Tay

Hello everybody,
 
As some of you know, I've been extremely sick lately. It's been more a dangerous-sick than just I-hate-life-sick, and so my absence on the site was unavoidable. I'm getting better, I've had solid medical care, and I'm putting my life back together. Thank you for your patience. This couldn't have come at a worse time (for my personal life and for Fuwa!)
 
I know that many of us were starting to get really jazzed for upcoming site changes. I want to spell out a timeline for everybody so we all know what's coming and what to expect. I also hope it'll help assuage any anxieties about stagnation.
 
The "cleaning house" period has been extended through October (since I've been out of action for almost all September!) Between now and next Wednesday I will be finalizing some behind-the-scenes changes among the staff and writing materials for the board moderator program By the end of next week I hope to have everything in place to roll out the board moderator program (members can be given moderator roles over particular "boards" on the forums and work under the guidance of a global moderator). I made a call for interested parties (https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/6292-are-you-interested-in-helping-moderate-a-corner-of-the-fuwanovel-forums/) and the initial roster will be selected from those who stepped forward in that post. If you're interested and fit the qualifications, speak up in that post! Again, at least the selection of board moderators should be done by next week, at which time I should have the training materials finished and in the hands of the global mods (and then we'll see how it goes) I'm working on getting an up-to-date picture on where our server move is and what front-site changes are ready to be made. Nothing to report yet, but I have submitted a 2-page list of high-priority changes to our web development team I finished my site analytics and I'm very pleased with the VN forums changes (traffic and participation are both up across the spectrum of user groups). I think the data also shows that the "Ongoing Projects" board has been very successful at driving traffic and attention to the projects featured within it. I can't say that for sure (I'm not awesome at the form of statistics my program is using), but if I'm reading the data right, then it's driven >3x as much traffic to each project than they were receiving before the ongoing projects board was made. I don't know about you, but I'd say that's exactly what we'd want for our fearless project leaders! Still waiting to hear the details on software changes before I commit to any tagging add-ons for the Development boards (it could take a while, but it's a high priority for me. Don't give up, developers!) The forums changes, like I said, have been very encouraging. The biggest (most important? controversial? fabulous?) issue to tackle, as we all know, will be the general discussion board with the G&C sub-board within it. Before I go into any details about the changes, I'l reemphasize that my priorities in changing up the organization will be: maintain a space for true general discussion, provide a separate space for Fuwanovel-centered projects and community work/discussion, give an out let for getting to know each other and having fun, and then filtering out the posts which are fluff or worthless and really just deserve to die (more on this in a minute ; )). (In summary: better differentiate between topical discussion, friendship building, Fuwanovel work, and "fluff" posts which deserve death) The details are yet to be finalized, but the current plans (written in a super secret notebook) are as follows:      A. To create a community hub (focused on Fuwanovel) which will be dedicated to community projects, the improvements board system, a leadership council, etc.      B. Restore the "general discussion" board to its true purpose (topically-based and focused discussion about stuff)      C. There will be a Lounge section which will be the spot for getting to know each other, having fun, a little goofing off, etc.      D. The newest addition will be something akin to an "Arena of Death" where pointless, fluff, and/or scum-and-villainy types of posts will be sent to die (or fight for survival). Details forthcoming. One really big thing that needs to be addressed is site media (blog and social media). There will be some long-overdue changes coming to the blog, and a better workflow for how all these services work together and how they're to be used There's more. I could talk about MOTM, for example, which has had a bumpy road due to my illness, or stances on games and translator groups and requests for takedowns. There's a lot more to discuss, but I don't have the energy atm to get it all down on paper. I ask for your patience as I recover. I'll put out as much info as I can on a regular basis. Within the next week I will be finalizing the list of torrents which will no longer be linked-to on our front site. The links will go "offline" the last week of October. The leadership structure of the community to which we're headed is going to be a leadership council structure with voting and non-voting members. I'm not going to say a lot more at this point (since it's still early, there's still too much to do, and because I need to maintain a tyrannical dictatorship power structure in order to accomplish everything listed above ), but I wanted to clearly state that nobody realizes better than I the logistical problems facing the site. I just wanted to assure everybody that soon enough we'll be in a position where responsibilities are better spread out and no life-threatening illness of any one of us puts all the forward momentum in jeopardy ; ). I want to apologize to the logo contest winners! I'm sorry that I haven't been rotating the banners as I promised. I will be appointing somebody to do this and giving them restricted ACP access so they can make the changes per schedule in the future.   
 
