Updated with the Winners! Happy 5th Birthday SWNN! Help Us Improve the Site and Win 1 of 15 Awesome Star Wars Prizes!
October 30th is a special day for every Star Wars fan. Five years ago today, it was officially announced that Disney was taking over Lucasfilm and would be making brand new Star Wars movies. Whether you liked The Force Awakens and Rogue One or not, you have to agree that new Star Wars is better than no Star Wars, right? As I am a big Star Wars fan, this was also the same day I started our site SWNN (formerly known as starwars7news.com). For this small anniversary I wanted to take a retrospective look back at the past five years, find out from you how we can improve the site, and last but not least, announce some giveaway contests for you our readers! After all, this is our birthday party…
When I first started the site, it was just me and an idea. As a movie fan who was following several movie blogs, I thought it would be cool to create a news site that would search the internet and post whatever news could be found about the newly announced Star Wars: Episode VII in one place. And so it began. Every new story about Episode VII was posted on our site with the proper link to the source. In time, the site became popular and I was contacted by many fans who offered to help. As expected, the site attracted people who claimed to have inside knowledge about the upcoming movie. This was very early on during the production of Episode VII and of course some of them were wrong, but there were also some descriptions that were not that crazy, like descriptions similar to what we ended up seeing on Starkiller Base during the duel between Kylo Ren and Rey.
We began a gradual process of expansion, and I was no longer on my own. Our little band began to choose what stories to post since I didn’t want the important Star Wars news to be overshadowed by less important stuff. We began to choose quality over quantity.
The moment that I will always remember in the early stages was when we got our hands on a photo taken from The Force Awakens set at Pinewood Studios (showing the Jakku village). This was the first ever photo leak from the new Disney Star Wars era from the UK (until then we only had the Atlantic photo from Abu Dhabi). I don’t know how many of you saw that post because we received a removal notice in a matter of hours after posting!
A few months later, things got even more exciting when we were sent a dozen leaked concept art images and prop photos from The Force Awakens, but most importantly we received several never before seen photos with characters from the movie (Ello Asty, Nien Nunb, Admiral Ackbar, Admiral Statura, and Snap Wexley), including Luke Skywalker, which was a huge reveal for our readers since the The Force Awakens promo campaign never had intentions to share anything about everyone’s favorite Jedi. It was tricky how to share some of these since we wanted to respect the production and the effort of the people involved and, at the same time, wanting to quench our readers’ thirst for information. We couldn’t share everything, but I believe we managed to keep a good balance in terms of respecting both sides. There were several comical yet serious situations that happened behind the scenes at SWNN at that time regarding these leaks, but everything ended up all right in the end.
In 2014 we started the Cantina forum, and to this day, I feel this was the best thing I’ve done since I started SWNN. Many people were telling me that in the era of Facebook and Twitter, forums were a thing of the past. In spite of that, I still believed they had a place, and something special to offer. As it stands today, we currently have a community of over 7,500 members, but I’m most happy about the fact that I found and developed so many friendships there in the faces of the Cantina staff members and the 1030th mods. We’ve had so many great discussions with the ever expanding team during the course of the last five years and it always made the wait for our favorite upcoming movies that much more exciting.
After we started The Cantina, I realized that the connection with our readers was very important and I wanted to give them a place where they can express their opinions. That’s the reason why we’ve always enabled a comments section, which evolved over the years, and right now it’s probably the most active section on a Star Wars fan site. Just posting news without hearing what the fans think was not what I wanted, and I am happy we built two separate avenues for fans to share their thoughts and interact with each other, both in the article comments sections and the Cantina forum. Some people like just to leave a comment under an article and some prefer to sign up and engage in more extensive fan community discussions. We offer both for our readers.
During the wait for Rogue One everything was very quiet, almost without any major leaks and rumors. Disney/Lucafilm had learned their lesson from The Force Awakens and managed to stifle and plug the leaks. The lack of many leaks and rumors caused the birth of many false sources which spread fan fiction and lies as facts in many places. We did everything we could to confirm whether a leak or rumor was false. Without getting any leaks on our end, we still managed to develop a contact who would tell us whether a certain rumor was false or not. He was 100% right on all occasions and many stories (at least a dozen) on Reddit, 4chan, and certain Youtube channels were put to rest. This was in no way in an attempt to step on toes but to simply weed out any false rumors or stories that seemed to always catch fire.
In the following years (The Last Jedi and Han Solo) it was again hard to find some legit scoops and rumors but still some things slipped through the cracks, most of them coming from merchandise. We managed to get some Han Solo concept graphics and some set photos but things started to get really tricky when the directors of the movie were fired. This situation turned things upside down and many things that were supposed to happen (and we talked about them) didn’t happen. We were expecting announcements about Han Solo and the third stand-alone movie earlier but they never happened due to this unexpected turn of events. A good indication of that was the fact that even Kathleen Kennedy thought the third stand-alone movie would be announced in the summer of 2017, but it never happened. Another indication is the fact that the working title Solo under Lord and Miller transformed into the actual name of the movie under Ron Howard. But of course such things are normal and perfectly understandable. Nothing is set in stone until it is.
One thing is certain – the deal with rumors and scoops will always be tricky. Sometimes someone tells you something about a certain planet and where it might appear in future installments, and then you see it used for a completely different thing. As recent as in the last few weeks we received some minor Star Wars bits from friends, but they were so scared that something might happen to them (or their sources) if we wrote articles about them, that they begged us not to do reports on these. I guess we have to wait and see if they pan out.
