So, umm, apologies for the strange title. With that said, this could well be considered a major update

For those of you who are using RPNet Premium right about NOW, you must have noticed the new look. For those who are not, well, you’ll see it when you next use it.
Please remember to clear your cache if the site appears messed up!

The design:
The new design, in my opinion, looks a lot better than the old one. First off, it’s light colored. And, I guess, it’s always better to have a light colored design as opposed to a dark one. Well, that’s good design ethics, anyway.

And, it’s an overall revamp, really. Took us a fair bit of time to get it up and running in perfect shape. But then, obviously, it still has hidden bugs. So if you come across a discrepancy or a bug, please report it to us (at the helpdesk) asap!

We’ve also used custom fonts on this design, a lot! Like literally, a LOT! Problem is, IE does not render them. So, IE users might not get to experience the ‘awesome’ font (well, I think it’s awesome!).

I can’t really say much. We’ve concentrated a lot on improving overall design and user experience, etc. I hope the new look satisfies our users

The new filehosts:
The update we’ve all been waiting for!

FileServe and SharingMatrix are now officially supported by RPNet. Rapidshare is still supported, has not been dropped, and will not be dropped.

FileServe is stable to quite an extent now. Although you might experience slowdowns in speed at times. But, that’s something we cannot control, as their servers do slowdown every once in a while. You might also end up with broken files. But that, again, is not an error on our end. Some of the files often have 404 errors on their site. So if you come across such a file, chances are the link may get generated (or not), but will download as a few bytes/kbytes. So, before you rush in to submit a support ticket, please manually check whether the file itself exists or has an error on FileServe’s site.

SharingMatrix, on the other end, is quite pathetic. Their so called ‘blazing fast premium speed’ is nowhere near that. Their ‘premium speeds’ are beyond pathetic. I could barely top half of my 1mbps connection! That, in itself, is pathetic. Although we saw speeds of up to 7mbps on specific files, too. SharingMatrix has been added as a result of popular demand. We, however, are quite against it. For the mere fact that their ‘premium service’ is way too slow. I would advise that you try to stick to alternative hosts as much as you possibly can. Where you have no other option, well, SharingMatrix it is, then.

What else?
This weekend, I’ll run a poll on the RPNet forums for 2 additional filehosts. Which filehosts those will be, is something that will be decided by a majority vote. I’ll send out a mass email to all the premium subscribers, so stay tuned for the poll. Keep your favorite host recommendations at hand

I guess that’s just about it. It’s been one hell of a long day. I’ll take a break now (from this blog post, only!). If you guys need individual support, use the helpdesk, as always

Cheers,
Hamza Y
RPNet Administrator