Upcoming UTAU.me Project

[Hentai]

So I finished working on UtaForum for the most part, and my VocaListener Radio Project is on indefinite hold till KarenT gets its act together, now it is time to decide what to do next.

I got paid recently and beyond buying a fancy new server I also grabbed a bunch of domains I have been eyeing. One of them was the UTAU.me domain.

My initial idea was to just make it the profile page for my UTAU Otakune Weeaboo and setup a blog at like Otakune.UTAU.me or UTAU.me/Weeaboo or something like that. While I still can probably do that I am unsure what to do with the main domain.

I know what I am doing with it. Would you like me to do anything for you one it? Host your UTAUloid or Project blog, make a gallery, a banner exchange for said hosted blogs, maybe you want to start a team blog on the main domain?

I am not sure what I want to do with it beyond a blog for Weeaboo but I can tell you two things it won't be:

• A Forum, that's what this place is for.
• A Social Network, that's what UO is for.

So lets go into what the poll options are for those interested.

Spoiler: Poll Options Explanation

UTAUloid/Project Hosting
Free hosting for people's UTAUloid/Project Pages. Would likely include things like a blog, a gallery, and a small amount of download space. Would probably make a standard rollout that you could customize further.

UTAU Profiles/Directory
Like our UTAU Directory subforum except more organized, more easily searchable, and a bit more structured.

Video Share/Voting Site
Like MikuBook but for UTAU. People can post embeds from YouTube, Nico, etc. and then upvote their favorites, tag them, and discover similar videos to their likes.

General UTAU Blog
Maybe some sort of team-blog or podcast? UTAU is kinda a hard topic to cover so I will defer to your expertise.

URL Shortening Service
I dunno, I have the script lying around if you want it. Not sure how useful it would be since we already got a ton of them.

UTAU Banner Exchange
Probably would tie into the first poll option where said hosted blogs could share banners at the top of the page sorta like UtaForum already does.

Imageboard or Something
I dunno, would probably be a *booru-style rather than a *-chan style if you guys really wanted this.

Other, posting in thread.
I am open to suggestions! Post one if you got one.

Something totally undrelated!
Something totally unrelated to UTAU. Maybe use it to host my old Pokemon romhacks?

You can vote for a maximum of 3 at once!

 

[MystSaphyr]

An UTAU directory would be FANTASTIC. We really need one!

Many UTAU users have blogs or websites, but the majority of them still just use the wikia.... and well, we know where THAT has gotten us, between the Books,LLC. incident and repeated vandalism. A forum-based UTAU directory is hard to manage, and just doesn't look as nice. I would think the site would have simple templates/forms, maybe one for UTAU project page and others for the UTAUs themselves.

I wouldn't necessarily think of it as a blog though, just a directory. Most people have their own websites or blogs, or use twitter/UO/the forum to promote other stuff about their UTAU. Maybe have a simple status update system that's tied-in with how the person edits the page (like a wiki): "So and so updated Blahne Blah's voicebank to Act 3!" or "Whatshisface's design has been updated!" or something, so it's more UTAU-voicebank/character related rather than a place to spam covers and such.

 

[scarfu]

Would it be possible to host videos individually on that domain? Like, without the use of youtube or another video hosting site? If so, I REALLY think that'd be a fabulous route to go-- a lot of UTAU users have been mentioning the desire for something like this and I think it'd be great... A place SPECIFICALLY where UTAU videos can be hosted, aside from Youtube. Just a video site SPECIFICALLY for UTAU videos...

 

[MystSaphyr]

Would it be possible to host videos individually on that domain? Like, without the use of youtube or another video hosting site? If so, I REALLY think that'd be a fabulous route to go-- a lot of UTAU users have been mentioning the desire for something like this and I think it'd be great... A place SPECIFICALLY where UTAU videos can be hosted, aside from Youtube. Just a video site SPECIFICALLY for UTAU videos...

I'd also love for this to be an option, but I know how much hosting and streaming videos puts a strain on a server. I think we'd have to go back to the dark days of 240p for that to be possible on even a relatively small scale like this xD;;

 

[Yue Nagareboshi]

UTAUloid/Project Hosting

• I dont think that is a good idea, mostly because it would require a really HUGE server. And to be honest, a lot of people just quit their UTAULOIDS without even saying a anything at all (like some of the UTAULOIDS inside the UTAU Wiki). We still have free hosts to upload our stuff (mediafire, 4shared, box.net, dropbox), so this option can be on "oh hold" from my POV; until we get no resources anymore.

UTAU Profiles/Directory

• I voted for this, since it's one of the most useful. There is a plan to move the wiki to a newer site; but at the moment Damenesuke-kun and Orochi Herman are having some IRL issues they have to handle first. I don't have a lot of information about this because I joined as UTAU wiki admin recently, but I will try to contact them so I can get the last info of this. Maybe we can merge the ideas and have a better database :D! obviously we'll need to have people moderating the articles to prevent vandalizm (which is one of my biggest issues recently in the wiki, lots of cases of vandalism)

Video Share/Voting Site

• No... it's the same problem like hosting VBs.... this idea would take a LOT of virtual space with the current flood of videos per day. We still have youtube/NND, so I think this may not be an urgent priority

General UTAU Blog?