Immediate Timeline:
I still need some rest time, but I should be in a better position by Tuesday By Wednesday night I should have a fairly comprehensive proposal ready for my inexhaustible and ever-patient counselor and friend Rooke to examine. Details of above proposals will be discussed and refined for up to 2 weeks or until we're both happy. No later than that point I'll reach out for additional opinions and thoughts/further refinement Concurrently: I should have the staff worked out by Tuesday. The global mods (at least the ones who head board moderator teams) will be given several days to choose from a list of willing members to build their teams. I will also be selecting board moderators and assigning them to particular global mods/boards. While the global mods are working on their team (and, again, this is concurrent with Rooke and I working through proposed changes), I will be finalizing the staff handbooks which will contain rules, policies, important information, and workflows for typical tasks. Once that's done and the global mods have built their teams, the new board mods will be contacted, I'll set up their permissions, and the global mods will conduct training for their teams. Front site: This is an email-based workflow which I'll initiate tomorrow (Sunday). The upcoming forums changes will be enacted once we have  a set plan (on my end) and an army of board moderators willing to help us manage the transition. I estimate this'll go down within 1-1.5 weeks Some basic blog changes are going to be happening in the next week as well: integration with social media, aesthetic changes, and additional un-annouced changes should roll out.  
That's probably as much detail as is helpful right now. Please note: I have >40 PMs and emails to go through, so if you don't hear from me right away, don't think I'm ignoring you!
 
 
 
 
LAST POINT! The Bonus Twitter Challenge!
I'm not currently able to spend a lot of time up and about, meaning my time for working on Fuwa is somewhat limited. "Working on Fuwa" includes stuff like PMs, emails, reports, TL group sessions, and photo shoots. (<- one of those has yet to be requested. Wonder why...). SO! I'd like to suggest that anybody who urgently needs to contact me should do so through Twitter (at least for the next few days). 
 
My twitter handle is @ArchmageTay
 
I'll try to get up and be here on the site, but again, if you have a pressing concern or issue, send me a DM/Tweet. Also! The challenge part: my twitter avatar is pretty bland (but awesome! Yay HP!). If you're tweeting at me and get bored of my avatar, feel free to send me alternates you think I should use instead. If your submission is really awesome, you may just see it go up ; ).
 
That last bit was just for fun, but really -- it's difficult for me (at least in the short, short term) to get up and around, so if you need me, let me know through Twitter. (Unless you're batman. Then just send me a bat signal through Skype).
 
 
(read the post below- elevator music to accompany things, placed here by me, Kaguya)

 
 
 
If you read all of this... wow! Way to go! Thanks for your time, and I'll see you soon.

Hello everybody,
 
As some of you know, I've been extremely sick lately. It's been more a dangerous-sick than just I-hate-life-sick, and so my absence on the site was unavoidable. I'm getting better, I've had solid medical care, and I'm putting my life back together. Thank you for your patience. This couldn't have come at a worse time (for my personal life and for Fuwa!)
 
I know that many of us were starting to get really jazzed for upcoming site changes. I want to spell out a timeline for everybody so we all know what's coming and what to expect. I also hope it'll help assuage any anxieties about stagnation.
 
The "cleaning house" period has been extended through October (since I've been out of action for almost all September!) Between now and next Wednesday I will be finalizing some behind-the-scenes changes among the staff and writing materials for the board moderator program By the end of next week I hope to have everything in place to roll out the board moderator program (members can be given moderator roles over particular "boards" on the forums and work under the guidance of a global moderator). I made a call for interested parties (https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/6292-are-you-interested-in-helping-moderate-a-corner-of-the-fuwanovel-forums/) and the initial roster will be selected from those who stepped forward in that post. If you're interested and fit the qualifications, speak up in that post! Again, at least the selection of board moderators should be done by next week, at which time I should have the training materials finished and in the hands of the global mods (and then we'll see how it goes) I'm working on getting an up-to-date picture on where our server move is and what front-site changes are ready to be made. Nothing to report yet, but I have submitted a 2-page list of high-priority changes to our web development team I finished my site analytics and I'm very pleased with the VN forums changes (traffic and participation are both up across the spectrum of user groups). I think the data also shows that the "Ongoing Projects" board has been very successful at driving traffic and attention to the projects featured within it. I can't say that for sure (I'm not awesome at the form of statistics my program is using), but if I'm reading the data right, then it's driven >3x as much traffic to each project than they were receiving before the ongoing projects board was made. I don't know about you, but I'd say that's exactly what we'd want for our fearless project leaders! Still waiting to hear the details on software changes before I commit to any tagging add-ons for the Development boards (it could take a while, but it's a high priority for me. Don't give up, developers!) The forums changes, like I said, have been very encouraging. The biggest (most important? controversial? fabulous?) issue to tackle, as we all know, will be the general discussion board with the G&C sub-board within it. Before I go into any details about the changes, I'l reemphasize that my priorities in changing up the organization will be: maintain a space for true general discussion, provide a separate space for Fuwanovel-centered projects and community work/discussion, give an out let for getting to know each other and having fun, and then filtering out the posts which are fluff or worthless and really just deserve to die (more on this in a minute ; )). (In summary: better differentiate between topical discussion, friendship building, Fuwanovel work, and "fluff" posts which deserve death) The details are yet to be finalized, but the current plans (written in a super secret notebook) are as follows:      A. To create a community hub (focused on Fuwanovel) which will be dedicated to community projects, the improvements board system, a leadership council, etc.      B. Restore the "general discussion" board to its true purpose (topically-based and focused discussion about stuff)      C. There will be a Lounge section which will be the spot for getting to know each other, having fun, a little goofing off, etc.      D. The newest addition will be something akin to an "Arena of Death" where pointless, fluff, and/or scum-and-villainy types of posts will be sent to die (or fight for survival). Details forthcoming. One really big thing that needs to be addressed is site media (blog and social media). There will be some long-overdue changes coming to the blog, and a better workflow for how all these services work together and how they're to be used There's more. I could talk about MOTM, for example, which has had a bumpy road due to my illness, or stances on games and translator groups and requests for takedowns. There's a lot more to discuss, but I don't have the energy atm to get it all down on paper. I ask for your patience as I recover. I'll put out as much info as I can on a regular basis. Within the next week I will be finalizing the list of torrents which will no longer be linked-to on our front site. The links will go "offline" the last week of October. The leadership structure of the community to which we're headed is going to be a leadership council structure with voting and non-voting members. I'm not going to say a lot more at this point (since it's still early, there's still too much to do, and because I need to maintain a tyrannical dictatorship power structure in order to accomplish everything listed above ), but I wanted to clearly state that nobody realizes better than I the logistical problems facing the site. I just wanted to assure everybody that soon enough we'll be in a position where responsibilities are better spread out and no life-threatening illness of any one of us puts all the forward momentum in jeopardy ; ). I want to apologize to the logo contest winners! I'm sorry that I haven't been rotating the banners as I promised. I will be appointing somebody to do this and giving them restricted ACP access so they can make the changes per schedule in the future.   
 
