I decided to try with search functionality today. I have done a search index for forum posts and replies and topic titles. this is currently working fine, or so it seems. This could be expended to other aspects of the site . The current ranking of the search is based on the frequency of the search term in each post and title. I think I need to include options for ranking.

Profanity filter and rules were quite strict. The site is supposed to be a mostly adult environment. I surely need to keep in line with UK laws, but I already do that with the sign up process and I have moderation and all that so I figured I could probably relax things a bit. I took the approach that certain language is generally tolerated in books, television, movies, etc. various language is also fairly common in public discourse. I've pared back the profanity filter to the three most egregious words beginning with F—, C— and SH—. those ones will auto-filter. I tried to make it so it appears like on most other sites and to be honest should be fairly transparent. We see these censored versions all the time and our brain fills in the gaps anyway. I also edited the rules page to reflect this, changed the language a bit so it's friendlier. At least I think it is. The PG-13 pdf is removed, it was a bit too overbearing. We are adults, we know how to behave in public places like shops and parks and Libraries and Movie Theatres, etc.

I've added a button to fanedit listings that will allow you to automatically draft a reddit post that contains your edit information, neatly formatted in a nice table. here is an example of what it can look like https://www.reddit.com/r/fanworx/comments/1u4vgf5/harry_potter_and_the_hunt_for_horcruxes/? it includes a lot of information and contact links. I also added a simple function to the site code to handle email links with a template. like... the email button works fine on the site, but sites like reddit parse email addresses and won't allow automatic subject and email body, so i made it so if a user visits fanworx.org/fanedit/email-redirect/(fanedit id) it will then redirect to their email with a new message all filled in ready to send.

gave this a good go today. Without my coding companion, it's difficult and I have to go bit by bit. So I have currently settled for just having two latest fan works and two random fan works. I can work on it some more slowly, I think I want to reduce the size of the fanwork thumbnails and i want to include a sort of carousel so more can be included. The random ones are not fully random either, or at least they don't feel random.

breadcrumb wouldn't work on topic loaded from outside the forum. to be honest with the loss of claude sonnet 4.5 I lost a lot of confidence in being able to get the code correct. I can code on my own, but with my audhd I can get overwhelmed with complex syntax. I decided to have a proper crack at it today, just something simple to see how I go. I am pretty happy with the outcome. I already fetch tags for topics so what I needed t do was to isolate the first tag and apply it to the model. then pass it to the breadcrumb generator. Bingo, it works! it seems simple to be honest, but with my mental processing issues lately, simple things can get overwhelming easily. anyway, enjoy your breadcrumbs!!! it does improve the forum by instilling that sense of place. I also adjusted the page styling so it remains stuck to the top of the viewport so you don't have to scroll all the way up.

Hi all, I have overhauled the forum system so it no longer operates with dynamic drop down boxes. each forum is a robust standalone page so users can get their bearing easier. Hopefully this should help the forum to feel more stable and firm. it also includes a breadcrumb at the top of subforums and topics, to more easily navigate. (this won't appear if the topic is loaded as standalone like this > https://fanworx.org/topic?id=100) Now that forums are more solid, I will be working on the notify system, keeping track of read/unread topics per session, so you can more clearly see activity when visiting, and also get on site notifications for DMs and topic replies.

wow, this is special! DMs!!! Now you can talk directly to another member and invite other members if you wish. There is a button in each person's profile, there is an inbox in the header with a new message button. notifications happen by email. you can leave a DM with a button inside the conversation. very important note. These are not private messages. They are not encrypted. I cannot add encryption at this point unless I start asking for ID from people, a requirement of the UK online safety act. The fundamental reason is that, in order to protect vulnerable individuals, There needs to be a way to access messages in extreme cases. Rest assured, it would not be easy, I can't just open your messages, but if a judge ordered it, I could sift through the raw data in the database backend.

