Cel view numbers?

[sensei]

I agree with kizu that Rubberslug is really a rare treasure that perhaps by lucky chance provided exactly what anime art collectors needed: an intuitive way to share art that can't easily be displayed in public. It's pretty clear that there would not be an Anime-Beta without Rubberslug, or if it existed, it would be a much different place, probably much more esoteric, less welcoming to new collectors.

But the blog silence over there really does concern me. It's a simple thing to bang out a comment or respond to something over there. I'm not aware that Facebook is taking away that business. And I still spend extra time in my site, fixing links, condensing over-long comments, adding screen caps. But, in truth, going there is a bit like going to work. Yes, you pass pleasantries with co-workers. But you don't really relax and hang out until you're punched out and you stop in at the local bar on the way home.

I'm not enough of a web designer to suggest a fix. But I think the issues may be technological rather than social. Jason has a forum, but, as lots of people have noted, it's clunky compared to the one AB uses. And it's irritating that the feedback system has been prone to exploitation by spammers, so that all my RS feedback mail (gomenasai, airpchan!) goes to a spam trap that I empty once a week, taking time to respond to the occasional real message. And when known bugs remain bugs for months rather than hours, and Jason is not proactive about responding to these in the RS forum, many users lose confidence in the many, many features that still work just fine.

On the third foot (I just forwarded a couple of 3-legged Licca-chan doll urban legends to my friend Jan Brunvand) Jason does this for free, and at the risk of his real-time occupation. What RS needs is some 24/7 tech support and upgrade, and that, sorry to say, is going to require some kind of mandatory subscription cost to pay for it.

[GuyvarIII]

I actually probably click on more galleries these days with the thumbnail option

Same here. I've clicked on a lot of artwork this year which I would previously have completely passed by.

I think the image preview is great. I like seeing what’s new, and it has changed things in regard to visitors to my own gallery. Although the new gallery tags section doesn’t list my really obscure series, and many of the series in my gallery have no name recognition value to the casual anime viewer or cel collector; with image preview, no matter how obscure the series, the new items I upload are seen, and they get hits.

Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, after the recent RS main page malware incidents, the number of hits my gallery was getting from new cel uploads did go down. And, except for a few exceptions, (like my last three updated “God Marsâ€

[Keropi]

After fiddling around with Rubberslug for awhile I was able to figure out a few things. I found that clicking anything in any of the edit screens don't give me any image hits. Clicking popular item links WILL though, but that's how it was before. Won't be able to know what image is on the list however without taking a hit (as was stated earlier).

I was having difficulty switching images. The first time I tried it worked just fine, but the second time I tried it wouldn't work. I went and deleted the images and then uploaded the new images. Then I gave myself hits equivalent to how many the image had before. I gave my gallery front page hits, but then again I have no idea where the hit counter is now so I suppose it doesn't make any difference for that.

I realized that I was doing it wrong. If I had just changed images by selecting its location and then hitting the bottom submit button it would have changed the images just fine. The images change and I maintain my hits. With the Submit button being way down the screen I didn't realize it until later.

Well, at least I was able to submit my Jpg images this time! I'll have to add my Da Capos, Tokimeki Memorials, Kakyuuseis and old images some day. Whenever that is. At least I know what's possible now.

[zerospace]

Jason has a forum, but, as lots of people have noted, it's clunky compared to the one AB uses.

Just FYI -- Anime-Beta is powered by phpBB, which is a stand-alone web application. It is as rich of a board as it is because that is all it does. It is entirely possible that Jason can not or does not want to integrate a board like phpBB (or any of the other very well known boards--Simple Machines, Invision Power Board, etc) into Rubberslug due to licensing issues or other code or user integration issues.

And it's irritating that the feedback system has been prone to exploitation by spammers, so that all my RS feedback mail (gomenasai, airpchan!) goes to a spam trap that I empty once a week, taking time to respond to the occasional real message.

Short of using captcha (which itself isn't even fool-proof, but would probably significantly reduce the amount of spam) or attempting to stay one step ahead of the bots all the time ... this is an ongoing battle anywhere on the Internet. If you want to receive email through a website, spam is the inevitable demon you will deal with, almost no matter what.

And when known bugs remain bugs for months rather than hours, and Jason is not proactive about responding to these in the RS forum, many users lose confidence in the many, many features that still work just fine.

And herein lies the true issue with Rubberslug. It isn't all the annoying stuff, really -- it is the lack of support of the site. I can appreciate how much work it takes to do what Jason does, I do the same sort of work myself. He has been unwilling to charge for services, and that may be the downfall of RS, because there's really little incentive for him to fix what's wrong. He may not have the time or the energy to do so, and without any real need to fix it (let's face it, a bunch of non-paying users aren't usually anyone's top priority), it will just be left to take care of itself, which on the Internet is usually the kiss of death.

Don't get me wrong, folks .. I think RS was a great site. The keyword there is was. The community can stand behind RS all it wants, but without updates and without Jason working on it fairly frequently, it cannot survive forever. I have a lot of respect for Jason -- back during one of the pre-revamped RS hackings, I even offered to assist him if I could. He showed me a preview of what we all know now as RS. I was hopeful that this meant he'd be paying more attention to RS in the future. It seems that I was wrong, and unfortunately, I work in a different set of web scripting languages than he does, so I am unable to really be of any assistance. I'm not insulting RS nor its creator, just merely pointing out the fact that if things don't change, the site that was once so central to the cel collecting community may end up going the way of most ill-maintained sites on today's Internet.

*returns to lurk-mode*

[Drakonia]

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing a yearly-Paypal subscriptive cost for basic Rubberslug maintenance and site upkeep. Goodness knows that if I were left to my own devices, I most likely wouldn't be posting any of my collection on-line for public view. I just don't have the time, energy, or expertise to create my own corner of website bliss. To date, Jason is a saint for not charging fees for his grand creation, but I do think that he needs incentive nowadays to focus some of his efforts on Rubberslug since his time is in greater demand. In other words, he needs more enticement than a room full of dancing bunnies.

[Keropi]

I notice that when you delete a picture it still shows up in the Popular Item search. It's like a popular deleted item.