New site features: 'vote' on your 'most wanted' list!

[sothis]

Per the donations thread, the site is currently at a point where I'm out thousands of dollars and receiving little ad revenue in return. As I can no longer afford this, development of not-back-up features and new site features is stalled until either revenue or donations come in.

So, I've come up with a fun idea - have you been waiting for a feature to come back up? Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is? ^_^ Do so here! Tell us the features you'd like to see put up quickly, and I'll list the cost I'd have to pay to get it done (development cost, testing, and implementation). Once we reach a donation total for that feature, I'll sign the order for development and we'll get it finished.

How will this work?
The cost I will list is the exact cost that currently I'd be paying out of pocket - no inflation. Then, when you make a donation, simply put a note that says which feature you'd like the money to go towards. Once we hit the total for that feature, it'll be built quickly and put up for everyone to use.

Will I get credit for helping?
I'll sticky a thread in site updates that credits everyone who helped get a feature up (with total), once it's launched; I'll also list the current donation totals/users in this thread next to each feature. Put a note in your donation if you want to remain anonymous. Depending on how we design full V3, it might be possible to link this donation information from your profile, as well.

What can I request?
Anything you want! Big or small, whatever you'd like added, you can request. Please only request things that you'd personally donate to help put up. However, if we decide that we will not add this feature to the site (for example, automated recommendations), the feature will not be listed on the 'to do' list.

Ideas for features people have already requested in other threads are:
1. Finishing up relations for anime (this is mostly done but there is more work left)
2. Additional sorting options for your anime lists
3. Re-adding friend functionality
4. Blogs
5. Forum updates (plugins, etc)
6. Filters being put back up for recs
7. etc!


What happens if my feature doesn't get enough donations?
After an extended period of time, if enough donations have not come through, your donations will go towards general site costs (as donations do now) - this includes the $170/month server cost and development costs. Though, if we receive ad revenue and have determined your feature should be worked on quickly, that revenue could go towards finishing up your feature.


Do I *have* to donate in order for new features to be built?
Not necessarily. Any ad revenue we get (monthly, sporatic, and minimal) will go towards development and server costs; by donating towards a feature, it means it will be either put up faster, or put up at all. We have a few features we know we need finished for V3, but a lot of lesser important functionality may be put off indefinitely without donations.


Can I donate skills/other things to get these features done?
Unfortunately no. There are a few modular projects that could use outside help, but because our API is not open source and it would be a huge hassle to get someone else signed on board, the best way you can help right now is to donate money that can then be used to pay the site's developers to complete.


Why does it cost so much??
Good development is not cheap. Any costs listed are not inflated at all, and don't include the extra work that myself and kace have to do for CSS and other minor code bits (we aren't personally compensated for that work). While I understand that most of you will be surprised at how much some of these features cost, please keep in mind that up to this point, I've been paying all of it out of pocket. Please don't respond to the thread with negativity around the cost, as it is what it is. ^_^


FEATURES

1. 'Anime I've watched but havent recommended'
2. Site news on homepage
Total cost (of both): $40 (this is only because, thanks to cerium (not sure of his site name but it's not 'cerium'), most of this work was done gratis!)
Current donation total: $40/40 - PAID!
Thanks to rockenroll4life: $40

----------------

Sort your anime list by cols (title, type, year, status, episodes, rating) - $120/120 - PAID!

Feature is slated to be developed and release on 11/23/08!

you'll be able to sort your or anyone else's anime list by the columns, ascending and descending.

only $120 for this!!! this one could get done quick and be up and ready to use! :D if only 120 of the 60,000 site users donated a dollar, we'd have enough for this feature!

Donations:
http://www.anime-planet.com/users/ForgottenSon: $20
http://www.anime-planet.com/users/nforce - $100


----------------

Relations - $400/450

Some of the back end is complete, but there's a great deal of work left for this feature. We're moving from a very rudimentary / hard to maintain system to a database-driven system. This will allow for a lot of cool new features in the future. This development cost includes:

1. Admin CMS piece (which eventually will be able to be used by you guys to suggest changes) for relations AND suggested order of viewing.

2. Ability to mark 'immediate' and 'distant' relations - this means I'll no longer have to fail related anime res - you'll get an error upon trying to recommend an IMMEDIATE related anime, but can recommend distant related anime.

3. 'Show next' link in the anime entry. For example on Vandread, you'd see 'Next anime: Vandread Second Stage'. We'll also have a 'show previous' link; both will only show up if there's a direct sequel/prequel listed.

4. 'Show related anime I haven't seen' for easily seeing what obscure OVAs/other anime you've missed.

Donations (minus paypal fees):
sothis - $48
jakarrd - Anime-Planet - $100
Bloodyred - Anime-Planet - $1
Chris - $15
Conquest - Anime-Planet - $10
Amanda (site name unknown): $15
Helen (site name unknown): $20
cassiesheepgirl: $30
rockenroll4life: $60
http://www.anime-planet.com/users/niw $10
http://www.anime-planet.com/users/Aeterno $20
Christopher - $1
Chris - $20
http://www.anime-planet.com/users/animeparty - $20
(Past general donators): Christer - $20, Gonzalo - $10 (username unknown)

----------------

Friends functionality
(cost/description TBD)

----------------

GENERAL FUND (it's possible these are earlier donations and they've already been counted; apologies for not having it up to date!)
rockenroll4life - Anime-Planet - $100
Cetonis - Anime-Planet - $20
Olli (unsure of site name) - $10
animeparty - $15
Conquest - $10
Amanda (site name unknown) - $15
Christopher - $1
Chris - $15
Jakkard - $100
nforce - $100
VivisQueen - $20
Darunium - $5
nascar75 - $13.97
chii - $100.00
Gonzalo (site name unknown) - $10
David (site name unknown) - $5
Evan (site name unknown) - $5
KatDJZ - $10
foltor - $10
Kari5 - $10
Gonzalo - $10
cassiesheepgirl - $40

[cassiesheepgirl]

I reckon we should add "Bottle of booze for sothis" to the list ;)

Sounds like a great idea. I'd already planned on donating again when I can get out of my overdraft, but when I do it'll be kind of cool to know exactly what the donation is going towards :)

[sothis]

woot!

so cassie, any features you'd like to see evaluated/added to the donation idea list?

[kace]

anime ive seen and havent added recs for.

[cassiesheepgirl]

Originally Posted by sothis

woot!

so cassie, any features you'd like to see evaluated/added to the donation idea list?

Well the ones I'm most looking forward to are there, i.e the relations info - that'll be rather cool, and definately after the other day the friend functionality (I got chatting via comments to a couple of people that I'd like to friend :D)

Ooo actually, one that's not on there that I'd like to see return soonish is being able to scroll back through profile comments. :)

[VivisQueen]

Me too. I nominate:

Relations
Friend functionality
Site updates (for front page)

Will be making a contribution at the end of the month when I get paid.

[sothis]

vivi: what forum updates, specifically? i listed that just as an example of threads ive seen (asking for specific plugins added, etc) - i dont remember what they are at this point though.

[VivisQueen]

I'm an idiot. I read the word 'updates' but didn't think waht I was actually saying. I mean updates to go on front page of the site. You know, some kind of list of what's going on.

Amended post accordingly...

[cassiesheepgirl]

Originally Posted by VivisQueen

I mean updates to go on front page of the site. You know, some kind of list of what's going on.

The list of news? Yeah that was quite cool, very useful too (well before I actually started using the forums lol)

[VivisQueen]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Cause I think the majority of people don't use the forums, and they basically don't get to find out what's going on. Do any of them even realise what's happening with Anime-Planet? Whether their signature functionality is back?