MyMenu for 2006 - 30/12/2005

Moks have upgraded MyChub.ORG with a new dropdown menu system using CSS with expandible level. This means less clutter on the userspace and hides some of the less used feature until needed.

This feature was requested by many users due to too much information being displayed on the frontpage. With this minimalist design concept, we hope that mychub will be more enjoyable to use.

MySMS upgraded ! 29/12/2005

Upgraded the MySMS component to utilize the power of AJAX. This feature makes the SMS system more stable and faster almost like a full chat system because the messages are updated in RealTime. Furthermore it's is less resource intensive as only the AJAXified component will be updated in realtime rather than the old whole page refresh method.

More features will be added soon like sound notification for new messages and option to delete/edit/verify message before posting.

Upgrade to MAMBO 4.6.2 (new)

We are please to announce the latest upgrade for MyChub.
The core site engine have been upgraded to Mambo version 4.6.2
This is for security upgrade as well as for OSI compliant code.

More info available at: www.mamboserver.com

Stories Component Update - 26/11/2005

The stories component have been updated so that users will be able to use the built-in WYSIWYG editor from the mambo core instead of the troublesome custom editor. This means more stability and cross-browser compatibility.

Plus, enhanced feature like picture linking and direct copy-paste functionality from a word processor like MS Word.

P/S: the menu section has been updated to show the latest stories in the module. This is dynamically done.

Minor Update - 11/10/2005

There were some glitches in the profile component which is linked to the global register not showing properly in the variables. I have detected 2 users suffering from this issue. A quick fix has been added to prevent further error.

Note these are a few system fix/updates :-
1) The Un-Register component has been updated to remove Private Messages as well as shoutbox msg (if any). It now cleans the profile section, content, user tables, thumbnail pictures and session variables after a user has exited from the system.

2) The Fullview Profile section has been moved to a new php file. This greatly reduce the load on the backend component because the main profile file is rendered less frequently and shrinking the file to a smaller and more managable chunks.

3) A small new security validation mechanism for the user profile age. This prevents users from entering the wrong info into the database and protects data contamination.

4) A validation mechanism for the biography section to prevent account misuse.

Major Update - 11/10/2005

There are a few new feature as well as a more streamedlined flow system for the user experience :-

1) Template change - New Look
- The template have been changed to provide a better look for mychub. This template is a rendition of the original mychub design but now have been optimised with a better look and feel.
2) User Profile - Delete Picture
- By popular request, a feature to allow user to delete their pictures in the profile have been added. However, deleting picture will prevent them from messaging other users.

3) User Profile - Picture Review/Authorisation
- An automated feature to suspend user from uploading copyrighted, children or cartoon pics. This enhances the abuse prevention of the system.

4) Frontpage - Scrolling Profile
- The frontpage have been given a facelift with a scrolling profile feature. This provides a longer 'attention span' and discourage existing user from hogging the top 3 places. Currently, the scroll spans across 30 most active users.

5) Session TimeOut
- A nifty feature to make sure users and logged in securely. After a period of inactivity, the site will pop-up a warning to continue the session and after a certain period will logoff the user automatically. This tool is essential for user who are logged from a Cybercafe and forgot to logoff.

New Greeting Card Server Online (31/10/2005)

Selamat Hari Raya & Maaf Zahir Batin from all of us in MyChub

During this festive season, our team of dedicated programmers have created a special service to connect all of you via an ecard greeting.

Send as many as you like using this FREE service.

special thanks goes to :-
dieno (mosque theme graphic)
shortnstout (exclusive handdrawn card)
gemukchub (programming)
abu_chub (beta test)
all of mychub (using the card)

Major minor update - 22/10/2005

Within this few weeks there were a lots of small small updates which I have added to the core mambo files as well as it's component. Here are a summary of the whole update process :-

1) New security module
- added a new security module to enforce a stronger password convention and avoid lame users from registering. (e.g: weak passwords includes - 123456, qwerty, abcdef, password, zxcvbnm).

