The Evolution of boards.ie John Breslin Co-Founder boards.ie Ltd.

Past: Who Are We? A group of like-minded individuals who realised that we could provide a self-sufficient website for various Irish communities to discuss and interact on various topics Complementary skills , but at least two people share the necessary skills We’ve done our best to evolve the site based on community feedback and feature requests… So far, it’s all been part-time 

A group of like-minded individuals who realised that we could provide a self-sufficient website for various Irish communities to discuss and interact on various topics

Complementary skills , but at least two people share the necessary skills

We’ve done our best to evolve the site based on community feedback and feature requests…

So far, it’s all been part-time 

Past: History of the Boardsverse 1998 - 1 forum - 1 member (me!) - Began life on the Irish Games Network 2000 - 20 forums - 1,500 members – New branding and boards.ie Ltd. formed w/ DeVore, regi, Vexorg, tr1n1ty … ecksor … 2007 - 680 forums - 115k members – >7M posts - 5TB transfer per month

1998 - 1 forum - 1 member (me!) - Began life on the Irish Games Network

2000 - 20 forums - 1,500 members – New branding and boards.ie Ltd. formed

w/ DeVore, regi, Vexorg, tr1n1ty … ecksor

…

2007 - 680 forums - 115k members – >7M posts - 5TB transfer per month

Past: Boards Recognition Lots of recognition from the Irish web community and various media sources: Awards such as a Golden Spider (2001), a Zeddy (2001), three Net Visionaries (2004, 2005, 2006) Articles in magazines and books (French’s “dot ie”) Radio interviews on Today FM, references on RTÉ Radio 1’s “The Business”, and forum posts read out by Pat Kenny on “Today with PK” But we’ve never advertised – word of mouth, weblinks, Google searches lead to boards.ie

Lots of recognition from the Irish web community and various media sources:

Awards such as a Golden Spider (2001), a Zeddy (2001), three Net Visionaries (2004, 2005, 2006)

Articles in magazines and books (French’s “dot ie”)

Radio interviews on Today FM, references on RTÉ Radio 1’s “The Business”, and forum posts read out by Pat Kenny on “Today with PK”

But we’ve never advertised – word of mouth, weblinks, Google searches lead to boards.ie

Past: In the Press 2006-2007 = busiest press year yet… … for various reasons!

2006-2007 = busiest press year yet…

… for various reasons!

Past-Present: User Growth

Past-Present: Post Growth

Past-Present: Thread Growth

Past-Present: Forum Growth

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 1999-02-12 = 8095 Posts from 1998-02-12 to 1999-02-12 = +8095

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2000-02-12 = 46513 Posts from 1999-02-12 to 2000-02-12 = +38418

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2001-02-12 = 128506 Posts from 2000-02-12 to 2001-02-12 = +81993

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2002-02-12 = 343421 Posts from 2001-02-12 to 2002-02-12 = +214915

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2003-02-12 = 707163 Posts from 2002-02-12 to 2003-02-12 = +363742

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2004-02-12 = 1312105 Posts from 2003-02-12 to 2004-02-12 = +604942

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2005-02-12 = 2278655 Posts from 2004-02-12 to 2005-02-12 = +966550

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2006-02-12 = 4011389 Posts from 2005-02-12 to 2006-02-12 = +1732734

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2007-02-12 = 5902802 Posts from 2006-02-12 to 2007-02-12 = +1891413

Past-Present: Topic Evolution Post count as of 2007-09-20 = 7164234 Posts from 2007-02-12 to 2007-09-20 = +1261432

Past-Present: Topic Trends

Past-Present: Topic/Post Growth

Present: August 2007 Stats 1,554,695 Visits 757,398 Absolute Unique Visitors 10,668,185 Page Views 6.86 Average Page Views 00:08:34 Time on Site 43.65% Bounce Rate 41.18% New Visits

1,554,695 Visits

757,398 Absolute Unique Visitors

10,668,185 Page Views

6.86 Average Page Views

00:08:34 Time on Site

43.65% Bounce Rate

41.18% New Visits

Present: Where From?

