kai_desu

One of I'm sure many to come: Hyper Erection Mode posts will consist of simple screenshot(s).
 

 
Our first one consists of what the DS staff members (could be you!) will see in the backend when managing band profiles. This is from the current working version of the band module.
 

One of I'm sure many to come: Hyper Erection Mode posts will consist of simple screenshot(s).
 

 
Our first one consists of what the DS staff members (could be you!) will see in the backend when managing band profiles. This is from the current working version of the band module.
 

Uhh, as long as there's music being shared you can be sure that transcodes will appear.
 
Clearly if you ask around you will find more people who hate transcodes than people who love them. I am admittedly rather OCD about transcodes myself, but still, I'm hesitant about the sub-forum idea.
 
Assuming we set up a forum to house transcodes, I can quite literally imagine having:
A) people who report x as transcode and ask for them to be moved to your 'sub-forum'
B ) people [probably mods] who manually do the moving
C) a group of people who start protesting that x isn't actually a transcode and asked for it to be moved back
D) another group of people who mediate between A and C
E) etc.
You get the idea...
 
The problem (as Champ213 rightly pointed out) is that there's no universal way to prove beyond all doubt that something is simply a bad rip or a transcode. From experience, micromanaging transcodes does nothing meaningful but invite drama (I'm reminded of petty squabbles that go on for 100+ posts on a particular tracker over whether a Super Junior single is a transcode...).
 
Ultimately, I feel that if you really care so much about whether something is a transcode, it's up to you to decide if x is a transcode and what to do if it is. Just don't fall into the trap of spending more time looking at spectra than actually listening to the music.

Give me a ring if you need assistance as my past time is reading up about (mostly the older) visual kei bands. I've spent much time tracking down the approximate release date(s) for every release as well as at least finding the cover art. It's quite an adventure, believe it or not. My library has undergone tons of changes and fixes over the years to become the most accurate it can possibly be and I've done my best to keep my Last.fm profile clean as well by deleting incorrectly tagged bands, songs, and even when we lose the page war to another band, I may even change that (i.e. Wizard, Ｗｉｚａｒｄ).
 
Anyway, it's a hobby. I'm looking forward to this project and I hope everyone else too has fun gathering up all of the information they can to compile a go-to site for visual kei information. It's going to be a long road.

Consolidating the questions that were brought up in the about thread and bringing them here. If you have questions or anything, don't hesitate to post here and I'll get back to you and keep this updated!
 

 
How extensive will the database end up being? Like, what kind of information will you cover?
When we start out, it'll be fairly small. It'll mainly comprise of a band profile consisting of a biography about the band - kinda how Last.FM is right now. We'll be building upon this though, adding new features and information blocks, including band member/artist profiles and complete discography information. This only touches the tip of the iceberg in what we want to do though. But, as Aion said - our goal is to cover as much as possible - especially when it comes to lesser known obscure/indie bands.
 
 
Also, will it involve user input etc. or will mods/specific people keep everything up to date and building the database?
In order to help maintain legitimate information, it'll be a sort of "closed" wiki type system. Basically, we'll have a set of trusted users to help maintain and build the database - there is really no limit to the number of people that can be in this trusted group. We'll have some sort of system to apply for this type of position after the site is launched.
 
 
How is it related to MH? I mean that I want to know in which ways the two sites will interact with each other. Maybe MH will be the future DS forum, or the community mentioned?
It's roots are not related to MH in any way. DS was a project that Manda and I had been working on prior to us coming here (DS started around 2007, and Manda ran it by herself even before then). When TW was in shambles and had no hosting, we stepped up to offer to host the forum. At the time we had our own small forum on DS, which we got rid of in sight of striking up a sort of... partnership with everyone here. With that, the plan is to integrate the user accounts here into DS - meaning you can log into DS with your MH account. But yes, the community I spoke of was the current user base on MH as well as the new members that join us all through DS.
 
 
Is there anything decided in terms of criteria for artists visibility on the page? In the visual example Kai shows a Plastic Tree feature which is news related. I understand this probably a placeholder but it got me thinking about if the featured bands would be based on news, database updates or any other factor.
There will be many placeholders for different parts of the website on the home page. The screenshot shown in my original post is a very very small portion of the overall page, with the intention that the slider will be featured news items. There will be no preference to what type of band or style of music is shown on the front page (if you were worried that it would be centered around visual kei).
 
