MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

VinnyVideo

Message therapy: A verbose post

Oct 24 2015, 8:23 PM

Lately we've been better (relatively speaking) at processing submissions reasonably quickly. Unfortunately, the backlog of reports and messages in the Message Center had grown to seven pages long! After I got home from my trip earlier this week, I spent some time sorting through over two-thirds of these messages, writing replies and taking action as appropriate.

Over the years, I've noticed that the majority of reports and messages to the staff fall into a handful of categories:

Reported comments: These are some of the most common kinds of reports I get. Usually they're easy to handle - some responsible member of the community (frequently an MFGGer with a name like Q-Nova, Cap'n Coconuts, or Supernova) locates a comment from another member that's lacking in maturity. Usually I'll delete the reported comment, and if the comment is really bad, I might mute the commenter (although this doesn't happen much).

Reported submissions: Just like comments, submissions can be reported for various reasons. Occasionally a submission that barely meets the Submission Guidelines will be accepted on the mainsite, and members might complain about that. Other times, an eagle-eyed contributor will report a redundant submission, and some super-helpful people might give us a buzz when a submission is improperly categorized. If you notice that a submission is redundant or plagiarized, please provide a link to the original submission - this makes it a lot easier for the staff to confirm whether the submission should be removed.

Removal requests: Every once in a while a contributor will request that we remove something they previously submitted. These reports fall into one of two categories. Most of the time, it'll be a contributor requesting removal of something that they submitted within the past few days. If you're planning to re-submit, it's better to update your submission instead of reporting your old submission. It saves the QC staff time and helps prevent us from accidentally declining your new submission.

Every few months, however, we'll get a report requesting the removal of a really old submission - sometimes even from a member who hasn't been on the site in years. If you're requesting removal of a submission because it's a low-quality game that consistently got negative reviews, I'll remove it with no questions asked. On the other hand, I'd rather not remove old games that got a favorable reception, especially since MFGG's mainsite may well be the only place on the Internet that the game is still hosted. (Believe it or not, there might actually be people who enjoyed your work, even if it got mixed reviews.) Furthermore, if you've been away from MFGG for a REALLY long time, and you want your submission removed, it's helpful to provide some evidence that your account hasn't been compromised - it's not likely that someone has hacked into your account, but it can indeed happen. Lastly, removing submissions causes assorted weird glitches with the current MFGG software. We want to be respectful of contributors' wishes, so if you really, really don't want your old game on the site, we'll be happy to take it down. But there are also a few reasons why we're reluctant to remove quality submissions unless there's a good reason to do so. (Note that these same principles apply to sprites, too.)

Questions about why a sprite was declined: Whenever the QC staff declines a submission, the submitter receives a notification of why the submission was declined. Sometimes members will reply to these messages, typically asking for clarification on why their submission was declined. This isn't a great idea for two important reasons. First of all, different staff members can reply to these messages, which can result in confusion, especially when the staff member replying to your message never saw the original submission. More importantly, we have no way of seeing the original submission after it's been declined. For that reason, we're unable to offer detailed feedback on declined submissions. And that's where the MFGG forums come in! If your sprite (or other submission) is declined, you can share it on the forums and receive feedback from the community.

Gibberish/spam: This doesn't happen too often, but please don't use the report feature to send gibberish or spam! Perpetual abuse of the system could get you muted or banned, and you don't want that. And if you're incapable of speaking semi-intelligible English (or finding a way to translate your native tongue into some semblance of intelligible English), please don't send us messages that we can't decipher.

Don't like the current system? We don't either! That's why we're in the process of revamping the entire mainsite software, which will make it easier for staff members to process reports. It'll have a much better system for removing submissions, too. If all goes well, in a few months we'll have a brand new system that's more reliable, more modern-looking, and better integrated with the forums.

If you have any suggestions for the new system, you can always give me or HylianDev a massage. Or a message, if you prefer.

