SMAKR News

SMAKR
SITE NEWS & EDITORIAL

This page serves the purpose to advise News about the SMAKR site as well as be an Editorial.

This page is not updated very often but you will see a timestamp below to tell you when it was last updated, as well as on the home page (when I remember to update that one!) and also in the What's New page. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome : email smakr1@optusnet.com.au

Last updated : 04 Jan 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL - SMAKR IN 2006
(January 2006)

I would like firstly to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe, merry and prosperous 2006 and also a big thank you to all of SMAKR's review contributors and contributions throughout 2005. It certainly was an interesting year for the site which saw some web space issues finally make their mark and the temporary freeing up of some space, albeit a significant amount of space, from Kevin Ronayne's assistance so that reviews can continue to be published. Unfortunately we know that sooner or later this space issue problem will occur again - it is inevitable, although hopefully quite some time away yet.

We all know that SMAKR is unique in many respects in being one of the very few sites on the Net of its kind that is free from any form of sponsorship or advertising, unfortunately, the trade-off is the restrictions, limitations and the f***ing b******t pop up banners from FortuneCity. But alas, without this system SMAKR would not exist so we have to bear with what we have to bear with.

I think sooner or later the site will have to move to its own web hosting service and that will probably be the time when subscriptions or donations are needed to keep the site running unless I receive a barrowload of cash to web host myself! But that's a fair way down the track yet so we will as they say cross that bridge when we come to it. There may still be other options yet to consider as well.

In 2006 the intention is to keep the site going in its current form. There will be less images or certainly smaller images, as this helps keeps as much space available to publish other reviews as possible. One average sized image means the same size of roughly five text-only reviews. So there has to be a bit of a balance struck with text-only reviews and those with images which I hope everyone understands and is happy with.

We've already seen an influx of new reviewers over the past couple of months which is fantastic for me, the site and of course every one of you out there who enjoys visiting SMAKR and reading the reviews! Without your review contributions the site would not continue. I do hope also to see the regulars and past contributors return in 2006 to ensure the site continues on in its current and very popular form.

For me, there are big things happening in 2006 - I won a scholarship overseas so there will be a period where no updates will occur while I enjoy the UK. I'm also continuing my studies, in fact taking on a new courseload in addition to the courseload I am finishing off, and this will almost certainly mean less updates but more content with each update (contributions pending of course!) on SMAKR as this will very significantly impact on my time between March and June.

The house and moving situation has certainly settled down but country life has meant that I have been enjoying a lot more of the outdoors than I used to in the city and weekend drives and camps is becoming more the norm. This of course impacts on the hobby although not significantly on the running of the site, which took up heaps of time any way. I can't see myself adding to the kit reviews this year, I might pull one or two kits out of boxes stacked floor to ceiling in the shed you never know - but again unlikely I will do too much. But I still enjoy running SMAKR so you can be assured that updates will continue as always!

Again, I need to stress the importance of the "information requests" page in being an "automatic email answerer" as this helps saves time responding to so many commonly asked questions and thus I can spend it publishing reviews. I am sure you all understand this - especially those of you who are regular visitors to SMAKR. I appreciate the emails and feedback, comments and suggestions, and of course review submissions that I get and don't want to dissuade you sending in emails. I do read them (so long as I can determine they are not spam or virus emails) but it is just not possible to reply to every one. The ones I don't reply to (or I send a generic response to) will of course be those that are covered on the info requests page.

Let's see what 2006 brings us in the form of new kits, old reissues and SMAKR articles! I wish you and yours again a wonderful 2006 and hope you continue to enjoy visiting SMAKR! All the best.

Mark B

Remember, I am still ALWAYS seeking Kit Review submissions to keep the site growing and to continue to provide a FREE useful resource to all modellers. I am also needing missing box art submitted which I cannot get hold of. If you are at all able to help with these, please do so, it would be much appreciated! More information can be found on the submissions page, please refer to the link below.

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