CADTutor Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Review of the year 2009 2009 was another successful year at CADTutor. Traffic to the site continued to rise although more slowly than in previous years. My guess is that this is down to the global recession. Many people visit CADTutor while at work for help and advice and I’m aware that many of you lost your job this year or are still looking for work since last year. I wish you the best of luck in finding new work in 2010. 2009 was a successful and stable year for the site with most things continuing unchanged. I know that will have suited most of you. There were some major changes behind the scenes. In late March, the site moved to a dedicated server and this has improved performance and set us up for more adventurous things in the future. Of course, Michael Beall delivered another 12 cracking monthly articles full of tips and tricks to help improve your productivity with AutoCAD and he’ll continue to do that in 2010 - thank you Michael! Probably the most obvious change has been the introduction of video tutorials. I made a few experimental ones during the summer and they proved very popular. I have now added a few more (currently 13) and there are more planned for the future. This is clearly a way forward; of the top 10 most popular tutorials on the site, 6 of them are video tutorials. Our new dedicated server means that we can easily stream this video content without affecting site performance in other areas. On the back of the video tutorials, we now have our own YouTube channel and we’ve embraced the social web with a group on Facebook and a Twitter page. I don’t intend that these will become an end in themselves; it’s mainly a way of publicising the main CADTutor site and that will always be my main focus. Towards the end of the year I’ve been experimenting with some new advertisement formats and this is likely to continue into next year. The intention is to optimise the revenue from ad placements without overcrowding the site. No one likes ads but in our case they are necessary and help to pay for hosting and software upgrades etc. The forum has received only minor bug release and security upgrades this year but no new functionality. That’s all due to change in the New Year. Some of you may be aware that the developers of our forum software (vBulletin) recently released a major new version (4.0) and I plan to upgrade this forum to the new version in early February. The new version brings a whole host of new features that will help both members and moderators. I’ll publish more details nearer the time. As ever, the forum has been the driving force of the site and I would like to thank all our loyal members and the hard-working moderators for their support throughout 2009. I could make a long list of special mentions because as our community has grown, so has the core of special friends and helpers who make the place what it is. However, I’m just going to make one. For some reason, ReMark has taken it upon himself to help as many people as possible and he deserves a special "thank you". If we had a "member of the year" award, he’d get it, but we don’t so a special mention will have to do. 2010 will be our 10th birthday - although bits of the site existed before that, the CADTutor.net domain was registered in 2000 and so we’ll plan something special for that. Happy New Year to you all and here’s to a more prosperous and productive year in 2010! Kind regards, David (CADTutor) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Upon reading the above a few words spring to mind such as flabbergasted, honored and humbled (very much so). I'm really speechless at the moment. Thank you David. And thank you too to all the active members who have inspired, admonished, guided and challenged me the past year. You guys and gals are the best at what you do and truely exemplify the meaning of the words friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Here's looking to a new year filled with new challenges and the continued success of the CADTutor website. Cheers mates! ReMark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Mac Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Thanks David, for that great review, and for a successful 2009, as far as server upgrades/maintenance is concerned. I eagerly look forward to the new vBulletin software, and to a prosperous 2010! Congrats ReMark on member of the year! Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADMASTER1128 Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Thanks David for this update on the site! I have to make a comment about ReMark. I have to say that he is one of the most helpful members I have found on this site. Between him and a few other members (like LeeMac and StykFacE) of the CADTutor community my AutoCAD Knowledge has exploded. I am hoping that 2010 will be a good year for the site, and everyone who uses it! And in the spirit of Joke master ReMark: I wonder if the vBulletin software (4.0) will have a ribbon!! HAHA GOD BLESS ALL and may the New Year be bright! -Steven Huseman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Thank you David for giving us this site and for all of your hard work in helping people learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankman Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Thank you David for the site and all your time making it work. A great help to all who join the forums or, just stop by and visit occasionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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