Greetings! If this is your first time to A Voice for Men, allow me to say welcome. If this is not your first time to A Voice for Men, you are probably having a WTF moment!
Indeed, as you can tell right now a lot has changed around here. And hold on to your seats, a lot more is about to change in the days ahead.
While we have all gone about our normal routines, our team has been hard at work re-envisioning and rebuilding AVFM from the ground up. And when I say from the ground up I mean that literally.
We have gone through some real trials recently, testing our patience and our budget to update the aesthetics and functionality of AVFM in order to freshen up the place and to bring you an enhanced user experience. There have been some harsh learning experiences. One web developer, OSS Media, took two thousand dollars of our money and accomplished exactly nothing. I have begun to look at web devs like I look at lawyers as a result – apologies to the handful of decent attorneys out there.
The frustrations have led to some rethinking. The team recently brainstormed and came up with an innovative approach that brings all of you into the fold on what happens as it happens.
What you are experiencing right now, as you read this, is a new technology platform for AVFM that was licenced with only one thing in mind.
Functionality.
The current visual “design” is nothing more than a template; one that we have invested heavily in, and one that we can change effortlessly, at will and instantaneously in real time — which we will be doing in all certainty as we rebuild this place in front of your eyes.
It is AVFM 2.1, a living springboard to AVFM 3.0, which will be a seamless, feature rich environment that will take AVFM to the next level in functionality and appearance. And it is coming to you courtesy of a team of individuals who wish not to be named, but who have provided the resources to do the things we have always dreamed of for this site.
It starts with the bones. The page you are reading now loaded 220% faster than the pages loaded the last time you were here. The beauty of this is that whatever additions and changes we bring to the site, and there will be many, it will retain the same speed and smoothness of operation.
As I said, there will be many changes to come. The site you are looking at now will not have the same look as the site you will see when we are finished. So if you hate this design, take heart, it is just a canvas over which a lot of painting will be done.
You can expect some awesomeness in the days ahead. Private messaging between registered users, self-hosted streaming video and radio, seamless integration with a new forum that Al Martin is developing as we speak, and an individuated news department that will bring your MHRM related news in a much more distinctive “newsy” presentation.
Soon you will be able to actually personalize AVFM according to your own taste, your location, and with the coming multilingual feature, your native language.
The site is also being redesigned with community building in mind. This will take FTSU to a whole new level. Each time you come to the site, you will see actionable items, from your selected location, and you will have ways to instantaneously connect with others that share your desire to get things done for men and boys.
The beauty of this is that we will not have to ask for a lot of your patience as we hammer and saw and kick up dust in the process. With the priority of functionality having been set from the beginning, all the changes should happen right in front of your eyes without so much as a hiccup.
I am very excited by what you are about to see, and I think you will be, too. Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions. We will be reading all of them and doing what we can to respond to your wishes for this community.
Congratulations, AVFM supporters, on another step forward for the Men’s Human Rights Community.
