As is near customary, here is the blog post/update for the state of the forum in April 2023. Its been a busy month for me both IRL and as far as online stuff goes. So i've probably been a little less active on the site directly than usual.
Fixes
Light Mode
I have fixed a conflict relating to user preferences that was preventing users from using light mode in the browser. So if you are like me and enjoy getting flash banged, light mode is now functional. Resolving the conflict has also enabled user preferences to function as intended, so you can set your preferences for light/dark mode per device. I may create a custom CSS for light mode as I don't think all the colours work correctly but that will take some time, I've heard other Flarum forum owners having issues with editing the CSS so we shall see.
Banner
This isn't a fix per-se, however you may find it interesting. I have made it so that a random image is selected to be served, this changes every 60 seconds (give or take). This is primarily for something else but for now will serve as a good proof of concept and something to make use of all the ads i've made/been making.
Mail
Email verification still isn't required to make/use an account, however support has been added for password resets. There is still an issue relating to reputation and verification on my end, so for some email providers the email can either be put straight in the junk bin, or may never show up. I can confirm this is the case for Yandex.com. GMail does function, and any smaller providers like cock.li should also work. Its not amazing but its a big step in the right direction and something I can now mark as having made progress on.
SignUps
We recently hit 200 Signups for the forum. I am very proud that so many people have gone 'oh yes please, i'll make an account'.
Something that I have to consider as well as signups is posts and active users and all those other metrics. Having content on the site that makes people want to return to the site is very difficult to both ensure but make sure its organic.
Chat/Profile comments
As mentioned in the past and seen in the feedback thread, some kind of chat element is desired by the general user base. I have had a look at ways to do this, as well as the different implementations and their implications/unintended consequences.
The main concern with a private chat function on a forum like this, is that people will end up forming little groups where they message privately and the wider site gets somewhat neglected. In my opinion this has been part of what has led to the prevalence of discord servers for everything. I think its the inverse of what a forum would have, where its a small group private messaging service, but people are trying to make forum-esque communities that way. There are more differences and similarities but I think that is the one that sticks out to me the most.
I think I have described the possible implementations before, but basically all of them require some level of custom extension being developed (aside from the pusher neonchat one, but i'm not too fond of it for what I'm after). I think for this reason, as well as integration with the site, It may be best for me to pursue 'profile comments' or something akin to it. I know it is wanted by the wider flarum community and I have thought of a way to implement it, at least in theory. Bear in mind however that i'm not a programmer and do things in my free time, so expect development to be ultra slow (hopefully someone else does it lol) But I will familiarise myself with the documentation and make baby steps toward it. I have other things i'm working on as well (and a full time job), so to just emphasise it more, it may be some time, and that's assuming what I have in mind isn't incredibly dumb.
Progress Board
I have set up a Focalboard instance, this is a progress board/ project management system. If you are/were interested in the things that I am considering/working on, this can serve to give information about progress in the event that I do not post about it. This is useful as I have a couple other projects i'm working on. For now only this forum's one is publicly available, although I hope to change that as work progresses on other things.
The SheepishPatio FocalBoard is here
Git
Being an Open Source guy, I think it makes sense to put my money and my work where my mouth is, or some variant of that. I am not much of a coder, so I wouldn't expect anything to be of super high quality tbh. but for any extensions or anything I make for this forum, or anything else that I put together for that matter, I will post them on the gitea site I have recently set up.
General Notes
Donations
Any donations are appreciated, I have been working to advertise and expand the forum which is definitely a 'you get out what you put in' type thing as far as paying for ads goes.
Here are the links to the donation pages for those interested. Any money received at this time will go straight back into the site.
Liberapay Donation Link
Ko-fi Donation Link
More donation links and info is available via this link or the header tag, Stripe, Monero etc.
Friends of the Forum
I would like to extend our little corner of the internet somewhat. For the most part, most of the other alt-sites that I use are primarily image-board type ones, which tend to have a somewhat different culture. I am not sure about just adding sites willy nilly to the list, however i'd like to hear any suggestions if anyone has any. I have done similar via other threads before but always worth asking again. I am unsure how I will signal it or link to them, maybe just a section on the site and on the right side bar under the donation links. (desktop)
HAPPY SIX MONTHS
It has been (approx) 6 months since I launched the site. I hope to do another ad push sometime soon in celebration. the site may be quiet for the next week or two whilst I plan and do it. Thank you all for using the site and being a part of our growing community.I hope you have enjoyed your time using the site as I have running it.