Present: Boards Sections Discussion forums ranging from: … David Hasselhoff and Wanderly Wagon to Irish Skeptics and Conspiracy Theories (crazy people)! … but also normal stuff like Computers, For Sale, Games, Humour, Motors, Personal Issues, Politics, Soccer, Television, and even News / Media  Podcasts on current affairs, ents and tech Community-edited wiki on boards.ie culture Couple of hundred blogs and albums Classified ads subsite ( www.adverts.ie )

Discussion forums ranging from:

… David Hasselhoff and Wanderly Wagon to Irish Skeptics and Conspiracy Theories (crazy people)!

… but also normal stuff like Computers, For Sale, Games, Humour, Motors, Personal Issues, Politics, Soccer, Television, and even News / Media 

Podcasts on current affairs, ents and tech

Community-edited wiki on boards.ie culture

Couple of hundred blogs and albums

Classified ads subsite ( www.adverts.ie )

Boards Beers Hallowe'en Fancy Dress Party Local Beers Dublin Beers Boards Awards Gathering Cards People make images that they can produce in certain situations (trolling, flaming, etc.) Present: Boards Culture

Boards Beers

Hallowe'en Fancy Dress Party

Local Beers

Dublin Beers

Boards Awards

Gathering Cards

People make images that they can produce in certain situations (trolling, flaming, etc.)

Present: Boards Revenue Subscribers to services: e-mail, extra forums, photo albums, custom pictures, etc. Banner advertising: image adverts from Sales Online and text adverts from Google Adsense Commercial interaction forums: companies allow the boards.ie user base to comment on their products or services

Subscribers to services:

e-mail, extra forums, photo albums, custom pictures, etc.

Banner advertising:

image adverts from Sales Online and text adverts from Google Adsense

Commercial interaction forums:

companies allow the boards.ie user base to comment on their products or services

Present: Boards Infrastructure Load Balancer: Dual 733 MHz P3, 2 GB RAM, 130 GB HD Web 1: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1 Web 2: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1 Web 3: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1 Web 4: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1 Web 5: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1 DB 1: Dell 2850, Dual 2.8 GHz Xeon, 3 GB RAM, 3 x 73 GB SCSI HDs DB 2 (Inactive) : Dell 2850, Dual 2.8 GHz Xeon, 3 GB RAM, 3 x 73 GB SCSI HDs File Storage: 1 TB (8 x 160 GB SATA HDs) Subsites: HP DL380 G4, Dual 3.2 GHz Xeon, 2 GB RAM, 3 x 73 GB SCSI HDs Repository: Lower Spec, 768 MB RAM, 30 GB HD Forthcoming DB: 2 x Quad Core Xeon (8 Processor Cores), 16 GB RAM, 4 x 146 GB HDs, RAID 1+0

Load Balancer: Dual 733 MHz P3, 2 GB RAM, 130 GB HD

Web 1: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1

Web 2: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1

Web 3: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1

Web 4: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1

Web 5: Dell 860, Xeon 3050, 1 GB RAM, 2 x 80 GB HDs, RAID 1

DB 1: Dell 2850, Dual 2.8 GHz Xeon, 3 GB RAM, 3 x 73 GB SCSI HDs

DB 2 (Inactive) : Dell 2850, Dual 2.8 GHz Xeon, 3 GB RAM, 3 x 73 GB SCSI HDs

File Storage: 1 TB (8 x 160 GB SATA HDs)

Subsites: HP DL380 G4, Dual 3.2 GHz Xeon, 2 GB RAM, 3 x 73 GB SCSI HDs

Repository: Lower Spec, 768 MB RAM, 30 GB HD

Forthcoming DB: 2 x Quad Core Xeon (8 Processor Cores), 16 GB RAM, 4 x 146 GB HDs, RAID 1+0

Future: social.ie A social network for Ireland Using the same userbase as boards.ie Blogs Buddies Groups Events Images

A social network for Ireland

Using the same userbase as boards.ie

Blogs

Buddies

Groups

Events

Images

Future: social.ie (2)

Future: More Boards

Questions and Answers ?

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