Hello swimmers!

I wanted to post a quick update corresponding to the release of SwimWorkouts.net v1.7.1 as parts of the site have been streamlined in order to allow for a greater focus on the aspects of the site that that matter... the workouts!

First, you might notice that Teams & Events have been removed from the menu bar at the top. These features remained unused for months despite the steady growth of the SwimWorkouts.net user family.  Essentially, what that indicated to me was that the need for Teams and Events at this point in time is unnecessary.  The features provided no value to the site and more or less served to make the site appear inactive at this point in time.  The code behind these features is still present, so they can be re-implemented if/when demand for them occurs - however I thought it best to just remove them from the live site for now in order to put the full focus on what we do best.

Second, you should (hopefully) notice that the "Subscribe" tickler has been removed from pages after you register for an account and log in.  I've decided to remove the ability for members to subscribe to an ad-free version of the site for now.  I'm not sure I was able to add enough value-add to the site for subscriptions to be worthwhile.  This feature might come back in the future, but for now the site will continue to be ad supported with an option for members to donate to help offset operating costs.  

Finally, I've streamlined the home page so that the workouts are near the top, shocking I know.  I've also removed the Promoted User Workouts section (a section that was intended to be a subscriber perk) and instead made the section a listing of the ten most recent user created workouts.  The goal there is to increase the exposure to your workouts over workouts.  Another minor change I've made to this affect is that SwimWorkouts.net automatically tweets links to workouts when you create them.  Previously I'd only automatically generate tweets for my own workouts, with tweets for user workouts being another subscriber perk.  My hope is that the increased exposure will encourage all of you to continue creating workouts on the site.  They are most definitely being viewed, printed, and used!

That's it for the site updates - now lets see some stats!

• Current Number of Registered Users: 446
• Current Number of Public Workouts: 251
• Total Number of Yards/Meters Logged by Users: 411,500
• Total Number of Workouts Logged by Users: 119
• Total Number of Workout "Views": 107,428
• Total Number of Workout "Prints": 17,353

I'm exceptionally happy with the stats and would like to once again express my sincere thanks at helping make this community great!

As always, if you have any suggestions or requests please feel free to contact me.

Best Regards,

Christopher Card
Founder, SwimWorkouts.net