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Hello everyone, This is a post I've been meaning to do for a long time now but never really got around to doing it. I was also on vacations for a while and only came back this week-end. The goal of this post is to expose a bit the "behind-the-scenes" of DCW and be as open as possible regarding the finances of the site and servers. In a way, I would like to sensibilize the community about the resources and money it takes to maintain DCW and keep it running day after day. I'm not sure if you all remember the events of January of this year when the site had some major issues and I've had to make many updates (and upgrades) to put it back up (better, safer and stronger)? If not, see the posts made here: http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/4298-forum-and-wiki-maintenance/ and http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/4357-forum-and-wiki-upgradeupdates/ Besides the software upgrades at the time, I also upgraded the resources used by DCW (due mainly to the increasing traffic of visitors to the site). I also currently pay a third-party service to regularly scan, detect and prevent attacks and potential exploits as they appear. The bill has now come to around $150 per month for a web server and a separate database server + about $10 a month for the security service I just mentioned. This is quite a substantial amount of money in the end (about $1900 a year out of my pocket..). And with $150 a month already, I believe at this point we could eventually push it a little more to reach our dream of getting a dedicated server that we can fully use and benefit from, resources-wise, without any (or barely any) restrictions (i.e. more bandwidth, more memory, more CPU). We should consider at least $200 for a good decent server. This is why I was hoping this post would let you know more about the situation and our priorities and where you could eventually help out in reaching our goal of getting a stable dedicated server as well as helping build the number 1 Detective Conan resource on the web! I would like to thank everyone who donated so far! It's very awesome of you and I am really grateful for the help! It really does help in paying the bills every month. If I make an average of the amount of donations per month and how much they help out I would say that they represent about 5% of the monthly fees. On the long-term, it would be amazing if the server could become self-sustaining with everyone's effort and help! So, even if it's just a little bit, any help is appreciated! Even $1 would be great! Thank you! Some benefits of becoming a donator: - Member of the "Donators" forum group (if you want to). By doing so, you'll let others know of your dedication and support to DCW - No more ads on the forum - The profile page can be customized a bit - More messages allowed in the inbox - If you have more ideas or suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know. Thank you for your contributions and continued support! Always greatly appreciated! Maurice3 points
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Posting non-spoiler case deductions here. The first suspect Tsuyuguchi Furuyo freaking out over the light is suspicious. It was an over-reaction. A LP is about the same size and shape as the guy's fluorescent lights. She could have hidden LPs that she desired in a box or by the box of spare lightbulbs (stored in the bathroom?). (Or crazy solution she hid them above or in the ceiling light?) She freaks out at Mitsuhiko because if the light burns out then someone retrieving a spare would find the LPs she hid. I suppose she wouldn’t want to outright take the LPs because if someone investigated the suicide and noticed they were missing, she would be the first suspect because of her hobby and appointment that day. Maybe she thought she could retrieve them later? Also listening to records with headphones is a bit unusual. How Furuyo gets along with cats is unclear. She basically shoos away Taii, which is pretty reasonable for someone who has been around cats but doesn’t want to be bothered. If she was lying about the chain of events, then Masuko dealt with Mari at the door and afterwards Furuyo attacked Masuko. Furuyo then would have taken advantage of Rinpei’s arrival to create another suspect. The second suspect Asao Mari carries Taii like a baby, and in doing so annoys him so that he swishes his tail (not what Ayumi says, wagging = annoyed in cats). She clearly knows nothing about cats. She likes cats though, so if one of the three suspects was to be the recipient of the cat, it could be her. That might explain why she was dealt with at the door. Masuko would not want Mari to see the wrapping paper + cat case. She claimed that the victim was already seeing someone at the time she came. "Seemed" implies Masuko didn’t tell her, but instead she picked up cues indicating there was someone inside already. Those cues could be shoes, or music. If she was lying, that means there wasn’t another guest at the apartment, and she must have been completely let in. That would mean she let in Rinpei without a word and then didn’t answer him to create another suspect. Masuko not responding to Urushiya Rinpei's ringing is suspicious. I doubt Masuko would have ignored him like that, even if he was busy with another guest. Either Rinpei is lying or the victim had already been pushed over by that point and couldn't answer. Being persistent with the doorbell makes sense because Rinpei thought Masuko let him in to the complex. It wouldn’t make much sense to have the flat owner let him in, but then go somewhere without seeing him. If Rinpei was lying about his story, that means Masuko let him in, and he wouldn’t have had to push the doorbell multiple times. The problem is why he chose to lie as he did. He is apparently a regular at coming over, so he would know the apartment's tech well. If he wanted to trick the police into thinking someone else did the crime then it would make sense to come up with a story that implies the killer buzzed him in. Coming over unannounced though means Rinpei probably didn’t know Masuko’s schedule and if there would be anyone else he could blame the crime on. Urushiya Rinpei appears to be lying about hating cats. He picks up the bottle cap first when Genta spills in front of the cat. That is the item the cat would be attracted to most (cats like to bat bottle caps apparently), so he knows a bit about their preferences. He also got scratched on the hand, which wouldn’t have happened if didn’t bend down to the stray cat. In conclusion none of the victim’s testimony about what they were doing absolutely contradicts what the others said happened. Tape, scissors and wrapping paper usually covers the minimum, but Conan thinks there is something else missing from the wrapping scene. The missing item might have been the old container the previous item came in, because it would have been thrown out or discarded. Ribbon is another option. Also some people do use rulers to measure packages. Ribbon is a key item because it could be used to lock the door from the outside in two steps, and might be the item that Conan would have expected to be there. First use ribbon to get the U-bar on, and retrieve it. Then open the door to verify the u-bar, reach in, loop the ribbon around the knob lock, shut the door, and pull the ribbon in the right way to turn the knob and lock the door. The method for getting the u-bar on is described in this diagram. The turning knob lock on my door is very similar to the victim’s in this case, and I could lock it (turn it from vertically oriented to horizontally oriented) from the outside with either a bit of tape (easy, first try, fast, but might leave a little sticky residue), or with a bit of ribbon (harder, needed several tries but the vic has a lock that is better shaped for the purpose than mine. No residue if using unfrayed ribbon) To lock the knob lock with ribbon, you make a bend in the ribbon, loop it over the vertically oriented knob through the small gap in the door using your fingers, hold it taut so there is good friction, and pull the correct end so the knob turns properly. If it doesn’t work the first time, you open the door and try again. Conan could get his foot and hand in the gap so it is certainly big enough for an adult to reach in. The tape version works very similarly to the u-bar trick in the Night Baron murder case, only you put it on the knob lock. http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/wiki/Night_Baron_Murder_Case Conan pulled his wool string through earlier as proof of concept. Tai would be expected to play with the long ribbon as it is being retrieved from locking the u-bar. Some ribbon threads might be left in Tai’s claws, or the ribbon could be stained with blood from the vic, transferred from the cat’s paws. I have been informed by someone who read spoilers that part of my locking the door solution is not what is shown in the solution. I’m not really sure how I can fix it, since I verified it works and quickly at that. Maybe Tai can be used to pull dangling ribbons as part of the trick. Dunno.1 point