State-of-the-Project Addresses, beginning with 2004's first annual Options

[agrippa]

Agrippa’s First Annual State-of-the-Project Address

My fellow ferrets:

This is the first state-of-the-project address. I plan to write one annually from this point forward. Project Ferret started as a small idea arising from the first Potter Project at SnitchSeeker, and I am continually amazed by what this site has become. But before I get to the data, I would like to begin by thanking the people who made and continue to make this site possible.

My co-founders were Evlpez and Vlad. They helped me with much of the visioning work – everything from the basic structure of the site to the funny titles that change as you make more posts. We then began to e-mail people from the PP1 that we thought would enjoy the site, and we began to grow. Some of those early members included Ronsmyman, McGonagall’s Cat, and Zymurgy.

Shortly after the founding, Vlad had to give up PF for personal reasons. McGonagall’s Cat took up a moderator post and later joined the admin team. Zym became a moderator later. All of these people deserve our deepest thanks for their time and dedication.

It costs nothing for anyone to join Project Ferret. However – as you can imagine – web hosting, domain registration, and (of course) the prizes do cost us something. In addition to the time they dedicate to the site, the admin team also foots the bill for all of these things. I’m glad to chip in my part, but I definitely couldn’t do this alone.

As of December 6, 2004 (the final day of our anniversary duel), there have been 10,691 posts made to the board. (The number at the bottom of the main pages shows less, but it doesn’t count deleted posts.) There are 280 individual topics on the board, and 305 members, although two of them are me. (I have a second account that’s registered as a “ferret fan” so I can make sure things are working right.) We are consistently in the top 20 and often in the top 10 at HPANA’s links list. We have hosted 19 duels and helped SnitchSeeker with the second Potter Project.

The site itself has had quite a face-lift since its beginnings. As I’ve learned more and more about PHP and the Invision PowerBoard software, we’ve added a splash screen complete with flash animation, a trivia games section, and our own proprietary voting software. (I’m especially proud of that last one, since I coded it from scratch.)

This place is a wonderful, warm place full of great and supportive writers. As I look toward the future, I am sure that we will continue to grow in new and surprising ways. As I write, Evlpez, McGonagall’s Cat, Zymurgy, StarWalker, and myself are working on the details behind PF’s first collaborative novel, Journey to Hogwarts, which we hope to have completed by next fall.

Thank you for being a part of this great adventure. You – each of you – are what makes this project worth doing. Merlin bless Project Ferret.

Faithfully ferret-like,
Agrippa
Site Owner, projectferret.org