Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 January 2010 14:55 Saturday, 18 December 2004 06:04

A brief history of our presence on the Internet since 1999 (it is hard to believe that this much time has passed by - it seems like yesterday when we were mapping out plans for our first web presence - it reminds us to enjoy everyday and to be grateful for everything we have - including each other). The Internet is a fascinating, complex and ever changing environment - seemingly moving faster than time, it forces us to take notice, to be aware and to constantly adapt. Change is inevitable and so our place on the web will change too! Firestorm web sites are built by Firestorm people for Firestorm people and their families, the wider Zen Do Kai and BJC communities and all other interested friends and site visitors.

'The Determinator' - The first Firestorm Web Site launched in June 1999. It was a tentative step into the relatively unknown for us but we embraced the challenge with enthusiasm and a Zen Do Kai spirit (such embrace was reflected somewhat in the name that we gave to the site). The site was coded using a combination of windows notepad (raw html) and Sausage Software's 'Hot Dog' web editor (which at the time was a pretty cool product). This was an exciting time for the Firestorm family. A celebratory dinner was held to mark the launch!! The dinner included a chocolate mud cake sporting an edible Firestorm Mon in its centre. We found it difficult to cut the cake because we didn't want to slice into the edible Mon but in the end we succumbed to temptation and the cake was cut and eaten. Alas, the web site's interface soon wreaked havoc with Netscape users (it actually crashed their Netscape web browsers because of incompatibility issues with the 'dynamic html' code that was used to operate the TV monitor). It lasted about 3 months before the second iteration replaced it.

'The Flame' - The second iteration was a huge success and attracted much attention between 1999 - 2002. Over 10,000 visitors from around the world passed through this site. This one had lots of graphics, animations, games, interactivity and superfluous material - it was terrific fun. A couple of features of the site helped to draw the firestorm community closely together. First, we introduced a forum (which was a linked third party discussion forum system - typical of the model used back then) which gained enormous momentum during the life of the site and second, we enabled a third party chat system. The chat system also proved to be very popular and Sunday morning 'coffee and chat' sessions were held at 10am every week for many months during The Flame's time on the Internet. We witnessed amazing change on the Internet during this period. Many new web presences were appearing daily, search engines were finding their way, and their places, on the net, and perhaps most notably, we witnessed the 'dot com' crash in early 2000 which sent shockwaves throughout the web. We held our ground though and quietly tinkered away, learning and enhancing our site whenever and wherever we could, with a view to continuously improving at every opportunity.

'Iron Horse' - The third iteration. This one concentrated on clean lines, quality content, steely looks and efficiency. It hit the net with the strength of an Iron Horse. Dozens of new photos were a major feature. The essence of the second iteration lived on in this one too and as such we retained our links to various third party programs including the guest book, the forums, the chat room and even an ICQ personal messaging system. We were still using a combination of notepad and Hot Dog to code the site but we also added in some pre-coded Javascript for a survey system and some Java applets for some interactive games. Iron Horse stayed with us until the end of 2004 by which time we had received over 25000 visits from people in over 30 countries which wasn't too bad considering that we didn't actively advertise the site beyond the dojo itself. But by December 2004 we were ready to move to the next level in web development and so we registered an official domain name, purchased some official hosting space (at the time US based) beyond a simple ISP space allocation, and moved into a content managed database environment - and so the next exciting iteration of our web site's existence emerged - 'Reloaded'.

'Reloaded' - The fourth iteration. This one was launched officially in January 2005. It seemed to have retained the spirit of its 3 older brothers but had its own uniqueness and had adapted to contemporary needs. This one had a capacity for rapid growth and a capability to heavily interact with the community it served. In many ways it especially reflected the second web site which offered an array of interactivity sourced from various regions of the web, the difference this time was that all of the interactivity was controlled within Firestorm's portal. Technological advancement particularly facilitated this shift. Firestorm Dojos was and still is particularly grateful to the Open Source Software community particularly those involved with projects including Linux, Apache, MySQL, PhP and the Mambo/Joomla CMS. Without all of you guys we wouldn't have been able to build such a comprehensive web presence. The site also used the following languages and standards, XHTML, XML, CSS, Java, Javascript and Flash. Change is inevitable and keeping up with modern communicative approaches is crucial to succeed in the business of living. This also extends to the responsible business of tending to the positive growth of a community of people.

