Amrayu78 I tried to describe the main problems that immediately stand out. The idea is interesting, but we need to think carefully about whether it makes sense to implement something this big. For example, if the main goal is to save traffic, maybe a simpler option would be switching hosting, e.g.:

The dedicated servers are located in Europe (Germany or Finland), but I think that thanks to Cloudflare's CDN, the difference will not be too significant.

If we keep Patreon - the site needs to sync statuses.

If we move payments into WordPress - then we open a huge set of problems with taxes, payment gateways, checkout, compliance etc. That’s a whole separate task.

Gofile / Pixeldrain APIs don’t provide this data.

The only compromise: link the cost to the request for the file, not the actual downloaded traffic. Meaning we deduct coins based on file size at the moment the user clicks Download btn, even if they stop the download. So the economy becomes conditional, not really traffic-based.

Max Romanchenko thanks for your response.

I think another thing to keep in mind is now that we’ve moved away from sharing gofile links directly, users can now download as much as they want which in the end costs me more money daily since it’s now my bandwidth. Before they were using their own guest bandwidth which already has daily limits. Ideally I want to limit these kind of subscribers that are downloading and hoarding.

We can move to a point system and maybe get people to sign up at a lower/cheaper Patreon level?

I’m just thinking in the long term here. Since I don’t know how much I can sustain this without getting users to pay their fair share.

Amrayu78

I understand you, thank you for sharing your thoughts. But there are simpler options. For example, renting a server is cheaper than Bluehost. This already compensates for the costs incurred due to direct links.

Here are the servers where pixeldrain is hosted:

or (for example, €59/month):

The second option could be to purchase a fixed plan on Pixeldrain (see screenshot - Infinity), which should be half the price of Gofile and has more storage space.

I also mentioned that monetization may be possible, but please review the issues I described above (e.g., VIP role, traffic calculation, and where exactly the payments will be made) and let me know what you decide.

We need to start with something. Some kind of plan. Perhaps a two- or three-stage plan.

Max Romanchenko Thanks for discussing this with me. I think I'll slowly phase out gofile links and will start uploading to Pixeldrain. Maybe sign up with a lower tier for now and then upgrade as I hit the storage space limit.

The idea of renting out another server kinda scares me, but I've already prepaid for 1 year with Bluehost, so it doesn't make sense to move right now.

Besides this, I think we need to start monetizing so I can cover the costs at the bare minimum. Let's ditch the coins/points and stick to patreon.

I already have different tiers, $3, $5, $10.

But we will need to count GB somehow so this can rate limit users to these tiers.

Max Romanchenko sharing something that I got from ChatGPT, maybe it can spark some ideas.

📄 Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Feature: GB Download Limit Enforcement for Drama-Otaku

Objective

Control Gofile/PixelDrain bandwidth costs by enforcing per-user daily GB caps based on Patreon tier. Ensure fair access for non-paying users while granting higher limits to patrons.

User Roles & Limits

* Non-Patreon Users (Default / Guest / Regular WP Users)

* Daily cap: 3–4 GB/day (configurable, default = 3 GB).

* Patreon Tier $3

* Daily cap: 10 GB/day.

* No ads.

* Patreon Tier $5

* Daily cap: 20 GB/day.

* No ads.

* Patreon Tier $10

* Unlimited downloads.

* No ads.

* Contributors (site role)

* Unlimited downloads.

Core Flow

* Authenticates user via WP session/JWT.

* Resolves Patreon tier → assigns daily cap.

* Checks file size from provider API/cache.

* Fetches today’s usage for that user.

* If used + file_size > daily_cap → block & return error.

* Else:

* Increment used.

* Mint short-lived direct link (Gofile with IP/domain restriction, PixelDrain normal link).

* 302 redirect user to file.

Technical Requirements

Data

* do_bandwidth_daily: user_id, date, used_bytes, cap_bytes.

* do_download_log: id, user_id, provider, file_id, size_bytes, status, ip, timestamp.

* Optional cache table for provider file sizes.

Backend

* WP REST routes or Worker:

* POST /dl?file_id=&provider= → issues redirect.

* GET /quota → returns current cap & usage.

* Provider integrations:

* Gofile: /contents/{id}/directlinks with expireTime, sourceIpsAllowed, domainsAllowed.

