Xaquseg 713 followers

Xaquseg is the system administrator for FIMFiction, as well as various misc. development, especially related to security. Non-technical problems are probably best asked to other staff members.

News Archive

  • 197 weeks
    Downtime & Server Move

    Hi all. Firstly, apologies for the extended period of unexpected downtime. Obviously any kind of downtime is non ideal, but unexpected is more annoying all around.

    On Friday morning (GMT) we experienced a hardware failure on our database server. To our knowledge there is no data loss of any kind. We have fairly regular backups hosted off-site, regardless. The exact cause isn't entirely clear at this time, but instead of wrestling with trying to get the hardware sorted (it was a dedicated server) we decided that this was a good opportunity to make a server move we've been planning for a long time over to Digital Ocean.

    Read More

    236 comments · 15,315 views
  • 274 weeks
    BBCode updates

    Performance improvements

    Over the last few days I've been working on improving the performance of the BBCode parser. I've managed to implement a few major optimizations, reducing the run time in common cases to around 1/4th to 1/20th compared to the older version. This has reduced total server-side render times on some of the more complicated test pages I've been using to around 50ms–70ms, which should be a noticeable improvement.

    New features

    Opacity

    Read More

    49 comments · 4,870 views
  • 297 weeks
    Recent Changelog

    We've done various unannounced changes of the past few weeks so I thought I'd group up the things we've done so you guys know what's changed.

    • Added account linking page for Patreon / Twitter
    • Added ability to cross post stories, blogs and bookshelf additions to Twitter
    • Added twitter userpage module
    • Added account deletion page
    • Reorganised user toolbar dropdown to better fit more items
    • Added session management page to see logins and active sessions on your account
    • Added new articles system and moved some existing ones into it
    • Redesigned PM page a bit to be cleaner
    • Increased font size in major places across the site to improve readability
    • New cookie consent controls for EU users and updated privacy policy
    • Recommended groups list on groups page - WIP
    • Tooltips in many locations around the site with helpful tips

    Read More

    114 comments · 5,990 views
  • 298 weeks
    Help Articles

    Something I've worked on the last couple of days is adding the ability for us to add arbitrary "articles" to the site which we can use for various things. Sort of an extension on the manual articles we've added in the past like the bbcode page, writing guide, etc.

    So far I've added 3 guides:

    I'd love to know if you guys have any idea for articles that would have helped you out when starting out or anything else that comes to mind.

    65 comments · 5,166 views
  • 325 weeks
    Night Mode

    I've been working on it for ages but only really got the impetus to finish all of it off over the last few days. In the "settings" dropdown at the top on desktop, or the bottom of the slide out bar on mobile you'll find a toggle for night mode. Enjoy!

    Oh, and although I've tried to cover everything there is a 100% chance I've missed styling some things so apologies in advance for any funky pages.

    246 comments · 6,754 views
  • 326 weeks
    Additional Search Update

    Hey folks,

    Over the last few days I've added a few things to the new search system. A lot of people were unhappy with not being able to filter various things as quickly as they used to be able to. To that end, I've added a little filter dropdown to the right of the search box which effectively contains everything the old sidebar used to. It even has some niceties like quick word count filters and a highly rated filter.

    Read More

    132 comments · 5,270 views
  • 327 weeks
    December 2017 Update

    Hey guys, got a whole bunch of updates for you today.

    Tags

    This is a small but important step on our way to the tagging system I envision. The existing way we handled things like characters and genres has all been merged into a single tagging system. That won't result in much difference for you viewing and using the site but it makes it a lot easier to add new tags especially.

    We now have a couple of new tag types: series and warnings.

    The series tag is for identifying what series (franchise) your fanfiction contains. I've added a whole ton of various TV shows, movies, comics, books and games but clearly we will have to add a ton more in the coming future. Stories must also contain one of the four MLP tags which are FIM, EqG, Movie and Comic, as this is a pony fanfic site after all. Feel free to bug me on Discord if you have a requirement for a series to be added.

    Read More

    630 comments · 13,753 views
  • 327 weeks
    Math BBCode tag

    I've added [math] and [mathblock] BBCode tags, which can be used to display formatted math. We've had a few requests for this, particularly for group forum threads and blog posts. Most math-related TeX syntax is supported. (We are currently using MathJax to handle the layout.)

    The documentation from the BBCode guide is repeated below for your convenience.

    Read More

    84 comments · 4,393 views
  • 350 weeks
    Fimfiction API

    If you're not a developer you can probably ignore this post.

    It's been like 6 years, but hey, things take time. The API is currently very WIP still but it's ready for people to get working on in our development chat room.

    API documentation can be found at https://www.fimfiction.net/developers/api/v2/docs and you should join the Discord Chat and PM me to add you to the private API channel and I can help you get started. The functionality is very limited right now but I'm dedicating all my time to it at the moment and would love to have people add their input to the process.

    60 comments · 7,364 views
  • 354 weeks
    New BBCode Tags

    Hey guys,

    One of the features in this new update was reader-side paragraph formatting. This helps improve consistency for readers across the site, especially for those of us who can’t stand reading indented text on a computer screen.

