Updates, Renewals, Funds Raised, and Clarifications

I was gonna make a text blog post, but I got tired and lazy after doing 3 takes of this video blog. Instead here is the copy-pasta of my video outline for the TL;DW crowd there.



These are the points I set out to hit when making the video. I go into detail on some, but may, or may-not have been the most articulate person recording a video at 2AM (the only time I am free).
  • Apologize for Delay
    • Wanting to Vlog since January
    • At work all day, school till 10PM 4 nights a week.
    • Usually don’t get home till 11:00-11:30PM
    • Graduating Soon, Taking it Seriously.
  • Reason for vblog: Major change for utaforum, need crowd input.
    • User ‘partial’ donated $50 purchased 10 tokens putting us at $139.06 in funds available.
    • XenForo renewal will cost $55.
    • The other $85 will be a poll. Options include:
      $30 to renewal showcase.
      $60 to add gallery support.
      $60 to add social groups.
    • The order we unlock the above will depend on the poll.
    • If we can raise $65 we can get all of the above and would consider UtaForum “feature complete”, having all the initial features I wanted. Once implemented, I would be comfortable removing the beta tag.
    • Stretch goals if we raise more than $65 include:
      $20 to Data Storage uncap Resource Manager download size
      $32 to add Post Rating System for more community interaction/feedback
      $80 to replace TaigaChat with more powerful chat system
    • Again, order of unlocks decided by a poll.
  • Fundraising Page Revamped
    • To help keep track of our current funds, how we spend it, and how well we fundraise in the future I have revamped the not-dontains Fundraising help page entry with an embedded Google Sheet.
  • Reminder though this is a fundraiser these are not ‘donations’.
    • Funds are raised through the sale of tokens, tokens have a variety of uses on UtaForum, most notably they are used in the skin voting system.
  • Clarifying Tokens & Voting System
    • Emphasize: Tokens can be earned for free.
    • Encourage: Work together and pool tokens for fun and exciting skins.
    • Emphasize: The order skins are accepted does NOT mirror the order they will be released. Skins are given priority based on the number of tokens pledged with special consideration given to token pools of multiple users.
    • Explain: Only reason Melobunni’s “Usagi Light” finished so quicky was because she knew what she wanted, communicated it well, and was available to cooperate with me to get the skin she wanted during a chance weekend where I was free enough to develop the skin.
    • Note: Skin development is something I do ‘for fun’ as my personal gift to UtaForum, thus I do it on my own terms. Generally after going to work for 7 hours where my primary task is coding, the last thing I want to do after work and night classes is coming home late at night is to code some more. This mean progress is generally only made on weekends and holidays.
If you would like to support this and future forum upgrades. Tokens may be purchased via PayPal here.
 

Hentai

Technical Admin
Administrator
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
Since it seems almost unanimous I will renew XenForo and update Showcase. Hopefully then we can bring UTAU profiles back. From there based on the poll we will decide between the Video Gallery and Social Groups. Once I am done sorting out the kinks and am able to bring the UTAU Showcase back I will close the poll and decide what we are going to do next.

Additional food for thought:

After researching additional Media Gallery options and I ran across XenMedio Pro (demo) which not only cheaper ($40 vs $60) but it supports both YouTube AND NicoNico Douga. With the recent contribution by A R I E S, combined with the cheaper cost of XenMedeo, we would only need to fundraise $20 to get both XenMedio & Social Groups, making the poll unnecessary.

That being said, XenForo Media Gallery is not without its own benefits. As a first-party addon it has premium support directly from the XenForo staff. It integrates well with other addons including both Showcase and [Nobita] Social Groups. Downsides are it also has an annual maintenance fee, doesn't look as good as XenMedio and doesn't support NicoNico video embeds.

Which gallery plugin do you all prefer? The prettier cheaper one or the better supported first-party one?

Which new addon should we get next? It seems the poll is neck and neck!
We need only 4 more token sales to be able to afford all of the above.

Even if you can only afford one ($5) do consider purchasing a Token or a Lifetime Upgrades.
 
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