- 14 Mar 2002
- 21,053
- 18,906
Dear valued Members,
not many among you will know that the Japan Directory constitutes the cradle of JREF, a modest link collection started in 1999 which served as the initial platform around which the rest of the website was built. Originally consisting of just a few HTML pages written on Notepad we switched to a Perl script in 2000, Gossamer Links, and eventually upgraded to their MySQL version, Links SQL, in its heyday one of the best directory scripts available. Those were the days of Altavista, Ask Jeeves and About.com, and large link directories still played a notable role until Google stepped in and changed the rules forever.
Over the years, we have been keeping the directory updated, mostly for nostalgic reasons: although still indexed by Google it was consigned to the shadows - until recently. Last year, a talented young Xenforo developer released a directory add-on that seamlessly integrates into the forum, allowing members to submit and edit their own links. We asked him to write an importer for our old links, and here it is: the new Japan Directory.
While still a work in progress (updating link descriptions and deleting invalid links) we decided to open it to the public today. Guests can rate and "like" resources, but only members will be able to submit their links, which will remain in moderation queue pending approval. Following standard practice, all links are "nofollow", so spammers need not bother. Any updates will be posted here.
Sixteen years of Japan Directory. I hope the integration will breathe new life into the old fundaments of JREF.
not many among you will know that the Japan Directory constitutes the cradle of JREF, a modest link collection started in 1999 which served as the initial platform around which the rest of the website was built. Originally consisting of just a few HTML pages written on Notepad we switched to a Perl script in 2000, Gossamer Links, and eventually upgraded to their MySQL version, Links SQL, in its heyday one of the best directory scripts available. Those were the days of Altavista, Ask Jeeves and About.com, and large link directories still played a notable role until Google stepped in and changed the rules forever.
Over the years, we have been keeping the directory updated, mostly for nostalgic reasons: although still indexed by Google it was consigned to the shadows - until recently. Last year, a talented young Xenforo developer released a directory add-on that seamlessly integrates into the forum, allowing members to submit and edit their own links. We asked him to write an importer for our old links, and here it is: the new Japan Directory.
While still a work in progress (updating link descriptions and deleting invalid links) we decided to open it to the public today. Guests can rate and "like" resources, but only members will be able to submit their links, which will remain in moderation queue pending approval. Following standard practice, all links are "nofollow", so spammers need not bother. Any updates will be posted here.
Sixteen years of Japan Directory. I hope the integration will breathe new life into the old fundaments of JREF.