Over the past couple of days, I've done some re-organizing of the site. Mostly, concentrating on reducing the number of boards the forum has, which will hopefully allow newcomers to more easily navigate this web site and post some of their own thoughts! To help with this goal of more participation, I've relocated some of the Social boards to become child-boards of the General Topics board. The Meme's & Manure board is now set to Registered Members (hidden from guests), and the Ecchi board is now set to preview only, meaning that members can read the topic titles, but unless you're a member of the Starlight Vanguard, you'll receive an Access Denied message. This is to ensure that only people over the age of 18 can view that board. The only other perk you currently have with the Starlight Vanguard group is library access to our collection of games. Beyond that, nobody's really interested in a VIP area, so I junked it.
I've migrated all of the Anime boards over to the Social Groups area. This was going to be implemented a while ago, but I never got around to doing it (chronic inflammation kills your energy and motivation to do ... anything). The benefit of this maneuver is that if you are a fan of a particular anime that there's no dedicated space for, well, then you can just create that space! Decorate it even-- or not, I'll probably just come through at some point and add some pretty graphics... probably later.
I plan to eventually do this with the Role Playing Games section too, but I'm waiting to hear back from the developer if he's going to add category support-- that way anime and TTRPGs aren't all just mishmashed together. However, this may take a while, like at least a month, because I have to renew the license for the Social Groups if I want additional support for it (aka, new features added). And I'm broke right now. I can't even pay my health insurance bill of $65. I'm seriously hoping that it doesn't get cancelled
.
And that brings me to the next enhancement. Smileys. After nearly a year and a half, I finally migrated over all my favorite smileys from the old site. They may not be the prettiest guys, but I think they're cute! It's a bit nostalgic for me. So, you can access these two way. First, if you know the stupid shorthand code for it. Secondly, you click on the three vertical dots to the right of the picture frame... the same line as the BOLD button, and the left-most symbol is a smiley face. There's a bunch of other options in there too-- in fact, I think it's the entire Emoticon collection. Someday, I'll take a peek.
Also, speaking of blasts from the past, you'll notice some older topics showing up... I'm talking like ancient. From, like, 2007. Why? Because these are the topics that I hosted on my old forum, Ayeka's Bliss-- not all of them, unfortunately, many were lost to the sands of time-- blocked behind authoritarian locked forums that Google couldn't access. Anyway, I've decided to add these posts to show what forum life could be like. When strangers become friends, and share their lives with like-minded Otaku. I have this stupid vision of watching some goober doomscrolling on the Net, tripping into one of these old posts, and saying, "Hey! I wrote that!". But seriously, more content gives the Google-foo-thingy more snares to entrap more visitors... and more visitors means hopefully, more members...or something like that.
I've also updated the Post Count Groups, both in name and imagery. First thing's first. Now the gems are rainbow colored. Why? I really like all the colors. Besides, I'm all about Pride, inclusion, diversity... you know, all that anti-fascist stuff. We really like the pretty colors. Next, you'll probably want to know about the Post Titles, right?
As you can see, I'm adopting a school theme here. Why? Because school is a common experience among people, like, everywhere! It's also a common setting for many anime characters, and since we're attempting to role play as anime characters (at least I am), it makes perfect sense to have this aesthetic.
Finally, I've removed some of the Gamification enhancements. There's now only one currency: Lumina. This should simplify the local economy on the site.
I'll continue to refine the site in the coming weeks. I've already got a draft of the new Welcome to Prismatica board. But I'm going to sleep on that for a couple of days. I'm also going to remove the last remnants of the RPG Rating system that was implemented. The appropriateness of content will be outlined in the general Terms of Service/Welcome area-- if anybody cares to read it. I know most people skip right past TOS pages.
I'm also going to be working on a new web banner. I'm pivoting away from exclusively Magical Girls, and embracing more of a general anime look and feel. I don't necessarily want to be boxed into any fandoms-- I've made that mistake before. Anyway, I've got this image in my head for the banner, and I think it's pretty epic. I just need to find somebody to draw this for me, because I totally suck at art. Picture this: four, maybe five chibi characters spread out horizontally across the graphic. One dude is throwing a giant d12 toward another chibi, a magical girl, who's just shot off a fireball at the d12! Another chibi character, maybe a healer? A teacher? Is crouched behind a stone d8, fearing for their life. While another chibi is off to the far right, welding a bazooka, has just fired off a massive d20. She looks completely crazy, and of course, is goth, because why not? Are these my Magical Misfit characters in chibi form? Probably. Welcome to the chaos.
