Zero2Cool
15 years ago
Green Bay Press-Gazette and PackerForum
In 2004 I attempted to combine two passions, the Green Bay Packers and website/discussion board development. At that time PackersNews.com (Green Bay Press-Gazette) forum was using ColdFusion software which was primitive and expensive. I offered to upgrade it for free which they declined. I found PF which was using phpBB2, a software I knew well and enjoyed. Fortunately, Ryan (owner of PF) masterfully turned many of my suggestions into a very popular discussion board that years later he would eventually sell.

Packers Highlight Videos
The 2006 season is when I started creating (6-10 minute) highlight videos of the Packers seasons. I wanted to capture Brett Favre's last season and provide those who couldn't see the game with more than the 10 second SportsCenter clips. The NFL warned through YouTube they would prosecute if the videos were not removed. This would lead into creating a Packers site to host the videos so they could be available to whomever would like to view them.

PackersHome
In addition to highlight videos, I wanted to give fans a small friendly place where they could freely discuss the Packers while having an array of unique features we don't often see with your typical run-of-the-mill fan site. I searched up and down for a new software to learn and settled with DragonFly CMS. When the site first went online in October 2006 it was under the domain www.DailyPackers.com (as suggested by tromadz). That name was good, but I wanted something more 'home' and thus www.PackersHome.com was born.

Platform Evolution
14 Oct 2006 - [php] DragonFly CMS
19 May 2011 - [asp.net] DotNetNuke & YAF
05 July 2012 - [asp.net]Custom ASP.Net & YAF
04 Sep 2013 - [asp.net] Custom ASP.Net & YAF & Bootstrap





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Porforis
15 years ago
I'm sure you'll have a second segment to this story to add after this season's up.

I've got a few questions that I find interesting and someone else might as well... My apologies if these answers exist elsewhere (poked around a few different boards for a few minutes), but I think they're quite relevant to this topic.

1. Where is your server? Do you have a fat pipe going to your/another staff member's house and are running your server there, or is the server at a colo?
2. Do you personally deal with server maintenance/updates/etc, or are you strictly the code monkey and chief peace keeper?
3. Did you learn from any mistakes on your previous boards that have made a special impact on the development and growth of PackersHome?
Zero2Cool
15 years ago
Interesting array of questions you have ...

1.) Locked away in a super secret location. 🙂 Colo
2.) Code monkey? Jeepers ... I believe the first question's answer answers this one as well.
3.) I learned a great deal from previous boards and mistakes made with them. The growth of PackersHome has come from within. Primarily there was a nice kick in the pants when a previous website that I used to frequent was sold to a non-Packers fan owner. The core group of those members came here and it's been an upward swing ever since.
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dhpackr
15 years ago
had no idea u and trom were kronies. what that dork knows about football u could stick o the head of a pin.

whats with the Bio????
So if you meet me Have some courtesy, Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse, Or I'll lay your soul to waste
Zero2Cool
13 years ago
Hello Everyone,

A little background information on myself to start things off. The first discussion board that I developed was for a company called Worr Games Paintball out of California in 2002. I chose phpBB2 software. The site flourished with over 15,000 users at its unfortunate demise. I was hired by a fellow gamer (who was an exec with WGP) to develop and to moderate the website. From what I was told, WGP was bought out by K2 and K2 refused to have a non professional web designer on their payroll. They said they loved the work that I had done, but had to go in 'a different direction'. They tried to maintain the integrity of the board. The new admin and staff was unable to maintain control and ultimately the higher ups felt it was giving WGP a bad name and shut it down. The site lasted three or four years under my admin, less than a month under the professionals.

In 2003 I began receiving offers by several gaming team leaders to develop websites and discussion boards for their respective teams. I learned phpNuke, Post Nuke and several other CMS software and HTML in the process. It also started my foundation for loving to be a code monkey that later played a significant role in deciding my career path.

In 2004 I discovered PackersNews.com boards and were they ever terrible! It was slow, poor design and no consistent admin or moderator to speak of. I offered my services to upgrade and if needed, help moderate. They were worried about cost (They were using I believe ColdFusion and paid DEARLY for it too). I informed them the software was free as were my services and I would even do the work at their location of choice. I never head back from them. Thanks Julie!

