[Seamaiden]

New Name, New URL, New Ownership...and more!

Add-ons Mirror
...The Next Generation of The Extensions Mirror



Old Web Site: extensionsmirror.nl



New Web Site: http://addonsmirror.net
New Forum: http://forum.addonsmirror.net
New Wiki: http://wiki.addonsmirror.net

Many of you have come to depend on The Extensions Mirror for extensions and themes, both old and new. While many of our official listings are still outdated, our goal is to bring ALL of them up to the latest versions. Since our site (TEM/AMI) has been going offline for extended periods, we wanted to provide our extension and theme authors and all members of the Mozilla community with an explanation.

We are not and never have been a competitor of Mozilla Add-ons (AMO) and mozillaZine Forums (MZF). We are another mirror site where authors can submit their work and members of the Mozilla community can find extensions and themes for Mozilla programs (Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Sunbird) and Mozilla-based programs (Flock, Netscape, Nvu, KompoZer, Songbird, eMusic Remote). We are not affiliated with the Mozilla Foundation, AMO or MZF; but we proudly support them and are happy to work with them.

We have made changes to our administrative staff, moderating staff and web hosting companies, so the site may be temporarily unavailable at times. Ken Saunders was working with us and offered us free web hosting but has since withdrawn that offer and decided not to help us. He is welcome at the site at any time. No hard feelings. Michael Buckley is still helping us on a limited basis. He has many responsibilities elsewhere.

We were offered free web hosting on a dedicated server by Sheppard, but that did not working out as planned due to some configuration problems, so we've had to go through a web hosting company. Sheppard is still providing server-side support for us, and he is not charging us for the hosting. However he must pay $59.85 USD ($77 AUD) every 3 months. We should try to raise donations to help with the cost. I will get a PayPal button on the site, wiki and forum soon.

There is a redirect from the old site to the new one. However, the amount of traffic on the old site (extensionsmirror.nl) keeps overloading the server (same problem we had before with shared hosting), so the hosting company keeps blocking access to that site. We apologize for this inconvenience, but there is not much we can do about it. I worry that the same problem will eventually occur with the new site (addonsmirror.net) and its subdomains.

Finances are extremely limited, and because of the technical requirements we have, we are unable to use any web hoster that uses CPANEL. The site also requires a lot of disk space and bandwidth, and this will just keep growing. Ideally, we would like to have hosting on a dedicated server, but that just is not possible right now. We are doing the best we can with the resources available.

CHANGE OF NAME / CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP

The Extensions Mirror (TEM) will now be known as Add-ons Mirror (AMI). Add-ons include more than just extensions, and TEM/AMI also handles themes. In the future, we might also have sections for plug-ins and search plug-ins.

Samir Boulema, the founder of TEM, is stepping down and handing the reins over to Jane Ocean (Seamaiden). He will continue to be part of the community but on a very limited basis. Sheppard will be our webmaster and support tech. The hierarchy of admins is as follows.

1) Seamaiden: Jane Ocean
2) Sheppard: John Sheppard
3) Sboulema: Samir Boulema

SERVER AND DOMAIN TRANSITION

This web site will be offline starting Tuesday, May 29 at 12:00am Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). It will take about a week to transition to the new server and get the forum set up again. The forum is already installed at its new home. There are still several broken links, but we are trying to update them all to the new URL. We will also be setting up a wiki to complement our official add-on listings in the forum. It has been installed, but we are working on writing rules and addressing security concerns.


SUBDOMAINS

Oceans of Freeware will be redesigned to make it more attractive and more efficient. It will not be online again for quite some time. Jane also plans to create a personal page at some point. Visit the AMI homepage for more information as it becomes available.



We know that this transition has been taking a while... This is because lack of time and lack of money. We reviewed several hosting companies and plans before reaching this decision. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this transition.



This notice has also been posted at mozillaZine Forums.



TO DO LIST

Quote

• Fix the subdomains.
  
