Moving Forward: New Website, Premium and Marketplace Information (Patreon)

It’s been too long since we have had any real updates, but that changes today. I will be going over some topics related to our new website and our future plans.

New Website

As many of you already know, we have had a new website in the works for quite some time now. It’s been a long road, due to only having one developer that has done everything purely on spare time. But now we are very close.

Issues with current website

With the launch of the new website, many of our current issues should finally be resolved. The things I get the most reports about include the following:

• Blank white screens on /videos, /images and search pages
• Unable to edit content
• “Email already in use” errors in various situations

Blank white screens are being caused by an overload on the current indexing server software. We are moving away from this software.

Inability to edit content is a problem with our cache not being friendly with our multi-server setup. While I can’t say for sure that it will be resolved at launch, we should at least have the ability to find and fix the problem.

Duplicate emails should all be fixed during the migration. We will be merging every account with the same email into one account. This bug has been happening due to the sign-up process being very slow to process requests, leading to the situation where a second account is made and approved on the same email.

Returning feature

A few months ago, we discovered that followers and following blocks were causing insanely high load on the database server. As a result, the website was effectively unusable. The only fix at the time was to disable those blocks, but they will be making a return at launch.

New filter options

We are introducing two new filters. “Trending” and “Popularity”.

Both of these filters use an algorithm based on a combination of views and likes. The primary difference is that “Trending” videos also factors in the post date, favoring newer content.

New search function

The ability to search for a username has been added.

We have done our best to make sure that all necessary features will come along with us to the new website. Some things may not have made it over just yet, but can always be added back at a later time.

There are many other feature additions and improvements. Here are some of them.

• Dark mode available
• Improved image gallery
• Better support for WEBM/GIF in images
• Tag blacklist to hide unwanted video types
• Tags are predefined

Premium account services

Our website migration will also bring the option to upgrade to premium accounts. This will allow us to provide bonus features to those willing to support us. At launch, we will have some basic features available. More will come over time.

• Removal of all advertisements
• Animated avatars
• Custom video thumbnails
• Increased tag blacklist limit
• Increased upload file size
• User blocking functions

The method we have chosen to be able to provide this service is through the use of a purchasable currency, or “tokens”. Tokens will be the driving force behind our premium account system. In addition to being able to redeem them for premium time, we plan to make them usable for additional functions, such as donating to other users.
We had to choose a token based system due to the limitations imposed by essentially every bank and therefore every payment processor available to us. In order to not be forced to purge an unacceptable amount of content from our website, we need to take payments using a separate front-end. The easiest way to do this is to sell vouchers that can then be redeemed on Iwara for tokens. This leads to the marketplace that I will discuss later in this post.

Patreon supporters will receive codes for tokens in amounts relative to how much has been donated up until the launch of the marketplace.

Roadmap

While I cannot provide perfectly accurate dates, I can at least share our plans for launch. All of these will depend on how well the previous step goes.

1. Fixes and adjustments
   • We are continuing to make sure everything is ready on our end. Squashing bugs and doing last-minute changes
2. Launch
   • Expected launch time is in August this year. This is an estimation and subject to change.
3. Observe
   • After launch, we will be monitoring for problems and attempting to resolve them asap. We will not be working on anything else until we are satisfied with performance
4. Open premium accounts
   • This is when we will introduce the token system as well as the marketplace where the token vouchers can be purchased
5. Tag system update
   • Polishing up our tag system will be the next thing we do. We intend to make it possible for the community to set the proper tags that authors may have missed.

Traffic

Iwara has grown way more than we had ever expected it would. The amount of bandwidth we use is very high, and we currently do not have the resources to support the demand. A traffic summary:

• ~3,500,000 monthly unique visitors
• ~150,000,000 monthly pageviews

I have recently talked to our host about bandwidth concerns. We are currently capped at all times on our outbound traffic for videos more than 3 weeks old. Of course, this includes the vast majority of our content. The servers themselves are perfectly fine, and can handle so much more.

To put it into perspective, our outbound data is capped even at our minimum number of active users. About 1,000 per minute. But in our high traffic times, we can reach over 2,000 per minute. Way more than we have the capacity to support.

After negotiating with our host, I am able to increase our bandwidth by an additional 10x of our current data cap. But to do this, it will cost an additional $1,800 per month at minimum. Hopefully, we can reach this without any trouble when our premium services become available.

Marketplace

As mentioned above, we plan to open a storefront to be able to accept payments without having to sacrifice our content. This is where we will be selling our vouchers that can be redeemed directly on Iwara. However, this will also serve as a place that allows creators to sell their own work. The market will be able to handle digital downloads as well as subscriptions.

Subscriptions are capable of having many files attached to them, to which any subscriber may download them as soon as they are available. New files can be added at any time without interrupting anything.

This product type may be used as a substitute for services such as Patreon and Fantia, but will also be subject to the same rules we will enforce on those external services. Using our subscription services allows content creators the option to support Iwara through the commissions we take from each sale. Subscriptions have two modes: Simple and Variable.

Simple subscriptions are a basic form that provides all subscribers with access to the same files that have been attached to that particular subscription package

Variable subscriptions allow the creator to set tiers, each with their own set of downloadable files. These are more complicated to set up, but allow for much more flexibility.

Looking for sellers

Before we can launch, I will need multiple sellers set up and ready. This is necessary so we can get approved by our payments processor. For the time being, all sellers must be manually approved. If you would like to apply and be among the first to sell through iwara, send me a DM. Please include information about what you intend to sell. If you currently have a store set up somewhere, please provide a link so I can see examples.

Please understand that Iwara’s marketplace is not intended to be a replacement or competitor for other, more established websites. Anything we can do, they will do it better. We are simply an option that helps to fund the primary website.

Our base commission rate is 8% +$0.35. This includes the payment processing fees that we pay on the seller’s behalf.
This can be adjusted on a per-product basis. Sellers are allowed to request a percentage value anywhere from 9% to 80%. The higher this number is set, the more proceeds go towards Iwara itself.

Payout options

To start with, we will be using three primary payment options. If possible, more will be added over time.

• Wise.com - Great for low fee transactions as a substitute for Paypal
• Paypal - High fees, but accessible to many
• Direct to Wallet - The market will have its own wallet system. This is a payment method everyone can use. The wallet funds may be used to purchase anything on the marketplace.

Minimum payout amounts will start at $50. This may be adjusted as necessary to regulate workloads.

What can be sold

While the store can handle any kind of digital product, we will be limiting what is allowed to be sold for various reasons. Here is a basic, but not all-inclusive list of items.

• Models and model accessories
  • May be for any program/game but MUST be made clear what the models are for by using attributes and title tags
• Production assets such as motions, stages, textures and more
• Games and other niche-related software
• Video and image files
• Subscriptions for periodic content updates

All content must be of your own work. Anything being sold that is found to be in violation of copyrights may lead to termination of rights to sell on our market and forfeit of any proceeds.
In regards to media files and subscriptions, these must follow all of the same rules we have in place for linking to content on third party websites. If you are unsure if your idea for the use of this service is allowed, please contact me.