I heard 0.3 is going to be open-source. I notice sites like rule34.xxx using the 0.2 beta and I've scoured the web looking for the source so I can run it on my own personal server.

So two in one: how's progress going on 0.3 and what can I do to help as a non-developer and where do I obtain the 0.2 or more recent source code? Thanks!

Merry Xmas and stuff.

Progress on 0.3.x has been significantly slowed by Patreon banning our campaign for it. We are not planning on releasing 0.3.x until it is feature-complete. I'm unsure how much time is remaining until then.

0.2.x is closed-source licensed software. The only person outside of our own development team with a license, and therefore access to it, is the owner of Rule34.xxx, Slayerduck. Any site you find running 0.2.x is owned by either lozertuser or Slayerduck.

If we can't get it feature complete, we'll release .3 it as is. There has been no work on it AFAIK since a few months after Patreon shut down the page.

Seldom any development is done on either versions. For example, I suggested in the Trac a simple Favorite/Unfavorite toggle that can be coded in 4 lines with AJAX yet no dev said anything on it and it's still open and that was almost two weeks ago. Even earlier pugsaremydrugs suggested an alert when closing tabs a month ago (done in a single JavaScript line with ``window.onbeforeunload = function() {alert();}``) yet it's also still open with no dev having commented on it. If Trac issues are resolved, it's usually "Won't fix" or "Works as intended" anyway.

Moral of the story: nothing is being developed or worked on (except in that one case a couple of months ago in a burst)

As for Patreon, there was always SubscribeStar or crypto but no effort was put into replacing Patreon to my knowledge.
I also don't know why selling T-shirts and buttons on the store doesn't count as a replacement for Patreon that can pay for 0.3.

I believe merch pays only for server costs, and not development of the site.

Correct, merch sales go toward server and/or bandwidth costs. If we put it toward development, we would run out of bandwidth and the site would be throttled by the datacenter. And for that trouble, we likely wouldn't have enough to fund significant progress.

"I may not be very good at what I do, but at least I'm slow."

Can you set up some way to donate? Maybe a banner asking for any sort of contribution. You could post the source on Github, too, to speed things along. You mentioned it going open source, may as well post it now and have the community help you. Just some suggestions.

"Just release it, bro!"

Remember Cyberpunk?

I see your point, though I think that's a bit disingenuous. Open-source would allow people to contribute and submit patches. Cyberpunk is closed source. They could easily put it on Github as pre-Alpha software and have the community test, patch and report bugs. IMO this is a good way to get the ball moving without officially saying "official stable release". Again, I see your point, but it'd work differently in the open-source, community driven world of developers and contributors.

But I respect whatever their decision is. I'll just have to disagree with you. Ultimately it's not my choice so if they feel it'd work better as something developed slowly to perfect without seeking open-source help now, I'm okay with it. I trust them to make the right decision. :)