My focus is still on the upcoming events but I'm interested to see what type of features you're most interested in at the moment since I'll have time for at least 2 major updates in the coming month. The current plan is the following: Social > Android App
> Anime Database > Show Page. I do have plans for 4 new databases as well. Manga, people, companies, and music. There are other databases I want to add as well but they won't be added for a very long time.
Based no your feedback I'll decide on how much time to focus on each area of the site. Based on your feedback it could also mean dropping certain projects or only doing basic updates. Such as the Android/Windows 8 apps.
Social
This includes working on the forums, blogging, micro blogging, private messaging, friends list, being able to show your anime lists, a new notification system so subscriptions are useful, reworking the home page to be more customized to your interests, etc.
This encourages existing users to stick around more. The downside is it shifts the focus of the site more toward social networking than an anime database.
Anime Database
Reworking the entire anime info pages to match the design of the character pages, redoing the submission pages, redoing the review system and integrating it into blogging, integrating the character page into the character search. This will strengthen
the database and bring in new users from search engines looking for information The downside is these features do not encourage users to continually check back on the site.
Shows
Redoing the entire show page layout, integrating shows with the database pages (anime details, anime lists, rating system, and comments), revamping the search engine, redoing some of the internal features. The advantage is this brings in more users to the site
looking to watch anime online and reduces the need for users to leave the site to watch anime. The downside is it focuses attention more toward videos and less toward the fan base. The content is also not hosted by OtakuElite so there is always the small chance
that we could loose users if content is ever taken down.
Android/Windows 8 Apps
Creating additional ways to connect to the site when you're away from home or providing an alternative method of viewing the site using a Windows 8 app or updating the existing Android App. The advantage is this brings new users to the site and is a great method
for advertising. The downside is these apps require a lot of maintenance with new features and as a result become a stripped down version of the site. The updates can always take a month or longer to complete.
Account Integration
Linking your accounts to twitter, Facebook, and G+. This is for both account management such as logging in and recovering passwords as well as for updating all of your social networking sites directly from the site. This includes microblogging and
blogging. This will reduce the need of managing multiple social networking accounts and allow you to spend more time on the site. This update includes reworking the user tables in the database to use a new modern account management system which is far easier
to use. The downside is this integration requires a lot of work and can put a stop to a lot of new features being added. While in the long run this greatly improves the quality of the site and allows for many new features it does require a bit of time. It
could take 1 to 2 months to complete.
Maintenance
Keeping the site as is for now and focusing on fixing bugs and layout issues. Such as some formatting issues with internet explore and other browsers. This also includes reworking a lot of internal code to make the site easier to work in the future
as well as improving loading times on the site. The advantage of this is the site will run smoother. The downside is these fixes may only last a year or two ad new content is added and pages are reworked. Eventually there are plans to start redoing every page
on the site with a new coding platform. Luckily the updates are fairly simple page to page but the planning and initial phases are very time consuming.