The Clockwork Mansion

So as was mentioned in the news, DMFA is moving on over to join up with Katbox.  Folks can see the upcoming new site at: http://dmfa.katbox.net/  until the domain moves on over.  Which means a few things are in store and a few changes are set to take place.

Obviously if you guys notice something odd about the site or something isn't working, by all means let it be known.  I'd feel bad doing a domain move only to find out there is a gaping issue in the archive.

There's a few features that I still need to flesh out. I know Tapewolf mentioned that the new archive system will likely be brutal on the wiki...I'm not sure if there is much I can do about that one.  I also have the task of going through and tagging all the comic with character names so that will be an adventure of pain for me in the upcoming weeks.  As a thing of note, the Demonology 101 section will not be making this journey...the comic based side things have been archived into side comics and as for the race descriptions themselves, they will go MIA for a bit while I make plans to do a side comic for them (likely 1 page per race) for the archive.  So if folks want to save what exists currently, this would be the time.

The main thing however worth discussing is forum-related.  Technically the katbox has a forum system setup for the katbox comics, but with DMFA we've already got a bit of an established group.  In the meantime the link on the DMFA page will be linking to this one, but I am genuinely curious about people's thoughts.  Would people prefer a link to both forums? Should there be a conversion? Would people just prefer to keep the forum setup as is.  Forums are pretty much about community and as members in this lil one, it is a lot of your guys' judgement.


In the meantime, I'm going to be working on getting the last of the polish onto the new site.

I say just keep using these forums, but link to both if you have to. But with such a large, established community, there's no way I would suggest totally switching.

I hope the Demo 101 stuff makes it through with all the important info intact. Hey, I say use it as an opportunity to make any improvements or corrections you see fit.

Personally, I don't like the way the new archive is just every page in one big list. But it should be possible to separate them back into chapters, right? Wait. Cancel that. I was about to say Las Lindas has them in chapter blocks, but it seems that's been changed to one big list as well. Huh.

Quote from: Scuravolpe on September 20, 2013, 03:57:43 AM
Personally, I don't like the way the new archive is just every page in one big list. But it should be possible to separate them back into chapters, right? Wait. Cancel that. I was about to say Las Lindas has them in chapter blocks, but it seems that's been changed to one big list as well. Huh.

On the other hand, if the archive is every page in one big list, we could use that as a lookup table for the wiki...

EDIT: As regards to moving forum, I'm not sure the katbox forum would be a good fit.
In ours, we have a main thread for DMFA where page discussion and questions about the comic in general are all mixed.  The Katbox forums seem to have things very strictly segregated, so you may only discuss comic pages in one section, general questions about the world in another, and questions about the characters in yet another section.  That seems a bit arbitrary and not especially user-friendly.

What really gave me a double-take was that they did not segregate the comics, so you have this weird melange of posts, each about completely different comics all bundled together (though they do seem to provide a way for the user to filter them themselves if they feel like it).

On a purely selfish level I'd be a little put out at losing the network effect of DMFA readers on my own comic's discussion area, and I'm sure the other comics would feel the same.  It might be something to consider in the future, since CMF is not as active as once it was, and if it dwindles further maybe it should be considered.  But I don't think now is the time.

Personally I'm not happy with this move, I don't think its a good fit. While I read comics on the katbox all of them have a long way to go before they reach DMFA's standard.

I'm not going to do anything drastic like stop reading the comic* and I'll inevitably get used to the new site in time. Change is always difficult, I got used to the old site layout and it being with xepher gave it a certain something I feel is being lost with the move to katbox.


What where the reasons for moving from Xepher?

* DMFA is the second webcomic I started reading, way back in chapter 17. Its still in my top ten.

Umm...Im not quitee sure I understand why Demonology 101 is not making the move. Its because the new website is based on comics? O.o

While I have no problem with the move (The closest thing to a complaint I can make is that seeing all of the link stuff to the right is a tad distracting while reading the comic which is manageable)

I can only imagine how much work it would be to do comics based on every topic in the demonolegy. 17 races, two of which never even had proper information presented...That is not even counting the species/classes which would add eight more pages to cover...
And golly, if you were to also to decide to cover the under construction location list or the undisclosed religion/gods list......

I just think it might be easier for you to do some sorta text dump somehow ^^; or even keep it in the forum to save the hassle


Oh~ I just noticed that the new website lacks the about page and the links page, will the new website not be having those?

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 20, 2013, 09:13:51 AM
Umm...Im not quitee sure I understand why Demonology 101 is not making the move. Its because the new website is based on comics? O.o

I'm not familiar with the Katbox myself, but from what people have been saying here it sounds like it's somewhat strictly dedicated to comics, and thus there isn't really any space for non-comic sections... or something.

Hi folks, Mihari here, resident cheetah sorceress of the Katbox. I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have. Without further adieu lets get to what we have already:

Quote from: Amber Williams on September 20, 2013, 01:25:01 AM
As a thing of note, the Demonology 101 section will not be making this journey...the comic based side things have been archived into side comics and as for the race descriptions themselves, they will go MIA for a bit while I make plans to do a side comic for them (likely 1 page per race) for the archive.  So if folks want to save what exists currently, this would be the time.

Wait, they aren't? I was under the impression all of your pages and data were being transferred over and made into new shiny pages? Now I'm confused...

Quote from: Scuravolpe on September 20, 2013, 03:57:43 AM
Personally, I don't like the way the new archive is just every page in one big list. But it should be possible to separate them back into chapters, right? Wait. Cancel that. I was about to say Las Lindas has them in chapter blocks, but it seems that's been changed to one big list as well. Huh.

The archive is only in a baby basic state, it can be tailored to a many number of ways. The only reason the comic archives are how they are, is the artists in question for each comic never asked for anything more. The one thing we do try above all else is to give artists / writers / etc exactly what they want/need for their comic(s).

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 05:03:21 AM
On the other hand, if the archive is every page in one big list, we could use that as a lookup table for the wiki...

I'm not personally familar with said wiki, but it shouldn't be very hard to parse the archive and output it to the wiki however needed.

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 05:03:21 AM
EDIT: As regards to moving forum, I'm not sure the katbox forum would be a good fit.
In ours, we have a main thread for DMFA where page discussion and questions about the comic in general are all mixed.  The Katbox forums seem to have things very strictly segregated, so you may only discuss comic pages in one section, general questions about the world in another, and questions about the characters in yet another section.  That seems a bit arbitrary and not especially user-friendly.

The main thing to keep in mind is this, we push to have everything together because we want our community to see everything at single glance. Having all the comics in one place allows for the community to have the option to easily peak at what the other comics have to offer and discuss. We keep segments separated and categorized because again, we do have several comics to deal with. The segments are intended to make things easier to find, not have to wade through things to find something. On a completely separate note, we do always take suggestions / complaints and try to weigh in everything. If someone has a great idea on how to organize things better, we'd gladly listen and see if it would work.

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 05:03:21 AM
What really gave me a double-take was that they did not segregate the comics, so you have this weird melange of posts, each about completely different comics all bundled together (though they do seem to provide a way for the user to filter them themselves if they feel like it).

Well, hmm, I always thought the opposite. The challenge with the Katbox was how to have everything easily accessible to all, but not be a massive and daunting mess. Can you imagine if we had a separate forum set for each comic? Well... we did at one point. T'was not fun! The one click filter list to seems (to me and others) very user friendly, and allows for single comic readers to filter and find exactly what they want.

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 20, 2013, 09:13:51 AM
Umm...Im not quitee sure I understand why Demonology 101 is not making the move. Its because the new website is based on comics? O.o

I'm not sure why it isn't either! This misunderstanding that the site is strictly a comic only zone is news to me. We've always told all our artists they can do whatever they want with their comic on their subdomain. We even bend over backwards to help them achieve what they want done.

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 20, 2013, 09:13:51 AM
While I have no problem with the move (The closest thing to a complaint I can make is that seeing all of the link stuff to the right is a tad distracting while reading the comic which is manageable)

Well we are looking at a v4 (or is it 5... ehh, details...) soon, maybe that's something to look at changing.

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 20, 2013, 09:13:51 AM
I can only imagine how much work it would be to do comics based on every topic in the demonolegy. 17 races, two of which never even had proper information presented...That is not even counting the species/classes which would add eight more pages to cover...
And golly, if you were to also to decide to cover the under construction location list or the undisclosed religion/gods list......

I just think it might be easier for you to do some sorta text dump somehow ^^; or even keep it in the forum to save the hassle

As far as I'm concerned it wouldn't be too much trouble to parse the existing pages into raw data and make pages out of them, heck the html could literally be just copy and pasted into pages. I'm not seeing how this would be hard at all.

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 20, 2013, 09:13:51 AM
Oh~ I just noticed that the new website lacks the about page and the links page, will the new website not be having those?

I should know the answer to that, cause we probed Amber constantly about what she wanted... but alas, I forget, she can chime in on those. Our basic stance is this: If she wants it, she just has to tell what she wants it look like.

Quote from: Mischa on September 20, 2013, 10:14:03 AM
I'm not familiar with the Katbox myself, but from what people have been saying here it sounds like it's somewhat strictly dedicated to comics, and thus there isn't really any space for non-comic sections... or something.

The Katbox is NOT strictly dedicated to comics.

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 10:26:48 AM
Hi folks, Mihari here, resident cheetah sorceress of the Katbox. I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have. Without further adieu lets get to what we have already:

Well, howdy and welcome! Your efforts are appreciated.

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 10:26:48 AM

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 20, 2013, 09:13:51 AM
Oh~ I just noticed that the new website lacks the about page and the links page, will the new website not be having those?

I should know the answer to that, cause we probed Amber constantly about what she wanted... but alas, I forget, she can chime in on those. Our basic stance is this: If she wants it, she just has to tell what she wants it look like.

I think the issue is Ambaargh isn't sure what she wants, which makes it hard for you guys to provide it (having been on your side of this sort of thing before); you've said you're happy to bend over backwards, but if Ambaargh doesn't know what you can do, she won't know to ask for it. There will easily be things Ambaargh knows she doesn't want; selecting from the plethora of options left over is the tricky part.

