New Freelancer - Meet Zola + Site Updates
Updated: Feb 4
Hey GMFG Community,
Zola A. here - your new tech freelancer. I reside in Manhattan. Quick intro: I'm a full-stack dev who geeks out over vintage tech and finally got your Apple Pay up and running (you're welcome!). When I'm not coding, you'll find me hunting down rare Weezer pressings, losing myself in house music, or maintaining my pristine collection of early-2000s gaming hardware. Yeah, I'm that kind of nerd.
Upton and I go back to our Michigan college days. We were pushing the limits of what was possible when HTML5 was just emerging from GitHub's primordial ooze. It was a pretty magical time for me. Recently, he hit me up about something cool - he'd stopped a cyber attack using something called webhooks (think of them as automated security guards that instantly alert him when something sketchy happens). In his case he got 200 newsletter signups in one day and it set off some alarms.
THIS IS 100% classic for the first act in something called DNS attack, or denial of service. He knew it too. Mainly because we may or may not have done similar things in our rambunctious youth. Long story short- the traffic was coming from Pakistan, Parkistan was regionally blocked and it was over just like that. So that's obviously a very powerful tool... during our phone call he told me the story, and what came next was kind of surprising. He wanted to bake the same security into the very foundation of the site.
We didn't know if it was possible, frankly we still don't, but on a technical level, it has worked- with the Field Guide Pakistan Situation. So We're gonna make it happen, and in the interim keep protecting the loyal readers of the guide with the classic security. The new server has all of the support I need to make a lot of amazing things happen. We have done a lot, below are the update notes from the server migration if you were interested.
Exciting Updates for Our Users
Fully Encrypted Credit Card+Apple Pay Integration: Secure, streamlined payment processing
Critical Security Enhancement: End-to-end SSL encryption built into every single page, not just the store. Plus automated machine learning threat detection to continue to guard your information like a 400lb linebacker. We take your privacy more seriously than you know here at Gay Mens Field Guide.
The site is available now in English, Spanish, and French with robust translations, and SEO optimized to help our boys down in Mexico.
Complete rebuild: Fresh codebase. The pages were recreated and remixed using HTML5 and JavaScript, along with Cascading Style Sheets, and some Machine Learning magic.
Infrastructure boost: We expanded site speeds by bringing new servers online, with additional geographically located servers to handle the new anticipated traffic and speeds required to run sites like this.
Oh, and I have to mention this because it's just Bad fucking ass - OpenAI gave us early access to SORA to create our new homepage video. Those flowing ribbons of light you'll see dancing across the screen? That's AI-generated art in motion, and honestly, it came out even better than we hoped. We wanted something that would make you go "wow" the moment you hit the site, and SORA delivered.
Launch update: We're going live in 2-3 days (by February 3rd, 2025), pending server transfer from Webador. Everything's tested on desktop and mobile, with core features ready to roll. Got feedback once we're live? Hit me up at Zola@gaymensfieldguide.com (note: email activates with launch).
Quick bits: Started coding at summer camp, live in Manhattan with my German Shepherd Tank, and yes - I'm single, but no - Upton and I aren't a thing. We're just tech geeks who get excited about clean code.
This is just the beginning. Whether you're here for the tech deep dives or just found your way to our corner of the web - welcome. We're building something solid here.
Stay secure,
- Zola A.

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