The History and Current Mission of ChatCache
A Bit About Myself
I had been chatting since about 2001, when I first had access to my own computer with an internet connection. I didn't take the whole chat thing seriously at first. It was just a way to pass the time and fool around. I bounced around from chat site to chat site until I found a website called Chatpit. Chatpit used DigiChat for it's chat software, which for the time was absolutely amazing and brilliant. I found myself returning to Chatpit quite often, and soon began making friends there. Within a year I was given a moderator position, and about a year after that I was promoted to administrator.
I really enjoyed my time at Chatpit, but some years later I left for personal reasons and began creating my own chat websites. I figured that with the experience and connections I had running chat rooms, I would have no trouble out on my own. The owner of Chatpit, Rick, helped me a lot with guidance and a few links to my websites.
ChatCache is Born
ChatCache started off as a way to help me get a foothold in the chat business and broaden my reach. When I launched ChatCache in 2006 it was little more than a website full of links to other chat sites and some ads. It mostly featured links to my own chat sites and other websites which I exchanged links with. The links were organized into categories on separate pages.
Expanding Features
Eventually I began teaching myself PHP and MySQL. One of the very first original PHP/MySQL scripts that I coded was a button exchange for ChatCache. It allowed other sites to sign up and display an iframe on their webpages using an HTML code that I provided. Basically, for every two page views they displayed my button iframe, they recieved a page view elsewhere on the network of sites. It was moderately popular for a while.
I still felt as though ChatCache didn't offer enough useful content to the average web surfer, so I put a login applet to the DigiChat rooms which I hosted on another site. Now that ChatCache had it's own chat rooms right here on the site, traffic began to steadily increase. ChatCache became my top earning website in advertising revenue.
The Decline
Sadly, ChatCache gradually declined in traffic and usage, due to attacks against the chat server and my own neglect and lack of meaningful updates. The DigiChat server has gone through several phases where it was under attack from hackers. I was also afraid to update the content of the website itself for fear of accidentally disrupting the stellar search engine results I was getting at the time.
In early 2011, ChatCache reached an all time low in traffic and ad earnings. It's search engine results had fallen off the map. It was time for me to bring the website back to life.
The Rebirth
I completely recoded and redesigned the website from the ground up. Some features, such as the button exchange, felt as though they were no longer relevent, so I removed them (for now). New features were added. I coded a unique topsite script as well as some resources for chat owners. User avatars and emoticons are now available for download. I began writting more interesting content, such as my own personal reviews and experiences with different chat websites and some of the software I have used over the years.
The ChatCache of Today
The main focus of the website, however, has been shifted to the free chat rooms that I offer. It was always the most popular and most used part of the website, so in light of that fact, I have made it the main attraction. The clutter of links from the past versions are gone (well, better organized and relocated), and what you see now remains.
So take a look around, read my personal thoughts and experiences with the various chat rooms and chat software that are to be found around the internet, and stop by the chat to say hello. I hope you enjoy the website.
- Tom, ChatCache Owner