* PixelDrain: /file/{id}/info to fetch size.

* Patreon → WP role/tier sync (map patron tier → cap).

Frontend

* Replace static download links with calls to /dl.

* Display banner: “You have X GB left today (Tier: $3 / $5 / Non-Patreon).”

* Error screen when capped: “Daily limit reached. Upgrade your Patreon tier for more.”

Acceptance Criteria

* Non-Patreon users capped at 3–4 GB/day.

* Patreon $3 users capped at 10 GB/day.

* Patreon $5 users capped at 20 GB/day.

* Patreon $10 & Contributors → Unlimited.

* Logs kept of every download attempt.

* Admin can configure caps per tier.

How to get size (bytes) per file

Gofile

Call GET /contents/{contentId} for the folder that contains the file(s).

The response returns the folder’s listing with file metadata (including sizes). You’ll read the size of the file the user is requesting (or sum across multiple if you gate a folder download).

Gofile

If you’re issuing a direct link, you still fetch size via the folder listing above (direct-link creation doesn’t return the size). Then mint the short-lived link via POST /contents/{contentId}/directlinks (optionally IP/domain-bound) for the actual redirect.

Gofile

Minimal examples

cURL (folder contents):

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $GOFILE_TOKEN" \

"https://api.gofile.io/contents/$FOLDER_ID"

Node (fetch size):

const r = await fetch(, {

headers: { Authorization: }

});

const data = await r.json();

// Find your file in data.contents (implementation detail: files are listed under folder info)

const file = data.contents.find(c => c.type === "file" && c.name === wantedName);

const sizeBytes = file?.size ?? 0;

When the user downloads an entire Gofile folder as a ZIP via directlink: pre-compute sum of sizes of all files in that folder and charge against the quota before issuing the link. (Directlink creation endpoint is here.) ... continued in next comment.

Gofile

PixelDrain

Call GET /api/file/{id}/info to get public file info including size in bytes. (Docs: /file/{id}/info returns info; multiple IDs can be comma-separated.)

Archive

If you serve lists/albums, call the list info endpoint (or iterate files[] items—each file has size). Rclone’s backend and official client libs reflect these fields and the canonical API root https://pixeldrain.com/api.

Rclone

Fossies

Go Packages

Minimal examples

cURL:

curl "https://pixeldrain.com/api/file/${FILE_ID}/info"

Node:

const r = await fetch();

const info = await r.json();

const sizeBytes = info.size; // integer

Last-resort fallback (both providers)

If a specific API ever fails and you have a direct download URL already, you can issue a HEAD (or GET with Range: bytes=0-0) and read Content-Length to estimate bytes before redirecting. This is a standard HTTP behavior.

Ambassador

curl -I "https://.../download-url" | grep -i content-length

Converting to GB and charging

Store bytes in your DB; compute GB only for UI.

“GiB” (binary) = bytes / 1024^3; “GB” (decimal) = bytes / 1000^3. Pick one and be consistent in UI and policy.

For folder zips (Gofile), sum child file sizes and charge that amount pre-issuance.

Where to put this in your flow

User clicks “Download”.

Your /dl gate:

Resolve cap (non-Patreon default 3–4 GB; Patreon $3 → 10 GB; $5 → 20 GB; $10/Contributor → unlimited).

Fetch size using the API above (cache results in DB for 6–24h).

Check + charge bytes if under cap.

Mint link (Gofile directlink with IP/domain/expiry; PixelDrain: normal link).

302 redirect.

Amrayu78

Thank uyou, I re-read your notes.

About the server - yeah, since it's already paid, I guess that's not urgent right now. We can revisit later, but just to flag: the hardware is really outdated (old HDD, slow CPU, overpriced + extra cost for cPanel license). Not the best combo long-term.

Now about the functionality. I really like the idea of simplifying - just Patreon tiers and payments. Linking download limits to Patreon subscription feels like a very natural and soft way to start monetization, without inventing coins/points or other heavy stuff. It's proven, it's easier for users: either you support on Patreon - unlimited downloads, or you don’t. Later we could always consider moving VIP payments inside the site if it makes sense.

