Nerds! Today is the 1 year anniversary of the launch of Spaffnerds.com. And so we begin the next chapter. We've completely rewritten the web application from the ground up to provide a better experience for you and to ease development for us. We have also spun up a much anticipated and requested Spaffnerds Store where you can get your official Spaffnerds gear.

A Year, by the Numbers

This infographic by @Cody pretty much says it all. When we hit 1000 users this past week I nearly fainted.



New Logos and Tagline

You may have noticed our new "Spaffhands" logo floating around. We finally have an icon that we think will be instantly recognizable inside and outside of the community. And with it we've updated our tagline to be:

Of Nerds, By Nerds, and For Nerds

After all, that's what we are. You can grab some stickers and hats in the store that will let you rep your Nerd pride.

The Merch Store

You've asked, we've listened. We now have a storefront where you can get official Spaffnerds merch. We've got a few things in there to get us started, but stay tuned as we roll out some cool stuff that you can custie up and drop some cash on. Profits will go to support the site and will be reinvested into building out more merch for you.

The New App

Warning: inbound nerd info: fun for engineers and coders

We get a TON of requests for new features for the app. Our standard response has been that the code base just wasn't in a position where building new stuff was all that easy. It is now. In software we have a concept called the "MVP" or Minimally Viable Product. That's what you've been using for the last year. When we build MVPs we seek to prove out an idea and show that it has value. But we don't intend to leave them in place forever.

This past year you've given us feedback, both through your words and actions, about what features were most valuable to you. We added a Forum, built Stat tracking, changed what was seen on the homepage, and worked with the ideas that you all inspired. We did so to balance what you wanted with what we could deliver.

Back in November we began the ground up rewrite of the app using React and Redux. It follows standards, implements design patterns, has excellent test coverage, and makes it all around easier to build. This is our stable version. It's not perfect but Spaffnerds 2.0 is no longer an MVP. We hope this makes it easier to give you guys more of what you want.

Thank You

Most of all, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you. You guys make this labor of love worth it. This community is second to none, and my experiences in it over the past year have been second to none. As year two begins, and the band keeps on trucking, we hope to see more of you join us and be a part of everything we're doing. We'll see you around, same nerd time, same nerd channel.

I'd be remiss not to give a shoutout to a few people without whom none of this would have been possible.

My incredibly patient wife @lmwsongbird. If you see her at a show, make sure you say thank you to her. Her sacrifices are second to none.

@robAF

@Cody

@phokus

@Lopez

@alexkiaie

@Jeff-Tabachnick

And most importantly, Spafford. You guys fucking crush it every time you get up there on stage. There's no better advertising for this site than the music you guys produce night after night.

NUGS DRAWING

Don't forget we're drawing 2 - 1 year nugs.net subscriptions at 10PM EST. It's not too late to enter - Edit: It's too late.