It's been a while!! Well I was suffering from a hernia for a while and it was sapping my energy constantly, and so I went in for surgery about 7 weeks ago. Now I am feeling much better and recovered enough to think more clearly about this. Today I have created the user profile system, which also allowed me to have a user list. Alongside that, I have been able to make avatars more consistent, so any bugs in the previous avatar implementation should be gone. User avatars and usernames can be clicked to visit the user's profile. you can edit your profile from the login section at the top right. currently, there is only the basic bio, but I can add more fields to build out the user profile. I will also be able to build out user's walls and user's DMs. user list is available in the header ^ I'm not certain what my priority should be. should i go and work on DMs now or shall i make it so you can click on a user's posts and see all the posts listed? or something else? something to think about.

the image system has been updated from the ground up, so data s easier to handle and so you can check in your uploaded images if it fails to attach to your post for some reason. it also allows me to do further updates to make sure an image is attached to a post, even if it fails to be inserted by bbcode. it's also a bit of a testing ground for sorting and filtering. the image gallery link is in the header now. or if you don't want to use your scroll wheel you can click - https://fanworx.org/Image/Gallery

I have added the ability to react to posts. You can add a thumbs up or a love or a laugh or a celebrate or a idea reaction. I think this is like a good 'likes' system, or thumbs up or rating or however you want to call it. in my mission statement I said I want an upvote type thing like reddit but without the negativity. So I think this is good. at some point it may be possible to order things by how many reacts they have, but i'm not entirely sure about that right now. I'm also more keenly aware that I need to be looking at adding an in site notification, not just the email notifications. My next task is images though. The current images system doesn't have good management options and you can't easily access the images you may have uploaded. also, I have no resized versions and that makes some page loads really cumbersome and inefficient. I aim to improve that.

I reworked the topic cards so that they use real links. this way you can see the url and use normal browser functions relating to urls like right clicking and opening in a new tab and similar stuff. The topic preview is now static and the latest post preview appears in a tooltip. That can be improved in time to be more attractive. Topics now open in a full page rather than an overlay. This gives a sense of stability and prevents page elements from arguing with each other. Reply form is reworked to appear fixed to the bottom of a topic or if a reply button is clicked on a post, it summons the reply form and glues it to the screen, allowing you to scroll the topic while replying. Because of changes to elements that are cached in the browser, you may need to clear your browser cache for this site.

the ratings system is now up and running!! Reviews to come next. also, i updated the fan work submission for to have a better layout and an image upload button for the thumbnail.

i have made it so a new fanedit now creates a topic for discussion and includes that topic on the fanedit page. it also will auto create a topic for reviews, but the reviews system is still work in progress. feel free to write a review in the topic, but bear in mind it won't register as a review, it will need to be reposted from the fanedit page to count. reviews will be special post types with ratings linked to them.

I have finally created the fan works page. Users can submit their own fan edits. more types of fan works will obviously come afterwards, but this is working for now, hopefully without any hitches.

I've added emoji button to the toolbar. 😎 I have worked on the reply form. now there is a reply form at the bottom of each topic. the reply button next to each post now includes a quote of that post. Each post now has it's own id tag and opening a topic can go right to the identified post. I will probably need to make that url accesible from the post number. the email notifications should now include a direct url to the new post.

I've added a report button to forum messages, fanedits and fan worker profiles, so that users can report objectionable content. The report fires off an email directly to me. I can then use the new admin tool to view each message or fanedit, etc and can edit where necessary and I can disable a user account from that screen. In time I could create more advanced moderation tools, but for now it will suffice. btw, please don't use the report button frivolously, as it could get irritating to receive a lot of emails.

It became apparent that site rules and guidelines are not sufficient, so I have added a language filter system. It may be a tad annoying for people who use language responsibly, so The filters can evolve over time depending on how people feel about it. Site rules were clear but I have put together a language guide for anybody who is in doubt. It is linked in the rules page under the communication section. You probably don't need to read it if you keep in mind that this site is publicly accessible and kids can read this. I also have admin alerts in case any slurs are used as this is a more serious case.

Image upload!!!! Currently the upload form is attached to the user card, you can use it to upload an avatar :) click your name ^ the uploaded images can be viewed in gallery

If at all possible, I'd love to be able to tweak/update content after it's submitted; right now, entry titles, details, posters get locked in after first submission (as does editor bio and avatar)

I've created the profiles system for fanwork creators. currently you can claim your own creator page after submitting some fanworks. The claiming process only has a submit function currently, so be careful, it's not editable right now. I'll add that later. If you do mess up, let me know. I can delete the data from the database but it's a bit of a pain to do.