2) Yahoo Messenger + MyChub integration.
- Yahoo users will enjoy it's messenger integration to user profiles. Thus, users registering with their YahooID/password will be automatically be connected in their profile.

3) Profiles - Testimonial Section
- Updated a testimonial section with lots of nifty features. Including 10 most recent.

4) Tighter Integrity of the Profiles
- User with incomplete profiles will not be able to interact with other users unless they update it.

SQL overflow & Podcast upload issue resolved (12/10/2005)

There was an issue with the podcast server (as all php based server), which limits all web upload to only 2MB. Well, moks found 2 solution which both were implemented in our podcast server.
1) Using a remote CGI script for upload >2MB.
2) Using FTP Javaclient / FTP server for the upload.
Thus, the issue has been resolved.

There was also an issue with the testimonial in the profile section which is screwed by the short URL. This has also been resolved using the $my->id & $is_registered variable to block the SQL overflow.

Minimalist Re-Design (10/10/2005)

Revamped the outer pages to adopt a minimalist design so that all the clutters are cleared. Thus, freeing system resources and making loading faster. This will also ease new users to preview the main features of mychub.org (profiles / chat / msg board).

Registered users will still enjoy the full features of mychub plus all the perks (too many to mention here).

Best Regards

2 New Servers and a webcam chat system... (10/8/2005)

I have added 2 new servers into mychub.org
1) http://audio.mychub.org/podcast
- this a new feature to allow us to podcast audio to users. (podcasting seems to be the rage right now).

2) http://video.mychub.org/mychubtv
- this a port of the existing mychubTV system.

3) SERVER NOT DECIDED YET
I have added a new webcam chat system for mychub.org. This will provide users with webcams to see each other in realtime using the new macromedia flash webcam feature.
(thanks chubamante for pointing it out)

Thing to do:
1) Search facility for the profiles
2) Hari Raya Greeting E-Cards

Testimonial Section & MyMessage minor update - Sept 2005

1) Just finished coding the Testimonial section in mychub profile. Thus, users will be able to add testimonials to their favorite profile. (only users with complete profile will be able to add testimonials).

2) Added a check / uncheck button to the messaging system so you'll be able to select all shown message for deletion. Thus, making msg housekeeping, a little simpler.

Mychub AJAX-ification process

MyChub is now moving to AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) based coding, this means no more reloading of pages, or flickering screens using pure xHTML and JavaScript. The system is fully browser based, it can be loaded on any supported browser connected to the internet, no matter if it is behind a firewall system. There is no need for users to download and install any plugins.

The "Who's Online" module have been AJAXified. Thus you can see users who logged on to mychub website dynamically in-realtime.

More modules and components will be ported soon to take the advantage of the flexible AJAX system.


Another Innovation from MyChub,
MyChub Webteam
www.mychub.org

MyChub MMS Gallery

We have finished coding the new MMS mobile gallery. This feature enables users to upload their pictures to the new mychub mobile server via their mobile devices (handphones / PDA). To send MMS pictures to the server users only need to send their MMS picture message to: mms@mychub.org

MMS rates depends on the 3G / GPRS provider. MyChub is providing this for FREE.

We could not have done this without the support of our sponsors! Thank you for believing in us.

MyChub TV online appearance

On this historic day 9 september 2005, mychubTV had it's 1st transmission in cyberspace. Although most of the content has been published online before. This is the first attempt to transmit a full length almost 2 hours worth of video streaming content.

As our technical engineers prepares the launching our full broadcast server, a team of media specialist are preparing something new and exciting for our viewers! Never before seen footage... of chubs & chasers!

* apparently there was was some bandwidth issue with the current server, so we are shifting to a temporary back-up. This would be a seamless migration and would not be noticeable for most users *

LATEST UPDATE (11/9/2005) : mychubTV is now transmitting 24/7 of video content. Kuddos to all the people who are sponsoring mychub and believing that we can do it.

