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From: Beaky <wa...@be...> - 2009-11-09 15:58:16
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I thought I'd just let you guys know that there's some significant new work just added into the SVN repository related to downloads. The existing Wacs download mechanism is getting a bit long in the tooth but we're not quite ready to tackle a big re-write of that just yet. However the "download experience" has been decaying quite a bit of late with the major sites adding various new techniques like image capture to foil automatic download solutions. Additionally, Firefox have stopped keeping a text-version of the cookies cache available for us to read, which makes things harder too. The thing is that Wacs sits on the fence between being a collection management tool for private individuals and a content management system for adult content providers. We know from a providers point of view what a pain (and expense) it can be if someone really hammers your download servers pulling loads of material they'll never be able to use. At the same time, we also understand how important it is to collectors to check that they have everything which is available by a favourite model, and have an easy way to check up on and download any new material that has been added recently. The new tools we've added, which will be included in Wacs 0.8.4, try to assist in the downloading of new content by working co-operatively with a web browser rather than trying to engage with the remote website directly. You can save a model's main index page and have it parsed direct from the saved version; you can view a download "To Do" list and click on the relevant link in order to do the actual download, and you can have Wacs check up on the files you've ticked as having been just downloaded. We hope these tools will work better with a wider range of sites, help the collectors to build and manage their collections and at the same time respect the content providers concerns about their servers and bandwidth being excessively consumed. Although we've always stayed away from completely automatic downloading, we feel this web browser assistance model of download sits better with our twin objectives of helping both collector and content provider. It also puts users of Wacs even further from accusations of using techniques banned by many sites terms of service. Cheers Beaky. |