• We have tumblr... some users use that site for their UTAU blogs (i do) but having one that can be shared as a community (like UTAUdays or Nyappon) would be so nice to keep in contact with other user's projects. Also voted for this.

URL Shortening Service

• If by this you mean an auto-shortening, I am ok with the idea... yet I didn't vote for this since I dont feel it as extremly necesary.

UTAU Banner Exchange

• I have no idea what is this, so I can't give a real POV until explained :D!

Imageboard or Something

• hmmm like art galleries? or just random UTAULOID pics/reference sheets?

Other, posting in thread.

• I voted on this area, because I would like to suggest a ust/vsq/vsqx directory. A well organized one that includes the author of the ust, the reference to his/her video, the link to it or possibly hosting them (without instrumentals for obvious reasons) would be pretty useful for everyone!

As I said, these are just my arguments to the suggestions given here for us; as well I gave a new one. I am thinkin more on the economics of the virtual space to our convenience... What I worry is that, if at some point this server needs donations to keep it up, I hope the community cooperates for the cause.

Sorry if my english is hard to understand sometimes... and now even more since it's almost 5 am XD!

 

[Hentai]

[quote author=scarfu link=topic=286.msg1190#msg1190 date=1328258146]
Would it be possible to host videos individually on that domain? Like, without the use of youtube or another video hosting site? If so, I REALLY think that'd be a fabulous route to go-- a lot of UTAU users have been mentioning the desire for something like this and I think it'd be great... A place SPECIFICALLY where UTAU videos can be hosted, aside from Youtube. Just a video site SPECIFICALLY for UTAU videos...

I'd also love for this to be an option, but I know how much hosting and streaming videos puts a strain on a server. I think we'd have to go back to the dark days of 240p for that to be possible on even a relatively small scale like this xD;;
[/quote]

The issue isn't so much the processing power. The server has no lack of that. I got an equal share in some 16 cores of Xenon processor and 1GB of dedicated RAM. Server even came with a dedicated FFMPEG processor.

Bandwidth isn't an issue either because I pay for the port not bandwidth. I can use as much bandwidth as that 100Mbps port can handle. The main issue with a video hosting site over lets say a video sharing site is the HDD space. ATM I got some 75GB of storage space which would get eaten VERY quickly by video.

Audio hosting? That is a possibility, certainly a possibility but as @Yue_Nagareboshi pointed out  there is no way I could do it better than existing services like SoundCloud and I still have my love affair with Dropbox.

Judging from the responses to this thread I think maybe a non-Wiki Utauloid database might be worth exploring. Myst brought up a good point with the Books. LLC incident on the Wikia so I am going to start exploring the possibilities on how to best make this happen.

Other, posting in thread.

• I voted on this area, because I would like to suggest a ust/vsq/vsqx directory. A well organized one that includes the author of the ust, the reference to his/her video, the link to it or possibly hosting them (without instrumentals for obvious reasons) would be pretty useful for everyone!

Very good suggestion, if I am already going to be hammering out a database system for UTAUloid adding something like this shouldn't be terribly hard but the first issue I think of comes down to permissions.

IE should this be a staff-administered DB, should we accept user submissions, or maybe go with an 'open' wiki-like structure? Its something worth considering when we start thinking of DBs like this.

 

[aquatius]

I would say an UTAUloid/ust directory would be the most useful, but only if submissions required approval. Otherwise it would just end up as messy as the wikia.

 

[nils8950]

Maybe you could try to do utau directory as subdomain and the main domain as shortening service? I think that'd be pretty awesome. If that is not possible, the directory probably makes a lot more sense.

 

[adriann]

IE should this be a staff-administered DB, should we accept user submissions, or maybe go with an 'open' wiki-like structure? Its something worth considering when we start thinking of DBs like this.

Regarding vandalism, the 'open' structure might be something you would consider against doing? Apparently, the more you try to regulate anything that is public... y'know
If it were to be staff-administered, you'd still have to have some sort of request/ submission system in order to get UTAUloids listed, you know? Well... then the issue of updating each page or w/e rears its head... but then that's what admins are for, yes?

uh uh those are my two cents!

 

[Hentai]

Maybe you could try to do utau directory as subdomain and the main domain as shortening service? I think that'd be pretty awesome. If that is not possible, the directory probably makes a lot more sense.

Well part of the reason there are multiple poll options is because you aren't limited to just 1 thing. Entire reason URL shortening service is up there is because I have been trying to convince people to switch to sustainable downloading platforms such as Dropbox.

Thing about Dropbox is its public share URLs are quite ugly. Even if only for personal use I was gonna put a URL shortner on the dl.utau.me subdomain so that long ugly Dropbox url could become something like 'dl.utau.me/otakune' or similar.

[quote author=Hentai link=topic=286.msg1213#msg1213 date=1328286517]
IE should this be a staff-administered DB, should we accept user submissions, or maybe go with an 'open' wiki-like structure? Its something worth considering when we start thinking of DBs like this.

