Minecraft Player Tracking & Other Updates

Hi again! 

Long time no see. Let's get into it. 

Tonight, there were two minor updates. The main one is that Minecraft (Java) is now tracking player counts every so often. Ten random servers will be checked every 10 minutes. Servers will continue to be pinged based on the internal cooldown period we have set when a player views your server page. However, the two do not overlap, and the random check will skip your server if it was already checked too recently. This is to prevent overuse of the API that checks the server status.

The other update is that I am hoping to have optimized and actually fixed the page vote resets once and for all. Well, at least until the database refactor is full steam ahead.

About that refactor, it is a full backend update that essentially merges all servers and pages into a single list. This doesn't mean all of the pages would be listed on the Minecraft list; rather, it consolidates the massive amount of data into a single pool that we can much more easily manage and develop! The refactor basically requires major rewrites in almost every area of the website, so it is still a long way off. I only really just started it a few weeks ago and only worked on it for about an hour or two. More details will come once that is further into development.

The current “Upo Next/Research” list has also been added back to the Trello board. The top 3 items on the list are: 1. 2FA, 2. the Refactor, and 3. Tooltips.

2FA is pretty self-explanatory. To help protect accounts for users and staff, 2FA is a must. Specifically authenticator for the time being. We'll look into other methods in the future.

The other is Tooltips. We want a better user experience for both new and current users. Providing pop-up tooltips would be extremely helpful to get you where you need to go. These will take some time to implement fully and test, but they are important. Obviously, other items will be slotted in while working on all these things, so expect updates before the major stuff rolls out. Until then, stay warm and have a calm holiday season.

Talk to you again soon.

~Codewow/Dylan Graham
Gemini Servers Owner