Immediate Timeline:
I still need some rest time, but I should be in a better position by Tuesday By Wednesday night I should have a fairly comprehensive proposal ready for my inexhaustible and ever-patient counselor and friend Rooke to examine. Details of above proposals will be discussed and refined for up to 2 weeks or until we're both happy. No later than that point I'll reach out for additional opinions and thoughts/further refinement Concurrently: I should have the staff worked out by Tuesday. The global mods (at least the ones who head board moderator teams) will be given several days to choose from a list of willing members to build their teams. I will also be selecting board moderators and assigning them to particular global mods/boards. While the global mods are working on their team (and, again, this is concurrent with Rooke and I working through proposed changes), I will be finalizing the staff handbooks which will contain rules, policies, important information, and workflows for typical tasks. Once that's done and the global mods have built their teams, the new board mods will be contacted, I'll set up their permissions, and the global mods will conduct training for their teams. Front site: This is an email-based workflow which I'll initiate tomorrow (Sunday). The upcoming forums changes will be enacted once we have  a set plan (on my end) and an army of board moderators willing to help us manage the transition. I estimate this'll go down within 1-1.5 weeks Some basic blog changes are going to be happening in the next week as well: integration with social media, aesthetic changes, and additional un-annouced changes should roll out.  
That's probably as much detail as is helpful right now. Please note: I have >40 PMs and emails to go through, so if you don't hear from me right away, don't think I'm ignoring you!
 
 
 
 
LAST POINT! The Bonus Twitter Challenge!
I'm not currently able to spend a lot of time up and about, meaning my time for working on Fuwa is somewhat limited. "Working on Fuwa" includes stuff like PMs, emails, reports, TL group sessions, and photo shoots. (<- one of those has yet to be requested. Wonder why...). SO! I'd like to suggest that anybody who urgently needs to contact me should do so through Twitter (at least for the next few days). 
 
My twitter handle is @ArchmageTay
 
I'll try to get up and be here on the site, but again, if you have a pressing concern or issue, send me a DM/Tweet. Also! The challenge part: my twitter avatar is pretty bland (but awesome! Yay HP!). If you're tweeting at me and get bored of my avatar, feel free to send me alternates you think I should use instead. If your submission is really awesome, you may just see it go up ; ).
 
That last bit was just for fun, but really -- it's difficult for me (at least in the short, short term) to get up and around, so if you need me, let me know through Twitter. (Unless you're batman. Then just send me a bat signal through Skype).
 
 
(read the post below- elevator music to accompany things, placed here by me, Kaguya)

 
 
 
If you read all of this... wow! Way to go! Thanks for your time, and I'll see you soon.

Hello everybody,
 
As some of you know, I've been extremely sick lately. It's been more a dangerous-sick than just I-hate-life-sick, and so my absence on the site was unavoidable. I'm getting better, I've had solid medical care, and I'm putting my life back together. Thank you for your patience. This couldn't have come at a worse time (for my personal life and for Fuwa!)
 
I know that many of us were starting to get really jazzed for upcoming site changes. I want to spell out a timeline for everybody so we all know what's coming and what to expect. I also hope it'll help assuage any anxieties about stagnation.
 
