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Assyrian Voice History
In the Beginning
On April 15th, 1999 the Assyrian Voice Network (AVN) was born. The idea at the
time was very simple and much different from what you see today. More like
a personal website for the webmaster, as well as some information about
'Assyrians in Canada.' For a few
months we continued to provide some basic services for our visitors who didn't
exceed 100 per day.
The First Turning Point
In October of 1999, Nineveh Online (NOL) decided to discontinue its text
chat service. There was a huge gab to be filled and a great legacy to be continued. That
is to continue the work started by Atour and Nineveh websites to offer a chat
line for Assyrians. Our website decided to take the lead and open a text
chat . It was an instant success, with hundreds of people switching to our
website to chat.
The Next Great Turning Point
Then in December of 1999, the big revolution was about to take place.
The Voice Chat revolution. The Assyrian Voice Network entered history by
becoming the first Assyrian website ever, to provide a voice chat service.
In a matter of few weeks, hundreds of Assyrians from all over the world visited
the voice chat and became regular members. Many of whom got in touch with long lost relatives and friends,
finding love partners, and most
importantly finding new friends. That is, we can proudly say that our
website is the birth place of all Assyrian Voice Chatters. In
addition, our voice chat was the first to host live meetings with Assyrian singers and
other political figures online. This included Evin Agassi, Ashur Sargis, Julie Yousef,
Ammanouel Bet Younan, Albert Mansour, Ogen bet Shmouel, Laith Yousef, Oraham
Lazar and many
more.
Community Hang-out
In addition to
the voice and text chat, our website started offering other community
services including a Message Board and
Community Forums. The
forums, which were started in 2003, have become a very popular place for
discussions or just chit chatting with other Assyrians about any topic. We
have some 5,500 registered members there as of the publishing of this page.
Seeing the huge success of our chat and forums, Assyrian Voice made a lot of
changes in the summer of 2003, disconnecting such popular services as the
voice chat, webmail, ICQ Assyria, MSN Assyria. The decision to discontinue
these services depended on specific reasons for each section, as well as for
reasons of technological and technical limitations. But despite these
changes, our members still enjoyed the other regular services, and other new
ones which sought to replace these now discontinued sections.
Assyrians could now go to Paltalk for the voice chat service
In the Summer of 2004, Assyrian Voice received its 2.5 millionth hit, which was a huge accomplishment.
In June 2004, Assyrian Voice had its first and real official chatters' gathering in Toronto, Canada, with some 26 members present. In the next few years, Assyrian Voice members would organize many other chatters' gatherings, all around the world, including at the last 4 conventions.
In January 2006, Assyrian Voice rolled out its 4th major redesign, with a big emphasis on making it easier for our users to access all our services from the home page. The redesign brought about a significant increase in the number of hits to our home page.
Web 2.0 and Gatherings
From 2007 through 2009, Assyrian Voice gave more priority to the new Web 2.0 technologies, rolling out various services and changes that made it easier for our visitors to communicate and interact, using the new platform. This included the full integration of our chat, forums and pictures section, where one username would enable you to enjoy all these services with all their benefits.
Starting in 2007, Assyrian Voice began to place a bigger emphasis and efforts on extending our reach beyond the online world. This came in the form of paper-based newsletters, community involvement, more members gatherings, charity and donations involvement and more.
In November of 2007, and given all the thousands of Assyrian visitors from the Middle East, Assyrian Voice introduced a new version of the website in Arabic. And we are currently working on introducing an Assyrian-font version as well.
In 2008,
Assyrian Voice rolled out many new sections, including
Library,
Assyriska,
Video and more. These three sections are now some of the most
widely-used on our website.
In the summer of the same year, Assyrian Voice released a new website
logo.
In April 2009,
as we celebrate our 10th anniversary, Assyrian Voice is close to receiving
its 5 millionth hit, a milestone we are very proud and thankful to have
reached. As we celebrate this huge milestone, Assyrian Voice has a
big surprise coming out, in the form of a song. Details to be available
soon.
Popular Assyrian Voice Sections
Assyrian Voice has had many popular services and sections, some of which
attract thousands of visitors on their own, daily. These include:
Our chat line is the the standard and only real Assyrian chat place, since 1999. Our chat has virtually been open and active for 10 straight years, hosting millions of hits. It is not uncommon for people to confuse our website name with 'Assyrian Chat' simply for offering the only viable Assyrian chat line.
