Service Updates

Firstly….

This could be a pretty lengthy update by the time I have finished… depends how much I get interrupted.

IRCWhore’s

There’s major changes happening at IRCWhore’s, including a massive revamp of the system back-end, a new front-end theme, and how the system interfaces with the database, statistics engine, and the chat daemon. As it stands, development is a little slow at the moment, but the features that are being implemented are being put in place securely, and measures are being taken to ensure that the systems insecure.

Another key development is the way the website integrates with an advanced table structure. More tables and stronger relationships mean that data can be accessed quicker, and highly normalised structures result in a superior system. In addition, indexes are being added to increase the performance of the database server, and the server-side back-end. UNIQUE fields are being used to ensure that repetitive data cannot be added, and measures have been put in place on the server-side scripting to ensure that the system doesn’t have to keep checking if the field is unique.

IRCWhore Title and TopNav snapshot

In addition to the back end being optimized for superior performance, the client-side scripts (JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets and Hypertext MarkUp Language) have been optimised to be delivered in the fastest possible way. This is done by adding caching to images, style sheets and scripts, while removing caching from the main content. Also, the scripting is optimised by removing all unnecessary line breaks and white space. This might make the script ugly, but with a 34% decrease in download time, it’s worth it.

In addition to performance, security is another key area of the development. The main security protocols installed in the system are automatic reporting of break-in/injection attacks, and the automatic banning/suspending of users should they be detected performing a break-in attempt. In addition to the security protocols being developed, various child safety policies and protocols are being developed. These include:

• Child-Parent Profile Linking – This allows parents to take control over their child’s account with limited permissions. This could be use to see who the child is making contact with via the online messaging system, and to see who the child has made friends with online. Obviously, ethics and morals will restrict what features we do implement here, and we are still working on a way to enforce parent-child relationships without people adding them to any account they wish. All relationships will expire once the younger of the relationship reaches 18.
• Restricted Access to Minors – The amount of access an under 16 year old will get determines on the parent-child relationship being made. The most basic restriction (with no relationships) potentially prevent the child from making friends with people older than 16, not messaging anyone that’s not in their friends list, restricting how the user interacts with certain features on the website (including the personal weblog, forum and the personals section).
• Strict Profile/Image/Post Screening – While moderating images and profiles can often be a laborious task, we think that it is a critical feature of our systems. The moderators will obviously be trained to the highest possible standard in what to allow and of course, disallow. They will have a full set of tools to either delete, report, suspend or ban based on the content of the image. This feature will not be abusable, as all actions across the site are logged into the Administration Control Panel. If a picture is regarded as illegal, IRCWhore and its regulatory board will report the user to the respective authority.

IRCWhore is solely based around security and safety, and this is taken into consideration while coding the core features of the website. As we are ensuring we are not promoting illegal activities, or allowing them to take place on our server, we are proud to report that we have been awarded ICRA certification as a child-friendly website. We are also going to work with other Child Protection Agencies to ensure that we are recognised as the first, and only child-friendly webchat website.

While protecting the children, we also thought about what we can do for adults. Ever been lonely and needed someone to talk to? Ever wanted someone that is like you? That’s where IRCWhore’s Singles comes into play. We will implement the most significant features of the leading singles websites, while adding some of our own random spice to give you a list of people we think you will like. Unfortunately, due to the implementation of the features mentioned above, parents will NOT be able to apply as a single. In addition to the previous restriction, we also regret we can only provide the singles service to our premium customers which are genuine members who have verified their authenticity by donating via PayPal or Google Checkout.

More and more features will be implemented over the coming months, and yes, we will keep you up-to-date. Follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/ircwhorestatus.