Thank you for your support !
MyChub Webteam
Innovations & Creations

MyPrivate Message Improvement (20 August 2005)

After putting this request on hold. I finally managed to find the time to improve the MyPrivate Messaging system. Extra added features are :-

1) Sent messages - now user are able to know who they have sent messages in the past. However, these messages cannot be edited anymore.

2) Auto message prunning feature - i've sent a limit to only 1000 messages per user and 1 year validity. Thus, old messages will be automatically deleted if any of these conditions are met. This will optimize the usage of the messaging system database.

3) Badword list - added a feature to block users from using certain bad words. e.g: "certain so called alternative group which i shall not name." :: The logic to this is, to prevent the misuse / abuse of our well founded services.

Making The Thumbnail Feature (PHP Safemode friendly)

I've noticed that users sending their profile pictures weren't getting their thumbnail pictures updated. After a little investigation, the fault lays within the UID / GID owner of the file. (i'd suspect it's the new security policy of the server). Thus, newly created thumbnail are rendered as "chown" by the apache process rather than the mychub server.

Thus, a quick and dirty solution is to wipe the existing thumbnail file and re-creating a new one based on the file upload. Below is a snippet of the changed code:-

------------- START OF CODE ------------------------

if (file_exists($this->dest)) { $old_size = getimagesize($this->dest); if ($old_size[0] == $this->CalcWidth()){ unlink($this->dest); $exist = false;
}else{ $exist=false;

------------ END OF CODE -----------------------------

~ an optimised version of the code will be released later. Probably freeing the unused file checking procedure.

Minor Fixes for August 2005 (part 2)

A few more minor fixes to the website :-

1) Fixed some broken links to the video server, particularly Mike Prabawa's clips and added 2 new clips of his winning finale performance. Distributed the less accessed files to the slower server and the new ones to our fastest online server.

2) Optimized the backend function of the members modules so that only profiles with pictures will be shown online. This further enhances the overall speed of browsing as the server will only load account with pictures rather than the whole user stacks.

3) Changed the MySMS! service to an internal function so that the overall page loads faster and less dependent on outside servers. Added a security function so that abuses can be tracked and dealt with.

TODO:
~ find a better alogarithm mechanism for database access as the current operations requires 4 - 5 extra access cycles and this translates to a slower server functions. (nb. consider using optimized performance InnoDB engine rather than the current MyISAM)

Minor Fixes for August 2005

The private gallery will be closed for a few weeks as a sign of respect to one of our fellow friend who passed-away on 14th Aug 2005.

As a preventive security measure, mychub will now offer HTTPS - secure transaction services as an added feature to the website. you can use this feature by typing :- https://www.mychub.org
(this is still in the BETA stage)

Video Module Bug Fixed - July 2005

There was a bug in the video server module which prevents Firefox / Mozilla browser & Opera browsers from playing the video clips. (...probably an IE thing).

A workaround is by removing the CLASSID and EMBED tag - and replacing it with data="xxx" and type="video/ms-asx" code which is more cross-browser friendly.

Thanks 2 chubby_kung & hkchub for pointing out the bug to us.

More additions... July 2005

Added some new features into the msg system.

1. The most prominent is the integration of profile pictures into the messages so that users will be able to see who sent them messages and apply promptly.

2. I've also added picture integration into the forum. So this means that profile pictures will be seen in the forum too.

New Projects in July 2005

There are a few on-going projects within mychub.org site for July 2005. These includes :-

1) Friends linking module (60% done)
- so that users will be able to link/add friends within their profile.
2) Picture Messaging Module (100% compete)
- Users will be able to view pictures of the sender via the messaging module. So you'll know how ur sender looks like.
3) Thumbnail feature (100% complete)
- we have added a thumbnail feature for the profiles module so that thumbnails will be auto generated and this will speed-up browsing of member profiles as well as save valuable bandwidth.
4) MyChub Eggdrop IRCbot (100% complete)
- Now we are able to use the advance features within IRC and integrate it with our main website to create a seemless integration of chat and browsing functionality.
5) MyChub Video Server (100% complete)
- By popular demand, we have re-introduced the video server and provide streaming video content to our patrons.