'Kai Zen' - Our fifth web presence. We called this one Kai Zen to emphasise our quest for continuous improvement and our salute to Zen Do Kai. This one was launched in January 2006 to coincide with the launch of our own brand new Dojo called the 'Firestorm Centre'. A very busy summer was experienced by the Firestorm people whilst preparing the new dojo and the new web site together. This web presence was a virtual community. We retained all the great things from the 'Reloaded' web site but added in a whole lot more and enhanced many facilities. This site featured an extensive member profiling system, a new file repository, a new instant messaging system, a new blogging system, multi media capabilities, a newsletter system and a range of other new features along with a brand new and very fitting look! This one guaranteed registered members hours of rich interactive experiences at many levels.

'Musashi' - This was our sixth web presence and was launched fresh for 2007. Inspired by Miyamoto Musashi, the infamous Japanese Samurai warrior from whom we draw inspiration and guidance constantly, particularly from his book on strategy, 'A Book of Five Rings'. Whilst maintaining the spirit of Kai Zen and all the earlier web site brothers, this site truly adapted itself to the then state of play on the web. We upgraded three major components of the site under the hood. The virtual community profiles area was enhanced with personal guest books and galleries. A brand new site gallery was also added in and the old one was cast adrift. We added more than ten new action games to the mix to aid in training recovery!! A brand new, 'Web 2' based, instant personal message system, replaced the previous private message system. A new mini video system introduced the dojo experience to site members in an audio/visual way. Other smaller improvements were sprinkled throughout the site. A brand new, hi tech, stylish look completed our salute to Musashi and his guidance.

'Seven Samurai' -  This was our seventh web presence and was launched fresh at the start of 2008. This was an enhanced virtual community site. It took all of the features of its previous brother 'Musashi' but then added in a trial Group system, Amazon Book Store and an arcade complete with 100 games. The forums were given a fresh appearance and the whole site took a walk into the sunshine sporting a pale blue theme. The theme was in line with the blue of our Senjo philosophy which emphasises the spiritual aspects of the Senjo trinity. The site was upgraded with, what was at the time, the latest version of the Joomla 1.0.x series - the backbone of our web presence since 'Reloaded' appeared. The name 'Seventh Samurai' was a salute to all seven Firestorm web presences up to and including the launch of this site. Interestingly, during the two years that Seven Samurai served the Firestorm members we witnessed an explosion in the use of Social Networking across the globe. Our Kai Zen site back in 2006 pre-empted such use of the web and introduced the Firestorm community profiling system. With sites such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter emerging out of the ether, the world saw many community portals lose traffic to these new mega communities. Nevertheless, whilst traffic slowed in Seven Samurai, it still recorded, on average, a thousand hits per week and was indeed very popular in its first few months with a busy games arcade!

'Senjo' -  This is our current web site. It is a salute the the Zen Do Kai Senjo philosophy, its black belts, its black gi's and the toughness and mystique of black as acknowledged in ZDK and the BJC. After a couple of years in the sunny blue of Seven Samurai we wanted to go back into the shade, no actually, back into the cave! Ten years had passed since we first launched ourselves to the web. So we decided to hark back to a dark look that typified the way we entered the web with 'The Determinator' - which was a very black site indeed. Whilst 'The Determinator' had a tough fight at its outset and needed its brother, 'The Flame', to step in to sort out the mess, 'Senjo' takes the experiences from all of the previous sites and emerges as our leanest, toughest, probably blackest and most sophisticated site yet. To make this happen we migrated the Seven Samurai databases to a brand new Joomla 1.5 platform and to a brand new server equipped with very up to date MySQL and PhP features. We killed off many of the old programs that were running in Seven Samurai and took a zero tolerance approach to mediocrity. We eliminated what had become unnecessary bulk and captured what we believe to be the essence of a solid foundation and framework for a modern, accessible martial arts web site. 'Senjo' will grow but it will do this with the input of its user/member base. 'Senjo' is an attempt to set the standard for excellence in martial arts web presences in Australia and intends to represent Zen Do Kai with honour.