the local music scene and other links that fellow members may find useful. The aberdeen-music.com Online Store is also in the planning stages and this will allow all local bands and musicians to sell their merchandise online through the web site with as little fuss and cost as possible. And there may even be exclusive aberdeen-music.com merchandise on-sale within the store as well! The aberdeen-music.com streaming radio station is also planned to make a triumphant return and this will feature a much greater variety of live shows both related to the local scene and not. As this station will be run as open access then anyone will be permitted to host and produce their own radio show assuming their shows meets some basic requirements. The most significant change that is planned will be the eventual upgrade to vBulletin v3.0 (the core forum software) when it is released later this year. This upgrade will bring a wealth of new features to the forums including one or two features some of you have been missing from the old forums. And thankfully the upgrade this time will not result in anyone having to re-register! I have many more ideas sitting around just waiting for some attention but the above are the big features that I hope will let you see where I intend on taking the aberdeen-music.com web site in the future. This will hopefully give you all some encouragement and justification to support the web site in its time of need at present. Acknowledgements & Thanks Firstly, the Bandwidth Benefit Festival would simply not be happening without the fantastic help and assistance from these lovely individuals (in no particular order): Rob & Flik @ Moshulu, Sharon & Jim @ Dr Drakes, JimmyB, RicoAUBL, Craig Fudge, Ross, Stu and all the bands and DJs that have volunteered to play. I simply have no idea how I am going to repay you all! Secondly, aberdeen-music.com would have closed down long ago if it was not for the fact that is currently hosted by one of the best web hosting companies in the world. Thank you for your understanding and patience FutureQuest! (http://www.futurequest.net) And last but certainly not least thank you, the members and visitors to the web site. You make and shape the online community into what it is today. Without you aberdeen-music.com is nothing more than an empty shell! I could of course blame you all for putting me in this current situation but I know the majority of you want to see this web site stay alive and continue to grow and develop onwards. Now is the time you have to show support for the web site if you can. Remember, there are many ways of doing this. Simply turn up to the Bandwidth Festival and rock out, donate money, become a sponsor, click on an ad banner, hand out a few flyers for the festival or simply recommend the web site to a friend. Whatever you do, please show your support for aberdeen-music.com. Everyone take care of one another. And I hope to see you all on Saturday. Neil.

I can assure you it is set for 30 seconds.

There will be new forums coming online mainly for the new official sponsors of the web site. However, I do not intend on creating new forums for your suggestions Bass Monket as they do not "fit in" with the purpose of aberdeen-music.com.

Ideally, like you say, the Reviews & Recommendations forum would cover this aspect of things. However, it hasn't really worked out like that. Lots of new forums are getting added/changed at the moment and so I'll see if I can address this suggestion as well as it is a good point you make.

Which is exactly what I did do.

The photo gallery idea is a good one and has been in the works for ages. The section is actually finished but won't be going live until I move the web site to the new dedicated web server. This will probably happen in the next few weeks or so.

As mp3.com have gone bust then it is only a matter until their web site shuts down. I would strongly recommend anyone that hosts their MP3s there find somewhere else to put them.

Nope, the more the merrier! We have more flyers than we know what to do with so just stop by and pick some up!

Important Can any of the bands or individuals that want to have their mechanise on sale at any of the gigs please PM or e-mail me so I can get idea of how much stuff will need to go on sale and exactly what kind of stuff will be sold? If you could all let me know then that would be great. Items and prices would be ideal. Thanks.

The bands will all be contacted nearer the time with information about soundchecks and kit. So don't worry about that. People that wish to volunteer to flyer for the festival can now pickup flyers from Henry J. Beans. I wholeheartedly encourage you all to do so. And please remember to distribute the flyers responsibly!

Craig, Rob at Moshulu is organising this and I assume he will be in contact with the bands letting them know what is happening quite soon. I believe the soundchecks are at 4pm on Saturday by the way.

Done!

Well spotted. This has now been corrected.

Bandwidth Benefit Festival - Day 1 - Saturday, 11th Oct. At Moshulu from 6pm till 10pm: - Alyssa's Wish - Black Atom - Deadloss Superstar - Hot Mangu - Quik - We Become Less DJs: Stephen + James WBL Comperes: Chris Robertson The band running order is to be decided on the day. Tickets can be bought on the door for only 4. They cannot be purchased in advance so make sure you get to the doors early so not only do you not miss the first act but also to ensure you actually get in. Yes, this gig could sell out! There will be a local band merchandise stall so if you want to sell your band's merchandise, fanzines etc then just bring it all along and we will sell it for you! Bandwidth Benefit Festival - Day 2 - Sunday, 12th Oct. At Dr. Drakes from 2pm till 12.00am: - Certainly Not The Worst - Emma Forman (acoustic set) - Gauche - Gumpy + Torn - Jo McCafferty - Orwell - One True Onion (acoustic set) - Pure Lead - Small Enclosed Area - Sirius - StewCat + friends (acoustic set) - The Deviadas DJs: AUBL DJs The band running order is to be decided on the day. Tickets can be bought on the door for only 3. They cannot be purchased in advance. There will be a local band merchandise stall so if you want to sell your band's merchandise, fanzines etc then just bring it all along and we will sell it for you! Bandwidth Benefit Festival - Day 3 - Thursday, 16th of Oct. At The Lemon Tree from 8pm till 12.00am: Covers Supergroup! (featuring members from Black Atom, The X-Certs among others) Emma Forman Onion Terror Useful Idiot Jody Cooper DJs: TBC The band running order is to be decided on the day. Tickets can be bought on the door for only 3. They cannot be purchased in advance. The details above are being updated all the time so please check this post often!

...can you please tell him the next meeting for the benefit festival has been confirmed for 8pm @ HJB's this Thursday (tomorrow). Many thanks!

This is a very good suggestion. Sure, this is a music related web site and I have no plans on changing that. But if there was a "links directory" then links like Nat suggested would make good additions to the directory along with more relevant links to band web sites/record labels/studios etc. I think it would make this web site look more "in touch" with the people who use it as well as give the site some sense of social responsibility. Yeah. Another one to add to the "to-do" list. Thanks Nat!