Recent Additions

Sprites, Libs, and Tilesets

Super Mario Bros Arcade (GBA) Multiplayer	By Giantfirering27
Super Mario Maker - SMB Slopes w/ Themes	By Fawful117
Re-imagined Power Ups	By SnowBubble
SMB3 1-1 Background Remix (Parallax v1.0)	By Regginator
Super Mario Maker Super Mario Bros. 3 Tiles in 16-Bit	By Valtteri
Q-Nova-Style Piranha Plant V2	By Q-Nova

Reviews

Click to see newly added Reviews

View Comments (11) | Leave Comment

Comments

	Cap'n Coconuts Oct 24 2015, 11:38 PM
I was acknowledged for being helpful! yaaaaaaaay


	Q-Nova Oct 25 2015, 1:59 AM
Whoa, I didn't expect myself to be acknowledged for being a helpful member! Anyway, I hope the new system goes very well!


	Willsaber Oct 25 2015, 4:03 AM
"Occasionally a submission that barely meets the Submission Guidelines" The Submission Guidelines clearly state: "A review is a critical analysis of the game you're reviewing, so it's a little more substantial than a comment on the page saying "This is great!!! 10/10."" Nobody can claim that the Guidelines are actually being considered when a review is accepted or not. It's blatantly obvious that it doesn't matter.


	Cap'n Coconuts Oct 25 2015, 4:38 AM
Quote (Willsaber on Oct 25 2015, 12:03 AM) Nobody can claim that the Guidelines are actually being considered when a review is accepted or not. It's blatantly obvious that it doesn't matter. That is quite an accusation, and as tempting as it is to jump on the Site Staff Hate bandwagon, I would like to propose a scenario I feel is more likely. What I think is actually happening is that the Submission Rules generally are referred to, but the application of those rules to the quality control process is less strict than it needs to be. Regardless of the explanation for the prevalence of borderline reviews, I think many of us can agree the process needs reform. Perhaps a paradigm shift, if you'll forgive the fancy language.


	Mors Oct 25 2015, 2:06 PM
I agree with Willsaber.


	Hypernova Oct 25 2015, 5:09 PM
Thank for acknowledging me. And I agree that the reviews need some reform, I have seen some poorly written reviews slips past the Quality Controll.


	Astrakitu Oct 27 2015, 3:47 AM
I was so very offline, because I had lots of school and Twitter to do. I might plan on a new extended sprite set probably this Christmas or Summer. :(


	behind Oct 27 2015, 9:12 PM
I'm still in the "be able to delete your submission regardless" camp but it's w/e I guess


	Willsaber Oct 28 2015, 2:53 AM
Quote (Cap'n Coconuts on Oct 25 2015, 10:38 AM) What I think is actually happening is that the Submission Rules generally are referred to, but the application of those rules to the quality control process is less strict than it needs to be. If that's the case, then the Guidelines still aren't being taken into account when a submission is accepted. There are reviews that state the Guidelines example of a bad review almost to the T. If the Site Staff is any less strict on reviews than the Guidelines suggest, then the Guidelines aren't being used at all. It is already as loose as possible.


	VinnyVideo Oct 28 2015, 10:36 PM
There's a high degree of subjectivity when it comes to accepting and declining reviews. Sometimes we'll come across a review that is so incoherent that there's no doubt that it should be declined. However, there's a pretty big gray area when it comes to borderline-quality reviews. Some of the guidelines for reviews in the Submission Guidelines are suggestions or best practices rather than ironclad rules that will always result in reviews being declined if they fail to meet those standards. Since we've gotten a few complaints about reviews that have been accepted lately, I'll talk to the other QC staffers and make sure that we're "calling balls and strikes" consistently. In the meantime, you can help us out by putting more effort into writing detailed, fair reviews. Wiiboy4ever: The system for removing submissions will be a lot more user-friendly when we roll out the new MFGG mainsite software. One other reason why we're reluctant to remove old submissions is the current system doesn't even work. When we "remove" a submission, the original file isn't actually deleted from the database - it's still on the server, and the only way to remove it is through FTP. Yet there's no way to restore the submission page if you change your mind and decide you'd like for it to be back on the site. As I said, there are some serious flaws with the current system, and we're working on fixing them.


	Cap'n Coconuts Oct 29 2015, 4:31 AM
What I would do is look for a way to reduce the breadth of this gray area you speak of and increase the quality bar. It seems we all (staff and ordinary users) aren't seeing these reviews in the same way. Some of you are seeing gray, while many of us are seeing Vantablack.

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