There are also planned sections showing the latest additions to the database, latest updates made in the database, blog and articles section, and more.
 
 
What kind of database are you using? Relational database?? CAN I QUERY THE SHIT OUT OF IT?!?!!?!?
Yes, it's relational. I'm interested in building an API off of it to let others connect to and query the data in whatever ways they want, but this'll be much farther down the road and isn't really planned in any way at this point.
 
 
Would you just be sticking to a certain genre within Japanese bands? Or will you start off with specific genres and then try to expand out to ALL Japanese music?
This is a bit of a difficult question to answer. Our system will be open to a lot of genre's, but it's not built for J-Pop or the like. A good rule of thumb is pretty much anything you see being discussed or shared here on MH will be included in the database.

The following letter will contain a lot of developer jargon.
 
This letter will go over a couple of changes that have been made to how DS will be developed - a bit of a behind the scenes look at some of the tools we use.
 
Moving to Git

 
So one of the changes I mentioned in my last letter was the fact that the development will be more open to everyone here. While I'm not opening the code up to anyone to view/download, I have made the transition from simply running the code locally and uploading via FTP to the server, to hosting everything within a git repository - specifically Bitbucket.
 
This is an important change for many reasons. One, all my code and every single change/update I make, is all automatically backed up. If something breaks or doesn't work out, I can simply go in and revert the code back to an earlier working copy. Secondly, this opens the door to bringing on more people to help work on DS itself. They'll be able to download the code through the repository, work on things on their local computer, and push the changes back, updating everything and everyone all at once.
 
While not everyone has access to this, I have hooked it up to Twitter. Every change and update that is made to the code, is automatically tweeted to an account I created here: https://twitter.com/DS_commits. This'll also be featured in the footer of the website showing the last update that was made to the website in terms of development.
 
 
Project Management and Issue/Bug Tracking

 
Another addition I've made, is starting up a project manager / issue tracker. This will be open to the public to report issues, suggest features, and see the progress and next steps to be taken in the development process. I've settled on using Jira, which is created by the same people who run Bitbucket - so everything is nicely integrated with each other. If you're a Minecraft fan and have visited their issue tracker before, you'll notice that they're running Jira as well. Cool beans, no?
 
 
Once I've put in a little more data in the project tracker, I'll create a new thread here with links to everything if you wish to keep track of how things are going.

The following letter will contain a lot of developer jargon.
 
This letter will go over a couple of changes that have been made to how DS will be developed - a bit of a behind the scenes look at some of the tools we use.
 
Moving to Git

 
So one of the changes I mentioned in my last letter was the fact that the development will be more open to everyone here. While I'm not opening the code up to anyone to view/download, I have made the transition from simply running the code locally and uploading via FTP to the server, to hosting everything within a git repository - specifically Bitbucket.
 
This is an important change for many reasons. One, all my code and every single change/update I make, is all automatically backed up. If something breaks or doesn't work out, I can simply go in and revert the code back to an earlier working copy. Secondly, this opens the door to bringing on more people to help work on DS itself. They'll be able to download the code through the repository, work on things on their local computer, and push the changes back, updating everything and everyone all at once.
 
While not everyone has access to this, I have hooked it up to Twitter. Every change and update that is made to the code, is automatically tweeted to an account I created here: https://twitter.com/DS_commits. This'll also be featured in the footer of the website showing the last update that was made to the website in terms of development.
 
 
Project Management and Issue/Bug Tracking

 
Another addition I've made, is starting up a project manager / issue tracker. This will be open to the public to report issues, suggest features, and see the progress and next steps to be taken in the development process. I've settled on using Jira, which is created by the same people who run Bitbucket - so everything is nicely integrated with each other. If you're a Minecraft fan and have visited their issue tracker before, you'll notice that they're running Jira as well. Cool beans, no?
 
 
Once I've put in a little more data in the project tracker, I'll create a new thread here with links to everything if you wish to keep track of how things are going.

Oh, this is looking to be absolutely amazing!

It looks very promising! Awesome web-design! 

I almost forgot about this... good to see that it hasn't died and might be finished.

