Tay

not atm, but thank you! Well played. I'll see myself out now, thanks.

Fair enough. I've been so invested in this for the last few days I didn't even realize how pedantic my usage was : P

Re J-List -- I'm pretty sure those are also affiliate links, not ads. It's still kinda fishy since they don't allow piracy in affiliates, but hey, they get to make the rules.

RE: Ads with JAST/J-list/MG/etc. -- just FYI: those companies don't normally do ads in the traditional sense of the word. They have affiliate programs where we can put up links or banners/ad-like images, and we'll receive a percentage (8-10%) of any purchases made using one of those links. If people use the affiliate links, then it's possible we may not need ads at all. Either way, the affiliate programs aren't partnerships/special agreements with Fuwa, it's a fairly standard industry tactic. 1. Hosting costs will scale with the site, but it'll be >$50 per month plus periodic licensing fees for various pieces of software 2. Just a few hundred dollars. This "debt" is mostly adhering to a lawyer's suggestions regarding paying for assets/coding and some unexpected, recent licensing fees. 3. Not so much merchandise as authoritative guides, articles, blog posts, etc. we can put up which will draw in traffic. Ex: authoritative guides for new TL groups for each of the most common game engines; in-depth buying VN importing guide; a somewhat hush-hush special JP VN news program; if we make an autopatching platform, in-depth guides for coders to know how to use it, etc.

Just to clarify: I was more or less talking about ad/monetary partnerships, and not pimping out Zaka. Doubtless we'll start to put up more promotional materials, but that'll be a function of brand-new access to dev PR feeds (which will give us advance information about titles with assets we can publish on the blogs), not paid-for blog content. Those sorts of decisions are something Zaka and I will have to iron out, and knowing him I have no doubt we'll find a good solution which keeps our souls and freedoms intact : P

Banner ads are tacky, and none of the Fuwa sites will have header ads. I pretty much hate them. RE: Publisher/dev agreements -- I'm still in the early stages of dev outreach (though we do have a few set up), but that's definitely where I hope to go. I'd much rather promote VN devs than use an ad service. RE: Differences b/t ads and donations -- yes, mainly because they're taxed differently by the US and most Western nations. That said, when I say I'm holding off because I want to make sure we do donations right, I'm definitely erring on the side of caution. Making sure users are safe is pretty much what led us to this point in the first place. RE: Review copies -- it's handled differently by various companies. Some companies will offer review subscriptions, and others will just give you the games. Generally what you "get" is determined by your traffic. Fuwa and the Fuwa blogs get a lot of traffic, so I'm not too concerned about this point. So far all the devs I've talked to have been happy to offer review partnerships with no costs to us.

Good point, and we do have a lot of people who would be willing to pitch in. I'm holding off on donations for a few reasons (chiefly: wanting to make sure our legal footing is solid and donations won't cause anybody any grief), but that's certainly a possibility once we have our ducks in a row.

Sorry, I'll try to be clearer: I'm not really sure why that's happening. When I try it in Chrome and Firefox, clicking the "X" does minimize the sidebar and stays that way even after refreshing the index. In the next few weeks, if the sidebar minimization feature disappears altogether, it'll be due to our experiments, not a software error.

