That’s the gist that I got, that it would be a new thing combined with etoeto that would replace both etoeto and TextFugu.

Here’s the post in full:

HatsuHazama said…Another thing, which is strongly my opinion, is that I feel Koichi developing EtoEto and Textfugu v2 is plain out poor timing. I understand a lot of the things on WK don’t get quickly updated as he is busy with the sites on a whole, but especially considering the wrong vocab, I think it’s a bad idea to work on other new products when existing ones have faults what are arguably detrimental to users’ progress. I’m not fond of voicing any such thing normally, but while I have the opportunity, I guess I might as well.

panik said… THAT!! I’ve said it before in other threads….
No matter how much I appreciate Koichi and his efforts, when it comes to consistency and time management, I’m afraid he fails quite a lot….

Textfugu was supposed to get a boost -I don’t even remember hooooow many months ago- concerning grammar points but instead, the creativeness of Koichi led him to build EtoEto which is nowhere near the level of a Textfugu user. TF was supposed to have a few more seasons added, not a different site based on listening comprehension and advanced grammar. I’m sorry but the hole “Kuma” project is NOT what he should have done before finishing up TF!!
I think that he should address more to a progressive learning for *new* users (since that’s what TF/WK team is all about) and then build up on it.
He gets excited with new projects that fill up his schedule and he forgets the initial issues. . . . :(

Koichi said… I can’t disagree with any of this… but, maybe a little explanation will help, since I don’t really tell people what I’m working on / what’s getting done at any given time. Too busy doing those things I guess… anyways, following points not directed at Hatsuhazam/panik, just in general from the thread.

WK corrections / definition changes / etc., are done by John now. He asks me things when he isn’t sure (and this is where things usually get held up a bit, that’s my bad), but overall this is way faster than if I was handling all the requests. With over 7000 items, all made lovingly by hand, there’s going to be some issues. I think people saying so many things are “completely wrong” is pretty blown out of proportion. Sure, sometimes I might say a cat is a feline (and will usually fix it if you let me know…), but I’m not ever saying a cat is a dog, you know?

I also think that example sentences are going to fix a lot of these problems too, whether it’s giving context to the user to help them to understand a meaning when synonyms are an issue or making me realize I should alter a vocab a little bit. These are also not being done by me. Mami’s working on this and when there’s a place to put them on the site (probably after a future redesign), you’ll begin to see them.

Anyways, things I AM working on…

New levels for WK: Stuff beyond level 50. Taking a slower pace since it’s all “extra” but quietly chipping away at it.

TextFugu/EtoEto: In my mind, TextFugu and EtoEto are the same project now, but we’ll see what happens when it gets released to the public. Whatever happens, I haven’t even touched EtoEto in a long time, content-wise. Mami’s taking care of all that and working with all of the writers who are writing for it. So that’s awesome. I have been (and still am) working on the rewrite of TextFugu. It’s very different from the current version, so much different that I’m considering making it its own product (don’t worry, textfugu Forever members will get access for free, of course). Whatever it ends up being (textfugu, or part of etoeto), I’m writing it with EtoEto in mind. I want to write something that gets people from zero to the point where they can use the “real” / advanced Japanese content to study with. TextFugu doesn’t quite do that, I think, and the way it’s set up won’t let it do that. So, I’m rewriting with that as the goal. I never had a specific goal in TextFugu for the “end” but now I do, which changes a lot and allows me to get a lot more focused with lessons and how they work.

Ruby: Been back at studying Ruby/Rails. Restrictions of WordPress are just too much (and it’s so terrible anyways) that I can’t imagine another product that we don’t build to do exactly what we want it to do. I want to be able to help with that, so… studying a lot.

Editing/Writing Posts (Tofugu): This takes a little time, maybe 5-8hrs a week, but looking to make a couple hires to alleviate some of the writing, which is what actually takes the most time. So, soon some of this time will be freed up.

“No matter how much I appreciate Koichi and his efforts, when it comes to consistency and time management, I’m afraid he fails quite a lot….”

So, yes! I do. Well, kind of, I’d like to think. I get really focused on certain things, and having multiple things to do at once is difficult for me. Multitasking isn’t my strong point. That’s why you’ll usually see things get done in batches. Right now I’m all TextFugu/EtoEto/Ruby and a skosh of WK levels, and that’s about all I can handle. In a few months it’ll be WK levels nonstop and I’ll get a bunch of them done at once. Then, a couple weeks later something else. I think it’s more just the way I work on things and what I choose to work on. If I’m not doing what I’m doing now, then something else would be getting done.

Now, as for corrections and changes… Everything that everyone is saying is fair. But I hope people keep in mind that lots of changes / additions are taking place. It’s easy to see from my end, because I see the emails that get replied to and the changes and the questions, etc. But, you’re not going to notice when an obscure vocab word gets another definition. To put things in context, I know it’s not a lot, but I’m guessing around 5-10 things get changed / added every day. So, things are changing, things are improving… just happening a little at a time, and usually not in view of the public.

Anyhoo, that reply was way too long so I’m sure you guys will have a great time finding reasons to be angry at the things I’ve said just now! :P

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My only problem is that if he isn’t sure about what shape it will take, he’s still likely far from finished with it… Though he did say he’d be switching gears again in a few months. Hope that means he’ll actually be finished with it before he does.