Milestone: Alpha V1

In the last update post on here, we talked about how midway through the development of the second phase, I decided to use my personal funds to continue the development of DEG Mods, and of course utilize what came from this community funding campaign, and with it that phase was done, adding various systems and features such as the reporting system, new filters, image gallery, a more complete landing page, user profiles, reactions, a search system, and so on.

Since then, we've been hard at work on passing the next phase, which would bring DEG Mods to what I'd more suitably call 'Alpha v1'.

Milestone passed: DEG Mods Alpha v1

After a long time working on this, I'm happy to announce that DEG Mods has passed this third phase of development, which includes the development and implementation of what was promised beforehand, aside from one (the notifications page/system), but a lot of new additions to compensate. The cost to reach this phase is a lot more than what it was for the previous phases, as you might have guessed considering the time difference between this update post and the last, and that's as a result of a couple of ups and downs, as well as developing and implementing various extra systems and features that were not planned but were definitely needed, as made evident by mod creators and enjoyers using the site, which all boils down to a cost of roughly $44,100, where this doesn't include my own costs working on the project, as well as not including running costs from holding the domain, running multiple different servers (as it'll be explained below), marketing material (which will also be described below), and the costs related to the the legal beuracracy.

Without further delay, here's the massive update log (that we've been sharing on social media as well):

New

•   User profile page (showcasing mods)
•   You can now search for mods under a specific game
•   Blog system added (write and view blog posts, as well as list them on various pages)
•   Web of Trust system
•   Repost tagging system
•   Categories system
•   "Are you above 18?" pops up when changing the filter to see NSFW
•   Reset button to clear fields in the mod or blog submission
•   Easier media uploads: on-site uploads to different media hosting servers
•   Local caching of field data in the mod and blog submission page
•   Source view & different view modes in the rich text editor
•   Hidden posts, by either admin or user, now show a note about it when visiting the post
•   Mod downloads will show a notice note if the download link isn't a file, and will direct the user to another page
•   Mod posts without a malware scan report link will show a note in informing the user of it (even if it's there, the user should still need to be cautious)
•   'Permissions & Details' section was added for mod posts, where creators can easily adjust what permissions the public has with their mods
•   Advanced commenting system
•   Feed page: View the latest mods and blogs (and social posts) of those you're following
•   Social posting: The ability to post 'short' posts
•   The 'Posts' tab in a user's profile now works, showcasing the latest social posts of the current user
•   Events Aggregator Server, a type of aggregate/caching server that helps collect and organize mod and blog posts from the (nostr) network and presents them to the user, providing more (immensely more) reliability in discovering and presenting mods and blog posts. If something goes wrong with this server, the site goes back to how it was before its inclusion.
•   Deletion Request: You can now request to delete your mod/blog/comment/social posts.
•   Search based on tags (tags on mods/blogs are now functional)
•   Filter (exclude) mods based on tags (with default tags)
•   Hard blocking system
•   Moderation toggles in the settings page
•   Censorship-resistant file hosting system
•   User (Blossom type) server list.
•   A third level of blocking for the site admin