Hey everybody, Over the past week or so the LC has been discussing site funding. What follows is a brief overview of the site funding plan. Money is always an uncomfortable topic, but I’ll do my best to be brief and straightforward about it. TLDR version: We're going to experiment with income sources to cover hosting fees, and any extra money we bring in will be re-invested into the site. This will include some experiments with ads. If ads or other income experiments don't pay off, we'll drop them. Long version: Site Expenses: Monthly hosting Building a "rainy day" hosting fund (initially 6 months, then 12 months) Pay off site debts Site Improvements (see next point) Planned/Desired Site Improvements: Commissioning special/authoritative content and special projects as a site draw Purchase site expansions (new themes for reviews/forums; 2 specific plugins for Fuwazette, etc.) Cover the difference in discounted (not free) VN reviews games copies (though so far devs we've talked to have agreed to giving review copies free of charge) Examples of Re-Investing into Fuwanovel Authoritative/special articles and guides from experts (for the academies (new players, TL and creation), special news projects, etc.) New forums themes (esp a dark theme) A new reviews site theme (gauge just ain't doin' it) Some commercial plugins for the Fuwazette Covering the difference of discounted-but-not-free review copies of games Coding for auto-patchers Small rewards for easy but time-intensive work (Filling in back-reviews of partner blogs on the reviews hub, etc.) Contests / providing the reward for a forums contest run by somebody awesome And lots more Site Income Sources (Trial Basis): Tastefully-placed ads (as few as possible per-page, will be removed if income isn't worth it), Affiliate links to devs My personal funds Site income will first go to the next month's hosting, then the rainy day fund, then repaying past debts, then re-investing the rest into site improvements (see the improvements section above). Money is Messy I know very well that money can poison a community – especially a volunteer fan community. The only way to prevent self-destruction is to be clear up-front about how we’re going to handle the site finances (1. Immediate Hosting; 2. Hosting Emergency Fund; 3. Re-invest in the site). The goal will be to re-funnel all of the community success back into building the community. Just FYI: at present there's no way to know how much we’ll be bringing in each month, but we’ll find out soon enough and we'll adjust the plan as necessary. Thanks for your time. The floor is yours if you have something you'd like to say/discuss. Tay

IPB, our forums software, has a pretty crappy system managing the sidebar. Changes like this would be totally awesome, and I hope we'll get that functionality with IP4, but until that day we're at the mercy of theme settings.

I'm sure there's a tech reason (which is beyond me), but removing the sidebar isn't a planned feature atm: a lot of the experimentation coming in the next few weeks will involve it. Sorry, monsieur lewy.

Bingo. I had the same thought. I think the aggressive release calendar for the next 18 months adds to that sense of momentum, too, and the Japanese publishers are unquestionably going to leverage pricier deals.

Welcome! Just curious: what about Majikoi made it your favorite VN?

We'll be playing around with the sidebar over the next week or so. We've got several things to change and one or two things to add. I'll put up a feedback thread once we kick that off, and we'll try and find a good layout.

Welcome! You played Katawa Shoujo, huh? Did you like it? Which was your first route? Favorite route?

Can everybody see the recognition team feed in the index sidebar? I know the formatting looks weird, but that's because I don't know how to make a proper hook and had to muscle it into the extant layout. Hopefully I can figure it out soonish.

I played Juniper's knot on iPad, too, and when people want to try a VN on iOS I'll usually send them first to Planetarian and then to J.K. I really enjoyed it for similar reasons to FinalChaos. Great experience.

What else? Monetize it, baby. Contact all your friends and relatives and let them know you have prime moe blog real estate for sale.

How did the jump to untranslated VNs feel?

Excellent personal essay, excellent read. Very much looking forward to more.

