Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

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Niotex
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by Niotex » Thu May 21, 2015 10:44 pm

Phade wrote:
  1. New Pro Features – One major group of users the Org has not helped over the years is convention coordinators. If an anime convention wants to do anything with AMVs (contests, exhibitions, etc.), the convention coordinator must do it themselves and this can often be a pain for them. The Org will have new convention features to make this easier such as collecting and hosting videos (duuugh), automatic contest rules enforcement (date premiered, anime used, video category, hasn’t won any previous contest (prize trollers), etc.), uploading “no bumper” copies of videos, collaborative and distributed contest judging, playlist creation tools, bulk video downloads, single-file set list creation and download, and more.

This has been talked about for years and is something that needs expansion beyond just the primary contests. A few years ago there was already talk of producing a standardized package for conventions to grab from the Org. Things such as a submission platform, lose standardized rules to reference, live programming and such to create more of an Org umbrella situation and promote the Org at these events. Tracking submissions across cons was a annoying task that wouldn't be easy to tackle without a database rewrite that'd facilitate the feature though, so I welcome that.
Phade wrote:
  1. New External Site Coordination – Some people have their own web sites and would like to show off their videos on their own site. The Org will have an “embed” feature to allow videos to be streamed from other sites. Some people like to host their AMVs at other sites like YouTube because it can bring them a little cash or whatever. The Org will have a “embed video” feature so that AMVs hosted elsewhere can be embedded and viewed inside the user’s video catalog entry page here at AnimeMusicVideos.org.
I don't think people are stupid enough to try and monetize creative common/fair use works on you tube. Even if they were I don't think it's the primary motivator to host videos there. For an embedded player to work it'd have to work as a standalone html5 player without any login requirements the org currently has. It'd also have to be at least comparable quality which could to my knowledge be attained by just directly streaming the h264 files to the player rather than re-encoding them first like we do now. Primary focus here is easy of use and taking away as many gates as possible for people to share their work on the new platform.
Phade wrote:
  1. New Education Features – The Org will host a formal AMV wiki to better educate members of the ways of the AMV. This will replace the current (highly outdated) “guides” section.
The format in which this is presented is key probably. Years ago a full start to finish technical video catalog was proposed for all major workflows and software packages. The idea was to provide people a complete one stop solution regardless of what software platform they were working on and could reference videos showing and explaining things every step of the way. Both Brad (AtomX) and myself toyed with some formats at the time to see what'd work. I had proposed a broad index of topics to GQ at the time but was as always promptly shot down. A rewrite of wiki/guide/index of this magnitude would be equally as large of an undertaking as the redesign itself. Any thoughts?
Phade wrote:Specifically, we need the following kinds of volunteers:
  • Web site designers (make things pretty and visually easy to use)
  • Web site front-end developers (good with web browser framework tools and that kinda stuff)
  • Web site back-end developers (good with server-side code, databases, command-line tools, etc.)
  • Project coordinators (good with encouraging people to get stuff done and sticking with it)
If you fit any of these roles and would like to help out, please let us know in this thread. Based on the response we get here, we will then coordinate what you can do to help the site as a whole.
I'm aware that these are separate things but considering the amount of man hours the elephant in the room is the additional fund raiser money. I myself don't fit the bill for any of these 4 speciffic positions but I can understand the immense undertaking it is. With that and the (over estimated price for the) server in mind, are there any plans for work compensation for these people?
Phade wrote:We have tried getting people to do stuff then announce what has been done when the update is ready for release. This seems to have confused the community into thinking nothing is getting done then suddenly everything happens. I want to change that immediately.

With this new effort, I would like to turn this around so that everyone knows what the volunteers are working on as they work on it. Everyone will know how the site and community are growing. Everyone can get involved in making this a better place!
It's a combination of some members of the administration leaving and the remaining stonewalling people asking questions or trying to get work done. And frankly also your absence throughout the years that's made people skeptical about any work being done. If you step of to the plate I take no issue with any of this, thus far you've proven yourself more than willing and capable in your responses. Same can't be said for everyone on the administration though, but that's just my 2 cents as someone who's been tossed nothing but scraps over the years.
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CrazyDreamer
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by CrazyDreamer » Fri May 22, 2015 3:10 am

As I recall from the fundraising thread, Phade is getting somewhat more involved now that his kids no longer need quite the same level of constant parental supervision. Allow me to suggest that this is a good reason for having been absentee, and whatever some may think about the leadership in the interim, I'm willing to trust him now that he's more involved again.

As for volunteering, I don't have the skills you're looking for. I'm not even very good at the portions of information science that concern the database (e.g., taxonomy and schema construction). But if there's a chance that the actual video information taxonomy and/or the functions that interface with it might be substantively revised, you might want to consult with me or someone in my field. (I could put out feelers once you develop a more thorough and concrete project proposal.)

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MaboroshiStudio
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by MaboroshiStudio » Fri May 22, 2015 8:47 am

I can help out with the web design / front end
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by MaboroshiStudio » Fri May 22, 2015 11:01 am

getting a Project coordinator would be very helpful tho...
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Sephirothskr
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by Sephirothskr » Fri May 22, 2015 11:59 pm

PHADE LIIIIIIIVES.