The "cleaning house" period has been extended through October (since I've been out of action for almost all September!) Between now and next Wednesday I will be finalizing some behind-the-scenes changes among the staff and writing materials for the board moderator program By the end of next week I hope to have everything in place to roll out the board moderator program (members can be given moderator roles over particular "boards" on the forums and work under the guidance of a global moderator). I made a call for interested parties (https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/6292-are-you-interested-in-helping-moderate-a-corner-of-the-fuwanovel-forums/) and the initial roster will be selected from those who stepped forward in that post. If you're interested and fit the qualifications, speak up in that post! Again, at least the selection of board moderators should be done by next week, at which time I should have the training materials finished and in the hands of the global mods (and then we'll see how it goes) I'm working on getting an up-to-date picture on where our server move is and what front-site changes are ready to be made. Nothing to report yet, but I have submitted a 2-page list of high-priority changes to our web development team I finished my site analytics and I'm very pleased with the VN forums changes (traffic and participation are both up across the spectrum of user groups). I think the data also shows that the "Ongoing Projects" board has been very successful at driving traffic and attention to the projects featured within it. I can't say that for sure (I'm not awesome at the form of statistics my program is using), but if I'm reading the data right, then it's driven >3x as much traffic to each project than they were receiving before the ongoing projects board was made. I don't know about you, but I'd say that's exactly what we'd want for our fearless project leaders! Still waiting to hear the details on software changes before I commit to any tagging add-ons for the Development boards (it could take a while, but it's a high priority for me. Don't give up, developers!) The forums changes, like I said, have been very encouraging. The biggest (most important? controversial? fabulous?) issue to tackle, as we all know, will be the general discussion board with the G&C sub-board within it. Before I go into any details about the changes, I'l reemphasize that my priorities in changing up the organization will be: maintain a space for true general discussion, provide a separate space for Fuwanovel-centered projects and community work/discussion, give an out let for getting to know each other and having fun, and then filtering out the posts which are fluff or worthless and really just deserve to die (more on this in a minute ; )). (In summary: better differentiate between topical discussion, friendship building, Fuwanovel work, and "fluff" posts which deserve death) The details are yet to be finalized, but the current plans (written in a super secret notebook) are as follows:      A. To create a community hub (focused on Fuwanovel) which will be dedicated to community projects, the improvements board system, a leadership council, etc.      B. Restore the "general discussion" board to its true purpose (topically-based and focused discussion about stuff)      C. There will be a Lounge section which will be the spot for getting to know each other, having fun, a little goofing off, etc.      D. The newest addition will be something akin to an "Arena of Death" where pointless, fluff, and/or scum-and-villainy types of posts will be sent to die (or fight for survival). Details forthcoming. One really big thing that needs to be addressed is site media (blog and social media). There will be some long-overdue changes coming to the blog, and a better workflow for how all these services work together and how they're to be used There's more. I could talk about MOTM, for example, which has had a bumpy road due to my illness, or stances on games and translator groups and requests for takedowns. There's a lot more to discuss, but I don't have the energy atm to get it all down on paper. I ask for your patience as I recover. I'll put out as much info as I can on a regular basis. Within the next week I will be finalizing the list of torrents which will no longer be linked-to on our front site. The links will go "offline" the last week of October. The leadership structure of the community to which we're headed is going to be a leadership council structure with voting and non-voting members. I'm not going to say a lot more at this point (since it's still early, there's still too much to do, and because I need to maintain a tyrannical dictatorship power structure in order to accomplish everything listed above ), but I wanted to clearly state that nobody realizes better than I the logistical problems facing the site. I just wanted to assure everybody that soon enough we'll be in a position where responsibilities are better spread out and no life-threatening illness of any one of us puts all the forward momentum in jeopardy ; ). I want to apologize to the logo contest winners! I'm sorry that I haven't been rotating the banners as I promised. I will be appointing somebody to do this and giving them restricted ACP access so they can make the changes per schedule in the future.   
 
Immediate Timeline:
I still need some rest time, but I should be in a better position by Tuesday By Wednesday night I should have a fairly comprehensive proposal ready for my inexhaustible and ever-patient counselor and friend Rooke to examine. Details of above proposals will be discussed and refined for up to 2 weeks or until we're both happy. No later than that point I'll reach out for additional opinions and thoughts/further refinement Concurrently: I should have the staff worked out by Tuesday. The global mods (at least the ones who head board moderator teams) will be given several days to choose from a list of willing members to build their teams. I will also be selecting board moderators and assigning them to particular global mods/boards. While the global mods are working on their team (and, again, this is concurrent with Rooke and I working through proposed changes), I will be finalizing the staff handbooks which will contain rules, policies, important information, and workflows for typical tasks. Once that's done and the global mods have built their teams, the new board mods will be contacted, I'll set up their permissions, and the global mods will conduct training for their teams. Front site: This is an email-based workflow which I'll initiate tomorrow (Sunday). The upcoming forums changes will be enacted once we have  a set plan (on my end) and an army of board moderators willing to help us manage the transition. I estimate this'll go down within 1-1.5 weeks Some basic blog changes are going to be happening in the next week as well: integration with social media, aesthetic changes, and additional un-annouced changes should roll out.  
That's probably as much detail as is helpful right now. Please note: I have >40 PMs and emails to go through, so if you don't hear from me right away, don't think I'm ignoring you!
 
 
 
 
LAST POINT! The Bonus Twitter Challenge!
I'm not currently able to spend a lot of time up and about, meaning my time for working on Fuwa is somewhat limited. "Working on Fuwa" includes stuff like PMs, emails, reports, TL group sessions, and photo shoots. (<- one of those has yet to be requested. Wonder why...). SO! I'd like to suggest that anybody who urgently needs to contact me should do so through Twitter (at least for the next few days). 
 
