InvisionFree overcame many problems, probably the most memorable was the server two crash. We all gently dream of the wonders and magic of InvisionFree, but what if, our dreams took the opposite course, the course of destruction. The server two crash struck the hearts of many, not only taking away their forum members, but also their forum posts. Unfortunately, this dream couldn't be pinched out of. A rush of InvisionFree users came to the support forum in dire need of finding answers to this tradegy. However, from this incident came forth a new beginning, and InvisionFree communities quickly rebuilt themselves up to their former glory.
In hope of shining a new light upon the people of InvisionFree, Smithster released his revolutionary acronym, FLUMP. FLUMP's purpose was to seek and destroy all possible traces of spam. By following this 'code' of conduct, members post productive and enlightening posts. What FLUMP stands for, it doesn't really matter, but the way it has touched the lives of many does.
Late September, news of the support ticket system on InvisionFree shot around the world. Communities everywhere rejoiced in the coming of this feature. Support tickets were the biggest thing since the Seth Fan Club. A few months and about three thousand support tickets later, the communication between InvisionFree support, and the communities of InvisionFree had been strengthened to a supreme peak. The ticketing system continues to grow, and the general support forum continues to lessen. Thanks to this new way of support, the InvisionFree community is growing at an amazing rate, and InvisionFree continues to be the most unique board host with the best value for money.
Meanwhile, over in the real world, severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, began spreading in Asia in February. By the end of the year, the flu like pandemic had killed almost eight hundred people in two dozen countries and was re - emerging just in time for winter and seventeen years after it was first discovered in Britain, mad cow disease arrived in the United States in December. In much the same way it kept declaring terrorist alerts but called on Americans not to change the way they live their lives, the government began an intensive investigation and recalled thousands of pounds of beef across the West but urged Americans to keep eating hamburgers.
It is fair to say that 2003 was not the best of years for Saddam Hussein, who began the year defiantly proclaiming that his Iraqi army would eviscerate American led invaders and ended it hunched in a hole in the ground guarding his money. Preoccupied as he was, first with facing down President Bush and then with basic survival, Saddam sadly missed out on many of the 'never in a million years could you have predicted them' events that marked 2003 as a year that could only have been dreamed up by the writers for a Fox summer replacement sitcom. At least he emerged into daylight in time to catch the tail end of the years biggest hit movie, the Paris Hilton sex tape. Just about the only major event Saddam did not miss was the war in his own backyard.
In many respects, 2003 was a dangerous and depressing year. The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re - entry on February 1st, with the loss of all seven astronauts and almost sixty scientific experiments. An investigation revealed that a two pound piece of foam fell away from the shuttle and crashed into its wing. Also, an earthquake virtually destroyed the southeastern Iranian city of Bam late in December. Amid scenes of horrifying devastation, officials predicted that when all the bodies were recovered sometime next year, the quake will have killed as many as fourty thousand people.
Tens of millions of Americans and Canadians were plunged into darkness on August 14th when three power lines failed in Ohio, starting a chain reaction across the East Coast. The blackout, the largest in American history, drew attention to the dilapidated condition of the nations power grid. Spam became the suicide bomber of the Internet in 2003 and the Sobig.f virus it's SARS. Spam exploded with economic casualties approaching $20 billion in lost productivity, consultants said, thanks significantly to the virus hijacking of vulnerable computers that it turned into spam spewing robots. The Web security firm MessageLabs calculated late in the year that two thirds of all spam was being spread through computers taken over by Sobig.f and other viruses.
Even though they had elected him governor twice, Californians decided this year that they'd had enough of their appropriately named governor, Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger brushed aside more than one hundred other candidates, among them diminutive retired television sitcom star Gary Coleman and Mary Cook, also known as Mary Carey, the pornography star whose war chest was not a financial one. She finished near the top, becoming the nations most famous star of sex movies until Paris Hilton arrived on the scene.
Indeed, 2003 was a singularly weird year in the media and entertainment industries. Fading pop superstar Michael Jackson was arrested in December and charged with seven counts of child molestation. Complaining about the public attention the charges had brought, Jackson sought to slip away quietly by agreeing to be interviewed on '60 Minutes.' It was also a bad year for Kobe Bryant, the incandescent star of the Los Angeles Lakers, who was charged with raping a nineteen year old Colorado woman and faces trial sometime in the new year.
Feel free to share your views on the past year in this topic. Once again, we would like to wish you all a healthy and prosperous new year and we will see you all again in 2004. On a side note, I would like to give a special thanks to Creator for his contribution toward this topic.