Community

[Jason Black]

The suggestion foremost in my mind is that we all need to focus a little more on contributing more as a community in the areas of posting comments and topics and especially reviews with more narrative, or personal perspective, or critique or commentary. I'm evidently struggling with how to word my suggestion here myself, but the file reviews I have read have let me down so far. It is good to see people saying anything at all about new files, and there isn't anything wrong here, but these have all been comments, not reviews.

 

My suggestion to the staff would be to set the example by writing at least a full paragraph that explores their experience with the file if they have used it, in the hopes that will encourage other members to follow that example. Perhaps also consider applying some highlighting feature to the review that gets the most likes, in the hopes that it will be used bring to the front the most useful member feedback? Perhaps the author of a file or topic could use the ratings stars to vote up what they feel is the most useful review? Deviantart.com has a model for user generated critiques that might be worth following here.

 

Or some similar insightful tool to promote actual community commentary? It's a vague feeling in my mind at this point, but I wanted to put it out there. This isn't a 'fix this now' suggestion, we should just explore some methods of promoting or rewarding useful information. The like feature on this forum is an excellent step in this direction, and I've seen this feature requested so many times on other forums that I sincerely applaud the initiative to make it happen here.

 

I'll also say this topic is open to other similar community (not strictly website/technical) related suggestions, since I didn't see anywhere to post this.

[Malkav]

Some people just like writing lenghtly and thorough reviews. The staff could consider volunteer reviewers, I suppose. Attendance would probably exceed the demand though, leading to forum eliticism. Then again, it's a community revolving around a relatively old game, and most members are in their 20s, so we're past the age when one takes Internet forums too seriously. I might have digressed a bit...

[eezstreet]

Maybe there could be a rating system for reviews, and the most popular review gets pinned to the file description.

[MUG]

Maybe there could be a rating system for reviews, and the most popular review gets pinned to the file description.

I seem to recall this wasn't possible with the software or something. Would be perfect though, if it is.

[afi]

Or you can either post a comment or a review. The comment appears instantly but the review needs an approval by an admin

[MUG]

Or you can either post a comment or a review. The comment appears instantly but the review needs an approval by an admin

Pretty sure cael was trying to avoid this kind of thing where possible.

[Jason Black]

http://espressobsess...ique/672124385/

 

Here is an example of a deviantart review that I find especially useful. Of course it's about a photo, and none of the content in the critique is very applicable to one of our authored files, though it is a shining example of how useful information is articulated.

 

For you you tech guys: See the reviewers stars to the right? Those should translate more or less into terms we could use to describe a file posted here.

 

If you were signed into dA as a member, you would be able to vote on whether or not this critique was fair with red and green yes or no buttons.

 

As the author of the file, you would have the option to rate the critique highly, rate it as average or not display it at all if you found it offensive.

 

Because of this functionality, writing reviews for dA submissions became a class of it's own, with members boasting their ability as reviewers and naturally some being more sought after than others for their talent at it.

 

Other comments, even long ones that are reviews in their own right, never decreased in volume or lost any functionality to these new features.

[RancorSNP]

I think I might write a review or two, but well, I can't ensure that all my reviews will encourage moders .

Been testing mods back in... hmm 2005 I think. Don't remember exactly, and I made few myself (and not finished over a dozen) so I'm pretty demanding when it comes to mods, and can rate both game play and technical side

.

[Azatha]

I think reviews were meant to be done by the community in the original plan, via the comments. Everyone is invited to review constructively. If you see any harassment going on though, alert us.

[afi]

It's more like I've got the feeling that people always vote 5/5 stars, even though the file lacks quality, which doesn't help anyone.

[eezstreet]

Everybody should be entitled to their opinion though. I feel like limiting the reviews to the staff would be just a bad thing for everybody

[RancorSNP]

Yeah I agree. Reviews should be made by staff only. And normal people have comments. But every file MUST be reviewed for that to work.

[Jason Black]

I imagine a lot of members out there taking an active interest in making time to do full reviews, I'd just like to see room made to promote that kind of activity. Anything that inspires participation will keep this hub relevant and active.