Changes

•   Added NSFW filter and source filter in a game's page
•   We changed how we handle how mods and other elements are loaded in the background, as well as publishing actions, massively improving performance, and barely any loading errors occur.
•   Added a new listing in the game field, for when you want to submit/publish a mod, called '(Unlisted Game)', so that creators can publish mods for games we haven't added yet, to simply edit it out later with the proper game name when we do add it.
•   Added an NSFW tag on a mod card for a quick view and differentiating mods between each other from what is and isn't nsfw.
•   Removed the /#/ in the URL, and all live shared links with the hashtag in the URL would redirect to a link without it (so no broken links)
•   Filters are now remembered while you're on the site (resets if you close the site)
•   Some search filters, along with the search term, are added to the URL for a better link-sharing experience
•   Accept nPub address type when added in the URL after /profile/ , which converts it to nprofile
•   Reaction (heart/poop) numbers now show a loading indication with 3 dot animation, and you'd only be able to react once loading is finished
•   There's now a spinning loader animation for the comments of a post to make sure, as a user, if there are comments or not
•   There's now a comment loader button that you can press to load newly discovered comments for a mod or blog post
•   Minor design adjustments for blog posts and mod posts
•   Refactored code for the mods and mod page
•   Adjust the visual hover effect of a game card
•   Swapped the text editor in the mod and blog submission pages with a markdown one
•   Report button now only appears if the user is logged in (to be further enhanced later down the line)
•   Added a new filter on the admin side to better manage hidden mods (in case there was a mistake).
•   Adjusted the download section in the mod post to always show the other downloads, and show the 'Additional Details' as a popup now.
•   Creators can now also add a title for each download and add a single image for each download.
•   Tipping popup design change for better clarity of the tip-split process.
•   Better search (shows more results with different keyword combos and number considerations)
•   Adjusted the design of categories
•   Adjusted iframe video embeds to resize to a 16:9 aspect ratio with full-width
•   Adjusted the visuals of loading elements
•   Adjusted how the mods and blogs are fetched and presented in various pages (there's now pagination for each of their pages, making navigation easier than before).
•   Minor adjustment to the design of the gallery of mod posts.
•   Added media upload to the edit profile page.
•   The games page now has a filter to switch between popular ones (shows the most popular games first based on mods published to it) or latest ones (shows games based on the latest published mods).
•   Mods that are blocked by the user are now swapped with a box telling the user this is a blocked mod by them, with an option to see what that mod is (this happens if there is no aggregator server).
•   Removed the support of an old comment type system (kind 1) under mod and blog posts
•   Added Web of Trust system in the comments section
•   Added a checkbox for users to tick if their comment is nsfw, along with nsfw filtering in the comments section
•   Added a source filter of where comments are coming from in comments of mods/blog posts, similar to what's found in /mods (old comments, before this change, would appear under 'all' as a consequence).
•   Disabled media rendering in comments of mod/blog posts
•   User profile bio now expands to view it full via a popup
•   Removed 'Signature Public Key' field in mod submission page, and removed 'Signature from' in the authentication details popup
•   Uploading images, from the featured image to screenshots, now goes through a mirroring process, and the site attempts to render the original files from different server hosts, upon being discovered, if the original host goes offline, or if the original image has been modified by a server host.
•   Comments now have a new option/toggle ('on' by default) that, upon publishing a comment, records a log of the download links of the current mod post they're commenting on.

Fixes

•   Won't show NSFW mod posts on the landing page's latest mods section
•   Won't show NSFW mod posts on a game's page
•   No more screenshot field duplication.
•   You won't get unfocused when attempting to type the URL of images or download links in the mod submission.
•   The image source issue in the mod submission page occurs when attempting to edit a mod post a second time immediately afterwards.
•   Going to your profile from someone else's profile, by clicking the user icon in the social nav, now functions correctly (along with not having that icon highlighted from visiting other users' profiles).
•   NSFW tag now shows up on mod cards and posts if the site admin tags them as such.
•   Search for profiles now works/shows results
•   Fixed ordering of latest mods
•   Profile links in comments, specifically from clicking the name or user address, lead to the correct profile page now
•   Reaction buttons now appear immediately on page load
•   The relay page in settings now loads for new users without saved relays.
•   A 'try again' button appears on mods that error out. (99% of the time, this fixes the issue).
•   The blog tab in a user's profile now loads correctly (doesn't get stuck anymore for new users).
•   Text now appears if a game isn't found in the search.
•   Old mod posts can be editable again without issue, with an error shown if something is wrong for the user to fix
•   If a mod post (later blog post) gets stuck while publishing, a timer kicks in that'll lead to a 'try again' option that usually publishes the post correctly
•   Tip/Zap buttons will only appear if the author has an LN address in their profile (shouldn't have been visible)
•   Posts marked as 'repost' will have that tag shown in the mod card in the landing page's "Latest Mods" section (it didn't appear before)
•   Cleaned a chunk of the games list
•   User WoT and its filter now behave correctly
•   Zap/Tipping now works again
•   The "Above 18?" pop-up now triggers on the direct link of an NSFW post
•   User profile data properly shows the correct data now
•   More cleanup of the games DB list, and new games added (for those who published mods under '(unlisted game)', edit your mod to add the correct game
•   Blog search results on /blog are properly clear on revisiting the page
•   User LN address now updates correctly if they change it (was a caching issue)
•   Most, if not all, mods can now be properly discovered, as soon as they're discovered, and presented (Because of that aggregate server implementation).
•   A lot more games, with better search term prioritization, are now properly showing when searching in the mod submission page
•   Visiting a social post directly is now visible without needing to log in
•   Clicking on mods should open quicker now (it sometimes hung for a long time before)
•   Updating a user's profile picture works correctly again
•   Sub-categories becoming categories after editing a mod doesn't happen anymore
•   You can now have specific characters like '%' in the body text of mods/blogs and publish them