Greets goes to chaserRawang for his contribution on the Friends Module.

Blog Feeder busted and bandwidth sharing...

There is a problem with our Blog feeder service thus it continually blocks the other modules from running. So, we had no other choice than discontinuing the blog feeder service until we can find a more suitable XML rendering engine which is compatible with the ATOM format.

Nevertheless, there is one good news that cheers us up. That is one copy cat group forgot to close a certain hole within their security, thus allowing us to dump some of our content over there. We thank them for the generousity and thus relieving some of the extra pressure from our webserver. Kuddos boys!!!

www.mychub.org --> MyChub.ORG

Recently, there was a problem regarding our URL www.mychub.org. It seems that base address was not working while sub address works fine. Initially, I thought it might be due to the DNS caching factor. Thus I added a temporary DNS server to accelerate the propogation of the domain name. Nevertheless, it turns out that the problem was not as expected. I have traced the error to a faulty index file coding which has wrongly sent our users to a blank page.

Within minutes, the error was rectified and now users are able to use the old address www.mychub.org

More importantly, the added DNS server will continue to accelerate mychub site pages while we have added a feature of a shorter URL --> http://mychub.org

With both URL working, we can expect more users will enjoy the benefit of this shorter name and a faster browsing experience via the accelerated server.

MyChub.ORG is back Online June 2005

This is a screen capture of the recent mychub administration module.

As you can see.. our bandwidth is very high and every effort has been done to maximize the usage of the site. Fortunately for us, we have a fantastic hosting - FIVIO.COM.

We have been upgraded to the Linux-GOLD package FREE of charge. This translates to :-
200MB More Diskspace
40GB More Data Transfer

We value every effort to support mychub and kuddos to the people at Fivio.com for the upgrade.

MYCHUB.ORG domain outage 2005

There was a domain outage in June 2005. This was due to the excessive amount of users going to our website. Thus, we are in the process to upgrade our server to a more bigger and powerful plan to accomodate the additional bandwidth and content. Users are advised to be patient as we will take some time to port all the coding and material to this new server. Estimate downtime - One week !!!

(It can be faster, but i'm doing task this alone.. so spare the comments while I work on the migration work)

Change in Profile Upload Policy - 2005

I've noticed that some users are tying to be funny by putting cartoon pictures as their profile. Thus, I've changed the upload procedure to prevent GIF pictures from uploading. This is because most cartoons are in GIF format while ordinary pictures are in JPG / JPEG format.

Rederection Code Fixed...

There were faults in the redirection coding. I have found that the old code is taking too much overhead on the server. Thus I have written a new optimised code so that the site would work faster this time and you can get to the user via a short URL. e.g: www.mychub.com/gemukchub.

This is a snippet of the code -------

RewriteEngine onRewriteBase /mambo
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?option=com_partystaff&Itemid=68&func=fullview&staffname=$1 [R]

# -FrontPage-
IndexIgnore .htaccess */.??* *~ *# */HEADER* */README* */_vti*


order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from all


order deny,allow
deny from all

AuthName www.mychub.org
AuthUserFile /home/mychub/domains/mychub.org/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.pwd
AuthGroupFile /home/mychub/domains/mychub.org/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.grp

Silly Time Bug 2005

I noticed a very irritating bug in our mambo environment, there was inability to login to mambo site when using IE6. Mozilla Firefox from the same machines was able to login! Not only that, but some IE6 machines managed to login all times, while the rest could not login at all (they were thrown back to the login page). A IE5.5 machine was tested and proved to be working.

Debugging the core revealed that there was inability in IE6 to accept a cookie named "sessioncookie" (although it was a persistent cookie, instead), while Mozilla was correctly accepting it. However, IE6 did not behave consistent, since it was accepting the subsequent cookie "mosvisitor" (which IS a real session cookie, btw).