As Ashley Brilliant put it, "I don't have an solution, but I certainly admire your problem!" :-/

I suspect it's more a matter (for the demonology pages) of figuring out how to attach them into the structure, in an easily managed way (particularly with the pages that don't exist; how do you save a place for it, and yet let it be added to once she gets around to writing it up? Might be obvious to you, but less so to her...) and yet not stop her from doing something else later? Given a little time, I'm sure you and your team could come up with a solution; it's just a matter of figuring out what to provide.


And, of course, it may be that Ambaargh is unsatisfied with how the pages look now, but isn't sure how she wants to address it. In which case, putting them to one side while she thinks is a valid response - even if her fans don't like the loss.




As for the forums, I suspect it's partially a matter of taste, and partially a thought back to where the forum started, on the Nice forums, and having DMFA all mixed in with everyone else. Ish. So re-mixing might not go over so well.

But that's all off the top of my head. Who knows, I could well be wrong on any of those points.

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 10:26:48 AM

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 05:03:21 AM
On the other hand, if the archive is every page in one big list, we could use that as a lookup table for the wiki...

I'm not personally familar with said wiki, but it shouldn't be very hard to parse the archive and output it to the wiki however needed.

Thanks for chipping in.  The basic problem is that the wiki is referring to comic pages by number.  In the katbox site they are addressed like this:  http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429-best-to-let-nightmares-run-their-sleep-cycle/
...while the wiki uses a macro to do some simple page translation (which saved us much hassle the last time there was a major update), guessing the description at the end is going to require a lookup table.  It occurred to me that if the archive is a flat list, we could make some kind of redirection script to do the page lookup by scraping the archive page.  Obviously it will become harder if it's split up by chapters, but that's our problem...

Quote

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 05:03:21 AM
What really gave me a double-take was that they did not segregate the comics, so you have this weird melange of posts, each about completely different comics all bundled together (though they do seem to provide a way for the user to filter them themselves if they feel like it).

Well, hmm, I always thought the opposite. The challenge with the Katbox was how to have everything easily accessible to all, but not be a massive and daunting mess. Can you imagine if we had a separate forum set for each comic? Well... we did at one point. T'was not fun! The one click filter list to seems (to me and others) very user friendly, and allows for single comic readers to filter and find exactly what they want.

What we've done here is create a hierarchy, so we have:

+Lusty Siren  (CVRPG comic)

+Lost Lake (DMFA)

+Jayhawk HQ (Project Future)

+London Underground (Codename: Hunter)

+Half-moon Theatre (Everything else)
  +Cut Loose (Cut Loose)
  +Last Dance (Last Resort)
  +Thulda Market (Foxfire Chronicles)

...which looks neater to me than jumbling everything together, but that may just be my programmer side showing through.

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 20, 2013, 09:13:51 AM
Umm...Im not quitee sure I understand why Demonology 101 is not making the move. Its because the new website is based on comics? O.o

AFAIK, Amber just doesn't like it because it's old and she wants to redo it from scratch.

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 20, 2013, 11:01:09 AM
Well, howdy and welcome! Your efforts are appreciated.

Thanks! :3

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 20, 2013, 11:01:09 AMI think the issue is Ambaargh isn't sure what she wants

A'yup!

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 20, 2013, 11:01:09 AM
I suspect it's more a matter (for the demonology pages) of figuring out how to attach them into the structure, in an easily managed way (particularly with the pages that don't exist; how do you save a place for it, and yet let it be added to once she gets around to writing it up? Might be obvious to you, but less so to her...) and yet not stop her from doing something else later? Given a little time, I'm sure you and your team could come up with a solution; it's just a matter of figuring out what to provide.


And, of course, it may be that Ambaargh is unsatisfied with how the pages look now, but isn't sure how she wants to address it. In which case, putting them to one side while she thinks is a valid response - even if her fans don't like the loss.

*shrugs* Could be!

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 20, 2013, 11:01:09 AM
As for the forums, I suspect it's partially a matter of taste, and partially a thought back to where the forum started, on the Nice forums, and having DMFA all mixed in with everyone else. Ish. So re-mixing might not go over so well.

But that's all off the top of my head. Who knows, I could well be wrong on any of those points.

To be honest, not really touching the forum thing, it was pretty much acknowledge at the beginning we had no idea how this would boil over. X3

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 11:01:35 AMThanks for chipping in.

My pleasure! :3

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 11:01:35 AM
The basic problem is that the wiki is referring to comic pages by number.  In the katbox site they are addressed like this:  http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429-best-to-let-nightmares-run-their-sleep-cycle/
...while the wiki uses a macro to do some simple page translation (which saved us much hassle the last time there was a major update), guessing the description at the end is going to require a lookup table.  It occurred to me that if the archive is a flat list, we could make some kind of redirection script to do the page lookup by scraping the archive page.  Obviously it will become harder if it's split up by chapters, but that's our problem...

Umm does it help that http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429 (http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429) also work just fine for pointing to a page?

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 11:01:35 AMAFAIK, Amber just doesn't like it because it's old and she wants to redo it from scratch.

Well that sounds like an awefully good reason, but I'm sure there is some kind of middle ground to be found.

The reason for the Demo 101 section not transferring over completely at this time is not really due to lack of ability on the Katbox part but more my own desire to upgrade the information and the incredibly awful outdated art.  The information is old, the art is atrocious, and as some folks have mentioned there are parts that even after all these years were never even filled in.  I have no doubt that if I was really hard bent on preserving each text document and gif file a way could be set up to transfer them over to the new site in perfect mimicry of the original.  The thing for that is I don't want to because I find the art ugly and the info in need of an update...but if I just transfer them over I will likely never get into gear about updating them.  If there is one advantage of doing a small side comic for the races over the current setup, it's that there is more a completionist drive for me to finish them.  And I think it would just look overall better.

Breaking the archives into it's various chapters I imagine is a do-able thing. As I said in the ranty box, there is a lot of tweaking going on.   I find the about page is something I will be able to replicate in a small blurb and really doesn't warrent it's own page at this point.   I'm still debating about the links page and it's future.  It's just something that doesn't have a priority in my mind right now.

I can understand some folks will likely not be 100% "yay" about the move. Change is a terrifying scary monster and I am a big proponent of sitting in one place when it's comfy and it works.  Xepher has been a fabulous host and moving to a setup I have never tried before is quite an undertaking so I'd understand if folks are a little uneasy about the change because part of me is uneasy as well. Not because I think it's a bad idea or that Katbox isn't gonna be awesome as well...but because I fear changes to my routine in general.  But I'm fairly confident once things have settled, it will all work out well.   The programs will allow me to upload the comics in advance which means that the update schedule should become more on the ball regular.

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 11:31:38 AM
Umm does it help that http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429 (http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429) also work just fine for pointing to a page?

Absolutely.  That solves a lot of problems in a single stroke.

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 20, 2013, 11:42:57 AMAbsolutely.  That solves a lot of problems in a single stroke.

Awesome! :3

Quote from: Amber Williams on September 20, 2013, 11:36:54 AM
I can understand some folks will likely not be 100% "yay" about the move. Change is a terrifying scary monster and I am a big proponent of sitting in one place when it's comfy and it works.  Xepher has been a fabulous host and moving to a setup I have never tried before is quite an undertaking so I'd understand if folks are a little uneasy about the change because part of me is uneasy as well. Not because I think it's a bad idea or that Katbox isn't gonna be awesome as well...but because I fear changes to my routine in general.  But I'm fairly confident once things have settled, it will all work out well.   The programs will allow me to upload the comics in advance which means that the update schedule should become more on the ball regular.

Advance uploads is all good. (not that I'm trying to monopolise the conversation or anything - honest!) And if there were anything we could do to assist, I'm sure you realise we're all champing at the bit to help, as it were. ;-]

It's all good, though. You do what you feel is best; we'll do our best not to jog your elbow. *grin*

I figure. :U

One of the reasons I put up a thread was because I do value folks feedback.  If people really would prefer the archives separated into chapter blocks, that's something I'd like to know.  Because I also realize I'm fairly easygoing when it comes to certain things, especially when it comes to site layouts and design.   The comic at it's core is something I make to hopefully be enjoyed by folks, so if there are things people think would overall make it more enjoyable or there is a feature folks feel really damper that...feel free to mention them.  It's pretty much the best time for things to get nudged and adjusted.  :eager

Consider this a vote in favour of chapters, then. They break it up, so you can stop partway through.

Mihari, is it trivially possible to have both a full-up archive with everything in one massive list, and a chapterised version? Without making a whole lot of work for both your team and Ambaargh, I mean...

I'd love to see it split into chapters as well.  FWIW switching host for the comic is a little sad in terms of nostalgia and I was a bit worried about the effect on the wiki, but I'm good with it.  Switching forums, that would be a far bigger pill to swallow.  Not least because the current forum hosts my own comic ;-)

I figured most folks would prefer to keep the current forum.  But I wanted to put the option on the table just in case there was a sudden surge of folks wanting to make the change.  :U

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 20, 2013, 12:20:06 PM
Consider this a vote in favour of chapters, then. They break it up, so you can stop partway through.

Mihari, is it trivially possible to have both a full-up archive with everything in one massive list, and a chapterised version? Without making a whole lot of work for both your team and Ambaargh, I mean...

Beats me, never tried. Course, not really thinking straight, pulled an all nighter watching server load and all that since the site went live.

Umm, first thoughts would be, sure it's possible to generate two lists, but how to display each of them is the big question.

It's a forum, Mihari. We can wait a week for a response if you need to sleep. ;-]

It's not so much just being on this forum and responding, but monitoring the site, as it's a bit more mission critical. There was a rather high possibility that the launch could crashed the server. So I had to watch it and make sure. X3 Artists can be scary when their comics /art is down on an update day. T_T

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 10:26:48 AM
The Katbox is NOT strictly dedicated to comics.

