CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

As per Gypsy's request in http://www.christiananime.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14345
My concept is... http://reviews.christiananime.net

(edit: URL changed)

Woooooo! I like it! I'm so impressed...good job yo. And if I didn't think it'd be more harm than good, I'd give you a caloric reward. Did I mention I love it?

Ashley wrote:And if I didn't think it'd be more harm than good, I'd give you a caloric reward.

A scooby snack?!? ]http://reviews.christiananime.net/[/url] These files can be updated over SSH. Any moderator want to AIM me for more details on this?

Well, CAA has it's own server we can upload to, so that really shouldn't be a problem. Um, yeah, that's all I know to say on this...*whistles for Noz*

Ashley wrote:Well, CAA has it's own server we can upload to, so that really shouldn't be a problem. Um, yeah, that's all I know to say on this...*whistles for Noz*

Yeah. What I don't know is how much of the DB and interface tools will port succesfully. I sorta wrote my own perl module for updates/edits, and that can get kinda tricky when you try to port them...

Hmm. Some people where having issues with the URL not working. I'm guessing they typoed it, but just in case... You can use this one too:
http://reviews.christiananime.net/

*edit: updated url*

Awesome. That would make things much easier than sorting through to find stuff. Would these link to the review thread? Also, it might be cool to have warning icons for different things like, nudity, violence, language, yuri, etc...

Good point Rashiir! I think we'd need to think long and hard about what icons to use, though. Perhaps we should use colored globes. A red globe would mean nudity, etc. But from a purly ADA/Section 508 stand point, you shouldn't rely on color to convey a meaning, as some of your audience is color blind. Let me see what I can com up with.

OK. How's that. I've set it to use color-coded letters. We can play with that kind of feature creep later, I think. (Everyone just use the http://reviews.christiananime.net/ address for now, please. It looks like it will take up to 48 hours for the DNS entries to propigate throughout the internet.)

That is very very cool.

OK. The database exists, but the interface for submissions is locked down for now. I'm thinking we really only want moderators to have permission to add/edit/delete things in this database. Registered users should be able to post to the anime reviews forum, and then if a moderator deems the review appropriate, it can be moved to the searchable database. Below is the current status update.

Status Update (7/31/2003):
Admin Functions:
* Add finished
* Delete
* Edit
* Preview
* Search finished
* Show All finished

User Functionality:
* Link to Anime Reviews Forum
* Search
* Show All
* View

Status Update (7/31/2003 - 4:30 PM):
Admin Functions:
* Add finished
* Delete finished
* Edit finished
* Preview
* Search finished
* Show All finished

User Functionality:
* Link to Anime Reviews Forum
* Search
* Show All
* View

Status Update 7/31/2003 - 9:00 PM:
Uh oh. I had some DNS issues (people couldn't resolve caareviews.flactem.com), so I rebooted my machine, and fsck found about 150 short inodes. I ran fsch -y /dev/hda6 and it ignored everything. I think they were all due to freak 'kill -9' clean up issues, but I'm gonna ask my unix sysadmin pals to take a look at it in case it's something more serious. Anyway, I've PMd a few of you with access info for the new database, and if you can take a look at the system, that would be super!

It's pretty cool. I manually entered the DNS details (wow, didn't know you could do that! I wonder if I can do route that to localhost too ) and so now I have no way of knowing when it resolves properly, hehe.

djnoz wrote:It's pretty cool. I manually entered the DNS details (wow, didn't know you could do that! I wonder if I can do route that to localhost too ) and so now I have no way of knowing when it resolves properly, hehe.

You can manually reroute DNS entries to localhost (127.0.0.1), but you better have a working name server running on the box, otherwise you won't be able to see anything other than that box! On at least one of my machines, I tell my computers that my websserver is Kazaa. So DJ, if you notice that http://www.kazaa.com looks like fodder (the recipe DB on my server), that's why. Anyway, just remove the DNS entry when you wanna check for valid linkage.

Status Update (8/2/2003 - 1:00 PM):
Functionality below has been modified to allow for add/edit functions to swap out quotes (') and double quotes (") with their respective character entities. (I know, certain texted-based browsers MAY not interpret them correctly, but as the main CAA site doesn't conform, this one won't either. )

Admin Functions:
* Add finished Revision 2
* Delete finished
* Edit finished Revision 2
* Preview
* Search finished
* Show All finished

User Functionality:
* Link to Anime Reviews Forum
* Search
* Show All
* View

OK. I nuked the color-coded letters in favor of a more robust system. I've updated all the links in this thread to point to the 'official' link at http://reviews.christiananime.net/ now. The system appears to be working OK, so I have passed the baton of 'prettying it up' to noz. When he get's that finished, we'll have a fine time!

I'm kicking this thread back into action.
This is how the database looks now: http://reviews.christiananime.net
Does anyone have any ideas about things to add?(Gyp, I already talked to Kev about the new categories, so that's taken care of)

And to answer my own questions, how do you guys feel about pictures? Yay or nay? Would they be helpful? And where could we upload them?