All that aside, I never viewed SWNN as a spoiler leak or major scoop site. I wanted a simple and well organized place where we can share everything Star Wars and discuss it with our readers as a community. I can assure you that over these last five years we’ve never posted a fabricated story or something that we didn’t believe to be certain at that time. You can check all of our articles which have never been altered, no matter if we were right or wrong in our archives (accessible from the left sidebar on the site). And I can assure you that we will continue to be honest with you.
The last five years have been an incredible journey, exciting, enriching, and often times humbling.
Now, I want to take a moment to say one big THANK YOU to all the people involved with the site. I started alone but now we have more than 25 people helping in different areas.
Thanks to our writers Jordan, John, Grant, Tim, and Chad.
Thanks to Kyle, Jelena, and Jordan, our great books and comics review team, who never miss a review of every single Star Wars book or comic that was released in the last few years – a magnificent achievement.
Thanks to our podcast team, The Resistance Broadcast: Patric, James, John, and Bill. They reworked our show a few months ago and they are pumping out great episodes of pure Star Wars talk in a fun hour every week.
Thanks to Trevor, Patrick, Volker, Justin, Chris, Freeman, Matt, Robert and the 1030th members – Benjamin, Matthew, Chris, Jeff, James, Hallie, Bret and Sanak, who are always watching for peace and order on the boards and are always around for a friendly chat or advice.
Thanks to Colton for his fascinating Youtube videos and thanks to Sam and Tommy for always being around to help us on the UK front….
…and most of all THANK YOU to YOU our readers – old and new, whose support means everything to us. Without you and this incredible family/community we’ve created, SWNN would be nothing! Thank you for embracing our site, our Cantina forum, and our podcast, and we promise to maintain a positive atmosphere to discuss and share our universal love for all things Star Wars!
Now enough talk. Let’s move to the most interesting part! “This is where the fun begins.” As always, on our birthday we want to give presents to our readers and try to get feedback from you about how we can improve our site. Please post a message in the comments below with any recommendation and/or critique about our site. What do you like? What do you want us to change? Post anything that you feel would make SWNN better! No matter if your comment is positive or negative, you will automatically be in the running for the following awesome prizes:
*The winners will be randomly chosen from all the comments and will be announced next Monday, November 6. We will contact the email you used to make the comment, so make sure you’re using a real email account when you post.
Good luck to you all, and once again thank you for supporting our site and keeping it a fun and positive place for everyone to enjoy and share our love for Star Wars. May the FORCE be with you!
UPDATE!
Thank you all for the replies. We will surely try to improve on some of the aspects you mentioned. We’re honored to have you by our side in this exciting Star Wars journey that is just getting started. Here are all the 15 winners picked randomly from the comments:
- Uncle Deadly
- Mark Provan
- ED SKYMAN
- Weston Konik
- @starwarstime
- Tyler Bruso
- MaxboxOne
- Nexus 10
- Andrew Rice
- Sid Vicious
- Shay
- Tyson Newman
- Lewis
- Nate Vander Martin
- Jaros
All the winners are in the same order as the prizes. So for example Uncle Deadly gets the Battlefront II game, Mark Provan gets the postcards and so on. We will contact the winners shortly.
Thanks again to everyone.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
Congrats, guys! Keep up all the great work, and may the Force be with you!
This is the only site I check for Star Wars news since episode 7 was announced and haven’t turned back. Nothing even comes close!
Hey guys! I love this site! It’s the best Star Wars news site out there. I check it every day to stay up to date. Keep it up!
I love the site. Congrats on the 5 years. I enjoy reading in depth theory’s online but the ones that come from this site seem to have more research than others i’ve seen. I enjoy those a lot. While in sports I usually don’t like opinion pieces, for SWNN and Star Wars in general I really enjoy them. I would suggest doing more opinion pieces. Either way you do a great job and this is my first stop when I’m looking into Star Wars news! Thanks!
Happy Birthday SWNN, i still remember logging onto starwars7news and seeing SWNN and thought i was going crazy, it does not seem like five years ago when we heard the news that the mouse-house had bought Lucasfilm and we were getting episodes 7,8 & 9.
I and probably 99% of your “guests” on SWNN pay you a visit everyday, to catch up on the gossip, speak to friends or post our own rumours and your are always in, you never pretend to be out or hide behind the sofa when we call, you always make us feel welcome.
You guys give us a fantastic service throughout the day…everyday. Hopefully someone from Disney can reward you guys with nice crisp shiny tickets to The Last Jedi premier as it’s because of SWNN that keeps whetting our SW appetite.
Enjoy your Birthday and hopefully there are many many more to come..and thank you.
Already five years of SWNN! I am a daily reader of this site, seeing it grow from a 12-in-a-dozen website called “Star Wars 7 News” to the big community it has become… I almost can’t believe it, all the hype surrounding the leaked setphotos from Force Awakens that got me into Star Wars about 4 years ago, it’s like it happened yesterday. I just wanted to thank the amazing SWNN-crew for introducing me to this amazing franchise I couldn’t live without anymore…
If I can give one advise:
I always felt the gradual growth of this website felt organic and welcoming to me, try to keep it that way! It’s not because this website exists for 5 years now, that too much needs to be changed. Just keep on doing like you guys do now. Producing quality content with a little tweak. 😉
Congratulations and…
MTFBWY
Happy birthday. You came from nowhere to become the go to site for Star Wars news. I can’t remember the last time I visited TFN. Kudos for that.