That's a big project to make a websie and to want to collect the more complete data base in J-music.
Good luck ^^

Yaaaasss that spreadsheet I spent about 12 hours updating with Penicillin's discography will be finally be put to use!

That's a great project, and not an easy feat. I wish you and everyone involved luck and endurance in pulling it all together, keep it up!
 
How extensive will the database end up being? Like, what kind of information will you cover? Also, will it involve user input etc. or will mods/specific people keep everything up to date and building the database? Users being able to input at least some things would be pretty effective in filling up the database with artists and info, even if it still required some level moderation...

I won't speak for Kai, but as far as once was intendend (and so far as I know) it's meant to be an open platform.
Everyone can add and edit stuff, to a certain degree, like we can on Wikipedia, though there will be a team monitoring these changes.
 
And the purpose is of it being so complete as it can get. Biography, discography, member descriptions, past members, etc

I really like the design and layout. A couple questions (sorry if answered before in any other DS thread):
-How is it related to MH? I mean that I want to know in wich ways the two sites will interact with each other. Maybe MH will be the future DS forum, or the community mentioned in OP?
-Is there anything decided in terms of criteria for artists visibility on the page? In the visual example Kai shows a Plastic Tree feature wich is news related. I understand this probably a placeholder but it got me thinking about if the featured bands would be based on news, database updates or any other factor.

Thanks a lot of answering!

What kind of database are you using? Relational database?? CAN I QUERY THE SHIT OUT OF IT?!?!!?!?
It would be cool to do end of year statistics on how many new bands formed and how many broke up.
WOULDN'T THAT BE COOL?!? Then make pie charts and graphs and all that pretty shit.

I could build infographics for that data xD

Thank you all for the encouragements! You all bring up valid questions~
 
How extensive will the database end up being? Like, what kind of information will you cover?
When we start out, it'll be fairly small. It'll mainly comprise of a band profile consisting of a biography about the band - kinda how Last.FM is right now. We'll be building upon this though, adding new features and information blocks, including band member/artist profiles and complete discography information. This only touches the tip of the iceberg in what we want to do though. But, as Aion said - our goal is to cover as much as possible - especially when it comes to lesser known obscure/indie bands.
 
 
Also, will it involve user input etc. or will mods/specific people keep everything up to date and building the database?
In order to help maintain legitimate information, it'll be a sort of "closed" wiki type system. Basically, we'll have a set of trusted users to help maintain and build the database - there is really no limit to the number of people that can be in this trusted group. We'll have some sort of system to apply for this type of position after the site is launched.
 
 
How is it related to MH? I mean that I want to know in which ways the two sites will interact with each other. Maybe MH will be the future DS forum, or the community mentioned in OP?
It's roots are not related to MH in any way. DS was a project that Manda and I had been working on prior to us coming here (DS started around 2007, and Manda ran it by herself even before then). When TW was in shambles and had no hosting, we stepped up to offer to host the forum. At the time we had our own small forum on DS, which we got rid of in sight of striking up a sort of... partnership with everyone here. With that, the plan is to integrate the user accounts here into DS - meaning you can log into DS with your MH account. But yes, the community I spoke of was the current user base on MH as well as the new members that join us all through DS.
 
 
Is there anything decided in terms of criteria for artists visibility on the page? In the visual example Kai shows a Plastic Tree feature which is news related. I understand this probably a placeholder but it got me thinking about if the featured bands would be based on news, database updates or any other factor.
There will be many placeholders for different parts of the website on the home page. The screenshot shown in my original post is a very very small portion of the overall page, with the intention that the slider will be featured news items. There will be no preference to what type of band or style of music is shown on the front page (if you were worried that it would be centered around visual kei).
 
There are also planned sections showing the latest additions to the database, latest updates made in the database, blog and articles section, and more.

A lot of you have asked what Deadeyes-star is. In short, it'll be a Japanese music database. It's purpose is to close in the gap between english speaking fans and the Japanese music scene.
 
For years I've used JaME and other related websites to try and track down bands, stay up to date on new releases, and find information on their releases. There really is no definitive place to find all this information. There's Last.FM, JaME, Visunavi, grassthreads, and even YouTube. Deadeyes-star aims to combine the best of all these resources into one, and building a community around it.
 
