User talk:Spider

From Create Your Own Story

Revision as of 06:35, 9 March 2017

Well, I am not Platypus, and I guess you will need to wait for him to respond, but I have noticed your message to him and thought about adding in my two cents.

One thing to remember is that sadly, most of the content on this site deals with rather taboo issues. Finding other hosting may be more difficult than you think. It would probably be hard to get revenue from it, since most ad companies would refuse to touch a site that has bestiality, incest, rape, murder, degradation, etc, so the host would probably need to pay for the entire site out of their own pocket. The ad companies that may be willing to accept would probably be the ones that would drive most users away, or result in the site becoming almost completely adult, with the very little that is actually in the Family Friendly, PG-13, etc, no longer being family friendly, PG-13, etc, because of the ads.

I agree that this site can be frustrating to use. I have dealt with the link limit issues constantly, have had to figure out how to make my own templates because I wanted something that looked nicer, but this wiki version does not allow proper html or scripting or whatever. In fact, I have probably learned a few things because of having to diy some of my own better looking features. I also agree that, since it is pretty much impossible to reach the actual site owner, it leaves many of us frustrated.

But, even with all that, I still think it would be hard to find a site that would support the kinds of things on this site.

Anyways, just my thoughts. --Dirty Me 02:40, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

I can actually run the website on a VPS myself and handle the server administration issues - there are several VPS providers who accept any and all content, provided it's not illegal. I'd say the hosting issue is largely solved by operating a separate server instead of trying to use a third-party hosting service. CYOS is part of EditThis, which is actually a MediaWiki farm that hosts thousands of other websites, of which CYOS just happens to be the largest one. The funding issue is valid and you're right in saying no ad network would touch a website which features bestiality and other taboo topics. I think user donations could be sustainable. By optimizing MediaWiki and the underlying servers, I can probably push operating costs down to around $150 a year. That's compared to the $100 EditThis spends every month (see sidebar). A separate CYOS would likely be around 12.5% the operating costs of the current one.

A lot of the issues can be solved by simply updating MediaWiki and customizing it by installing and coding extensions. CYOS is currently running a nearly 8 year old version of MediaWiki.

The one area of concern would be the taboo adult content. Sex and other adult content that's not taboo is obviously fine. Even stories featuring bestiality, incest, rape, murder, and other abuse is fine and won't cause issues on most hosting providers. It's the content featuring the sexualization of minors that's concerning. Sexualizing minors is one thing just about every hosting provider prohibits. It draws unwanted attention and can be used against the website and its users. Even though it's largely legal, is it really worth the extra hassle and potential trouble? I guess whether or not to allow content featuring underage individuals needs to be discussed first and ground rules laid out before even considering a move.

In the end, I don't think CYOS can really grow as is - there are simply too many limitations in place on EditThis. There is lots of potential to create an amazing choose your own story website, where people are free to write stories and collaborate, but that's not really possible without moving. Spider 06:35, 9 March 2017 (UTC)