Author Topic: Project Phoenix  (Read 14031 times)

Conan

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Project Phoenix
« on: January 16, 2014, 12:22:53 am »
Nestled in today's news update, behind the announcement of a new banner (I thought they were done with that!), was the official announcement that Adam Wan's new pet recode project is actually an official site undertaking.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5417252
Quote
Announcing Fur Affinity: Project Phoenix
 
 Fur Affinity is happy to announce that the next version of furaffinity.net is in active development. Our goal is simple, to provide you with a better experience that can be sustained and improved upon for years to come.
 
 To reach this goal, we will be rewriting Fur Affinity from the ground up. Codenamed Project Phoenix, we’re able to take full advantage of new technologies that have emerged since Fur Affinity's birth, ensuring the site is easily maintained and extended upon for years to come.
 
 We’re also working on a visual refresh, improving the overall look and feel, as well as the user experience. We’ll be holding our design to a higher standard to ensure that Fur Affinity provides ease of use while retaining high visual appeal.
 
 
 Design prototype for Phoenix - Click to enlarge
 Fur Affinity relies on its community, and it’s because of you that we’re all here today. We’d like to thank you for your patience and your faith. From today, we’re going to be posting regular updates regarding this project and the site in general. 2014 is a new year for us, and we want to increase transparency and trust for all aspects of the administration.
 
 


 About Fur Affinity: Fur Affinity was created in 2005 as an outlet for creative expression within the furry community. Today it continues to be the largest active community site for the furry fandom.
 
 About the Team:
 
 We’ve established a team experienced in product management, UI, and the development of large-scale web applications.
 
 Dragoneer: Owner and head admin of Fur Affinity, Dragoneer has been with FA since 2005. He manages the organization as a whole as part of his day-to-day responsibilities. For Project Phoenix, he provides top-level guidance and direction to ensure the project meets the organization’s needs and vision for the future of FA.
 
 Adam Wan: Also known in the fandom as Zaush. Development lead for the new Fur Affinity. Adam has over 11 years of experience in various technical fields such as web development, game engine development, UX, and applications for integrated systems. Lately his work has been related to user experience, complex intranet tools, and integrated applications.
 
 ctrlaltdel123: Developer working under Adam Wan to help with the new Fur Affinity. He has experience designing, implementing, and testing real-time software systems and web applications.
 
 Nanuk: Product and marketing lead for the new Fur Affinity. Nanuk has experience managing and marketing products for large scale web properties. He works to help organize planning and development of the new Fur Affinity, while maintaining transparency with the community.

Interesting to note that it says Dragoneer "provides top-level guidance and direction to ensure the project meets the organization’s needs and vision for the future of FA." something he completely failed to do while Eevee was working on Ferrox. Not to mention I wouldn't trust Dragoneer to guide a shopping cart through the grocery store.

Additionally, in my opinion that site mockup needs some refining, what with the MASSIVE arrow thing (This type of icon is usually the "share" button on other sites) next to the reply button just kind of sticks way out when you look at the page. No dobut Special Instructions have been given to make the site "mobile friendly", because that has been Dragoneer's new favorite thing to talk about ever since he got a tablet.

So, will the project fail spectacularly before it gets off the ground? Will they go through with it only to find out these "new technologies" are horribly inadequate for a community of FA's size? Will the hype trail off into nothingness, with announcements that the project is "on hold" four years from now?

EDIT: Some gold from the comments:


It is, however, the 6th or 7th attempt at re-writing the entire site "from the ground up".
This one speaks for itself.





an hoopoe

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2014, 04:19:04 am »
It's mentioned by someone on that news journal:

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5417252#cid:38036744

that 8 people have already been banned for mentioning that whole Zaush thing in the comments. Lots and lots of hidden comments on that journal:



The official FA line is whole hearted defense of Zaush:

Quote from: Nanuk
Zaush is a pretty cool guy. He knows his stuff and we've got an awesome team dynamic going right now, so things are pretty good!

Quote from: Nanuk
Whatever rumors may exist are rather inconsequential. What matters in this context is how he performs in his role as head developer, and from what I've seen he's doing quite well so far.

We're willing to address comments about FA's history, about this project, but the policy and tolerance toward personal attacks and what is potentially libelous commentary has not changed.