And now a small request… I’ve always disliked white text on a black background, dark grey on white is much easier on the eye … Any chance of a style sheet switcher for Christmas?
PS. I’m not interested in being entered in a competition!
Remember this Val; Humans didn’t go to the moon without the idea being in place first, so from the staff (or at least from me); THANK YOU for having this idea, and Happy birthday! 🙂
Here ! Here !!!
Happy birthday! This is the only Star Wars site I visit for news and discussion (besides Twitter). I greatly enjoy the articles, which are always reasoned and well-informed, usually attempting to dispel the BASELESS SPECULATION that the Internet is so prone to.
You guys and gals do a great job. Here’s to many more!
My only critique would that you don’t need to spoil things to write a review, but you are already improving on this front lately.
Maybe more in-depth video game coverage of Star Wars stuff?
I just want to say: Thank you Viral and everyone in the team for making this the best SW news site on the internet, bar none.
I can’t think of anything I would like you to improve, really…(maybe add a section for non English speakers on the Cantina? Just because this site really deserves to be shared by everyone, regardless of the language!)
Anyway, Happy Birthday to you all!
Proud to be a member for years now, even dating to the lead up to TFA.
Cheers!
The best visual aspect of SWNN is its connection with Star Wars style. I have seen so many SW sites which are just typical websites. Currently using fancy backgrounds and dark colours is not popular but here it’s totally reliable. You come here and from the beginning you see it’s Star Wars.
I think you guys just have to put more stuff for us all. Even some the smallest details are important!! Keep doing what you are doing, we love you all!
I just wanted to say Happy Birthday! I remember the exact day I stumbled onto StarWars7News and it was a great day! With all the anticipation and huge news about the buy out and the announcement we would get to see a continuation, I was hungry. Not just hungry… but I had a insatiable hunger that could not be quelled. I remember just refreshing constantly for any bit of news to show up. I’ve shared some info in the early days that became posts and it’s been awesome to see the evolution to where SWNN is now and it was an inspiration which helped me to get into the work I do now. You do great work, all of you. Keep it up!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Brilliant site, so glad I discovered it. The look of the site is brilliant, would maybe suggest some sort of guest system for posting articles, once proofread and edited. Wouldn’t go over the top, but once a month if there is a demand.
I love the site. In fact I’d say I visit here at least once a day. Always the best place to find the info you need.
A lot of us fans are also collectors. Maybe you could do the occasional story on a good Hot Toys figure release or something which is out of the ordinary ??
Thank you to everyone at SWNN for my favorite source of Star Wars news!
Its hard to find recommendations on what to improve, but it’s always fun to see more giveaways! Seeing occasional giveaways featuring SWNN T-shirts/merch would be fun. Other than that, just keep doin’ what you’re doin’!
Happy Birthday, SWNN! 🙂
Really do think the site is quite awesome as it is. Perhaps some more original video content from you guys of the site. Trailer reactions or random statue/figure reviews. Something along those lines. oh.. and keep up the unique give-aways!
This is the first time being on the site and it looks great! Would love to see articles or even podcasts from fans to supplement what is already here. Like I as a fan could talk Star Wars for hours.
You Could ??? …Me Too, Buddy ! Yup.
Hi SWNN, you are my go to source for Star Wars News. I don’t comment much but I love the insight, the breakdown of the trailers, and general star wars trivia and lore. It’s hard to keep up with everything and you do a great job keeping me up to date. I am a big sucker for speculation on the possible meanings of different things. Thanks for your hard work and excellent product.
Happy birthday! An app would be great addition. It’d make it easier to follow the news and participate in the Cantina. Keep up the good work–I really enjoy the news and podcast.
Happy Birthday guys!
FeddeCampo here
I’m really happy for what you guys have achieved over the years
Disney has been a big part of my childhood and the Star Wars saga was always been special for me thinking about the sci-fi world
So when the deal was announced I couldn’t be happier. I always trusted Disney and I loved what they have been doing so far.
I’m kinda new here to be honest, I have known many awesome fans this years and lately your podcast allowed me to meet some great and passionate ones as Patric and the whole Resistance Broadcast, super kind and fun team
So thank you for that and I hope you guys can keep growing and sharing this passion we all love and respect,
Here’s for many more years
FeddeCampo
Happy birthday, SWNN! I just discovered you recently and enjoy your thoughts, news, and comments. Love the site! Here’s hoping you have many more years covering our favorite franchise!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6bf87ed07671d5cb13a7b5c0e08e7f6a49eece1b2d16630b390d8d2593621c2d.jpg
You know, I am a bit upset that the day I started frequenting The Cantina was not mentioned in this rundown of eventful moments in this site’s history. You guys are pretty cool anyways… Probably.
I second any ideas about a mobile app for the Cantina Forums. That would be super.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Happy Birthday SWNN!
I check on the site since 2012, at least once a week, ever since it first began telling us about the first info (and secrecy) of Episode VII! It’s been great being part of this amazing journey with you guys! I love the articles and I love how you are always ahead on every single news about the Star Wars Universe. Thank you very much and keep up the awesomeness!
Sincerely,
Daniel
HBD SWNN
The only thing I would recommend going forward is the stoppage of posting hearsay stories. Concentrate on the facts, and leave the speculation and whatever to reddit where it belongs.
