Metalfans.co.uk Community Project Announcement
Two years ago this Easter I started work on a project that was designed to offer the metal community something different. It was a metal website for the fans by the fans. A way for fans to network, share their favourite bands and discover new music. It would deliver news, reviews and articles of course but the users would be able to hide news by certain bands or even certain genres to get just what they want and even allow the site to recommend news, articles and resources about bands based on that users favourites. Its kind of a cross between great metal websites like Brave Words and social networking sites like MySpace.
A year and a half on and there's not much to show for it. So today I'm announcing that the project is going public. We need any metal fan with PHP knowledge to get in touch with us to get involved. The more experience the better obviously but anyone should be able to contribute something. We also have a few places where Flash could be used if anyone wants to contribute some flash apps. The core code is already there and will be made publicly available soon as open source code. Metalfans.co.uk will act as a community base for all contributors with a Wiki outlining the aims for the project, a task manager showing all work that needs doing and a forum for everyone to discuss the project. I hope by opening the development of the site up to others it becomes a community website from the foundations all the way up.
My aim with this is not to make money from the site but to give the metal community something I personally would find useful and hope that others will too. I want a website that pushes the unsigned bands as much as the signed bands. I want the unsigned bands to be posting their tour dates and announcements on the site and metal fans to find out about bands they might enjoy playing in their area. I can't offer any money to anyone who wants to be involved. Its all about the music and any kudos you might get from being part of a project like this.
Of course once the site is online and working we will need contributors to publish articles, news, album reviews etc. and also responsible users to moderate all the content that will hopefully be generated. So if you don't know PHP we still hope you're interested in the project.
If anyone reading this can not contribute to the project directly but can pass this on to a metal fan who can or if you have a metal website or forum you would be kind enough to post this on and spread the word then I would be most grateful. If you just want to know more about metalfans then you can read about it on our Wiki. If you want to get involved then check out our forum.
Visit http://www.metalfans.co.uk for all the information.
Real World
Maidenfans.com and Metalfans.co.uk Owner