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[Eau de Decus]

I know there's been issues with this website since it started its "facelift" project. For those of you who are new here, or registered to this website post-construction, we were told the forum would be upgraded, changed, renovated, whatever you want to call it. However, as those who have been here during the whole process, that's obviously not the case. In fact, I can't recall when they even told us it was being done since it was so long ago. It's bordering on the side of ridiculousness.

Anyway, I can't say what administration is doing, has to do, can't do, won't do and I won't pretend to know. However, I know myself and plenty of others are really, really tired of never knowing where this site is going (if anywhere). Off the top of my head, the following needs to be fixed:

1) Photo Avatars -- This is the only forum I've ever registered on/moderated/posted on that requires such a small, specific file size for avatars. I'm assuming it does not automatically re-size photos, which I find odd.




2) Drop Down Menu -- Simple. Why does it still do this?




3) Costume Trash Can -- This is just silly. You see these instructions when you go to the following --> Costume --> Click a specific costume --> Edit Costume:



However, in order to actually delete your outfit, you have to go to the costumes drop down menu, select "Costume Administration" and then click the trash can icon, all in a different page. It's minor, but misleading instructions are always an easy fix.


4) Buddy List -- This was added with the lift, though it remains incomplete. I can't click on their name, their posts don't show up, there are no updates. What is the point of this function?




5) US Convention Forums -- There are numerous ones that are ghost towns and several in the "Others" list that user make each year that blow up with traffic. These need to be added as permanent forums. If the list is too long, just turn the US Convention Forums into a sub forum and put the list in there to keep the main page from being too congested.

6) Photo Uploads -- In a very photo-centered hobby, the photo upload process for this site is...awful. Really, really awful. There's no real ability to automatically re-size photos, so you're constantly doing it yourself, or running into size caps, making you upload one or two photos at a time.



800kb is nice (I guess) since it use to be 400-500kb. The 2Mb total is a little strange, since it keeps me at about two photos maximum. It's made me pretty much just stop bothering with uploading here due to how long it actually takes. This has been for forever. Don't tell us one thing and then never do it. The people that frequent this site deserve better.



Is "shortly" code for...never?

There's many more, but apparently I'm limited to six photos per post. I'll leave it at that for now then. Look, I like this site as much as the next cosplayer, but it feels like it's run by hamsters on wheels half the time. Either finish the projects you promised, or stop promising them. I'd love to see the changes, but I won't hold my breath.

[Eau de Decus]

I take that back...tried to edit a typo and forgot to mention this...

7) Edit Function -- Fix this. The words are cut off...



8) Organize Photos/Outfits -- The feature needs to be there. As mentioned by Karitsa, an option that lets us by date added, alphabetical, or free form. Whatever the case may be...it would be nice to have this feature for the costume itself and the photos within the costume folder.

[MeiChama]

=O And here I thought the words getting cut off when editing was due to my computer being screwy! Guess it's on other computers too.

[ichigo_m.]

Also the "Upcoming conventions" on the front page...

[SirSlarty]

I thought it was my computer, too doing these dumb, display things. I guess I've tolerated it long enough because it's starting to frustrate me while navigating.

Originally Posted by ichigo_m.

Also the "Upcoming conventions" on the front page...

Just noticed that this morning. Confused the heck out of my sleepy little brain.

[JasonTerror]

Along with the "uploading photos" problem..I ran into another one..Upon trying to change my forum avatar, It says my picture (even though it's the small 150x150 it needs to be) that the file size was over the limit..May I remind you that I'm uning a PHONE CAMERA!! Meaning: If a phone camera's pictures are too big of a file, it really shouldn't be such a small limit..This is rediculous..

[Karitsa]

Don't forget the fact that we can't re-organize our costumes by "debut date" instead of "last updated," which I've been waiting for since May 2012.

http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=312832

[Mirai Noah]

^ That's the reason I haven't updated any of my costumes in the past how many ever months. I'd really like to have my profile up-to-date, but unfortunately there are so many issues.

[Eau de Decus]

Originally Posted by Mirai Noah

^ That's the reason I haven't updated any of my costumes in the past how many ever months. I'd really like to have my profile up-to-date, but unfortunately there are so many issues.