Thoroughly enjoy this site. Back when the Prequels were new, I used to get my news fix from TheForce.Net which seems to be quite a bit less than it was these days. The only thing I’d change about the website is how updated articles feed into the RSS feeds. I see the headline and click through and get the story, but next time I’m on the site, I see the story I’d already read with “Update 4” on it. It would be nice to have each update regenerating the entry in the news feed.
I’ve never realised how long you’ve been here…5 years, congrats! I actually visit this site multiple times a day, as this is my no. 1 source of star wars related information. So all I can say is keep up the good work! Sometimes I feel there should be more polls, they’re great to start conversations.
5 years already… Well a big congratulations seems to be in order. Before SWNN I surfed around for the news mostly reading it on theforce.net but now I need only to look in one place. Keep up doing the great work you do. May the force be with you SWNN
Wow! I can’t believe it’s already been 5 years! Congratulations guys! Love the website – it’s a great way to interact with other Star Wars fans! For me, I would love to see some sort of “deal of the week” section where we can find decent Star Wars deals online. For a college student myself, I’m always looking to find good Star Wars merchandise cheap! Other than that, keep up the great work! May the Force be with you always.
Happy birthday to the best Star Wars news site in the galaxy! Thanks a lot for everything you guys do.
Hello SWNN and happy birthday to you! I hope you keep up the good work, keeping us company in search of news from a galaxy, far, far away!!!
PS. A recommendation would be a fan-poll article, perhaps once every weekend, where we could vote and debate in the comments about favorite characters, locations, vehicles, scenes, dialogues, soundtracks etc. For all of us being here in the site, without exploring the forums.
Congrats on 5 years. I am excited for this site as it shares with me all of the information that I am looking for. Keep up the great work and May the Force be with You!
I don’t care if I win anything or not, I wouldn’t change a thing with the site. Congrats to all involved on 5 incredible years!
Happy birthday to my favorite Star Wars site on the web! I think you’re doing a great job running this place and bringing us quality SW info. Keep up the good work 😀
HowDo StarWarsNewsNet ! I’m one’ the Newer membersin ;mongst the Cantina (Ruralfarmboy – Anthony) … made Many a Friend in that Place, Hope ta make Many More,
What I Like ’bout it ? …well, It’s THE Most Friendly space I’ve EVER been in, with Folks I’ll Most Likely get’ta Meet ..Ya know, Face to Face. Yet Each an’ Ev’ry One’a Them’s a Friend. … Be it a Moderator (Addi Ras, Stormagadon, ‘er Alamacht) …Staff (Trevor, Ganon_136, John Hoey,…or FEW’s the time Viral Hide). Mny A mention to The MANY Folks I converse with Ev;ry Day … ALL’A Ya, Yep, Each-n-Ev’ry
What ta Change an’ make Better, Ya Say ??
Nothin’ … ‘s’ Far’s I can see. Yep.
Let;s just keep On Keepin’ On. Yep.
Love Yunz ALL.
Well, firstly I wouldn’t change a thing. I owe so much to you guys for ALWAYS keeping me updated first and in the loop for everything I need to know about the up-coming star wars films, BATTLEFRONT, behind the scenes and everything else star wars. You’re saved on my computer so I can access you straight away in the morning and last thing before I go to bed. So thanks for your amazing website. It’s simple the best Star Wars news website! I think if I could change/add something, sometimes posts slip past me when we’re blessed with a whole load of new star wars content in one day and perhaps I forget to read something. So if I was to change/add anything (and I don’t believe anything needs to change because anything works perfectly), but perhaps some sort of Star Wars notification thing showing at the top of the page each day how many posts have been added. I mean my idea might be rubbish but I would find it useful! Best wishes guys! A grateful fan.
SKYMAN UNIVERSE -yt
Thanks for all the hard work. Couple things; please please fix the “scroll the article and it takes to a new article” its the most annoying part of the site and the reason I don’t visit more often; please also refrain from pushing political/social justice causes, here for Star Wars and that’s all, again thank you for all the great news!
Here’s how much I like SW. My wife got me this for Anniversary/BD…https://www.pendleton-usa.com/product/star-wars-the-last-jedi-blanket-72589.html?dwvar_72589_color=9909&cgid=STAR#start=4&cgid=STAR
OMG it’s going to be fantastic! The other way people know I like SW? My kids name is Mara Jade. For reals yo.
I heard about the Disney acquisition the day after on Halloween night 2012, and immediately with shaking limbs grabbed my phone to read all I could. Your site was the first thing I came across and have been with you ever since. I feel lucky to have been with you guys from the start. You truly have something special here. Happy birthday and hers to many many more years of Star Wars enjoyment!
Love the news and the banner. I would say make an option for a light background, having that option would be great!
First of all, thank you very much for providing such a wonderful ‘Force for news’ over the last five years- I’ve been reading since the beginning and have loved every minute. The actual service you provide is wonderful, the wide range of content is fantastic and the Cantina adds depth of discussion to the site.
In terms of what to change? Well, only two things really pop up: first off, I’ve noticed a lot more grammatical/spelling slips in articles over the last few months which can be a bit jarring, so maybe be a bit more careful on the sub-editing; secondly, the mobile site(s) could do with some slight improvement: it’s far to easy (at least for me) to accidentally swipe to the next article on mobile, and the Cantina could definitely do with some mobile-optimisation.
Otherwise, keep up the good work, I look forward to the next five years!
Is it that time of year again already?!?!
