It’s time to check in on the progress of the AniBroad project. With a year nearly gone since the re-launch of the project, there has been little activity. With minor features soon to be added to the app, this long awaited, yet small update is in hopes of renewed interest in the project, as well as something readers of CEN.TAKU.ME can benefit from.

This is something that would come up later during the production phase, but it’s a decision made after years of debating. With this update, I announce the launch of the AniBroad Forums! The forum is a place to report bugs, leave feedback (in addition to the UserVoice widget on the page), and for users to promote their Anime, Manga, and Otaku-related blogs. It also answers the un-asked question of whether this blog will have a forum of its own, welcoming those wanting to talk about their favorite anime, manga, games, conventions, and more.

For a little backstory on this, I’ve been wanting to start my own forum for a long time, especially after the experience I had on an anime forum nearly a decade ago. Before blogging, I had a forum–or two–of my own. But they would fail on launch. I had everything planned out: from the focus of the forum, to the layout, which I designed myself. The last forum I launched crashed on a free forum host running Invision Power Board. What poor timing when I had the bright idea of promoting the forum on Gaia Online‘s link list, which received scathing reviews because I had no choice but to revert to a default theme after the crash. Fortunately, I didn’t have many posts or users.

Things will be on the light side during the launch period, which includes the rules and available areas of the forum. It should be noted that the forums are operated using MyBB, which means that forum registration is separate from the main application for the time being (aka Single Sign-On). Sorry for the inconvenience, but it’s one more thing to look into on the to-do list! With the addition of the forums, I hope to reach out to others about the project, as well as offering another place for other anime fans to talk. Check it out at forums.anibroad.net!