My twitter handle is @ArchmageTay
 
I'll try to get up and be here on the site, but again, if you have a pressing concern or issue, send me a DM/Tweet. Also! The challenge part: my twitter avatar is pretty bland (but awesome! Yay HP!). If you're tweeting at me and get bored of my avatar, feel free to send me alternates you think I should use instead. If your submission is really awesome, you may just see it go up ; ).
 
That last bit was just for fun, but really -- it's difficult for me (at least in the short, short term) to get up and around, so if you need me, let me know through Twitter. (Unless you're batman. Then just send me a bat signal through Skype).
 
 
(read the post below- elevator music to accompany things, placed here by me, Kaguya)

 
 
 
If you read all of this... wow! Way to go! Thanks for your time, and I'll see you soon.

Hello everybody,
 
As some of you know, I've been extremely sick lately. It's been more a dangerous-sick than just I-hate-life-sick, and so my absence on the site was unavoidable. I'm getting better, I've had solid medical care, and I'm putting my life back together. Thank you for your patience. This couldn't have come at a worse time (for my personal life and for Fuwa!)
 
I know that many of us were starting to get really jazzed for upcoming site changes. I want to spell out a timeline for everybody so we all know what's coming and what to expect. I also hope it'll help assuage any anxieties about stagnation.
 
The "cleaning house" period has been extended through October (since I've been out of action for almost all September!) Between now and next Wednesday I will be finalizing some behind-the-scenes changes among the staff and writing materials for the board moderator program By the end of next week I hope to have everything in place to roll out the board moderator program (members can be given moderator roles over particular "boards" on the forums and work under the guidance of a global moderator). I made a call for interested parties (https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/6292-are-you-interested-in-helping-moderate-a-corner-of-the-fuwanovel-forums/) and the initial roster will be selected from those who stepped forward in that post. If you're interested and fit the qualifications, speak up in that post! Again, at least the selection of board moderators should be done by next week, at which time I should have the training materials finished and in the hands of the global mods (and then we'll see how it goes) I'm working on getting an up-to-date picture on where our server move is and what front-site changes are ready to be made. Nothing to report yet, but I have submitted a 2-page list of high-priority changes to our web development team I finished my site analytics and I'm very pleased with the VN forums changes (traffic and participation are both up across the spectrum of user groups). I think the data also shows that the "Ongoing Projects" board has been very successful at driving traffic and attention to the projects featured within it. I can't say that for sure (I'm not awesome at the form of statistics my program is using), but if I'm reading the data right, then it's driven >3x as much traffic to each project than they were receiving before the ongoing projects board was made. I don't know about you, but I'd say that's exactly what we'd want for our fearless project leaders! Still waiting to hear the details on software changes before I commit to any tagging add-ons for the Development boards (it could take a while, but it's a high priority for me. Don't give up, developers!) The forums changes, like I said, have been very encouraging. The biggest (most important? controversial? fabulous?) issue to tackle, as we all know, will be the general discussion board with the G&C sub-board within it. Before I go into any details about the changes, I'l reemphasize that my priorities in changing up the organization will be: maintain a space for true general discussion, provide a separate space for Fuwanovel-centered projects and community work/discussion, give an out let for getting to know each other and having fun, and then filtering out the posts which are fluff or worthless and really just deserve to die (more on this in a minute ; )). (In summary: better differentiate between topical discussion, friendship building, Fuwanovel work, and "fluff" posts which deserve death) The details are yet to be finalized, but the current plans (written in a super secret notebook) are as follows:      A. To create a community hub (focused on Fuwanovel) which will be dedicated to community projects, the improvements board system, a leadership council, etc.      B. Restore the "general discussion" board to its true purpose (topically-based and focused discussion about stuff)      C. There will be a Lounge section which will be the spot for getting to know each other, having fun, a little goofing off, etc.      D. The newest addition will be something akin to an "Arena of Death" where pointless, fluff, and/or scum-and-villainy types of posts will be sent to die (or fight for survival). Details forthcoming. One really big thing that needs to be addressed is site media (blog and social media). There will be some long-overdue changes coming to the blog, and a better workflow for how all these services work together and how they're to be used There's more. I could talk about MOTM, for example, which has had a bumpy road due to my illness, or stances on games and translator groups and requests for takedowns. There's a lot more to discuss, but I don't have the energy atm to get it all down on paper. I ask for your patience as I recover. I'll put out as much info as I can on a regular basis. Within the next week I will be finalizing the list of torrents which will no longer be linked-to on our front site. The links will go "offline" the last week of October. The leadership structure of the community to which we're headed is going to be a leadership council structure with voting and non-voting members. I'm not going to say a lot more at this point (since it's still early, there's still too much to do, and because I need to maintain a tyrannical dictatorship power structure in order to accomplish everything listed above ), but I wanted to clearly state that nobody realizes better than I the logistical problems facing the site. I just wanted to assure everybody that soon enough we'll be in a position where responsibilities are better spread out and no life-threatening illness of any one of us puts all the forward momentum in jeopardy ; ). I want to apologize to the logo contest winners! I'm sorry that I haven't been rotating the banners as I promised. I will be appointing somebody to do this and giving them restricted ACP access so they can make the changes per schedule in the future.   
 