Above you'll find a lovely screenshot of the first sneak peek at what the website will be when its first released. One of the problems I've made, is holding everything off until I had everything complete. Well - in reality this method will never work. So the plan is to release the website in stages, with each stage building up off the other adding new features and fixing bugs as we move along.
 
The second problem we made, was trying to keep everything a secret. From now on, everything will be announced publicly. I've even come to terms that this is a project I can't pull off by myself. Right now the team consists of me and Manda. I work on the actual develop and coding of the website, where manda focuses on the design and graphics. We'd like this to grow to help in development.
 
Soon, I'll make another post to recruit for help if you think you or anyone you know may want to join in on the development side of this.
 
 
For the time being, if you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask away!
 
Kai

A lot of you have asked what Deadeyes-star is. In short, it'll be a Japanese music database. It's purpose is to close in the gap between english speaking fans and the Japanese music scene.
 
For years I've used JaME and other related websites to try and track down bands, stay up to date on new releases, and find information on their releases. There really is no definitive place to find all this information. There's Last.FM, JaME, Visunavi, grassthreads, and even YouTube. Deadeyes-star aims to combine the best of all these resources into one, and building a community around it.
 
Above you'll find a lovely screenshot of the first sneak peek at what the website will be when its first released. One of the problems I've made, is holding everything off until I had everything complete. Well - in reality this method will never work. So the plan is to release the website in stages, with each stage building up off the other adding new features and fixing bugs as we move along.
 
The second problem we made, was trying to keep everything a secret. From now on, everything will be announced publicly. I've even come to terms that this is a project I can't pull off by myself. Right now the team consists of me and Manda. I work on the actual develop and coding of the website, where manda focuses on the design and graphics. We'd like this to grow to help in development.
 
Soon, I'll make another post to recruit for help if you think you or anyone you know may want to join in on the development side of this.
 
 
For the time being, if you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask away!
 
Kai

A lot of you have asked what Deadeyes-star is. In short, it'll be a Japanese music database. It's purpose is to close in the gap between english speaking fans and the Japanese music scene.
 
For years I've used JaME and other related websites to try and track down bands, stay up to date on new releases, and find information on their releases. There really is no definitive place to find all this information. There's Last.FM, JaME, Visunavi, grassthreads, and even YouTube. Deadeyes-star aims to combine the best of all these resources into one, and building a community around it.
 
Above you'll find a lovely screenshot of the first sneak peek at what the website will be when its first released. One of the problems I've made, is holding everything off until I had everything complete. Well - in reality this method will never work. So the plan is to release the website in stages, with each stage building up off the other adding new features and fixing bugs as we move along.
 
The second problem we made, was trying to keep everything a secret. From now on, everything will be announced publicly. I've even come to terms that this is a project I can't pull off by myself. Right now the team consists of me and Manda. I work on the actual develop and coding of the website, where manda focuses on the design and graphics. We'd like this to grow to help in development.
 
Soon, I'll make another post to recruit for help if you think you or anyone you know may want to join in on the development side of this.
 
 
For the time being, if you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask away!
 
Kai

This looks really awesome!

A lot of you have asked what Deadeyes-star is. In short, it'll be a Japanese music database. It's purpose is to close in the gap between english speaking fans and the Japanese music scene.
 
For years I've used JaME and other related websites to try and track down bands, stay up to date on new releases, and find information on their releases. There really is no definitive place to find all this information. There's Last.FM, JaME, Visunavi, grassthreads, and even YouTube. Deadeyes-star aims to combine the best of all these resources into one, and building a community around it.
 
Above you'll find a lovely screenshot of the first sneak peek at what the website will be when its first released. One of the problems I've made, is holding everything off until I had everything complete. Well - in reality this method will never work. So the plan is to release the website in stages, with each stage building up off the other adding new features and fixing bugs as we move along.
 
The second problem we made, was trying to keep everything a secret. From now on, everything will be announced publicly. I've even come to terms that this is a project I can't pull off by myself. Right now the team consists of me and Manda. I work on the actual develop and coding of the website, where manda focuses on the design and graphics. We'd like this to grow to help in development.
 
Soon, I'll make another post to recruit for help if you think you or anyone you know may want to join in on the development side of this.
 
 
For the time being, if you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask away!
 
Kai

Kaye you stole words out of my mouth on this matter.