AK Voice (Beta): News

The Future

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:09:35 -0900

Alright here's a bit of info.. I've decided that after all this SOPA/PIPA nonsense and the disturbing breaches of privacy by Facebook and other social media (full time surveillance) websites: It's time to give AK Voice another shot.

For those that don't know.. AK Voice is a much more matured version of Ketchikan Underground, a local forum I programmed during high school some time in 2006. AK Voice is targeted at all of Alaska though, with each city/area given their own specific page, along with a combined "Alaska" page.. Now that I think of it, it's fairly similar to the whole Reddit/Subreddit thing a lot of people now relate to.

My goal with AK Voice is to have a forum system that is more setup like a community blog, in which anyone is welcome to, either identified or fully anonymously, say whatever they like, and discuss any topic/issue they feel is necessary. I think it's time some of us have a private and safe place to discuss our community, our state, our surroundings, etc.

AK Voice keeps a minimal amount of data on every user. I have never, and will never, sell or release any data on a user unless of course I'm legally obliged. I will never sell a single bit of user information to an advertising agency or local business. When an article, shout, comment, private message, or entire profile is deleted, it's deleted! Wiped off the face of the internet and will never be seen again. When a user changes some data in their profile such as their preferred web browser, relationship status, religious beliefs: I change the data and completely dispose of any information that was previously there. I won't be able to give you a fancy list of suggestions on how to quickly friend/like your secret lover, therapist, dentist, or favorite brand of shoe in your exact size... but that comes at the cost of knowing that things you really decide you shouldn't have posted publicly will truly be erased from history and never brought up again in case of some database breach, FBI seize, or any other situation that comes up on a daily basis from the big social giants.

Will this whole thing work? I don't know, but I think it's time I actually give AK Voice a fair shot. Most people seem pretty reliant on Facebook for their discussions, but things can get lost into the abyss of people posting what kind of eggs they ate for breakfast or telling you how many toes their new baby lizard has. I think we've reached a point where people are becoming aware of the kind of things Facebook is keeping track of and potentially harming their future employment or civil liberties, and maybe some people realize there's more than one or two websites you can frequent on a daily or weekly basis.

So after almost a year of absolutely no changes to the code, I am restarting development on the AK Voice script, which some early beta testers may remember under the code name "Project Reborn." I do have plans to share this script in the future, giving anyone an opportunity to host a secure, private, and completely customization forum script unlike ones currently out there. But until I feel confident in the code, the site will remain on my domain, and completely run by me, a select group of heavily trusted Administrators, and moderators for each city in Alaska.

There is however one issue I would like to bring up. There is already a website http://akvoice.org, which belongs to the Alaska Conservation Alliance. I think it would be best to change the name of AK Voice, along with the domain and disturbingly similar favicon (which was completely coincidence.) So I'm asking for suggestions from anyone on the future name and domain of AK Voice.

For those of you that are currently Administrators/Moderators on the beta: Your position is still locked in at this point in time, and will most likely stay that way on the final release, as long as you are being trustworthy.

Please share this public post on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other stream in which a lot of Alaskans you feel would be interested in this can see it. I do not have a Facebook to get this information out there, and without any support or backing from a community... Well, this whole thing will fall on its face again.

What do you think? Any questions/comments/suggestions/information will be heavily appreciated.

- Rowan/Catalyst
http://akvoice.com

Welcome Back!

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:54:33 -0900

After a 5 month downtime the site has returned!

As you may notice nothing has really changed, I haven't done any development on the site at all since around May. Do I plan to continue it? Yes, in my free time.

Public registrations will be open for a few days, but the invite system is still currently enabled so you can keep track of all the friends you brought to the site.

Hopefully everything picks back up, I guess we'll just have to see!

- Catalyst

High Ate Us

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:34:48 -0800

Hello there, long time no anything. Soooooo... Situations have kind of changed here and there. Priorities and places have been switched around, and I can't in any way develop this site. The only thing I've done since last release is make the shout box have a little sliding toolbar instead of making it stretch the shout. Woo... Regardless, this is a hiatus.

Comment Editing/Deletion

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:43:16 -0800

Alright everyone, it is time to discuss two long awaited features (since the beginning of our time), and I mean seriously discuss. If I'm not convinced, you will not see these features. So here's a quick brainstorm from me about them

One thing that has always come to my mind for both of these features would be that I would allow the user two to five minutes to edit/delete their comment, and then both privileges would be lost.

Allowing unlimited time to do either of these things can cause issues because you allow any content to be changed at any time, and things will get confusing.. especially when reading replies.. Changing parts of a discussion 3 months later?

I've mostly been avoiding this feature because of the amount of work it will take... Which is honestly probably not much, I always overestimate.