I’m going to respond to Maef’s post here: http://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/8694-important-domain-and-host-transfer/?p=240053. I realize the topic has moved in other directions, but a promise is a promise! Hi maef. As I’ve told you before, I think you do a great job cutting to the heart of the issues, and while I think I’ve answered all of these questions here and there in several different posts, it’s worth the time and effort to collect them all here for your consideration. I look forward to your feedback/input. Here are the questions I’m hearing from you. Let me know if I missed any: What is the objective of Fuwanovel? If it’s still “Make VNs popular in the West”, what’s the new gameplan for doing so? In my (Tay’s) mind, how did dropping torrents affect the site and its goals? What new features are being planned to compensate for loss of torrents? How do you plan on getting new players? What is the objective of Fuwanovel? If it’s still “Make VNs popular in the West”, what’s the new gameplan for doing so? If we’re talking about site stationary, then yes, we’re absolutely keeping “Make Visual Novels Popular in the West” as our tagline : P. If we’re talking about site strategy, let me break it down into short and intermediate-term goals (I’ll leave the long-term goals for another post). Short term goals (6-8 months): A) Keep Fuwa relevant, B ) keep building the house, C) Foster/rebuild relationships, D) (possible) VNTLS replacement A) Keep Fuwa relevant: by building new features and increasing blog draw; optimizing searchability by a complete SEO overhaul; building a resource stream to commission special articles and projects; B ) Keep building the house: get the redesigns up (for all 3 sites); enhance Fuwa Academy content beyond lessons and lexicon; build the PC database to >250 games and get a good start on the mobile database; start getting patching guides up; we have 12 VN reviewers on the hub but I wont be happy until I get the last 2 “big” fish on my list; and finish my Fate/HA walkthrough : P C) Relationships: I’ve started forming partnerships with devs for the reviews team, but there are many more I’ll be approaching soon; outreach to TL teams whose patches were on front site + discussion about ways to help; prep resources for TL teams who want private boards on forums for their projects; outreach and joint projects with other VN communities (in discussions atm); evangelizing anime/FB groups and equal-exchange with bigger anime/manga/LN communities; D) I’m talking with folks like [need to get permission before adding name] about ways we can set up a VNTLS replacement Intermediate-Term Goals: E) Fan TL Academy; F) Fan Creation Academy; G) Special Japanese VN news program (Planning on these 3 projects is pretty far along, but as I haven’t had a chance to even bring them up in the LC, yet, I’ll leave it there for the moment) In my (Tay’s) mind, how did dropping torrents affect the site and its goals? I agree with you, Maef, that dropping torrents was a big deal and a threat to our appeal. I think the most important way that it affected the site and its goals from my perspective, is that it forced me to look at the profile of the average user who was going to stick around even after the torrents went offline, and figure out what keeps them coming back. I came to two conclusions: users who “stay” do so for at least one of two reasons: 1) community, or 2) ease of use. If you’re reading this post, you probably get #1 already, so let’s talk #2: People like Fuwa for how easy it is to access information and resources – and that went/goes for more than just torrents. If you take our walkthroughs as an example: they’re far-and-away the most popular English VN walkthroughs on the net. According to Google (I’ve been spending a lot of time with their keywords tools), our walkthroughs are used more and rank higher than GameFAQs for the vast majority of the “popular” VNs, and almost 100% of the less-popular VNs for which we have a walkthrough. Zaka’s TL updates are the same way. The Ongoing Projects board has been quite popular, too, as it allows people to easily find and track a project. The list goes on. If Fuwa can build products which hit on each facet of the hobby and make it as easy as possible to use, we’ll have staying power and we’ll have growing power. There were tons of other mental changes, too, like the benefits of stability. For me, personally, there was a huge mental shift when I realized that there is no longer the threat of unannounced, sudden destruction: I/we now have control of our staying power: owning our own domain and hosting means that as long as the bills get paid, we’ll be here in 12 months time, or in 2 years, or 3 years, etc. What new features are being planned to compensate for loss of torrents? Reviews hub, possible further takeover of VNTLS role, expanded and commissioned blog content, guest blogging program, possible auto-patchers for VNs (user gets the game, gets the patch from the TL team, downloads our autopatcher, and avoids a headache of installation) (this is just on the drawing board, though, so temper expectations), Fuwa Academy lessons + mentor program + lexicon for new players, mobile VN database, partnerships with big TL companies and big/small OELVN devs for review copies of games for FuwaReviews team, a smokin’-hot new front site design, expanding PC database to >250 of most popular VNs, patching guides for the most popular VNs, VN buying guide written by a new friend who wrote the reddit buying guide. Further down the road: Fan TL Academy; Fan Creation Academy; Special Japanese VN news program; expanded interactive fiction section How do you plan on getting new players? Fuwa Academy lessons and resources; complete overhaul of our site SEO to improve visibility; evangelizing and partnerships with anime groups (where the anime group’s corresponding VN has its own page with lots of info); providing lolis for clephas to sacrifice to the Old Gods; intermediate players via possible VNTLS replacement; Steam curation programs (includes promoting, for example, Meru’s list); I have a handful of other ideas but I think I left that notebook at school and I'm tired The last thing I'll say is that the reviews hub is a good illustration of how I personally function. I think Fuwanovel can be a hub of all the facets of the VN hobby, and that we'll be relevant because we are going to write/commission authoritative guides/articles, host our own stuff, and link and promote external groups/sites generously. I want to get to the point where Fuwa is so easy to use, that people want to use it to navigate the VN landscape just because we make it so easy. My brain got pretty tired writing that up, so I’m sure I missed some stuff. Let me know if an answer isn’t clear or not sufficiently comprehensive for you. I really appreciate your Qs and input, Maef. I see Fuwa as a hobby -- I give the site a lot of time, but that's because I have fun working on stuff with friends here. Yes -- I have a vision and roadmap of where I think Fuwa can go, but underneath all of those ideas is a foundation of fun and cooperation. I want to enjoy myself when I come to Fuwa, and I want everybody else to, too. We need to pace ourselves and make sure we're all having fun, and the improvements will come along.