There are a lot of negative and skeptical comments in general too, perhaps even the majority of them. Plus, as you'd expect there appears to be no intention/ability to give the users what they actually want (folders is mentioned a lot).

One "Nanuk" has been appointed, by the grace of Princess Piche, as the PR person for the project and in this case PR means stilted cargo cult PR (from the comments on the announcement journal):

Quote from: Nanuk
we're increasing transparency with this project to keep you guys updated as we move along [...] We're also going to be reading through suggestions (like yours!) and keeping track of them. So I'll start out by saying thanks for the suggestions! We're definitely looking at ways to improve the UI, so we'll be looking at that as we continue to iterate on it. We're also aware of the high demand for folders and mobile phone support, and that's something on our roadmap as well.

Quote from: Nanuk
Site outages aren't necessarily related to the code

Quote from: Nanuk
We're aware of the desire for folders so it's something we're looking into

Quote from: Nanuk
As for folders, we're definitely aware they're in hot demand and it's one of the many suggestions we're looking at.

Quote from: Nanuk
A document reader is already on my list of suggestions, but unfortunately it's rather difficult.

Quote from: Nanuk
Mobile support is definitely on our roadmap for the future.

I can see why Piche would choose him since he joined the site recently, in 2012 and so has no idea about all the other failed attempts:

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5417252#cid:38030031

And is a beep-boop admins did nothing wrong:

Quote from: Nanuk
Those who get in trouble have the perception that the admins are picking on them unfairly when, of course, you and I just know they're doing their jobs.



nrr

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2014, 06:13:28 am »
I can see why Piche would choose him since he joined the site recently, in 2012 and so has no idea about all the other failed attempts:

In Nanuk's defense, much of what I've seen from him has been level-headed (albeit somewhat lawyer-y, but seeing as he's going for his JD, this shouldn't be surprising) even if it has been sort of ignorant or naïve, given that he's lacking a lot of the context. This might just be the one decision that I've agreed with when it comes to people that Princess Piche has picked.

I'm hoping he sizes up to be a decent PR person here all things considered. I'm also hoping that he doesn't get so invested in it that he loses sight of what's actually going on and tries to bail out a sinking ship.
im glad the "I saw a furry IRL" thread is so good at bringing goons together

YOUR PARTICIPLES AREN'T THE ONLY THINGS DANGLING

ProvincialTwit

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2014, 07:52:17 am »
PR's Bad.

graeme

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2014, 08:40:06 am »
Might just be me, but they have a lot of chiefs and just one indian.

The technical is possible, NodeJS can be a perfectly fine end to end solution.  I don't know if they have the chops to pull it, but it's feasible.

What they don't have, I think, is action people.  They've got idea people.

Those projects always fail.

rodox_video

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2014, 09:50:28 am »
i guess three years after the fact fa thinks they can now safely extend the troll/troublemaker category to include everyone who knows/cares what adam wan did

not that it wasn't there already

mentioning z-dogg's record on fa is going to become like mentioning what happened to cumulus clouds on sa
Zeriara is part of a series on Whores.

JigsawJones

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2014, 11:46:32 am »
... like mentioning what happened to cumulus clouds on sa

Dish girlfriend!!!!

rodox_video

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2014, 03:28:01 pm »
I knew nobody'd get the reference, so the story goes a bit like this:

A number of years ago, a bunch of people on FYAD were trolling Wikipedia, and had taken notice of a particularly pedantic user named "Cumulus Clouds". A bunch of users, most notably Anne Frank Fanfic, took it upon themselves to troll and harass him (calling him a "sperg" and such) to a degree that even a few others thought was excessive. Cumulus Clouds turned out to be a high school student, and committed suicide some time later. As the situation unraveled, it looked more and more like they had (wittingly or unwittingly) pushed an already vulnerable and unstable kid into killing himself. There was even (mod-approved) talk of crashing his funeral.

Like everything genuinely bad that's happened at Something Awful, the story has been supressed only to be repeated and distorted by a bazillion dumbshits, mostly from shitty racist SA offshoots with an axe to grind like Rhizzone and My Posting Career. Because of that, there's a lot of details to the story that I just don't have or are probably wrong. The kid's parents apparently do have the most accurate picture of what happened, and may or may not be weighing their options.

