[Linkshell] Kisses/Kissed - Social/Event LS recruiting!

[alexi14]

Apparently anyone can use your event system for free.
http://kissesls.net/events.php?i=ss

Wow so fast! A+ on response rate!

When I created the website, I kept in mind how annoying it was to join other Linkshell's websites. Even Vicious, you must apply/signup, wait for a leader to come online to be approved, and then hope they approve it, It could take days sometimes! I didn't want that with Kissesls.net

Instead, I made sure that our system could instantly get you into the website, get you the information you need, and get you out. Our outlook is that we have nothing to hide. If someone wants to sign up for our website and read our forums, why should we care? It's not as if we have some super secret we're hiding. I've actually even considering making a separate website which has similar tools that other Linkshells can use.

Now, as the LS gets bigger, and more popular, we do understand that more people/more haters are likely to sign up, and do things similar to what you just did. Our response to this is to put in a system where the website checks the Lodestone Kisses LS member list, and checks if the user is on that list. If so, the user is permitted to sign up, if not, the user must enter a password that someone would give the user.

We haven't gotten to a point where this is necessary yet, but we do have it available if needed. In this case, I just IP banned you. I realize members can get around IP bans, but we have methods of taking care of that as well hehe

[Treach]

my feelings are hurt, I was just testing your security.

Needing an actual lodestone character name to create an account is rather neat but you need some kind of verification to prevent people from signing up as one of your 128 members, pretending to be them then starting problems.

Dunno what is with the fascination of allowing everything to be public though, and why you would just let anyone sign up and have access to your event creator. Although I guess if everyone is a leader what would be the point of not allowing everyone, still I think you might want to incorporate ranks and permissions to save you the trouble of having to manually fix stuff every time someone gets bored.

[alexi14]

my feelings are hurt, I was just testing your security.

Needing an actual lodestone character name to create an account is rather neat but you need some kind of verification to prevent people from signing up as one of your 128 members, pretending to be them then starting problems.

Dunno what is with the fascination of allowing everything to be public though, and why you would just let anyone sign up and have access to your event creator. Although I guess if everyone is a leader what would be the point of not allowing everyone, still I think you might want to incorporate ranks and permissions to save you the trouble of having to manually fix stuff every time someone gets bored.

Thanks for the advice. Um, I think there are a couple different ways to view people. One is to assume everyone is evil, and to prepare your site with lots of restrictions and permissions. The other is to assume everyone is good, and add just enough security to minimize damage if someone does decide to be evil. The higher security you go, the harder it is on the user. When I made this website, we had maybe 40 users. We were very small, and I didn't think about maybe someday someone would try to ruin it. I'm 15 after all, so you can't overestimate me too much.

It is possible to sign up as a member of kisses, but that is assuming that member has not signed up already, which if we did add this type of system, we would try our best to make sure our members signed up. The problem with checking the user signing up against the lodestone member's list is there might be a 20-30 minute delay between the time a user joins the LS, and the lodestone updates. This lag is not something I'd like. Additionally, I like if random people sign up, because they get to see how hard we've worked. No doubt you noticed your MyData page when you signed up. If you would have clicked any of your crafting classes, you would have found that the website would suggest synths for you based on your level of that craft, and told you how much exp you should get from that synth. It's not pretty yet, but it is a really great tool. We don't want to hide this tool, we want to show people who are interested that we really are doing our best "Sin and I" to make Kisses a great LS to be in. We want to set our members up for success.

Now, the problem with ranks is it gives users a false sense of entitlement. With power comes corruption right? Every once in awhile, even I find myself getting special treatment in my LS just because I'm leader. I've also had mood swings, and asked a member to leave just because he insulted me. I'm not proud of it at all, and it's only happened once, but it is a part of human nature.

Making everyone leader, and allowing anyone to create events allows members to choose weather they want to take that effort and make themselves leader or not. Some noob cannot come into Kisses, and create an event and expect that event to be full. People simple won't join. A very veteran member of Kisses though can create an event and find it's 16/8 the next day. This is because people know that this veteran member is a good leader, and leads successful parties. This is the kind of leader I want Kisses to have. A leader who isn't a leader because he's appointed, but because he's respected by the LS. There is no drama in the LS, and I feel that this plays a huge role in that reason.

I understand you think I'm 15, and full of drama, but you should understand that I am not really the "Leader" of Kisses. I almost never lead events. I am not pro like some of the other members, and I'm not really bossy. Instead, I really enjoy the roll of organizer. I love playing in the background, getting members into the Ls, keeping it alive, and setting up an environment where the LS can run itself absent me. Recently, I've only been logging in perhaps 2 hours a day, yet the LS continues to grow. This is because I am not the type of leader who is necessary. I am just an organizer who creates a system in which members can play together, grow together, and have fun together. This is why I like my rank/position system, and would prefer not to change it.

[Treach]

The ranks and permissions are to stop anyone who isn't in your linkshell from creating events, not to give your members superiority issues. You don't need people from other linkshells creating events on your website, that is a feature you should have on your other website you mentioned, the one for the tools.

I'm not really interested in debating good and evil with you or how great your linkshell can become, I just saw a flaw and pointed it out. Would have done the same to anyone else.

Oh btw, I'm not God Mode, that was just a funny name I saw. You should delete that account in case the real one decides to sign up.

[Triest]

Hey Alexi,

I have to admit, I like the site and some of it features. Would you mind sharing your site construct with me? I can't imagine you coded everything from scratch so is this joomla based? what forum software did you use? What about the events page is this a mod/plugin? I would be interested in using this in a different manner on a site I am building...not linkshell/ffxiv or game based at all. Any info you could spare would great appreciated. Thanks.