Known Issues

•   Some older mods aren't discoverable while the Aggregator Server is running.
•   User relay lists being correctly fetched is not working 100%
•   Yes, things are becoming a bit messy with showing information, and it'll be resolved with the eventual redesign of the site down the line.

That's it for the changelog, but I'd also like to expand on a few points from it.

Web of Trust

The WoT system is a nice one that handles multiple cases of spam or scam posts in a hybrid manual and automated way, where if you notice a person posting spam in your replies, for example, blocking that person/bot would result in potentially having them be invisible for those who follow you (depending on how they've set up their WoT tollerance level). This also helps the admins handle a potential high-focused attack, where a simple change in the WoT tolerance level can then clear up the attack, but at the cost of visibility for some or many normal people, for a period of time, at least until we're able to get a handle on said potential attack.

Category System

What's interesting about this category system is that it's basically infinite, as one can have however many categories and however many sub-categories and more; however, realistically speaking, we'll limit it on our end (and probably others' servers as well) in regards to how many categories and sub-categories there are and render. Regardless, this should give creators a more encompassing way to better organize/label their mods, and users being able to fine-tune their search.

Media Uploads

We've dealt with a few situations where someone would upload an image, then that image would get deleted and replaced, so we made it so that an image is uploaded to multiple different servers (or at least attempt to) after being hashed, as well as having a post-load hash-verification check and auto-replace function, which means that it decreases the chance of image manipulation and/or broken images.

Moderation System

There are now three levels of moderation powers that an admin has (the user has their own block system and their own WoT system). The first level is one that hides a post from discovery and marks the post with a notice text to warn users, the second level adds on top of that the full block of the post itself from being render (however, the user is able to flip a toggle in the settings page, which results in providing the user a new options in the moderation filter of a page to show hidden/blocked posts), and the third level is similar to the second, but there is no toggle to be able to see these posts, however, the user would still be able to view them on other sites with the same/similar infrastructure as we that DEG Mods has, or they can also download the site and replace the admin npubs with another. These three different levels of moderation are there for different purposes, from spam/scam to handling an attack or dealing with creator takedown requests, and of course, being able to handle illegal posts.

Commenting System

We've swapped the comment system type to a different one that's more suited for a comment-type post, as well as enhanced the experience where you can start replying to other comments and go through that rabbit hole. The chain of replies is handled in a way where it's more like Twitter/X rather than how Reddit or other forums handle it, where it shows a post and it's replies, and a depth couter to help you know where you are.

Deletion Request

Users are able to request to delete a post of theirs, and usually there shouldn't be an issue, but the reason why it's a "request deletion" rather than just "delete", is because sometimes that request may not be respected, or somehow it goes back to being online again because somehow the post file got rebroadcasted again (by the author of the post itself or someone else). The best way to describe the situation: Do you know the idea of "the internet never forgets"? Well, it's much stronger here.

Aggregator Server

What we like to call the Aggregator Server is a server that collects and organizes the data published on the Nostr network that DEG Mods fetches from, and then presents it to the user to deliver a less hectic experience. Because of this implementation, for example, we're able to provide pagination (page 1, page 2, etc, of lists like on /mods). In the scenario where the server goes offline, the site reverts back to its nostr-native state, and with that, of course, the user can simply turn off the server on their side and/or have their own.

Censorship-Resistant File Hosting System

The same system that the media upload process uses, which was mentioned above, is being used here. Expanding on it, when a mod file is uploaded, it gets scanned by our processing server for malware and auto generates a report of it that gets automatically added to the mod post.

To handle a potential load on the server, there's also a queue system in place so that creators are aware that the server is overwhelmed at that moment and tells them their position on when their upload would begin and be processed, before it eventually gets stored in the storage server.