Immediate Timeline:
I still need some rest time, but I should be in a better position by Tuesday By Wednesday night I should have a fairly comprehensive proposal ready for my inexhaustible and ever-patient counselor and friend Rooke to examine. Details of above proposals will be discussed and refined for up to 2 weeks or until we're both happy. No later than that point I'll reach out for additional opinions and thoughts/further refinement Concurrently: I should have the staff worked out by Tuesday. The global mods (at least the ones who head board moderator teams) will be given several days to choose from a list of willing members to build their teams. I will also be selecting board moderators and assigning them to particular global mods/boards. While the global mods are working on their team (and, again, this is concurrent with Rooke and I working through proposed changes), I will be finalizing the staff handbooks which will contain rules, policies, important information, and workflows for typical tasks. Once that's done and the global mods have built their teams, the new board mods will be contacted, I'll set up their permissions, and the global mods will conduct training for their teams. Front site: This is an email-based workflow which I'll initiate tomorrow (Sunday). The upcoming forums changes will be enacted once we have  a set plan (on my end) and an army of board moderators willing to help us manage the transition. I estimate this'll go down within 1-1.5 weeks Some basic blog changes are going to be happening in the next week as well: integration with social media, aesthetic changes, and additional un-annouced changes should roll out.  
That's probably as much detail as is helpful right now. Please note: I have >40 PMs and emails to go through, so if you don't hear from me right away, don't think I'm ignoring you!
 
 
 
 
LAST POINT! The Bonus Twitter Challenge!
I'm not currently able to spend a lot of time up and about, meaning my time for working on Fuwa is somewhat limited. "Working on Fuwa" includes stuff like PMs, emails, reports, TL group sessions, and photo shoots. (<- one of those has yet to be requested. Wonder why...). SO! I'd like to suggest that anybody who urgently needs to contact me should do so through Twitter (at least for the next few days). 
 
My twitter handle is @ArchmageTay
 
I'll try to get up and be here on the site, but again, if you have a pressing concern or issue, send me a DM/Tweet. Also! The challenge part: my twitter avatar is pretty bland (but awesome! Yay HP!). If you're tweeting at me and get bored of my avatar, feel free to send me alternates you think I should use instead. If your submission is really awesome, you may just see it go up ; ).
 
That last bit was just for fun, but really -- it's difficult for me (at least in the short, short term) to get up and around, so if you need me, let me know through Twitter. (Unless you're batman. Then just send me a bat signal through Skype).
 
 
(read the post below- elevator music to accompany things, placed here by me, Kaguya)

 
 
 
If you read all of this... wow! Way to go! Thanks for your time, and I'll see you soon.

Tay. I want to greatly thank you for taking the time to write in so much detail in the face of such difficult times where you have other priorities to attend to. Your post is very reassuring to the faithful members of this community.
You even took the time to come up with an idea to get the community at large involved. However, please focus on your health! We need need a healthy Tay to lead us into a future where visual novels are a main gaming medium.
 
There has been a lot of discussion around the relavance of the General Discussion and its sub-board G&C. I am very excited to see the upcoming changes. I hope that once a new wave of moderators come on to the scene that the site will continue to move forward in a meaningful way.

Hello everybody,
 
Thanks again for your patience as I recovered from my illness. I'm excited to begin our month of "cleaning house" and getting the site ready for the future. Today I'm putting out a call for anybody who is interested in moderating on the Fuwanovel forums. This is a major way you can help with the community (though not the only way!), and if you feel drawn to the work, let us know!
 
I've included a job description and requirements below. If this is something you'd like to do, please speak up! This topic is meant to stay open for some time, with action following (hopefully) within a week or so. Not everybody who volunteers will be chosen this time around, but calls for board moderators will happen periodically in the future, so you'll get another shot.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Job Description: Board Moderator
 
Requirements:
At least 2-3 months of experience on the site At least 50 posts A desire to help out and keep the forums organized!  
Duties: What will board moderators do?
Work with a global moderator to keep an assigned forum organized: topic moves, keeping 'derailing' to an acceptable level, reporting rule violations, helping new members find their way around your forum Be responsible to brainstorm ways to make your forum better Help people have fun and get to know each other What board moderators are NOT:
Secret police, spies, thought control agents, or dictators over their forum Important/Interesting Logistics:
Each board moderator will be trained by and report to a global moderator in a fancy coordination forum to which you'll be given access. In addition to your living, breathing global moderator trainer/compatriot, you'll have a handbook to reference. We won't throw you in the pool and expect you to swim ; ) Board moderators will be assigned to one or more boards (see the duties listed above) You'll be expected to check in and work as a moderator at least two times a week We'll consider board moderators first when openings in the global moderator ranks opens up

Being a new forum member myself I think the recommendation board should remain where it is. 
 
While I did scour the forums looking at all the different kinds of sections, the recommendation forum sticking out is a key factor in my opinion. Simply due to the fact that recommending VNs is probably one of the more important, and beneficial, sections to newer VN players like myself.  
 
So that's my two cents. 

Demotions suck. Be strong, brother.

Demotions suck. Be strong, brother.

