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A Touch Of History

Adrian's Rojak Pot has come a long way since I started it as a personal homepage on Tripod in 1997. Only on 20th August of 1998 did it evolve into a true computer hardware site.

Those of you who have been with me right from the start will remember how I moved from host to host. As Adrian's Rojak Pot evolved, I was extremely fortunate to have many people stepping up to provide me with free hosting. Without them, I would never be able to concentrate on developing Adrian's Rojak Pot to what it is today. Thank you so much, guys! :-)

However, free hosting could only bring us so far. For Adrian's Rojak Pot to expand further, we had to take some risks. Our friends bought us time to learn from our mistakes but it was time to throw away the safety net and test our wings!

That's why I stopped work on the old Adrian's Rojak Pot for nine months back in 2002. The old layout was too cumbersome and took up too much bandwidth. It also prevented us from functioning as a team and that was crippling the site. We thought of several options, from upgrading several parts of the site to paying for a professional hosting service. In the end, we decided to throw the old site out the window and start from scratch.

We then sat down to develop the site you see now. For nine months, our team worked to build the new Adrian's Rojak Pot from the ground up. It was hard work, of course, since we wanted nothing less than the best. Sometimes, it was really frustrating for none of us have really done something this complex before. Thankfully, we have really talented people on the team - from Peaz who developed the backend and Falcone who gave Adrian's Rojak Pot its spiffy new look to his brother, Chai who handled the forums. Thanks to their efforts, we now have the spanking new Adrian's Rojak Pot!

We hope you like it. We have tried incorporate every feature we can think of to make your visit an enjoyable experience from our very own dedicated server to a sleek database-driven layout. And we will continue to improve the site. If you have any ideas on how we can improve Adrian's Rojak Pot, we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact our webmaster, Ken Ng or me, Adrian Wong. Due to the amount of e-mails we have to process daily, we may not always reply in form but rest assured, we read every e-mail we get!



Team ARP
CEO & Chief Editor :

Adrian Wong
Webmaster & Contributing Editor :

Peaz
Forum Admin & Contributing Editor :

Chai
Photography Expert & Contributing Editor :

atwl77
Pre-Editor & News Editor :

Dashken
Pre-Editor :

Leian
Graphics Artist :

Falcone
Graphics Editor :

Zen
Contributor & Resident Black Sheep! :

jtkl
Contributor :

Max_87
Contributor :

PsYkHoTiK
Contributor :

Maximus_Detritus
Contributor :

Marauderz
Contributor :

Jason Wong
Contributor :

hyper_raider




Our Goals

I have been offered opportunities to join established and much better known sites on many occasions now. I have rejected them all because I believe in the goals I have set for Adrian's Rojak Pot.

First of all is the independence and the freedom to write the truth. Adrian's Rojak Pot owes no allegiance to anyone or any company. As such, you can be assured that articles published in Adrian's Rojak Pot will be as unbiased as is humanly possible. If there's any bias, it will always be the interest of the consumer!

Next, Adrian's Rojak Pot will focus on subjects that are rarely or never touched by other sites. In other words, we strive for uniqueness. It's not so much to differentiate the site from others but more due to the belief that it's better to provide some information on a little known subject than add more to the mountain of information on well-researched subjects.

Finally, Adrian's Rojak Pot will continuously aim to improve the quality of its articles. In fact, I have always tried my darnest best to create "definitive" articles that I hope will be considered as authoritative works on their subjects. Only you can judge if I have succeeded in this.

In a nutshell, Adrian's Rojak Pot aims to venture boldly where no man has gone before and to do better where others have treaded.

To accomplish the goals above, we rely on the countless people that we have the honour to meet. They include those who have visited this site and commented on it or its articles. You can help to improve this site by helping us spot the mistakes that we will undoubtedly make. In addition, we owe the creation of this new site to many of you who have taken the trouble to e-mail us your ideas and criticisms. We appreciate the efforts you have taken and we hope you will continue to send us your comments and ideas. Even the most modest suggestion will help us all clear the darkness of ignorance. The truth shall set you free.



What's Rojak?

Well, rojak is a distinctly Malaysian fare. It's a dish of fruits, vegetables, crackers, fried soyabean curd and practically anything else the connoisseur wants, mixed well with a spicy, sweet and sticky paste made of prawn, chilli and belacan. A generous amount of shredded peanuts is then sprinkled on the dish. Yum, yum! Yes, it's delicious and it suits different palates because it's anything and everything you want it to be.

Colloquially, rojak also means "mixed up" since the dish is really a mix of many different ingredients with the sauce (Thanks, Goi!). The pot that is used to mix the assorted ingredients is, of course, called the rojak pot! Hence, the origin of this site's name - Adrian's Rojak Pot. Why? Read on to find out! :-)



Why Adrian's Rojak Pot?

Well, first of all, you have to understand a tiny part of the Malaysian culture - we love to eat. Malaysia is one of the few places on Earth where you can find food stalls and even restaurants open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No, no... I'm not talking of 7-Elevens... I'm talking about bona fide mamak and hawker stalls, etc, etc... - all catering to every Malaysian's desire to eat at any time of the day or night.

With such a national obsession with food, I believe that this site should at least give a nod in that direction. And what better way to do that than to name it after one of our favourite dishes?

In addition, I want the name to conjure up an image of a site that publishes a potpourri of different articles, as varied and as delectable as the ingredients of rojak. It also points to the diversity of visitors that this site aims to cater to. While this site is Malaysian in origin, it will not restrict itself to Malaysia. The Internet is borderless and we welcome diversity!

Finally, we feel that Adrian's Rojak Pot is a unique name for a unique site. What better name can you think of? ;)

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