Hey everybody, Due to yet more complaints from our awesome devs, I decided to post to make the community aware that a former user is still stalking the forums and harassing users. He has gone by many aliases in the past: “OmniKnight”, “Façade”, “Ghost”, “Zodai_Strife”, “Lucia”, “Shirou”, and others. His skype username is “russelparadox” (atm appears as “Balthier”) / Okazaki Tomoya. We've been patient with this guy for a long time, and only started taking action after he started bugging devs and mentors. Today I tried talking to him directly to settle the issue, and he made it clear that he has no intention of stopping. Omni tends to make accounts, spam PMs to members, staff, or people on the dev boards inviting them to have private Skype conversations (or join one of his Skype groups), and then tries to use them in all sorts of weird ways (ex: at one point he tried to amass a following to “overthrow” Fuwa so he could reestablish it “in the form” laid out by “the Constitution of the United States.” Like I said: odd duck). In the last few days he’s allegedly lost a major source of funding after misusing their money for his own benefit, so if he approaches you asking for money, or to join a team, or provide services, be extremely careful. It’s likely in your best interest to ignore and/or block him. So. Reminder: If any user – no matter how new or old – contacts you and makes you feel uncomfortable, please contact a mod right away. We have a strict no-harassment policy here on Fuwa. Thanks, Tay

Well, well, well. Congratulations Mr. Zaka. One of my earliest memories related to you was pretty soon after you joined the forums. I was doing research down in the Arizona deserts and I would only get internet/phone access once or twice a week or so. Fuwa was smaller back then, so I could more or less follow everyone to a certain extent, and I remember having this back-and-forth email conversation with Ryoji while I stood at a gas station in Flagstaff. We were talking about changes we were going to be making to the forums and Aaeru and new jobs (mods and other stuff) and a bunch of stuff like that, and I really only remember part of the exchange: Ryoji: What about new people? Like Zakamut or [one or two more names]? Think they'd be interested in helping out? Tay: Zakamutt... Hm. He seems smart. Ryoji: He's a pretty funny dude. Tay: I mean, he could be pure evil, but he seems smart and I like him. ... of course, that was a long time ago and I'm too lazy to go look up the exact wording of the emails, but that was pretty close to the real thing : P A more recent memory was while I was talking with the mrs. about the ~month I lived in Stockholm and how much I loved Sweden (I spent, like, five minutes trying to explain that weird but absolutely delicious fruit jelly you sell everywhere which you pour on top of granola and stuff in the mornings for Breakfast). She asked, "Is that why you have so many Swedes running stuff on Fuwanovel? They have some sort of power over you?" I started disagree and then realized that there might just be some truth to that : P. Happy 2000 posts, Zaka! It's been fun getting to know you better and work with you. I've got a lot of respect for you. ... Now go do your RTK and grammar. Goodness, gracious, people! How many times do I have to permaban Flutterz before you stop hinting at a deep dark secret which definitely, 100%, absolutely and totally does not exist? All I have to say is that it was a gamble... and that it worked. Fufufufufufufu.

I know, maef, and I'm sorry it still hasn't happened. It's high on my to-do list. Hoped to get it done earlier, but several new issues came up and life is pretty crazy for me atm.

I'm rolling it out in a couple of groups. If you signed up to be a mentor and didn't get included in the first group -- don't panic! The selection was almost random (had to give Marie the toughest cases, so he had to be in group one ; )). I'll let you know as soon as I've got enough mentees to do round 2 to get all the other mentors.