Also - tiny joke: maybe let’s keep the chat a bit lighter, otherwise it’s turning into a technical manual 😂

Here are the current open questions from my side:

Overall, I like this new direction. Feels like a proper, manageable model now. Only nuance is GB counting - we can't do exact tracking since files are served by external hosts, not our server. If we tried to proxy through our server, it would create insane load and risks: Bluehost bandwidth limits, possible bans from file hosts (since everything comes from one IP).

Max Romanchenko I moved the server stuff to this new canny: https://drama-otaku.canny.io/feature-requests/p/switch-servers

The server agreement ends in October 13, 2025, so maybe it's a good time to move.

$3 - Kouhai, $5 - Sempai, $10 - Sensei; we can create new roles on the site to reflect this.

Amrayu78

Thank you for your answers.

Of course, we will need the same (or similar) subscription system and Paypal/Stripe payment system. Please let us know what you think about this.

Amrayu78 I've made some progress. I'm preparing the site for future changes to download limits.

What I can do is that if a user has paid for a month, the amount for the next month will not be charged automatically. They have to renew it themselves.

We can send them emails about the end of their subscription to encourage them to stay.

Orders will be visible on their dashboard, and there is no need for Patreon synchronization. Please let me know if I am on the right track.

Max Romanchenko Thanks for sharing this; it's great progress.

For pricing its a bit tricky, these prices are for monthly subscriptions. Users can cancel at any time so it doesn't renew. We can use Stripe or PayPal, I actually have a Stripe account already, so if you need me to create a project for this, I can.

Ideally, I think users should subscribe monthly (recurring). An email should be sent to them that they will be charged for an upcoming month. We should allow them to cancel.

I'm not sure which is easier, going through Patreon or integrating it on the site. Patreon does take a 35% charge which is quite high.

Amrayu78

Okay. Let's set up user subscriptions on the website using Stripe. It will be much cheaper for us, as you will only be charged Stripe's fee. Recurring payments are handled by Stripe, not the website. I think it should work for us. But we need to test it, of course.

Max Romanchenko Let's leave existing users on Patreon for now. It'll be a pain to transfer people over to the new system. For new people we can let them use the new system. Let me know what you need from Stripe and I'll email it to you.

Amrayu78 Let's take a look at the roles on the site.

You have the following subscriptions on Patreon:

We currently have 108 VIP users on our site. I need to understand what roles we are creating.

Am I correct in understanding that we are creating 3 new roles (Kouhai, Sempai, and Sensei)?

Yes. Same roles as the Patreon tiers.

We are not touching users with VIP roles because they are linked to Patreon subscriptions, correct?

Let’s leave these VIPs alone. We can give them unlimited bandwidth for now, but eventually I will sort through them and move their roles. The thing is some of them do not have matching emails (Patreon and DramaOtaku emails are different).

Max Romanchenko let's make them pirate themed.

Kouhai → Swabby

Senpai → Matey

Sensei → Captain

Thanks for the info.

I'm working on payments on the website.

Let me clarify once again - you want the subscription fee to be charged to the user automatically on a monthly basis, and the user should receive a notification two days in advance that the subscription fee will be debited from their account.

Yes, let's go with monthly subscriptions, and email the users 1 week before they get charged. Two days seems too short.

Is it possible to also offer a yearly subscription so users can pay upfront? There's been some on Patreon that have done this.

Got it, the site will send an email a week before the money is charged.

Yes, I was thinking about an annual subscription too.

Can you send me the prices for an annual subscription for:

Annual subscriptions:

Swabby - $30 (16.7% off yearly)

Matey - $50 (16.7% off yearly)

Captain - $100 (16.7% off yearly)

I think I have some good progress to share with you. Overall, the payment system and everything related to it is ready. Limits, orders, new roles, recurring payments - all of this is ready, and I have tested it on a test account.

For now, only administrators can see the pricing table on the Downloads section in the user dashboard, you can test it out:

I'm still not sure where exactly to display it in the user dashboard.

Payments are currently in sandbox mode, meaning that no money is actually being charged. But as soon as we test it, I will connect your Stripe business account.

Of course, not everything is 100% ready yet - we still need notification emails and checks in case the payment period expires and the user's role is downgraded to subscriber. But this will also be ready in the coming days (I hope).