Happy Birthday! I love the site, I know this isn’t helpful but I wouldn’t change it. I love the way you report on things, it’s informative without being cocky or arrogant. Articles are easy to read and entertaining, couldn’t ask for more, I love coming here.
Here’s to another great year!
I’ve been on this site since the beginning. I enjoy the reviews of media that I don’t normally get to read (comics). Please keep the information coming.
Maybe test the site a bit on iOS / iPhone a bit? Seems to jump around weirdly and forward & back buttons don’t respond as you would expect. Otherwise love the site, click it every day.
Man 5 years already!!! I began following this site a year before the force awakens came out and it has been awesome ever since. Always on top of the news, and amazing giveaways like this one! You guys rock keep doing what youre doing
cheers!
I honestly have been sitting here trying to come up with something, but it’s good the way it is.
Since we really don’t have comic shops to go shoot the shit in anymore, this is the next best thing.
I would love to be able to use Apple’s reader mode with the articles on this website, so I can adjust the font size up or down quickly. The content is great.
The mobile version is nice and clean, the desktop version could use a little bit of a facelift, add some current design elements, collapsible sidebars, transparency, parallax, large photo previews of articles, easy site navigation and black text on a white page is a lot easier to read than light on dark, at least for people with not the best vision.
Keep up the great work!
Happy Birthday SWNN! Been a long time reader of your site and always come here at least once a day to see what goodies you post. Only suggestion I can make is make your logo animated. Have the Death star rotate. Just a fun idea. Nothing needs to change and I hope nothing does. Your site is already the best.
Happy birthday, SWNN! Already this long, eh?
HBD SWNN. just want to say i love everything about this site and glad the force lead me to the right path. I would say add a clan group to the cantina? kinda like the SW universe you can have a group of people as a clan. maybe you guys already do this but like you guys can do alil draft or select people from the millions you have in the cantina to join your group or we make groups. that be cool. we all talk star wars but to have a group to feel more SW like i guess. well just keep doing what you been doing and may the force be with you…
Happy Bday SWNN! I’ve been a fan since the beginning and you’re still a SW site that I “have” to check out daily. I like the variety of content, and like the fun, informative writers. I miss the days when you guys were getting more rumors and posting various leaks, but you can’t really control that. As a collector, I’d like to see more toy reviews; that’s one area I’d like to see you expand. Overall, keep up the good work. I like that SWNN seems to be staffed by a crew that genuinely likes what they do and likes one another, which you don’t always get a sense of from other sites. May the force be with you, always!
Happy Birthday, SWNN! Thank you so much all you do. You Forcefully my daily dose of SW news, which always puts a smile on my face. Keep up the good work and MTFBWY!
I really like the good feeling thats been engendered in the comments section. A lot of times people criticize stuff to appear smart, but I’ve noticed that that sort of behavior is minimal and shunned here. And there’s just a general camaraderie. I know the cantina forums are probably way better, but it’s nice to have a friendly comments section somewhere on the internet.
One improvement world be to establish the rating system more firmly – the scores seem pretty arbitrary and there’s no theme anymore (eg 4/10 kybers)
This website has been instrumental in rekindling an obsession that I once thought was lost. Every new post recalls the childhood excitement of tearing open Bantha Tracks envelopes desperate for a glimpse of something new from my treasured “galaxy far away”. Most days you’re the first thing I read. You’re all doing a wonderful job. Thank you & may the Force be with you!
Happy 5th Birthday!! Keep it up!
Yes! Being 5 can only mean one thing… you’ll have to go to kindergarten next year!
What about the Droid attack on the Wookies?
I wish the Cantina’s could have a more spoiler free section. I used to be there all the time before TFA, but even tho I tried to avoid the spoiler threads, I still felt like getting bits of spoilers here and there. That’s why I stopped using the board before Rogue One.
Congrats! I check this website multiple times a day and you people are the best. Can’t think of any tips, I’m happy with the website as it is now. Keep up the great work and MTFBWY! 🙂
Congrats! You guys are the thermo-detonator! Thank you for all that you’ve done and all that you do! Luminous beings are we…
Kind of feel like you are taking credit (or as I call it now pulling a tarkin) for Echo 5 achievements in regards to the Cantina. He was the one who pushed for it and to many of the day one joiners he was the Cantina’s father.
Yes, he was the father of the Cantina, until he decided to leave his child three years ago. I was taking care of this kid since. So now I take credit for the Cantina with full confidence. We were 4 back then, now we are 25. 😉
Not how it works at all. He created it. He was the one who pushed for it and really pushed others to join (despite your claims above that you were the who had to put up with naysayers about the merit of a forum board) Just because he had disagreements about the site does not diminish what he contributed (created) or give someone else claim to his accomplishments as you are obviously trying to do. . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoaUjUCQbMo
I don’t know who you are (perhaps you’re Echo himself hiding behind an avatar), but I gave him enough credit through the years for what he did. He surely can’t take credit for creating it though. It’s one thing to have an idea and another to execute it. Now 3 years later the Cantina is what it is because of me and the 20 and more staff members who work tirelessly to keep it running and civil. They deserve all the credit.
Sure thing Thomas Edison.
I love that I can get daily email blasts of the day’s posts. I don’t always get to check the site, but I always check my email! I also love that people can comment. I’m happy for you all; I’ve enjoyed this site very much!
Congrats guys! Keep up the good work!