Ditto. I've all but stopped bothering. For every one minute it takes me upload my photos on [insert any website on the internet here], it takes me 15 minutes here. I'd like something from somebody to at least tell me what is going on with this website. However, given the track run, I don't expect much. It might sound harsh, but when you still have errors as simple as typos on your website that a half dozen people pointed out a year ago...you're just damn lazy or you don't care. There's really no excuse for it.

So...if someone has an error I missed (I ran out of room in my original post), post it here.

[ToxicShower]

Also there's the Events tab which shows upcoming conventions and it is only updated through 2012. Obviously the cons for this year are set. Also the page still says info this month: May. What? This is getting ridiculous. I'm really only here for commissions and to sell and buy stuff. And why is the wig store even here? It's making the rest of the site bad, and the wig quality is really poor. This site is just getting bothersome more than a community.

[negativedreamer]

yea, this site seems to be worse then when i first signed up in 2006. there are other sites out there that I now frequent far more often, and with much less headache.

[Starlit Rose]

I love using this site because it's so helpful, and it's just always been THE cosplay site for me, but it is getting a little frustrating. I appreciate all the hard work that goes into maintaining the website, and I know Admin and anyone else involved must be busy and can't always prioritize the site when none of us are paying to use it. But the transition really has been stuck in-progress for a really, really long time with little to no updating to keep us in the loop. Deadlines for the completion of changes have almost always been missed by a long shot, to the point where it made me wonder why Admin bothered to tell us things were going to happen at a certain time at all (which is why I'm guessing Admin isn't bothering to give us due dates anymore). It's cool, I know life gets in the way, but some updates about what's going on and realistic goals for when everything's going to be finished would really be appreciated. I can adjust to new things, but it's frustrating trying to adapt to this current, unfinished layout. A lot of things are a huge hassle to get to now because you have to go a crazy round about way to get to it (if it's even possible at all). I'm getting to the point where it's making me want to use other cosplay sites as my main resource. I've been tied here for 10 years now though, so I haven't had the heart to do it just yet.

I think all we really want is just for Admin to try to set aside the time to get this site where it needs to be, or perhaps recruit some help from others if he no longer has the time to maintain the site himself. I mean, the site's usability should be important to Admin too, since there are ads and a wig shop to keep getting revenue from. It's not just in our interests to have the site back up to speed!

[Mekou]

I too have become really frustated with cosplay.com. It feel slike things are always waiting to be fixed, waiting to be upgraded, just constant waiting for something that we all wish would happen but it never does. I've been around here since 2002 and the more times goes on the less I care about this place because we're promised upgrades that only get halfway finished.

I want to care. I want this place to be a well-run and functioning hub for cosplay like it was meant to be. Until something actually happens and an upgrade is actually finished I'll continue to use other cosplay sites.

[Mangochutney]

Originally Posted by Starlit Rose

I know Admin and anyone else involved must be busy and can't always prioritize the site when none of us are paying to use it.

I'd like to point out that this isn't the case--we're not getting something free provided out of the goodness of someone's heart here. You're generating ad revenue and wig sale revenue at best: even if you're not buying any wigs and you've got AdBlock or a similar service to keep ads from displaying, your presence and posting here helps keep cosplay.com attractive to prospective advertisers.

In short, you're the product coscom is selling. Knowing that, and knowing that you sell pretty well, don't let shoddy service off the hook.

(Mods are all volunteer, as far as I know. This isn't a suggestion they're falling down, more a suggestion that they're in the same boat we are.)

[Emrys]

Not to make excuses for anyone, but a lot of the bug and alignment issues are because the new layout and old layout have conflicting style rules for general bits of code. For example, the style code that makes the small post edit buttons looks like it was tacked on as a quick fix for something on a specific page (it is internal css at the top of the html on each page, not in the regular css file), but ended up overruling the proper css style and causing trouble on the forum. If you remove the internal css it displays fine.

At least browsers are less strict now and ignore stuff like the double body tags and extra/missing end divs, otherwise this whole forum would be broken. (Seriously, go look at the source code.)

Web design isn't always easy, especially when there are multiple people working on it or someone new takes over, and it takes a lot of work to fix things up. I do wish they would just hire someone full time to take care of the main site and just get it over with.

I could point out every single thing that is broken and exactly how to fix it (it's second nature for any web developer), so I'm doubly frustrated nothing is getting done. It's not an impossible task, just time consuming and frustrating for everyone.