Ahhh, my apologies, then!  As I said, I'm not familiar with the Katbox, so I was making a guess.  It's nice to hear that I was wrong, though, and it's not any sort of limitations like that that are the issue. :3

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 01:26:46 PM
It's not so much just being on this forum and responding, but monitoring the site, as it's a bit more mission critical. There was a rather high possibility that the launch could crashed the server. So I had to watch it and make sure. X3 Artists can be scary when their comics /art is down on an update day. T_T

Hey, I run servers. I know how it goes. I meant, getting a response is different to getting an answer; a response is all well and good, but an answer I'm willing to wait for, if you can't answer immediately. Heck, I'm happy with "I'll need to test it sometime, when I'm thinking straight." ;-]

Anyone who expects a straight answer when you're running on 24 hours on the trot is just cruel, and will be disappointed, sooner or later. Once you're happy with the server, get some sleep and then come back and see what gives. If nothing else, the running rate last I looked was about half the population only showing up every two weeks or less.

Hey Amber, best of luck with the move. And thanks Mihari for coming over to help us with this, really shows you care about us and what's going on.

My primary concern about the move is simple: Broken comic links. DMFA has been going on for over a decade, there are links to individual DMFA comics scattered all over the internet. Forms both here and in other places, TV Tropes, DMFA reviews, chat logs, I could go on. I've seen this happen with countless webcomics when they move, and even with News websites, but the end result is that you come across a link that's a few years old to a cool comic or news article, and when you click on it you get an error message.

My best suggested solution to this: Just like http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429 redirects to http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429-best-to-let-nightmares-run-their-sleep-cycle/, have http://dmfa.katbox.net/Comics/Vol_1429.php redirect to the same page. Ensure that the same type of redirect all the previous DMFA comics (watch out, there's a change in format at the 1000th comic).

The same could be said to apply to the side comic too (in this case it's http://missmab.com/Comics/Abel_03.php redirecting to http://missmab.com/abels-story/abel-3/ ). I'd say definitely do the same for Able's Story since it's pretty epic, well known, and very important to the DMFA lore (so it's likely to be linked a lot), and do the other stories as you see fit.

Other than that, well it's a change, but I'm kinda optimistic about it. The new layout looks good and the navigation buttons are bigger (sidenote to Mihari, have you considered making clicking on a comic page load the next one? I've seen many other webcomics do it and I think it makes navigation easier) I'm not that worried about forum changes since the forum already moved over from The Nice and I kinda like how the Katbox forums do things. Shaking things up and introducing new fans could be a good thing (thought definitely the current forum has it's pluses, not in the least for Tape's comic).

I wish the best to all involved.

Extra long term lurker here (I always browse forums after a new comic, even read over Tapewolf's fan works and the like) and while I love the idea of this move bringing more attention to DMFA (my favorite webcomic) I would like to second the thought of the clockwork mansion being the primary forum.

The main reason though why I decided to break my vow of silence is that I kinda worry about the linked comics section. The default method the katbox uses while effective, is much less detailed then what Amber currently uses. Is there anyway the current set of links could be copied over as well? It is a minor thing, but all the same I have DMFA to thank for me finding a number of other neat comics, like Las Linda's in fact.

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 20, 2013, 02:30:16 PMHey, I run servers. I know how it goes... get some sleep and then come back and see what gives....

Thanks, I took my cat nap, looking to try this in a few. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Quote from: Sofox on September 20, 2013, 05:23:23 PM
Hey Amber, best of luck with the move. And thanks Mihari for coming over to help us with this, really shows you care about us and what's going on.

My pleasure! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/heartMihari.gif)

Quote from: Sofox on September 20, 2013, 05:23:23 PM
My primary concern about the move is simple: Broken comic links. DMFA has been going on for over a decade, there are links to individual DMFA comics scattered all over the internet. Forms both here and in other places, TV Tropes, DMFA reviews, chat logs, I could go on. I've seen this happen with countless webcomics when they move, and even with News websites, but the end result is that you come across a link that's a few years old to a cool comic or news article, and when you click on it you get an error message.

My best suggested solution to this: Just like http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429 redirects to http://dmfa.katbox.net/comic/1429-best-to-let-nightmares-run-their-sleep-cycle/, have http://dmfa.katbox.net/Comics/Vol_1429.php redirect to the same page. Ensure that the same type of redirect all the previous DMFA comics (watch out, there's a change in format at the 1000th comic).

The same could be said to apply to the side comic too (in this case it's http://missmab.com/Comics/Abel_03.php redirecting to http://missmab.com/abels-story/abel-3/ ). I'd say definitely do the same for Able's Story since it's pretty epic, well known, and very important to the DMFA lore (so it's likely to be linked a lot), and do the other stories as you see fit.

We can attempt to manage some of those redirections, but like with all things, it will be very difficult to get them all. The linking itself is already rather smart, IE just the number gets you the link, partial comic names will try to match, etc.. I'll have to see what I can do about redirecting even older stuff. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

Quote from: Sofox on September 20, 2013, 05:23:23 PM
Other than that, well it's a change, but I'm kinda optimistic about it. The new layout looks good and the navigation buttons are bigger (sidenote to Mihari, have you considered making clicking on a comic page load the next one? I've seen many other webcomics do it and I think it makes navigation easier) I'm not that worried about forum changes since the forum already moved over from The Nice and I kinda like how the Katbox forums do things. Shaking things up and introducing new fans could be a good thing (thought definitely the current forum has it's pluses, not in the least for Tape's comic).

I wish the best to all involved.

Not only does it already allow for comic clicking advance, you can use the arrow keys for navigation, also there are extra commands such as: shift + -> / <- will take you to the last / last comic, shift + down arrow is a random comic if you're feeling spontaneous, there is also a placeholder / bookmark combo, but in all honesty I can't remember if I installed it on DMFA! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/cryMihari.gif)

EDIT: Well it seems at some point I borked the code for comic click advancement. Must have been when I added swipe gestures for mobile devices and tablets / touchscreens. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/cryMihari.gif) I'll try to get that fixed ASAP, so thanks for bringing it to my attention! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/heartMihari.gif)

Quote from: famout on September 20, 2013, 06:57:18 PM
Extra long term lurker here (I always browse forums after a new comic, even read over Tapewolf's fan works and the like) and while I love the idea of this move bringing more attention to DMFA (my favorite webcomic) I would like to second the thought of the clockwork mansion being the primary forum.

The main reason though why I decided to break my vow of silence is that I kinda worry about the linked comics section. The default method the katbox uses while effective, is much less detailed then what Amber currently uses. Is there anyway the current set of links could be copied over as well? It is a minor thing, but all the same I have DMFA to thank for me finding a number of other neat comics, like Las Linda's in fact.

I think right now everyone is pretty set on the forum not changing. The Katbox will provide it's default forum services despite this being the primary, IE there will be filter links for DMFA / etc.. As for the links, I believe Amber said that's still up in the air. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

There is one thing I've noticed about that Katbox comic page, (that isn't necessarily annoying, but it does get me wondering about it) is once and a while it seems to be a lag of loading the full page items on a comic.

What ever it's trying to load, the mouse pointer is at least still responding, but everything else seems to be waiting for what ever the the page is trying to do. Seeing it only happens once and a while, I wonder if it has to do with server traffic and the computer is waiting for the server to give it the rest?

If that's so, I wonder if we might be seeing more of the lag time that appears every once and a while with the additional traffic of DMFA added to the group? It's only a minute delay, but still, at first when the Kat box was receiving an overhaul I thought Katbox got hit by something after they just finished working on it.

Still, it's nice to hear about what ever Amber has planned for her comic, she's getting help still on the tech side to help it get there.

Edit: Of course a more wonderful potential from Amber going over to the Katbox might bring new members to both forums and might revive some of the other comic threads that have seemed to be slightly floundering as of late. That would be cool for all.

Quote from: joshofspam on September 20, 2013, 08:15:44 PM
There is one thing I've noticed about that Katbox comic page, (that isn't necessarily annoying, but it does get me wondering about it) is once and a while it seems to be a lag of loading the full page items on a comic.

What ever it's trying to load, the mouse pointer is at least still responding, but everything else seems to be waiting for what ever the the page is trying to do. Seeing it only happens once and a while, I wonder if it has to do with server traffic and the computer is waiting for the server to give it the rest?

If that's so, I wonder if we might be seeing more of the lag time that appears every once and a while with the additional traffic of DMFA added to the group? It's only a minute delay, but still, at first when the Katbox was receiving an overhaul I thought Katbox got hit by something after they just finished working on it.

Still, it's nice to hear about what ever Amber has planned for her comic, she's getting help still on the tech side to help it get there.

Edit: Of course a more wonderful potential from Amber going over to the Katbox might bring new members to both forums and might revive some of the other comic threads that have seemed to be slightly floundering as of late. That would be cool for all.

I don't really want to turn this thread into a troubleshooting thing, and the site is still new, so perhaps it's a matter of caching stuff and what not. We'll wait it out, but a minute long wait for ANYTHING on the Katbox is a bit atrocious. So I'll keep an ear out for more/similar reports. Thanks for bringing it to my attention tho. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

...None of the bonus comics (http://missmab.com/Comics/Arch_Bonus.php) are making it over?

So the new domain will be www.katbox.net ? or is www.missmab.com going to be transfered over?

I see you have decided to give the comic mobile device support. Any chance there can be a option at the bottom that stores a cookie to remember the preference to not use the mobile version? Reason I say this is because not every cellphone or even smart phone can view those mobile tailored sites that well.

As far as forums go I'm pretty much indifferent on that one.

Quote from: Merlin on September 20, 2013, 10:04:04 PM...None of the bonus comics (http://missmab.com/Comics/Arch_Bonus.php) are making it over?

Yes, they will be transferred unless Amber otherwise decides to exclude any of them. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Quote from: Kuzma Volkov on September 20, 2013, 10:10:59 PM
So the new domain will be www.katbox.net ? or is www.missmab.com going to be transfered over?

