So what's going on with the website?

Mukau

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I used to post here as KooooziFan several years ago, even though I was very immature back then, this place was pretty much the same.

I think everyone is exaggerating.
 

mort

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Seventh Arm wrote:
This is all true. So don't you think it's a real shame that it's fallen by the wayside?
For starters I don't think it's fallen anywhere. Do you know the Secret World of Malice Mizer? It's a very old fansite with tons of MM information. It hasn't been updated since Gackt left MM. Has it fallen by the wayside? Well it's on a free server now but no, it's just no longer updated, but everyone always links to it because it has such detailed info. Scape is not up to date but it's still the only website of its kind. It's not perfect, but it's still way above anything else that tries to cover everything at once. How many fansites do you know of this sort that stay up to date for more than 2-3 years?

Let me say that I thought your suggestion was an honest one and I didn't try to imply otherwise. I got more upset at other things. But I think you're looking at this the wrong way. This is merely a private website and one that breaches quite a lot of copyright at that, so there is no actual obligation on anyone's part to keep it going. On the contrary, alas, if Mana ever saw it he'd probably get up on that roof of his and send thunderbolts our way. This is therefore basically a single person's work (with a lot of valued help) and currently, they are not as committed to it. It is unfortunate but it's how it is.

Would you tell Kaya that if he's not planning on singing any time soon he should pass on his lyrics to somebody else because it's a shame that they go to waste? Would you tell MM that if they're not planning on getting back together again they should hand over the copyrights to their songs to someone who is willing to perform them if they're not up to doing it themselves? You see where I'm going with this...

I would personally not hand over the keys to my FTP to anybody else. LejuN never even gave me access (can't say if this was because he didn't trust my html skills or not but... :P ) and it would have saved tons of time if instead of telling him all the time 'Malice Mizer, Discography, Bara no Seidou, Song 3 - typo' I just went and fixed it myself. When something is your website, then it's your website, it's not public service. On the other hand I have been in the shoes of Flowers & Navate, having to moderate a mailing list without administrative access and with the owner no where around, and a big one at that (Malicious). LejuN has also had to do it with Story. It can be a pain and you might come across some difficulties but it's really not that big of a deal. The server problems you're having now would probably still exist even if LejuN did email his provider.

Anyway, a few last things because I'm often misunderstood:

I didn't mean to imply that because you're relatively new you can't suggest changes to the forum. I work for a 250 year old company and the reason I'm so good at my job is because from day 1 I've been suggesting ways in which we can improve our procedures. Suggestions are always welcome. However I would never suggest someone take over for the CEO because I never see him around the building.

Flowers has always been incredibly helpful in all ways in this forum and the website. He shares all his information & material (he used to be very stingy with it before you know XD) and is very enthusiastic about it. He has a good understanding of what me and LejuN wanted this forum to be like, has helped with coding for the website itself and many more things I can't even remember. I'm very glad he's still here now. If LejuN gave him access to his FTP I wouldn't be surprised despite of what I said above.

Monophobia I'm sorry I forgot you! I remember you used to be Kaya of course, but I didn't realise you're been here so long. You're just quiet! ^^;

I'm not LejuN's spokesperson and for all I know he could read all this and say 'well actually, no...'. If you really want to know what his stance on this is or if you have any suggestions for him specifically then email him. He doesn't bite and if he doesn't respond then it's just because he's busy.

amasanin
 

Seventh Arm

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Lejun wants to keep control? Fine, I'm not going to come and argue that he should do otherwise with his propery.

I do wonder if he's coming back and what's going to happen to the main site. I, unimpotant as I am would prefer to see scape as something other than an archive, but I wouldn't dream of demanding that Lejun should give up his site if he doesn't want to, I just wanted to know what the situation was.

All I see is that Lejun has neither the time or inclination to update the site recently and he has a highly capable pair of mods here who could keep the place updated in his stead. Yet I seem to be being painted as some cunt who's demanding that Lejun gives all content control to flowers....

This has been dragged out of proportion and created a pretty shitty atmosphere and I really wish I'd kept my mouth shut now.
 

mort

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I thought my post to you was very polite, so I'm not exactly sure what you got offended over. Nobody called you names, I just told you that maybe you're not exactly looking at this the right way and explained how things are. I was in fact taking the time to kindly point out to you why your post might have been read as out of line, while not accusing you of anything. I'm sorry you didn't like what you read, but it stands as it is.

amasanin
 

navate

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I think there has been a misunderstanding of our intention here. We have never expected--or desired--a "handover" of the keys, but rather to be given a copy of them, if you will. Or rather, Flowers be given a copy of them, since I'm pants at coding and such so giving me access would be pretty useless. XD Lejun DOES pay for this site--all the more reason it should be maintained. He has expressed a desire to continue updating it, so this isn't a matter of us trying to take it out of his hands, it's a matter of us trying to help him out. We realize he has a lot going on and does not have time to do it himself. We do have time, and we feel -scape- is something worth keeping up. All the hard work put into creating it shouldn't be let to go to waste, not when people are able and willing to help keep it maintained. Just because it is "normal" for fansites to only be maintained for 2 or 3 years doesn't mean we have to let this one be a statistic, not when it could be kept up to date with minimal effort and not when the community is still perfectly active and all the info passes through our hands anyway. It is the same with the forum: there are mods and such Flowers could install to make the server more secure, and additionally we wouldn't have to bother Lejun (or wait until he reappeared) every time something went wrong. Since we have it, it's paid for, and we have all the info at our fingertips, why not make an effort to update?

We've been discussion it lately, all of us, and we're in agreement that it would be awesome if we could update the site (and complete the unfinished sections). We were still working out the specifics of how to go about updating it without risking Lejun lose his control over it. Flowers has a copy of the site's html and he's cleaned up the code and we've added most of the missing info (and have compiled what we haven’t added yet), but Lejun is considering redesigning the site altogether so that proposal will probably delay things. Last we heard from him, he was brain storming different methods to perhaps create some sort of community-based submission system. We'd really like to make the updates a bit more community involved… contributions of scans, reviews, translations, etc, highly encouraged in a goal to both offer more information through the -scape- mainpage, and do the morale-boosting thing over on the forum. I'm beginning to think we maybe should just install the updated php with the current layout to get the ball rolling, and worry about community submission and site redesign later… but again, Lejun would need to upload it since we haven’t yet figured out the nuances of the whole server access issue. Personally, I'd be just as content if he allowed us to code it for him and he did the work of installing them if he's nervous about giving anyone else FTP access—which, if it's like my own website, is only a push of a few buttons. But in any case, nothing can be done without Lejun at this point. Do you know where he is, Ama? We were going to all get on MSN on the 29th and have an idea session to figure things out, and he never showed, and I haven’t seen him since. =\ It worries when he disappears for so long…


(Oh, good grief, of all the posts to get the 403 error. >_< )
 
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