Anyway, as of now bringing up the situation on SA will at minimum put you on the radar and at most get you banned and your post edited depending on who sees the post and how much of a handle you've got on the sequence of events. Anne Frank Fanfic and the moderator that talked about the funeral crashing are pretty much actively being protected at this point.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2014, 07:54:28 pm by rodox_video »
Zeriara is part of a series on Whores.

graeme

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2014, 04:15:27 pm »
One thing that isn't being mentioned in all this is Yak or Net-Cat.

Where's Yak in all this?  How's he going to take his demotion?  What secret deadmen switches does HE have on the servers that he's going to push?

What about Net-cat?  I thought Net-cat still speaks of FA in the "we and us" tone. 

Should be entertaining.

nrr

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2014, 05:44:36 pm »
im glad the "I saw a furry IRL" thread is so good at bringing goons together

YOUR PARTICIPLES AREN'T THE ONLY THINGS DANGLING

lamerfox

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2014, 11:48:38 pm »
Could this be eligible for a potential RICO on Neer and his gang?
My rage knows no bounds.

rodox_video

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2014, 12:30:52 am »
lol no
Zeriara is part of a series on Whores.

graeme

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2014, 05:56:26 am »
Gamerfox, you seem to really want law enforcement to do stuff about people you don't like.   Have you considered anger management counseling? :P

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2014, 08:25:11 am »
It appears that people are deciding to move to Weasyl again, this time because Zaush is on the Phoenix team. Spike in Weasyl sessions, and lots of leaving journals to ensue.
Big Tumber post of people being suspended for saying Zaush is a rapist. Basically at this point, anyone even mentioning his name is getting hit by the administration.

an hoopoe

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2014, 01:17:35 pm »
lots of leaving journals to ensue.

Sciggles has been popping up in some of them, I noticed. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a scraper for "weasyl". Anyhow Sciggles is handling queries and requests for clarification from people in in her usual style:

Quote from: Sciggles
I appreciate your input but I am not discussing the issue further. Your question has been answered.
^
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5422162/#cid:38068961

ProvincialTwit

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2014, 10:18:58 pm »
Answering by not answering. How very zen.

Ketsuban

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2014, 12:40:55 am »
Is anyone attempting to compile a list of words that may have scrapers attached to them? I have an idea.

Conan

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2014, 12:47:07 am »
For the record...



This whole event prompted Weasyl traffic to spike in one day to nearly the same level it had on the "peak" day of the last FA outage, which built up over the course of a week.

Perhaps Dragoneer will soon learn that his actions have consequences, and stomping your feet and plugging your ears when the community voice their dislike of your staff is NOT a way to make them shut up.

Is anyone attempting to compile a list of words that may have scrapers attached to them? I have an idea.

A few years ago, we found ones for "Inkbunny", "Antheria", and "Allan". There were probably more. There are most certainty new ones since then, with the possibility Yak spent a few minutes just making journals searchable through the admin panel.

an hoopoe

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2014, 11:37:49 am »
Some cracks may be starting to appear with Dragoneer/Sciggles and (some of) their friends over all this. Today Silverautomatic apparently suggested on twitter, to Sciggles, that the Furaffinity United convention should be renamed/sever its formal connection with FA (what else could have prompted this but Zaush?) and Sciggles was not pleased and responded in her usual style:

Quote from: Sciggles
Its still FA related because Dragoneer and Fender, unless you start a new con and remove the two its still gonna happen...

Quote from: Silverautomatic
Yeah, but we've mentioned a few times that it might be time to change the name. "New coat of paint." Might not be a bad time.

Quote from: Sciggles
I've not been part of that discussion and I disagree. Regardless not something that should be discussed publicly.
^
https://twitter.com/Scigglicious/status/424524687712874497

If Dragoneer/FA takes a hit, she takes one too since the only thing that gives Dragoneer any traction in this subculture is his ownership of FA and the only thing that gives Sciggles any traction is her relationship with Dragoneer, so I imagine she's extremely agitated at the moment. She can feel it starting to slip away.

Also, note that Silverautomatic said "we". He is on staff ("events director" and "head of security") at the FA United convention, so he might be speaking for other staff there too. Would be rather funny if Princess Piche and wife lost their vanity convention.

graeme

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Re: Project Phoenix
« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2014, 12:03:02 pm »
And given that he LIVES WITH THEM, the fact that he's suggesting it publicly means a lot more.

I really wanted to like Silver, but he's just so argumentative and defensive that he doesn't see the forest through the trees.