The new address will be http://dmfa.katbox.net (http://dmfa.katbox.net) the current address www.missmab.com will point to that eventually. The portal for the entire site is http://www.katbox.net which you can find a link to all the comics therein. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Quote from: Kuzma Volkov on September 20, 2013, 10:10:59 PM
I see you have decided to give the comic mobile device support. Any chance there can be a option at the bottom that stores a cookie to remember the preference to not use the mobile version? Reason I say this is because not every cellphone or even smart phone can view those mobile tailored sites that well.

From my understanding the browser saves that option, I'm not entirely sure if a cookie option can be set to store that setting or not. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

Umm, Amber, out of curiosity, will you only be doing pages for the races and scrapping the species/classes, locations and religion/gods sections?

Oh and out of general curiosity, was it katbox who approached dan and mab or the other way around? What lead to this outreach and new direction being decided upon? Id love to hear the details since it sounds interesting

If someone could tell me how to activate the mobile mode on katbox that would be wonderful.  Currently loading the page on my 3ds causes several things to be disproportionately large or small and ocasionally it fails to load altogether.  Since DMFA was one of the few comics that loaded properly and quickly on its browser it became one i could read easily and quickly.  Additionaly I feel its necessary to point out that the gallery link leads to some content that can quickly become NSFW and there is no discernible way to use it to get to anything DMFA related.

Quote from: BASE_SEVEN on September 20, 2013, 11:36:41 PM
If someone could tell me how to activate the mobile mode on katbox that would be wonderful.  Currently loading the page on my 3ds causes several things to be disproportionately large or small and ocasionally it fails to load altogether.  Since DMFA was one of the few comics that loaded properly and quickly on its browser it became one i could read easily and quickly.  Additionaly I feel its necessary to point out that the gallery link leads to some content that can quickly become NSFW and there is no discernible way to use it to get to anything DMFA related.

I wish I could say I have an easy answer for you, but Nintendo has a nasty habit of changing how their browser handles things each update. It's a royal pain to manage a stylesheet for, and I admit, in lieu of work on the new update I've gone lax on fixing it. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/cryMihari.gif)

I'll certainly look into it however.

As for the gallery it will be removed for the site as a whole come October I believe, so you don't need to worry much for that.

Species like warp aci, pygmy shrews, and mows will be indeed making it over with the side story upgrade.  Overall the future side story will be sort of a "world of Furrae" kind of dealy where it will mention the races and some of the particular critters you may come across.

Considering I never did do anything with the location/religions section and it's been like what...seven+ years...I expect those will be the main thing to vanish in the move. 

I forget who and which approach came first.  I have talked a couple times with some of the katbox peeps and at one point it was just casually mentioned 'it'd be neat if DMFA could join the katbox"  "It would."  "Why isn't it?" "I dont think anyone has ever asked."  "So if we ask would you want to do it?" "I think so yeah." "So you want to?" "Yeah."  And it just went from there. :U

I know I barely post outside of the RP forum, if that, and my chief concern is what becomes of it, as well as what happens to our little community.

Generally I find the rest of the Katbox to be, at best, very lackluster and not my cup of tea, but hosting is hosting. My primary concern is of course, community, as even though we're noticeably less small, I find it's a tad more welcoming and comfortable.

Ideally, it might be better to split the difference, give the Katbox forums their own DMFA subsection (In all its, in my opinion, needlessly convoluted with it's "subforums for everything and everyone's Dog" glory), and we get to continue keeping our comfy little place.   

Now, there is where I am concern, we enter an "Endless September" scenario, with the next two.

Either we migrate their or they partially migrate here, which might have a sudden influx of new users.  My main problem with this? Both the KB forums and CWM have somewhat different, but noticeable climates and cultures, and I'm worried if they can mesh well. Maybe they can, maybe they won't.  We might get some new life here and fresh meat, or we might be completely overwhelmed.

It's likely inevitable, but please keep me posted.

Also I'm worried about the fate of the RP forums here in the above two cases, notably with a merger, as I have no clue if the KB has an RP dedicated subforum. I would be greatly saddened, as would many of us here, I wager, if we lost the RP section.

Quote from: Merlin on September 20, 2013, 10:04:04 PM
...None of the bonus comics (http://missmab.com/Comics/Arch_Bonus.php) are making it over?

If you look in 'Side Comics', all the big ones are there, e.g. Abel, Matilda, and also the informational ones like 'Cubi Powers, Clan Leaders etc.  The valentine stuff and guest pages don't appear to have made the transfer.

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 03:34:30 AM
Generally I find the rest of the Katbox to be, at best, very lackluster and not my cup of tea, but hosting is hosting. My primary concern is of course, community, as even though we're noticeably less small, I find it's a tad more welcoming and comfortable.

Ideally, it might be better to split the difference, give the Katbox forums their own DMFA subsection (In all its, in my opinion, needlessly convoluted with it's "subforums for everything and everyone's Dog" glory), and we get to continue keeping our comfy little place.  

Now, there is where I am concern, we enter an "Endless September" scenario, with the next two.

Either we migrate their or they partially migrate here, which might have a sudden influx of new users.  My main problem with this? Both the KB forums and CWM have somewhat different, but noticeable climates and cultures, and I'm worried if they can mesh well. Maybe they can, maybe they won't.  We might get some new life here and fresh meat, or we might be completely overwhelmed.

It's likely inevitable, but please keep me posted.

I can say this much right now. There are no plans to do anything with either forum at this time. We've done our usual routine, created/modified all the settings needed for people to post DMFA stuff, and flag it accordingly. Will it get used? Heck if I know, but I do see this- No mass xfer to either side anytime soon. Nor is there any reason too. If one should happen we'll hit that road when it comes. Is it possible for Katbox folks to migrate over? Sure, some have been here for ages from what I understand. Will some of the DMFA people make an account on the Katbox? Who knows. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

I can say this tho, if at any given time the forums do decide to merge, if things remain as they do on our end, it's not likely we'd give DMFA it's on partitioned off section from all the rest. That undermines everything we do to try to be a webcomic community that houses multiple comics, and multiple kinds of readers. I also don't see much need for any Katbox forums or sub forums needed to be constructed here as they would serve little purpose I feel.

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 03:34:30 AMAlso I'm worried about the fate of the RP forums here in the above two cases, notably with a merger, as I have no clue if the KB has an RP dedicated subforum. I would be greatly saddened, as would many of us here, I wager, if we lost the RP section.

The Katbox has a RP section as well. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 21, 2013, 03:51:23 AM

Quote from: Merlin on September 20, 2013, 10:04:04 PM
...None of the bonus comics (http://missmab.com/Comics/Arch_Bonus.php) are making it over?

If you look in 'Side Comics', all the big ones are there, e.g. Abel, Matilda, and also the informational ones like 'Cubi Powers, Clan Leaders etc.  The valentine stuff and guest pages don't appear to have made the transfer.

So far here is everything that HAS been xfered and is taken from within the backend for DMFA:


Tapewolf is correct, all the comics are active under the side comics link on the sidebar. As for all the other stuff, it's still up in the air what will come and go, but ultimately it is up to Amber. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 04:29:53 AM

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 03:34:30 AM
Generally I find the rest of the Katbox to be, at best, very lackluster and not my cup of tea, but hosting is hosting. My primary concern is of course, community, as even though we're noticeably less small, I find it's a tad more welcoming and comfortable.

Ideally, it might be better to split the difference, give the Katbox forums their own DMFA subsection (In all its, in my opinion, needlessly convoluted with it's "subforums for everything and everyone's Dog" glory), and we get to continue keeping our comfy little place.  

Now, there is where I am concern, we enter an "Endless September" scenario, with the next two.

Either we migrate their or they partially migrate here, which might have a sudden influx of new users.  My main problem with this? Both the KB forums and CWM have somewhat different, but noticeable climates and cultures, and I'm worried if they can mesh well. Maybe they can, maybe they won't.  We might get some new life here and fresh meat, or we might be completely overwhelmed.

It's likely inevitable, but please keep me posted.

I can say this much right now. There are no plans to do anything with either forum at this time. We've done our usual routine, created/modified all the settings needed for people to post DMFA stuff, and flag it accordingly. Will it get used? Heck if I know, but I do see this- No mass xfer to either side anytime soon. Nor is there any reason too. If one should happen we'll hit that road when it comes. Is it possible for Katbox folks to migrate over? Sure, some have been here for ages from what I understand. Will some of the DMFA people make an account on the Katbox? Who knows. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

I can say this tho, if at any given time the forums do decide to merge, if things remain as they do on our end, it's not likely we'd give DMFA it's on partitioned off section from all the rest. That undermines everything we do to try to be a webcomic community that houses multiple comics, and multiple kinds of readers. I also don't see much need for any Katbox forums or sub forums needed to be constructed here as they would serve little purpose I feel.

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 03:34:30 AMAlso I'm worried about the fate of the RP forums here in the above two cases, notably with a merger, as I have no clue if the KB has an RP dedicated subforum. I would be greatly saddened, as would many of us here, I wager, if we lost the RP section.

The Katbox has a RP section as well. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Really? Hmm, well on point A. Good to know but keep everyone updated. So suppose it won't be so bad if it comes to a merger anyways.  And if we attract new members then I may have fresh meat for the grinder for my horror RP I am in no way attempting to shamelessly advertise here new RP faces.

B. Really I did not know that...tell how they A. Fairly decent and B, Are you trying to drag me over to your home forum/advertise it shamelessly to me? I assure you don't want me over there. I'm rather quite boring.  :B

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 21, 2013, 03:51:23 AM

Quote from: Merlin on September 20, 2013, 10:04:04 PM
...None of the bonus comics (http://missmab.com/Comics/Arch_Bonus.php) are making it over?

If you look in 'Side Comics', all the big ones are there, e.g. Abel, Matilda, and also the informational ones like 'Cubi Powers, Clan Leaders etc.  The valentine stuff and guest pages don't appear to have made the transfer.