    However, one thing that wasn’t accounted for was the legitimate need for specific indenting of passages and for certain blocks of text to have no paragraph formatting. Some examples would be lyrics and poetry.

    Taking this into account, we have come up with a couple of new tags that remedy this situation which are documented below (copied directly from the bbcode guide)


    [indent] Indent

    The indent tag can be used to, unsurprisingly, indent portions of your text.

    [indent]The indent tag can be used to, unsurprisingly, indent portions of your text.[/indent]

    It also support levels of indenting

    Read More

    168 comments · 6,377 views
Mar
28th
2015

Site Update » Issues related to incomplete registrations · 5:18am Mar 28th, 2015

Early December, we accidentally broke the job that cleans up user account registrations that didn't have their email validated within 24 hours. This caused a number of issues related to usernames not freeing up when an incorrect email was used, forcing some users to select a username other than the one they originally wanted, or to use a secondary email address.

Today, due to a related bug report, I noticed the job was broken, and deployed a fix. All accounts that should've been cleaned up before have been cleaned up as part of this fix. This won't impact users who verified their account, and it was never possible for anyone to login under these accounts as they were never activated, so this should do nothing more than free about 2500 usernames and email addresses.

If you were affected by this issue, we apologize for the inconvenience. If you registered with a secondary email, or picked another username, you can change both from your account settings page, if you wish to.

Report Xaquseg · 3,642 views ·
Comments ( 27 )
Meeester
Moderator

Now I can be the real me I always wanted without someone else having the Horsecock username

How very nice of you. :pinkiehappy:

that didn't have their email validated within 24 hours.

Honestly, this just makes me wonder why people don't validate their email immediately... :rainbowhuh:

2917715
Agreed. Shouldn't the process be:
1) Make username
2) Send email
3) Wait for email
4) Verify.

Why wait?

Hurray for Xaq fixing stuff!

2917715
2917724

I've seen system hiccups in some mail alias services which could sometimes cause delays of over 24 hours.

WTF. This is a fansite. It can't be run well. I demand a Recount. F u Floridica, upvoting Kanya and shit.


2917701 Nope, that's actually one of my 5000 upvote bots.


2917715 It's often that something was input incorrectly. I've also had it myself where the internet went down immediately after entering information so I couldn't access the emails. Ahh the days before smartphones.

2917809

Damn AI's.

I hate the matrix. Time to Johnny Quest this shit.

2917803
I don't think I've ever had something like that happen to me, but I can see your point. Thank you for providing a reason.

2917806
Thank you for providing a reason I completely forgot about. :facehoof: :twilightsheepish:

Is there a difference between validating and verifying? The site has said my registration is unverified ever since I signed up. (It says to verify so I can get emails from FIMFiction, and I don't want emails from FIMFiction, so I haven't bothered.)

2917785
The X Lord has spoken!

Xaquseg
Server Administrator

2917903
Technically no, however it's pretty easy to disable email on your userpage, and if you don't verify your email, you cannot reset your password. (so if you forget it, that's it.)

At some point the distinction might be dropped and we might force-verify old accounts that currently aren't, so... I would recommend doing it.

PresentPerfect
Author Interviewer

>tfw Xaquseg

#15 · Mar 28th, 2015 · · ·

The day of reckoning is coming. Do you have a plan for how to increase server space when this site opens up to more than pony?

2917701 But we all love you just the way you are! Plz don't change! :raritydespair:

2917917

Also, just a few quick questions.

How much does it cost to keep the servers up every month. I've been trying to get a site off the ground that will be like a hub for a huge list of things. It will include everything of what the fandom creates: videos, songs, stories, art and games. But the server costs will be huge.. I'm just trying to look for advice from people who had the experienced... (I'm quite younger, so there's not a lot here)

Plus, I heard that Knighty is thinking of developing an API for the site. I personally think that will come in handy for my site... Anything to say about the API?

Thanks~

2918180
This might be a little out there, but I'm speculating it will involve purchasing/renting additional servers.

Wanderer D
Moderator

2918474 Along with a salary, I hope.

Along the lines of the last paragraph, I utilized an alt email for this account but have been unable to access said email account. I have tried to change my email account in "Account settings" but every time I change it, the email is always reverted to the original.
What's going on?

Xaquseg
Server Administrator

2918832
Make sure you're not getting some sort of validation error on the form submission. The most likely issue is you failed to fill out your current password at the bottom of the page.

Xaquseg
Server Administrator

2920121
Pick "Edit account" from the user menu (that's the one with your username on it, on the green bar)

2920060
I'm not getting an validation issues. I fill out my main email, put in my password and when the page refreshes after hitting "Save" the old email is still there. It is still there as well.

Although I wasn't affected, I would just like to say thank you. You have took your time to help other people, and I am forever grateful :twilightsmile:

Eldorado, Xaq, thank you both for helping me.

When I approached Eldorado with this issue, I thought it would be a simple fix for him, a click or two. It wasn't, and I would have readily accepted having to choose a different name. I had missed the email verification deadline, after all. My own damn fault! Instead, my little request was apparently escalated to a bug report and then fixed, quickly and without any fuss.

It was a little thing but it meant a lot to me. You cared! Thank you.

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