New home page design, and other news

[sothis]

I'm very pleased to announce the new home page design -- created by the talented kace. This new design is more dynamic and engaging, and should interest returning users to the site. The newest recommendation and review are dynamic and change (obviously). Also, "users registered today" shows all users registered since midnight, each day; so if you only see a few, wait a few hours and then check again! ^_^
We'll soon be rolling out similar redesigns of each additional home page (reviews, anirec, users).
As a heads up, I'm 90% complete with the change email/password form, and will finish up edit profile next. The avatar might not be in place for a few more days, but at least you'll be able to change your general info. Sorry for the delay on this -- getting the rec system back up and other features were higher up on my priority list.

[AnarchicQ]

I humbly suggest that when someone's logged in, all the "Join now!" stuff goes away. I find it too intrusive, personally. I'm already a member, I don't need "Join this always free service!" in my face.

I do, however, like the 'latest recs' and reviews. Very eye catching.

[sothis]

this is a good point.

we are working on a new graphic to replace that with -- it'll be related to winning DVDs/prizes. as, most people aren't aware that by submitting information for the anirec, you get points that you can then exchange for dvds and other prizes! :D

we might have one that shows up if someone has no "points" at all, and another that shows up (such as new prizes added to the pile) if someone does.

[AnarchicQ]

Ohhh! I like that idea. It is snappy and relevant.
Yes, I am one of those people who forget about the point system. Silly me.

[sevencreature]

Is it just me or is JS working ONLY in Firefox, not in Opera or IE6? For example when I click on those buttons in AniRec (screenshots, reviews, etc.) nothing happens in Opera and IE6 shows error messages.

Probably caused by that weird attempt to obfuscate code? Who knows...

[sothis]

can you give me an exact link and description of what you click, which gives you a js error for IE6/the anirec buttons

i use IE6 primarily so we always make sure things work in it. at the same time i did (a few days ago) optimize some of the code, which might have made javascript errors pop up in a few places. i can look into it once i know an exact link. but, i just went (with IE6) to an anirec page and clicked the buttons, and they worked fine.

opera users are kind of SOL, unfortunately. they only make up around 1-2% of site users and jquery has some issues with it. we try to accomodate for it but it probably will have some errors somewhere.

anyways please tell me which exact browser version, what OS version, an exact link and what to click

[sevencreature]

Working now - it was probably just temporary (maybe because of those modifications (like you wrote)?. Anyway, works flawlessly. And looks really nice.

[AnarchicQ]

Question.
When it shows what recs the user made in their profile page, will the reward points be given retroactively?
IE: I have made 7 recs and have no points. When the point system is working, will those 7 recs count?

[sothis]

recs actually don't get you any points, and here's why:

the current "reward" system is 25 points = 1 DVD. 99% of these DVDs are out of my personal collection. this is made up of about 40 Manga titles i won in a contest a few years ago, and then a whole bunch of DVDs that companies send me to review. i spend a good 4 hours on each of these DVDs (many of which i have no desire to watch), and then i turn right around and give them to the site. the collection size is about 60 DVDs.

now, if you make 5 recommendations for a series and vote the other way too, you are almost halfway towards earning a DVD. for peopl ewho have seen a lot of anime, i'd basically lose my entire prize pile at once.

so yeah. due to that, i can't afford to give out points for recs. i came up with the point system to reward people for helping (even though, essentially, the prizes are coming out of my own time/pocket/money). so though i give points for adding series, site reviewers, and a few select other things, i can't do recs until 1) i start getting massive amounts of dvds, for free, from companies (my time is so limited due to coding the site and other shit that i rarely have time to review the ones i get now), or 2) site users start sending me an assload of their own stuff to give away.

wish i could give out points, but yeah :/ i can't. here's hoping someday anime-planet makes money and i can afford to buy batches of DVDs in sales and such.

[Raven]

I love it and once again you impress me. Great work sothis, to me everything is working just fine. :)