Yeah, the valentines and other stuff that I linked doesn't seem to be there, which is why I asked :B

Quote from: Merlin on September 21, 2013, 05:04:14 AM
Yeah, the valentines and other stuff that I linked doesn't seem to be there, which is why I asked :B

I don't think she's exactly been maintaining those anyway.

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 04:42:06 AM
B. Really I did not know that...tell how they A. Fairly decent and B, Are you trying to drag me over to your home forum/advertise it shamelessly to me? I assure you don't want me over there. I'm rather quite boring.  :B

Actually, you're most welcome, however, I should warn you. I don't know what the Katbox's RP area is like. I honestly stay clear of it. Odd noises come from there sometimes.** (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/cryMihari.gif)

** Is joking as she really does have no idea what goes on in there.

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 05:56:42 AM

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 04:42:06 AM
B. Really I did not know that...tell how they A. Fairly decent and B, Are you trying to drag me over to your home forum/advertise it shamelessly to me? I assure you don't want me over there. I'm rather quite boring.  :B

Actually, you're most welcome, however, I should warn you. I don't know what the Katbox's RP area is like. I honestly stay clear of it. Odd noises come from there sometimes.** (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/cryMihari.gif)

** Is joking as she really does have no idea what goes on in there.

Psssh. It's alright. I didn't even partake in comic discussion here, because I rarely feel like I have anything worth adding to the discussion. I tend to stick where I'm comfy/my area of so called "expertise" (Vidya and tabletop games among others).   :3

Edit: Man I even suck at formatting! Celebration times, Kaf!

Hi!  I made an account just to complain! :D

I don't like the move.  I like the simple design (both visual and technical) of the current DMFA site.  It's easy to look at.  The comic stands out.  Looking at it relaxing and fun.  It's easy to navigate.  It works wonderfully on all my old devices.

In contrast, looking at a Katbox page is a little annoying.  It doesn't make efficient use of space (that nav menu is HUGE!).  The graphical links to the other comics are a basically one big blob of noise (the previous design with hexagonal tiles was actually pretty neat and allowed for more vertical space).  There's a noticeable drop in scrolling framerate in that the scrolling has a noticeable framerate.  Pages take more time to load...

Speaking of efficiencies, Katbox pages take forever to load on slow connections.  I often travel to places with little bandwidth (think 2G cellular, or worse: public wifi hotspots); the thought of browsing the Katbox site under those conditions fills me with dread.  Granted, caching should help if I were to browse the archive, but my usage pattern takes me to a comic infrequently and so the page data is frequently not in the cache.

Not only do they use more bandwidth, but it feels like there's some javascript making pages sluggish.  Admittedly, that's pure speculation as I haven't dug into the source.  I kinda loathe web dev, and avoid it unless the alternative is starving to death.  Even then it's a tough choice (sadly, that's not an exaggeration).

There is one especially troublesome issue though: Katbox is basically unusable on my mobile devices.  All of them from my old PSP, to my old Android tablet to my new(ish) iPhone 4S.  My iPad runs out of memory rendering Katbox pages and kills Safari, but that one's not at all limited to Katbox...  Problems with old devices are almost understandable if annoying, but I can't even browse the site on my 4S without the page constantly reloading.  I have to be incredibly careful where I place my fingers to scroll or zoom, and the layout does not allow many places to do so.  Double tap to zoom is right out.  The whole experience is terribly frustrating.  The exception is with Opera, which passes everything through their own servers and likely filters out the javascript that's hijacking tap and scroll events.

Is there really a mobile version?  How do I access that?

So with the above in mind, I would prefer DMFA staying where it is.  But I'm not quite deluded enough to expect my opinion alone to prevent the move.  Hopefully the problems can be addressed soon; Mihari is impressively responsive.  And yeah, Amber definitely needs the ability to upload a comic ahead of time.

On a more judgmental note, I don't much care for the company DMFA is joining.  Some of the other comics focus a too bit much on sex for my liking.  Some are just plain pornographic.  I'm not exactly opposed to fan service, but it's pretty sad when it's the only feature of a comic. :/

Quote from: Amber Williams on September 21, 2013, 12:55:48 AM
Species like warp aci, pygmy shrews, and mows will be indeed making it over with the side story upgrade.  Overall the future side story will be sort of a "world of Furrae" kind of dealy where it will mention the races and some of the particular critters you may come across.

Considering I never did do anything with the location/religions section and it's been like what...seven+ years...I expect those will be the main thing to vanish in the move. 

I forget who and which approach came first.  I have talked a couple times with some of the katbox peeps and at one point it was just casually mentioned 'it'd be neat if DMFA could join the katbox"  "It would."  "Why isn't it?" "I dont think anyone has ever asked."  "So if we ask would you want to do it?" "I think so yeah." "So you want to?" "Yeah."  And it just went from there. :U

Huzzah! 8D one of these days I will get to find out what the flying mow a twink is and what amazons are in the comicverse~!

Hehe XD I love fun conversations like that :P

Hmm....Golly theres alot more comics on katbox than I remember. Back when I first started looking at these, I think it was only Las Lindas (which is on my read list) carribean blue (which i dropped but I cannot remember why...) and eye of ramaloch (which i saw but never got around to picking up)
That list has sure increased O.o I even see Yosh! Saga in there...(Its really elaborate and neato though it suffers from some absurd amounts of unresolved plotlines which can make for a confusing read at times....Kinda like El Goonish Shive.)

I don't know much about mobile versions, considering I have been running the old site from a design done probably back in 2005-osh...you can guess my technology understanding is fairly derp low.  However if there is a mobile version, coming up with a link or button that lets folks click and access it may be handy so that folks on the small devices can just get a really simplified version of the site or something.   I confess I have no idea of the difficulty of how such things are set up.   I certainly want to make it so the site is browse-able by the majority, that's pretty much the main priority for me when it comes to the move.  Especially since I know that once things do move, many folks who don't read the ranty box will likely then be speaking up at the sudden change.  :cry

There's a bit of time to adjust things before the domain itself goes on a transfer.  So far from what I've been seeing the main priorities is seeing about trying to wrangle a more mobile friendly version (and making it so accessing that version is easy for people to access), keeping the forums as is (at this time I think the most I would do is find a way to link to both so folks on the site can decide if they want to go to the katbox forum or the clockwork forum)  I know the switch from links across the top of the site to ones on the side along the comic is likely jarring to a lot of folks, and probably a bit trickier on some devices.

*goes to get some coffee* X3

For me the stuff on the side are not jarring so much as...Well, on the old format, the comic seemed to be the central focus of each page. It took up the entire central portion of the screen and it had your undivided attention.
With the current format, all of the images and links on the right cause my eyes to wander a little and I find myself paying less attention to the actual page. Its annoying but adaptable.
Plus, it does not pull me away from Dan and Mab near as badly as it does Las Lindas and Yosh which due to a larger page size, also requires you to scroll down past the links to other katbox comics which are colorfully distracting.

Oh~ as a sidenote while your plotting things with the comic, one thing I really find neat about the old website is how your current banner changes each time you reload the page, its quite neato. ^^

I know my goal with the new banner is I'm going to go with a new design each month and rotate them that way. Some will feature holidays, some will feature seasonal things...I figure it would be a cute way to handle the banner since I can never decide which character I want sitting on the top up there. :U

I think one of the other things that is probably a bit jarring is I opted to not have a comment section under the comic...though that likely doesn't surprise many since my ranting about comment sections on news articles is quite extensive.  :B  But it does tend to leave a larger space down beneath the comic than others.  But yeah...I can understand that with the old design, the comic was pretty center stage and that is sort of the point of a webcomic and why folks even show up to begin with.   Trying to find a good balance between the new design and not making it feel overcrowded is half the adventure it seems.

I really do like the CM Forums and prefer them over the Katbox's discussion system.

Primarily because CM is generally nicer and more close-knit. The partitioning between webcomics I think is the main reason for that. Also CM has more better smileys. And fancy log out timers.

Even if I barely log in anyways, but that's not the point.

I think your right not to have a comments section under the comic Amber, they're fine for discussing the current comic, but when reading through the archive they can be distracting.
On a related note, I see that you'll now be adding notes under each comic! This should be fun!

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 06:59:44 PM
We can attempt to manage some of those redirections, but like with all things, it will be very difficult to get them all. The linking itself is already rather smart, IE just the number gets you the link, partial comic names will try to match, etc.. I'll have to see what I can do about redirecting even older stuff. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

I'm pretty experienced with web development, if you want I can volunteer to help out with that. Would be kinda interesting to see how it's done and I would be happy to ensure that old links do redirect properly.

QuoteNot only does it already allow for comic clicking advance, you can use the arrow keys for navigation, also there are extra commands such as: shift + -> / <- will take you to the last / last comic, shift + down arrow is a random comic if you're feeling spontaneous, there is also a placeholder / bookmark combo, but in all honesty I can't remember if I installed it on DMFA

Oh, that's neat, you should draw more attention to that.

Quote from: Mihari on September 20, 2013, 10:19:38 PM
The new address will be http://dmfa.katbox.net (http://dmfa.katbox.net) the current address www.missmab.com will point to that eventually. The portal for the entire site is http://www.katbox.net which you can find a link to all the comics therein. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

I take it the redirects from old comics will still work when that happens?

dobbs - Just want to know I understand what you're saying.

Quote from: dobbs on September 21, 2013, 08:38:19 AM
Hi!  I made an account just to complain! :D

I don't like the move.  I like the simple design (both visual and technical) of the current DMFA site.  It's easy to look at.  The comic stands out.  Looking at it relaxing and fun.  It's easy to navigate.  It works wonderfully on all my old devices.

In contrast, looking at a Katbox page is a little annoying.  It doesn't make efficient use of space (that nav menu is HUGE!).  The graphical links to the other comics are a basically one big blob of noise (the previous design with hexagonal tiles was actually pretty neat and allowed for more vertical space).  There's a noticeable drop in scrolling framerate in that the scrolling has a noticeable framerate.  Pages take more time to load...

