Suggestion to have extra coders for more updates

[Imbion]

It would be nice, but it should also be kept in mind that CS is a free site that is funded solely by the support of C$ and ads. To reasonably add another coder, you would either have to ask for a volunteer that isn't necessarily trusted or pay someone. A lot of people who know code do it as their job and as such charge for it. Not a lot of professionals going around offering to code for free.

I do see potential in volunteers, but the issue with that is that they aren't necessarily committed to the site. They might end up wasting staff time or take advantage of their coding knowledge. Most of the people interested in CS are young and may be interested in coding, but not have an advanced amount of experience in it. The few of them who are professionals would probably see CS as a "side" project.

While the staff are volunteers, moderation in general is a completely different ballpark compared to coding. Moderation isn't really something people make a career out of. You could of course make the same argument for art. But it can also be argued that due to the site's usage of lineart, it is much easier to draw. From what I'm seeing, one artist typically does one litter a month, with some doing two litters a month occasionally. Massive and more unique litters such as Staff September are done by the entire team so it's manageable. Store pets which are always the most distinct cost C$ and thus are technically bought pieces. If anything, the most difficult things artwise are probably items, which don't have lineart. Even then, many of them are built to fit on pets. Either way, building art on CS I feel like isn't as much as a commitment it would be to code for the site.

Overall, more coders on the team would be nice, but I think it's not as simple to get more than everyone would think. I feel like at least one or two more coders would be doable and benefit the site. Even just a few more coders could be a great assistance. People have been complaining that there have been no quality of life updates in quite a bit, after all.

[nickjr]

Support!

I've read all of the replies and I don't really have much to say that hasn't already been said. But I think even one or two more coders could help for the small QoL things, especially those that don't require deeper knowledge of CS's code/databases/other things about how CS is set up.

(e.g. The suggestion to move pets from their individual pages is probably fairly simple to code, but to code it I think you'd still need to know which databases to touch so you can actually move the pet. So even if you could just copy-paste the regular move code, you'd still need to familiarize yourself enough with how CS is set up to make sure the code works. That's a small QoL update that needs deeper knowledge.

The suggestion to confirm logout, however, shouldn't require any knowledge of how CS works. And it's pretty simple to code (unless we want a fallback of an entire confirmation page for users who have JavaScript turned off, but even that shouldn't be too bad). That's a small QoL update that doesn't need deeper knowledge.)

And for the bigger things... I think even having someone to give pseudocode or structure ideas could be helpful. That's a good chunk of doing any substantial programming.

I kinda wonder how the admins would want to solicit volunteer coders, though. There are the issues of trust and skill, brought up previously. I guess I'll have to polish my programming interview skillz not only for real life but also for CS??

[ElementalInsanity]

Lol I always appreciate your input nick my friend! You give me insight into things I know nothing about haha.

As I said before I am not a programmer or coder myself and it makes no sense to me so having people who actually know and understand that give input is super helpful!
I definitely get how there could be trust issues into that sort of thing because of the more intrusive way a coder would be involved compared to an artist. I guess I also just hope and think Nick would have final control and say and that could fix that worry. X3

As to the not being able to get volunteers as easy as I think that could definitely be true. I also just know there are a ton of adults on this site that have grown up on the site or joined later and still enjoy it. And when seeing other sites that have volunteers to code things like that I really hope CS would also have that type of volunteers with coding knowledge.

[jarside]

support, but i definitely agree with some points made. cs runs mainly off volunteers, and do we have people with skills need? trust is also really important, i assume that coders get more control over the site than artists.

even just having coders for quality of life update would be awesome tbh.

[--------------]

As a coder, I support this.

[Blueberry]

I love CS! I’ve been playing since I was a wee’ kid in 2011. I adore this site and fully intend on donating more of my time to this site for several more years.

However, I do agree with this suggestion. When this site first started, only a couple hundred people played. It wasn’t particularly popular (yet) so Tess had very little reason to further update this site. As such, this site has had very little opportunity to grow and further develop. I’ve been playing for nearly a decade, and I can confirm that this site hasn’t changed. Our only coder is Nick - a full grown man with a whole life outside of CS.

It should be noted, however, that unlike our lovely artists, I don’t *think* Tess can simply pluck up a couple CS members from the population and hire them to help assist Nick. Tess would most likely have to hire legitimate coders, which could end up costing quite a bit.

[Liliette]

I support

[amarok.]

Friendly bump

[LittleElf]

Support!

[JK341]

I also support this.

I know pretty much squat about coding but what many folks here have said makes tons of sense, both the pros, and cons. But regardless i still believe that Nick could use a little helping hand, even if it's just one other person to lighten that load a bit, since that tiny seed they sowed a long time ago (this site) has grown into a massive plant, now. c: