MangaDex@Home Update, New Affiliates, Looking for a Symfony dev, and a User Research Survey

[Holo]

@potatoesriceandbread


It is the default bootstrap theme, which is commonly used on many websites.

 

[Plykiya]

@potatoesriceandbread Basic bootstrap and FontAwesome icons

 

[N0Mi0]

@Plykiya @Holo

We have a new affiliate: VeePN - a VPN provider as you may guess by their name. If you are considering getting a VPN, we would recommend you get it through these guys. We will be adding links to selected affiliates on the homepage near the "links" section soon.

I just want to modestly note that I hope for you (the team) to personally check the affiliations for integrity, especially in cases of "We recommend you use this," like the way it is done by, for instance, Linus (Tech Tips). He was affiliated with both TunnelBear and PIA, and when they discredited themselves in the eyes of users, he officially ended the partnerships after personally researching the dramas' cores and releasing respective statements. And he usually only promotes something he personally both understands and thinks of as trustworthy.

Granted, MangaDex has little in common with Linus Tech Tips, but he's one of the more quality examples of advertisement handling out there. And he obviously has more leeway in setting up or ending affiliations, I guess?..

Don't want to sound preachy; just expressing my concern for contingency events.

P.S. As a matter of fact, I think you already do this, so it's not like I question it. Just something I felt like saying. Personally, I'm glad you secured some funding. The near miss with sadpanda that happened half a year ago, I reckon, reminded us all that even the largest, oldest, and greatest sources can disappear in cases of lack of funding. God, I almost lost it back then.

 

[Remocracy]

@Plykiya then shouldn’t you really want Python? It’s great and making code is fast, fast, fast. There exist packages for like 90% of tasks you need. Flask is a really great WSGI server, and I made a small hobby website in like 1 day using Flask. I also heard Gunicorn was a great production level server.

 

[Plykiya]

@PokestarFan A language being easy to code in doesn't necessarily mean it's what we can code in proficiently lol. We're not going to waste time picking up a new language when we already can implement what we want with what we've chosen that we already know.

 

[Moodyz]

@N0Mi0

for instance, Linus (Tech Tips). He was affiliated with both TunnelBear and PIA, and when they discredited themselves in the eyes of users, he officially ended the partnerships after personally researching the dramas' cores and releasing respective statements.

I know all about PIA's sketchy ownership and whatnot, but have no clue about TunnelBear. Not a provider I've paid much attention to in the past (mainly because no Linux support, though that might've changed now). I know they were acquired by some security company (McAfee, iirc), but other than that, I heard their operations are as usual. Still pass their yearly audits. Only recent kerfuffle I know of was recently when they decided to cash in on the #BLM thing when it seemed hip, but almost all tech companies are guilty of that anyway. Mind filling me in?

 

[Remocracy]

@Plykiya oh Mangadex is already written in PHP? Ahh that makes sense then.

 

[Halo]

> let's put that totally not sketchy vpn in our "links" section, right next to official resources

Wow, that's a great idea, MangaDex!

18401 Collins Ave STE 100-241, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, 33160

A hotel suite as their business address? And they appear to share the same suite with a bunch of other companies? Fine.
It was excessively spammed on reddit. Also, this. There was "veepn.pro", which now redirects to "veepn.com" - same design, different "business address". Fine.
Their trustpilot reviews are somehow less credible than amazon reviews. If you see reviewers with multiple feedback, chances are you'll find 5 star reviews for different "favorite vpn service". Fine.
And finally, they sell a "lifetime subscription" on stacksocial for $29.99, versus $52.7 just for one year on their own website.

Well, it's been a good run.

 

[Holo]

Turns out the guy who recommended VeePN to us on the forums turned out to be a spambot lmao.

https://mangadex.org/thread/246332/1/#post_2123332

Goodbye, VeePN...

 

[justforthelulz]

Oh hey, look who called the spambot out way back when.

 

[Plykiya]

Friendship ended with VeePN, sdbx is my best friend now

 

[Halo]

 

[magnetsmangadex]

In regards to 20% of clients being offline I wonder how many are from people who thought they could run servers, but got trouble from their ISPs

 

[rawhide_k]

Getting merced for being a cache server for an obscure Mongolian cave painting renovation service, and within days, is ridiculous. Personally I feel like calling it mangadex@home and describing it as p2p doesn't lend enough credence to what actually being a cache server entails. People are just gonna think the network will go on find without them if they need to xyz etc.

 

[Vottus]

@Plykiya
Sure, I have no problem helping out. I do know PHP (and some of the mentioned other stuff), and although I prefer different frameworks (for ex. Nette; a lot better made then Symfony) I have no problem using Symfony. If you need a helping hand, sure, reach me out on my discord, Vottus#9433

 

[xyzfogottenme]

Would be nice if MangaDex could get a PIA sponsorship. Seeing how privacy friendly they are, you can pay with gift-cards. They also have wire-guard and some good 2 year deals.

 

[sdz]

I also made this recommendation last time, but again: if you want people to run their clients 24/7, you need to attract people with servers like private seedboxes etc.
@ home sounds for at home, but that's more for non-critical services like SETI where the computation can wait until enough clients come online, or the computation just slows down if less people host, but for time critical applications, you want a more dedicated audience.
99% of the people here who own a PC turn it off at night, they might restart the services in the afternoon when they turn it on again, but that's a "might" and not a "will".

 

[potatoesriceandbread]

@Holo
@Plykiya

Thanks.

 

[Moodyz]

Would be nice if MangaDex could get a PIA sponsorship. Seeing how privacy friendly they are, you can pay with gift-cards. They also have wire-guard and some good 2 year deals.

Apparently PIA ain't what they used to be;
https://restoreprivacy.com/private-internet-access-kape-crossrider/
https://www.reddit.com/r/PrivateInternetAccess/comments/e0kq68/longtime_pia_user_here_run_dont_walk_away_from/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21679682

Fwiw, I have no dog in that particular fight. Wasn't interested in PIA even before their acquisition, so that revelation would have no bearing on me.

 

[rawhide_k]

I've been using frootvpn for the last 6 years for lots of things and stuff, and the fbi (or worse, the riaa) haven't come knocking

but idk if they do affiliates