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Niotex
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by Niotex » Sun May 24, 2015 2:29 am

If I could get some sort of coherent response to my last post, that'd be appreciated. Or do I need to post captioned images or meme in order to get any kind of response? Seeing as that seems to be the way these things work around here lately.

Image

Now we wait :roll:
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Phade
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by Phade » Sun May 24, 2015 10:07 am

Niotex wrote:If I could get some sort of coherent response to my last post, that'd be appreciated. Or do I need to post captioned images or meme in order to get any kind of response? Seeing as that seems to be the way these things work around here lately.

Now we wait :roll:
Well, you are asking for minutia details on what is going to happen and doing so in a quite accusational tone. Neither of these invite a warm or timely response.

However, regardless of what has happened in the past, I can assure you that we are making actual progress now. One thing that I am reviewing this weekend is distributed project management packages so that everyone will know openly what is going on and who is responsible for doing each piece. In the past when someone volunteered to help, we kept them unannounced until there was some product of their work to show. The thought there was we did not want to embarrass individuals for volunteering and then not completing what they said they would do. With the new public project information, this should change things so that volunteers are more excited to work on projects until completion by getting more constant positive encouragement from the community at large.

Once project management is in place, we are likely to tackle the video upload portion next. Using a separate FTP program to upload files was fine in 2001, but uploading via web browser is now much more efficient especially with a much greater availability of dedicated home bandwidth (opposed to mostly dial-up connections back in the day). Along with the file upload, we are likely to revamp the video information entry system while we are at it.

All people working on the site have been volunteers. There are no plans to change this approach. All funds raised go directly towards keeping the site running (hosting, hardware, etc). The only major non-server related thing the site pays for is an accountant doing taxes; the last thing I want is the IRS knocking on my door because I messed up something with the tax code. :-\ Other than that, every person working on the site has been on a volunteer basis since the beginning of the Org. I don't get paid to do this (heck, I'm dropping a grand on the site right now).

As for everything else, things should be clear when the project management package is in place. If you would like to help, you could help us review project management packages. We need the to easily and clearly handle multiple distributed parallel project tasks and dependencies concerning site code base, server maintenance, site design, general bug reports, and anything else that may need to be done (a phone app could be cool). You could also help review not only physical servers but hosting alternatives such as VM or cloud hosting options, other general physical hosting places, and things like that so we are getting the best deal on bandwidth. The more people looking for awesome deals, the better. :-) If you find something good, please start a new forum topic thread so that this one can stay on a general discussion of what is upcoming.

For the immediate future, we need to concentrate on fund raising. It is something that is only raised highly (not just the nag screen) like now once every few years. If you or anyone else have ideas on how to make the fund raising project for the next few weeks more successful, please let me know and I'll see what I can do to make this more successful! :-D

Thanks and again and have a great day! ^_^

Phade.

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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by MaboroshiStudio » Sun May 24, 2015 10:17 am

Niotex wrote:If I could get some sort of coherent response to my last post, that'd be appreciated. Or do I need to post captioned images or meme in order to get any kind of response? Seeing as that seems to be the way these things work around here lately.

Quoted Image converted to link:
https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Grrrreat ... sTLmMIlImA

Now we wait :roll:
I have to agree your tone is counter productive
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Niotex
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by Niotex » Sun May 24, 2015 7:36 pm

Phade wrote:Well, you are asking for minutia details on what is going to happen and doing so in a quite accusational tone. Neither of these invite a warm or timely response.
You're asking for a hefty sum without any clear plan that outlines the usage of the funds. While also being notoriously absent from anything that pertains to the community as it has existed in the last decade. Of course I'm going to be critical and even hostile in order to get my answers, I have to claw at you to get them. Alas it's only scraps again but I'll have to make due.
Phade wrote:For the immediate future, we need to concentrate on fund raising. It is something that is only raised highly (not just the nag screen) like now once every few years. If you or anyone else have ideas on how to make the fund raising project for the next few weeks more successful, please let me know and I'll see what I can do to make this more successful! :-D
A progress bar with milestones for possible server configurations and what benefits they have for the site as a whole. Might push people to drop that extra cash if "x" feature is only a few hundred away. Anything to make the donation drive a little more tangible for the average user.
MaboroshiStudio wrote:I have to agree your tone is counter productive
:shrug:
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Re: Spring Cleaning: Doing the Org's Work

Post by Gene Starwind 21122 » Mon May 25, 2015 10:55 am

I'm really don't know much about websites. However if there is anything I could help with please let me know. I'll be donating as well. At least $20 a week. I'll try and see if I can donate more than that.

I'm happy to see the plan in motion. I've been around here a long time and would love to see the org revived. Hopefully we all can make this a place for all the editors to gather again.
No matter what, stay calm, stay cool and live life to the fullest.
Plus as Gene would say always go big in life.
Anime Mid Atlantic AMV Contest Coordinator 2007-2011
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