OK. The new categores have been added to the admin area, but they are not being returned to the user view. Yet. If the admins would be so kind as to reveiw the admin interface, that would be most excellent. I'd rather not redo the end user interface until we have a generall agreement on what is needed.

(Oh, and I added a field for the URL for a picture.)

Here’s the categories and descriptions that … someone asked me for. I can’t remember who it was now!!

Title

Released By: Whatever company released the subbed/dubbed version of the anime.

Distributor's Rating: Usually, on the back of an anime, there's already a rating. Sometimes it's good to know what this is.

Genre: Where you'd find out what type of anime this particular review covers, such as mech, romance, or both.

Plot: A spoiler free intro similar to what you'd find on the back of the dvd cover. Usually covers an intro the main chars

Language: If there are swears, crude sexual terminology, or the taking of Christ's name in vain, you'll find out the amount of it in here. Anything that the reviewer found offensive will also be placed here, such as comments that have obvious double meanings. If it's of a sexual nature, it'll probably be covered in the next section as well.

Nudity/Sex: I thought it best to combine nudity and sex into one category. Anything that's considered sexually inappropriate will be mentioned here. Things such as exaggerated figures, tight and revealing clothing, bare bums, full blown nudity, implied sex, and outright shown sex ... you get the idea.

Violence: The amount and forms of violence will be put here. Guns, street fighting, blood flinging everywhere, and (if relevant) how the subject of death is approached in the anime and how high the regard for human life is held.

Religious Content: Anything from blasphemy, using religious/occult symbols, and any sort of incantations will be covered here. Also, if an anime demonstrates Biblical principles, or justifies sin in any way, this is where you look to find out.

Additional Comments: Anything that doesn't fit in the above categories as far as content. Now that content is all taken care of, quality is discussed below. The review may or many not fill these out.

Music: If the anime has a really good soundtrack - or a really bad one, you can read about it here.

Subbed & Dubbed info: The reviewer will specify if they based their review on the subbed or dubbed version in this category. Although it will be the reviewer's choice, if they watched both versions, they may note how consistent they were here.

Manga versions: Often enough, many anime have a manga version and visa versa. This is not a required field for a review, but again, it's reviewer's preference. They may include who published the manga, and general manga content (as in rating and such). If they've personally read it, they may compare how close to the anime it is. This is not a place for reviewing a full manga series. That's to be done separately. It's just a place for quick reference.

Corresponding Movies: Same story as the Manga versions.

Reviewer's Comments: Obviously, the place for the reviewer to put in their own opinions about the anime. It may also act as a summary of sorts. Other things such as voice actors and things can also be mentioned here. Points of interest, trivia they found out, and perhaps even known dvd easter eggs.

Official CAA Rating: This will be the stance that CAA takes on this anime through the particular reviewer. Ratings such as 13+, 15+, 16+ ... yeah, you get the idea ...

Yeah. Most of that is in the system now. I don't have any problem combining the sex/nudity stuff if that's what everyone wants. I also changed the pop-ups so the ratings are all on a scale from 0 - 10 now, instead of the 'some, lots, none, too much, etc' way of doing it. I didn't have a space for the distributor's rating, but I can add that pretty easily, if that's what everyone wants. I also still need a list of generes.

The only ones I could think of were:

Mech
Sci-fi
Drama
Romance
Fantasy
Historical
Mystery
Action (or adventure ... whatever floats your boat)
Sports
Horror

Anyone else think of any to add?

Looks fine to me so far!
I still wonder if we should add some screenshot type feature though...

screen shots would be cool, but i think you should at least give one picture to show what the animation looks like, maybe this could just be a scan of the dvd box cover. i dont know if it has been maentioned but what might also be cool is if you have like a top 10 section that shows a poll of everyones favs. this would be helpfull for people trying to find a new anime with out haveing to search the whole database,

all titles could also include some suggestions, like if you like rurouni kenshin you might also look at _

just a suggestion,
the wanderig shinja

...that shows a poll of everyones favs...

Would adding a 'Rate this anime 1-10' button work on the detail view to accomplish this?

...I...wonder if we should add some screenshot...

Does the Image URL: field not work for this? I guess I could rephrase that, "Do you want more than one image for each anime?"

Good Feedback everyone. Thanks for the Genenre list Gyp. I'm gonna run it by a few friends of mine to see if they can think of any more.

yeah a rate this anime feature would do the trik nicely

and as far as pictures i dont you need more than 1

Gypsy wrote:The only ones I could think of were:

Mech
Sci-fi
Drama
Romance
Fantasy
Historical
Mystery
Action (or adventure ... whatever floats your boat)
Sports
Horror

Anyone else think of any to add?

Um, Gothic? I think that's a genre.

> I guess I could rephrase that, "Do you want more than one image for each anime?"

I think that would be a good idea, actually.

Wait... You think rephrasing the question is a good idea, or you think that there sould be more than one image for each anime?

Watch those dangling modifiers.

(You know. Modifiers that don't modify the correct subject? As in, "Having many dangerous curves, she drove carefully down the mountain road.")