Regarding vandalism, the 'open' structure might be something you would consider against doing? Apparently, the more you try to regulate anything that is public... y'know
If it were to be staff-administered, you'd still have to have some sort of request/ submission system in order to get UTAUloids listed, you know? Well... then the issue of updating each page or w/e rears its head... but then that's what admins are for, yes?

uh uh those are my two cents!
[/quote]

Well the plans for the UTAUloid DB is that it will be user administered. IE if a user submits an UTAU they are the only ones (besides the moderation staff) that can edit that page so I fully expect vandalism to be a non-issue.

So if I went with the UTAUloid DB idea for the main page there would probably be strict rules that you could only submit UTAUloids you own, and those pages would be your own, assuming you meet some very specific minimum-quality guidelines.

IE will probably make rules/classifications for completed banks, and minimum amount of information necessary to be listed, probably a lot like our current UTAU Database subforum except easier to search, and a bit more organized.

In the case of VIPPERloids and popular Japanese banks that deserve entries then you can leave those articles for the staff to create. If the staff created a page for you and you would like to claim ownership there will also probably be a system in place for that as well.

Anyone tries creating pages for UTAU not their own out of malice, since anonymous submissions won't be allowed, it will be more than easy enough to change ownership of articles and ban the offending users.

Part of the reason I think user-administration of pages is important is because many UTAU are ever evolving with new revisions, extends, appends, and versions and I want the articles to be as relevant as possible. So if you released a new version you should be able to edit your UTAUloid's page with the latest info.

Would simply be too burdensome to ask that of the staff and I think having user-owned pages would make it a lot more personal, and make the site something you are invested in, rather than something owned by someone else, or completely anonymous like a wiki.

 

[Dojan]

I don't really see why we'd need to list VIPPERloids to begin with.
I'm all for a UTAU directory however, great idea.

 

[shinami]

I don't really see why we'd need to list VIPPERloids to begin with.
I'm all for a UTAU directory however, great idea.

People in Overseas sometimes have trouble finding Japanese banks like the VIPPERs, especially if they're new. It's nice to have those pages there for them to go to for easy, explained use. Because honestly too many people ask how to get the VIPPERs no matter what. I support having the VIPPER and important Japanese UTAU pages.

I wish I could vote for Yue's idea, ahhhhhh~
Seriously, what I really support is the profile/directory/ust place combo that's been discussed.
For URL shortening I just use TinyURL - there are lots of sites for that. But if you want to add it on, go ahead.

 

[MystSaphyr]

I don't really see why we'd need to list VIPPERloids to begin with.
I'm all for a UTAU directory however, great idea.

Well it wouldn't JUST be VIPPERloids, but Japanese UTAUs in general. Most of the JPloid pages on the wikia were made overseas anyway.

 

[Yue Nagareboshi]

[quote author=Dojan link=topic=286.msg1227#msg1227 date=1328297405]
I don't really see why we'd need to list VIPPERloids to begin with.
I'm all for a UTAU directory however, great idea.

Well it wouldn't JUST be VIPPERloids, but Japanese UTAUs in general. Most of the JPloid pages on the wikia were made overseas anyway.
[/quote]

I agree with myst... inside the wiki we have a lot of JP UTAULOIDS that are liked by the OS users, and actually we need to update those pages and add even more. But with the few info we can get, is hard.

JPloids are needed. We like them, they inspire us. Being a just OS-database would be rude from out part.

 

[zinfandel]

I like the idea of a UTAU directory and Banner exchange, be cool if a widget was hosted on the site that cycles though banners that can be embedded on blogs and websites.

 

[Aline]

I chose general UTAU blog, imageboard and Other because I've always wanted to see an UTAbooru with its own server, but since boorus don't  properly count as imageboards, well...

But hell yeah, I'd love to see UTAUchan, too, if UTAbooru isn't a good idea. It'd be amazing.

I even have the idea for the categories!

UTAUchan

Home
News
FAQ

--Boards--

~UTAU~
Defoko
Kasane Teto
Momone Momo
VIPPERLOIDs
Other UTAUloids (both overseas and Japanese)

~Other Singing Androids~
Vocaloid
Macloid
Sinsy
Akume Iku
Other (Vocalina, LaLavoice, FL Studio, Cantor, etc)

~Etc~
Cosplay
Anime and Manga
Games (videogames, computer games, tabletop...)
Comics and Cartoons
Homestuck (lol, I couldn't resist)
Internet
Television
Random (Because no imageboard is an imageboard without this little cesspool)

---

That's all I can think about

 

[Hentai]

Alright I went ahead and opened the website for a Beta. There is dust everything, and there are a couple known issues but for the most part everything seems to be in working order.

I invite all of you to submit some profiles, look for bugs, and submit feedback either here or on the sticky thread.

 

[EspeonLady]

I'm all for an imageboard really- Similar to the tinyboard format would be simple enough to work for everyone.

 

[Zoku]

Definitely UTAU Profiles, URL Shortening, and Imageboard.