Profile V2 update

The gif above says a thousand words, but I figured I'd give you folks a very quick update. As you might have noticed, we've been seeing a few outages, which I tracked to image uploads.

The old profile pages upload images directly to our application server, and they get processed there instead of on the new image servers. The end result is, if enough people start an upload at the same time, we can't handle any more incoming connections until that's done.

I've banged my head against several desks trying to figure out how I can move the old pages to use the new upload servers, but technically speaking they just weren't built for that. The only viable solution is to push forward with the V2 profile pages and gallery, which DO use the new upload workflow.

So here we are. I have a few more things that I need to finish in regards to editing content, but once the new pages are functionally equivalent to the old ones, I'll make the switch.

Because the old character pages are crippling the site during peak hours, I'm not going to do a soft transition like I had intended. Once the V2 pages are ready, Patrons will be migrated over, I'll collect feedback, and then once it proves stable, the rest of the site will migrate and the old pages will go away.

I know some of you liked the old pages, and I can assure you that the new design is a thousand times better and still functionally equivalent of the simpler old pages, but with all the new features I've spent the better part of last year working on.

Also included in this mess is the new image lightbox, which supports back/forward navigation through the images and a slightly cleaner UI. And yes, the new uploader is a core feature of the new pages, which shows an upload queue, allows you to set NSFW, title, etc. on new uploads before they're uploaded, and won't kill our servers.

Financially speaking, you folks have been absolutely wonderful at helping support the site. Without you, I couldn't keep this going. If you weren't aware, Refsheet is pretty expensive to run. On average, my monthly bill adds up to ~$300-$400/mo in operating cost, most of which is server space and related tools. There is so much more I'd like to do to help keep the site running smoothly, but I need help to get there. Even if we can get our monthly pledges up enough to cover the server costs, that'd help greatly.

If you have any friends that can toss in a dollar or three a month, that would be so helpful.