• A staple of our Internet presence, weekly news updates continued coming at a brisk pace "off the wire." There were over 264 stories written since last year, and now over 334 total news items on the site. These continued to keep those who love camp current about events, needs, and prayer requests.

• Notifying the loyal Ranch friends about website updates is our weekly e-mail, Phantom Ranch eNews. During the summer, this publication celebrated its own first birthday with over 70 updates written to date. We are also excited to report that this publication now reaches over 200 people each week, a 100% increase over last year.

• With much fanfare and anticipation, the launch of The Campfire Discussion Forums came at the end of May. This highly popular addition to our website has produced over 1,000 posts so far… and growing daily!

• Complying with a new Federal law, PhantomRanch.org implemented a Privacy Policy , Terms of Service, and other safety precautions to protect the personal information of those using our site. Special attention was given to protect our campers from online predators, as is accorded by the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act. We were happy to comply with this program by April.

• The Ranch asked Web Team members Chris Arndt and Steve Tanner to work on redesigning the 2000 Summer Camp brochure. This offline project was undertaken in the fall of 1999 and produced the camp’s first full-color promotion piece for these sessions. The brochure was also tightly linked by design and references to the website, continuing the integration of the Internet with the Ranch’s daily office procedures. This effort helped show parents and supporters that the Ranch is staying "cutting edge" regarding Christian camping efforts.

• Due to the Web Team’s close work on the brochure, the online Summer Camp section contained additional information and was available sooner then previous attempts in 1999. This allowed parents to download registration materials sooner, helping the Ranch plan for the summer and assisting in cash flow.

• Cross-country staff recruitment continued by providing both staff and HSMT applications online via PhantomRanch.org. For the second summer in a row, the Ranch attracted volunteers from beyond the Midwest, including Florida and Colorado.

• Speaking of recruitment, in March viewers were treated to on-site updates of Olen Johnsen’s Staff Recruitment Tour. Using e-mail communications, Johnsen provided website users updates from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana during his month-long adventure.

• Again trying something new and innovative, a special section was created for 2000 Summer Camp staff members to list and view their e-mail addresses. Utilizing special security features to protect their information from non-staff members, this addition has been quite popular since the summer ended.

• As a special treat to our supporters, the Ranch Web Team produced special April Fool’s news stories. No, Phantom Lake was never drained!

• Many churches, youth groups, and organizations continue to request information about our ministry. This year, our staff handled over 170 of these types of requests, which provide more points of contact and, in many cases, additional revenue to the Ranch.

• Large numbers of retreat groups continued to utilize the Ranch due to our website. As was reported in May, we received a cancellation of a week-long retreat session that was planned for June. With little hope of filling this space on short notice, the opening was solely advertised on PhantomRanch.org… within 3 weeks, the session was booked again!

• During the doldrums of winter, humor could be found all through February as we debuted our first online comic. "Phantom Critters" was a four-week strip custom drawn for us by former staff member, Adam Stevanovic’ (poor Bunny Foo-Foo!).

• Many volunteers helped us write and edit stories, along with building relationships this year. First off, we'd like to thank our dedicated Proofreader, Melissa Anderson, who corrected our news stories and content each week before it got published. We'd also like to thank Renee Becker, Chris Cayari, Angela DiCicco, Amy Kreis, and Angela Yaklich for contributing news items as a part of our Summer Staff Story Contest. In addition, we wanted to welcome George Tskaridis; he's the first member of The Campfire S'more Patrol, the vital volunteer arm of our Discussion Forums. Learn how you can join the Web Team today!

• Continuing our promise to build community, the Ranch conducted three live chat events over the past year. Our one general event in February, followed up by special Youngteen Week and Superteen Week chats over the summer allowed session directors, Ranch staff, and supporters to interact live, providing an unparalleled avenue for follow-up and feedback.

• The growth of Wisconsin's phone system prompted the Ranch to transition our area code from 414 to 262 in March. The website was used extensively to promote and educate individuals about this change.

• For the first time, the rapid timetable of the Internet prompted the Ranch to accelerate the process of scheduling sessions for both Winter and Summer Camps. For example, shortly after Winter Camp completed this year, the Web Team had the schedule for 2001 posted on the site, helping youth leaders and campers plan and reserve accordingly.

• Attendees of the Ranchfellows Banquet in April were given the opportunity to RSVP online instead of sending cards via US Mail. This method also provided additional information and updates about the event, including maps.

Many things happened "behind the scenes" too!
  

• "The Great Server Crash of 2000" – In March, our website host had some major technical difficulties which completely erased PhantomRanch.org from existence. Thankfully, backups of the data were housed at the Ranch and elsewhere, and everything was restored within a week of the crash.

• A need for more reliable service, additional features, and higher capacity to handle traffic prompted the move of the website from servers in Wisconsin to servers in Texas. This move was completed by mid-April.

• Because the Ranch staff was spending so much time online answering questions and providing information, a dedicated Internet phone line was installed.

• Thanks to two friends of the Ranch, Nicko Sahlas of ChefTalk.com and Randy Birkey of Birkey.com, an automated mailing system was installed to handle Phantom Ranch eNews. This system streamlined subscriptions and made mailing the weekly e-mail considerably easier on the Ranch staff.

• Software tools were upgraded to handle the higher demands of the site. The Ranch now completely uses Macromedia Dreamweaver 3 for all website updates (originally, we used Microsoft FrontPage 98). This new software purchase streamlines website updates by coordinating the Web Team located in both Mukwonago, Wis. and Chicago.

• Additional hardware was also purchased to support our Internet and multimedia ministries. Specifically, a digital camera color photo printer, and CD burner were added to our resources.