Posted by Kim on June 17, 2023, 1:10pm
I'm excited to see where the map and avatar stuff goes.Actually on the map and avatar stuff, we have movement there. It's looking like we're calling it Operation Terra Incognita (Translates to Unknown Lands or Unexplored Places, which feels very apropos) and the "Lemonade Stand" fundraiser should start in early July. The art for the sale items is about halfway done, and I'm working on the list of "backer rewards"
I've been playing with making the mascot a Hippocampus this time around rather than a phoenix, if indeed we do a mascot. They used to be drawn on maps in locations where they weren't sure what was out there, in addition to sea monsters and the like. ( A hippocampus is a mer-horse, for those that don't know!)
How's that RP map system for RPR coming along, Kim? (This was asked on a different day)
Super slowly -- it's very complex and needs a lot of focused thinking time, and I'm having to do the splitting my attention with other clients and projects that pay my bills thing to get by, especially now with inflation the way it is. So I'm finding it easier to work on other aspects of the RPR that aren't quite as finicky, such as the wiki project or the QOL improvements people have been asking for. Those things are all excellent, of course, but not what I hope to be able to hold up as my main RPR accomplishment this year.
So, to try and make the space for me to give maps the deep dive they really truly need, we're moving forward with a fundraiser. It's going to be a digital "lemonade stand" similar to the bake sale we held back in 2019. It's tentatively scheduled to go live in early July. With that, I'm very much hoping to raise the money to be able to take time off from having to service clients for ideally several full months and just slam out that good good maps content.
I have a lot of anxiety about this as I know that I am not the only one who is feeling the cost of living crunch and having to really be on their hustle right now. I don't want to ask too much of the userbase, who are already super awesome. But I hear so often that this is something people REALLY want and are willing to support, and I hope that that is not just a true feeling but a practical possibility as well for enough folks.
when looking at journal entries in Edit, the journal dates don't show. It would be a 'nice to have' to have the time and date show instead of having to go into each entry to see the timestamp. Another 'nice to have' for the journal widget is if the order of appearance can be toggled from 'newest first' to 'oldest first'.
Thank you for this reminder! I'll try to have that one done before the next office hours too
Suggestion: Connect+ Widget, but instead of actual character profile connections, just written down stuff
if that makes sense?? NPC characters or characters there is no profile to?
Oh, this was a planned feature for the longest time, and I never quite figured out how it might work and let it go. I had almost forgotten about that. Maybe it's time to revisit it!
would it be possible at some time to include a "search function" in PMs?
There IS an inbox search function, but are you talking about searching only one particular conversation in the inbox? (It was clarified that yes, that is what was meant) Yeeeeeah, I think we could probably do that. *scribbles notes*
since I've been feral about it recently; any idea when the Summer Soiree will roll out?
I am SO HAPPY you are excited for it!
June 24th (A Saturday) is the scheduled kick-off. That's just 3 days after the official start of summer Would it be possible to work on a feature where only those on our friends list can see our characters? Just curious.
Anything is possible, sure. The question is what priority it should be given compared to other things people want.
Well, okay, not ANYTHING. But a lot of things, including that one
Maybe there can be a way to also make it visible to specific friends or users only? For like, 1x1 characters?]
How would this work for non-anonymous characters when they posted in a public place? Would it still say Character Name (played by YourName) and link to your profile, but when you went to the profile, just not be there?
I think this relates somewhat to the "Group only" character idea that's been floating around for awhile. Characters that are only visible to members of a particular group. Which is another of those good ideas that raises a lot of head scratchers for me that'd need decisions.
That is a good question, Kim. I think if the character was non-anon, then everyone could see it. Makes sense to me.
But if the character was anonymous, you'd still want your friend list to see it? I'm not sure that makes sense to me either. Lots of little details that would need to be figured out to make such a feature work intuitively with all our existing systems. Much to ponder.
I'm not trying to rag on you or critique you, just thinking through the implications out loud and inviting help. Please don't take it as an attack.
I do want to point out you can control which characters are shown on your main user profile while still not making them fully private/draft moded! https://www.rprepository.com/help/character-categories#380
Do Mods also regulate group forums or just RPR in general?
That is a great question. In general, group forums are moderated by whatever mods the group has chosen for itself. Site mods try very hard to be hands off with groups unless something pretty egregious is going on in them.