Later that same year I came across PF a phpBB2 software based Packers site!! Pay dirt! I could talk Packers on a smooth running, quick forum that I was familiar with and it had a rocking admin to boot. I had ambitions to develop my own Packers themed site for awhile, but with my recent discovery, I put the dream on hold. Going to college also assisted that decision. I threw tons of suggestions/ideas at the owner and eventually drove him bonkers at no fault of his own. I was overly persistent and at times mistakenly feeling my ideas were supreme.

In 2006 I started recording Packers games for the purpose of capturing Brett's final season. I started editing them into short 6-10 minute highlight reels and posting them on YouTube.com. The NFL contacted myself through YouTube staff warning me they would prosecute if they were not removed. They did the removing for me and destroyed my account. That was the final straw. I wanted the videos to be available to anyone who wanted them, it left me with no other option. I had to find a host and start development on my own Packers website.

In October 2006, I searched up and down for a decent software to develop the website. I already had vast experience with phpBB2, php nuke and post nuke among a few others. I desired something new, different perhaps, a new challenge. I came across DragonFly CMS, which coincidently was the same software that eventually powered PF. That bothered me as I wanted to offer something that Packers fans couldn't find elsewhere. I really bought into the features and versatility of the software. I was familiar with the foundation of DragonFly CMS and with that decided I would put forth my best effort to make the site unique if at all possible. Anyone who knows anything about CMS based websites knows how difficult that can be as they are all very similar cosmetically. Even more so when you are limiting your options to a specific color pallete.

Selecting the right name was not an easy task. Tromadz came up with DailyPackers.com. I grew fond of it immediately. We started using that for some time. I had my reservations as I felt the name should begin with the word "Packers". The direction I had envisioned for the website was a place members could call home for Packers discussion. Thus, PackersHome.com was born.

The vision for PackersHome.com was to start off small and let word of mouth transpire the website into whatever it may grow into. The main attraction was the highlight videos and live play by play. Traffic was coming in, but not many were staying around. There were a handful of loyal members who contributed and I was satisfied with that. The five year plan was in effect and going accordingly.

Early June of 2008, PackOne contacted me with a proposition on methods to increase traffic. Increasing the traffic wasn't a priority of PackersHome.com at that point. He had several suggestions and a passion that truly inspired me. The best thing about his suggestions is they worked! PackersHome.com was growing on a steady pace nearly topping 400 members. A total I wasn't predicting to top until the first half of the 2008 NFL season.


... to be continued






PackersHome has gone through quite a few changes since the last entry and most recently one very dramatic change.

PackersHome was originally developed in a PHP language using MySQL for a database on a Linux operating system. This was something new and interesting to develop in. It presented several challenges and ultimately the CMS used, DragonFly ceased to provide updates.

January 2011, we were shut down on suspicion of being a source of email spam. This was immediately proved inaccurate and the site was restored, however, again we were shut down for the same accusation in May 2011. Saying I was furious over this would be a drastic understatement. We had started the process of getting the new platform ready for take over and the plan was to have a full transition completed during the Summer of 2012 at the earliest. Being shut down twice in four months was unacceptable, and the transition was undertaken in two days, rather than six months to a year. It was a bumpy ride and there's still some bumps.

The transition was forced to avoid hitting PackersHome only to find out that it's been shut down again. That's unstable, inconsistent and again, unacceptable.

PackersHome is now using DotNetNuke with YetAnotherForum plugin for the forums. It's purely C# and ASP.NET with a SQL database on a Windows operating machine. This means, the functions and features that can be developed from the PackersHome team are virtually endless, providing time and skill of course.

PackersHome is implementing a new direction with off site articles being posted in summary or entirety. Previously full off site article posting was agreeable if source link was provided. Surprisingly enough in this day of age, some "editors" fail to understand the hierarchical benefit of other sites spreading their material to more eyes at no financial cost to them. PackersHome's goal is to have its members be more interactive.

Unfortunately, PackersHome will not be creating videos of Packers games anymore. The time to piece together ~7 minutes of highlights became too much effort to merit it's minimal use.