After that's done, the mirroring process begins, where the site/platform will attempt to copy the uploaded file, first, the checked hardcoded options, then it does the same for your added compatible Blossom servers in your user server list, and after all of that is done, then the upload process is complete.

What's the end result benefit? Let's assume everything went well with the upload process and you published your mod, then after a while, we deleted your mod file from our server, but when a user clicks the download button, the file begins to download normally. How did this happen? Because the site first looked into our server to find the file, and if it wasn't there then it'll look through the hardcoded servers, then the author's servers, then the servers from the logged-in user's server list, then the servers from the user server list of the users who published a comment on the mod post, then from the logged download links in the comments themselves. Where it can find the file, it'll download it from there.

And yes, users are able to back up and mirror mod files they like to other servers or their own, where they're encouraged to do so for mods they like and/or are worried about having the files being lost or censored.

Obviously, the bigger the file size, the less likely it'll be mirrored to other servers; however, because of this system, as it grows in adoption, it results in having a censorship-resistant file hosting system.

So that explains a few of the points mentioned in the changelog. Aside from that, I'd like to address a few concerns related to the... let's call it 'increasing negatives' around the world.

Age Verification & Data Collection

As many of you may be aware, the world is, predictably, walking towards a dark place, if not running towards it, of collecting identifying data of people and connecting them to more and more of their online experience, resulting in no provicy and decreased freedoms, however, considering the nature of DEG Mods with nostr, and regardless of it, we won't be forcing users to submit any of their data to us, and in fact we don't want it, as we don't want to deal with the headache of managing a user database, but more so, we don't want to be an single point of failure and have people's data get leaked, especially not data with real information and a lot of it, as we do not wish to collect and see information about children and adults, and have their information potentially leaked to predators that could result in their real digital and physical harm. To protect people, to protect children, we will not collect their information. Your generated nostr public address is enough for everything to work.

Compliance with the law

In regards to the law of where we'll be based, we'll of course comply to the best of our abilities, similar to the compliance ability of an internet browser. For countries where we aren't based, if they don't think the laws we are complying with are good enough, then they can simply block the site, and their effectiveness in doing so would be, up to, the same as if they blocked a traditional internet browser.

With that out of the way, let's talk about marketing

Marketing

Same as before, we've been posting on social media, like on TwiX or Youtube, where relevant, and finding and connecting mod creators who have been censored by other mod sites to tell them about DEG Mods.

Because of these efforts, we've been recognized and mentioned by various sites and video content creators and streamers, like Asmongold, for example.

We've also worked on and hired a talented artist to visually design a proper mascot for the project. An interesting modder with an entertaining backstory. Her name is Moda Lastly, we've had a nice interview, that's sort of in the style of a podcast, with a reputable publication called 80 Level

Traditional Funding

There isn't much to add on this topic, aside from we're not quite ready yet to launch it, and that's because of the headache in legal bureaucracy (I'll probably share this story in the future, perhaps in a podcast or something).

Educational Material

There's a decent amount of work to be done regarding producing educational material, written and/or recorded, to help people in various parts of interacting with DEG Mods, from knowing about nostr and how to use it, to helping people reach

What's Next

There are a lot of things we'd like to develop and implement, like a Proof of Work system to further help with spam, mod collections/lists, and more, however, right now we're focusing on dealing with the legal bureaucracy and getting everything set up on that side, as I've pretty much depleted my personal funds (remaining funds are for keeping the servers up and running), so prioritizing finishing up the legal stuff takes priority at the moment, so we'd be able to set up the business model and start generating revenue (as well as being able to launch on other funding platforms, along with being able to accept investments), then we'd be able to continue enhancing DEG Mods with new systems and features, and generally improving things all around.

Tease

DEG Mods is just the start. To its dominance with the passing of time, something else will emerge called DEGA, and both of them will complement and grow each other. This was always planned, as we've (and many others) have predicted a decrease in freedoms in the world, and of course, it would affect the gaming industry.

Final Thoughts

This'll probably be the last time I'll post an update log on here, as they'll be posted on the site itself or as a quick social media post (depending on the site of the update). I actually wanted to post this whole update on the site, but I thought it seemed more appropriate here as DEG Mods reached this Alpha v1 state, and things started out here.

Aside from that, I hope you enjoy DEG Mods and benefit from it, as we continue to improve it where we can and help liberate game mods.