• Move the forum to a subdomain and install the wiki on another subdomain.
  
• Create a short homepage for the main site with links to the subdomains.
  
• Fix the problems on the Portal.
  • We cannot create new custom blocks on the Portal.
    
  • Latest Posts mod needs to be re-applied.
    
  • Other theme/skin tweaks that affect the portal need to be redone.
  
  
• Install the bump topic mod on the forum.
  
• Remove the image reduction mod from the forum and use the built-in image reduction feature instead.
  
• Create ftp accounts for the admins and moderators on the main site and on each applicable subdomain.
  
• Update the URL in custom BBCode area for internal download/install tags to "http://forum.addonsmirror.net..."
  
• Update all remaining links on the forum from "http://extensionsmirror.nl" OR "http://www.extensionsmirror.nl" to "http://forum.addonsmirror.net". Also, add /ext/ to all the links.
  
• Add Rules & Disclaimers forum for license information, copyright & trademark disclaimers, and other legal issues.
  
• Draft formal rules and disclaimer.
  
• Add IPB link in forum footer to post in Rules & Disclaimers forum.
  
• Add support forum for the site, forum and wiki issues and account issues.
  
• Add Graphic Design forum in Discussions.
  
• Add links for Homepage and Wiki to the top of the forum (all 3 forum skins)
  
• Change user group name 'Extensions & Themes Moderator' to 'Add-ons Moderator'
  
• Repair RSS feeds.
  
• Find out why smileys do not always display in posts. (Our custom emoticons for applications always display and are not affected by this.)
  
• Design layout and fields for an add-on template for the wiki.
  
• Migrate forum listings to the wiki one at a time while updating files and links on the server (old server format to new alphanumeric format).

Please list any other bugs as you find them so we can be aware of them. Thank you.

And if you would like to suggest changes or other improvements to the site or forum, feel free to discuss them in the new Administration forum.

This post has been edited by Seamaiden: 03 August 2008 - 07:49 PM

[Sheppard]

Thank you, Jane, for that brief introduction of the new hosting. Yes, I will be continuing hosting...this time for *free*...and this time on a dedicated server of my own. We are bypassing the middleman. So once again, all server issues should be sent to me before any other staff member.

My previous Sheppard account was deleted, so I will probably have to repost some information again. I am glad to be back on the administrative staff and will be receiving training from Jane to be an Extensions Moderator. I would like to thank the AMI (TEM) Community for giving me a 2nd chance to prove that I can actually do it this time. I would especially like to thank Jane and Samir for giving me the role as 2nd Admin.

Let me clean the slate and make a global apology to everyone that I may have made feel uneasy about me. Most of those problems were not my fault but that of the hosting company. If anyone has any issues with me, please contact me privately so we can resolve them.

[Sboulema]

Let's hope that this will bring an end to a troublesome time for TEM. With the new dedicated hosting and a new name we can make a fresh start and finally focus on enhancing the content.

I wish Seamaiden and Sheppard all the best luck to continue a wonderful job. I will still be around, but expect to see not much of me. I'll linger around backstage seeing how the site will grow under the new management.

Good luck to all of you!

[Tony Mechelynck]

Sboulema, on May 28 2007, 14:45, said:

Good luck to all of you!

I second that.

[keithy397]

That's a good start, the links to the new site don't work.

Samir, you did a great job here, you've left big boot prints that'll be hard to fill. Good luck.

Much has been said here over the past months about the resurgence of TEM but sod all has been done. There was a flurry of updating extensions then nothing, for various reasons of absence. The last time any admin/mod or whatever upated a Firefox extension was 5th May, over 3 weeks ago, and it was just 1 extension, 2 on the 4th, 3 on the 3rd then you have to go back to 19th April, another 3 week gap.