Speaking of efficiencies, Katbox pages take forever to load on slow connections.  I often travel to places with little bandwidth (think 2G cellular, or worse: public wifi hotspots); the thought of browsing the Katbox site under those conditions fills me with dread.  Granted, caching should help if I were to browse the archive, but my usage pattern takes me to a comic infrequently and so the page data is frequently not in the cache.

Not only do they use more bandwidth, but it feels like there's some javascript making pages sluggish.  Admittedly, that's pure speculation as I haven't dug into the source.  I kinda loathe web dev, and avoid it unless the alternative is starving to death.  Even then it's a tough choice (sadly, that's not an exaggeration).

There is one especially troublesome issue though: Katbox is basically unusable on my mobile devices.  All of them from my old PSP, to my old Android tablet to my new(ish) iPhone 4S.  My iPad runs out of memory rendering Katbox pages and kills Safari, but that one's not at all limited to Katbox...  Problems with old devices are almost understandable if annoying, but I can't even browse the site on my 4S without the page constantly reloading.  I have to be incredibly careful where I place my fingers to scroll or zoom, and the layout does not allow many places to do so.  Double tap to zoom is right out.  The whole experience is terribly frustrating.  The exception is with Opera, which passes everything through their own servers and likely filters out the javascript that's hijacking tap and scroll events.

Is there really a mobile version?  How do I access that?

So with the above in mind, I would prefer DMFA staying where it is.  But I'm not quite deluded enough to expect my opinion alone to prevent the move.  Hopefully the problems can be addressed soon; Mihari is impressively responsive.  And yeah, Amber definitely needs the ability to upload a comic ahead of time.

On a more judgmental note, I don't much care for the company DMFA is joining.  Some of the other comics focus a too bit much on sex for my liking.  Some are just plain pornographic.  I'm not exactly opposed to fan service, but it's pretty sad when it's the only feature of a comic. :/

Well, it simply wouldn't be a change if someone didn't vehemently object to it. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/pointsMihari.gif) However, I wish I could sit here and say that you're wrong on all accounts, or even half of them. However, I can't, and I won't. The Katbox support for mobile devices is haphazard and poorly done. I've been trying to fix that for several months now. Hence me working on V5 of the Katbox themes.

The mobile version of the theme won't have the sidebar at all... not sure how that's gonna work yet, however, getting off topic.

I am trying to optimize it to be friendly for all, and I ask you to just be patient and bear with me on that notion. I may even ask for your input down the line as my list of people with emphasis on those devices is nonexistent.

However, your statement about the Katbox being a den of sex (okay that was over the top (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/blushMihari.gif)) is far from the truth. The ones that do tend to go a bit overboard are the bonus comics that people PAY to be that way. I also admit there does tend to be a bit of emphasis on display of female... parts often, and to some excessive extremes (in display of sizes.) Most of which even I don't care for. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/pointsMihari.gif) However, all that is NOT sex, and more importantly is NOT the focus of the comics.

Anyrate, I digress...

Quote from: Amber Williams on September 21, 2013, 11:58:42 AMThere's a bit of time to adjust things before the domain itself goes on a transfer.  So far from what I've been seeing the main priorities is seeing about trying to wrangle a more mobile friendly version (and making it so accessing that version is easy for people to access), keeping the forums as is (at this time I think the most I would do is find a way to link to both so folks on the site can decide if they want to go to the katbox forum or the clockwork forum)  I know the switch from links across the top of the site to ones on the side along the comic is likely jarring to a lot of folks, and probably a bit trickier on some devices.

Already working on the mobile stuff already, forums- meh (hehe), and theme work... yah, yah! X3

Quote from: lilpuppy23 on September 21, 2013, 12:50:00 PM
Primarily because CM is generally nicer and more close-knit. The partitioning between webcomics I think is the main reason for that.

Couldn't say, it's possible, I've always felt the Katbox community (forum goers) were rather close nit. However, I have no basis to compare with this site. No idea on the partitioning having a role, I do know after we broke down the walls between comics, most people ventured to other comics, and they got more exposure, and the community expanded.

Anyrate, yah, can't say which is better than the other. As it's highly unlikely I will see much beyond of this thread for this forum. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/cryMihari.gif)

Quote from: lilpuppy23 on September 21, 2013, 12:50:00 PMAlso CM has more better smileys.

Yah, not touching that one! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Quote from: lilpuppy23 on September 21, 2013, 12:50:00 PMAnd fancy log out timers.

Thought they are the same? *shrugs* (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

Quote from: Sofox on September 21, 2013, 04:23:06 PM
I'm pretty experienced with web development, if you want I can volunteer to help out with that. Would be kinda interesting to see how it's done and I would be happy to ensure that old links do redirect properly.

Thanks for offering, but the redirection actually occurs via use of a htaccess file, so not much 'dev' involved at all. It's just a matter of getting a list of old formats and telling it to redirect them to the new. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/heartMihari.gif)

Quote from: Sofox on September 21, 2013, 04:23:06 PMOh, that's neat, you should draw more attention to that.

I've tried to come up with several ways to make it public knowledge, but alas, aside from putting a dorky set of instructions on ever comic (meh.) The next best thing is just to tell people at the start. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/pointsMihari.gif)

Quote from: Sofox on September 21, 2013, 04:23:06 PMI take it the redirects from old comics will still work when that happens?

Maybe? (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

SO on broken links and such: Adjust my favourites bar anyways for the sake of convenience? Never hurts to be prepared.

Also not sure I like the Katbox's formatting. It's a bit jumbled I feel and the comic is jussssst off centered enough to annoy me. Nothing major but I like my comics centred in my window, dammit!

As for demologly getting an update I fully support this, especially if the info is outdated/needs to be retconned due to better world building experience. Sorta like 40k Codex update. Would help as I'm picking up on discrepancies in it now and It'd clean up confusions.

Also Mihari I would like to thank you for popping in to address questions and concerns here, and being shockingly prompt. You've been very helpful, thanks.

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 05:56:42 AM

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 04:42:06 AM
B. Really I did not know that...tell how they A. Fairly decent and B, Are you trying to drag me over to your home forum/advertise it shamelessly to me? I assure you don't want me over there. I'm rather quite boring.  :B

Actually, you're most welcome, however, I should warn you. I don't know what the Katbox's RP area is like. I honestly stay clear of it. Odd noises come from there sometimes.** (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/cryMihari.gif)

** Is joking as she really does have no idea what goes on in there.

As Someone who does RP on Katbox I can say that RP on Katbox certainly doesn't have a huge following at this time.

Of course I haven't checked the RP forums on clockworkmansion lately so my comparison skill might be questionable at least, but katbox is quite ''dead'' in terms of RP or should we say infant like?

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 06:36:47 PM
SO on broken links and such: Adjust my favourites bar anyways for the sake of convenience? Never hurts to be prepared.

Yep! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 06:36:47 PM
Also not sure I like the Katbox's formatting. It's a bit jumbled I feel and the comic is jussssst off centered enough to annoy me. Nothing major but I like my comics centred in my window, dammit!

That has me thinking, I'll get back to you on that one...

Quote from: Kafzeil on September 21, 2013, 06:36:47 PMAlso Mihari I would like to thank you for popping in to address questions and concerns here, and being shockingly prompt. You've been very helpful, thanks.

Tis my pleasure, and I couldn't very well call myself a cheetah sorceress if I was slow now could I? (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/heartMihari.gif)

Hmm. We'll see what comes out of it.
Out of curiosity, what was the rationale behind the move? Hosting price? Traffic demand outloading the xepher site?

Quote from: VAE on September 21, 2013, 07:21:55 PM
Hmm. We'll see what comes out of it.
Out of curiosity, what was the rationale behind the move? Hosting price? Traffic demand outloading the xepher site?

Something about Taco's...? (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 07:23:27 PM

Quote from: VAE on September 21, 2013, 07:21:55 PM
Hmm. We'll see what comes out of it.
Out of curiosity, what was the rationale behind the move? Hosting price? Traffic demand outloading the xepher site?

Something about Taco's...? (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

So Katbox uses fastfood bribery to attract starving artists? Eeenteresting.

Quote from: VAE on September 21, 2013, 07:28:05 PM
So Katbox uses fastfood bribery to attract starving artists? Eeenteresting.

Here is how it kinda went down: http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,9624.msg373513.html#msg373513

I don't think hosting concerns were ever part of it tho. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

Well, I took a look at the new site.  Not bad, though it needs a bit of work, imo.  I tend to agree with Kafzeil, the page feels off-centered and noisy.  The big bold font in the side bar feels too big to me.  Ditto for the links; too wide for the height.  That's just my opinion, though; others may like it that way.  *shrug*

As for the choice of forums, I quite like Clockwork Mansion.  It's nicely organized and easy to navigate.

It's quite nice to see Mihari here.  It's not often a representative from a new hosting site bothers to show up on the old site to talk to said site's community.  Thank you for that.

Quote from: Lurkie on September 21, 2013, 08:45:31 PM
It's quite nice to see Mihari here.  It's not often a representative from a new hosting site bothers to show up on the old site to talk to said site's community.  Thank you for that.

Tis my pleasure, and you are very welcome! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/heartMihari.gif)

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 05:41:34 PM

Quote from: lilpuppy23 on September 21, 2013, 12:50:00 PMAlso CM has more better smileys.

Yah, not touching that one! (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/gleeMihari.gif)

I don't blame you. ;-] lilpuppy, as far as smileys go, if we were going to move, one of the things we'd be sure to move is the smileys. There's a lot of default ones in there, but there's also a fair number of forum-specific ones, and we'd be moving the latter, definitely. I'm sure Mihari would be more than happy to assist us in that, but frankly, it's mostly a matter of opening the two forums up and copy/pasting between them, which anyone can do.

Of course, that's all a bit far off, since the forum isn't moving yet anyway.

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 21, 2013, 09:50:21 PMI don't blame you. ;-] lilpuppy...

*tilts head* Puppy? (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/confuzzledMihari.gif)

I'll admit, I don't much care one way or th' other where the comic is hosted, so long as it is not in danger of losing hosting.

