We’re about a full month into the third quarter, so it’s time for a quick look at where we are and what we’re up to at Insider House.

Progress on the next version of our core platform continues, with, as is typical in all huge projects, some components ahead of schedule and some components behind. Ahead of schedule and complete are things like our core infrastructure, user management systems and image portfolios. Taking a little longer than we’d hoped are our forum enhancements and the new casting calls and travel notice systems for Model Insider. While they’re a little behind, they’re still well past the midpoint and completion is definitely in sight. Most of our systems are currently in an internal testing phase, and once we get the user interfaces to the point where they’re reasonably understandable (if not yet pretty), we’ll be ready to open the development site to our internal beta testers.

A number of smaller sites have been stood up in the past few months, mostly projects that were developed either on free time or, in most cases, as vehicles for proof of concept on one of the new platform components or to test a completed subsystem. Sites such as Discount Indulgence and Model Justice fall into these categories. While it may not be apparent, these parallel projects all tie into the major core development of our next generation platform.

The Rocky Horror Community continues to enjoy success as the largest online Rocky Horror community. Our Facebook Page has over 24,000 active fans and, a little over a year since opening our doors, we’ve demonstrated to the RHPS community that we’re here to stay and support the show.

We’ve also teamed up with an incredibly talented artist, Sarah Elizabeth Hartman to bring you Dear Future Boyfriend, a great web comic. Sarah is truly a gifted artist and her outlook on relationships will bring a smile to your face.

What are the plans going forward? Quite simple: we complete the new generation of our platform, starting with an upgrade of Model Insider, and then expand our communities extensively using the new, scalable platform. Its development isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, and we do see the finish line approaching. With all that we’ve learned in the past few years, we’re putting into practice some good lessons that will serve to allow us to continue to grow in the future. The upgrade of Model Insider will include a completely new user interface and simplification of what, we agree, is a site that, while powerful, can be confusing and cluttered.

We also have a new feature set for our ZenAllure profiles, including a number of new designs with some pretty spectacular surprises for both free as well as premium members. ZenAllure will also be available for some of our other communities, as we’ve had many requests from those who would like to show off their images in other areas. We’ll also be bringing back our Model Insider chat, due to popular demand, with a new system that addresses all of the concerns our membership had with the first version.

And, of course, we continue to develop and prepare Covocity, our “stealth mode” project that will take our properties to the next level and integrate what we do into a single, cohesive offering. If all goes to schedule (and that’s a big “if,” of course), we expect to announce Covocity in Q4 and hope that it will be met with a chorus of, “Oh, my, now I get it!”