Demotions suck. Be strong, brother.

Demotions suck. Be strong, brother.

What's everybody's outta this world/biggest wish for the press conference?
 
Mine would probably be a Bethesda collection for the Vita ; ).
 
#nothappening #shutupleweythevitahastonsofgames

Demotions suck. Be strong, brother.

Agreed on the points above.
 
Also... that name... (the following is stolen from a funny Forbes article)
 
 

Agreed on the points above.
 
Also... that name... (the following is stolen from a funny Forbes article)
 
 

Agreed on the points above.
 
Also... that name... (the following is stolen from a funny Forbes article)
 
 

Fate/Stay Night
The Holy Grail War. That hellish, great ritual that offers the ultimate prize for the one who claims it: a wish. There are two conditions to participate: one must be a magus (magic user), and one must be chosen by the Holy Grail to participate.
There are seven chosen Masters, and seven classes of Servants. Only one master may seize the grail.
This is the story of a boy who wanted to be a superhero. It's the story of three warring families. It's the story of an ultimate prize and ultimate sacrifice.


OVERALL ENDING GUIDE *(Read!)*
 
Fate Route Ending Guide

Unlimited Blade Works Route Ending Guide
 
Heaven's Feel Route Ending Guide

 
Individual Walkthroughs
PROLOGUE
 

FATE ROUTE

 
 

UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS - "TRUE" ROUTE
UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS - "GOOD" ROUTE
 
 

 
HEAVEN'S FEEL - "TRUE" / "NORMAL 1" / "NORMAL 2" ROUTES
 
This walkthrough was heavily based on Mirror Moon's amazing Flowchart.pdf walkthrough packaged with the English patch. A huge thank you for their amazing work. The VN community is made more for it.
 
Thanks!

Alright, so its time to begin pushing my plan forward a little bit here. The purpose of this thread is to lay out my plans for the Fuwanovel Social Media department and what I would like to see moving forward from it. 
 
Right now, I am in control of 3 out of the 4 Fuwanovel social media outlets. These are, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. The fourth, VisualNovelAer is in flux right now. So for the moment, there is nothing I can do about that until I know what the plans are for the blog (be it reconstruction or simply adding more writers). 
 
So here are the current teams.
 
Facebook: solidbatman, Nosebleed, ryouuuuu, Kaguya (inactive), Tay (doesnt use but access if needed), unnamed (inactive)
Twitter: solidbatman, zakamutt, Tay (doesn't use, but has access if needed)
Youtube: solidbatman
Blog: Tay, zakamutt, god knows who else
 
 
The Facebook continues to grow at a healthy pace and we will pass 13000 likes within the next month. 
 
The Twitter is close to 400 followers. With a bit of work, we can likely surpass the original twitter account. 
 
Youtube is still being planned out, but work should begin within the week. What I have planned for the Youtube channel, is to record about 30 minutes of every Visual Novel we have offered. These videos can then be embedded on the download page for the visual novel as a sort of trailer for those who might have limited bandwith, or would like to see the VN in action before downloading. Choices will be done through annotations and unlisted videos to keep from having spoilers. Also possibly being hosted are official Fuwanovel Let's Plays and the Official Fuwanovel Podcast. Both of these are still under consideration and I will await feedback before deciding. 
 
The blog is I don't even know. 
 
 
Some needs:
 
Facebook: We need someone able to assist users in tech support questions. I don't have time to go through each comment and post and even less to investigate every issue that pops up. Nosebleed has been doing this as much as he can, but recently everyone has become busy. We do the best we can, but could really use some help.
 
Twitter: Zaka and myself tend to hit all the news we need to on this front. That said, having someone who can TL tweets from VN companies overseas would be a god send. We also need to remove the old twitter account from the front page and replace it with the new one. It won't take any effort to actually do. Just needs someone who has access to the front page. 
 
Youtube: TBA
 
Blog: TBA
 
 
The end goal for all of this is to make Fuwanovel the go to outlet for VN information and news. We've focused so much on hosting VNs, I think its time to actually educate about VNs now and make it easier for people to support their favorite VNs and developers. In the end, I want Fuwanovel to actually be a part of the official western VN community by removing all licensed games, having information pages for licensed VNs (these pages also having a 30 minute demo video), and providing links to purchase licensed VNs instead of a download. I would also like to see Fuwanovel put together instructions for those looking to import physical copies of JP only titles (titles that have been Fan TL'd) and having a purchase link alongside those download links. By using social media to educate and inform, we can perhaps make Fuwanovel a friend to localization companies, and become a resource that isn't hated by those companies. 
 
If you have any questions, want to offer any feedback, or want to give us a hand, feel free to PM me or post in this thread. Thank you for reading!

Fuwanovel Mail Call!
Service Status: Delayed
 

 
For those of you on the Fuwanovel forums who aren't aware of what is happening in my life, November 3rd is a big day for me. I will be returning to Japan again to apply for teaching jobs and hopefully find permanent residence in the country once I get hired. Seeing that I plan to be in Japan for a minimum of 2 months, I thought it would be an interesting idea if I were to offer my services in helping everyone purchase and ship visual novels overseas. I understand that the community has a strong passion for PC games, and what better way to spread the love of them than through helping you buy them?