So, list me your thoughts of pros/cons of these two features, and the amount of time you think each feature should be given before it is taken away from the user. Or if you think users should not be given that privilege to take back what they say.

Killswitch Engage... Soon...

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:52:46 -0800

Just updating everyone to tell them that Ketchikan Underground will be shut down at midnight on May 20, 2010. It will link to http://akvoice.com/ketchikan

There will be no proper goodbyes.

Ahahahah.... :(

Website Names

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:02:18 -0800

Late into development I realized that http://akvoice.org was actually an already used domain. I wasn't too sure on the legality of this site because their DOMAIN is AK VOICE, their company is "Alaska Conservation Alliance."

I've still been sticking with AK Voice because it's still private beta, no big deal right now, and I really actually do like the name.

I figured maybe we can create some sort of alliance (heh) with them, kind of affilliate or even just get permission, which it is worth a try, but overall I think we might have to change the site name (I'll keep the domain, and also get the new one so you can pick/choose if akvoice is shorter). I was thinking the easiest thing would to just change everything to "AK Voices", but that's kind of odd? Maybe.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Here's a (secure) domain search tool, paste any you like that aren't taken -> Instant Domain Search

The State of Everything

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:18:41 -0800

Hello everyone, I kind of disappear from the developing aspect of the site for a while. I've been taking a bit of time to focus on the overall-planning of the site, and I've got to say... There's a lot more to do than I'm currently able to handle right now... but I'm doing my best...

So, out of my absence I knew it was time to kind of update you on the current plans for everything so far...

I've been working on a roadmap to kind of help me plan all the features that still need working on or fixed, and trying to set a good time to actually release the site, and then there comes the planning on what to do when it's actually launched.

In terms of features, expect a lot of production in the next week or so. I'm going to be once again optimizing some code and trying to get all the current features set in stone. I will be publicly releasing my roadmap so you can kind of make sure I'm getting everything I need done.

In terms of the growing list of current bugs (which you can view here), I am aware of all of them, and know how to fix most of them currently. The bug bothering me the most is the ongoing one where using apostrophes when posting an article tends to cause trouble. This has been fixed multiple times, but keeps coming back. All bugs can be fixed though.

I've also been kind of planning who will help moderate this site once it's finished. I want different individuals from each location to be able to moderate only their location. I've already got some ideas for different moderators based on how I think they'd do with power, and also a lot of potentially historically-biased judgement based on past activity through the years. I know some people might be saddened by not being chosen, but you've obviously got to get along with people to be able to have power. That's just how it goes.

I'm not sure if any of this was informative... In a nutshell, I'm still working on everything, all the bugs that are currently known will be fixed in the next build I release, even that damn apostrophe bug.. andddd, thanks again for all the help. Expect more people to liven up the site by the end of April, and we'll continually grow from there.

Beta Information / Test Wave 1 - Avatars

rss@akvoice.com (Catalyst) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:15:05 -0900

First of all, thank you for participating in this Beta, which may be a long process, but will hopefully lead to a final release.

So, I figured the best way to kind of sort out the "Test Waves" would be to make a news post every time a new wave is up. So let me kind of explain how I'm planning this BETA TESTING procedure.

Basically, I want everyone to use this site as kind of a sandbox for testing everything, and I mean everything! Play with certain pages/features a bunch and in different ways to kind of get how everything functions. You of course don't have to help out in the "Test Waves", you can just use this website as a private forum for yourself and the other beta testers, but if you'd like to help the site grow and stabilize, any help you can offer will be wonderful! If you notice ANYTHING or have any ideas to better the page/feature, PLEASE leave a comment in the proper "Test Wave" or send me a private message.

So, the first test I need done and get information for is the Avatar system. Let me explain the difference between KU and AKV's system. Overall, it's pretty much the same, except instead of only using JPG images you can use JPG, GIF (not animated), and PNGs!

When you're done cropping your avatar, it will be seen pretty much anywhere your username is also shown.

If you go into a user's profile and click on the avatar, it should show a full version of it. If your image was huge, it will be resized to about 500px width, but will keep the aspect ratio (meaning even though you cropped your avatar to a perfect square, the full size image could still be a rectangle)

That basically sums up the only difference between the versions. So what I'm asking you testers to do is..

1) Test the avatar system in every web browser you have installed, please make note of what browser you're using to me.

2) Test one of each file, a .jpg, .gif, and .png

3) Try changing default avatars, and then uploading another custom one.

After each test, go to your profile and view the full size image to see if you're proud of the results.

A quick note- To change your avatar you can either click your current avatar on the left side of the page, or go to My Account >> About Me >> Avatar

Thanks again!