This may be a bit dry for some people but i want to point out the issues I’ve had implementing the email notification system. I have embarked on creating the notifications functionality four times now and come across major issues each time. It's been quite frustrating so I've done a deep dive into the different coding architectures. I'd started using razor pages as I like the clear object based system, but have been finding that I needed to use javascript more than I'd like. I can to the realisation that I need to use an MVC approach instead, which entails doing more work on the server rather than in browser. This might be meaningless to many people, but i feel it at least gives a heads up as to how things are going. It's a shift in how i have to think about what the browser does and how the server side program operates. It's a bit tricky to get my head around but i've arrived at an understanding. I believe i have a firm plan now and i understand how to create the email subscriptions and notifications. Hopefully shouldn't be too long, I am struggling with a bout of extreme fatigue right now but i hope i'll have some good energy tomorrow.

Today have changed the date display so that when things were posted is much easier to discern. For example, if something was posted 2 hours ago, it'll say "2 hours ago". Much more elegant. I am still working on email notifications, promise.

No worries ''Art takes time'' as they say, hope you had a nice time in Liverpool. Thanks for implementing the feature I look forward to seeing how your sites features develop as it evolves.

i shifted bbcode and formatting to maximum priority. I have added a bbcode help button into the reply form. bbcode will display fully in topic view, but the preview will remove formatting and display as pure text. below is a preview of the bbcode. bold italic underline strikethrough text (image) colored text small large huge quoted text code text

Sorry about the wait, went to Liverpool for the day and was exhausted. I've created a text parser and added a bbcode system so now you can format your posts with more flair. it's a bit clunky currently with having to type in the bbcode tags, but for now this is functional and i think I should focus on other things before adding buttons for it. Best part is, the line breaks and spaces all work well.

Thank you for this description, there are some really good points here. I hadn't considered having a page directly to fanedits or fanart or fanfiction, but that's good. Also the included information is really interesting! Age eating and software used! Brilliant!

Thank you for saying so. I'll shift this to the top of my priorities list for when I get home tonight!

I've noticed that when posting a message on this forum that all of the text tends to stick closely together even when I am trying to space it out a bit to make separate paragraphs, as the title of my message suggests I would like to propose that whenever possible and if it's possible that one should be able to space out there texts so that text walls become less overwhelming which would make digesting segments of information much easier.

Hmm I am not sure what to suggest in terms of structuring the layout of the other segments of fan related media at the moment although they do intrigue me, as for how pages of users Fanedits could be structured maybe something like this. (Faneditors) Could be positioned next to the Privacy Tab for easier and quicker site navigation, clicking on it could lead to a subpage showing a Faneditors gallery. | (Faneditor Name Gallery) This could essentially be where the Cover Art and Fanedit names are stored for that individuals Fanedit, clicking it could then lead to the database subpage. | (Fanedit Name Database) The info contained in said database could be arranged in the following order on a single page. | 1: Original Media Name/Original Medias Name (If combining multiple movies or TV episodes together) 2: Original Media/Media’s Age Rating 3: Fanedit Age Rating 4: Content Warning 5: Fanedit Genre 6: Fanedit Type 7: Fanedit Running Time 8: Link to where the source was brought from/can be purchased from (Something like Amazon) 9: Editing Software Used 10: Non Spoiler Technical Cutlist (Or alternatively if the Cutlist does contain narrative spoilers it is hidden to the viewer unless they click on it) 11: Type A Review (This could lead to the review subpage for that specific edit)

list of current priorities:- 1, email notifications for topic replies. 2, the ability to have subforums. 3, ability to use bbcode and therefore proper formatting in posts.

now there is an email service, currently set up to notify when you register, but is ready to be expanded for things like reply notifications. I think it's important to build on that to create email notifications of replies. Otherwise, there is no way to know without manually visiting and that's not ideal.

reply test of the topics table

testing the newly added topic table that is meant to improve loading speed

The above welcome message is a relic of old software. The original forum setup was using pre-made forum software named Snitz. I chose it because it used a windows database, the same type as I would be using for my own custom software. It was ready made software and fully featured, but it was not made by me so it had many complexities that would have taken way to much effort to unpick. It also would have had many features that would be redundant. I was 99% confident though, that I could keep the data from that forum in the database and build my own software to use that data. This original topic serves as testament to that.

I've now built a registration system. It's not linked from the site yet as I do not have any robust spam protection set up, it's only accessible by inputting the url. If you've already been in contact with me on any other site you can ask me for the link. The system uses Discord Oauth for authentication, just in case bots find the link . The oauth is only for authentication for now, I can set up oauth login in future. Now that users are able to register, you are also able to make new topics and reply to existing ones. No need to feel hesitant, that's what I'm building this for. Feel free to share your thoughts and help guide the direction of development.

Getting it setup to work as forum structure is a little tricky but I made good progress. Now the updates page acts like a forum or subforum, with topics listed. I made the topic view float over the page. I like the idea of these elements being able to be fetched from any part of the site. Each is a self contained object that is called using specific parameters. This should aid in modularity for sure. That means I could put these topics on images, on franchise pages, user pages, anywhere, and they would work exactly the same. I could also have dynamic loading using keywords or some other method. I know I said I'd focus on user registrations next, but I wasn't happy with topic display. To be frank, I'm still not completely happy. I think I want latest post preview on the topic card by default and I want it to scroll on mouse-over.

The topic and reply functionality is now implemented. (with a couple bug fixes required) Now the system is in a fit state for basic communication, so it is an appropriate time to look at adding a user registration system. I'm thinking the core of it should initially rely on oauth as basic validation. This should help to prevent bots alongside other security techniques, and should make user registration a comfortable process.

reply test

Testing testing 1, 2, 3

This is the second reply test. it appears the topic title is not carried over onto the front page updates summary. will need addressing but not urgent.

initial reply test

this is a test topic to check if user systems, topic creation, sorting and replies is working as intended. The content of the posts is not important.

Lots of changes since last update. I've redesigned the front page and the styles for the entire site including all sections. Spending a great deal of time setting up the CSS (style sheets) has allowed me to change the basic colours on the fly and therefore have themes. Eventually, I'd like to allow users to have custom themes. I the created a secure user authentication system with proper encryption and all that. I've streamlined site architecture and built stable foundations to ensure efficiency for good performance. I've finally added the ability to submit messages to the site, hence this update. Oh and I've finally written a privacy policy.

I've created a new messages system to replace the Snitz forum software. I intent to work on this bit by bit, adding user login systems and message posting ability. I need to figure out security and spam filters first though.

To aid in connectivity and ease of access, I am thinking it would be good to make this activitypub/fediverse compatible wherever possible. I believe it is good to have a federated internet where people are free to move amongst different services as they like. I also believe it is good to be able to stay connected to your friends when doing so. fediverse would allow a user on mastodon, for example, to reply to articles and posts with their own account on their own platform, and that would be reflected here. I can use hashtags to aid categorisation. I can create top level categories, for example for #fanart and then any new message with that hashtag would be placed inside that category, thereby presenting it like a traditional forum. This would then mean that users familiar with social media can remain connected to the site and their peers by using existing apps designed to view mastodon servers or similar.