JSN 10th Anniversary in 2010

Dear JSN members,

You know what? JSN has been around for almost ten years. Ten years. That's a long time----far beyond how long I ever expected this ride to last.

But more on that in a minute. First, here's a recap of what happened several days ago:

The Relocation Outage

On October 8, 2009, Jumpseatnews was moved to a faster Web server to process and run these pages. Simple enough, right?

Uh, no. Shortly after the move, I realized that many of the "connection strings" were broken. Connection strings are small items of code that speak directly from the JSN pages to databases. These databases manage the content, the shoutbox, the classified ads, the JSN member discounts, the member login, and many other aspects of Jumpseatnews. The problem was, these silly "connection strings" were looking in the wrong location to speak to the databases.  Without the ability to speak to the databases, the Jumpseatnews website essentially went offline and into a cereberal coma. Whoops.

That's when things began to really go south. Nothing seemed to work. And many other technical issues, such as DNS propagation (for those of you experts out there), made things difficult in determining all the various problems going on.

Long story short: Jumpseatnews was repaired and the outage lasted only several hours. Our web host (more about these fine folks in a future article) have been extremely helpful in restoring the site.

Two major revelations

While JSN was offline, I experienced two major revelations:

1. The number of visitors and page views is growing beyond my means. I've said this before, yada yada yada but it's getting to the point of ridiculous.
   
   Here's an absolutely crazy example: During the outage, I was annoyed and posted the following comment on the homepage of Jumpseatnews: "Off to Home Depot to purchase a can of wall spackle to repair the holes I'm beating my head against..."
   
   Within five minutes of posting that silly comment, I received a note directly from a sales representative at the DAP Corporation (www.dap.com) that said, "Try DAP Drydex Spackle goes on Pink and Dries white very cool."   Oh yes, that freaked me right out.  Yeah, it really did.
   
2. During the repairs, I examined the engine of Jumpseatnews.  Parts of it I have not seen since 2000. The main engine of JSN is all the programming logic, code, and other aspects of this website that allow it to function. The verdict? Jumpseatnews is currently a disorganized wreck of a website from the inside out.

Current state of Jumpseatnews

This site is a colossal mess. Jumpseatnews was created shortly before the summer of 2000 (also a colossal mess).  Back then, I didn't possess certain Web development skills to ensure that this site would age properly. Guilty as charged. And now I'm paying for it. Trust me on this one.

The layout and navigation of Jumpseatnews was originally designed in a hotel room in Mexico City using Microsoft Word while on layover. At the time, the site architecture was perfect for 10-100 pages and several hundred visitors. Not anymore. Not even close. No siree, Bob.

Today, Jumpseatnews receives thousands of visits each month and there are hundreds of pages. In fact, during the past twelve days alone, JSN received 128,415 page views, comprising 92,803 visits. Yet, much of the antiquated site technology still dates back to mid-2000. In Web years, Jumpseatnews is stuck back in the stone age, well maybe even earlier, such as around the time the earth was formed.

In fact, Jumpseatnews is in such a bad state (broken links, old pages, confusing and crummy navigation, etc...) that I almost shut it down completely in disgust at my own creation.

10th Anniversary in 2010

Then I started thinking. You know what? JSN has been around for almost ten years. Ten years. That's a long time----far beyond how long I ever expected this ride to last.

So, broken engine and all, something must be working ok over here.

Yet I have my doubts: Is this site still useful? After nine years, perhaps the job of helping to provide F/A resources should be better left to WHQ, AFA, independent discussion boards, e-mail newsletters, and other avenues of communication?

I honestly don't know. I misplaced my crystal ball several years ago and haven't been able to find it since.

So I'm going to proceed only on my gut feeling.

And you know what?

Let's keep Jumpseatnews going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET'S DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to ROCK ON! with this website for a huge celebration next year! In fact, 2010 is going to be the best year yet for JSN!

1. A major upgrade and redeisgn planned for a July 20, 2010 celebration launch. And I mean a major launch event. I've got a bunch of stuff planned, special new areas, and a total behind-the-scenes feature that will show exactly how Jumpseatnews all started and came together.
2. Total integration of social media, mobile devices, and the immediate connectivity they offer. We've already started this with our Facebook area. It's growing daily and one of the best features ever added to Jumpseatnews.
   
3. Final permanant online resting home for Bailey. My own personal tribute to him.
   
4. Expanded areas, redesign of all technology, new features, and ways to find information.
5. ______________________________________________.

For #5, you need to let me know please. Contact me here and sound off on any idea that you have for either new features, the anniversary party, or the redesign. I'd love to hear from you and I will take what you say about JSN seriously. Disclaimer: I probably won't be able to respond to each email personally, but I will promise to read and review each idea I receive. You have my word on that.

To everyone in SW, FO, CS, SK, TK, CW, DD, RR, HH, HW, IM, UC, OO, PV, US, JL, DV, UV, TF, KG, KB, IT, CJ, AS, KN, BL, AF, EG, ED, FF, CG, UN, RQ, MM, OZ, good old WHQ, UAL flight attendants, Aeroflot flight attendants, members of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, pilots, undertakers, UAL supervisors, members of the public, weirdos in prison, the press (I'm at twitter.com/jumpseatnews if you want the latest dirt on domicile transfers), and that hip little old lady from Pasadena trying to sign into Apollo, you all take care and I'll see you soon around this worn but comfortable electronic campfire. A campfire that's been burning bright for almost ten years.

July 20, 2010

I can't wait!