This is relevant: https://www.rprepository.com/help/groups#221
Groups are allowed to set their own boundaries around all kinds of things, so it'd be pretty hard for the site mods to know what the rules of each individual group are.
Could there be a visual preview of what features come with the Group Epicness?
I won the 3 month group epicness thing, but I don't know if I'll use it. All I know is something about forum colors and CSS, but like, I don't know what that means??
So this is the full list of perks for group epicness: https://www.rprepository.com/help/epic-groups#275
But as far as a visual representation, I think you're talking about screenshots maybe? CSS is a markup language to change how things look on the web. If you don't know what it is, you probably aren't going to make use of it, unless you take it into your head to learn the language.
It's hard to do a screenshot of that because it could look like almost anything But the other features? Yes, absolutely, I could take screenshots of those and add them I also want to take this opportunity to remind everyone, because I think people forget a lot -- you CAN use "group epicness" items on a user account. It will give you double epicness time.
A Greater Wand of Epicness gives 3 months of epicness to a group, and 6 months of epicness to an individual user. A Greater Hourglass of Epicness gives 1 year of Epicness to a group, but 2 years of Epicness to an individual user.Yeah, I know what CSS is, I mainly wanna know this stuff:
Group colors can be used in the chat
Customize the sidebars on forums, members, event and announcement pages
Creation of pages and forums that only moderators, GMs and editors can see
More profile customization options
So you know how we're in a live chat right now, and it looks the same way the main site does? For regular groups, even if you have customized the group to be like, all red and black, if you launch a forum topic as a live chat the chat will still look the way the main site does. With an epic group, when you launch the live chat, it can still be in your group colors even in that window.
If you've customized sidebars on any regular group page, you already kinda know what it looks like to be able to also customize the sidebar on the pre-built pages like forums and announcements. You can put anything you want in the sidebar on those pages, in terms of widgets.
I'm trying to think how I would visually demonstrate a group page that only people you've designated as group moderators could see... For non-group-moderators, it looks like nothing. It just won't exist.
But people use GM only pages to keep notes about plots they are working on running, but regular players won't see the notes about what's coming up, only the people who are designated to help run the plot. Or maybe they have additional training resources for only their group moderators. That sort of thing. It gives you a dropdown on specific pages to designate what kinds of group members can see them.I'll try to remember to take screenshots of the extra customization options.
Those are there for people who don't want to learn to write CSS but want to be able to do more with their group anyhow.Kim, you are awesome! You are the best site operator/admin I ever had the pleasure to deal with! It's just because you are so involved and accessable, like these office hours!
I really, really want that to be true. We're well past the time when I know almost everyone on the site personally, but as much as I can I still want people to feel like I'm here and listening and interested.
I know authority figures can be intimidating sometimes, and that being a site admin sends... a lot of folks on power trips.
How is Doggo doing?
Baby dog is teething REALLY intensely and struggling a bit with her mouth driving her crazy all day every day, but otherwise enthusiastic about life and learning and excelling in all her classes.
It is very, very, VERY hard to get things done with her around, she is such a high energy animal and so young. xD I end up doing my work hours late at night after she has passed out. I love her to absolute BITS though. We are going on a lot of weekly adventures together to get her all properly socialized to the world.Luckily by the time the fundraiser is over she should be just about done with teething, which will at least cut down on the pain-related agitation.
How are the piggies?
They are doing okay; the Elder Gays are starting to show their age a little bit, I think, they are turning into somewhat sleepy older little men men. They are REMARKABLY patient with the puppy.
Elder Gays???
Yeah, so my guinea pig herd is currently composed of 3 males. Dove, Cadbury and Crunchie. Dove and Cadbury came to me as adults and were already a bonded pair that appear to think of themselves as some form of husbands-equivalent. Since the beginning they have worked together to support each other as a team on just about everything. They do allllll the kissing and cuddling. It is adorable. Together, they raised Crunchie up from a baby, and also another foster baby boy that eventually found another forever home.
We refer to Dove and Cadbury as the Elder Gays because they are, you know... the oldest in the herd and and incidentally the gayest.
Raising up a new generation of young men guinea pigs together. Setting them up for success in the world. Cadbury in particular is an INCREDIBLE devoted parent, and Dove follows his lead and is always there to jump in and take over with baby-care when Cadbury needs a break.People don't realize how much time and energy adult guinea pigs put into teaching and socializing young guinea pigs, but it really helps them get a good start in life and be confident and well-mannered adults. It's really beautiful and adorable.