[alexi14]

Hey Alexi,

I have to admit, I like the site and some of it features. Would you mind sharing your site construct with me? I can't imagine you coded everything from scratch so is this joomla based? what forum software did you use? What about the events page is this a mod/plugin? I would be interested in using this in a different manner on a site I am building...not linkshell/ffxiv or game based at all. Any info you could spare would great appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Triest,

Believe it or not, it's all 100% custom. I did the database development, and the PHP/SQL/cURL/XML, and Sinful Virtue did the designs based off his creativity/html/javascript/css. It's one reason we're super proud of the site. We've put hundreds of hours into developing/designing it.

Sorry!

Astin

[Nero]

Hey Alexi,

I have to admit, I like the site and some of it features. Would you mind sharing your site construct with me? I can't imagine you coded everything from scratch so is this joomla based? what forum software did you use? What about the events page is this a mod/plugin? I would be interested in using this in a different manner on a site I am building...not linkshell/ffxiv or game based at all. Any info you could spare would great appreciated. Thanks.

There you go:

http://www.w3.org/standards/

Joomla is only for Database Management btw. If you look for Database Management i would go with Apexx.

[Triest]

There you go:

http://www.w3.org/standards/

Joomla is only for Database Management btw. If you look for Database Management i would go with Apexx.

Ummm, is the link just to make the point that she coded from scratch? I am jw cause I am familiar with W3 but that doesn't mean I can code. I was just wondering if she had used some base for her site that she built on. I use Joomla and I would say at this point it is more then just Database management, it provides a site structure.

I'll be honest I don't have enough knowledge about website design to hold a conversation, I just found it interesting that a 15 y/o had enough skill to manage that site from scratch. I am jelious. I can never quite bring myself to buckle down and learn html css java est..The best I could manage on my own would be a clunky, buggy page.

[Nero]

Ummm, is the link just to make the point that she coded from scratch? I am jw cause I am familiar with W3 but that doesn't mean I can code. I was just wondering if she had used some base for her site that she built on. I use Joomla and I would say at this point it is more then just Database management, it provides a site structure.

Ooooh. I missread your Post then, sorry for that. Yeah you can use Joomla nowadays for a lot of different things, but it basically was designed for DB Management, but yes you are right about Structures. I would say she got the Basecode from somewhere, since she said in a different Post that she is still learning, so the PHP/SQL/cURL/XML, she was talking about was prolly pulled out of different Sites/Tutorials/Examples i would assume. So its not from the "Scratch" or straight out of her head, since she is still learning.

I'll be honest I don't have enough knowledge about website design to hold a conversation, I just found it interesting that a 15 y/o had enough skill to manage that site from scratch. I am jelious. I can never quite bring myself to buckle down and learn html css java est..The best I could manage on my own would be a clunky, buggy page.

HTML is actually the Base you should learn if you want it to learn, everything else you can stack on that. Like PHP has similiar Syntax to C and Perl etc etc. So basically if you learn a language it will be easier to learn the next one.

[alexi14]

Hmm,

I started learning about 2 years ago. I played this text based game that was dieing, and I wanted really badly to remake it, and bring it back. I learned a little HTML from lesson, and then I just did a lot of googleing, and asking questions, and learned CSS. Then I jumped into PHP and SQL. At first, I would give up becasue I'd hit bugs that I just could never figure out. Mostly syntax errors looking back. In order to KNOW the error, you have to have a good understanding of the code, and know perfectly how all the syntax should be. Now though, I know enough SQL, PHP, CSS, HTML, cURL, XML to do what I want to do. I still ask questions, but basicly everything on that site I didn't have to ask many questions for. I will admit though, that the preg_match's still give me a bit of troubles, but I'm getting a lot better at it.

But yeah, I would give up for months at a time, and then one day, everything just kinda clicked. I got a lot of practice by creating websites on Eve Online for Corporations "Kinda like LS of ffxiv". They would pay me billions to make them a website, so I would get paid, and learn at the same time.

But yeah Nero, all the code is not copy pasted or tutorialed from anywhere. It's 100% out of my head, or sin's, and I'd even go so far as to say that I taught him to code. He has an amazing talent for creativity, and has picked up web design 10x faster than I have, and is now a better designer than me, but he's only been designing for like 2 months now-- It makes us a great team since I develop, and he designs! I'm really proud I can say that because a year ago, I couldn't have made this site. Also, there is no way I could make such a complex site by copy and pasting someone else's code lol.

@Triest, if you have any questions, you can add my msn alexi_hill14@live.com, or my email that I have on my cell phone is astinprey@gmail.com Don't email my hotmail though because I rarely check it! Don't ask me about Joomla or anything like that though. Honestly I've never used it. Also, please don't ask to see the website's code. The reason is that I've heard rumors that there are people who are trying to get access to the code through less than polite means, so we're securing it down pretty well on the back end. I don't mind helping you by creating examples, or helping you debug your code though

Also, though it is good to learn one language at a time, it's not nearly as fun. The best way in my opinion, is to learn the harder, funner way. Pick what you WANT the site to do, and learn how to make it do it. This means skipping a lot of foundations, but you're going to learn a lot, watch your site come to life, and stay motivated to continue to learn. Simple reading through a book on HTML or sticking to just HTML for awhile, though faster to learn, and likely better, isn't as fun, and you're much less likely to continue learning to code for the long run! All the way through learning I was yelled at by my programmer friends for skipping the basics, and jumping right to the hard stuff. I learned though, and had a lot of fun, and I think that's the best way to go!


I do have a lot to learn, but I also know a lot. Just, I don't feel I know enough to go out and be like this professional web developer. I'm learning new tricks every day. One of these days, I'm going to have to get Sinful Virtue to teach me Javascript hehe