In the screenshot, you can see that I have separated Subscriptions and Orders.

I think this is the right decision because I plan to give the user the option to purchase additional gigabytes that they can use if they exceed their daily limit, in addition to the three subscriptions. In this case, such orders will be displayed under the heading "Orders" (This is just an idea for now.)

Please let me know what you think about this.

Max Romanchenko I've tested it, but looks like I'm stuck as a Matey so I can't access the WP dashboard. Can you make me admin again?

Amrayu78 Done.

Max Romanchenko This looks good so far and I guess the cancelation and role bumping works then lol cat will be testing tomorrow.

Max Romanchenko Looks like Name is not here when you fill in CC info. We may want to collect the name in the form since the Drama-Otaku info, first last name (if used) is not accurate.

I added fields for the name, please check.

I also added a check to see if the user has an active subscription, and if so, the user will receive a notification that the active subscription should be canceled before purchasing a new one. This is important to avoid misunderstandings and to ensure that the user is not charged for two subscriptions.

I also added the option to purchase extra gigabytes (please let me know what prices/gigabytes to set). These are one-time payments for those who do not want a subscription.

First, the daily limit is taken into account, then the user's extra gigabytes are checked.

In the future, this field can be used by administrators to give certain users "bonuses".

Amrayu78 Here is an email about a new order from Cat.

Please specify the email address to which order notifications should be sent.

Max Romanchenko I’ll create a new admin email, but you can use admin@drama-otaku.com for now

Max Romanchenko I think if users have an existing subscription, they shouldn't be able to create a new one.

I have changed the email address for notifications to:

- I think if users have an existing subscription, they shouldn't be able to create a new one.

–– Yes, that's exactly how it is right now.

Max Romanchenko For more GB:

5GB = $2; 10GB = $4; 15GB = $6

Also some minor content changes and layout change. Would it make sense to put this on a separate page? I guess it makes sense here though.

Amrayu78

I made the changes, please check.

Yes, moving the prices to a separate page is definitely a good idea, so I have already moved the pricing table to a separate page:

(currently in draft mode, accessible only to administrators)

When the limits are reached in the pop-up window when downloading PB Links, a message will appear with a link to this /pricing/ page.

Here is the text that the user will see in the pop-up window instead of the links (please correct if necessary):

"You have reached your daily download limit {15 GB}

Upgrade to unlock premium features or add more GB to your account.

View Plans"

Max Romanchenko The page looks great.

Let's add some emojis to make it more fun:

in the pricing next to the titles or before the titles for each plan:

Swabby: https://emojipedia.org/en/search?q=broom

Matey: https://emojipedia.org/parrot

Captain: https://emojipedia.org/pirate-flag

The pop-up content looks good. Thanks!

Max Romanchenko Also can you adjust some of the rewards/items in both monthly and yearly?

Swabby:

Add:

Matey:

Add:

Remove:

Captain:

Edit:

Add:

Remove:

I made these corrections.

Please check.

I would like to inform you that I have implemented emails and styled them.

I have also implemented an email reminder one week before funds are debited. Please check the text:

"Subject: Upcoming Subscription Payment

Your subscription will renew soon.

Your Matey plan will renew on September 5, 2025.

An amount of $5 will be charged to your account.

Manage Subscription (Link to Orders in Dashboard)

If you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact our support team."

Max Romanchenko Please make these changes to the email:

"Subject: Upcoming Drama-Otaku.com Subscription Payment

Your "Matey" subscription plan will renew soon on Drama-Otaku.com on September 5, 2025.

An amount of $5 will be charged to your account.

Manage Subscription (Link to Orders in Dashboard)

If you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact our support team.

-Drama-Otaku.com Staff"

I have some additional changes that we should implement.

We should have an auto-renewal checkbox. This should be somewhere in the flow asking the user if they want to auto-renew. This checkbox will be on by default and exposed in their settings so they can uncheck if they don't want it to auto-renew. Can we add this logic?

If we can add this, we'll need another email warning users that their subscription will not renew.

"Subject: Your Drama-Otaku.com Subscription is ending

Your "Matey" subscription plan will end on Drama-Otaku.com on September 5, 2025.

Your account will not be charged.