I'm a bit... perplexed, though. All of the other comics on that host tend to be... well... my personal term for them is 'Kawaii Komix'. You know, generally done in either chibi or quasi-anime style, with conflicts being almost exclusively social, the character depth is measured in micrometers and are generally indistinguishable stock-character anyways, there's more than enough saccharine to give a dragon diabetes, the most amount of violence you get tends to be in the form of a 'baka mallet' or other such form of attack which doesn't leave blood or permanent damage, and the intelligence and maturity required to appreciate the comics approaches zero.

Mind you, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that sort of thing, it's just... not the same genre that DMFA is in.

Also, the forums on katbox... they scare me. Every time I try to register, I suddenly am assaulted with a mental image of being glomped by quasi-legal catgirls in outfits they have no business to be wearing. Which causes me to curl up in the fetal position and rock back and forth slowly muttering 'can't sleep, catgirls will eat me'. I absolutely cringe every time I see faux-japanese phrases being used as a form of pop-culture.

It's like seeing one of Miyazaki's works mixed in with a bunch of shoujo manga.

Quote from: Prroul on September 22, 2013, 05:49:50 AM
I'll admit, I don't much care one way or th' other where the comic is hosted, so long as it is not in danger of losing hosting.

I'm a bit... perplexed, though. All of the other comics on that host tend to be... well... my personal term for them is 'Kawaii Komix'. You know, generally done in either chibi or quasi-anime style, with conflicts being almost exclusively social, the character depth is measured in micrometers and are generally indistinguishable stock-character anyways, there's more than enough saccharine to give a dragon diabetes, the most amount of violence you get tends to be in the form of a 'baka mallet' or other such form of attack which doesn't leave blood or permanent damage, and the intelligence and maturity required to appreciate the comics approaches zero.

Mind you, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that sort of thing, it's just... not the same genre that DMFA is in.

Also, the forums on katbox... they scare me. Every time I try to register, I suddenly am assaulted with a mental image of being glomped by quasi-legal catgirls in outfits they have no business to be wearing. Which causes me to curl up in the fetal position and rock back and forth slowly muttering 'can't sleep, catgirls will eat me'. I absolutely cringe every time I see faux-japanese phrases being used as a form of pop-culture.

It's like seeing one of Miyazaki's works mixed in with a bunch of shoujo manga.

The katbox forums is nothing to fear, it's also in my modest opinion not very daunting to join since the activity there isn't that overpowering at this time.
DFMA adds to the variety of comics going by your statements, which one could take as a good thing from the katbox's perspective and serves as indirect promotion toward DFMA as well. Most comics on it are younger than DMFA by a long stretch so character depth is indeed not as well deepened out as in DMFA in some at least.

Most comics are either orientated toward character directed drama and comedy or just pure comedy experiences with a touch of fanservice. I do agree that fanservice is in all
of Katbox comics in a larger quantity than DMFA and Las Lindas has sidecomics that have it as it's main selling point.

If you'd rather stay on this forum, as is intended then all the more power to you. Missmab joining Katbox will only mean a layout overhaul while hopefully popularizing it further, if others start reading the katbox comics out of interest that would be fine too I imagine, despite your poor opinion on them. It is indeed DMFA that I found Katbox through in the first place, as Amber hasn't failed mentioning Las Lindas and the katbox half a dozen times as well as receiving fanart from the comic artists on Katbox.

The layout of Katbox is indeed not quite as clean as missmab's Fiddling with the button colours and helping them blend in with the background may make it less distracting for the eye. However I too will miss the old site's design as it was very clean and simple although perhaps the links were a bit small they were convenient enough and the limited array of colours used made it so that the website truly promoted reading the comic, Katbox's layout is flashy and will take getting used to for people that don't watch katbox comics. For those who are interested in watching comics that resemble DMFA a bit I could only recommend the recently rebooted Anthronauts.

The faux Japanese stuff is mostly Caribbean Blue, Rascals, Project Zero and Knuckle Up. It's mostly limited in actual placement though and hardly in the foreground. Out of those comics only Caribbean Blue as a quasi Anime arts-tyle that is more anime-like than DMFA's. But anime don't all have the same artstyle to begin with so it's hard to state that from the start.

In truth the only thing that makes this move not truly be without downsides for myself is that Tapewolfs project future which is set in the DMFA universe's (alternate ) future will still require me to have a seperate favourite for it. Despite this I do not read every Katbox comic so It's not unusual for me, I rather am poorly affiliated with the ''furry'' community because DMFA ( and attachments ) and Katbox are the only two ''furry'' sites that I follow.

Well you could arguably add Yosh! Saga to that list of faux japanese stuff since one whole arc focused on flying to japan to fight ninjas, though I would compare the plot more to el goonish shive meets RPG epic. I stopped reading a few years ago due to a few internet troubles and have not been able to get back into it simply because archive trauling that  bloody monster is a daunting task to figure out where I left off, but if you want violence and character depth, that might be what you would want to try.

At the time I stopped reading it, the A plot of the story was defeating a band of elemental lords who were up to no good in the neiborhood, trying to unlock their great poweryness and evry time they did so, it altered the world in unusual ways. They had finished contending with the elemental of power and wrapped up some sort of 'men in black touring their house' portion of a sub plot and were working towards a cooling down period (which tends to mean some character interactionyness.)

It is rather good, though the plot may be a bit confusing. When I stopped, there were at least twelve ongoing plotlines at the time, several flashback arcs occurring to add depth and so many characters that I had an annoying habit of being unable to tell who was who which was annoying T_T

But if you want an engaging read and to trawl a really long comic, I recommend it! Though be warned, it starts out as a gag comic (similar to Dan and Mab) and takes a little to improve.

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 22, 2013, 08:39:16 AM
Well you could arguably add Yosh! Saga to that list of faux japanese stuff since one whole arc focused on flying to japan to fight ninjas, though I would compare the plot more to el goonish shive meets RPG epic. I stopped reading a few years ago due to a few internet troubles and have not been able to get back into it simply because archive trauling that  bloody monster is a daunting task to figure out where I left off, but if you want violence and character depth, that might be what you would want to try.

At the time I stopped reading it, the A plot of the story was defeating a band of elemental lords who were up to no good in the neiborhood, trying to unlock their great poweryness and evry time they did so, it altered the world in unusual ways. They had finished contending with the elemental of power and wrapped up some sort of 'men in black touring their house' portion of a sub plot and were working towards a cooling down period (which tends to mean some character interactionyness.)

It is rather good, though the plot may be a bit confusing. When I stopped, there were at least twelve ongoing plotlines at the time, several flashback arcs occurring to add depth and so many characters that I had an annoying habit of being unable to tell who was who which was annoying T_T

But if you want an engaging read and to trawl a really long comic, I recommend it! Though be warned, it starts out as a gag comic (similar to Dan and Mab) and takes a little to improve.

Ah, I missed that. Honestly it's one of the newer members and I haven't been reading it myself.  :B

Especially since it already had so many comics when joining the Katbox it seemed to be not compelling to do so.

Heck, I checked out some pages from the comics I don't read just to make sure that I'm at least partially right, I'm quite paranoid like that.

I was really surprised to see it included. XD I had figured if Yosh was to partner up with any other comics it would be Twokinds first thing since they seem so close in alot of ways. ^^ http://twokinds.keenspot.com/

To name a couple of 'furry' comics you might wanna check out aside from those two, I recommend Last Resort, which is a sci fi epic about ex convicts put on a reality show to fight for their lives and a girl who snuck in to rescue a friend. http://www.lastres0rt.com/

and Slightly Damned, a comic about a girl who died and was sent to the eighth circle of hell http://www.sdamned.com/

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 05:41:34 PM
Well, it simply wouldn't be a change if someone didn't vehemently object to it. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/pointsMihari.gif)

I wouldn't exactly describe my objection as vehement.  I strongly prefer the current site...  Just wanted to share an opinion; I try to avoid demanding others bow to my will. ;)

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 05:41:34 PM
The mobile version of the theme won't have the sidebar at all... not sure how that's gonna work yet, however, getting off topic.

Might I suggest a spiffy fly-out menu for devices that support CSS3/javascript and statically including it at the bottom of all pages on devices that don't?  Not familiar with your back-end, so dunno how easy that would be.  Feel free to PM me about it.

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 05:41:34 PM
I am trying to optimize it to be friendly for all, and I ask you to just be patient and bear with me on that notion. I may even ask for your input down the line as my list of people with emphasis on those devices is nonexistent.

I'd be glad to contribute.  My post was meant to bring a couple problems to light in hopes of improvement.  Though I was probably more than a little indelicate, my intention was not one of malice.

Blah, I hate being serious.

Quote from: Mihari on September 21, 2013, 05:41:34 PM
However, your statement about the Katbox being a den of sex (okay that was over the top (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/blushMihari.gif)) is far from the truth. The ones that do tend to go a bit overboard are the bonus comics that people PAY to be that way. I also admit there does tend to be a bit of emphasis on display of female... parts often, and to some excessive extremes (in display of sizes.) Most of which even I don't care for. (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60491953/Mihari/smilies/pointsMihari.gif) However, all that is NOT sex, and more importantly is NOT the focus of the comics.

First, your response is entirely fair.  I didn't mean to implicate all of Katbox in that paragraph.  But re-reading, what I wrote pretty much does just that, so I'm sorry.  I do understand quite well the distinction between the individual comics hosted there as well as the Katbox hosting itself.

I typed a detailed explanation on how I wasn't complaining about any specific depiction of sex but instead the attitudes expressed towards it, but then I thought "Who wants to read that?"  So yeah, Katbox is definitely not a seedy den of I'll repute.  But at the same time I will continue to hold strong opinions regarding specific comics (and not at all limited to those on Katbox).

soooo thats why the mows started populating across the katbox front page

Wait, WHAT Easter Eggs?

Quote from: Icalasari on September 23, 2013, 11:18:54 PM
Wait, WHAT Easter Eggs?