I always used to come here to look for and/or update my extensions or just have a 'chat' in the discussions but over the past 6 - 12 months I've hardly bothered because so much is out of date here. Therefore, I'm spending much of my research time in AMO, once considered 'friendly' rivals here.

I hope you can do what you say and turn this site around and lure back some of the great guys that used to frequent these forums, with knowledge in abundance.

Actions speak louder than words guys, good luck to you too.

[Sheppard]

keithy397, on May 28 2007, 22:59, said:

That's a good start, the links to the new site don't work.

Seamaiden, on Apr 14 2007, 9:09, said:

SERVER AND DOMAIN TRANSITION

This web site will be offline starting Tuesday, May 29 at 12:00am Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). It will take about a week to transition to the new server and get the forum set up again. We will also be setting up a wiki to complement our official add-on listings in the forum.

[Seamaiden]

No pages for the new site have been designed yet. We will be working on that. Sorry I have been away from the forum for several weeks. I had to take care of personal business and have had several weeks of illness. I'm still not recovered but circumstances have forced me to return early.

We will also need new banners for AMI if there are any graphic designers who'd like to work on that. Here are some ideas. "Add-ons Mirror" should be largest. The other lines should be smaller.

Add-ons Mirror
The "new" Extensions Mirror


Add-ons Mirror
The next generation of The Extensions Mirror

Add-ons Mirror
the next generation of
The Extensions Mirror

[Minipouss]

Good luck to you Jane and John.

Please continue the good work Samir and Maxx have done.

I really like TEM (the new name AMI is great because it means friend in french !!! :) ) and will continue to read you as my first Add-On site for Fx and TB (and Sunbird)

[Seamaiden]

AMO = The "official" Mozilla Add-ons site

AMI = Add-ons Mirror, the TEM

[Tony Mechelynck]

keithy397, on May 28 2007, 15:29, said:

Actions speak louder than words guys, good luck to you too.

TEM is in need of people willing to put in the man-hours required to keep it up-to-date. Are you ready to put your hands where your mouth is and (when the site will be back up) help updating whatever is outdated, rather than just griping about it?

This post has been edited by Tony Mechelynck: 28 May 2007 - 07:37 AM

[keithy397]

Tony Mechelynck, on May 28 2007, 15:29, said:

Are you ready to put your hands where your mouth is and (when the site will be back up) help updating whatever is outdated, rather than just griping about it?

I helped Samir out in the early days and have supported this forum since I joined nearly 3 years ago. I want this forum to succeed but I'm not going to patronise because it may look good.

Apart from talking about something you know nothing about, what's your contribution?

This post has been edited by keithy397: 28 May 2007 - 08:08 AM

[Sheppard]

Ok come on guys, please don't fight. You've only got 16 hrs till the server goes offline and anyways I'm going to bed for once, got an exam tomorrow. Actually now that I look at the time, it's today. anyway night.

[Tony Mechelynck]

keithy397, on May 28 2007, 17:07, said:

Apart from talking about something you know nothing about, what's your contribution?

I've been helping with setting up a few extensions and themes. I don't have much time to dedicate to TEM but I also don't kvetch about work not being done; and if I'm called to answer a moderating question I do. So apart from talking about something you know nothing about (but could have found out by going to my profile and clicking "Recent Posts"), what have you done recently to help correct the situation you're whining about?

[Tony Mechelynck]

Sheppard, on May 28 2007, 17:13, said:

Ok come on guys please don't fight you've only got 16 hrs till the server goes offline [...]

Not fighting, just friendly arguing. No bad feelings on my part.

[Sheppard]

The transition is 40% complete

[Minipouss]

Faster than you thought?

[Sheppard]

Yes and only 19 minutes till the server goes offline.

[Sheppard]

Ok New Server ONLINE! Only a few things left such as uploading the /ext/ folder for all the extensions and themes! Should be back online shortly

[Minipouss]

I'm here.

Well done AMI team :)

[Sheppard]

Yes I was glad I did it in the end.