I really love this site and check it daily. I also cannot think of an area where you guys need to improve. Your guys’ coverage of all things Star Wars is top notch and with the Resistance Broadcast improving so much lately, it’s really hard to find any area that’s lacking. One small aspect I would like to see more of however, is short summaries of major events from the books. I’m not much of a reader and that’s why I would like to see this more, but I also realize it probably isn’t very practical. Thanks for all you do and keep up the great work!
Happy birthday! Think you all are doing a great job here. Don’t really have any gripes about anything. One thing that might be cool is a gallery. There’s so many good screen shots, concept art, etc here. It could be fun to see it all easily in one place. I work in the graphic art world, so maybe I’m a little bias. Either or, keep up the good work!
I really love this site and can’t really believe it’s been 5 years! I’ve been on it since 2014 all through those exciting leaks for episode 7. Almost every day I check this site, looking for not only rumours and leaks, but also for the interesting discussions in the cantina and in articles. I love this site because of the cantina and opinion articles and especially Viral Hide, who is awesome! My only suggestion in order to improve this site would you guys to maybe create video content to put up both on YouTube and on the site itself. I think it would be a cool step forward.
Awesome, awesome site, I wouldn’t change a single thing! Maybe just add a youtube channel with a video podcast thingie, those are always fun to watch. Keep up the great work!
We have talked about video podcasts before, but the problem is that none of our staff live in the same location. So doing a show similar to what Collider does with Jedi Council wouldn’t really work for us. That would be awesome though!
Happy birthday and happy Halloween SWNN! Thank you for the last 5 years of awesome news and a fun friendly place to talk about Star Wars!
I been coming since I think about December 2012 and been coming pretty much every single day. It’s like my routine now to come here first and check because I trust this site first and it is the most organized and fun place to comment. I can’t wait for the LAST JEDI!!
Happy birthday SWNN. Your site is awesome I come here more frequently than to the official star wars site. I really appreciate all the reviews on books and comics you are doing, every time when I am not sure if to buy something then I search this website I find out if I like the book/comics or not. Your website is awesome continue the good work.
Happy Birthday! Love SWNN!!! Keep it up. I check here everyday for the latest Star Wars news and updates!
Happy Birthday! Although it’s not at a fever pitch like it was in the year heading up to TFA I still check in often. The user base has gotten much more supportive and is probably the least trollish community I’ve seen on the internet. No small feat considering how passionate we all are for our favorite galaxy far, far away. Now… if we can just put to rest with finality that Snoke is not Plagueis haha 😉
Congrats on 5 awesome years, guys! Here’s to the next 5 years (and many, many more)
Been here since very early in the site’s life and have really appreciated what you’ve done and how you have presented spoilers and leaks. You’re the best and it’s why I keep coming back.
I have enjoyed this site for a few years now and it is my go to site for the latest in Star Wars news. Y’all are on top of things and quick to update posts as new news comes about. Thanks for up to date Star Wars news and keep up the good work!
I’ve always loved this place. I don’t post often but I am here daily. I’m excited to continue making daily visits the norm for years to come. I want to compliment the layout. I love swiping left and right between articles on my mobile. As for constructive criticism, I guess I kind of wish Disqus weren’t the comment platform. I don’t expect a bunch of folks feel similarly, so maybe it’s just a me thing. I’ve never had the best technical experiences with it, that’s all.
May the Force be with us… Always.
I love the book and comic reviews. Maybe one thing you could do: currently you have the book or comic book review by the article’s author, along with a rating best out of 10, e.g. 8/10.
Why not let several other staff members rate the book or comic book, similar to movie reviews on rottentomatoes—the critic reviews?
The readers of swnn site can get a variety of rankings.
I like this site, and also love the cantina (i’m an active member), what it comes to my mind when i think of make this site better is that maybe add some gifs and images to prevent the lose of graphical information for us who watch it from work, i am no able to watch anything from youtube for instance. Thank you very much and keep on the good job!
Keep doing what you’re doing! SWNN has been my trusted goto site for Star Wars news for years now, and will continue to do so.
Is it too late for two more Happy Birthday suggestions? First, the cool giveaways like this one where you’re randomly giving out SW items are a great touch, and you’ve got some excellent SW swag! Maybe do a quarterly contest or raffle? Second, I would like to see SWNN do some more interviews with SW cast and crew. Some exclusive content like that would be sweet! Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you to all involved with the site, keep up the great job you’ve been doing. r70
I think you are doing a great job and I like the Cantina as well. Keep up the good things you are doing. It’s a cool time to be a Star Wars fan.
Viral Hide, thank you for starting this site and all the good work you have done since. I’ve been with you since the beginning, excited as hell about the new era of STAR WARS. Happy birthday!
I think the site as it is is more than good enough, but if I had to come with some constructive criticism I’d say that the layout is a little clunky, but at the same time it’s fairly unique and recognizable.
May the Force be with you, always.
Everyday I refresh this site a couple of times for Star Wars news. Thank you for all your hard work and being so fast wth all the news and buidling a star wars community!
From a design standpoint the site is a bit busy. Going down to 2 columns instead of 3 would clean it up. One main sidebar (on left or right) with all the tidbits and widgets in there and the main content area with your blog roll. Only having 2 columns would allow both areas to be wider than they currently are allowing for more real estate for content. The content in the two sidebars currently feel very forced and crammed because of the limited space.
