My main site has been active for 3-1/2 years, but we've grown considerably in the past year and it's time for to refresh things.

At the stroke of midnight, New Year's Eve on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean (the first time zone to pass into 2005), we're kicking off a 24-hour online launch party. I'm hoping to generate some enthusiasm and reinvigorate the community.

Why a launch party? We have some big changes in store. We're moving to a dedicated server. We're updating the site with a whole new design. We're switching from Snitz Forums (running ASP) to vBulletin, and adding a lot of new features.

So what are we doing? Well, we're planning hosted IRC chats, contests with prizes, including an instant messaging trivia contest, arcade competition and a mind-bending lyrics game created by one of our moderators. We'll also have webcams sharing some of the real-world New Year's celebrations, and a virtual guestbook where members can share their favorite BigBlueBall memories, best wishes for the new year, and post photos from their New Years celebrations.

We were accepted as a Google News feed last month, so some of this will no doubt be picked up by them. I also submitted my first ever press release via PRweb; it'll be interesting to see what if any response that brings.

It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the site going into our fourth year.

I'd love to hear back from the rest of you and get your feedback on the concept.