Site updated.
Here's the change log since the last one:
New:
- Censorship-resistant file hosting system
- - Drag and drop your mod .zip file and it'll get upload to our server (if left with the default value), attempt to mirror it to other independent compatible servers (if selected), and you can mirror it to your own compatible servers (ones that you've added, your own or others'), and users/fans can backup/mirror the files to their own compatible servers (that they know, or their own) upload it there.
- - Clicking 'download' goes through various checks & scans (checks the main server, checks the hardcoded mirrors, checks the logged-in user's compatible server list, then scans the mod post's comments to check the users' compatible server lists, and see where these files can be retrieved from.
- - Automatic malware scan and reporting functions (on our specific server, not others, but they can implement it, of course). (It's recommended that you still do your own scan, of course).
- - Download and upload speed limitations (a gradual system with weekly resets, so it isn't a hard limit, which should give a better experience for a casual modder, and an initial better experience for a heavy modder), and it's prepped for when we have a subscription package to benefit from higher limits.
- - A simple challenge function (slide to the specific position) to help decrease abuse of our server resources.
- - Auto hash checker upon download (from our server or similar), along with a manual file hash verification tool/checker.
- - Queue system to handle load.
- - If our server breaks (or even if we completely shut down), the mod post would still be there, and there'd be a higher chance of the mod files still being available because of this system/infrastructure.
- - If by chance we've reached our server limit and we couldn't increase it (until we implement a business model that results in us handling the growing costs), people can use other compatible servers that allows you to upload .zip files, or like before, the old system is still there and you can just use third-party hosting servers and just add the file link.
- User (Blossom type) server list.
- - This is where you add (Blossom type) server links, which will show up as options to mirror mod files to if you choose to back it up.
- A third level of blocking for the site admin
- - This is to hide/block mod/blog posts on the current site (other sites running the same infrastructure aren't affected) and would be applied for illegal posts.
Changes:
- Uploading images, from the featured image to screenshots, now goes through a mirroring process, and the site attempts to render the original files from different server hosts, upon being discovered, if the original host goes offline, or if the original image has been modified by a server host.
- - Meaning: If a server censors an image or goes offline, the site attempts to find it from other servers and presents it to you.
- Comments now have a new option/toggle ('on' by default) that, upon publishing a comment, records a log of the download links of the current mod post they're commenting on.
- - Meaning: Simply by having people comment on a mod post, it increases the censorship-resistance of a mod post's files, different builds of it, and decreases the chance of losing them (or at least information about them, assuming there's a hash).
Fixes:
- Blog posts in /blog now correctly get fetched from the Aggregator Server.
- 'Download title' field now shows what you write again
- You can now have specific characters like '%' in the body text of mods/blogs and publish them without issue.
- New users can now see the UI for adding relays in the settings page when they have none.
Known issues:
- Some older mods aren't discoverable while the Aggregator Server is running.
- User relay lists being correctly fetched is not working 100%
- Yes, things are becoming a bit messy with showing information, and it'll be resolved with the eventual redesign of the site down the line.
- There might still be some hiccups with this new system (for files and images), but we're ironing it out now.
This is a significant milestone that has been achieved. While there's still a lot to do, such as enhancing current systems, fixing bugs, improving performance and UI/UX, and providing educational and documentation materials to help increase the power of the censorship resistance of this infrastructure, we're happy with what we've accomplished so far, and it will only get better from here.
We'll be temporarily shifting our focus to dealing with the roadblocks of bureaucracy in the background, to be able to start accepting financial support from the market/community/supporters, so that maintenance, development, and marketing efforts can continue, if not increase in speed and intensity. This will help us achieve those improvements and add more systems and features to continually enhance the value of DEG Mods and eventually reach the top.
With that said, depending on how well the market supports this project and how successful it becomes overtime, it will speed up the development of DEGA, which will make use of a lot of the infrastructure we've built for DEG Mods, definitely helping its growth and success, and we're building it because of the growing censorship in the whole of the gaming industry, not just mods; we’ll bring a brighter future, parallel to the coming darker times, where proper freedom, privacy, and ownership are at the forefront.
Site updated.
Here's the change log since the last one:
New:
- Deletion Request: You can now request to delete your mod/blog/comment/social posts
(This is basically a normal delete, but considering the tech being used, 'nothing gets deleted off the internet' is stronger here)
Changes:
- Removed the support of an old comment type system (kind 1) under mod and blog posts
- Added Web of Trust system in the comments section
- Added a checkbox for users to tick if their comment is nsfw, along with nsfw filtering in the comments section
- Added a source filter of where comments are coming from in comments of mods/blog posts, similar to what's found in /mods (old comments, before this change, would appear under 'all' as a consequence).
- Disabled media rendering in comments of mod/blog posts
Fixes:
- Clicking on mods should open quicker now (it sometimes hung for a long time before)
Site updated.
Here's the change log since the last one:
New:
- Events Aggregator Server, a type of aggregate/caching server that helps collect and organize mod and blog posts from the (nostr) network and presents them to the user, providing more (immensely more) reliability in discovering and presenting mods and blog posts. If something goes wrong with this server, the site goes back to how it was before its inclusion.
(Note: This isn't the censorship-resistant file hosting system, which will come later).
Changes:
- Adjusted how the mods and blogs are fetched and presented in various pages (there's now pagination for each of their pages, making navigation easier than before).
- Minor adjustment to the design of the gallery of mod posts.
- Images in a social post (in /feed) are now clustered depending on if they're next to each other.
- Quote-repost chain won't render its preview with the second quote-repost (under the posts tab in the feed page).
- Added media upload to the edit profile page.
- The games page now has a filter to switch between popular ones (shows the most popular games first based on mods published to it) or latest ones (shows games based on the latest published mods).
- Mods that are blocked by the user are now swapped with a box telling the user this is a blocked mod by them, with an option to see what that mod is.
Fixes:
- Most, if not all, mods can now be properly discovered, as soon as they're discovered, and presented (Because of that aggregate server implementation).
- A lot more games, with better search term prioritization, are now properly showing when searching in the mod submission page
- Visiting a social post directly is now visible without needing to login
That Events Aggregator Server took a long time to get done, and it's a boring update, but it was definitely needed.
And, as mentioned above, it's not an issue if it went down; the site would still function, just not in a stable state. The server just makes things more reliable in regard to user experience.
Site updated.
New:
- Feed page: View the latest mods and blogs (and social posts) of who you're following
- Social posting: The ability to post 'short' posts
- The 'Posts' tab in a user's profile now works, showcasing the latest social posts of the current user
Changes:
- Better search (shows more results with different keyword combos and number considerations)
- Adjusted the design of categories
- Adjusted iframe video embeds to resize to a 16:9 aspect ratio with full-width
- Adjusted the visuals of loading elements
Fixes:
- User profile data properly shows correct data now
- More cleanup of the games DB list, and new games added (for those who published mods under '(unlisted game)', edit your mod to add the correct game
- Blog search results on /blog properly clear on revisiting the page
It took longer than expected, but now you can see mods, blogs, & social posts of all the modders you follow (or other users, friends, family, or randoms if you choose to follow them).
You, a creator or anyone else, can also post whatever you like, similar to any other social media platform, with the same censorship resistance the site provides everywhere else.
Enjoy!
On a side note:
We'll be looking into having another failsafe step/system of uploaded images so that the chances of complete media censorship decrease.
(This was posted using on DEG Mods ;3)