But overall, content is great!!! Happy Birthday and keep up the good work. I am on the site daily. Thanks for keeping us updated.
love the site! keep it up 🙂
I have watched you guys from the beginning and it has been an awesome ride seeing you guys grow and evolve into something awesome! Keep up the great work! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/750a4d2c1c617a73404df7a5071045589e29d2a0cf019ec26d2d9c625ffbe7ea.png
No need for change! 🙂 Easy and simple
More news don’t give away spoilers in titles
Maybe redesign the page to make it more mobile friendly, and be more selective of the ads you place, too. Other than that, great job, and thanks for letting me rant (always respectfully) here in the comments :p
The response from this site was great, even when I critiqued it without knowledge of a contest they reached back on Facebook. This is a good way to Judge whether others are experimenting the same thing. I’m not having as many issues as I was, but from time to time it’s really difficult to load a page.
I do not like that I can swap left or right to change articles because it seems to happen far too easily. But if others like it, of course it’s a keeper.
I do wish the site growing even faster as it is really a great site.
Oh, and you don’t have enough jobs opening in marketing? Lol!
This website is great, it’s what I use mainly to keep up with sw news. I will say I mainly use the mobile site, and the function in which you can “swipe” through articles frustrates me often. If I’m just scrolling up or down I can unintentionally swipe to a new article, and then have to find my way back. This can happen multiple times in one sitting. Maybe change the sensitivity or get rid of it altogether. I always just go back to the main page to pick a new article anyway. That being said, i still love the site and check it almost daily. Keep up the great work + Happy Birthday!
Love the site!! One thing might be nice to have an easy way to get to the page. Where the list of canon books are in order and rated. Especially for the newcomers to the site and into the canon universe. Keep it hot!! Thanks again for all your hard work love it!!
Star Wars News Net you’re all doing a fantastic job on this site and I love it! You bring me all the news on Star Wars and that’s exactly what I want, no matter how great or how small, keep up the terrific job. I don’t know if it was just me or not, but sometimes when I try get on your site (I have it bookmarked) It says the server is out sometime. But other than that I think you’re doing really well. Keep up the great work and Happy Birthday
Every morning I get to work just that extra five minutes early so I can sit and read through all the latest news on Star Wars News Net… you guys always have the latest news, and everything is broken down and easy to understand for the readers… Happy 5th Birthday and thanks for keeping my mornings interesting….
Thanks, Ethan
a mobile app with push notifications for breaking star wars news
The best SW site! Sometimes it randomly switches between mobile and desktop mode when I’m on my phone
We check the site every single morning, along with the mail and current news, while we have breakfast. It’s like, coffe, toast and “hey, what’s new on SWNN?” You do a wonderful job! Fans appreciate it all around the world, thank you and congratulations! Greetings from Spain 🙂
One little thing I love is the “back to top” button with the X-Wing graphic over it, making it look like it’s flying up the page as it scrolls upwards. That’s just fantastic.
As far as improvements go… hmm. I’ve noticed a few spelling errors in my time here, and sometimes the grammar can get a little confusing. Maybe a little more time in the editing oven for some articles could be beneficial?
Sometimes this is due to the language barrier as some of our writers don’t speak English as their primary language. Other times, it is driven by the necessity to get out a news article in a timely fashion. Our staff all have other jobs so the editing process gets tricky sometimes as our editors don’t always have the time to check every article prior to posting. But we are always trying to improve on this. Thanks for your understanding!
SWNN, has been a regular haunt of mine since it started. Of all the SW news sites, this site manages to distill everything that’s out there down to what’s truly relevant and fun. Keeping it real.
After I check my emails, this is often the first site I visit. Sometimes on a hot news day, even before.
Thank you to Val and the rest of the team.
SWNN, this website is amazing! I check it everyday! I love to read the news and the comments, sometimes I visit the Cantina forum, I always watch to the Star Wars Show linked from here and you guys have been my connection with Star Wars since this universe became alive again (a dream I hope will last for years). You are doing a great job. Happy Birthday and keep going! May the force be with you!
You know, one thing you’re missing? A favicon. And Apple Touch icons.
Hmm, we do have a favicon. Don’t you see it? What OS are you on?
Hello 🙂 No, I see the standard document icon. Browser is Chrome.
Just had a look in “Edge” and I can actually see an icon in that.
I like the site’s bantha-friendliness.
The mobile version of the site is difficult to use. When I am scrolling down, i have to be careful because I might get sent to the next story. Something makes it really sensitive and scroll to the side.
Happy Birthday SWNN! I check daily and get most of my news right here. The only thing i would do is look into a wix or squarespace website. They have alot of options to update the look of your site…from a certian point of view. They also run a bit smoother, i have alot of lag when i load on each of my firefox and internet explorer. Cheers and may the force be with you!
Oh man, I can hardly believe it’s been 5 years. I remember checking out news while playing Star Wars Commander between classes in university. I suppose the reason I check out the website less often these days is because I was so hungry for information before The Force Awakens. Now I have comics, books, etc. to keep me full of Star Wars and catch up on. I digest other Star Wars through YouTube with Star Wars Explained and Collider Jedi Council, so if I could suggest one thing would be to post in addition to your podcast, more content that can be digested while doing other things. I love to have Star Wars in my ears while I cook, drive, clean or lie in bed.
Happy Birthday SWNN! I enjoy the content you bring to your website. You are my daily source of Star Wars news. I enjoy the insightful opinions, speculations that your staff and followers bring to this site. I am not as tech savvy to comment on how the site could improve. My only suggestion is to have the topic search bar in the Cantina forum a little more obvious to locate, but that could be just me and everyone else can use it correctly. Keep up the great work in searching and presenting us with all that Star Wars goodness.
