You may find this hard to believe – but you are only able to search 0.2% of over 300,000 profiles on Fusion101 (that’s a rough estimate based on a page/profile count of visible profiles, compared to the exact number of profiles the database shows). How is this even possible – isn’t that 300,000 figure just made up to gain new joiners? Well it’s along story, but the answer is no – its true!
I’m working on making the 290,00+ hidden profiles available…
Fusion has been open since 2000 – and during that time it has frequently become vicim of it’s own success – constantly crashing and because the server could not handle the traffic (in 2004/5 it was the 200,000 busiest site on the web – consider there are multiple millions – all done from a bedroom in 4 very intense years of SEO and long nights along side my day-job). Anyway – the site frequently did not work, and because I had asked the coder to hide profiles that were inactive, many people – frustrated with the site, tried the site once or not at all then never came back, and so their profiles were automatically hidden.
Why is Fusion so ‘clunky’ and outdated?
Many people complain to me about this (I understand totally!) but they don’t realise – that from 2006-14 I spent over 150K of my own money on software and developers trying to build a replacement for Fusion. But nothing was ever finished as I went from one developer to another desperately trying to build something – I eventually ran out of money and trashed the whole idea. Finally 6 months to a year after I gave up – I can’t remember exactly when, out of the blue I was offered ‘a finished platform’ – but for 50% of the Fusion company. But as before I would be provided wth no backups, have no control of the server/code – a deal I never proposed or asked for and was prepared to do, so in the end I never received any code or new platform.
My own fault
The whole thing was my mistake for trying to get it done cheaply by using freelancers at £120 per day, accountable only to themselves, when I should have bit the bullet and gone to a company at £2-300 per day and saved a small fortune – believe me it was a sore lesson and I feel a total fool as I could have had update the existing site beautifully for perhaps as little as £5K – then we could have slowly updated the old site and server and even created a total replacement over time (that was what I asked for twice – and should have demanded – hind-site is a beautiful thing:). But the developers I went with refused to update the old site – preferring me to pay them to build a whole new site + a stake in the ‘company’.
So what you see on Fusion is the original site, almost identical to how it was in 2000 – possibly less easy to use, since with the little cash I had left – I had to make it work on desktop PCs and mobile for a couple thousand pounds – and I by that time could not afford to get it done properly.
Constantly broken and admin basic features missing
Add to this that members retrieving passwords was often impossible (our emails were often blocked by ISPs), and the fact I’ve never had a newsletter to remind people to come back when the site was rarely working well (I paid for 2 newsletters to be created, and a friend kindly created one for free, but I was never able to use them and they would never handle that many members anyway) so I’ve never been able to email members to say; “hey – the site works – come back and have a look!” Frankly there was no point, as that many members would break the server and have a terrible experience! I thought best wait till the site is working well. Add to this – I’ve long since forgotten exactly how I asked the coder to show/hide inactive profiles – and I see that some older profiles are showing up – while others not at all – quite a mess!
Finally after 18 years trying I have a new ‘replacement’ site for Fusion101 but still trying to decide what and how to replace the site
My new site you can join here; https://www.101christiansingles.com). I spent 6 months building myself is much nicer than old fusion – but Im still deciding the best way forward as I’m always faced with the possibility of the server crashing under the weight of all that new activity. So first I need a larger server (if you want to help me pay for it please click here [DONATE] or any donate button on this page).
Hopefully soon you will have access to much – much larger number of profiles – I just have to navigate my way carefully so we don’t have the same issue of a slow site and people decide the site does not work. But the most difficult step (building a new site) has been done. Small steps!
God bless you – Edward.
P.s – If you are sick of the Facebook fiasco, mud-slinging twits, treated like a $ sign and the world having access to your data, don’t forget to join my other new site (my 5th and final attempt at a reasonable Facebook alternative for Christians:) at: https://www.101christiansocialnetwork.com