To renew, change your subscription (Link to Orders in Dashboard)

If you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact our support team.

-Drama-Otaku.com Staff"

Max Romanchenko Some more text changes. I think we should increase the limits.

Free tier: 5GB

Swabby: 20GB

Matey: 40GB

Also can you update the content in this screenshot? Thanks.

Also underneath this line add:

Upgrade to unlock premium features or add more GB to your account -

No commitment, cancel anytime.

Amrayu78 These changes are done.

I'm currently working on the auto-renewal checkbox.

Max Romanchenko Can you block the orders tab from showing to all users except for admin? We are getting questions about it since there’s an amount shown.

Amrayu78 Done. Sorry I didn't notice that earlier, I was sure I had already done it.

Max Romanchenko Thanks!

Amrayu78 I think I'm done with that. I added a checkbox for auto-renewal, new emails, and auto-renewal management in the dashboard. It's quite a complex thing since it's managed at the payment system level (Stripe, PayPal).

If you're ready, I can send you a link via email to connect your Stripe (please let me know if you want to do it in test mode or live).

The link will only be valid for a short time, so please let me know when you're ready.

Max Romanchenko Yes, I'm ready.

Great!

Would you like to connect your Stripe account in test or live mode?

Max Romanchenko I guess test first?

Amrayu78 OK. Sent the link to email.

Amrayu78

I've tested it, but looks like I'm stuck as a Matey so I can't access the WP dashboard. Can you make me admin again

– I fixed it so that the admin couldn't buy the product and so that his role wouldn't be downgraded as a result. I think this is useful so that this doesn't happen in the future.

Max Romanchenko Do you still need to make your account admin? I see that temp-admin is admin already.

Amrayu78 Yes, of course. temp-admin is my account and he must remain an admin - to configure the payment environment and so on.

It's like a separate microservice for payments, orders, gateway, and subscriptions. It's all done on https://drama-otaku.com/store/ and doesn't interfere with the main site, interacting with it via API.

Everything is already set up correctly.

Max Romanchenko So it's good to go now? You don't need my help for anything?

Yes, it's ok ☺️

Thanks, no help needed for now. The test account is connected and everything is ready for testing.

Max Romanchenko Hi Max, how much GB does the free tier get?

Hi Duong,

Subscribers have a limit of 5 GB.

Max Romanchenko Can I increase this in the admin panel? I saw something in the WP dashboard for it.

Sure, You can change this in Drama Otaku Options:

Max Romanchenko Thanks, I will increase it to 8-9GB. So is there a switch to turn this feature on? It's ready right? I'm just worried if I announce it, the users will go crazy and will try to download as much as possible.

Amrayu78 There is no enable/disable button in the admin panel because the limit functionality requires changes in multiple places in the code and modifies the download method itself. Since I didn't plan to switch back to the old unlimited download method, I wanted to keep things simple and avoid unnecessary complexity.

However, if you need the ability to toggle the limit functionality on/off, I can add a radio button for this in the admin panel. Just let me know if you'd like me to implement this.

Max Romanchenko I think it would be a good idea to toggle this on and off, so I can run promotions on the site, like "unlimited downloads for xxxx holiday" or something like this. It'll give users something to look forward to.

Amrayu78 Excellent idea! I'll add the toggle.

Amrayu78 What do you think? The widget will change its appearance depending on whether the toggle limit is enabled or disabled.

Max Romanchenko This is nice! Is it possible to allow a note to be added? where the Promotional Period text is? I want to be able to call it what I want to make it more personal and have more character.

Amrayu78 Sure, I have implemented this, please check it.

I also added a small animation to hide/show this field depending on the radio button to improve the user experience in the admin panel.

Now download limits can be easily enabled/disabled in the admin panel.

Max Romanchenko Looks great! So we are ready now?

Amrayu78

Yes, everything is live on my end. I'll be closely monitoring the first orders and Stripe transactions to ensure a smooth launch.

If there are any difficulties, we can disable the limits in the admin panel until they are resolved.

Should I increase the limit for subscribers to 8GB?

Max Romanchenko Can we bump it up to 6GB? Thanks.

Amrayu78 Sure, done.

Max Romanchenko this is now live. Thank you!