The solution:--
Go to classes/mambo.php, approx line 142 and change:
the line : setcookie( "sessioncookie", $session->getCookie(), time() + 43200, "/" );
into : setcookie( "sessioncookie", $session->getCookie(), time() + 2*86400, "/" );

Now, the mambo time bug. Although it's open source and fits better with mozilla, we have to do something about IE6. So, server machine must be correctly configured in terms of local time/timezone/dst. The only thing I can do is give IE6 some more time. I raise the interval from 12h to 48h. So, Mozilla should compute as well as IE6.

Security Upgrade 2005

Due to certain scrupulous act by certain people. I have coded a new security model based on IP settings. This will un-noticable by ordinary users. However, now administrators will have more control on who can view the site via username, IP or a combination of both.

Private Gallery Upgrade 2005

After a major overhaul... the private gallery is back online. The main reason for the overhaul is the faulty user rights management. This translates to users unable to upload pictures to the gallery, however were able to view it.

We reverted back to the old version 2.1.4 RC3 and made some minor modification to the module sub-system so that it would comply with our existing components.

Added a few more galleries (e.g: Cartoons & Actions) for the viewing pleasure of our members.

Facelift 2005

Redesigned the fresh new look of MyChub.ORG. Upgraded certain template modules with a nice drop shadow effect. This year... "green is in". Thanks to our volunteer graphic designer for the nice facelift.

The user gallery will be closed temporarily for an upgrade. Please be patient as we will be adding more features and models to the gallery.

Messaging Module Bug 2004 Ver 2.0

Found a small bug in the messaging module via "Who's Online". This bug however did not affect profile modules from "Browse MyMembers".

Problem: - People clicking on the "Who's Online" will be able to see profiles but cannot send messages to the profile owner.

Fixed: - Changed the default ".$uname." variable to "$asd_name" that is more appriopriate with the global function of the module.

MyChub @t Friendster

I was working on a module to integrate a friendster like module into mychub.org
Then I suddenly realize why go through the hassle of creating something which has already been done. If we can't beat them... lets join them.

So there comes an idea for a new mychub service called mychub@friendster. By integrating friendster unique friend connection feature and security implemetation, we can create a whole new community specifically targeted for chubs & chasers.

With friendster, we are also able to connect to other chubby clubs in the asian region esp Indonesia & Philipines. Thus enlarging our user base.

Thank you for your support !!!!

P/S: Please Beware of copycat group/ website....
There is only one MyChub. The Innovator & Pioneer of the Malaysian Chubs & Chaser Community.

Domain Transfer 2005

Q: I cannot log in to mychub.ORG these few days.. what happened ???

A: We have decided to change the registrant of our domain name to GoDaddy.com. Thus, MyChub.ORG will be off-line days until the domain transfer process is completed.

Q: Thus this means MyChub.ORG will be come GoDaddy.com ?

A: NO!! MyChub.ORG still will retain it's name however GoDaddy will be our proxy registrant.

Reason: This is essential for security sake. Thus, we are taking the first step in ensuring your privacy through private registrations through Domains By Proxy (DBP). The way a private registration works, is that DBP takes actual ownership of the domain name. DBP then provides its contact information in the Whois database in place of the personal information of the person using the domain name. The user of the domain is then provided with an agreement that gives them all the benefits of ownership (i.e., the user can point the domain name where they want, they can sell it later, transfer it away, etc. – in short they use the domain name just as if they registered it in their own name). For more info - CLICK HERE!

With GoDaddy's DBP feature, MyChub.ORG will be able to prevent all these private information from leaking out or being available in the public whois database (24/7).

MyChub consist of expert volunteers that contibute their field of knowledge for the cause of chubs & chasers community and not just a sing / dance group that tries to copy whatever activities done by other people.