Now, let's go have some fun!
I've migrated all of the Anime boards over to the Social Groups area. This was going to be implemented a while ago, but I never got around to doing it (chronic inflammation kills your energy and motivation to do ... anything). The benefit of this maneuver is that if you are a fan of a particular anime that there's no dedicated space for, well, then you can just create that space! Decorate it even-- or not, I'll probably just come through at some point and add some pretty graphics... probably later.
I plan to eventually do this with the Role Playing Games section too, but I'm waiting to hear back from the developer if he's going to add category support-- that way anime and TTRPGs aren't all just mishmashed together. However, this may take a while, like at least a month, because I have to renew the license for the Social Groups if I want additional support for it (aka, new features added). And I'm broke right now. I can't even pay my health insurance bill of $65. I'm seriously hoping that it doesn't get cancelled
.And that brings me to the next enhancement. Smileys. After nearly a year and a half, I finally migrated over all my favorite smileys from the old site. They may not be the prettiest guys, but I think they're cute! It's a bit nostalgic for me. So, you can access these two way. First, if you know the stupid shorthand code for it. Secondly, you click on the three vertical dots to the right of the picture frame... the same line as the BOLD button, and the left-most symbol is a smiley face. There's a bunch of other options in there too-- in fact, I think it's the entire Emoticon collection. Someday, I'll take a peek.
Also, speaking of blasts from the past, you'll notice some older topics showing up... I'm talking like ancient. From, like, 2007. Why? Because these are the topics that I hosted on my old forum, Ayeka's Bliss-- not all of them, unfortunately, many were lost to the sands of time-- blocked behind authoritarian locked forums that Google couldn't access. Anyway, I've decided to add these posts to show what forum life could be like. When strangers become friends, and share their lives with like-minded Otaku. I have this stupid vision of watching some goober doomscrolling on the Net, tripping into one of these old posts, and saying, "Hey! I wrote that!". But seriously, more content gives the Google-foo-thingy more snares to entrap more visitors... and more visitors means hopefully, more members...or something like that.
I've also updated the Post Count Groups, both in name and imagery. First thing's first. Now the gems are rainbow colored. Why? I really like all the colors. Besides, I'm all about Pride, inclusion, diversity... you know, all that anti-fascist stuff. We really like the pretty colors. Next, you'll probably want to know about the Post Titles, right?
| Title | Gem Color | Required Posts |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer Student | Purple | 0 |
| Class Rookie | Blue | 5 |
| Club Member | Green | 50 |
| Junior Academic | Yellow | 100 |
| Student Mentor | Orange | 250 |
| Class Representative | Red | 500 |
| Student Council President | Brown | 1,000 |
| Teaching Assistant | Black | 2,500 |
| Professor | White | 5,000 |
As you can see, I'm adopting a school theme here. Why? Because school is a common experience among people, like, everywhere! It's also a common setting for many anime characters, and since we're attempting to role play as anime characters (at least I am), it makes perfect sense to have this aesthetic.
Finally, I've removed some of the Gamification enhancements. There's now only one currency: Lumina. This should simplify the local economy on the site.
I'll continue to refine the site in the coming weeks. I've already got a draft of the new Welcome to Prismatica board. But I'm going to sleep on that for a couple of days. I'm also going to remove the last remnants of the RPG Rating system that was implemented. The appropriateness of content will be outlined in the general Terms of Service/Welcome area-- if anybody cares to read it. I know most people skip right past TOS pages.
I'm also going to be working on a new web banner. I'm pivoting away from exclusively Magical Girls, and embracing more of a general anime look and feel. I don't necessarily want to be boxed into any fandoms-- I've made that mistake before. Anyway, I've got this image in my head for the banner, and I think it's pretty epic. I just need to find somebody to draw this for me, because I totally suck at art. Picture this: four, maybe five chibi characters spread out horizontally across the graphic. One dude is throwing a giant d12 toward another chibi, a magical girl, who's just shot off a fireball at the d12! Another chibi character, maybe a healer? A teacher? Is crouched behind a stone d8, fearing for their life. While another chibi is off to the far right, welding a bazooka, has just fired off a massive d20. She looks completely crazy, and of course, is goth, because why not? Are these my Magical Misfit characters in chibi form? Probably. Welcome to the chaos.
Now, let's go have some fun!