Indeed. I knew they existed, but I never did find them. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to list them here before turning off the lights to missmab.com.

Regarding the whole move, I wish Amber the best. I've seen these things turn out very well, and other times quite poorly. Here's hoping it will be the former.
At any rate, I think people have been very open about the how's, but I don't believe that's the case about the why's. It's possible that I've missed it, although I did try to read through the thread a few times, as well as the news blurb.
It's been made eminently clear that it isn't a failure on behalf of the current host, but that does leave several possibilities. Wider audience, more money, getting to chum with other artists, or sinister occult conspiracy?
I'm aware we don't have the right to any explanation. No, not since the collapse of the Forum Users' Glorious Revolution.

Edit: And of course I found an easter egg. Are we allowed to say where they are?

I guess I can try to handle a bit of the why, but it's fairly lackluster.

The truth of the matter is...I get lonely from time to time and there is a certain amount of networking angle where being in a cluster of creative folks can be really supportive and fun.  In a network one can help eachother's goals and swap stories and solutions to problems you or others may be having in the business.  Or do little projects where everyone in the little community contributes and do a group effort. There is a certain amount of simple enjoyment about being part of a group than an island of yourself.  Money was never a consideration, and I've never been one to really be all aboard the gotta-be-popular train.   Really it just boils down to I find many of the folks on the Katbox groovy people and being able to hang out with them and work on comics together sounds fun.

Xepher's hosting has been fabulous. Triple so on a technical level.  I can't recall any instance of downtime that extended long segments, the folks in charge are always prompt and easy to talk with, they are really great.  I would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat.  The decision to move is purely personal preference and that well...I think that being on the Katbox is going to be a lot of fun.   :U

Quote from: Icalasari on September 23, 2013, 11:18:54 PM
Wait, WHAT Easter Eggs?

If we provided a list, they wouldn't be easter eggs, would they?

Quote from: Tzenker on September 24, 2013, 12:01:56 AM
Edit: And of course I found an easter egg. Are we allowed to say where they are?

Of course. Just not here, since that would spoil it for anyone who happens to be looking for them.

That's been the standing rule for some time, now...

Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 24, 2013, 03:52:08 AM

Quote from: Tzenker on September 24, 2013, 12:01:56 AM
Edit: And of course I found an easter egg. Are we allowed to say where they are?

Of course. Just not here, since that would spoil it for anyone who happens to be looking for them.

That's been the standing rule for some time, now...

Even though they're about to go away?

Quote from: Tapewolf on September 24, 2013, 04:59:25 AM
Even though they're about to go away?

Until Ambaargh changes her mind, yes. Which she is perfectly allowed to do - I'd just like it if she'd tell me afterwards. ;-]

Save them so that if their gone you can show them later!  :eager

As an aside though, it seems that the reception for Dan and Mab is well recieved over at Katbox. XD
(http://anthronauts.katbox.net/comic/dmfa-is-now-on-the-katbox/)
http://anthronauts.katbox.net/comic/dmfa-is-now-on-the-katbox/

Quote from: Jasae Bushae on September 24, 2013, 09:41:52 AM
Save them so that if their gone you can show them later!  :eager

As an aside though, it seems that the reception for Dan and Mab is well recieved over at Katbox. XD
(http://anthronauts.katbox.net/comic/dmfa-is-now-on-the-katbox/)
http://anthronauts.katbox.net/comic/dmfa-is-now-on-the-katbox/

Why did you img-link that? It's a URL...

Edit:
  More specifically, it's a URL that ends in / and doesn't mean an image of some sort...

ooooh, my mistake XD i was trying to image the comic itself XD

One of the hidden comics has been transfered and is in plain sight.

I'd just like to thank Mihari for being so friendly and helpful about the move. I found the Katbox through Amber's comic so I was kinda familiar with it because I started to read Las Lindas because she spoofed it one time I think, which of course led to the site. Unfortunately I just joined the forum here and got a password and set up my profile stuff here. :(  It took me a long while to decide to join this one and if I hadn't have been forced by circumstances to join another one due to the comments section being closed I probably wouldn't have joined this one either. But that one was from scratch and wasn't overly complicated and I knew a lot of them from commenting in the comments section. So I learned the ropes of a forum and decided to try this one. I even tried some others, well, let's just say I don't do well with captchas and have trouble convincing sites that I'm not a bot or something. It is frustrating.

So I'm kinda happy the forum here is going to stay active for a while anyhow. I've checked out the Katbox forum and read some comments so it seems nice. Maybe I'll brave it eventually. Hopefully it'll let me in.

Easter eggs. I actually am proud that I know what they are in context of computers and they are not in fact highly decorated chicken eggs. I am not really a gamer. I am older than video games and actually watched B&W TV. If Amber is Lorenda's age I'm Fa'Lina's age. I played Pong on a TV at my friend's house and it was amazing to control those lines on the TV screen. Never owned an Atari (would ruin the TV, my dad said),played Pac Man, Asteroids and Space Invaders by inserting quarters(not very often) and by the time I got back around to doing anything like that I got a DS which I used for memory and math games and Sudoku . In other words asking me to find easter eggs is like asking a color blind person to find the red pencil in the pile. Not gonna happen.  :mowsad  So I'd really like to see what I'm missing if it's possible and doesn't upset Amber. I wish her luck with the Katbox, it is good to have friends and colleagues to socialize with.

T'was my pleasure, everyone here has been really nice too. It's refreshing to be welcome into a community so warmly. :3

Quote from: Wdot on October 06, 2013, 12:42:00 AM
I'd just like to thank Mihari for being so friendly and helpful about the move. I found the Katbox through Amber's comic so I was kinda familiar with it because I started to read Las Lindas because she spoofed it one time I think, which of course led to the site. Unfortunately I just joined the forum here and got a password and set up my profile stuff here. :(  It took me a long while to decide to join this one and if I hadn't have been forced by circumstances to join another one due to the comments section being closed I probably wouldn't have joined this one either. But that one was from scratch and wasn't overly complicated and I knew a lot of them from commenting in the comments section. So I learned the ropes of a forum and decided to try this one. I even tried some others, well, let's just say I don't do well with captchas and have trouble convincing sites that I'm not a bot or something. It is frustrating.

So I'm kinda happy the forum here is going to stay active for a while anyhow. I've checked out the Katbox forum and read some comments so it seems nice. Maybe I'll brave it eventually. Hopefully it'll let me in.

Many people have trouble with captchas; don't feel alone, I find them frustrating as well. On the other hand, without them, we (the mods) were spending several hours/week or more cleaning up spam and filtering bots. Given this is all volunteer, we kinda went for the "let's be totally brutal about things that waste our time" option, and accepted that this would, sadly, mean some actual real people couldn't get in.

It's not a good choice, it's about the best option out of a whole lot of really _bad_ choices. If someone can come up with a better option, I'm willing to listen and try it out, though.

Quote from: Wdot on October 06, 2013, 12:42:00 AM
Easter eggs. I actually am proud that I know what they are in context of computers and they are not in fact highly decorated chicken eggs. I am not really a gamer. I am older than video games and actually watched B&W TV. If Amber is Lorenda's age I'm Fa'Lina's age. I played Pong on a TV at my friend's house and it was amazing to control those lines on the TV screen. Never owned an Atari (would ruin the TV, my dad said),played Pac Man, Asteroids and Space Invaders by inserting quarters(not very often) and by the time I got back around to doing anything like that I got a DS which I used for memory and math games and Sudoku . In other words asking me to find easter eggs is like asking a color blind person to find the red pencil in the pile. Not gonna happen.  :mowsad  So I'd really like to see what I'm missing if it's possible and doesn't upset Amber. I wish her luck with the Katbox, it is good to have friends and colleagues to socialize with.

I'll be a little more specific here - there's nothing stopping people sending private messages about them. What we're doing is simply asking that people not post posts about them, since some people like to look for those sorts of things themselves, and a list would be sortof spoiling it for everyone.

Also, I have, in the past, told some people that there are more secrets than actually exist, just to watch them go nuts trying to find the things. But that's all a bit evil, and I don't propose (at this stage) to do anything of the sort. ;-] I will, however, send you a list of the easter eggs, just because you asked so nicely. ;-]

Hiya, folks! I'm another Katbox representative- one of the artists.

When I found out DMFA was going to be on the Katbox, I was all SQUEEEEEEEEE HAPPYDAAAAAANCE LET'S MAKE SOME TACOOOOOOOOS! And it makes me a lil sad that not everybody shares my joy. I know some folks were complaining about the layout of the webpage, or how it appears on mobile devices, and I can't help you there... But... Some folks were complaining about the structure of the katbox forum. Guess what? That's been changed! Now, just like on this forum, there is one dedicated section for DMFA and all of Ambar's works. You don't have to go through updates to other comics if you REALLY don't want to.

And if you're concerned about the Katbox having too much sexy... well, at least in MY comic, most characters dress very conservatively. Very, VERY conservatively.

(http://www.collectiblejewels.com/VictorianDress.jpg)

Quote from: Nixie on October 06, 2013, 09:41:25 PM
Hiya, folks! I'm another Katbox representative- one of the artists.

Welcome!

For what it's worth, much of the discussion is more raising points that might affect things, rather than saying that these are specifically _bad_ things. So I don't think the people chatting here are expecting everything to change as they've requested. Or, at least, they darned well shouldn't be. ;-] The end result we aim for is the best of both worlds, rather than simply sticking with what we have simply because it's what we're all used to.

Having said that, it's wonderful to see things are changing for what we hope is the better. From what I've seen, you guys are bending over backwards for us, which is very welcoming, if possibly slightly uncomfortable. ;-]

Quote from: Nixie on October 06, 2013, 09:41:25 PM
Hiya, folks! I'm another Katbox representative- one of the artists.

Ohhhh Hi Ms Nixie.... I must say I love your comic. 
If cutie Boris ever needs another lab assistant could you let him know there is a tinkering mad science bunny with a bite proof suit that would be happy to help out