The Community Forums have become another very popular and successful section of our website, with over 5500 registered members and close to 1 million posts
The Photo Albums have been there since 2000, and have always been a huge hit We have over 125 albums, and a total of more than 1500 pictures, from Assyrians all over the world.
Our new Assyriska section, dedicated to all things relating to the Assyrian club team in Sweden, has been a huge hit, ranking first in many major search engines.
Our Youtube Video section, also accessible from www.AssyrianVideo.com , has been a big hit with our members, with hundreds of Assyrian Youtube Clips posted, and tens of thousands of views.
Assyrian Voice Library, an encyclopedia-like reference points for all your Assyrian knowledge needs.
Emagazine , having undergone a major new re-design, this is where you can read new Assyrian articles, reports, poems and many other forms of literature.
Mobile: our latest section, enabling iPhone, Blackberry and Mobile phone users to visit a mobile-optimized version of our website, right on their device.
Important Numbers and Statistics
Here is a list of some important statistics that shed the light on
our accomplishments:
An average of 1500 Unique Visitors per day, and some 30,000 page views daily
One of few Assyrian websites to pass the 5 million hits point
Over 6,000 registered members across all services, not counting guest visitors
Over 1 Million Posts and 50,000 topics have been posted on our forums
Our chat has been open and active to visitors for over 85,000 straight hours
A combined total of over 5,000 photos and songs in our media sections
Some 50,000,000
total page views in 10 years
What People Said About our
Website
Using our email, chat lines, message board or even real life quoting,
we have selected these famous quotes about our website.
-"In the beginning there was the web, then came AOL, then ICQ, then MSN. Finally there is AVN"
-"If it wasnt for AVN..... SOOOOOO many people wouldnt be in my life. I can honestly say I have friends all over the US and aroudn the world because of this site alone! .... Really awesome......"
-"Your website has helped me find the one I love, and will be with forever. Thanks a bunch"
-"The Assyrian Voice Net is the only thing I do daily more than washing my teeth or eating lol"
-"I've been on here for ages and I keep coming back for more. It's the only thing I can get on to when I'm having a rough day"
-"This voice chat is the best place Assyrians have ever seen online. Maaan, it is so much fun"
-"I want to thank you for this great website which has become an all-in-one stop for all my Assyrian needs, including an email with you guys."
-"I have had a lot of fun here"
-"Assyrian voice is definitely the best Assyrian website ever, and all my Aussie friends say so too..."
-"If not for your webiste, I would never have found all the friends I have right now. Thanks you so much"
-"Assyrian Voice Chat was the best last year and so will be this year and the next year."
-"Your site guys is the reason why I got cable, so I can be on it daily"
-"I would like to thank all those in attendance today....also to thank those who created AVN, because that is where my brother met his wife"-from a wedding
-"I love AVN :D"
-"I admire the level of intelligence and humor on AVN. I am proud to say that the people i have met so far have been great personalities"
-"best Assyrian website out there, keep it up!"
-"I'm especially appreciative of the friendships I've made, those that I've met, and those that I've never seen but chat with everyday. I've learned so much here and have a renewed sense of optimism as it affects our next generation."
-"A wonderful weekend which would never have happened if not for AVN."
-"Great great memories and lots of fun and laughter. I love how many of the friendships are genuine and the people are there for you when you are up and down. For that I'm always grateful."
Pictures from the Last 10 years
Some pictures from
members gatherings and conventions, from last 10 years.
For more gathering albums, visit these links:Album 1
, Album 2 ,
Album 3 ,
Album 4
,
Album 5
Top 10 Moments in Assyrian Voice History
The opening of the first ever Assyrian Voice Chat in Dec. 1999
The opening of the text chat in Oct. 1999 (after Nineveh Online shut down)
The migration from the Message Board to the Community Forums in 2003
The 'Assyrian Voice song': special song dedicated to Assyrian Voice
Receiving our 5th million hits (April 2009)
2007 Assyrian Convention in San Diego (Close to 100 of our members were present)
The first official Assyrian Voice Gathering in Toronto in June 2004
Pope's visit to Toronto and World Youth Day in 2002: AVN was there and active
Interviews with Assyrian Radio in London, ON and Emmama Newspaper in Toronto
Celebrating our 10th year anniversary
>Meet Assyrians in our community
>Ask us a Question about Assyrian Voice
>Read what others said about our 10th anniversary
>Like our Website? Please consider making a web donation
>Did Assyrian Voice help you or change your life? tell us about it!