... to be continued
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Fan Shout
dfosterf (3-Jul) : Make sure to send my props to him! A plus move!
Zero2Cool (3-Jul) : My cousin, yes.
dfosterf (3-Jul) : That was your brother the GB press gazette referenced with the red cross draft props thing, yes?
Zero2Cool (2-Jul) : Packers gonna unveil new throwback helmet in few weeks.
Mucky Tundra (2-Jul) : I know it's Kleiman but this stuff writes itself
Mucky Tundra (2-Jul) : "Make sure she signs the NDA before asking for a Happy Ending!"
Mucky Tundra (2-Jul) : @NFL_DovKleiman Powerful: Deshaun Watson is taking Shedeur Sanders 'under his wing' as a mentor to the Browns QBs
Zero2Cool (30-Jun) : Dolphins get (back) Minkah Fitzpatrick in trade
Zero2Cool (30-Jun) : Steelers land Jalen Ramsey via Trade
dfosterf (26-Jun) : I think it would be great to have someone like Tom Grossi or Andy Herman on the Board of Directors so he/they could inform us
dfosterf (26-Jun) : Fair enough, WPR. Thing is, I have been a long time advocate to at least have some inkling of the dynamics within the board.
wpr (26-Jun) : 1st world owners/stockholders problems dfosterf.
Martha Careful (25-Jun) : I would have otherwise admirably served
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Also, no more provision for a write-in candidate, so Martha is off the table at least for this year
dfosterf (25-Jun) : You do have to interpret the boring fine print, but all stockholders all see he is on the ballot
dfosterf (25-Jun) : It also says he is subject to another ballot in 2028. I recall nothing of this nature with Murphy
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Ed Policy is on my ballot subject to me penciling him in as a no.
dfosterf (25-Jun) : I thought it used to be we voted for the whatever they called the 45, and then they voted for the seven, and then they voted for Mark Murphy
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Because I was too lazy to change my address, I haven't voted fot years until this year
dfosterf (25-Jun) : of the folks that run this team. I do not recall Mark Murphy being subject to our vote.
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Ed Policy yay or nay is on the pre-approved ballot that we always approve because we are uninformed and lazy, along with all the rest
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Weird question. Very esoteric. For stockholders. Also lengthy. Sorry. Offseason.
Zero2Cool (25-Jun) : Maybe wicked wind chill made it worse?
Mucky Tundra (25-Jun) : And then he signs with Cleveland in the offseason
Mucky Tundra (25-Jun) : @SharpFootball WR Diontae Johnson just admitted he refused to enter a game in 41° weather last year in Baltimore because he felt “ice cold”
Zero2Cool (24-Jun) : Yawn. Rodgers says he is "pretty sure" this be final season.
Zero2Cool (23-Jun) : PFT claims Packers are having extension talks with Zach Tom, Quay Walker.
Mucky Tundra (20-Jun) : GB-Minnesota 2004 Wild Card game popped up on my YouTube page....UGH
beast (20-Jun) : Hmm 🤔 re-signing Walker before Tom? Sounds highly questionable to me.
Mucky Tundra (19-Jun) : One person on Twitter=cannon law
Zero2Cool (19-Jun) : Well, to ONE person on Tweeter
Zero2Cool (19-Jun) : According to Tweeter
Zero2Cool (19-Jun) : Packers are working on extension for LT Walker they hope to have done before camp
dfosterf (18-Jun) : E4B landed at Andrews last night
dfosterf (18-Jun) : 101 in a 60
dfosterf (18-Jun) : FAFO
Zero2Cool (18-Jun) : one year $4m with incentives to make it up to $6m
dfosterf (18-Jun) : Or Lions
dfosterf (18-Jun) : Beats the hell out of a Vikings signing
Zero2Cool (18-Jun) : Baltimore Ravens now have signed former Packers CB Jaire Alexander.
dfosterf (14-Jun) : TWO magnificent strikes for touchdowns. Lose the pennstate semigeezer non nfl backup
dfosterf (14-Jun) : There was minicamp Thursday. My man Taylor Engersma threw
dfosterf (11-Jun) : There will be a mini camp practice Thursday.
Zero2Cool (11-Jun) : He's been sporting a ring for a while now. It's probably Madonna.
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : We only do the tea before whoopee, it relaxes me.
wpr (10-Jun) : That's awesome Martha.
Mucky Tundra (10-Jun) : How's the ayahuasca tea he makes, Martha?
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : Turns out he like older women
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : I wasn't supposed to say anything, but yes the word is out and we are happy 😂😂😂
Mucky Tundra (10-Jun) : I might be late on this but Aaron Rodgers is now married
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