Buckle in and grab hold of your butts, this is going to be a long read! China aint got nothing on me. Hello b.net or rather the SIP side of b.net. It's been AGES since we've last seen any form of update or announcement on these sides of our forums. I'm happy to say that all are not forgotten here and I'm planning on keeping those of you still left in the know. Before I get things started off, I'd just like to make it clear that we are still fully supporting spartan1project.com/. All game discussions and achievement teams are still 100% housed on our main site.. We did however, realize that there are still several of you that didn't move with us and are still active in the b.net community. It would be sad for those that follow this giant known as SIP to not have a chance to see how we're doing and what we've been up to. What really got me thinking of b.net again was a recent and major milestone. We finally hit 1k members on the main site. When I first saw that number, it brought me sweet nostalgia. That feeling I once felt when we hit 1k b.net members I was once again experiencing. It was a special moment. A moment where we realized we were succeeding as a community despite the scary venture off-site. In this moment, I also realized that we wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for bungie. The fact that we reached 10k members is mind blowing and we owe all of our current success to the members that supported us whether they moved with us or not. We wouldn't be where we are right now if it wasn't for b.net SIP. While we aren't anywhere near 10k members off-site, we hope that someday we can reach that same milestone. We also hope that you'll be there with us to celebrate. Anyone that follows us or is still a member of SIP, we thank you. So, enough with the soppy stuff. I'm here to inform you guys. To update you on the wonderful ventures of the unique group of people we like to call SIPians. They're a gentle bunch. A bunch that serves one purpose.. EARN [b][u]ALL[/u][/b] THE ACHIEVEMENTS. If you aren't too sure what we're all about, let me first point you to [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2612.0]this here magic portal.[/url] Don't be scared, it's just some harmless text inside...[b]and a trap.[/b] [b]Please, I know this post is long but stick through it. Don't listen to your brain telling you to stop as the result of blood pouring from the sockets of your eyes. It doesn't know what it's talking about.[/b] [b]***Achievement Team Milestones***[/b] We're going to start your being in the know with a list of some milestones we've hit since moving off site. More specifically, milestones that were made with our Achievement Teams. Anyone that knows SIP shouldn't at all be surprised that we like our milestones. It also shouldn't shock you at how ridiculously high some of these numbers are. SIP loves helping people and sometimes we've got to recognize those that volunteer their time for us. We like to give credit where credit is due and these members have certainly earned it: [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2902.0]Jat666: 100 Deja Vu Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2610.0]Highwaymen (Deja Vu Achievement Team): 1000 Total Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2605.0]SovietBeatle: 400 '200k point' Firefight Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2646.0]PeasAreEvil: 50 '200k point' Firefight Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2339.0]SlashingArbiter: 300 '200k point' Firefight Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2311.0]Reaper: 300 '200k point' Firefight Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2250.0]SlashingArbiter: 100 Endure Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2238.0]Breq: 350 Deja Vu Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2525.0]HellRazor1281: 200 '200k point' Firefight Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=1802.0]ContactTango: 700 Annual Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2115.0]Killagruntjaro: 50 Deja Vu Achievement Runs[/url] [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2115.0]jim97: 50 Deja Vu Achievement Runs[/url] I would seriously add up the amount of time that was spent on just those milestones alone but I'm horrible at math. Let's just say you take the average amount of time it takes to do a given achievement..subtract several minutes from that number (because those guys are awesome and very effecient when it comes to achievement runs) and then multiply it by how many runs is next to their name. Hopefully you get the picture. [b]***Site Milestones and Statistics***[/b] Those numbers above are impressive so let me flex my other muscle and provide you with some site specific statistics: Total Members: 1,094 Total Posts: 115,547 Total Topics: 2681 Total Page Views: 3,048,088 Average Posts Per Day: 193.62 Spam Thread Post Count: 30,117 (if that doesn't bring back sweet memories, I don't know what will) While these aren't the biggest numbers in existence, we could have never dreamed of being so well off since moving off site. We were basically starting from square one with an initial boost from our current b.net members. There was a sense of uncertainty that we'd be operating at the same level of activity especially with mixed feelings from various members about the move. Fortunately, I'm happy to say that we've maintained and improved on what we had here on b.net. We haven't slowed down one bit. [b]***Premium Membership***[/b] While we are on the subject of site statistics, I'd like to bring something up. Those numbers you see are real. So real, that we have site costs to keep up with them. It isn't free to host our own site and we like to offer prizes when we throw a contest. Because of these costs, we need some way of earning site income. To help with this, we've had to implement a couple of solutions. The first being ads. While they aren't currently set up, there will be ads in the future. We are a completely non profit site. Because of this, site costs can be hard to cover. For those that love what we do but hate advertisements with a passion but are still looking to donate in some way, we've introduced premium memberships. This in no way is required to be a part of our forums. The achievement teams are all still available and every discussion that basic members have permissions to view are still accessible. The things that change with a premium membership is the removal of advertisements and access to some exclusive goodies. The biggest and most popular goodie would be a site shoutbox. SIP loves to spam and boy did it get crazy when the shoutbox was introduced. All site income goes directly back into the community. Everything is first funneled into paying server costs. Any left over money is used for contest prizes and such. If you're still feeling a little iffy about the whole thing, feel free to read our official discussion about the matter. [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2750.0]SIP Premium Subscriptions[/url] [b]***Conclusion***[/b] Alrighty it's time to conclude this morbidly overweight puppy. I promise to lay off on the dog treats next week. I felt it was important to provide a conglomeration of information for those that haven't been following us since our move. Pretty much all of the above is a summary of our experience since leaving b.net. A lot has happened and we've been growing as the years go. Next weeks recap will be a little different. It will focus on a more, you guessed it, weekly basis of SIP news. Look at this posting as a meet and greet for long lost siblings. With all of this said, it would be a better experience to have everyone reading join us, I can guarantee that. We aren't anything without our members. Hopefully with these weekly updates, I can pull maybe just a few of you over. It really isn't that scary once you get used to the new face. The site surgeons took good care. We may look a tad different but the heart of it all is still there. Feel free to discuss and ask questions. I'll be more than happy to reply. Also, if at all interested, [url=http://spartan1project.com/index.php?topic=2955.0]here's our on-site weekly update for 2.8.13.[/url] Hope to see you there! [url=http://spartan1project.com/]spartan1project.com[/url] -Seth