If you are interested in being apart of this, feel free to read all of the terms and conditions of the service below and request an order. Please keep in mind that while the title of this thread states that visual novels are the primary service I provide, I am also willing to ship anime, manga, and other electronic goods within reason.
 
Anyways, I hope you enjoy the service and thanks for shopping!
 
Placing an Order:
Begin by sending me a private message here on Fuwanovel if you are interested in placing an order. In the private message, state what kinds of items you would be interested in purchasing, be it a VN, an anime, or manga. Keep in mind you don't need to list the specifics quite yet After PMing me, I will do my best to go find the items you want at the best possible prices. After doing so, I will confirm the final pricing with you (including shipping costs), and we will go from there  
Shipping Information for EMS: http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/ems/index_en.html
 
Confirming an Order:
After the cost is confirmed and you give me the go ahead, we will begin the payment process of the order. All types of payment will be handled through PayPal. Once the money has been successfully transferred into my bank account, I will start shopping for your items and send them out ASAP. I will provide you with a tracking number, at which point all mailing information will be in the hands of the postal service  
Additional Information:
 
Please keep in mind that I will do my very best to offer you the best deals for the products you request, and in doing so I will be sure to provide you with proper photos showing that the price I am paying for your product is fair and honest.
 
Before placing an order, please understand that you are responsible for providing all forms of payment and shipping costs should you choose to ask for my help. All payments will be completed through PayPal as stated above. Also, please understand that I am not responsible for your country's confiscation laws and/or import tax fees should you choose to ship overseas. Generally speaking, it is never an issue when shipping something from Japan, but keep in mind that if you choose to order something and it is confiscated or charged, I am not responsible for it.
 
Given the fact that the total estimate I will be giving you will not be 100% accurate due to shipping cost fluctuations, I will compensate you for any additional fees you may have given me during the payment process. In other words, I will do my best to calculate shipping effectively. Here is the exact shipping cost of a weighted package, so I will try to calculate your shipping costs around this:
 
1,400 grams (3 pounds) = 3,200 yen ($32.00)
 
Finally, I understand that this service is based on trust, and as such, I am only able to ask that you do just that: trust me. I swear in good name that I will provide you with a fair and honest rate and make sure you are only spending money that is nescessary for your items. Feel free to ask others who have used the service for testimonies about how it all works!
 

 
With that, I look forward to seeing some of your orders. If you have any questions and/or something is unclear in this post, please let me know; I am more than willing to answer your concerns. Thanks again everyone, and I hope you enjoy the service!

Fan Art of the Tay x Batman Chapter
By: Emi
 

Hey everybody,
 
I'm sorry that it's a week after my anticipated return date, and I'm still not up and running. I'm not sure if anybody posted about my RL issues, but I've been dealing with some crises and have been in and out of the hospital. I'm home now, and will plan on being online tonight to start catching up and getting to work. 
 
I haven't had a chance to read any posts or PMs, so if it seems like I'm ignoring something -- forgive me! I'll get to it tonight or tomorrow.
 
Thanks for your patience and all the well-wishes people have sent my way,
Tay

Hey everybody,
 
I'm sorry that it's a week after my anticipated return date, and I'm still not up and running. I'm not sure if anybody posted about my RL issues, but I've been dealing with some crises and have been in and out of the hospital. I'm home now, and will plan on being online tonight to start catching up and getting to work. 
 
I haven't had a chance to read any posts or PMs, so if it seems like I'm ignoring something -- forgive me! I'll get to it tonight or tomorrow.
 
Thanks for your patience and all the well-wishes people have sent my way,
Tay

Hey everybody,
 
I'm sorry that it's a week after my anticipated return date, and I'm still not up and running. I'm not sure if anybody posted about my RL issues, but I've been dealing with some crises and have been in and out of the hospital. I'm home now, and will plan on being online tonight to start catching up and getting to work. 
 
I haven't had a chance to read any posts or PMs, so if it seems like I'm ignoring something -- forgive me! I'll get to it tonight or tomorrow.
 
Thanks for your patience and all the well-wishes people have sent my way,
Tay

Hey everybody,
 
I'm sorry that it's a week after my anticipated return date, and I'm still not up and running. I'm not sure if anybody posted about my RL issues, but I've been dealing with some crises and have been in and out of the hospital. I'm home now, and will plan on being online tonight to start catching up and getting to work. 
 
I haven't had a chance to read any posts or PMs, so if it seems like I'm ignoring something -- forgive me! I'll get to it tonight or tomorrow.
 
Thanks for your patience and all the well-wishes people have sent my way,
Tay

Hey everybody,
 
I'm sorry that it's a week after my anticipated return date, and I'm still not up and running. I'm not sure if anybody posted about my RL issues, but I've been dealing with some crises and have been in and out of the hospital. I'm home now, and will plan on being online tonight to start catching up and getting to work. 
 
I haven't had a chance to read any posts or PMs, so if it seems like I'm ignoring something -- forgive me! I'll get to it tonight or tomorrow.
 
Thanks for your patience and all the well-wishes people have sent my way,
Tay