Appalachian Trail - Whiteblaze.net About WhiteBlaze

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» About WhiteBlaze About WhiteBlaze.net by attroll     WhiteBlaze was started on 03 September 2002. It was created to fill the void and a need for a place that hikers could go to and learn new things, share experiences, and to meet other Appalachian Trial hikers. WhiteBlaze seemed to become a hit over night. We immediately had about 200 in the first two months. There was some trouble in the first two months with control and keeping WhiteBlaze going in the right direction. But with some restructuring and new owners we rebound. Since the restructure of WhiteBlaze during November and December of 2002 we grew from 200 users 500 users in one month. Then we double that to 1,000 three months later. We have been growing at a steady rate ever since. We hit 3,000 online users in March of 2004 a goal that was never expected but hope for. Now are goal is to spread the word and try and to bring in more users to help share their ideas and enthusiasm with our growing community of Appalachian Trail enthusiasts.     We strive to improve WhiteBlaze in everything we do. Our goal is to make WhiteBlaze the best Appalachian Trail site on the World Wide Web. The site is funded through donations by our users. We are limited to our growth due to funding. But we are trying to find ways in every corner to improve the site in any way that we think will help the users. We are the first of its kind to have open free speech forums dealing with the Appalachian Trail. We do not dictate or try to force our views on others. That was why the site was created, to let everyone shares their views and ideas openly without persecution from others. We do this by honoring the freedom of speech rule. But we do have limits to the freedom of speech. I think that is self-explanatory.     This site is made for you the user therefore it is run by you the user. All hikers and backpackers of the Appalachian Trail are welcome to give their point of view, tell about their hikes, ask any questions that they need answers to. We want to share the wonder and the beauty of the AT to any that would like to learn about this awe inspiring Trail.     The free sharing of information and experiences is why this site was created and it is why it is one of the best sites on the web dealing with the Appalachian Trail. No one person’s experiences are any better or worse than any one else’s. Here we think that everyone’s dreams, from hiking that first mile to finishing the climb at Mt. Katahdin, is a dream worth sharing.     WhiteBlaze is one of the largest web sites on the internet dealing with the Appalachian Trail and its uses. It is a site that wants to make you feel welcome. We want you to always feel you as a hiker matter. Come join our forums. Start a discussion, all hiking topics are discussed. We have an extremely extensive photo gallery. Look around enjoy some wonderful photos that represent the many miles of the Appalachian Trail. Share as many or as few of your hiking photos as you like.     Come in, join us, share your experiences, and let us answer your questions. Everyone’s opinions, dream and experiences matters to us. We are a unique site for a unique set of people. Our Mission Statement - Our goal is provide a free Internet community for the sharing of information related to the Appalachian Trail. - We will do this by using open forums for all to use. - We will honor freedom of speech (within limits). - We will do tour best to keep this environment friendly for all. - We will share or pass information on to others in regards to updates and information on the Appalachian Trail as it becomes available. - We will respect others opinions and not force our views on to others. - We expect the same in return from others. Note: One person does not own WhiteBlaze. Everyone on this site shares a piece of it. Lets work together and help our community of Appalachian Trail Enthusiasts grow. WhiteBlaze Timeline Date Happening 03 September 2002 WhiteBlaze.net was born (came online). 07 December 2002 07 December 2002 – Attroll purchases WhiteBlaze and SGT Rock and him take over the web site. Now we are just waiting for the official paperwork to be finalized. 06 January 2003 06 January 2003 – Attroll finalizes the turn over of WhiteBlaze. Turnover is official (paperwork complete). 06 January 2003 WhiteBlaze hits 500 members 10 April 2003 Started working on making the final logo design for WhiteBlaze with inputs from WhiteBlaze users. 20 May 2003 WhiteBlaze hits 1,000 members 04 September 2003 Working on finding a patch company in order to create patches for WhiteBlaze once the logo is done. 22 October 2003 WhiteBlaze receives 150 patches to sell to members. The patch is the WhiteBlaze logo. 24 December 2003 WhiteBlaze hits 2,000 members 11 January 2004 WhiteBlaze moves site to a Virtual Dedicated Server (VPS). 21 March 2004 Added another 64 Mb of swap memory to the server. 09 April 2004 WhiteBlaze hits 3,000 members 21 April 2004 Became a registered non-profit organization 06 May 2004 Received the first order on 140 WhiteBlaze cotton T-shirts to sell to members. 07 May 2004 WhiteBlaze moved to a dedicated server shared with one other person 18 September 2004 WhiteBlaze holds a get together/trail magic at Rivers and Trails in The Forks, Maine for members and thru-hikers. Roughly 100 people show up. 22 September 2004 WhiteBlaze hits 4,000 members 28 September 2004 WhiteBlaze hits 4,500 members 24 February 2005 WhiteBlaze hits 5,000 members 22 July 2005 WhiteBlaze hits 6,000 members 09 September 2004 WhiteBlaze holds its 2nd get together/trail magic at Rivers and Trails in The Forks, Maine for members and thru-hikers. Roughly 100 people show up. 28 Sept 2005 WhiteBlaze hits 6,500 members 28 Nov 2005 WhiteBlaze hits 7,000 members 16 Jan 2006 WhiteBlaze hits 7,500 members February 2006 Stopped counting each 500 membership increase as a milestone. 04 June 2006 New WhiteBlaze logo created and copyrighted 01 January 2007 WhiteBlaze is now a buisness for reporting purposes only. 02 Feburary 2007 WhiteBlaze purchases its own sever. 29 April 2007 WhiteBlaze transfers to the new server(owned server). WhiteBlaze Server stats Operating system = CentOS 2x INTEL XEON 5345 2.33GHZ 1333MHZ FSB 8MB QUAD CORE 4x 2048MB Memory giving us a total of 8GB of memory 4x 250GB 16MB hard drive setup as raid 10 = 500GB 1 TB as a backup drive 1x 250GB 16MB as a spare drive