Happy birthday SWNN! I would love to see an app from the site. It would be great to get updates without having to log into a web browser from my phone. Might be a stretch for now, but everything else about the site is great! Love the interactivity with the fans. Keep up the great work!
Viewing this website on my android galaxy s6 active is a little glitchy, other than that just keep the layout streamlined as is, none of that flashy new garbage everyone keeps changing to.
May the Porgs Be with You…
I have another recommendation (besides the article scrolling if you swipe wrong) that might be cool. Each day, pick a character or vehicle or planet or weapon – from canon – and paste a link to the wookiepedia or whatever, maybe with a short explanation of why it’s important to the franchise. With 8 movies there is a lot to work with. I thought it was cool seeing Jyn in that behemoth vehicle on the prison planet also show up in the clone wars. I believe its also in Splinter of the Minds Eye. I just read that book again, they definitely took some phrases from it for the movies! Something I don’t think I’ve seen posted yet is a couple toys I saw in store. One was a first order speeder bike like ROTJs and the second these mini AT-ST first order patrol vehicles, they are one seater style but have two legs like a chicken walker, wonder where in the movie they use those? They for sure were from TLJ but I know they used them in Rebels (or the clone wars too?)
Happy Birthday !!!!
I can’t believe it’s been 5 years man time fly’s . I check the updates and read the articles everyday. As a fan I glad that this site keeps going, as far back as I can remember this has been the best Star Wars fan site . Keep up the good work guys, here is to hoping the next 5 years are just as fun and exciting.
Congratulations! Easily my favorite Star Wars site. 🙂
I love this page and look forward to all your article posts!
Happy Birthday. Thanks for all your effort.
Keeping it simple is best in my opinion. But maybe you can add a chronology function.
What would such a function do? I mean you could select a character and then see over time and running up to each movie and thereafter what the news was and how the debate evolved and debunked theories – we’ve all had a few!
What you have amassed compared to elsewhere is this information. Nobody has this. It is not a databank on characters and it is not wookiepedia. It is news and opinion evolution and they are linked together. You have the possibilty to present this in different ways such as nostalgic or informative fact.
Without voting you could also try to add the evolution of prevailing opinion by data mining the discussions.
For the chronology function, you have all this information, and it is pretty much already categorised. I think all you need would be a search function and nice visualisation with timeline.
For the prevailing opinion function, again you have all the information, but you need to interpret this relative to certain topics. Maybe at first you select the topics in a controlled way. If it is working well then users could dynamically ask questions to your system.
If you build something like this you could sell it for other sites and just change the context or sell it to users for analyzing other similar combinations of news and opinion.
By end of Episode 9 we could click and see the history of news and opinion on Rey, Finn and Poe.
Congrats! I’ve been here since 2014 and visit it pretty much daily ever since. This my favourite site for Star Wars news. Always fresh and relevant.
Keep up the good work!
My only criticism is a weird bug that I sometimes encounter. Namely, that the Cantina toolbar on the right sometimes leads to a “requested page could not be found” error message in the Cantina.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWNN!!!
By far the best place in the universe for Star Wars news!
Only suggestions I have is maybe make it easy to contact you while browsing on the mobile site. Maybe I’m just a dumb clanker, but I’m not seeing a contact link while on my mobile phone.
Even though you mention not publishing/posting rejected stories I would personally like reading those too.
I would love a Bantha Fodder section!
Keep up the great work!
Good luck, love happiness, health and may the force be with you!!
Happy Anniversary and I think what you guys are doing just great and my suggestion is keep doing what you are doing !
Happy anniversary! I was affected by Hurricane Sandy that hit the day before the news broke about Disney and Lucasfilm. The news of new Star Wars films was a bright spot in an otherwise tough time. I remember finding your site right after you got started and I have been a real fan since the beginning. I can’t think of anything to improve. You guys are already doing a great job! Thanks again for all the great content!
Congrats to all the winners and here’s to many more of this great site!
Wow congrats on winning the game! That’s awesome.
Thanks! Saved me $60 haha.
Wish I’d have won it. Glad you did, though. 😀
Thanks! We all get lucky once.
Lmao
Uncle Deadly at #1. Pffft. It’s rigged. I demand a recount and call out Bothan interference.
Many Bothans died to brings us this prize.
I know. I had an entire legion of my best troops awaited them. I killed the Bothans. And now, just because you win, I’ll kill the rest. AND NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW WHAT THEY LOOKED LIKE.
hi
Congrats to the folks who won a birthday gift!
I’m so excited I won, didn’t matter to me what I won just happy to be a part of the site 🙂
Wow. Congratulations to everyone who won and entered. I hope this site continues to grow and grow. May the force be with you starwarsmewsnet.com!
Dammit, my sycophantic ramblings did not pay off!!
Ah well, its a good job I meant every word of it.
Congrats again to SWNN and the winners!
Thank you so much SWNN, so happy to be a winner. Here’s to many more years of SWNN and Star Wars.
Thank you SWNN!! I’ve had to change my email, but if you still can’t contact me please pick another lucky person. 🙂
Love it, I won the Staff which my 4 year old is going to absolutely carry to see The Last Jedi! She adores every movie and especially Rey, who she has dressed up as every major event we go to. I have a bunch of pics of her at comicons etc next to bigger Reys, super cute, this will only add to it. Keep up the good work!
Received my prize today. thank you so much SWNN
I just now saw this… i sent an email reply with my info. geez…. sorry for the lateness lol