It's been a busy stretch behind the scenes. Now that the forum is live for everyone, here's the full rundown: what changed, what shipped after launch, and what's coming next.

SECURITY

Security & Stability

Before opening the forum up, we went through the whole site looking for anything that could put accounts or data at risk. A few real issues were found and closed:

• Bans and role changes now apply instantly. No more waiting for someone to log out — if staff bans or promotes someone, it takes effect immediately, even mid-session.

• Bans got a full redesign. It's now a dedicated action instead of a role, so nobody's real rank gets lost by mistake. A banned member is kicked out in real time and sees a clear full-screen notice instead of being able to keep browsing normally.

• Guests can look, not touch. Anyone can browse the forum without an account, but posting, chatting, and other actions require signing up.

• Closed a handful of other technical gaps around message content, login, and admin permissions — nothing you'll see directly, but it matters a lot behind the scenes.

NEW

New Features

• GIF profile pictures. You can now use an animated GIF as your profile picture (covers stay static images), with a built-in cropper so you can frame it exactly how you want while it keeps playing.

• Faster image loading. Every profile picture and cover — old and new — now loads automatically optimized and compressed, so pages load quicker without losing quality.

• Live player list. The MTA server box on the forum page now shows who's currently online in-game, not just a player count.

LIVE

Live on the Web

The forum used to only run on a local machine. Now it's actually hosted and reachable from anywhere:

• The site runs on Vercel, live chat runs on Render, and the database runs on MongoDB Atlas.

• We don't have our own domain yet, so for now the forum lives at the free Vercel address — a custom domain can come later.

• The database was wiped clean for this launch (Former Staff Members history was kept) so everyone starts fresh together.

UPDATE

Recent Updates

A handful of things got fixed and added right after launch:

• Fixed live chat not sending messages in production.

• Fixed newly promoted staff not being able to access the admin panel right away.

• The "Users Online" list on the forum page now actually works — it was quietly stuck empty before, for both members and the guest count.

• Roles and tags in that same list now update instantly when someone gets promoted, instead of waiting for them to reconnect.

• Chat now supports @mentions. Type @ and a few letters to tag someone, they'll get a notification — same as it already works when writing a post.

• Nicer link previews when sharing the forum on Discord — real branding instead of a placeholder image and description.

• Styled the chatbox scrollbar to match the rest of the site instead of the plain browser default.

ROADMAP

What's Coming Next

Nothing below is live yet, but this is what's actively planned:

• Admin panel expansion — a third section for managing posts, threads, and sections directly.

• Private messages between members.

• More custom scrollbars across the rest of the site (the chatbox above was the first).

• Clearer server status when the MTA server goes offline.

• Password and email recovery by email (account email confirmation planned as a later step).

• "Add Former Member" button for moderators and above.

• Chat message deletion for moderators and above, plus optional small chatbox announcements.

• Thread tags to help sort and find posts.

• Clearer photo guidance — recommended resolution hints for profile and cover pictures everywhere, plus an admin option to remove a member's picture entirely if needed.

• Hide threads without deleting them.

• Link your Discord account right after logging in.

• Monthly like competitions with a counter and recognition for the winner.

• Deeper MTA server integration — more detail on players, rooms, and server info shown right on the forum.

Gallery

Still early — more ideas are being worked out before this one takes shape.

Clan Wars Page

A dedicated page for Clan Wars is in development.

That's everything for now. If something breaks or feels off, let staff know and if there's a feature you'd love to see, this is a good place to say so.