MyChub - The Pioneer of the Malaysian Chub & Chaser Community

Spring Cleaning 2005

Had to remove some old messages in the PM System to avoid overhead in the MySQL Database. Will review some old codes on the login system to enable a more efficient handling of the user data. All msg after Sept 2004 will be deleted.

Thing To Do:
- User management is not coherrent within each module. Members should be able to remove all their data after they de-register.
- Limit the number of msg per user so as to optimize search speed, and prevent over-bloating the pms table.

Mambo 4.5.2 Upgrade

Upgraded MyChub.ORG to the New Mambo 4.5.2 version. This is unavoidable due to the recent security hole found in the core php coding. Also this new version brings more flexibility to the back-end administrators and promises new functionality to the site.

Few bugs also found in the login module and forum module. But this is inherent to the old version and have been patched as soon as it was found. Few users who was registering during the transition might be affected and are advised to change their password accordingly.

Dynamic Posting

Just finished adding the dynamic items in the frontpage. Thus, any updates in the MyChub Encounters and MyChub Versions will be automatically updated in the MyChub.ORG main website. This is done via the integration of ATOM XML with the mambo RSS module.

There will be a few final touch up here and there, but mainly the module looks pretty darn good for production.

New Coded Browsing Module February 2005

There is a new browsing module that optimizes and limits the categories to 12 members per page. All are lain out in a nifty table fashion so that it's easier to see. Hopefully, this will make browsing much faster and more enjoyable.

New Testimonial Module (BETA)

Just finished coding a new testimonial module. Now users can add testimonials to the chub or chasers that they like. There are still some bug which needed to be checked. Hope this will be sorted out in the next few weeks.

Members Section Updates Feb 2005!!!

I've made a new coding module for the members section. Now it's dynamicaly driven. Thus, the latest updated profiles will be seen first rather than the static ones.

Work In Progress:-
1) An easier browsing tool for members. Right now all the pages & pictures for a particular category are loaded - which translates into wasted bandwidth.
2) Limiting browsing pictures will enable a faster transfer and easier navigation for users to find member.
3) An integrated search engine for members module.
4) More salary from my boss.. want to buy that new Apple iMac (joking only la)

January 2005 Outage

MyChub.ORG had been down from 28th - 31st January 2005. The reason for this outage is that we had overlimit our 30GB bandwidth quota for this month. This shows that mychub has become enormously popular and more and more popular are beginning to frequent our site.

However, due to the bandwidth limiting factor, we had to plan a more optimized site and also find ways to increase the bandwith and sustain the site.

Suggested methods to sustain the site includes:-
1) Finding more corporate / individual sponsors to pay for the extra bandwidth
2) Buying a better hosting package from Fivio.
3) Introducing a paid segment to certain portions of the site.
4) Merchandising MyChub

Forum (BETA Test)

We have finished adding a new module called the Forums section. It's still in the BETA Testing stage but most of the functions are working perfectly.

Known Bug ::
- Categories does not work well with the mod_login module. thus module availability had to be done manually by the administrator.

PHP Mail System Bug

The last few days, we had found some problems with the PHP Mail system which authenticates the user's e-mail. This bug was found to be the incompatibility of the new PHP 4.3.10 and the new Xamian Mail Safe feature that we are currently testing.

Rest assured that this bug had been fixed and our system are running smoothly as ever. Thanks to our fellow webteam that helped us identify and tracked down the bug before it runs in the wild.

Bug Report & New features for 1 Jan 2005

:: BUGS ::
During the weekend we found a few bugs which we are still looking for a fix:-
1) The site is not Mac OS X / Safari browser friendly. - This has been acknowledge due to the implimentation of the java security feature not being supported by the browsers and the WYSIWYG editor. Albeit cross-browser compatibility problems.

:: FEATURES ::
Due to popular demands, I'm coding some new features :-
1) MyPMS - Ability to save/view sent messages. e.g: like Yahoo
2) Friendster like feature -- with link to your favorite member
3) More versatile browse function, in 3X4 format.